OBJECTIVE To report a live birth after transfer of cryopreserved pronuclear embryos in cryostorage for almost 20 years. DESIGN Case report. SETTING Academic IVF center. PATIENT(S) A 42-year-old female patient with low ovarian reserve receiving donated embryos. These embryos were the result of an anonymous donation from an infertile couple who had conceived during her IVF treatment. INTE...

Vulnerability to xylem embolism by freeze-thaw cycles and water stress was quantified in ring-porous (Quercus gambelii Nutt.), diffuse-porous (Populus tremuloides Michx., Betula occidentalis Hook.), and conifer species (Abies lasiocarpa Nutt., Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.). Embolism was measured by its reduction of xylem hydraulic conductivity; it was induced by xylem tension (water-stress respon...

Cracking is a major concern in building applications. Cracks may arise from shrinkage, freeze/thawing and/or structural stresses, amongst others. Several solutions can be found but superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) seem to be interesting to counteract these problems. At an early age, the absorbed water by the SAPs may be used to mitigate autogenous and plastic shrinkage. The formed macro pores may...

The mechanical properties of concrete pavement were studied under the various frost-salt conditions using Capillary Suction of De-icing Chemicals and Freeze-thaw Test Method (CDF method). The test results show that: with the increasing of freeze-thaw cycles, concrete surface damage has a tendency to accelerate. The concrete which is in a 5% concentration chloride snow-thawing agent solution has...

The purpose of the paper is to determine the influence of two widely used steel fibers and polypropylene fibers on the sulphate crystallization resistance, freeze–thaw resistance and surface wettability of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). Tests were carried out on cubes and cylinders of plain UHPC and fiber reinforced UHPC with varying contents ranging from 0.25 to 1% steel fibers and/or...

A novel sensor fusion algorithm for retrieving the freeze/thaw state from scatterometer data is presented: it is based on a probabilistic model, a variant of the Hidden Markov model, and it computes the probability that the landscape is frozen, thawed, or thawing for each day. By combining Ku and C band scatterometer data, the distinct backscattering properties of snow, soil and vegetation at t...