Thin Legs Research Articles

Complex Impedance and Equivalent Bolometer Analysis of a Low Noise Bolometer for SAFARI

Transition-edge-sensor (TES) bolometers are the chosen detector technology for the SAFARI Imaging Spectrometer on the SPICA telescope. For this mission, SRON is developing bolometers, each consisting of a TiAu TES that is weakly coupled to the thermal bath through thin legs of silicon nitride. In order to understand and optimize the bolometer and to verify our detector models, we characterize the devices using a series of complex impedance measurements. We apply equivalent bolometer analysis (EBA) in combination with model fitting to these data. From this analysis, we obtain important parameters that give us confidence in our understating of the response and noise of these sensitive detectors.

Thermoelectric Thin Film Device of Cross-Plane Configuration Processed by Electrodeposition and Flip-Chip Bonding

Using electrodeposition and flip-chip bonding, a cross-plane thin film device consisting of 242 pairs of the electrodeposited n-type Bi–Te and p-type Sb–Te thin film legs was successfully fabricated. The electrodeposited Bi–Te films with the thickness of 2.5–20.2 µm exhibited the Seebeck coefficients of −52 to −59 µV/K and the power factors of 5.5–5.1 × 10−4 W/m·K2. While the Seebeck coefficient of the Sb–Te film varied from 276 to 485 µV/K, the power factor was changed from 81 × 10−4 to 50 × 10−4 W/m·K2 with increasing the film thickness from 2.2 to 20.5 µm. The internal resistance of the thin film device consisting of 242 pairs of the electrodeposited n–p thin film legs was measured as 3.7 KΩ. The open-circuit voltage and the maximum output power of the thin film device were 0.294 V and 5.9 µW, respectively, with the temperature difference of 22.3 K across the hot and cold ends of the thin film device.

From Life on Earth

from Life on Earth Wei An (bio) Translated by Thomas Moran (bio) Translator's Note Recently, Wei An's sister and brother took me to see his apartment, in the Beijing suburb of Changping. With us were three of Wei An's friends: his college classmate Zhou Xinjing, the poet Shu Cai, and the novelist Ning Ken. Wei An's basketball, camera, and canvas traveling bag are still hanging inside the front door, and his study is just as he left it when he died in 1999. On the bookshelves are Chinese translations of the foreign writers he admired, and in a box on a bottom shelf are his manuscripts. Between 1988 and 1995, he wrote seventy-five brief meditations on the things that he observed and cared about. Wei An wrote sparingly, and he wrote slowly. His meticulous self-editing was one of the qualities that puzzled and charmed his friends. Those with me that day reminisced, agreeing that he was sincere and unspoiled. Ning Ken recollected going swimming with him at a reservoir that they called, with great satisfaction, their own Walden Pond. In the winter of 1986, Wei An read Xu Chi's translation of Walden, and the book changed his life. He discovered what he called Thoreau's "free, unrestrained, simple and open" organic style, and began composing in prose that, like Thoreau's, was poetic. He said the middle way fit him. As an American, I have an impulse to regard him as a naturalist, but his work resists this. For Wei An, the essence of Thoreau was not a "return to nature" but rather the "completion of man." Having grown up in the age of irony, I sometimes find it difficult to translate the unguarded expression of emotion and the direct discussion of truth, beauty, and goodness that are Wei An's idioms. His work reminds me, however, that our engagement with nature must necessarily be both romantic and scientific, and that the two cannot—or at least should not—be separated. 23 Bird trappers get going before first light and arrive in an orchard before the birds start flying. They set up three big nets in a triangle around a fruit tree. [End Page 56] On the tree's branches, they hang caged birds they have brought, and then hide themselves to wait. The bird trappers call the caged birds "decoys," and the decoys are there for their calls. Inside their cages the decoys turn around and around. Whenever they see wild birds flying by, the decoys flap their wings and call anxiously. Their miserable, sad cries make the wild birds turn back. Some of the wild birds hit the nets, others land in trees outside the nets, but after a while they too are drawn toward the cages. When the wild birds strike the nets, they fall down like leaves from a tree. The Chinese painter and essayist Feng Zikai wrote that the old sheep used by shepherds to lead the flock to the slaughterhouse is considered a traitor to sheepkind. I will not say that the decoys are traitors to aviankind. Words like "traitor" should be used only in reference to humans. 34 I stumbled upon a beautiful spider in a northern woodlot. Its web was strung between two trees and was built from several parallel circular threads linked together by a few seemingly random radial threads. It was a big spider, with long, thin legs. Its body was unusually striking—light green alternating with orange. When I first came across it, I felt that flash of strong fear that is unlike the fear caused by any of the earth's other scary creatures. The same colors that are considered beautiful on one thing are horrifying and frightening on another. 37 There is a particular kind of beetle that you find on trees-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), also known as stinky toon trees. It is small, spotted, and shaped like an elephant. Biologists call it the elephant beetle, but country kids call it Old Mr. Lock. It likes to attach itself to the bark of the tree-of-heaven, sometimes quite low to the ground where one can reach out and...

