Detailed Scanning Research Articles

Shape evolution and growth mechanisms of 3D-printed nanowires

3D printing of nanowires using Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition (FEBID) enables the direct-write fabrication of complex 3D objects on almost any substrate surface. The physical properties of such freestanding structures are determined by the dimensions of constituent nanowires. However, little knowledge is available about the exact shape of the nanowires, which is indispensable for calculations and simulations as well as for optimization in applications. In this study, we evaluate the thicknesses and widths of freestanding segments as a function of the inclination angles, primary electron energy, beam currents, and precursor flux. Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape, the cross-sectional area, and the evolution along the length of the wire are investigated. Basing on detailed scanning electron microscopy measurements and Monte Carlo/Finite Differences simulations, the effects that the growth parameters have on the segment growth are elucidated. The results shed light on the growth evolution of the structures and form the basis for future studies on the fabrication of high-precision, arbitrarily shaped nanowires.

Genesis of langrial iron ore of hazara area, khyber pakhtunkhaw, parkistan

The Iron Ore of Hazara area has been studied at seven locations for detail mineralogical and genesis investigations. Thick bedded iron ore have been observed between Kawagarh Formation and Hangu Formation i.e Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary. At the base of Hangu Formation variable thickness of these lateritic beds spread throughout the Hazara and Kohat-Potwar plateau. This hematite ore exists in the form of unconformity. X-Ray Diffraction technique (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), detailed petroghraphic study and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) techniques indicated that iron bearing minerals are hematite, chamosite and quartz, albite, clinochlore, illite-montmorillonite, kaolinite, calcite, dolomite and ankerite are the impurities present in these beds. The X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) results show that the total Fe2O3 ranges from 39 to 56% and it has high silica and alumina ratio is less than one. Beneficiation requires for significant increase in ore grade. The petroghraphic study revealed the presence of ooids fragments as nuclei of other ooids with limited clastic supply which indicate high energy shallow marine depositional setting under warm and humid climate. The overall results show that Langrial Iron ore is a low-grade iron ore and can be upgraded up to 62% by applying modern mining techniques to fulfill steel requirements of the country.

The elderly harbor greater proportions of advanced histology in subcentimeter adenomas: implications for screening colonoscopy approaches.

Screening and surveillance for colorectal cancer can reduce both the incidence of this disease and mortality rates attributed to it. Normally, surveillance intervals should be based on baseline colonoscopy findings, and clinicians focus on advanced polyps and perform patient risk stratification to devise surveillance schedules. The aim of the study was to determine differences in advanced colorectal polyp characteristics and consequent risk stratifications in patients of different age groups. We retrospectively reviewed 14 312 patients during a 5-year period; a total of 13 842 polyps were stratified by their sizes, locations, and histologies. Participants were categorized into three age groups, the <45 years group, the 45-59 years group and the >59 years group, and each group was further stratified as normal, low risk, and high risk. The <45 years group included 2431 subjects, the 45-59 years group 6258 subjects, and the >59 years group 5623 subjects. The frequency of adenoma and advanced polyps in the proximal colon slightly increased with age. Only 1.0% in the <45 years and 1.3% in the 45-59 years groups of subcentimeter polyps were identified as advanced polyps, less than that in the >59 years group (2.1%). Most patients, especially the elderly, considered as high risk had multiple subcentimeter adenomas. The processing strategy proposed for subcentimeter polyps in the elderly still needs to be further explored in the future. Clinicians should recognize the importance of performing a detailed scan of the entire colon.

Effect of the Concentration of SrAl2O4: Eu2+and Dy3+ (SAO) on Characteristics and Properties of Environment-Friendly Long-Persistent Luminescence Composites from Polylactic Acid and SAO.

We report luminous polylactic acid (PLA) composite prepared via a solvent casting method using different amounts of phosphor strontium aluminate (SrAl2O4: Eu2+ and Dy3+) (SAO). The reason for doing this is that the changes of fluorescence and mechanical properties in the composites with different SAO contents can be directly evaluated. The SAO particles should have a variety of excellent characteristics in the PLA matrix, among which dispersibility and compatibility are particularly important; so, they can be modified by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) to achieve the target characteristics. The results showed that the fluorescence and mechanical properties were affected by SAO addition. The mechanical properties significantly improved with 5 wt% SAO; further, addition had no impact. And the emission band of fluorescence and phosphorescence is just at the peak of 524 nm. The composites with 15 wt% SAO have the best fluorescence properties. The fluorescence decreased with further doping. Fluorescence decay curves with various amounts of SAO particles show a similar tendency as pure SAO particles; the speed of decrease in afterglow intensity was higher for the first 30 min. In addition, the detailed morphological scanning and study by scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that the particles had good adhesion to the matrix. In conclusion, the concentration of SAO into the PLA matrix impacts the fluorescence and mechanical properties of a SAO/PLA composite material.

