Academic literature on the topic 'McFarlan´s model'

Background Tirofiban is a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor antagonist that is widely used clinically. In the present study, we investigated whether tirofiban promotes flap survival in rat random skin flap model. Methods “McFarlane flaps” models were developed in 60 male rats. The rats were divided into a tirofiban-treated group (n = 30) and a saline-treated group (n = 30). The flap surviving rate was calculated 7 days after surgery. Tissue samples were collected and subjected to histopathological evaluation. Lead oxide–gelatin angiography and immunohistochemical staining analysis were taken to evaluate angiogenesis. Analysis of oxidative stress was performed by measuring the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Results Compared with controls, the tirofiban-treated groups exhibited significantly larger mean areas of flap survival, significantly increased SOD activity, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, and significantly reduced MDA level. Hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed that naringin promoted angiogenesis and inhibited inflammation. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that tirofiban increases flap survival of random skin flaps in rats.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is one of the most important chemical units in oil refineries due to its economic benefits. This research work concentrates on improving the control system of the Model IV FCC unit where dynamic modeling and the controllability based on the McFarlane et al. (1993) model. Different open-loop tests were carried out in the wash oil flow rate (F1) and the furnace fuel flow rate (F5) to find the FCC models using Sundaresan and Krishnaswamy (S&K) and fraction incomplete response (FIR) methods. The riser temperature (Tr) and the regenerator bed temperature (Tg) were chosen as the control variables while (F1 and F5) were selected as the corresponding manipulated variables based on the relative gain array (RGA). PI controller tuning parameters were evaluated using the internal model control (IMC) method and different closed-loop control responses were examined for both set point tracking and disturbance rejection changes. Additional adjustments to the IMC filter constant were employed to further improve the closed loop responses for the system.

Background Partial or complete flap necrosis is a detrimental outcome complicating reconstructive surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of flap overdesign on viability in the rat model. Methods Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into four groups receiving flaps of varying length-to-width ratios: 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1. All animals had caudally based, modified McFarlane-style flap created. Areas of survival were assessed 14 days postoperatively and compared among groups using one-way analysis of variance. Results The mean areas of flap survival were 8.0 ± 0.0 cm2, 7.8 ± 1.1 cm2, 8.3 ± 1.1 cm2, and 8.1 ± 1.5 cm2 for the 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1 length-to-width ratio groups, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in mean areas of flap survival among groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion Flap overdesign does not increase the risk of flap necrosis in a random-pattern flap.

Background and objectives: Treatment of a prosthetic vascular graft infection (PVGI) remains a challenging problem in vascular surgery. The aim of this study was to design a novel rat model for treatment of peripheral vascular prosthesis infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and to determine the efficacy of different antiseptic solutions in suppressing or eradicating infection from the wound and the graft material itself. Materials and methods: A piece of Dacron vascular prosthesis was surgically implanted at the dorsum of 48 Wistar rats and the wounds were infected with 5 McFarland standard inoculum of S. aureus. Suppurating wounds were daily irrigated with different antiseptic solutions: octenidine dihydrochloride, povidone-iodine, chlorhexidine digluconate, and sterile saline. The antimicrobial action of antiseptics was defined according to their capability to eradicate bacteria from the graft surroundings and bacteriological examination of the graft itself. Extended studies on wound microbiology, cytology, and histopathology were performed with an additional group of 10 rats, treated with the most effective antiseptic-octenidine dihydrochloride. Results: Four-day treatment course with octenidine, povidone-iodine, and chlorhexidine resulted in 99.98% (p = 0.0005), 90.73% (p = 0.002), and 65.97% (p = 0.004) decrease in S. aureus colonies in wound washouts, respectively. The number of S. aureus colonies increased insignificantly by 19.72% (p = 0.765) in control group. Seven-day treatment course with octenidine eradicated viable bacteria from nine out of 10 wound washouts and sterilized one vascular graft. Conclusions: A reproducible rat model of PVGI with a thriving S. aureus infection was designed. It is a first PVGI animal model where different antiseptic solutions were applied as daily irrigations to treat peripheral PVGI. Seven-day treatment with octenidine eradicated bacteria from the wound washouts for 90% of rats and one vascular graft. Further studies are needed to investigate if irrigations with octenidine could properly cure vascular bed from infection to assure a successful implantation of a new synthetic vascular substitute.