Obesity of Womens in Paleolithicum

Photos and/or copies of a hundred Paleolithic statues were observed. The photos were taken on frontal, lateral and back view. Among the 97 female idols studied, 24 were skinny (mainly young ladies); 15 normal weighed, while more than half of them (51) represents overweighed or very obese females, their breasts was also extremely large. The figurine analysis shows various types of obesity. Fat tissue deposition can be seen on the following places: belly only on 2 figurines; belly + hip on 10 statues; belly + gluteal + hip on 14 idols, belly + hip + gluteal+ femora on 24 statuettes and diffuse obesity on one Venus. Steatopygia could be detected on 7 idols, while these females are not particularly overweight and had reasonably thin waist and legs.

Obesity in the paleolithic era

Photos and/or copies of one hundred Upper Paleolithic (45,000-40,000 to 10,000 BP) statues were studied, the photos having been taken from the frontal, lateral and back view. Among the 97 female idols studied, 24 were skinny (mainly young women), 15 were of normal weight, while more than half of them (51) represented overweight or very obese females whose breasts were also extremely large. The figurine analysis revealed various types of obesity. Increased fat tissue deposition can be seen in the following body parts: belly only in 2 Venus figurines, belly + hip in 10, belly + gluteal + hip in 14, belly + hip + gluteal + femora in 24 and diffuse obesity in one. Steatopygia (derived from the Greek "steato" meaning fat, and "pygia" meaning buttocks and describing excessive fat of the buttocks) was observable in 7 idols, although these females were not particularly overweight and had a reasonably thin waist and legs. Only seven statues were in the state of advanced gravidity (pregnancy). The presence of such a small number of gravidity statuettes challenges the general view concerning Venus idols, namely, that they all represent female fertility.

Aumento das coxas com implantes de silicone

INTRODUÇÃO: O implante de silicone para correção do volume dos membros inferiores teve início em 1979, com contínuo aumento de solicitação de pacientes em busca da melhoria estética do volume das pernas. Temos utilizado sua aplicação também nas coxas desde 1986, inicialmente em pacientes com sequelas de poliomielite e, a partir de 1995, em pacientes hígidos, interessados na melhoria da forma e do volume das coxas. MÉTODO: Sessenta e oito pacientes de ambos os sexos foram submetidos a implante de silicone nas coxas a partir de 1986 até a presente data. Foram sistematizados procedimentos técnicos para implantes posicionados isoladamente nas regiões ântero-interna e lateral, ou mesmo em conjunto numa mesma paciente no sentido de se obter melhor contorno e volume destas regiões. Detalhes técnicos estão descritos nas suas minúcias para cada tipo de procedimento. RESULTADOS: Na sua maioria, estes pacientes têm sido acompanhados até a presente data, neste período de 15 anos, em que a reduzida incidência de cápsula clinicamente visível ou palpável, retirada de próteses e a ausência de extrusão têm compensado a sua indicação. CONCLUSÃO: Dada a baixa incidência de problemas secundários e a elevada qualidade estética a médio e longo prazo, tem havido contínuo aumento de pacientes que solicitam estes procedimentos.