Consequences of constant elevation scans for instrumental systematics in Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

Instrumental systematics need to be controlled to high precision for upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments. The level of contamination caused by these systematics is often linked to the scan strategy, and scan strategies for satellite experiments can significantly mitigate these systematics. However, no detailed study has been performed for ground-based experiments. Here we show that under the assumption of constant elevation scans (CESs), the ability of the scan strategy to mitigate these systematics is strongly limited, irrespective of the detailed structure of the scan strategy. We calculate typical values and maps of the quantities coupling the scan to the systematics, and show how these quantities vary with the choice of observing elevations. These values and maps can be used to calculate and forecast the magnitude of different instrumental systematics without requiring detailed scan strategy simulations. As a reference point, we show that inclusion of even a single boresight rotation angle significantly improves over sky rotation alone for mitigating these systematics. A standard metric for evaluating cross-linking is related to one of the parameters studied in this work, so a corollary of our work is that the cross-linking will suffer from the same CES limitations and therefore upcoming CMB surveys will unavoidably have poorly cross-linked regions if they use CESs, regardless of detailed scheduling choices. Our results are also relevant for non-CMB surveys that perform constant elevation scans and may have scan-coupled systematics, such as intensity mapping surveys.

Analysis of Co3O4-SnO2 and Co3O4-Fe2O3 nanosystems by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

In this work, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to characterize the surface composition and elemental chemical states of supported Co3O4-SnO2 and Co3O4-Fe2O3 nanocomposites. The present materials were prepared on Si(100) substrates by the chemical vapor deposition of cobalt oxide under O2 + H2O atmospheres, followed by the tailored introduction of SnO2 or Fe2O3 by means of radio frequency-sputtering. Material structural and morphological characterization revealed the formation of nanocomposite heterostructures involving a conformal Co3O4 coverage by SnO2 or Fe2O3 overlayers. Survey spectra as well as detailed scans of C 1s, O 1s, Co 2p, Sn 3d, and Fe 2p regions are presented and critically discussed. The results provide evidence for the formation of pure and oxygen-deficient nanocomposites, and the occurrence of an electronic interplay between the single oxide constituents.

Genesis of Langrial Iron Ore of Hazara area, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

In this paper, a detailed mineralogical and genesis investigation have been carried out in the seven locations of the Iron Ore in Hazara area. Thick bedded iron ore have been observed between Kawagarh Formation and Hangu Formation i.e, Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary. At the base of Hangu Formation, variable thickness of these lateritic beds spread throughout the Hazara and Kohat-Potwar plateau. This hematite ore exists in the form of unconformity. X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), detailed petroghraphic study and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques indicated that those iron bears minerals including hematite, chamosite and quartz, albite, clinochlore, illite-montmorillonite, kaolinite, calcite, dolomite, whereas ankerite are the impurities present in these beds. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) results show that the total Fe2O3 ranges from 39 to 56%, with high silica and alumina ratio of less than one. Beneficiation requires for significant increase in ore grade. The petroghraphic study revealed the presence of ooids fragments as nuclei of other ooids with limited clastic supply, which indicate high energy shallow marine depositional setting under warm and humid climate. The overall results show that Langrial Iron Ore is a low-grade iron ore which can be upgraded up to 62% by applying modern mining techniques so as to fulfill steel requirements of the country.

Constructing and Transferring Two-Dimensional Tessellation Kagome Lattices via Chemical Reactions on Cu(111) Surface.

Two-dimensional (2D) tessellation of organic species acquired increased interests recently because of their potential applications in physics, biology, and chemistry. 2D tessellations have been successfully constructed on surfaces via various intermolecular interactions. However, the transformation between 2D tessellation lattices has been rarely reported. Herein, we successfully fabricated two types of Kagome lattices on Cu(111). The former phase exhibits (3,6,3,6) Kagome lattices, which are stabilized via the intermolecular hydrogen bond interactions. The latter phase is formed through direct chemical transferring from the former one maintaining almost the same Kagome lattices, except for that the unit cell rotates for 4°. Detailed scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional calculation studies reveal that the chemical transformation is achieved by the formation of the N-Cu-N metal-organic bonds via dehydrogenation reactions of the amines.

