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Functions of selenium are diverse as antioxidant, anti-inflammation, increased immunity, reduced cancer incidence, blocking tumor invasion and metastasis, and further clinical application as treatment with radiation and chemotherapy. These functions of selenium are mostly related to oxidation and reduction mechanisms of selenium metabolites. Hydrogen selenide from selenite, and methylselenol (MSeH) from Se-methylselenocyteine (MSeC) and methylseleninicacid (MSeA) are the most reactive metabolites produced reactive oxygen species (ROS); furthermore, these metabolites may involve in oxidizing sulfhydryl groups, including glutathione. Selenite also reacted with glutathione and produces hydrogen selenide via selenodiglutathione (SeDG), which induces cytotoxicity as cell apoptosis, ROS production, DNA damage, and adenosine-methionine methylation in the cellular nucleus. However, a more pronounced effect was shown in the subsequent treatment of sodium selenite with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. High doses of sodium selenite were effective to increase radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and further to reduce radiation side effects and drug resistance. In our study, advanced cancer patients can tolerate until 5000 μg of sodium selenite in combination with radiation and chemotherapy since the half-life of sodium selenite may be relatively short, and, further, selenium may accumulates more in cancer cells than that of normal cells, which may be toxic to the cancer cells. Further clinical studies of high amount sodium selenite are required to treat advanced cancer patients.

Background: Positive resection margins after conization or loop electrosurgical excision procedure (conization/LEEP) are associated with increased risks of recurrence or residual cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Herein, we investigated the long-term outcomes of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for incomplete excision of CIN3. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 73 patients treated with PDT between 2000 and 2011. Patients who underwent conization/LEEP before PDT within 6 months were included. The primary outcomes were the complete response (CR) rate after 1 year and human papillomavirus (HPV) eradication rate at 6 months after PDT. Results: A total of 34 patients with positive resection margins were finally enrolled. The median patient age was 33 years. Carcinoma in situ was diagnosed in 25 patients and CIN3 in 7 patients. The CR rate was 97.1% after 1 year. Except for one case of a persistent disease, there was no recurrence or newly developed disease during the median follow-up of 84 months (range, 12–224 months). The HPV eradication rate of PDT following conization/LEEP after 6 months was 96.9% (31/32). Photosensitivity was identified in five patients and cervical stenosis in one patient. Conclusions: In conclusion, PDT could be an effective therapeutic option for patients with a positive resection margin after conization/LEEP for CIN3. It could reduce the residual or recurrence rate of CIN lesions with tolerable adverse events.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic features of placental site trophoblastic tumors (PSTTs) in Korea.Methods/MaterialsTwenty patients given a diagnosis of PSTT in Korea (1990–2013) were evaluated retrospectively, including 14 patients identified through a literature review and 6 patients identified through a medical chart review of a single institution. The analysis included patient age, antecedent pregnancies, time since antecedent pregnancy, presenting symptoms, serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin level, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, treatment, outcome, and follow-up.ResultsThe mean age of the 20 patients was 32 years (range, 25–53 years). The antecedent pregnancies included 8 term pregnancies, 8 abortions, and 2 molar pregnancies. The time since the antecedent pregnancy was less than 1 year in 16 patients (80%). Nineteen patients (95%) presented with abnormal vaginal spotting or amenorrhea. Serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin levels ranged from normal to 13,480 mIU/mL, although most patients (80%) had a level less than 1000 mIU/mL. Seventeen patients (85%) presented with stage I disease. Ten patients (50%) underwent hysterectomy, and 14 patients (70%) were treated with chemotherapy with or without hysterectomy. In 11 evaluated patients, the median mitotic count index was 3.4 (0.4–10) per 10 high-power fields. The median follow-up time was 17 months (range, 1–68 months). There was no recurrence or death from disease.ConclusionsKorean patients with PSTT often have early-stage disease, which has a favorable prognosis even with fertility-preserving therapy. However, international studies are necessary to determine the optimal treatment and prognostic factors.