Index of Suspicion * Case 1: Foot Deformities, Asymmetric Calf Muscles, and Frequent Falls in an 8-year-old Boy * Case 2: Seizures in a 5-month-old Boy Whose Mother Recently Emigrated From Honduras * Case 3: A Gradually Increasing Perianal Mass in a Teenage Girl

An 8-year-old boy presents with progressive bilateral foot deformities and asymmetric calf muscles of 1 year's duration. He states that he tires easily and falls frequently. He denies any pain, paresthesias, and bowel or bladder complaints. He attained his motor and social developmental milestones on time, although he had speech delay. During his speech evaluation, he was found to have bilateral hearing loss. His maternal grandfather developed gait difficulties early in life and became wheelchair-bound. In addition, he had foot deformities and thin legs. The boy's parents are asymptomatic. The boy's heart rate is 100 beats/min, respiratory rate is 16 breaths/min, blood pressure is 85/64 mm Hg, and head circumference is 52 cm. He is nondysmorphic. Neurologic examination reveals a normal mental status and normal cranial nerves II through XII, except for nerve VIII. He has normal strength in his upper extremities, but there is weakness of his ankle dorsiflexors bilaterally. This weakness is demonstrated again in gait testing because he is unable to walk on his heels, although he can walk on his tiptoes. The deep tendon reflexes are absent in his lower extremities but normal in his upper extremities. His touch, temperature, and pain sensations are normal, but vibration and position senses are absent in both feet. He has obvious atrophy of his left calf muscles compared with the right as well as hammer toes and high arches. The rest of the examination findings are normal. Radiographs of his feet show pes cavus deformity bilaterally. Additional evaluation reveals the diagnosis. A 5-month-old boy presents to the ED 3 hours after a shaking episode that lasted approximately 3 minutes and consisted of shaking of all extremities, generalized pallor, and perioral cyanosis. He does not have signs of upper respiratory tract infection, fever, or diarrhea; has no history of trauma; …

THERMOELECTRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THERMOPILE SENSORS PROCESSED WITH THE ELECTRODEPOSITED Bi–Te AND Sb–Te THIN FILMS

A thermopile sensor composed of 196 pairs of p–n thin film legs was processed on a glass substrate by using successive electrodeposition of the n-type Bi–Te and the p-type Sb–Te thin films. The 5.3-μm thick Bi–Te film, electrodeposited at a constant voltage of -50 mV in the 50-mM electrolyte with the Bi/(Bi + Te) mole ratio of 0.5, exhibited a Seebeck coefficient of -67 μV/K. The 5.2-μm thick Sb–Te film, electrodeposited at a constant voltage of 20 mV in the 70-mM solution with the Sb/(Sb + Te) mole ratio of 0.9, possessed a Seebeck coefficient of 63 μV/K. The thermopile sensor exhibited the sensitivities of 13.1 mV/K with temperature differences smaller than 9 K and of 27.3 mV/K with temperature differences larger than 9 K respectively, across the hot and cold ends.

