UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mutational inactivation of the RB1 tumor suppressor gene initiates retinoblastoma and other human cancers. RB1 protein (pRb) restrains cell proliferation by binding...Full Text Available

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

AbstractObjective To review studies investigating the brain correlates of unawareness of cognitive and behavioural symptoms in people with dementia. Design A detailed search of the literature was conducted to include all the peer-reviewed studies published in English aimed at identifying the structural or functional brain correspondents of unawareness in dementia patients. Their results were interpreted in relation to the methodological differences in terms of type of dementia studied, the protocol adopted to measure lack of awareness, the imaging techniques employed, the experimental designs and statistical analyses performed. Results Eighteen studies undertaken to explore the functional and structural correlates of unawareness of cognitive symptoms in dementia were identified. Although t...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Treatment of functional bowel disorders of irritable bowel-type (IBS) in children remains a difficult task because of a lack of drugs with low adverse event profile. We here report the results of a...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mutant strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which lack functional Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD-1) do not grow aerobically unless supplemented with methionine. The molecular basis of this...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundThe analgesic effect of perioperative low doses intravenous lidocaine has been demonstrated after abdominal surgery. This study aimed to evaluate whether...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Cytokinins are hormones that regulate cell division and development. As a result of a lack of specific mutants and biochemical tools, it has not been possible to study the consequences of cytokinin...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

This article examines relevant government policy documents on education and culture and discovers that Nigerian education authorities do not "discriminate" against art and culture in its articulation of educational policies per se, but lack of administrative machinery or political will has resulted in the deprivation of the Nigerian child in the process of creative activity in early childhood development. The article argues that lack of creative ability in our educational products is perhaps a major setback in the nation's quest for industrial and technological development. In this article a new art curriculum for elementary schools is advocated as a means of engaging the young child in order to attain functional educational skills necessary in the world of work.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Iron, zinc, copper and manganese are essential metals for cellular enzyme functions while cadmium, mercury and the metalloid arsenic lack any biological function. Both, essential metals, at high concentrations, and non-essential metals and metalloids are extremely reactive and toxic. Therefore, plants have acquired specialized mechanisms to sense, transport and maintain essential metals within physiological concentrations and to detoxify non-essential metals and metalloids. This review focuses on the recent identification of transporters that sequester cadmium and arsenic in vacuoles and the mechanisms mediating the partitioning of these metal(loid)s between roots and shoots. We further discuss recent models of phloem-mediated long-distance transport, seed accumulation of Cd and As and rec...

CERN Document Server

Generalized functions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A beta microprobe was successfully applied to monitor arterial input function for quantification of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the monkey brain with {sup 15}O-water and positron emission tomography (PET). The sensitivity of the probe was approximately 0.83 to 1.67 cps/kBq/ml depending on the studies. A preliminary study was performed to find a suitable use and to evaluate the performance of the system and data analysis procedure. The results showed that dispersion correction of measured input function was unnecessary if microprobes were connected directly to the arterial catheter. Then multiple CBF measurements were done in three monkeys under anesthesia. Identical regions of interest were placed with the aid of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of each monkey and rCBF values were estimated. Estimated rCBFs were reproducible for several measurements. The mean CBF value for a pentobarbital anesthetized monkey was 46.0 ml/min/100 g ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) represents a powerful technique for the detection of long-lived radionuclides through ultra-low isotope ratio measurements. In many cases, counting atoms rather than decays yields much higher sensitivities. The potential of AMS will be demonstrated on typical radionuclides of interest with half-lives between some tens of years up to a hundred million years. The precise measurement of the 27Al(n,2n)26Al excitation function will be exemplified. Lack of information exists for a list of nuclides as pointed out by nuclear data requests. A brief overview on detection limits and some applications for selected long-lived radionuclides is given.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nonrelativistic band calculations of Mattheiss for Nb and Petroff and Viswanathan for Mo are used to calculate the imaginary part epsilon_2 of the dielectric function for these metals. The structure resulting from interband transitions in the frequency range 0.1--0.5 Ry is found to give fairly good agreement with experiment. The calculation indicates that structure in epsilon_2 can arise from transitions away from symmetry points and lines in the Brillouin zone. The difficulty in distinguishing between the direct and indirect transition models for epsilon_2 is shown to arise from a lack of strong optical critical points. Predictions of the rigid-band model for the optical properties of Nb-Mo alloys are presented.