A cyclocopter is a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that has cycloidal blade systems that consist of several blades rotating about a horizontal axis. The cycloidal blade system allows changes in direction and magnitude of the generated thrust. This paper describes the design and experimental studies of a 110 kg cyclocopter having two cycloidal blade system rotors and one tail propeller rotor powered by a 300-cm3-class rotary engine. The tail rotor generates pitching motion and compensates for the torque generated by the front two rotors. The upward thrust direction of the tail rotor provides 10% of the lifting force. The design thrust of the cycloidal blade system rotor is estimated in analytical and numerical analyses. An accurate analytical aerodynamic model is developed. The analytically estimated results have a trend similar to that of computational fluid dynamics analysis. Both analysis results match well with the results of a ground test. The onboard flight control computer system has two embed...

A methodology for determining the design allowables of composite laminates by using lamina level test data and finite element analysis (FEA) is proposed and verified in this paper. An existing method that yields the laminate design allowables by using the complete test results for laminates was improved to reduce the expensive and time-consuming tests. Input property samples for FEA were generated after considering the statistical distribution characteristics of lamina level test data. , and design allowables were derived from several FEA analyses of laminates. To apply and verify the proposed method, Hexcel 8552 IM7 test data were used. For both un-notched and open-hole laminate configurations, it was found that the design allowables obtained from the analysis correctly predicted the laminate test data within the confidence interval. The potential of the present simulation to substitute the laminate tests was demonstrated well.

Handling constantly evolving configurations of aircraft can be inefficient and frustrating to design engineers, especially true in the early design phase when many design parameters are changeable throughout trade-off studies. In this paper, a physics-based design framework using parametric modeling is introduced, which is designated as DIAMOND/AIRCRAFT and developed for structural design of transport aircraft in the conceptual and preliminary design phase. DIAMOND/AIRCRAFT can relieve the burden of labor-intensive and time-consuming configuration changes with powerful parametric modeling techniques that can manipulate ever-changing geometric parameters for external layout of design alternatives. Furthermore, the design framework is capable of generating FE model in an automated fashion based on the internal structural layout, basically a set of design parameters describing the structural members in terms of their physical properties such as location, spacing and quantities. The design framework performs structural sizing using the FE model including both primary and secondary structural levels. This physics-based approach improves the accuracy of weight estimation significantly as compared with empirical methods. In this study, combining a physics-based model with parameter modeling techniques delivers a high-fidelity design framework, remarkably expediting otherwise slow and tedious design process of the early design phase.

Safety is the first priority in civil aviation, and so the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has introduced and mandated the use of Safety Management Systems (SMS) by airlines, airports, air traffic services, aircraft maintenance organizations, and training organizations. The aircraft manufacturing industry is the last for which ICAO has mandated the implementation of SMS. Since SMS is a somewhat newer approach for most manufacturers in the aviation industry, they hardly believe in the value of implementing SMS. The management of safety risk characteristics that occur during early aircraft development stages and the systematic linkage that the safety risk has to do with an aircraft in service could have a significant influence on the safe operation and life cycle of the aircraft. This paper conducts a case analysis of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 accident/incident to identify the root causes and safety risk levels, and also verified why aircraft manufacturing industry should begin to adopt SMS in order to prevent aircraft accident.