Numerical Simulation of the Thermomechanical Behavior of Extruded Bismuth Telluride Alloy Module

Our research group developed over the past years a method to produce n- and p-type bismuth telluride alloys by mechanical alloying and powder extrusion. The resulting extruded rods possess a particular crystalline texture, which is advantageous for module fabrication processes but may have an impact on the stress distribution in modules under operating conditions. The reported mechanical strength of the extruded polycrystalline thermoelectric (TE) materials is larger than those of materials produced by directional solidification, allowing the fabrication of thinner TE modules in order to increase power densities. The stress arising from the resulting higher thermal gradients in thinner legs can eventually become greater than the TE material strength, which would limit further module thickness reduction. We present results of numerical simulations of TE modules behavior undertaken to evaluate the effect of leg lengths (1 mm, 500 μm, and 250 μm) on the stress level imposed by a given temperature difference that could cause their fracture. Different boundary conditions were imposed on the outer ceramic surfaces delimiting the module (e.g., both free or one anchored on a flat rigid surface). The boundary conditions and the mechanical strength of the soldering alloys are significant factors influencing the stress distribution in the TE alloy elements. We have also examined the effect of the crystalline texture of the extruded TE materials on the distribution and levels of stress, and found it to be marginal.

Pirates

Pirates Dennis L. Winston (bio) I the sails returned to the horizon, singing the waves for an audience of fish. the return to purity— to the brightness of surfaces. II from its crew of ants one crawls up the trunk on sturdy thin legs to tighten cotton, and reimagine the wind— challenging vertigo with an easy step. III as the ship turns on its tide there is undeniable symmetry in the union of blues. [End Page 162] Dennis L. Winston Dennis L. Winston, a native of North Carolina, is studying for the Ph. D. degree in English at Texas A&M University in College Station. Copyright © 2009 Charles H. Rowell

Status of the Ghost spider genus Wulfila in Kansas

Members of the hunting spider genus Wulfila 0. P.-Cambridge (Aranea: Anyphaenidae) can be recognized immediately by their pale coloration, slight build, and extremely long, thin legs. The first pair of legs are at least two times the length of the body (Fig. 1). Six of the approximately fifty species in this tropical genus have been found in the continental United States (Platnick 1975). Most species in this genus have been rarely encountered and not much is known concerning their natural history (Dondale and Redner 1982).

Esthetic correction of lower leg asymmetries, calf augmentation-plasty

This paper describes a method of calf augmentation by using gel-filled implants to correct thin or asymmetrical legs. The implants are placed over both heads of the gastrocnemius muscle beneath the fascia cruris superficialis. In order to simplify Glitzenstein's procedure, modified implants were developed by the author. In over 30 cases, this technique gave encouraging results.

Humpty in Our Hands

Humpty in Our Hands Christina Hutchins (bio) Humpty in Our Hands I I was part sky. From a height of seven metres, my songs rained into the village. From eight royal yards, my baritone cascaded the castle. I watched the world to its visible edge. From both sides of the wall I was known. Some days I faced one way, some the other: flinging my legs over the width, with the momentum I spun on my axis to dangle on the sunny side. [End Page 169] The far side became this side, these faces. I longed for touch. Twenty-four blackbirds once perched close, yellow feet clung rough to the stones. Almost, I could stroke their fiery backs— When they drifted down to yank castle yardworms from the morning grass, a maid snatched them one by one with bare hands. The king was in the counting house. Those birds, they would not stop. Their voices rang round and round my head. I wanted to last like that. As they sifted down the light, their black wings flashed crimson— Once, II I stood up on my thin legs. On heels made for lightly banging the shins of rocks, I placed the weight of my own becoming. Balanced on a parapet, cool stone succored the soles of my feet. Glimpsing my face in the moat, so tiny, so far from myself and clear (a windless day, the water neither ruffled nor whispered), maybe I wanted what I saw. Maybe it was that day I leaned too— III Or. Maybe it was the day I saw a woman reading a book. Like the courtyard sun over her shoulder, through the intervening air, I read with her. Her musical fingers flipped quiet paper. A shadow came over, and the text disappeared. The shadow solid, her own soft shoulder, her wild head—I wanted [End Page 170] to turn the page. Her body alongside mine. Wanted red-flecked wings— IV Or was it that humid day and my glasses. Without them I can’t see the roofs of the barns. My glasses, first reach when I wake. Moisture, breath, rubbing them to clarity, when they leapt from my grasp, I lunged after— V I didn’t really believe death. I knew so little of effort, my own or anyone else’s. Was love an array, the pieces I saw from my wall? Gangs of birds, servants through the scullery window, broken leaves walking this way and that, bunching in purgatory corners and floating yellow flags on moat’s dark. Fragment and trajectory, unavoidable dissolution everywhere, the wall was dusty in the flat places. My knees began to ache. In the moat, water snakes rose and thrashed. In the kitchen, cook cracked an egg. The metal rim of the mixing bowl rang a joy knell— Was it then? Or. That other time, answering a letter. At the crucial word, my pen ran out of ink. I reached for the borrowed one, handed up with a pole, and— The fork ran away with the spoon, and Mr. Humpty gained his second name. The wheelbarrow, scoop, the bin. All night [End Page 171] we worked and to no avail. I lost my taste for shatterings. A shard in my pocket, I dared leave the king’s army. VI Swinging, I was swinging my feet. Maybe it was laughter that made me. Careless. Or rage. Maybe determined, I flung myself down. Maybe it was all procrastination and I should have let go long ago— The horses hooves. Too much, the clatter. But those sad, gentle soldiers, all their hands! Christina Hutchins Christina Hutchins has won the Montalvo Biennial Poetry Prize and two Barbara Deming Awards. Her work appears in the New Republic, the Southern Review, the Antioch Review, Denver Quarterly, Sycamore Review, and Prairie Schooner. Copyright © 2008 University of Nebraska Press

Superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor Bolometers with Integrated Electron-tunneling Refrigerators

We discuss the development of an array of superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers intended for use at millimeter wavelengths. Each bolometer in the array uses a proximity-effect TES sensing element and each has integrated Normal-Insulator-Superconductor (NIS) refrigerators to cool the bolometer below the reference bath temperature. The NIS refrigerators and bolometers are fabricated on a single Silicon substrate. Four short, thin and narrow legs suspend the millimeter wavelength radiation-absorbing element. The leg geometry is used to control and optimize the thermal conductance of the bolometer. Using the technology developed at NIST, we fabricated NIS refrigerators at the base of each of the suspension legs. These NIS refrigerators remove hot electrons by quantum-mechanical tunneling and should be capable of reducing the temperature of the biased (∼10 pW) bolometers by more than 100 mK when operating from a local thermal reservoir provided by a 3He system at ∼300 mK. This lower temperature at the bolometer will allow the detectors to approach background-limited performance despite the simple cryogenic system. In this paper we describe the progress toward the development of these detectors designed for use in observations at the 100 m Green Bank Telescope at 3 mm wavelength and the results of laboratory tests of a prototype detector.

Towards Understanding Why a Superhydrophobic Coating Is Needed by Water Striders

have discovered that the legsof water striders have superhydrophobic coatings that bearhierarchical structures of many oriented tiny hairs with finenanogrooves. The superhydrophobic coatings were believedto be responsible for the water striders’ floating. However,since many other kinds of insects, such as mosquitoes, canfloat on the water surface with only normal hydrophobic coat-ings, it is not clear why superhydrophobic coatings are re-quired for the water strider’s legs. In the work reported here,using gold threads that are modified with normal hydrophobicor superhydrophobic coatings as model systems, we studied towhat extent the hydrophobicity contributes to the goldthread’s floating and movement on the water surface. In addi-tion, combining experimental results and theoretical forceanalysis, we report, for the first time, that deformation of thegold thread contributes to the total supporting force of thewater on the floating gold thread. For easily deformedfloatingobjects, such as very thin gold threads or legs of water striders,the contribution of deformation is significant compared to theother components of the supporting force. Our results suggestthat the superhydrophobiccoating of a water strider’s legs cannot only provide a larger supporting force, but also help to de-crease the insect’s total density beneath the water surface andallow it to move faster on the water surface. Therefore thesuperhydrophobic coating is indispensable, although the nor-mal hydrophobic coating provides enough supporting forcefor the water strider merely to float. We anticipate that ourresults provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism ofaquatic insects’ floating, and hope that it may lead to furtherresearch on drag-reducing materials and rapid underwatermotion.In an attempt to understand why a surperhydrophobic sur-face is needed by water striders, we modified gold threadswith superhydrophobic coatings (contact angle >150°) ornormally hydrophobic coatings (contact angle ≈110°).

Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works], vol. 7, book 1: Zhurnal puteshestviia: Dnevnik 1901-1903. Istoriia moei dushi [Record of a Journey: Diary, 1901-3. The Story of My Soul], and: O Makse, o Koktebele, o sebe: Vospominaniia. Pis´ma [On Max, Koktebel´, and Myself: Memoirs. Letters], and: Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle: Culture and Survival in Revolutionary Times (review)

Reviewed by: Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works], vol. 7, book 1: Zhurnal puteshestviia: Dnevnik 1901–1903. Istoriia moei dushi [Record of a Journey: Diary, 1901–3. The Story of My Soul], and: O Makse, o Koktebele, o sebe: Vospominaniia. Pis´ma [On Max, Koktebel´, and Myself: Memoirs. Letters], and: Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle: Culture and Survival in Revolutionary Times Galina S. Rylkova Maksimilian Voloshin , Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works], vol. 7, book 1: Zhurnal puteshestviia: Dnevnik 1901–1903. Istoriia moei dushi [Record of a Journey: Diary, 1901–3. The Story of My Soul], ed. V. P. Kupchenko, A. V. Lavrov, and R. P. Khruleva . 542 pp. Moscow: Ellis Lak 2000, 2006. ISBN 5902152070. Mariia Stepanovna Voloshina , O Makse, o Koktebele, o sebe: Vospominaniia. Pis´ma [On Max, Koktebel´, and Myself: Memoirs. Letters], ed. Vladimir Petrovich Kupchenko . 368 pp. Feodosiia: Koktebel´, 2003. ISBN 594230058. Barbara Walker , Maximilian Voloshin and the Russian Literary Circle: Culture and Survival in Revolutionary Times. xiv + 236 pp. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. ISBN 025334431X. $39.95. "About 300 years ago, the courts of European monarchs boasted artificial dwarves. A child would be placed inside a foreshortened porcelain barrel with a hole in its bottom and kept there for several years. Then the barrel would be broken and an unnaturally fat, squat little freak on thin legs would crawl out of the porcelain debris. If such a dwarf were given Zeus's head with its curly hair and luxurious beard, you would get Max Voloshin."1 This sarcastic comment comes from Boris Sadovskoi's recollection of his immediate impressions of the poet in the late 1800s. At the time, Sadovskoi (an intimate friend of Vladislav Khodasevich and a talented man of letters in his own right) was unaware that he himself was soon to become a cripple, spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair in sheer agony. Nor did he know that Voloshin would merit scholarly biographies (including the one under review), books of memoirs, an exquisite non-feature film Golosa (Voices, 1997) by Andrei Osipov, annual literary competitions in his honor, and a voluminous edition of his collected works, thus eclipsing many of his illustrious [End Page 201] peers in popularity and attention in 21st-century Russia.2 It would not be an exaggeration to say that in the 2000s, Maximilian Voloshin (1877–1932) is as popular with the students of culture and readers at large as were Vladimir Nabokov and Mikhail Kuzmin in the 1990s, Akhmatova in the 1980s, and Mikhail Bulgakov in the 1960s. "If [Voloshin] is little known outside Russia, even among intellectuals and scholars familiar with the region, that is because we outsiders do not really understand his world," the cultural historian Barbara Walker explains in her illuminating and well-researched book (2). An original poet, perceptive art critic, and imaginative painter of Crimean landscapes, until recently Voloshin was remembered primarily as Marina Tsvetaeva's guardian angel whom she celebrated in "Zhivoe o zhivom" (A Living Thing about a Living Person), a fervent commemorative essay written shortly after Voloshin's death in 1932. In his lifetime, Voloshin "was more famous than well known." "I cannot think of a more tempting subject for a biographical novel," the art critic Erikh Gollerbakh claimed in 1934.3 Walker's timely book is neither a biographical novel, however, nor a literary biography in the conventional understanding of this genre. "Rather, it addresses a set of interlinked questions pertaining to the culture and society of the literary intelligentsia" "at a vital moment in its development," that is, "during the years of transition from the Imperial polity to the Soviet one" (3, 2). Although Tsvetaeva's recollections undoubtedly provided inspiration and an impetus for Walker's research, her treatment of the subject is radically different from that of Tsvetaeva. While the latter lays claim to a unique bond with Voloshin, founded on their affinity and Voloshin's unbounded generosity ("I can say that he loved poems exactly as I did, that is, as if he himself were incapable of writing any poetry, with the whole strength of an unrequited love for a power beyond reach"),4 Walker, in a sense, strips this lasting relationship of...

