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Counseling for patients with impending premature delivery traditionally has been based primarily on the projected gestational age at delivery. There are limited data regarding how the indications for the preterm birth affect the neonatal outcome and whether this issue should be taken into account in decisions regarding management and patient counseling.We performed a prospective study of pregnancies resulting in premature delivery at less than 32 weeks to determine the influence of both the indications for admission and their associated indications for delivery on neonatal mortality and complications of prematurity.This is a multicenter, prospective study in 10 hospitals where all data from the neonatal intensive care unit routinely was imported to a deidentified data warehouse. Maternal data were collected prospectively at or near the time of delivery. Eligible subjects included singleton deliveries in these hospitals between 23 0/7 and 31 6/7 weeks. The primary hypothesis of the study was to determine whether there was a difference in the primary outcome, which was defined as neonatal composite morbidity, between those neonates delivered after admission for premature labor vs premature rupture of membranes, because these were expected to be the 2 most frequent diagnoses leading to premature birth. The sample size was calculated based on a 10% difference in outcomes for these 2 entities. We based this hypothesis on the knowledge that premature rupture of membranes has a greater incidence of intra-amniotic infection and inflammation than premature labor and that outcomes for premature neonates are worse when delivery is associated with intra-amniotic infection. Additional outcomes were analyzed for all other indications for admission and delivery. Composite morbidity was defined as ≥1 of the following: respiratory distress syndrome (oxygen requirement, clinical diagnosis, and consistent chest radiograph), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (requirement for oxygen support at 28 days of life), severe intraventricular hemorrhage (grades 3 or 4), periventricular leukomalacia, blood culture-proven sepsis present within 72 hours of birth, necrotizing enterocolitis, or neonatal death before discharge from the hospital. A secondary composite of serious neonatal morbidity also was defined prospectively.The study included 1089 mother/baby pairs. Composite morbidity between those with premature labor (77.2%) and premature rupture of membranes (73.2%) was not significantly different (P = .29). A few neonatal complications were associated with indications for admission and delivery, but on logistic regression adjusting for gestational age and other confounders, suspected intrauterine growth restriction was the only indication for admission or delivery associated with an increase in serious morbidity (odds ratio 4.5, [2.1 to 9.8], P < .003). Other factors not related to the indications for admission including cesarean delivery, and low 5-minute Apgar were associated with an increase in morbidity.Studies of many single factors related to the indications for preterm delivery have been shown to be associated with adverse neonatal outcome. In this study evaluating all of the most frequent indications, however, we found only suspected intrauterine growth restriction as an indication for admission and delivery was found to be so. Thus, it seems that in almost all situations counseling patients can be based primarily on gestational age along with other factors including estimated fetal weight, sex, race, plurality, and completion of a course of antenatal corticosteroids.

The heating neutral beam injectors (HNBs) at ITER are expected to deliver 33 MW of neutral beam power to the ITER plasma for the purposes of heating and current drive. This is achieved by using 2 injectors, each capable of delivering 16.5 MW of neutral beam power. The beam source of each injector is a complex assembly composed by an RF based negative ion source having an extraction area of ?1.6 m2 2 and a 1MV accelerator having 5 stages of 200 kV each. As a similar source meeting the ITER beam specifications is yet to be realized and the functional requirements have never been met, it was recognized as necessary to setup a test facility, PRIMA (Padova Research on ITER Megavolt Accelerator), in Italy, including a full-size 100 kV negative ion source, SPIDER test bed, and a prototype of the ITER HNB injectors, 1 MV MITICA test bed. The SPIDER beam source procurement started in October 2012 and is expected to be delivered during the second half 2016. Some technical challenges have been overcome during the manufacturing phase and prototypes have been developed to qualify some design details and manufacturing processes for different source components. All the parts and components of the beam source are currently manufactured and tested. The next phase of assembly at the factory is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2016 and requires a well-developed sequence of operations not only to assemble the different components of the source ensuring electrical insulation, leak tightness and grids alignment within the envisaged tolerances but also of the mounting of various diagnostics, which will aid the operation and optimization of the source parameters. The paper will highlight procurement challenges, the technical achievements and the assembly experiences of this complex component.