CERN Document Server

A well-known diffuse interface model consists of the Navier-Stokes equations nonlinearly coupled with a convective Cahn-Hilliard type equation. This system describes the evolution of an incompressible isothermal mixture of binary-fluids and it has been investigated by many authors. Here we consider a variant of this model where the standard Cahn-Hilliard equation is replaced by its nonlocal version. More precisely, the gradient term in the free energy functional is replaced by a spatial con- volution operator acting on the order parameter phi. Therefore the coupling with the Navier-Stokes equations is difficult to handle even in two spatial dimensions because of the lack of regularity of phi. We establish the global existence of a weak solution.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The integral membrane protein synaptophysin is one of the most abundant polypeptide components of synaptic vesicles. It is not essential for neurotransmission despite its abundance but is believed to modulate the efficiency of the synaptic vesicle cycle. Detailed behavioral analyses were therefore performed on synaptophysin knockout mice to test whether synaptophysin affects higher brain functions. We find that these animals are more exploratory than their wild type counterparts examining novel objects more closely and intensely in an enriched open field arena. We also detect impairments in learning and memory, most notably reduced object novelty recognition and reduced spatial learning. These deficits are unlikely caused by impaired vision, since all electroretinographic parameters measur...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Action potentials from the brain control the activity of spinal neural networks to produce, by as yet unknown mechanisms, a variety of motor behaviors. Particularly lacking are details on how identified descending neurons integrate diverse sensory inputs to generate specific locomotor patterns. We have examined the operations of the principal neurons in an intriguing midbrain nucleus, the nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus (nMLF), in the larval zebrafish. The nMLF is the most rostral grouping of neurons that projects from the brain well into the spinal cord of teleost fishes, yet there is little direct physiological data available regarding its function. We report here that a distinct set of large, individually-identifiable neurons in nMLF (the MeL and MeM neurons) are activated...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recently we have found that carbon nano-materials have ability to recognize softer actinides(III). In this presentation, separation of americium(III) from lanthanides(III) by chromatography with carbon nano-materials, such as carbon nano-tubes and graphite, has been investigated by batch adsorption experiments and chromatography. The separation factor (SF) between americium(III) and lanthanide(III) was about 2 in the range of pH from 1 to 4 by using carbon nano-tube, graphite and activated charcoal. The separation factor depended on the diameter of carbon nano-tubes. Smaller one, 3-20 nm diameter, showed the best selectivity for americium(III), which separation factor was about 2.0, although larger one, 40-70 nm, showed almost no selectivity. The same behavior has been observed by using graphite powder and activated charcoal although acid- or alkali pretreated activated charcoal which generally has acidic functional group on the edge of carbon exhibited ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

DNA replication in Escherichia coli cells lacking protein HU was studied. HU has been suggested to be involved in the initiation of replication from in vitro studies. The isolated HU mutants, however,...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