Abstract The performance of an interim version of the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model (CAM3.5) in simulating the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is assessed by comparing model results against observations and reanalyses. Both the climate mean states and seasonal cycle of major EASM components are evaluated. Special attention is paid to the sensitivity of model performance to changes in the convection scheme. This is done by analyzing four CAM3.5 runs with identical dynamical core and physical packages but different modifications to their convection scheme, that is, the original Zhang–McFarlane (ZM) scheme, Neale et al.’s modification (NZM), Wu et al.’s modification (WZM), and Zhang’s modification (ZZM). The results show that CAM3.5 can capture the major climate mean states and seasonal features of the EASM circulation system, including reasonable simulations of the Tibetan high in the upper troposphere and the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) in the middle and lower troposphere. The main deficiencies are found in monsoon rainfall and the meridional monsoon cell. The weak meridional land–sea thermal contrasts in the model contribute to the weaker monsoon circulation and to insufficient rainfall in both tropical and subtropical regions of EASM. The seasonal migration of rainfall, as well as the northward jump of the WPSH from late spring to summer, is reasonably simulated, except that the northward jump of the monsoon rain belt still needs improvement. Three runs using modified schemes generally improve the model performance in EASM simulation compared to the control run. The monsoon rainfall distribution and its seasonal variation are sensitive to modifications of the ZM convection scheme, which is most likely due to differences in closure assumptions. NZM, which uses a convective available potential energy (CAPE)-based closure assumption, performs better in tropical regions where the rainfall is closely related to CAPE. However, WZM and ZZM, which use quasi-equilibrium (QE) closure, have more realistic subtropical rainfall in the mei-yu/baiu/changma front region, mainly because the rainfall in the subtropics is more sensitive to the rate of destabilization by the large-scale flow.

Introduction Neutral-valve closed-system connectors can reduce the frequency of catheter colonization. Commercially available closed system connectors need to be tested and compared with each other to assess how they protect against contamination. We aimed to compare, in vitro, the efficacy of connectors NeutraClear® and MicroClave® against contamination under conditions of daily clinical practice. Methods The model consisted of a set of 200 blood culture bottles (BCBs) with a cannula inserted (100 closed with NeutraClear® and 100 closed with MicroClave®) that were assessed in two experiments while instilling 1 mL of saline: manipulation based on the standard of care and manipulation using gloves impregnated with a 0.05 McFarland Staphylococcus aureus solution. The BCBs were incubated in a BACTEC System at 37°C under continuous shaking for up to 7 days. When a bottle turned positive, 100 µL of the fluid was cultured. The positivity rate and time to positivity of the BCB in each experiment was compared. Results In the aseptic model in the NeutraClear® and MicroClave® groups, only 1 BCB and 2 BCBs were positive, respectively, (p = 0.55). In the contaminated model, all BCBs were positive in both groups at the end of the incubation time. We did not find differences for the MTP between NeutraClear® and MicroClave® (36.04 vs. 20.13 hours, p = 0.09). Conclusions The NeutraClear® needleless connector proved to be as efficient as the MicroClave® connector in the prevention of catheter colonization and migration of S. aureus from the surface to the inside of the hub in an in vitro model.

Abstract The link between realism in simulation of the seasonal mean precipitation and summer tropical intraseasonal oscillations and their dependence on cumulus parameterization schemes is investigated using the Florida State University Global Spectral Model (FSUGSM). Forty-member model ensemble simulations of the northern summer season are generated for three different cumulus parameterization schemes [namely, Arakawa–Schubert (Naval Research Laboratory; NRL), Zhang and McFarlane (National Center for Atmospheric Research; NCAR), and Emanuel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; MIT)]. The MIT scheme simulates the regional pattern of seasonal mean precipitation over the Indian monsoon region well but has large systematic bias in simulating the precipitation over the western Pacific and the Maritime Continent. Although the simulation of details of regional distribution of precipitation over the Indian monsoon region by the NRL and NCAR schemes is not accurate, they simulate the spatial pattern of precipitation over the tropical Indo–Pacific domain closer to observation. The NRL scheme seems to captures the observed northward and eastward propagation of intraseasonal precipitation anomalies realistically. However, the simulations of the NCAR and MIT schemes are dominated by a westward propagating component. The westward propagating mode seen in the model as well as observations is indicated to be an equatorial Rossby wave modified by the northern summer mean flow. An examination of the relationship between simulation of the model climatology and eastward propagating character of monsoon intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in a limited sample shows that the scheme that simulates better seasonal mean pattern of rainfall over the tropical Indo–Pacific domain also simulates better intraseasonal variance and more realistic eastward propagation of monsoon ISOs. Among the parameters known to be important for meridional propagation of the summer monsoon ISOs, the meridional gradient of mean humidity in the lower atmosphere seems to be crucial in determining the northward propagation in the equatorial Indian Ocean (between 10°S and 10°N). For better prediction of the seasonal mean Indian monsoon, therefore, the model climatology should have minimum bias not only over the Indian monsoon region but also over the entire Indo–Pacific basin.

