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Future Technologies (future + technology)
Selected AbstractsA CRITICAL LOOK AT PAP ADEQUECY: ARE OUR CRITERIA SATISFACTORY?CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 2006D.R. Bolick Liquid based Pap (LBP) specimen adequacy is a highly documented, yet poorly understood cornerstone of our GYN cytology practice. Each day, as cytology professionals, we make adequacy assessments and seldom wonder how the criteria we use were established. Are the criteria appropriate? Are they safe? What is the scientific data that support them? Were they clinically and statistically tested or refined to achieve optimal patient care? In this presentation, we will take a fresh look at what we know about Pap specimen adequacy and challenge some of the core assumptions of our daily practice. LBP tests have a consistent, well-defined surface area for screening, facilitating the quantitative estimates of slide cellularity. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to establish reproducible adequacy standards that can be subjected to scientific scrutiny and rigorous statistical analysis. Capitalizing on this opportunity, the TBS2001 took the landmark step to define specimen adequacy quantitatively, and set the threshold for a satisfactory LBP at greater than 5,000 well visualized squamous epithelial cells. To date, few published studies have attempted to evaluate the validity or receiver operator characteristics for this threshold, define an optimal threshold for clinical utility or assess risks of detection failure in ,satisfactory' but relatively hypocellular Pap specimens. Five years of cumulative adequacy and cellularity data of prospectively collected Pap samples from the author's laboratory will be presented, which will serve as a foundation for a discussion on ,Pap failure'. A relationship between cellularity and detection of HSIL will be presented. Risk levels for Pap failure will be presented for Pap samples of different cellularities. The effect of different cellularity criterion on unsatisfactory Pap rates and Pap failure rates will be demonstrated. Results from this data set raise serious questions as to the safety of current TBS2001 adequacy guidelines and suggest that the risk of Pap failure in specimens with 5,000 to 20 000 squamous cells on the slide is significantly higher than those assumed by the current criteria. TBS2001 designated all LBP to have the same adequacy criterion. Up to this point, it has been assumed that ThinPrep, SurePath, or any other LBP would be sufficiently similar that they should have the same adequacy criteria. Data for squamous cellularity and other performance characteristics of ThinPrep and SurePath from the author's laboratory will be compared. Intriguing data involving the recently approved MonoPrep Pap Test will be reviewed. MonoPrep clinical trial data show the unexpected finding of a strong correlation between abundance of endocervical component and the detection of high-grade lesions, provoking an inquiry of a potential new role for a quantitative assessment of the transition zone component. The current science of LBP adequacy criteria is underdeveloped and does not appear to be founded on statistically valid methods. This condition calls us forward as a body of practitioners and scientists to rigorously explore, clarify and define the fundamental nature of cytology adequacy. As we forge this emerging science, we will improve diagnostic performance, guide the development of future technologies, and better serve the patients who give us their trust. Reference:, Birdsong GG: Pap smear adequacy: Is our understanding satisfactory? Diagn Cytopathol. 2001 Feb; 24(2): 79,81. [source] On the Future of Reanimatology,ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 1 2000Peter Safar MD Abstract: This article is adapted from a presentation given at the 1999 SAEM annual meeting by Dr. Peter Safar. Dr. Safar has been involved in resuscitation research for 44 years, and is a distinguished professor and past initiating chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the founder and director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh, and has been the research mentor of many critical care and emergency medicine research fellows. Here he presents a brief history of past accomplishments, recent findings, and future potentials for resuscitation research. Additional advances in resuscitation, from acute terminal states and clinical death, will build upon the lessons learned from the history of reanimatology, including optimal delivery by emergency medical services of already documented cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation, basic-advanced,prolonged life support, and future scientific breakthroughs. Current controversies, such as how to best educate the public in life-supporting first aid, how to restore normotensive spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest, how to rapidly induce mild hypothermia for cerebral protection, and how to minimize secondary insult after cerebral ischemia, are discussed, and must be resolved if advances are to be made. Dr. Safar also summarizes future technologies already under preliminary investigation, such as ultra-advanced life support for reversing prolonged cardiac arrest, extending the "golden hour" of shock tolerance, and suspended animation for delayed resuscitation. [source] Ab-initio simulations of materials using VASP: Density-functional theory and beyondJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 13 2008Jürgen Hafner Abstract During the past decade, computer simulations based on a quantum-mechanical description of the interactions between electrons and between electrons and atomic nuclei have developed an increasingly important impact on solid-state physics and chemistry and on materials science,promoting not only a deeper understanding, but also the possibility to contribute significantly to materials design for future technologies. This development is based on two important columns: (i) The improved description of electronic many-body effects within density-functional theory (DFT) and the upcoming post-DFT methods. (ii) The implementation of the new functionals and many-body techniques within highly efficient, stable, and versatile computer codes, which allow to exploit the potential of modern computer architectures. In this review, I discuss the implementation of various DFT functionals [local-density approximation (LDA), generalized gradient approximation (GGA), meta-GGA, hybrid functional mixing DFT, and exact (Hartree-Fock) exchange] and post-DFT approaches [DFT + U for strong electronic correlations in narrow bands, many-body perturbation theory (GW) for quasiparticle spectra, dynamical correlation effects via the adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem (AC-FDT)] in the Vienna ab initio simulation package VASP. VASP is a plane-wave all-electron code using the projector-augmented wave method to describe the electron-core interaction. The code uses fast iterative techniques for the diagonalization of the DFT Hamiltonian and allows to perform total-energy calculations and structural optimizations for systems with thousands of atoms and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations for ensembles with a few hundred atoms extending over several tens of ps. Applications in many different areas (structure and phase stability, mechanical and dynamical properties, liquids, glasses and quasicrystals, magnetism and magnetic nanostructures, semiconductors and insulators, surfaces, interfaces and thin films, chemical reactions, and catalysis) are reviewed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008 [source] High performance and high reliability AlGaN/GaN HEMTsPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 6 2009Toshihide Kikkawa Abstract In this paper, a current status and future technologies of high-power GaN HEMTs was described. First, commercialization roadmap was shown with output power and efficiency status. Power electronics benchmark was also introduced. Reliability improvement technologies were addressed with recent issues such as drift phenomena. Then, future requirements for expanding GaN electronics market were shown with some recent device developments. Novel E-mode recessed GaN-HEMT has been developed using the triple cap layer structure. High-k insulated gate HEMTs using Ta2O5 were also developed. Finally, we described the next generation GaN HEMTs for millimeter-wave applications. (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Nanostructured Carbon and Carbon Nanocomposites for Electrochemical Energy Storage ApplicationsCHEMSUSCHEM CHEMISTRY AND SUSTAINABILITY, ENERGY & MATERIALS, Issue 2 2010Sheng Su Abstract Electrochemical energy storage is one of the important technologies for a sustainable future of our society, in times of energy crisis. Lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors with their high energy or power densities, portability, and promising cycling life are the cores of future technologies. This Review describes some materials science aspects on nanocarbon-based materials for these applications. Nanostructuring (decreasing dimensions) and nanoarchitecturing (combining or assembling several nanometer-scale building blocks) are landmarks in the development of high-performance electrodes for with long cycle lifes and high safety. Numerous works reviewed herein have shown higher performances for such electrodes, but mostly give diverse values that show no converging tendency towards future development. The lack of knowledge about interface processes and defect dynamics of electrodes, as well as the missing cooperation between material scientists, electrochemists, and battery engineers, are reasons for the currently widespread trial-and-error strategy of experiments. A concerted action between all of these disciplines is a prerequisite for the future development of electrochemical energy storage devices. [source] | |||||||||||||