Background and Objective We aimed to evaluate responses to photodynamic therapy (PDT) and its long-term efficacy in preserving normal anatomy and function in women with premalignant lesions of the lower genital tract. Study Design/Materials and Methods Fifteen patients received PDT for vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN), vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia (VAIN), or vulvar Paget's disease between January 2003 and December 2013. Patients underwent colposcopy and/or vulvoscopy for assessment of lesions. Surface photoillumination with a 630-nm red laser light was applied to the lesions 48 hours after intravenous injection of 2 mg/kg photosensitizer (PSZ; Photogem®). The light dose to the lesions was 150 J/cm2. Results The median age of the 15 patients (VIN II: 3, VIN III: 4, VAIN II: 2, VAIN III: 3, Paget's disease: 3) was 42.3 years. The complete response (CR) rate was 80% (12/15) at the 3-month follow-up and 71.4% (10/14) at the 1-year follow-up. There were two cases of persistent disease at the 3-month follow-up. One patient with persistent disease underwent partial vulvectomy three times for repetitive recurrence, and the other received secondary PDT with topical 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) and subsequently showed no evidence of disease (NED). Another patient achieved 90% remission through a combination of additional alternative treatments after showing partial response (PR). In two cases of CR, recurrence was observed at the 1-year follow-up. Regarding adverse events, photosensitivity reactions such as facial edema and urticaria occurred in 13.3% (2/15) and perineal pain occurred in one patient. Conclusions PDT may be an effective alternative treatment for premalignant lesions of the female lower genital tract to preserve normal anatomy and sexual function without therapeutic impairment. Lasers Surg. Med. 47:566–570, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In this paper, predictions of the tensile strength of carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate composites are attempted using an improved continuum damage mechanics model with emphasis on the material nonlinearity of the fiber, shear stiffness reductions, the damage contribution of matrix cracks in adjacent layers, and the statistical distribution of the fiber strength due to defects. The Weibull parameter to establish a continuum damage mechanics model was extended to five parameters to satisfy multiscale compatibility and interlamina effects. These five Weibull parameters, which serve as coefficients of a damage evolution function, were investigated by using a statistical model of progressive tensile fiber failure in a composite laminate. The Newton–Raphson method was utilized to formulate a damage-estimation method via a progressive failure analysis procedure. A continuum damage analysis based on the Matzenmiller–Lubliner–Taylor model was revised to add the statistical characteristics of the material strength. The proposed continuum damage mechanics method was also used to solve laminate tension problems with various stacking sequences. The verification test articles include 16- and 20-ply IM7/8552, AS4/8552, and T700/M015 carbon/epoxy composite laminate un-notched and open-hole tensile specimens. The strength prediction of each laminate specimen is presented.

Summary Background Vaginal radical trachelectomy (VRT) is the standard fertility preserving procedure for early stage cervical cancer patients. There have been reports in the literature, however, that VRT to be too radical procedure for early stage cervical cancer, as its post-operative obstetric morbidity was high. In this study, PDT with Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) or conization was investigated as a less radical fertility preserving treatment alternative to VRT for early stage cervical cancer patients. Methods We analyzed data of 21 patients with early stage cervical cancer (stages IA-IIA) who underwent PDT with LEEP/conization from 2003 to 2012. LEEP or conization was performed before PDT in every case. For patients in stage IB1 or above, only those who were confirmed to be free of malignancy in frozen section by pelvic lymph node dissection received PDT. Surface photoillumination with red laser light at a wavelength of 630 nm was applied to the cervix and the endocervical canal 48 h after intravenous injection of 2 mg/kg of photosensitizer. Results Median age of the 21 patients was 31 years old (range: 22–43), 19 patients (90.5%) of whom were nulliparous. Majority of the lesions were at stage IA1 (47.6%) or IB1 (42.9%). Histologically, 80.9% were squamous cell carcinoma. 5 patients (23.8%) had a lesion of 2 cm or larger in diameter. There was one recurrence (4.7%) and no death during 52.6 months (6–114 months). Of the 13 women who attempted to get pregnant, 10 (76.9%) women conceived a total of 11 pregnancies. The first and second trimester miscarriages were 2 and 1 respectively, and 7 (70%) of the pregnancies reached the third trimester, of which 5 delivered at term. No tumor-related deaths or PDT-related severe adverse effects were noted. Conclusion PDT combined with LEEP/conization could be an effective fertility sparing conservative treatment for young patients with early stage cervical cancer.

