Refinement

High-energy ball milling is utilized in creating microstructural changes (such as change in lattice param- eter, lattice strain) within micro-ceria, which were quanti- fied using line profile analysis by X-ray diffraction. Crystallite size significantly decreased from 85 to 11 nm when subjected to 4 h of high-energy ball milling, and then remained same with increase in milling duration (up to 16 h of milling). Three different methods, namely Nelson– Riley function, Cohen’s method, and Pawley fitting, were used to calculate the lattice parameter and a lattice expansion from 5.4082 to 5.4147 A ̊ was observed for a duration of 0 up to 12 h. The effect of milling on genera- tion of residual strain and the probability of stacking fault in affecting the lattice parameter are delineated in the current work. Non-monotonic change of lattice parameter with saturation of crystallite size is attributed to the vacancy-induced stresses that generate at inter-crystallite regions and render excessive free volume during high-en- ergy ball milling.

Our weakly random additive preconditioners facilitate the solution of linear systems of equations and other fundamental matrix computations. Compared to the popular SVD-based multiplicative preconditioners, these preconditioners are generated more readily and for a much wider class of input matrices. Furthermore they better preserve matrix structure and sparseness and have a wider range of applications, in particular to linear systems with rectangular coefficient matrices. We study the generation of such preconditioners and their impact on conditioning of the input matrix. Our analysis and experiments show the power of our approach even where we use very weak randomization and choose sparse and/or structured preconditioners.

Winner of the 2016 Ralph Cohen Prize.

This article addresses the intersection of literary form and historical change, and both advocates and elaborates upon a critical methodology that Ralph Cohen once dubbed a “process theory” of genre. I draw upon two primary examples from the 1790s—the georgic poetry of the Romantic laborer-poet Robert Bloomfield and the revision history of William Wordsworth’s Salisbury Plain poems—and I adapt Cohen’s emphasis on the double function of generic forms as both “popular and polite” to hypothesize a new model for Romantic-era poetic genres, one in which classical generic forms are winnowed of their implicit social values—still residually linked to the ideology of courtly coteries or its continuation by other means within “polite” literature—and are newly reconfigured within a “popular” Romantic milieu. I offer extended readings of both Bloomfield and Wordsworth against the backdrop of particular generic traditions—the georgic and the romance—and I demonstrate how their respective formal interventions in these genres were rooted in a shared political critique of the increasingly polarized economic and social inequality of the 1790—which state of affairs they evoke in terms of the historical narrative of “Refinement.” I argue that the complex and shifting relationships among these various coordinates—generic form, ideological function, and the evolving discourses of economic and poetic refinement—necessarily render any attempts at critical evaluation unstable or provisional at best, and so I conclude, finally, with a challenge to one of the underlying premises of Cohen’s work—the use of periodization as an interpretive tool—and with a consideration of the relative place of historicism and tradition within a renovated process theory of genre.

Co-crystals of hexamethylenetetramine and resorcinol were investigated by X-ray diffraction. The structure was refined in the superspace group Xmcm(0\beta 0)s0s, X = (\,{{1}\over{2}} {{1}\over{2}} 0 {{1}\over{2}}\,). In the average structure the resorcinol molecules are disordered between two orientations. The main effect of the modulation in the structure is a harmonic modulation of the occupation probabilities of the two orientations of the resorcinol molecule. However, the modulated order is not perfect and the resorcinol molecules remain partially disordered. Below 270 K the crystal undergoes a phase transition to a commensurately modulated structure with modulation vector {\bf q} = (0 {{1}\over{2}} {{1}\over{4}}\,) and superspace group X2/m(0\beta \gamma)0s. The structure of the low-temperature phase could not be determined owing to the poor quality of the crystals affected by the reconstructive phase transition.

By using a combination of 32-bit and 64-bit floating point arithmetic, the performance of many dense and sparse linear algebra algorithms can be significantly enhanced while maintaining the 64-bit accuracy of the resulting solution. The approach presented here can apply not only to conventional processors but also to exotic technologies such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), Graphical Processing Units (GPU), and the Cell BE processor. Results on modern processor architectures and the Cell BE are presented.

Background Breast reconstruction often requires multiple operations. In addition to potential complications requiring reoperation, additional procedures are frequently essential in order to complete the reconstructive process, with aesthetic outcome and breast symmetry shown to be the most important factors in patient satisfaction. Despite the importance of these reoperations in decision-making and the consent process, a thorough review of the need for such operations has not been definitively explored. Methods A review of 370 consecutive autologous breast reconstructions (326 patients) was undertaken, comprising 365 deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flaps and 5 superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) flaps. The need for additional procedures for either complications or aesthetic refinement following initial breast reconstruction was assessed. Results Overall, there was an average of 1.06 additional interventions for every patient carried out after primary reconstructive surgery. Of 326 patients, 46 underwent early postoperative operations for surgical complications (0.17 additional operations per patient as a consequence of complications). Procedures for aesthetic refinement included those performed on the reconstructed breast, contralateral breast, or abdominal donor site. Procedures for aesthetic refinement included nipple reconstruction, nipple–areola complex tattooing, dog-ear correction, liposuction, lipofilling, scar revision, mastopexy, and reduction mammaplasty. Conclusion While DIEP flap surgery for breast reconstruction provides favorable results, patients frequently require additional procedures to improve aesthetic outcomes. The need for reoperation is an important part of the consent process prior to reconstructive surgery, and patients should recognize the likelihood of at least one additional procedure following initial reconstruction.