In addition to their use in high-speed ovens, microwaves are also finding applications in industrial manufacture, quality control and storage - anywhere where the high-frequency transmission or reflection properties of a material can be exploited. Microwaves are also being used in medical applications for the characterization of certain type of tumours. They are also being used in research into ultrasonic cavitation. (authors) 5 refs.
Problems relating to electromagnetic compatibility and power quality were discussed, combined with a discussion of the role that consulting engineers can play in resolving them. The need for the consulting engineer to be aware of design specifications of equipment was considered essential. Similarly, the interrelationship between installations using variable speed drives, halogenous lighting systems, capacitor banks, high-voltage power lines, power transformers, etc., and the need for familiarity with the operating characteristics of different types of power systems were stressed as key ingredients to success in ascertaining events and causes of equipment failure or power system problems on the network. The main sources of disturbances, impact of voltage variations, the importance of controlling voltage imbalance, and system protection were summarized. 4 figs.
In the framework of the feasibility study of radioactive waste disposal in deep geologic formations, a clay formation (named 'argilite de l'Est') has been selected in the Meuse-Haute Marne region (France) for the construction of an underground laboratory. The percolation of alkaline solutions through the argilite has been studied using column experiments with short residence times (30 min). These experiments simulate the leaching of a cement which could be used in the building materials of the laboratory. The alkaline solutions used are mono-cationic solutions of calcium, sodium and strontium. The behaviour of calcium is differentiated from the other cations. For all alkaline solutions (NaOH, Ca(OH){sub 2} or Sr(OH){sub 2}) chemical reactions consuming both hydroxide ions and their associated cations have been evidenced. These reactions are heterogenous reactions of surface adsorption by site ionization. The calcium has a different behaviour, more complex, ...
Computer simulated small-angle neutron scattering curves of spherical poly disperse extruded unilamellar liposomes from saturated 1,2-diacylphosphatidylcholines in the aqueous phase are evaluated by using a multi shell model, which divides the lipid bilayer of liposomes into the polar head group region, and the nonpolar hydrocarbon region consisting of the chains of methylene groups and of the region of methyl groups. In the each of these regions, the coherent neutron scattering length density is supposed to by homogeneous. The evaluation is based on obtaining of radius of gyration from Kratky-Porod plot of small-angle neutron scattering data in the Guinier region of small scattering vector values. From radii of gyration obtained at several different molar fractions N_D_2_O/(N_D-2_O + N_H_2_O) in the aqueous phase (contrasts) and independent volumetric data, the lipid surface area A_L (or the bilayer thickness d_L) and the number of water molecules N_L penetrated ...
In this work we study the validity of the so-called curse of dimensionality for indexing of databases for similarity search. We perform an asymptotic analysis, with a test model based on a sequence of metric spaces $(\\Omega_d)$ from which we pick datasets $X_d$ in an i.i.d. fashion. We call the subscript $d$ the dimension of the space $\\Omega_d$ (e.g. for $\\mathbb{R}^d$ the dimension is just the usual one) and we allow the size of the dataset $n=n_d$ to be such that $d$ is superlogarithmic but subpolynomial in $n$. We study the asymptotic performance of pivot-based indexing schemes where the number of pivots is $o(n/d)$. We pick the relatively simple cost model of similarity search where we count each distance calculation as a single computation and disregard the rest. We demonstrate that if the spaces $\\Omega_d$ exhibit the (fairly common) concentration of measure phenomenon the performance of similarity search using such indexes is asymptotically linear in ...