Engineering electronic structure of topological insulator Bi2Te3 thin films by highly uniform ripple arrays

‘Wrinkle engineering’, as an effective approach to modify the properties of materials without introducing additional chemical doping, has been widely used in a variety of two-dimensional materials, including graphene, phosphorene and transitional metal dichalcogenides, etc. One-dimensional wrinkle or ripple arrays, which breaks the crystalline symmetry of materials, may reformate the nontrivial band structure and greatly affect the electronic properties of topological materials. Until now, such method has been rarely applied experimentally in tuning topological materials. Here, we fabricate highly uniform ripple arrays directly in few-quintuple-layers (QL) Bi2Te3 thin films on SrTiO3 substrate realized by in-situ strained epitaxial growth, investigated by detailed low temperature scanning tunneling microscope/spectroscopy. Well-defined one-dimensional (1D) ripple structures induced by the interfacial strain from the lattice mismatch between the Bi2Te3 films and the substrate has been observed. As the thickness of Bi2Te3 thin films increases, the release of the strain leads to the reduction of the averaged corrugation height and the periodicity of ripple array. The dI/dV spectra and spatially resolved spectroscopic survey acquired on the epitaxial layers with different thicknesses, reveal that both the energy gap and the Fermi velocity of the Dirac surface states are greatly enhanced on thinner films. Dirac fermion velocity vF is estimated about 7.8 × 105 m s−1 for 3 QL, which is greatly enhanced by compared with the bulk values (4.8 × 105 m s−1). An asymmetric dispersion behavior along different − directions is observed, highly related with the modulation of 1D corrugated ripples on the electronic structure. Moreover, an unconventional Bi (S4) termination mainly observed on thinner films shows a stress-related behavior, agreed with previous theoretical calculations. Our work proposes a promising route to fabricate a highly uniform ripple structure on nontrivial topological materials, which can effectively tune the electronic structure. Specially, it may have an immediate application for realizing a high-performance topological-based device with higher operating temperature and speed.

Use of a Gemini-Surfactant Synthesized from the Mango Seed Oil as a CO2-Corrosion Inhibitor for X-120 Steel.

A gemini surfactant imidazoline type, namely N-(3-(2-fatty-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-1-yl) propyl) fatty amide, has been obtained from the fatty acids contained in the mango seed and used as a CO2 corrosion inhibitor for API X-120 pipeline steel. Employed techniques involved potentiodynamic polarization curves, linear polarization resistance, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. These tests were supported by detailed scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy studies. It was found that obtained gemini surfactant greatly decreases the steel corrosion rate by retarding both anodic and cathodic electrochemical reactions, with an efficiency that increases with an increase in its concentration. Gemini surfactant inhibits the corrosion of steel by the adsorption mechanism, and it is adsorbed on to the steel surface according to a Langmuir model in a chemical type of adsorption. SEM and Raman results shown the presence of the inhibitor on the steel surface.

Reduced model of plasma evolution in hydrogen discharge capillary plasmas.

A model describing the evolution of the average plasma temperature inside a discharge capillary device including Ohmic heating, heat loss to the capillary wall, and ionization and recombination effects is developed. Key to this approach is an analytic quasistatic description of the radial temperature variation which, under local thermal equilibrium conditions, allows the radial behavior of both the plasma temperature and the electron density to be specified directly from the average temperature evolution. In this way, the standard set of coupled partial differential equations for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations is replaced by a single ordinary differential equation, with a corresponding gain in simplicity and computational efficiency. The on-axis plasma temperature and electron density calculations are benchmarked against existing one-dimensional MHD simulations for hydrogen plasmas under a range of discharge conditions and initial gas pressures, and good agreement is demonstrated. The success of this simple model indicates that it can serve as a quick and easy tool for evaluating the plasma conditions in discharge capillary devices, particularly for computationally expensive applications such as simulating long-term plasma evolution, performing detailed input parameter scans, or for optimization using machine-learning techniques.

Prenatal findings and pregnancy outcome in fetuses with right and double aortic arch. A 10-year experience at a tertiary center.

