Amorphous/crystalline (A/C) nanolayers provide an effective model system to study the mechanical behavior and size effects of metallic glasses and crystalline metals in confined geometries. In this work, we experimentally investigated the structure–property relationship in A/C nanolayers containing HCP crystalline layers. CuTi/Ti and CuZr/Zr nanolayers were prepared by magnetron sputtering with layer thicknesses in the range 10–100 nm. The hardness values of the CuTi/Ti and CuZr/Zr nanolayers were close to those of the monolithic CuTi and CuZr, respectively. The hardness remained virtually the same for different layer thicknesses as opposed to CuTi/Cu amorphous/FCC crystalline nanolayers, which exhibit increasing strength with decreasing layer thickness. Confined layer slip model predicts that the effective flow stress of HCP crystalline layers is higher than that of the amorphous layers. As a result, the strength and size effects are governed by the mechanical behavior of the softer amorphous layer.

A retrospective space–time permutation model with non-Euclidean distance criteria was applied within a high-complexity hospital setting to quantitatively explore cluster patterns of 273 patients infected with or colonized by carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae during 4 years. Results were compared to standard nosocomial active-surveillance methods. Two clusters were identified in the period, suggesting that space–time strategies for cluster quantification within confined environments may be useful.

The work at Tell Abada was a part of the intensive rescue operation conducted by the Iraqi State Antiquities Organization in the Hamrin basin where about seventy archaeological sites are to be flooded by a dam now under construction.

The work at Abada started in the middle of December 1977 and lasted until the end of July 1978 without any interruption. The excavations were conducted by the writer assisted by Mr. Ali Hashim Khairi and Mr. Jurjis Muhammad Fadhil (Archaeologists); Mr. Salih Al-Tu‘ma was the foreman. They all worked with exceptional industry despite the severe climatic conditions, especially in winter and summer, and many thanks are due to them all. I would like also to express my warmest thanks and gratitude to Dr. Muayad Sa‘id, head of the State Antiquities Organization, for his greatest interest in the work and his constant encouragement and invaluable advice. My thanks are due also to Dr. Joan Oates for her sincere help and advice. The photographs were taken by Mr. Yasin Al-Mashhadani.

Tell Abada lies to the east of the Diyala River, 12 km southeast of Al Sadiyah. It is situated in a large agricultural plain along the Zagros foothills. In the vicinity are a number of small villages whose Arab inhabitants rely on cultivation and herding for their subsistence. The most important crops grown are wheat and barley. In general the climate of the area is very cold and stormy in winter and hot with dust storms in summer. Although winter rainfall is marginal for agriculture (235 mm per annum, recorded at Jalaula 1956–1958), the rain can be very heavy so that in winter the wadis flow as rushing torrents.

The gate oxides of Si based MOSFET devices are subjected to a high field in order to induce defects in the oxide bulk and at the Si/SiO2 interface. The defects are characterized by a series of gate to source capacitance and conductance measurements. Shifts in the flat band voltage and the threshold voltage are observed and are related to the position of charged defects. The difference of the equivalent charge between the two types of defects is also determined. Conductance measurements are performed to determine the difference of interface states concentration as a function of the high field exposure time.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2009 in Richmond, Virginia, USA, July 26 – July 30, 2009