Early fetal akinesia deformation sequence: A case report with unusual autoptic features

In this paper we report a case of early onset fetal akinesia, with unusual pathological findings. This is a product of medical abortion of young, healthy, unrelated parents. The mother's obstetrical history revealed two previous early miscarriages and a suspicion of FADS in the second previous gestation. At 17 weeks of gestation, an ultrasound examination disclosed absence of fetal movements, fixed extended knees and deformation of the feet. Amniocentesis showed a normal 46, XX karyotype. Hydrops fetalis and multiple skin webs (pterygia), which are usually present in cases of early fetal akinesia, were absent. A diagnosis of arthrogryposis was made and the pregnancy was terminated at 17 weeks of gestation. Postmortem examination was performed according to the necropsy technique suggested by Langley. Thus, body weight and external measurement, including crown-rump, crown-heel, foot lengths, head, thorax and abdominal circumferences were estimated and compared with standard values for assessment of fetal growth. External dysmorphic features were evaluated prior to the evisceration. On internal examination the location and shape of every organ was evaluated. Every organ, skin, muscles from different parts of the body, the brain and spinal cord were sampled and histologically examined. External examination revealed a female fetus with marked muscular hypoplasia of upper and lower extremities with thin arms and legs and multiple joint contractures of lower extremities. The face showed a flattened nose, micrognatia, hypertelorism, cleft palate and low-set ears. There was also a small nuchal fold. The abdomen was distended with a very thin and almost transparent wall. Histologically, muscles were characterized by severe fibrosis with fatty infiltration and by moderate variability in diameter of muscle fibers. The spinal cord disclosed a paucity of anterior horn motor neurons. We suggest multiple pterygium as a diagnosis. Lethal multiple pterygium syndrome (LMPS) is only a symptom and the precise diagnosis is more likely to be spinal atrophy. We, moreover believe that the paucity of spinal motoneurons could be due to the anomalies of programmed death during fetal development and the consequence of genetic defects.

Lower Cretaceous: the next target for oil exploration in the Barents Sea?

During the early days of exploration in the southwestern Barents Sea, Lower Cretaceous wedges and mounds were identified on seismic data along the margins of the Hammerfest Basin above rotated Jurassic fault blocks. They were ranked as secondary targets after the giant Jurassic closures in the central part of the basin. Drilling of the latter proved the Snøhvit area gas fields and Snøhvit’s thin oil leg. However, the majority of the wells drilled in the Hammerfest Basin have oil shows in Lower Cretaceous strata. Even the claystones in the most basinal part have oil shows, interpreted by the industry to be remnants of oil leaked from Jurassic reservoirs to the surface. Lower Cretaceous sandstones have also been drilled along the Troms–Finnmark Platform, Loppa High and Senja Ridge, where almost all wells have oil shows. Three wells drilled along the southern margin of the Loppa High have even proved small amounts of oil ranging from 31° API to 38° API and the westernmost well, 7120/1-2, is ranked as an oil discovery. Thick (123–157m) massive sandstones of Valanginian to Hauterivian age in wells 7120/1-2, 7122/2-1 and 7120/10-2 represent the reservoir analogues for a possible Lower Cretaceous oil giant. The Gamma gas discovery 7019/1-1 at the eastern margin of the Tromsø Basin could be an indication of such a giant. Lower Cretaceous sandstones were also the primary target for 7120/10-2. The reservoir sandstones were deposited as submarine fans and the drilled massive sandstones have good reservoir parameters.

