Synergistic interactions of etoposide and interleukin-1 alpha are not due to DNA damage in human melanoma cells

Family nursing, always a component of nursing, has been recently receiving increased attention through publications, educational programs, clinical practice settings and family nursing research. Nurses are in the best position to assist families experiencing the illness of a loved one, but often lack the skills and confidence necessary to assist with the psychosocial needs. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of a family nursing program within a large, tertiary care facility. The program's evaluation is ongoing but early outcomes indicate that day-to-day nursing practice has been positively influenced and improved job satisfaction may result.     

Critical Configurations for 1-View in Projections from ℙ<Superscript>k</Superscript> → ℙ<Superscript>2</Superscript>

In this paper we describe, from a theoretical point of view, critical configurations for the projective reconstruction of a set of points, for a single view, i.e. for calibration of a camera, in the case of projections from ℙ^k to ℙ² for k ≥ 4. We give first a general result describing these critical loci in ℙ^k, which, if irreducible, are algebraic varieties of dimension k−2 and degree 3. If k=4 they can be either a smooth ruled surface or a cone and if k = 5 they can be a smooth three dimensional variety, ruled in planes, or a cone. If k≥ 6, the variety is always a cone, the vertex of which has dimension at least k − 6. The reducible cases are studied in Appendix A. These results are then applied to determine explicitly the critical loci for the projections from ℙ^k which arise from the dynamic scenes in ℙ³ considered in [13]. Marina Bertolini is currently Associate Professor of Geometry at the Department of Mathematics at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. Her main field of research is Complex Projective Algebraic Geometry, with particular interest for the classification of projective varieties and for the geometry of Grassmann varieties. On these topics M. Bertolini has published more than twenty reviewed papers on national and international journals. She has been for some years now interested also in applications of Algebraic Geometry to Computer Vision problems. Cristina Turrini is Associate Professor of Geometry at the Department of Mathematics of Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. Her main research interest is Complex Projective Algebraic Geometry: subvarieties of Grassmannians, special varieties, automorphisms, classification. In the last two years she has started to work on applications of Algebraic Geometry to problems of Computer Vision. She is author or co-author of about thirty reviewed papers. She is also involved in popularization of Mathematics, and on this subject she is co-editor of some books.     

The impacts of a GTL plant on Brazil's oil products supply and refinery expansion

This paper assesses the impacts of a GTL plant on the expansion of Brazil's oil refining segment. The GTL plant (50,000 bpd) was sized to start up operations in 2015, producing diesel and naphtha through the indirect route (FT-synthesis). This plant will consume the non-associated natural gas production from the recent discoveries at the Santos Basin (around 419 Bm³), and the associated gas production from the Campos Basin. Both basins are located in the Southeast of Brazil, the most populated, rich and industrialized region of the country. Two different criteria for refinery expansion were simulated in order to meet oil product demand scenarios. Findings show that depending on the refinery expansion criteria considered GTL will play a fundamental hole to meet the oil product demand forecast to Brazil in the next 10 years.     

Making polyurethane foams from microemulsions

A remarkable correlation exists between the degree of expansion of polyurethane foams and the structure of the reacting premixes. Polyurethane foams obtained from reacting premixes containing microemulsions are highly expanded. The expansion rate is proportional to the volume fraction of microemulsion in the premix. The stability of premixes with and without microemulsion is completely different suggesting distinct creaming mechanisms. We apply this idea to synthesize polyurethane foams from microemulsions successfully. This approach can be used to rationalize the design of polyurethane formulations leading to highly expanded foams.     

Microwave-Assisted Reaction Sintering of Bismuth Titanate-Based Ceramics

Bismuth titanate-based ceramics, pure and doped with 5 mol% WO₃, were prepared by reaction-sintering using a microwave oven. High densities, ≥96% of theoretical density were achieved with very short thermal treatments, with soaking time ranging from 5 to 15 min. Relatively small platelet-like grains were formed, and microstructure seemed not to be strongly affected by doping nor soaking time. Electrical measurements were performed and, as expected, a decrease of electrical conductivity was observed in WO₃-doped materials. The results of reaction-sintered samples, both conventional as well as microwave sintered, are compared with those of samples prepared with previously calcined powders and sintered using microwaves as well as a conventional electric furnace.     