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the accuracy of the prenatal diagnosis and the relation between the type of right aortic arch (RAA) with other intra- or extracardiac (EC) and chromosomal anomalies. Methods: A retrospective, observational study was conducted between 2011–2020 in a Romanian tertiary center. All RAA cases, including double aortic arch (DAA), were extracted from the databases and studied thoroughly. Results: We detected 18 RAA cases: five (27.78%) type I (mirror image, “V” type), 11 (61.12%) type II (“U” type), and two (11.10%) DAA cases. Heart anomalies were associated in 38.89% (overall), 60% (type I), 36.37% (type II), and 0% (DAA) cases. Tetralogy of Fallot represented the most prevalent cardiac malformation (in 22.23% of cases). EC anomalies were present in 44.44% of fetuses (20% of type I, 54.55% of type II, and 50% of DAA cases). Genetic abnormalities were found in 41.17% of pregnancies, with 22q11.2 deletion in 23.53%. 55.55% of the cases had a good neonatal evolution and 44.45% of the pregnancies were terminated. An overall good outcome of pregnancy was noted in 40% of type I RAA, 63.64% of type II RAA, and 50% of DAA cases. All RAA cases examined in the first trimester were correctly diagnosed. Conclusions: RAA can be accurately diagnosed and classified by means of prenatal ultrasound since early pregnancy. A detailed anatomy scan and genetic testing, including 22q11 deletion, should be offered to all pregnancies when RAA is discovered. When isolated, RAA associates a good outcome, indifferently the anatomical type.

Influence of the Number, Nature and Position of Methyl Posttranscriptional Modifications on Nucleobase Stacking in RNA.

DFT calculations are employed to quantify the influence of the presence, number, nature, and position of posttranscriptional methylation on stacking strength of RNA bases. We carry out detailed potential energy scans of the variation in stacking energies with characteristic geometrical parameters in three categories of forty stacked dimers - canonical base homodimers (N||N), methylated base homodimers (mN||mN) and heterodimers of canonical bases and methylated counterparts (N||mN). Our analysis reveals that neutral methylation invariably enhances the stacking of bases. Further, N||mN stacking is stronger than mN||mN stacking and charged N||mN exhibit strongest stacking among all dimers. This indicates that methylations greatly enhance stacking when dispersed in RNA sequences containing identical bases. Comparison of stacks involving singly- and doubly-methylated purines reveal that incremental methylation enhances the stacking in neutral dimers. Although methylation at the carbon position of neutral pyrimidine dimers greatly enhances the stacking, methylation on the 5-membered ring imparts better stacking compared to methylation on the 6-membered ring in adenine dimers. However, methylation at the ring nitrogen (N1 ) provides better stacking than the amino group (N2 ) in guanine dimers. Our results thus highlight subtle structural effects of methylation on RNA base stacking and will enhance our understanding of the physicochemical principles of RNA structure and dynamics.

High Temperature, High Cycle Fatigue Demeanor of 10wt% cr Steel and Unlike Metal Weld

The present study primarily focuses on understanding the high cycle fatigue behavior (HCF) of alloy 10wt%Cr Ferritic Steel and Dissimilar metal weld (DMW) joint between 617M and 10wt%Cr Ferritic Steel. For assessing the HCF behavior, tests were conducted under stress controlled cycling, by employing dissimilar stress ratios (R) and wide range of temperatures (300 K – 853 K). The S-N curves plotted at R= -1 and temperatures (300 K,673 K,853 K) for 10wt%Cr Ferritic Steel shows that fatigue life decreased with increase in stress amplitude. It is also observed that fatigue life of 10wt%Cr Ferritic Steel falls with increase in the temperature regardless of the stress amplitude, clearly showing the strong dependence of fatigue life on the temperature. An effort has been made to find out the fatigue parameters at 300 K and 853 K using Basquin equation. These fatigue parameters were used for life prediction, showed that predicted life is in good agreement with experimental life with in a scatter band of 2. At 853 K, Goodman diagram shows that limiting alternating stress decreases with increase in the mean stress. The results were linked with the detailed scanning electron microscope investigation where it is analyzed that at 300 K, the fatigue failure was by trans-granular mode, characterized by striations while at 673 K and 853 K, intergranular mode and strong oxidation is seen, thus lowering the life at said temperatures. The standard S-N behavior for DMW at R= -1 and at temperature of 853 K showed that the welding reduces the number of cycles to failure. Vicker’s hardness measurements show that there is softening in the 10wt%Cr side &amp; hardening in the butter layer resulting in failure of all non-defective samples on the 10wt%Cr side. HCF test was also showed on damaged samples at 230 MPa and 200 MPa, found, that crack initiates &amp; propagates near the damage at 230 MPa while at 200MPa crack initiates and propagates in the 10wt%Cr side irrespective of the damage.

