Stereology versus planimetry to estimate the volume of malignant liver lesions on MR imaging

Liver tumor volume measurements are clinically useful in patients undergoing cancer treatment. The techniques of planimetry and stereology were applied for this purpose on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Fifty-eight malignant liver lesions were depicted on MR images in 20 consecutive patients. The volume of all lesions was estimated using stereology technique, based on point counting. Stereological tumor volume estimations were compared with those determined by manual planimetry. The repeatability of both techniques was assessed. Tumor volumes estimated by the two techniques were highly correlated (r = 0.98, p < 0.0001). The 95% limits of agreement showed that the stereological volume estimations may differ from the planimetric assessments by less than 23%. Both techniques presented comparable intra- and interobserver variability. The planimetry was 1.5 times faster than the stereology. Both volumetric techniques may provide reliable and reproducible liver tumor volume estimations. The planimetry may be the method of choice because of its superior speed.     

The Effect of the Geometry of the Particle Distribution in Ostwald Ripening

Based on [1], we derive equations for the radii and the centers that we relate to the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory. N.D.A. and G.K. were partially supported by a ENE 99/527 interdisciplinary grant in Materials, and by a grant from the University of Athens. N.D.A. would like to thank also the people at BYU for providing extraordinary hospitality and a stimulating environment during his visit in the Fall of 2000.N.D.A. and G.K. were partially supported by a ENE 99/527 interdisciplinary grant in Materials, and by a grant from the University of Athens. N.D.A. would like to thank also the people at BYU for providing extraordinary hospitality and a stimulating environment during his visit in the Fall of 2000.     

Scope of the directed dihydroxylation: application to cyclic homoallylic alcohols and trihaloacetamides

The synthesis and directed dihydroxylation of a range of cyclic alkenes was investigated. Both homoallylic alcohols and homoallylic trihaloacetamides were found to be efficient directing groups, giving rise to good to excellent levels of remote asymmetric induction with OsO4-TMEDA. Interestingly, in all cases examined, trifluoroacetamides were found to be superior to trichloroacetamides as directing groups and an argument is presented which rationalises this observation.     

Are J(Si-H) NMR coupling constants really a probe for the existence of nonclassical H-Si interactions?

A series of hydridosilyl complexes of tantalum, Cp(ArN)Ta(PMe3)(H)(SiClnR3-n) (n = 0-3), was prepared and studied by 29Si NMR, X-ray diffraction, and DFT calculations. An unprecedented increase of the J(Si-H) coupling constant between the hydride and silyl ligands from 14 Hz for n = 0 to 50 Hz n = 3 was observed, which however, according to DFT calculations, does not correspond to stronger bonding interaction between silicon and hydride ligands, with the strongest interaction being for n = 1.     

Isobutene polymerization using a chelating diborane co-initiator

Lewis acidic diborane 1 (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1999, 121, 3244-3245) is highly effective for both proton- and cationogen-initiated isobutene polymerization in hydrocarbon media at low temperature. Reactions of diborane 1 with cumyl chloride and cumyl methyl ether were studied by variable-temperature 1H and 19F NMR spectroscopy. At low temperatures stable ion pairs 2a and 2b are formed; at higher temperatures these ion-pairs form phenyl-1,3,3-trimethylindan (3) with concomitant release of HCl to form 1 in the case of 2a or degradation of the anion (2b). Reaction between Ph3C-Cl and diborane 1 resulted in the generation of an ion-pair 4 consisting of the Ph3C cation very weakly associated with the chelated, mu-Cl counteranion as revealed by X-ray crystallography.     

Multicolor luminescence patterning by photoactivation of semiconductor nanoparticle films

Indiscriminate adsorption of nanoparticles (NPs) significantly complicates the preparation of mesoscale NP patterns considered as enabling technology for many devices and processes. Instead of selected chemical functionalization of the substrate surface prior to the assembly of nanocolloids, the required optical properties - in our case, high quantum yield luminescence - are imparted to the layer-by-layer assembled films by spatially selected photoactivation. The films are made by sequential adsorption of a positively charged polyelectrolyte and a negatively charged CdSe/CdS aqueous dispersion with an initial quantum yield of 0.5-2%. The photoactivation process takes place in the presence of oxygen and may be accompanied by photoetching. A 50-500-fold increase in the luminescence intensity of CdSe/CdS citrate-stabilized particles (quantum yield 25-45%) after visible light illumination provides excellent pattern contrast. Micron scale luminescence patterns were produced from NPs of various CdSe core diameters with red, yellow, and green emission. It was also demonstrated that different emission colors such as orange and green can be combined in one image by taking advantage of spatially selective photoetching. The presented optical patterning technique significantly simplifies the preparation of luminescence patterns as compared to conventional methods. The high signal-to-noise ratio associated with it is essential for optical devices, information processing, and biophotonics. The most immediate use of this approach is expected in cryptography and cell monitoring.     