Abstract Background Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) is a common shoulder periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). Blue light (BL) is effectively used in the dermatologic clinical setting against acne vulgaris caused by C. acnes. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is the use of light source and photosensitizer (PS) to enhance antimicrobial activity. We studied the effect of PDT using BL and PS in vitro on shoulder PJI isolates of C. acnes. Methods 19 strains were grown in thioglycollate medium and diluted in sterile normal saline (NS) to a turbidity of 0.5 McFarland standard; OD600 of 0.1 to 0.15. 250 µL with PS added were placed in 96-well plates at 37ºC, exposed to BL (415 nm) placed 1 cm above for 0 to 60 minutes at 15-minute intervals. Susceptibility to BL alone, and BL with PSs such as riboflavin (R, Vit B2), fluorescein (F) or demeclocycline (tetracycline antibiotic, “D”) were studied. After serial 10-fold dilution with NS, 3 µL of each well were spotted onto Brucella Blood Agar plates and incubated anaerobically for 48 hours. Eradication was defined as below the limit of detection. Definitions include Sensitive (S) if 3-log decrease in bacterial density or eradication at any time point, Weakly Sensitive (WS) with 1- to 3-log decrease and Resistant (R) with no decrease. Results Based on BL alone, (n = 19). 68% strains were S, 32% were resistant. BL+ R (10 μg/mL) effect in 25% (n = 3) and exerted a protective effect against 33% (n = 4). BL+ F (1 μg/mL) potentiated in 67%. BL+ D (0.1–1.5 μg/mL) in 83% of strains tested. The most resistant strain was eradicated using BL + D at an increased concentration of demeclocycline (2.5 μg/mL). Conclusion F and D enhanced the potential for eradication compared with BL exposure alone. R was a photo-protectant to BL for select strains. Prior studies have hypothesized endogenous intracellular porphyrins excited by BL causing energy transfer and production of highly cytotoxic reactive oxygen species causing bacterial death. Future clinical research evaluating the use of preoperative PS and surgical site exposure to BL as a preventative PJI strategy are needed. Our research shows that BL with the addition of PS significantly reduces the bacterial burden of clinically relevant PJI shoulder isolates of C. acnes in an in vitro model. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Metamodels provide an efficient means for the approximation of response surfaces of systems, particularly for resource-intensive experiment designs. It is oftentimes the case that interest is focused on a specific region of the parameter space. We propose an efficient recipe for the local approximation of response surfaces using Polynomial Chaos techniques. For systems embedded in high-dimensional settings, a basis-adapted spectral representation is exploited locally for dimension reduction. The proposed approach comprises an initial heuristic global solution for parameter space exploration using an approximate global Polynomial Chaos metamodel, followed by a local design being refined through an active learning scheme. The problem of turbulent flow around a symmetric airfoil is considered. Statistical estimators based on the local, active, basis-adapted approach show less bias and faster convergence as compared to the estimators from a global solution. References B. J. Bichon, M. S. Eldred, L. P. Swiler, S. Mahadevan, and J. M. McFarland. Efficient global reliability analysis for nonlinear implicit performance functions. AIAA J. 46(10):2459–2468, 2008. doi: 10.2514/1.34321. G. E. P. Box and N. R. Draper. Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces. Wiley, 1987. V. Dubourg, B. Sudret, and F. Deheeger. Metamodel-based importance sampling for structural reliability analysis. Prob. Eng. Mech. 33:47–57, 2013. doi: 10.1016/j.probengmech.2013.02.002. R. G. Ghanem and P. D. Spanos. Stochastic finite element: A spectral approach. Dover, 1991. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4612-3094-6. Z. G. Ghauch. Leveraging adapted polynomial chaos metamodels for real-time Bayesian updating. J. Verif. Valid. Uncert. 4(4):041003, 2020. doi: 10.1115/1.4045693. Z. G. Ghauch, V. Aitharaju, W. R. Rodgers, P. Pasupuleti, A. Dereims, and R. G. Ghanem. Integrated stochastic analysis of fiber composites manufacturing using adapted polynomial chaos expansions. Compos. Part A: Appl. Sci. 118:179–193, 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.compositesa.2018.12.029. M. E. Johnson, L. M. Moore, and D. Ylvisaker. Minimax and maximin distance designs. J. Stat. Plan. Infer. 26(2):131–148, 1990. doi: 10.1016/0378-3758(90)90122-B. A. Notin, N. Gayton, J. L. Dulong, M. Lemaire, P. Villon, and H. Jaffal. RPCM: A strategy to perform reliability analysis using polynomial chaos and resampling. Euro. J. Comput. Mech. 19(8):795–830, 2010. doi: 10.3166/ejcm.19.795-830. OpenCFD. OpenFOAM User’s Guide. 2019. https://www.openfoam.com/documentation/user-guide. V. Picheny, D. Ginsbourger, O. Roustant, R. T Haftka, and N.-H. Kim. Adaptive designs of experiments for accurate approximation of target regions. J. Mech. Design. 132(7):071008, 2010. doi: 10.1115/1.4001873. C. Thimmisetty, P. Tsilifis, and R. Ghanem. Homogeneous chaos basis adaptation for design optimization under uncertainty: Application to the oil well placement problem. AI EDAM 31(3):265–276, 2017. doi: 10.1017/S0890060417000166. R. Tipireddy and R. Ghanem. Basis adaptation in homogeneous chaos spaces. J. Comput. Phys. 259:304–317, 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.jcp.2013.12.009. P. Tsilifis and R. G. Ghanem. Reduced Wiener chaos representation of random fields via basis adaptation and projection. J. Comput. Phys. 341:102–120, 2017. doi: 10.1016/j.jcp.2017.04.009. Turbulence Modeling Resource. NASA Langley Research Center. Washington, DC, 2018. http://turbmodels.larc.nasa.gov/.