To assess energy balance in very sick medical patients requiring prolonged acute mechanical ventilation and its possible impact on outcome, we conducted an observational study of the first 14 d of intensive care unit (ICU) stay in thirty-eight consecutive adult patients intubated at least 7 d. Exclusive enteral nutrition (EN) was started within 24 h of ICU admission and progressively increased, in absence of gastrointestinal intolerance, to the recommended energy of 125·5 kJ/kg per d. Calculated energy balance was defined as energy delivered − resting energy expenditure estimated by a predictive method based on static and dynamic biometric parameters. Mean energy balance was − 5439 (sem 222) kJ per d. EN was interrupted 23 % of the time and situations limiting feeding administration reached 64 % of survey time. ICU mortality was 72 %. Non-survivors had higher mean energy deficit than ICU survivors (P = 0·004). Multivariate analysis identified mean energy deficit as independently associated with ICU death (P = 0·02). Higher ICU mortality was observed with higher energy deficit (P = 0·003 comparing quartiles). Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the best deficit threshold for predicting ICU mortality was 5021 kJ per d. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that patients with mean energy deficit ≧5021 kJ per d had a higher ICU mortality rate than patients with lower mean energy deficit after the 14th ICU day (P = 0·01). The study suggests that large negative energy balance seems to be an independent determinant of ICU mortality in a very sick medical population requiring prolonged acute mechanical ventilation, especially when energy deficit exceeds 5021 kJ per d.

We study a two-grid scheme fully discrete in time and space for solving the Navier-Stokes system. In the first step, the fully non-linear problem is discretized in space on a coarse grid with mesh-size H and time step k. In the second step, the problem is discretized in space on a fine grid with mesh-size h and the same time step, and linearized around the velocity u H computed in the first step. The two-grid strategy is motivated by the fact that under suitable assumptions, the contribution of u H to the error in the non-linear term, is measured in the L 2 norm in space and time, and thus has a higher-order than if it were measured in the H 1 norm in space. We present the following results: if h = H2 = k, then the global error of the two-grid algorithm is of the order of h, the same as would have been obtained if the non-linear problem had been solved directly on the fine grid.

The non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve (NRILN) is a nerve anomaly that can be associated with an increased risk of vocal fold paralysis. The purpose of this study wasto report three new cases of this anomaly, underline the necessity of recognizing its possibility for the prevention of intra-operative nerve damage and a review of the literature.

Three cases of thyroid surgery associated with right NRILN are reported.

Two patients underwent bilateral thyroidectomy for a multinodular goitre and for a toxic multinodular goitre respectively. The third patient had a right lobectomy and isthmectomy for a thyroid nodule. All patients had identification of the recurrent laryngeal nerve on the left sideand NRILN on the right side. The diagnosis of the NRILN was made per-operatively on all cases. A post-operative computed tomography (CT) scan in two patients, showed a retrooesophageal aberrant right subclavian artery. Post-operatively, all patients had normal vocal fold function on laryngoscopy.

The NRILN is a rare anomaly but overlooking its possibility may lead to severe operative morbidity. This is an additional argument in favour of systematic dissection of the recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery.

Benign substernal goitres usually extend into the upper anterior mediastinum and are easily extractable through a cervical approach. Very infrequently these tumours extend into the thoracic cavity causing compression of mediastinal structures. The authors report a case of pulmonary hypertension and severe cardiac failure secondary to a long-standing substernal goitre, and support the surgical management of this disease.

Development of vocal fold paralysis in the presence of thyroid disease is strongly indicative of thyroid cancer, and requires surgical exploration. At the same time, vocal fold paralysis does not relieve the surgeon of his obligation to identify and preserve the recurrent laryngeal nerves, since the cause of the paralysis may be a benign disease, with a fair chance of functional recovery after surgery. We hereby report a case of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy secondary to a multinodular goitre.

A flow circulation in a closed circular-cylindrical container is produced by a rotating lid. After a transient phase from an initial state at rest a steady-flow situation is reached for a certain parameter range. In a subspace of this parameter range an undulating meridional flow occurs that may exhibit at the axis of rotation one or several separation bubbles which are interpreted as vortex breakdown. Numerical calculations on the basis of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible homogeneous and Boussinesq fluids enable the study of the influence of various flow parameters on the properties of these separation bubbles. The parameters varied are the Reynolds, Prandtl, Rayleigh, and Eckert numbers together with the ratio of height to radius of the container. The numerical results are in good agreement with experiments performed by Vogel, Ronnenberg, and Escudier. The stability of the fluid motions in these experiments with respect to non-axisymmetric disturbances strongly suggests that the corresponding axisymmetric solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations are stable configurations.