A Precarious Balance Between Disaster and Miracle

We got inside making our way through debris. There were a lot of pieces of things that had been whole until recently. A lot of aluminum furniture stood side by side with large, dark, wooden armoires and frosted-glass dressers with zoomorphic paws. There were disconnected hoses, very big pots and pans, and a lot of chairs and plastic tables with folding legs. Everything was carelessly piled up at the entrance, concealing almost completely a dismal reception.

COMPARING THE PRIVACY VS DAYLIGHT COMPROMISE FOR DIFFERENT WINDOW COVERINGS

Cultural factors in Libya (and other Muslim countries) require female privacy to be maintained. Outside the home, females must wear clothing that reveals only the face and hands. When inside the home and located near windows, a similar degree of clothing cover, or, window screening, is required. This reduces exposure to natural daylight, with resultant reduction in health benefits of daylight. We are therefore investigating the degree to which window privacy devices offer sufficient privacy to permit relaxed clothing in the home, and whether this leads to an increased daylight exposure. Two window coverings were tested, horizontal blinds and frosted glass, varying the free area and degree of frosting respectively. The degree of privacy offered was operationalised by identification of the clothing level worn by a target behind the window screen, the aim being to reduce this to a chance level. For horizontal blinds, the free area must be reduced to 3% to maintain sufficient privacy, which is unlikely to permit sufficient daylight to offset the wearing of relaxed clothing. While a high degree of frosting is required for a similar level of privacy, this may permit more daylight.

The wetting properties of frosted glass

Frosted glass is a common, low cost material. Its roughness can be used to control how it is wet by water. In this paper, the wetting properties of silicone oil and water are investigated. For the oil, wetting is total since the oleophilic character of the glass is enhanced by its roughness. Due to the remarkable optical properties of frosted glass, the spreading of oil droplets on its surface was recorded over three months. Frosted glass is a parahydrophilic surface because of its large contact angle hysteresis (up to 80° ). The behaviour of oil and water droplets was compared on a long piece of inclined frosted glass. The trajectories (and the spreading) of the droplets were studied and phenomenological laws were deduced to describe the dependence of the droplet speed on the initial volume of the droplet and the angle of inclination. Such dependences of speed at long travel distances (100 times the capillary length) were deduced and rationalised with a simple model that takes into account the thickness of the wake. Moreover, we analysed the flow inside the wake of water droplets sliding on inclined frosted glass. Suggestions are given on how to exploit drainage of the water droplet wake and the high hysteresis of water within the framework of open microfluidics.

Differential Diagnosis of Pneumonia as a Complication of Nasal Liquorrhea in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nasal liquorrhea — the outflow of cerebrospinal fluid from the cerebrospinal fluid spaces of the cranial cavity into the nasal cavity or paranasal sinuses due to the presence of a congenital or acquired defect in the bones of the skull base and meninges of various etiologies. Nasal liquorrhea leads to potentially fatal complications: meningitis, meningoencephalitis, pneumocephalus, brain abscess. Also, with nasal liquorrhea, less dangerous complications may occur: aspiration bronchopneumonia and gastritis. The article presents a case of aspiration pneumonitis in two patients with nasal liquorrhea treated at the N.N. N.N. Burdenko during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both patients noted the profuse nature of the nasal liquorrhea, complained of coughing in a horizontal position. In both cases, no RNA virus (SARS-CoV-2) was detected during the polymerase chain reaction. Antibodies (IgG, IgM) to coronavirus were not detected. Computed tomography of the chest organs in both cases revealed areas of frosted glass darkening. Since no data was obtained for coronavirus infection (negative tests for coronavirus, lack of antibodies), changes in the lungs were interpreted as a consequence of constant aspiration of cerebrospinal fluid. The patients were admitted to a separate ward. Both patients underwent endoscopic endonasal plasty of the skull base defect. The postoperative period in both cases was uneventful. In both cases, the patients underwent computed tomography scan of the chest organs one month later. On the photographs, the signs of pneumontis completely regressed.

A New Strategy for Fabricating Low Haze p-Type Cui Film

As an intrinsic p-type transparent conductor with a wide band gap of 3.1 eV, γ-CuI full of potential has gradually attracted the attention of researchers. However, γ-CuI films deposited by various techniques generally present high haze with a frosted-glass-like appearance, significantly hampering the device’s performance. Herein, a new strategy is proposed, where truly p-type CuI thin films with low haze were successfully synthesized at room temperature. The specular transmittance of CuI film above 85% in the visible region (400-800 nm) can be achieved. The haze of the as-prepared γ-CuI films can be as low as 0.7%. Meanwhile, the as-prepared CuI film possesses a FOM as high as 230 MΩ -1 . This ideal stable p-type optoelectronic performance was a significant achievement among various typical p-type transparent conductive films.

Clinical observation of the course of new coronavirus infection in a patient with subacute form of hypersensitive pneumonitis

We present a case of difficult differential diagnostics of subacute form of hypersensitive pneumonitis in a patient with radiological symptom of "frosted glass" in the conditions of new coronavirus infection pandemic, and also the combined course of this disease and coronavirus in one patient.

THE ELDERLY CHARACTERS IN DRAMAS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

One of the disturbing issues represented in Williams’ dramas is old age along with aging. The paper analyzes elderly characters in the network of playwright’s selected texts of different periods, in particular, “The Glass Menagerie”, “Sweet Bird of Youth”, “The Night of the Iguana” and “Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” as well as his lesser-known works “The Frosted Glass Coffin” and “This is the Peaceable Kingdom or Good Luck God” from the perspective of literary gerontology. The representative of the literary traditions of the American South, Williams demonstrates in his dramas the vulnerability and fragility of aging. The tragedy of old age in Williams’ plays is detected in the old age/youth antinomy. The character of a lonely aging woman or a spinster takes often the center stage. Williams’s treatment of his female characters’ (Princess Alexandra and Flora Goforth) sexuality challenges the ageist assumption that older women do not have or should not have intimate relationships. The dramatist renders the mentioned above characters sexually visible in the older woman/younger man relationships without pretence or concealing the corporeal transformations. The close reading of six dramas by Tennessee Williams demonstrates the anxiety of aging and old dramatis personae reflecting social ills. The study discerns the foreshadowing of the epigraphs (from poetry by E. Cummings, H. Crane, E. Dickinson, W. Yeats) implying the anxious aspects of aging and “third age” in four major Williams’s works; the dramatist’s late style represented by “The Frosted Glass Coffin” and “This is the Peaceable Kingdom or Good Luck God” manifests the explicit gerontophobia through rather grotesquely realistic than poetic imagery in the texts’ plot-lines.

SARS-Cov-2 Infection (COVID-19) Revealed by Persistent Hiccups: Case Report

Hiccups are a ventilatory mechanism involuntarily involving the inspiratory muscles and the glottis, Its physiological interest has not been demonstrated until today. Acute or chronic hiccups have a wide variety of etiologies. We report the case of a 50-year-old patient with a history of iterative sinusitis, who consulted a gastroenterologist for persistent hiccups. The patient's clinical examination was normal. Chest x-ray showing an abnormal mediastinal image leads to a chest CT scan showing a typical picture of COVID-19 virus infection: bilateral and peripheral frosted glass opacities. A nasal swab RT-PCR test confirmed the diagnosis. Admitted to an isolation unit, the patient received treatment with clinical and biological monitoring. The hiccups disappeared around the 3rd day of hospitalization, the negativation of the RT-PCR occurring after 14 days with a favorable evolution of the symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the 2nd global case of persistent hiccups that has revealed infection with the COVID-19 virus.