Objectives We investigated the response of oral cancer cells to intracellular invasion of Porphyromonas gingivalis to define changes in the biological characteristics of oral cancer cells evoked by the presence of oral pathogenic bacteria within a tumour microenvironment. Designs The proliferative activity, cell cycle, and autophagic response were evaluated in oral cancer cells infected with P. gingivalis 381. ROS generation was detected in these cells by DCFDA assay, and its role in the responses of oral cancer cells to P. gingivalis infection was further investigated. Resutls P. gingivalis inhibited proliferation of oral cancer cells by inducing G1 cell cycle arrest, but had no effect on apoptosis. Following infection with P. gingivalis, the expression of cyclin D1 and cdk4 was decreased in oral cancer cells, whereas p21, a Cdk inhibitor, was upregulated, in comparison with non-infected controls. Autophagy was prominently enhanced in these infected cells, presumably contributing to the suppressed proliferation. Further experiments revealed that such autophagic response was activated by the formation of reactive oxygen species, as evidenced by the lack of autophagic response and cell proliferation upon removal of reactive oxygen species. Conclusions These findings provide a novel insight into the mechanism by which cancer cells are influenced by tumour microenvironment including oral bacteria.

Numerical simulation for Resin Transfer Molding manufacturing process is attempted by using theeXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) combined with the level set method. XFEM allows to obtaining a goodnumerical precision of the pressure near the resin flow front, where its gradient is discontinuous. The enriched shapefunctions of XFEM are derived by using the level set values so as to correctly describe the interpolation with the resinflow front. In addition, the level set method is used to transport the resin flow front at each time step during themold filling. The level set values are calculated by an implicit characteristic Galerkin FEM. The multi-frontal solver ofIPSAP is adopted to solve the system. This work is validated by comparing the obtained results with analyticsolutions. Moreover, a localization method of XFEM and level set method is proposed to increase the computingefficiency. The computation domain is reduced to the small region near the resin flow front. Therefore, the totalcomputing time is strongly reduced by it. The efficiency test is made with a simple channel flow model. Severalapplication examples are analyzed to demonstrate ability of this method.초록

Objective To evaluate the response and efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with or without loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP)/conization (Cone) to preserve fertility in young patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) II and III. Methods We reviewed the medical records of patients with CIN who had been treated by PDT. Among a total of 73 patients who received PDT for CIN II/III between September 2000 and August 2011, 59 patients aged 40 or younger and who wished to preserve fertility were included. Patients were divided into four groups: group (I) only PDT without LEEP (n = 13), group (II) PDT combined with LEEP/Cone (n = 15), group (III) PDT due to positive LEEP/Cone margin (n = 25), group (IV) PDT for recurrent CIN after LEEP/Cone (n = 6). Surface photoillumination with red laser light at a wavelength of 630 nm was applied to the uterine cervix and endocervical canal of patients 48 hours after an intravenous injection of 2 mg/kg of photosensitizer. Results The median age of the 59 patients (CIN 2: 4, CIN 3: 22, carcinoma in situ: 31, adenocarcinoma in situ: 2) was 30.4 years. Twenty-two patients were unmarried and 38 were nulliparous. The complete remission (CR) rate was 98.1% (52/53) at 1 year follow-up except six patients followed up loss. The remaining one had recurred at 1 year after PDT, and one residual case at 3 months follow-up was regarded as CR showing NED after secondary PDT. Human papilloma virus (HPV) typing was performed. Before treatment HPV infection rate was 96.3% (52/54). HPV DNA could be no longer detected in 89.8% (44/49) and 87.0% (40/46) at 3 and 12 months after PDT. Among 29 patients who tried to be pregnant, 18 patients achieved 25 pregnancies (6 abortions, 1 ectopic, 1 preterm, 15 term, and 2 ongoing pregnancies.) There has been no fetal loss due to incompetent internal os of cervix. For adverse events, photosensitivity occurred in 13.6% (8/59) and cervical stenosis occurred in one patient. Conclusions PDT combined with or without LEEP/Cone may be a potential alternative for effective conservative treatment of CIN in young patients who wish to preserve fertility. Lasers Surg. Med. 45:564–572, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper considers the problem of ship hydroelasticity, which is an important technical issue in the design of ultra-large vessels. For the analysis of fluid-structure interaction problems, a partitioned method is applied. The fluid domain surrounding a flexible body is solved using a B-spline Rankine panel method, and the structural domain is handled with a three-dimensional finite element method. The two distinct methods are fully coupled in the time domain by using an implicit iterative scheme. The numerical results of natural frequency and the motion responses of simple and segmented barges are computed to validate the present method through comparisons with experimental and numerical results. This study extends to the application to two real ships, 6500 TEU and 10,000 TEU containerships, for more validation and also observation on the practicality of the present method. Based on this study, it is found that the present method provides reliable solutions to linear ship hydroelasticity problems.