Penile rehabilitation has been an area of intense study and debate over the last decade. Interest in this topic was stimulated by the observation that erectile dysfunction remained a significant problem after radical prostatectomy despite meticulous nerve-sparing technique. Smooth muscle alterations and fibrotic changes in the penis were identified as the underlying causes of penile atrophy, veno-occlusive dysfunction, and Peyronie's-like changes that were observed after surgery. Initial observations that intracavernous injection therapies used on a regular basis postoperatively resulted in improvements in the return of spontaneous erectile function led to the development of penile rehabilitation protocols. Chronic dosing of oral type V phosphodiesterase inhibitors is now commonly used by urologists after radical prostatectomy despite a lack of convincing evidence from randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Use of local therapies to ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The use of computer codes based on Monte Carlo methods to perform criticality calculations has become common-place. Although results frequently published in the literature report calculated k_e_f_f values to four decimal places, people who use the codes in their everyday work say that they only believe the first two decimal places of any result. The lack of confidence in the computed k_e_f_f values may be due to the tendency of the reported standard deviation to underestimate errors associated with the Monte Carlo process. The standard deviation as reported by the codes is the standard deviation of the mean of the k_e_f_f values for individual generations in the computer simulation, not the standard deviation of the computed k_e_f_f value compared with the physical system. A more subtle problem with the standard deviation of the mean as reported by the codes is that all the k_e_f_f values from the separate generations are not statistically independent since the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Changes facing the electricity supply industry are significant, and the challenges these changes pose are enormous. There are major changes to the business environment of transitional electric utilities. There are also changes in the management of the companies in that nontechnical people are taking over the leadership of traditionally technical companies to deal with the new business scenario. This raises the concern that there may be a lack of familiarity by management of the technical issues involved with the result that the quality of the product may be at risk over the long term. This article deals with the future. It describes a vision for the control center energy management systems (EMS) network security applications as a function of the current and expected changes in the electric supply industry. The objective is to present a conceptual specification. It suggests possible approaches to the problems control centers are likely to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The study of chemoattractant receptors on human monocytes had been limited by the lack of a radioligand suitable for use with the small numbers of cells routinely available from human donors. A new synthetic oligopeptide radioligand f(/sup 35/S)Met-leu-phe, with a higher specific radioactivity than was available with the tritiated compound, was used to characterize a chemoattractant receptor on freshly isolated human blood monocytes. These cells bind f(/sup 35/)met-leu-phe with a dissociation constant (KD) of 30.2 +/- 5.6 nM and contain 84,000 +/- 11,300 receptors per cell. f(/sup 35/)met-leu-phe does not bind specifically to blood lymphocytes. The specificity of the oligopeptide receptor on monocytes is indistinguishable from the oligopeptide chemoattractant receptor on human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Using f(/sup 35/)met-leu-phe, it will now be feasible to study the chemotactic peptide receptor on small numbers of partially purified peripheral blood monocytes ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Constructed wetlands may be used for removal of high nutrient loads in greenhouse wastewater prior to discharge into the environment. Temperature affects both the physical and biological activities in wetland systems. Since nitrification and denitrification are temperature-dependent processes, effluent nitrate concentrations will fluctuate due to changes in air and wetland temperature. In a cold climate, constructed wetlands can function in a temperature-controlled, greenhouse environment year-round. This work evaluates four temperature treatments on nitrate removal rates in five planted and five unplanted laboratory-scale wetlands. Wetlands were supplied with a nutrient solution similar to the fertigation runoff solution (100 PPM nitrate-N) used in greenhouse crop production. A first-order kinetic model was used to describe experimental nitrate depletion data and to predict nitrate removal rate constants (k) in the wetlands planted with Iris pseudocoras. The ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The ternary compound CuInS{sub 2} is attractive for solar cells due to its band gap of 1.54 eV which borders the optimum value necessary for conversion of a solar spectrum. Recently, works on thin film cells based on this material (ZnO/CuInS{sub 2}) has been reported to show efficiency as high as 11.4%. In this paper, the orientation and the morphology of CuInS{sub 2} sprayed films are determined by the means of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Sprayed CuInS{sub 2} films deposited onto a transparent Pyrex substrate with standard fabrication parameters show a chalcopyrite structure with a preferential orientation (1 1 2). A model based on the calculation of the relative dielectric function {epsilon} has been performed in order to obtain the profile of variation of this parameter and to understand the optical behavior of this material via its transmittance and reflectance in visible and near-infrared regions (0.35-2.5 {mu}m). In the same way, ...

Science.gov (United States)

We present the draft genome sequence and its analysis for Fusobacterium nucleatum sub spp. vincentii (FNV), and compare that genome with F. nucleatum ATCC 25586 (FN). A total of 441 FNV open reading frames (ORFs) with no orthologs in FN have been identified. Of these, 118 ORFs have no known function and are unique to FNV, whereas 323 ORFs have functional orthologs in other organisms. In addition to the excretion of butyrate, H2S and ammonia-like FN, FNV has the additional capability to excrete lactate and aminobutyrate. Unlike FN, FNV is likely to incorporate galactopyranose, galacturonate, and sialic acid into its O-antigen. It appears to transport ferrous iron by an anaerobic ferrous transporter. Genes for eukaryotic type serine/threonine kinase and phosphatase, transpeptidase E-transglycosylase Pbp1A are found in FNV but not in FN. Unique ABC transporters, cryptic phages, and three types of restriction-modification systems have been ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Periventricular white matter injury (PWMI), is the leading cause of chronic neurologic injury among survivors of preterm birth. The hallmark of PWMI is hypomyelination and a lack of mature,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The physical demands of performing on musical instruments can cause pain, sensory loss, and lack of coordination. Five cases illustrate common problems. Knowledge of the interaction between the technique...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The cause of the female urethral syndrome has previously been obscure, as it has been associated by definition with a lack of objective findings but a plethora of subjective complaints of retropubic...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The H-D exchange reaction has been measured with the D2-H2O system, for Rhodobacter capsulatus JP91, which lacks the hupSL-encoded hydrogenase, and R. capsulatus BSE16, which lacks the HupUV proteins....Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