Reconstructing the slip velocities of the 1202 and 1759 CE earthquakes based on faulted archaeological structures at Tell Ateret, Dead Sea Fault

Archaeological structures built across active faults and ruptured by earthquakes have been used as markers to measure the amount of displacement caused by ground motion and thus to estimate the magnitude of ancient earthquakes. The example used in this study is the Crusader fortress at Tel Ateret (Vadum Iacob) in the Jordan Gorge, north of the Sea of Galilee, a site which has been ruptured repeatedly since the Iron Age. We use detailed laser scans and discrete element models of the fortification walls to deduce the slip velocity during the earthquake. Further, we test whether the in-situ observed deformation pattern of the walls allows quantification of the amount both sides of the fault moved and whether post-seismic creep contributed to total displacement. The dynamic simulation of the reaction of the fortification wall to a variety of earthquake scenarios supports the hypothesis that the wall was ruptured by two earthquakes in 1202 and 1759 CE. For the first time, we can estimate the slip velocity during the earthquakes to 3 and 1 m/s for the two events, attribute the main motion to the Arabian plate with a mostly locked Sinai plate, and exclude significant creep contribution to the observed displacements of 1.25 and 0.5 m, respectively. Considering a minimum long-term slip rate at the site of 2.6 mm/year, there is a deficit of at least 1.6 m slip corresponding to a potential future magnitude 7.5 earthquake; if we assume ~5 mm/year geodetic rate, the deficit is even larger.

Evaluation of dual-ended readout GAGG-based DOI-PET detectors with different surface treatments.

Parallax error is a major issue in small animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanners which are used in preclinical studies or detailed scanning of human organs. Several methods have been proposed and investigated to reduce this radial artifact in PET images by estimating the depth of interaction (DOI) of 511-keV photons in the crystal. Among all, the dual-ended readout method seems to be very simple and effective as it does not have any fabrication and readout complications. In the past, some studies suggested that increasing the roughness of crystal lateral surfaces improves DOI resolution. In this paper, this was experimentally examined for four Ce:GAGG crystals with different surface structures. Four 1.2×1.2×20mm3 GAGG crystals with following surface treatment were examined: polished with optical finishing, fine grinding (using a fine surface grinding machine), fine cutting (no treatment), and coarse cutting (no treatment). These crystals were coupled individually to two SiPMs for dual-ended readout and placed in a coincidence detection circuit for electronic collimation of 511keV incidents. The crystals were compared in terms of energy response and DOI estimation capability. DOI function for each crystal was extracted and FWHM DOI resolution was calculated. DOI resolution for the polished crystal varied in the range of 0.54-4.14mm throughout the length of the crystal due to its nonlinear DOI function. The fine grinding crystal showed a linear DOI function within the dynamic range of (-0.75, 0.75), and its DOI resolution varied in the range of 1.24-1.50mm (1.37±0.13mm DOI resolution). The fine-cut crystal had almost a linear DOI function and a wider dynamic range of (-0.85, 0.85) and therefore the best performance with 1.2±0.08mm DOI resolution. However, for the crystal with the roughest surface (coarse-cut crystal), even though the dynamic range expanded to (-0.95, 0.95), its DOI function became nonlinear resulting in 1.24±0.28mm DOI resolution. This means there is an optimum surface roughness to provide the crystal with the best DOI capability. The pulse-height spectrum measured at each depth was used as a measure to compare the energy performance of the four crystals. The photopeak of 511keV was observed for all depths, all crystals. The photopeak position for the coarse-cut crystal had extensive depth dependency which results in poorer energy resolution unless the energy window is calibrated for each depth. This variation of photopeak for the fine-cut and fine grinding crystals was comparable with that of polished crystal. This paper reports 1.2±0.08mm FWHM DOI resolution for a fine-cut unpolished crystal. This resolution is as narrow as the crystal width, resulting in the complete elimination of parallax error in PET images. Results suggest that there is an optimum roughness for the best performance of the dual-ended method and further increase in the roughness, degrades DOI resolution. Thanks to the high light yield of GAGG, the energy performance of the fine-cut crystal is acceptable, and the depth dependency of the spectrum is negligible.