International audience; Numerical simulation for resin transfer moulding manufacturing process is attempted using the extended finite element method combined with the level set method. The level set method is used to transport the resin flow front at each time step during the mould filling. Extended finite element method allows to obtaining a good numerical precision of the resin pressure near the resin flow front, where the gradient of the pressure could be discontinuous. The enriched shape functions of extended finite element method are derived using the level set values so as to correctly describe these shape functions with the resin flow front. In addition, the position of the resin flow front at each time step is calculated by an implicit characteristic Galerkin finite element method. Some examples are presented to validate our study in comparison with analytical or experimental results and to illustrate its industrial applications.

Thermal model reduction algorithms and techniques are introduced to condense a huge satellite panel thermal model into the simplified model on the purpose of calculating the thermal responses of a satellite on orbit. Guyan condensation algorithm with the substitution matrix manipulation is developed and the mathematical procedure is depicted step by step. A block-form LU decomposition method is also invited to compare the developed algorithm. The constructed reduced thermal model induced from the detailed model based on a real satellite panel is satisfying the correlation criterion of ±2

This paper discusses the parallelization of multifrontal solution method, widely used for finite element structural analyses, for a shared memory architecture. Multifrontal method is easier than other linear solution methods because the solution procedure implies that unknowns can be eliminated simultaneously. Two innovative ideas are introduced to achieve optimal solver performance on a shared memory computer. Those are pairing two frontal matrices and splitting the frontal matrix in order to reduce the temporal memory space required by independent computing tasks. Performance comparisons between original algorithm and proposed one prove that proposed method is more computationally efficient on current multicore machines.

In this paper, development of optimal design tools for wing structure is described including multi load spectra condition and fatigue analysis. Two dimensional CFD result are used for calculating aerodynamic force. Design variables are composed of a number of rib and spar, positions, and thickness of each structural member. The mission profile for fatigue analysis is composed based upon the results of CFD analysis, the flight-by-flight spectra method, the excessive curves for gust loads. Minor`s rule was used to deal with multi-load condition. Stress analysis and fatigue analysis are performed to calculate objective functions. Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO) algorithm was used to apply to problems which have dozens of design variables.

Dynamic buckling, also known as parametric resonance, is one of the dynamic instability phenomena which may lead to catastrophic failure of structures. It occurs when compressive dynamic loading is applied to the structures. Therefore it is essential to establish a reliable procedure to test and evaluate the dynamic buckling behaviors of structures, especially when the structure is designed to be utilized in compressive dynamic loading environment, such as supercavitating underwater vehicle. In the line of thought, a dynamic buckling test system is designed in this work. Using the test system, dynamic buckling tests including beam, plate, and stiffened plate are carried out, and the dynamic buckling characteristics of considered structures are investigated experimentally as well as theoretically and numerically.