Metal sorption by biomass of melanin‐producing fungi grown in clay‐containing medium

The sorption of toxic metals by fungal mycelia grown in clay‐containing medium is reported in this work. Biomass of melanin‐producing microfungi of the genus Cladosporium (C cladosporioides, C resinae and C herbarum) and Aureobasidium pullulans, clay minerals and fungal mycelia grown in clay‐containing medium were compared for their equilibrium Cu and Cd uptake from pH‐buffered solutions using experimental sorption isotherms. Bentonite (Cherkassy) in the natural form was shown to be the best Cu sorbent compared with the other clays and clay minerals tested. Cu sorption isotherms fitted the Langmuir sorption model for all cases. Comparison of Cu and Cd uptake for biomass and bentonite showed a lower biomass uptake capacity but a considerably higher affinity of the biosorbent for the solute. The presence of kaolinite and palygorskite in the medium generally reduced both Cu and Cd sorption capacity and the metal‐binding ability of the fungal–clay mixtures. In contrast, addition of bentonite into the medium did not appreciably alter the Cd sorption ability but increased the sorption of Cu by A pullulans and C cladosporioides grown in this medium. A common feature for all fungi grown in the presence of bentonite was an increase in the Cu sorption capacity (Q_max) of the biomineral sorbents and a reduction in their affinity (Langmuir parameter b) compared with control biomass. A difference between predicted and experimental data obtained for biomass grown on bentonite medium was also observed. The connection between the sorption capacity of biomass grown in clay‐containing medium, mycelial morphology and the structure of fungal pellets is discussed and a mechanism for the changed sorption capacity of the combined biomineral sorbents is proposed which involves blocking or modification of binding sites on biotic and abiotic components of the ‘biomineral’ association. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Performance Evaluation of Packet Mobile Communications through Level Crossing Analysis

In this paper the performance of a packet mobile radio network is studied inthe presence of shadow fading outage intervals.Under quite general assumptions for the medium access protocol,the probability mass function of the sequence of packets that may be lostdue to an outage interval is derived. It is seen that long sequences of lostpackets are likely to occur for typical values of the mobile speed andshadowing correlation parameters.For delay constrained sources, e.g., voice, the analysis is mainly focused atderiving the probability function of the sequence of dropped packetsand the probability of dropping. For data sources, the delay statistic isalso derived. In the latter case, the effect of finite buffer length isaddressed. Simulation is used to verify the accuracy of approximations introduced in the analysis.     

Lyapunov analysis of the approximate motion equations of flexible structures

In this paper, the effectiveness of the approximate motion equations of a flexible structure, obtained by the RitzKantorovich method, is analysed by using Lyapunov functions. The analysis, which is restricted to the case of a single flexible beam for the sake of simplicity, is carried out under the assumption that a partial dissipation is present, affecting only the first degrees of freedom of the system. By means of suitable Lyapunov functions, an overbounding estimate of the quadratic approximation error is determined as a decreasing function of the approximation order. The analysis is completed by considering the two ‘extreme’ cases: the theoretical absence of dissipation and the presence of structural dissipation, affecting all the infinite degrees of freedom.     

Environmentally friendly, heterogeneous acid and base catalysis for the methylation of catechol: Chances for the control of chemo-selectivity

The properties of catalysts with (i) Brønsted-type acidity (H-mordenite and Al/P mixed oxide), (ii) Lewis-type acidity (Al trifluoride) or (iii) basic characteristics (Mg/Fe mixed oxide) were investigated in the gas-phase methylation of catechol. When methanol was used as the methylating agent, H-mordenite and AlF₃ gave high selectivities to guaiacol (the product of O-methylation) under mild reaction conditions, that is at very low catechol conversions. An increase in temperature led to the transformation of guaiacol to phenol and cresols, and to considerable catalyst deactivation. The basic catalyst Mg/Fe/O also favored an extensive degradation of guaiacol to phenol. On the mildly acidic catalyst Al/P mixed oxide a stable catalytic performance and a high selectivity to guaiacol at 40% catechol conversion were obtained. When methylformate, a more reactive methylating agent, was used with AlF₃ and Mg/Fe mixed oxide as catalysts, higher catechol conversions and slower deactivation rates could be achieved under mild reaction conditions, with a low extent of guaiacol degradation. However, methylformate rapidly decomposed when temperatures above 350 °C were used. Finally, tests were made by reacting catechol and diethoxymethane with acid catalysts, with the aim of synthesizing methylenedioxybenzene. The latter product was obtained with high selectivity, but with very low yield, due to both catalyst deactivation and decomposition of diethoxymethane.