From spit system to tide-dominated delta: integrated reservoir model of the Upper Jurassic Sognefjord Formation on the Troll West Field

The Troll Field in the Norwegian North Sea is one of the largest offshore gas fields in the world. Its western part contains a thin but exploitable oil leg (11–26 m) below the thick gas column, with the majority of the oil located in the late Jurassic Sognefjord Formation. The reservoir geology of the Troll Field was discussed in a few papers prior to production start-up in 1995, but a comprehensive account of the geological model of the Late Callovian – Late Oxfordian Sognefjord Formation has not as yet been published. The present paper reviews the depositional setting and architecture of this reservoir unit based on integration of results from disciplines such as sedimentology, seismic data analysis and stratigraphy. The Troll West reservoir formed on the edge of the Horda Platform during the Late Jurassic rift event; it consists of numerous stacked and generally offlapping sandstone units with intervening finer-grained deposits. The reservoir succession contains three composite sequences, of which the lower two belong to the Sognefjord Formation and the upper one is part of the Draupne Formation. Within this framework, five basic sequences and fifteen reservoir zones occur at the systems tract scale. The lower to middle parts of the studied succession reflect southwestwards growth and decay of a coastal spit system flanked to the east by a tidal backbasin. Brackish water facies have been identified in the eastern parts of the field through the use of detailed palynology. The extensive well database (including 15 cored production wells) and the high quality of the seismic data in the Troll area provide a unique opportunity to gain insight into the evolution of such a major spit-backbasin to tide-dominated deltaic system. A typical spit/strandplain progradation episode results in a clinoform succession comprising bioturbated sands of offshore transition origin overlain by lower shoreface sandstones which pass upward into clean, generally coarser-grained sands of upper shoreface and foreshore origin. The bases of such regressive sandbodies are often sharp, due to rapid facies translations during forced regression, but they may also be characterized by up to 40 m thick coarsening-upwards successions containing alternating siltstones and sandy event-beds generated by storm winnowing of the spit platform. Eastwards, these shallow-marine sandstone units finger into heterogeneous coastal plain deposits. On seismic data, this lateral transition is portrayed by the change from clinoform units in the west to undulatory seismic patterns in the east, as seen on maps based on classification of trace shape. A change in coastal morphology from wave- to tide-dominated took place in the Troll West area in the Late Oxfordian, perhaps related to an increase in tidal range. In the tidal facies tract, heterolithic inshore deposits formed in tidal channels and flats are replaced, in a seaward direction, by more sand-dominated high-energy tidal deposits such as mouth-bars and sand-ridge complexes. Further seawards, muddy shelf or prodelta deposits similar to those found in the wave-dominated facies tract are seen. In the Kimmeridgian, relative sea-level rise and eastward tilting of the Horda Platform caused reworking of the upper part of the Sognefjord Formation and localized hanging-wall shoreline sands formed as the uppermost reservoir intervals on Troll West.

Calf augmentation with supraperiostic solid prosthesis associated with fasciotomies.

This article describes, for the first time, the supraperiostic technique used for aesthetic purposes to remedy hemiatrophy, genu valgum, poliomyelitis sequela, and thin legs. For genu valgum and thin legs, a solid prosthesis was used, whereas for severe hemiatrophy a double light prosthesis was used as a tissue expansor, with excellent reports. The advantages of this technique are delineated further in this article.