This paper considers a fully coupled 3D BEM-FEM analysis for the ship structural hydroelasticity problem in waves. Fluid flows and structural responses are analyzed by using a 3D Rankine panel method and a 3D finite element method, respectively. The two methods are fully coupled in the time domain using a fixed-point iteration scheme, and a relaxation scheme is applied for improve convergence. In order to validate the developed method, numerical tests are carried out for a barge model. The computed natural frequency, motion responses, and time histories of stress are compared with the results of the beam-based hydroelasticity program, WISH-FLEX, which was thoroughly validated in previous studies. This study extends to a real-ship application, particularly the springing analysis for a 6500 TEU containership. Based on this study, it is found that the present method provides reliable solutions to the ship hydroelasticity problems.

Keyword queries have long been popular to search engines and to the information retrieval community and have recently gained momentum for its usage in the expert systems community. The conventional semantics for processing a user query is to find a set of top-k web pages such that each page contains all user keywords. Recently, this semantics has been extended to find a set of cohesively interconnected pages, each of which contains one of the query keywords scattered across these pages. The keyword query having the extended semantics (i.e., more than a list of keywords hyperlinked with each other) is referred to the graph query. In case of the graph query, all the query keywords may not be present on a single Web page. Thus, a set of Web pages with the corresponding hyperlinks need to be presented as the search result. The existing search systems reveal serious performance problem due to their failure to integrate information from multiple connected resources so that an efficient algorithm for keyword query over graph-structured data is proposed. It integrates information from multiple connected nodes of the graph and generates result trees with the occurrence of all the query keywords. We also investigate a ranking measure called graph ranking score (GRS) to evaluate the relevant graph results so that the score can generate a scalar value for keywords as well as for the topology.

The shape and size of a satellite adapter ring are optimized in this paper using particle swarm optimization and an in-house finite element program. For a realistic high-fidelity modeling of the adapter ring, a commercial preprocessor is used. However, optimization of a high-fidelity model inevitably involves longer computation time; therefore, parallelization is essential to shorten the total elapsed time. Furthermore, fitness evaluation time by the finite element simulation differs from case to case, which unavoidably causes idling of some of parallel computing resources. To overcome the inefficiency induced by the irregularities of individual fitness evaluation, an asynchronous parallel swarm algorithm is developed and applied to the structural optimization of the adapter ring with 19 design variables. The adapter ring’s total mass is reduced to 33.4 kg from 35.9 kg within 202 min. The asynchronous version also performs almost twice better compared with the synchronous one. The methodology proposed in this paper offers an attractive advantage for complex structural design, both in aspect of computational time and global search.

The supercavitating vehicle is an underwater vehicle that is surrounded almost completely by a supercavity to reduce hydrodynamic drag substantially. Since the cruise speed of the vehicle is much higher than that of conventional submarines, the drag force is huge and a buckling may occur. The buckling phenomenon is analyzed in this study through static and dynamic approaches. Critical buckling load and pressure as well as buckling mode shapes are calculated using static buckling analysis and a stability map is obtained from dynamic buckling analysis. When the finite element method (FEM) is used for the buckling analysis, the solver requires a linear static solver and an eigenvalue solver. In this study, these two solvers are integrated and a consolidated buckling analysis module is constructed. Furthermore, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is combined in the buckling analysis module to perform a design optimization computation of a simplified supercavitating vehicle. The simplified configuration includes cylindrical shell structure with three stiffeners. The target for the design optimization process is to minimize total weight while maintaining the given structure buckling-free.

Density-based outlier detection identifies an outlying observation with reference to the density of the surrounding space. In spite of the several advantages of density-based outlier detections, its computational complexity remains one of the major barriers to its application. The purpose of the present study is to reduce the computation time of LOF (Local Outlier Factor), a density-based outlier detection algorithm. The proposed method incorporates kd-tree indexing and an approximated k-nearest neighbors search algorithm (ANN). Theoretical analysis on the approximation of nearest neighbor search was conducted. A set of experiments was conducted to examine the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the method can effectively detect local outliers in a reduced computation time.