Treatment of radioactive wastes: an X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of the reaction of technetium with green rust

Technetium is a long-lived product of nuclear fission that readily forms the soluble pertechnetate anion [TcO(4)](-). Green rusts (layered hydrous oxides containing both Fe(II) and Fe(III) and with interlayer sulfate or carbonate anions) concentrate >99.8% of 99Tc, present as [TcO(4)](-), from aqueous solution, even in the presence of high concentrations of NaNO(3), a common constituent of radioactive waste streams. The mechanism of removal from solution is apparently reduction and formation of strong Tc(IV) surface complexes. X-ray absorption spectroscopy shows that [TcO(4)](-) is indeed reduced by reaction with both sulfate- and carbonate-form green rusts and is found in a TcO(2)-like environment. On contact with air, the green rusts oxidize to poorly crystalline goethite but the Tc environment is unchanged. There is no increase in Tc solubility associated with oxidation of the host green rust. This behavior suggests that green rusts may be useful in the treatment of Tc-containing waste streams, in groundwater cleanup, and in restricting Tc migration from repositories.     

Queueing Dynamics and Maximal Throughput Scheduling in Switched Processing Systems

We study a processing system comprised of parallel queues, whose individual service rates are specified by a global service mode (configuration). The issue is how to switch the system between various possible service modes, so as to maximize its throughput and maintain stability under the most workload-intensive input traffic traces (arrival processes). Stability preserves the job inflow–outflow balance at each queue on the traffic traces. Two key families of service policies are shown to maximize throughput, under the mild condition that traffic traces have long-term average workload rates. In the first family of cone policies, the service mode is chosen based on the system backlog state belonging to a corresponding cone. Two distinct policy classes of that nature are investigated, MaxProduct and FastEmpty. In the second family of batch policies (BatchAdapt), jobs are collectively scheduled over adaptively chosen horizons, according to an asymptotically optimal, robust schedule. The issues of nonpreemptive job processing and non-negligible switching times between service modes are addressed. The analysis is extended to cover feed-forward networks of such processing systems/nodes. The approach taken unifies and generalizes prior studies, by developing a general trace-based modeling framework (sample-path approach) for addressing the queueing stability problem. It treats the queueing structure as a deterministic dynamical system and analyzes directly its evolution trajectories. It does not require any probabilistic superstructure, which is typically used in previous approaches. Probability can be superposed later to address finer performance questions (e.g., delay). The throughput maximization problem is seen to be primarily of structural nature. The developed methodology appears to have broader applicability to other queueing systems.     

Generalized Padé-Type Approximation and Integral Representations

In several complex variables, the multivariate Padé-type approximation theory is based on the polynomial interpolation of the multidimensional Cauchy kernel and leads to complicated computations. In this paper, we replace the multidimensional Cauchy kernel by the Bergman kernel function K (z,x) into an open bounded subset of C ⁿ and, by using interpolating generalized polynomials for K (z,x), we define generalized Padé-type approximants to any f in the space OL ²() of all analytic functions on which are of class L ². The characteristic property of such an approximant is that its Fourier series representation with respect to an orthonormal basis for OL ²() matches the Fourier series expansion of f as far as possible. After studying the error formula and the convergence problem, we show that the generalized Padé-type approximants have integral representations which give rise to the consideration of an integral operator – the so-called generalized Padé-type operator – which maps every f OL ²() to a generalized Padé-type approximant to f. By the continuity of this operator, we obtain some convergence results about series of analytic functions of class L ². Our study concludes with the extension of these ideas into every functional Hilbert space H and also with the definition and properties of the generalized Padé-type approximants to a linear operator of H into itself. As an application we prove a Painlevé-type theorem in C ⁿ and we give two examples making use of generalized Padé-type approximants.     

Sets of Type (a, b) From Subgroups of ΓL(1, pR)

In this paper k-sets of type (a, b) with respect to hyperplanes are constructed in finite projective spaces using powers of Singer cycles. These are then used to construct further examples of sets of type (a, b) using various disjoint sets. The parameters of the associated strongly regular graphs are also calculated. The construction technique is then related to work of Foulser and Kallaher classifying rank three subgroups of AL(1, p ^R). It is shown that the sets of type (a, b) arising from the Foulser and Kallaher construction in the case of projective spaces are isomorphic to some of those constructed in the present paper.