The diploma thesis deals with the assessment and evaluation of the current state of the information system in the company ABC, s.r.o. Based on the outputs of the analyzes, author of this thesis evaluated the achieved results and then proposed possible solutions which should lead to improved work with the information system and increase the efficiency of its use.

This master’s thesis deals with the selection and implementation of the new information system for managing orders in the company. Theoretical knowledge, procedures and methods are used as a basis for elaboration of the practical part. The analytical part focuses on the analysis of the current situation in the company and includes the assessment of the information system. The proposal part contains a two-round selection of a new information system based on established criteria and the implementation of the selected best solution. There is also the economic assessment of the costs and description of the expected benefits of the selected solution for the company.

Roberta Gironi Departamento de Proyectos Arquitectónicos, UPV. Camino de Vera, s/n. 46022 Valencia Joint Doctorate Dipartimento di Architettura – Teorie e Progetto. “Sapienza” Università degli Studi di Roma. Via Gramsci, 53. 00100 Roma E-mail: roberta.gironi@gmail.com Keywords (3-5): Informal processes, dynamic transformation, new planning approach, flexible space, self-organization Conference topics and scale: Reading and regenerating the informal city Contemporary cities are affected by transformations that put in discussion the claim of control and stability to which the urban project aspires. All those gradual adjustments are manifested according to the demand, bring toward a less formal and more flexible spatial order, for which the traditional forms of the "static" city become the background of the "kinetic" landscape of informal cities. On the contrary of the formal processes of urban planning, informality process is configured as an organic development model and a flexible dynamic system opened to changes. The informal space is produced according to principles of spontaneity and self-organization. A consideration on the possibility to assume different approaches can be proposed. Those approaches should integrate in the design reasoning all the dynamics usually excluded by the discourse on the urban project, which processes can become catalysts to enrich the methods of planning and design of the urban space. Through the analysis of the case-study Previ Lima and the Living Room at the Border of St. Ysidro, the aim is to delineate in which way the contemporary architecture can absorb and metabolize these processes, triggering a different approach to a different method to intervene in the spaces of relationship among formal and informal. It is believed that the informal urban qualities cannot be eliminated and is impossible to ignore the inhabitants' practices, but rather to work on the intersection between collective and individual actions. References Brillembourg A., Feireiss K., Klumpner H. (2005), Informal City (Prestel Publishing, Munich) Cruz T. (2008), "De la frontière globale au quartier de frontière: pratiques d'empiètement", Multitudes, 31(1). Davis M. (2006), Planet of Slums (Verso, London). Hernandez F., Kellett P., Allen L.K. (2010), Rethinking the informal city: critical perspectives from Latin America (Berghahn books, New York, Oxford). McFarlane C., Waibel M., (2012), Urban Informalities: Reflections on the Formal and Informal (Ashgate, Farnham). Jacobs J. (1961), The death and life of great American cities(Random House, New York- Toronto). Roy A., Alsayyad N., (2004) Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia (Lexington Books, Lanham)