A new global synthesis and biomization of long (>40 kyr) pollen-data records is presented, and used with simulations from the HadCM3 and FAMOUS climate models to analyse the dynamics of the global terrestrial biosphere and carbon storage over the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Global modelled (BIOME4) biome distributions over time generally agree well with those inferred from pollen data. The two climate models show good agreement in global net primary productivity (NPP). NPP is strongly influenced by atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations through CO2 fertilization. The combined effects of modelled changes in vegetation and (via a simple model) soil carbon result in a global terrestrial carbon storage at the Last Glacial Maximum that is 210–470 Pg C less than in pre-industrial time. Without the contribution from exposed glacial continental shelves the reduction would be larger, 330–960 Pg C. Other intervals of low terrestrial carbon storage include stadial intervals at 108 and 85 ka BP, and between 60 and 65 ka BP during Marine Isotope Stage 4. Terrestrial carbon storage, determined by the balance of global NPP and decomposition, influences the stable carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of seawater because terrestrial organic carbon is depleted in 13C. Using a simple carbon-isotope mass balance equation we find agreement in trends between modelled ocean δ13C based on modelled land carbon storage, and palaeo-archives of ocean δ13C, confirming that terrestrial carbon storage variations may be important drivers of ocean δ13C changes.

This region differs from those supporting tropical rainforest in other parts of the world in that it is less continental and geologically much more dynamic. It incorporates some major pieces of continental plate, but its center—the so-called ‘‘Maritime Continent’’ (Ramage, 1968)—is largely a complex interaction zone between the Asian and Australian Plates resulting from the continued movement of the Australian Plate into Southeast Asia (Metcalfe, 2002). The effects of tectonic and volcanic activity have resulted in mountain uplift, particularly in New Guinea, and formation of the volcanic island chain of Indonesia. Vulcanicity also occurs out into the Pacific beyond the ‘‘andesite line’’ where most ‘‘high’’ islands are volcanic and most ‘‘low’’ islands are coral islands developed on sunken volcanoes.

The cornerstone of palaeoecological research, concerned with vegetation dynamics over the recent geological past, is a good understanding of the present-day ecology and distribution of the taxa. This is particularly necessary in areas of high floral diversity such as Latin America. Vegetation reconstructions, based on numerous pollen records, now exist with respect to all major vegetation associations from Latin America. With this ever-increasing number of sedimentary records becoming available, there is a need to collate this information and to provide information concerning ecology and distribution of the taxa concerned. The existing Latin American Pollen Database (LAPD) meets the first of these needs. Information concerning the ecology and distribution of the parent taxa responsible for producing the pollen, presently lodged within the LAPD, is the focus of this paper. The ‘dictionary’ describes the ecology and distribution of the parent taxa responsible for producing pollen identified within sedimentary records. These descriptions are based on a wide range of literature and extensive discussions with members of the palaeoecological community working in different parts of Latin America investigating a range of different vegetation types.

Each of the two ITER Heating Neutral Beam injectors (HNBs) will deliver 16.5MW of heating power obtained by the acceleration of a 40A deuterium negative ion beam up to the energy of 1MeV. The ions are generated into a cesiated ion source, where the gas is ionised with a radio frequency electromagnetic field. The largest world experiments for the production of negative ion beam presently operating in IPP Garching is ELISE, which represents the first and bigger step from the small size IPP devices to half of the size of HNB ion s ource. The technology developed in IPP has been applied to the development of another big experiment, SPIDER, which will be the -ion source? test facility for the full size ITER neutral beam ion source. The SPIDER beam source comprises an ion source with 8 radio - frequency drivers and a three grid system, providing an overall acceleration up to energies above 100keV. The beam source will be housed in a vacuum vessel which will be equipped with a beam dump and a graphite calorimeter to diagnose the beam. The manufacturing design of the main parts of the SPIDER Beam source has been completed and also the tests on the prototypes have been successfully passed. The most delicate and complex parts of the ion source and the accelerator, developed by galvanic deposit ion of copper are being manufactured. The parts will be completed by the end of 2014, when the assembling of the challenging device, will start. The paper describes the adaptations operated on the design of the beam source for the fabrication, in particula r also to the engineering development to enable the fulfilment of the tight requirements set in the technical specifications. Moreover the tests performed on the prototypes and the modifications that were implemented are reported.