Incidental discovery of Amyand's hernia in an adult female: A case report.

Introduction and importanceAmyand's hernia is a rare type of inguinal hernia with an incidence of about 0.1% of all inguinal hernias with most in occurring in childhood. It is characterized by the presence of the vermiform appendix within the hernia sac.Case presentationWe report the case of 40-year-old female who underwent inguino-labial hernia repair with an incidental finding of a normal appendix within the sac; this was not predicted by the pre-operative ultrasound scan.Clinical discussionWe recommend that a detailed ultrasound scan be done for all patients with an inguinal hernia to help to manage the patient timeously and safely.ConclusionWe present a rare condition in a 40-year-old female with a right inguinal hernia, an Amyand's hernia.

1D charge density wave in the hidden order state of URu2Si2

Single crystals of URu2Si2 show below 17.5 K a transition into an ordered state with a significantly reduced entropy. The low temperature phase is called the hidden order (HO) state, because its microscopic origin is still unknown—there are no charge, structural or magnetic transitions associated to HO. Here we report a one-dimensional (1D) charge modulation within the HO state of URu2Si2. We perform detailed Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) experiments with high resolution on many atomically flat surfaces of URu2Si2 obtained by fracturing single crystals at cryogenic temperatures and find a 1D charge density wave with a large wavevector. We show that the 1D modulation is connected to the dynamical magnetic excitations of the HO through a moiré construction and appears as a consequence of excitations quenched through the interaction between the travelling fracture front and the dynamic modes of the crystal. The combination of fracture dynamics and the dynamics of the solid provides a method to create ground states and shows that charge interactions are among the most relevant features competing with HO in URu2Si2.

New ultrasound signs for prediction of early placental Insufficiency

Background: Chronic placental insufficiency is a common condition that affects fetal growth and wellbeing. The response of the fetus to such stress depends on time and degree of placental affection. The acute placental insufficiency rapidly affects the fetal movements, amount of liquor and might lead to fetal demise while the chronic placental insufficiency is more deciduous and affects fetal weight and develops fetal growth restriction more slowly. The prophylaxis against the development of chronic placental insufficiency is more effective to protect growth and avoid perinatal morbidities and moralities.Aim: Evaluation of 2 new ultrasound signs (tent like placenta and turbid liquor) to predict early placental insufficiencyMaterials and Methods: One hundred pregnant women with gestational age between 16 weeks till 28 weeks were included in the study. This cohort of women with singleton pregnancy was evaluated by detailed ultrasound scanning to document gestational age, amniotic fluid index, cerebroplacental ratio (CPR), exclusion of congenital anomalies and other routine ultrasound scanning items. This cohort was divided into two groups, group one was the group with placental tenting and/or turbid liquor while group two was the group with no evidence of placental tenting or turbid liquor.Results: Documentation of all relevant demographic data was done. The follow up was done every two weeks in all cases unless patients complained of decreased or absent fetal movement, passage of liquor, passage of blood. Spontaneous labour was allowed in primigravidae and elective cesarean section in Cases with previous c-section at completed 38 weeks of gestation was done unless one or more of the following signs had appeared that indicated the need for emergency delivery which were : abnormal low CPR less than 0.76, severe oligohydramnios, biophysical profile equal to or less than 4/8, abnormal cardiotocogram and fetal distress. The duration from the beginning of the study and documentation of the new studied signs in the placenta and turbid liquor till the development of placental insufficiency was calculated in weeks. All complications or adverse events were documented in both groups.Conclusions: Both new signs were associated with increased risk for development of chronic placental insufficiency and can be used as predictors for evaluation of all pregnant women in the second trimester.

Estimating Garment Patterns from Static Scan Data

AbstractThe acquisition of highly detailed static 3D scan data for people in clothing is becoming widely available. Since 3D scan data is given as a single mesh without semantic separation, in order to animate the data, it is necessary to model shape and deformation behaviour of individual body and garment parts. This paper presents a new method for generating simulation‐ready garment models from 3D static scan data of clothed humans. A key contribution of our method is a novel approach to segmenting garments by finding optimal boundaries between the skin and garment. Our boundary‐based garment segmentation method allows for stable and smooth separation of garments by using an implicit representation of the boundary and its optimization strategy. In addition, we present a novel framework to construct a 2D pattern from the segmented garment and place it around the body for a draping simulation. The effectiveness of our method is validated by generating garment patterns for a number of scan data.