To prevent internal data leakage, database activity monitoring uses software agents to analyze protocol traffic over networks and to observe local database activities. However, the large size of data obtained from database activity monitoring has presented a significant barrier to effective monitoring and analysis of database activities. In this paper, we present database activity monitoring by means of a density-based outlier detection method and a commercial database activity monitoring solution. In order to provide efficient computing of outlier detection, we exploited a kd-tree index and an Approximated k-nearest neighbors (ANN) search method. By these means, the outlier computation time could be significantly reduced. The proposed methodology was successfully applied to a very large log dataset collected from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The results showed that the proposed method can effectively detect outliers of database activities in a shorter computation time.

Background We evaluated the efficacy and feasibility of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) using paclitaxel as consolidation therapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods Between November 1999 and January 2004, 18 patients with a negative second-look and 1 patient with positive peritoneal cytology only with stage Ic–IIIc epithelial ovarian cancer received consolidation intra-operative HIPEC using paclitaxel. The HIPEC was performed with open-abdomen technique, using 6 L of lactated Ringer's solution containing paclitaxel 175 mg/m2, for 90 min in hyperthermic phase (43–44°C). The survival rates were compared with 24 patients treated with conventional therapy (control group). Results The 8-year progression-free survival rates were 63.16% in the HIPEC-paclitaxel group and 29.17% in the control group (P = 0.027). The 8-year overall survival rates were 84.21% in the HIPEC-paclitaxel group and 25.00% in the control group (P = 0.0004). The time interval between initial treatment and HIPEC was statistically significant with respect to progression-free and overall survival in the HIPEC-paclitaxel group. Conclusion HIPEC with paclitaxel during 2nd-look laparotomy is feasible and relatively safe and showed a good effect on survival. In patients with epithelial ovarian cancer who have a complete pathologic response, HIPEC with paclitaxel should be considered as a consolidation treatment option. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010;101:149–155. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

This paper investigates an advanced vertical axis turbine to enhance power generation from water energy. The turbine, known as a cycloidal water turbine, is a straight-bladed type adopting a cycloidal blade system that actively controls the rotor blades for improved turbine efficiency, according to the operating conditions. These characteristics enable the turbine to self-start and produce high electric power at a low flow speed, or under complex flow conditions. A parametric study has been carried out by CFD analysis, with various characteristics including different number of blades, chord length variations, variety of tip speed ratios, various hydrofoil shapes, and changing pitch and phase angles. Optimal parameters have been determined, and the performance of the turbine has achieved approximately 70% better performance than that of a fixed pitch turbine. An experimental study has also been carried out which shows that the results correlate quite well with the theoretical predictions although the power output was reduced due to the drag forces of the mechanical devices. Another numerical optimization was carried out to improve the rotor performance by adopting an individual blade control method. Controllable pitch angles were employed to maximize the rotor performance at various operating conditions. The optimized result obtained using genetic algorithm and parallel computing, shows an improvement in performance of around 25% compared with the cycloidal motion.

The emerging grid computing technologies are aimed at the creation of virtual supercomputers to conduct huge scale scientific computations by harvesting computing resources on the Internet. This paper introduces a grid-enabled implementation of an optimization program for large-scale optimization problems requiring high-cost, black-box objective function evaluations. Adopting grid computing can be particularly beneficial for building surrogates such as response surfaces and carrying out large-scale optimizations using stochastic optimization algorithms. However, several problems have to be resolved for effective utilization of grid resources because of heterogeneity in computer capacity among grid resources and limited network conditions inherent in grid systems. This paper identifies some of the problems and introduces algorithms to effectively carry out large-scale optimizations on a grid. Specifically, asynchronous genetic and particle swarm optimization algorithms are developed for grid computing environments. The performance and characteristics of the grid-enabled implementations are assessed via extensive numerical tests. Finally, structural design based on high-fidelity simulations is carried out using the proposed algorithm in a computing grid system.