Scrotal skin of black Long-Evans rats and human thigh skin were maintained in vitro as organ cultures for as long as 14 days, and examined histologically using the combined skin splitting and Dopa techniques. Selected rat skin cultures received testosterone in the culture medium and/or were irradiated with ultraviolet light (290 to 320 nm uvl). With increased time in culture, scrotal melanocytes round up and there is an increase in epidermal pigmentation. Human skin behaves similarly; after eight days in vitro human melanocytes also become rounded, but remain strongly Dopa-positive. Addition of exogenous testosterone to cultured rat skin maintains dendritic morphology of melanocytes, but cell body size is still reduced. uvl irradiation stimulates melanocytes in rat skin cultures, maintaining their dendritic morphology and increasing epidermal and dermal pigmentation. Cultured skin receiving both uvl and testosterone illustrates a synergistic effect. Electron microscopic examination of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pulsatile hormone secretion is observed in almost every hormonal system. The frequency of episodic hormone release ranges from approximately 10 to 100 pulses in 24 hours. This temporal mode of secretion is an important feature of intercellular information transfer in addition to a dose-response dependent regulation. It has been demonstrated in a number of experiments that changes in the temporal pattern of pulsatile hormone secretion specifically regulate cellular and organ function and structure. Recent evidence links osteoporosis, a disease characterized by loss of bone mass and structure, to changes in the dynamics of pulsatile parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion. In our study we applied nonlinear and linear time series prediction to characterize the secretory dynamics of PTH in both healthy human subjects and patients with osteoporosis. Osteoporotic patients appear to lack periods of high predictability found in normal humans. In contrast ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Remotely-fielded unattended sensor networks generally must operate at very low power--in the milliwatt or microwatt range--and thus have extremely limited communications bandwidth. Such sensors might be asleep most of the time to conserve power, waking only occasionally to transmit a few bits. RFID tags for tracking or material control have similarly tight bandwidth constraints, and emerging nanotechnology devices will be even more limited. Since transmitted data is subject to spoofing, and since sensors might be located in uncontrolled environments vulnerable to physical tampering, the high-consequence data generated by such systems must be protected by cryptographically sound authentication mechanisms; but such mechanisms are often lacking in current sensor networks. One reason for this undesirable situation is that standard authentication methods become impractical or impossible when bandwidth is severely constrained; if messages are small, a standard digital ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Acanthamoeba castellanii myosins IA and IB demonstrate the catalytic properties of a myosin and can support analogues of contractile and motile activity in vitro, but their single, low molecular weight heavy chains, roughly globular shapes, and inabilities to self-assemble into filaments make them structurally atypical myosins. The authors present the complete amino acid sequence of the 128-kDa myosin IB heavy chain, which they deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the gene and which reveals that the polypeptide is a fusion of myosin-like and non-myosin-like sequences. Specifically, the amino-terminal #approx# 76 kDa of amino acid sequence is highly similar to the globular head sequences of conventional myosins. By contrast, the remaining #approx# 51 kDa of sequence shows no similarity to any portion of conventional myosin sequences, contains regions that are rich in glycine, proline, and alanine residues, and lacks the distinctive sequence characteristics of an ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) exhibits specific binding to the extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by cultured endothelial cells. Binding was saturable as a function both of time and of concentration of {sup 125}I-bFGF. Scatchard analysis of FGF binding revealed the presence of about 1.5 x 10{sup 12} binding sites/mm{sup 2} ECM with an apparent k{sub D} of 610 nM. FGF binds to heparan sulfate (HS) in ECM as evidenced by (i) inhibition of binding in the presence of heparin or HS at 0.1-1 {mu}g/mL, but not by chondroitin sulfate, keratan sulfate, or hyaluronic acid at 10 {mu}g/mL, (ii) lack of binding to ECM pretreated with heparitinase, but not with chondroitinase ABC, and (iii) rapid release of up to 90% of ECM-bound FGF by exposure to heparin, HS, or heparitinase, but not to chondroitin sulfate, keratan sulfate, hyaluronic acid, or chondroitinase ABC. Oligosaccharides derived from depolymerized heparin, and as small as the ...

CERN Document Server

Elliptic Functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Full text: DNA rearrangement events leading to chromosomal aberrations are central to ionizing radiation-induced cell death. Although DNA double-strand breaks are probably the lesion that initiates formation of chromosomal aberrations, little is understood about the molecular mechanisms that generate and modulate DNA rearrangement. Examination of the sequences that flank sites of DNA rearrangement may provide information regarding the processes and enzymes involved in rearrangement events. Accordingly, we developed a method using inverse PCR that allows the detection and sequencing of putative radiation-induced DNA rearrangements in defined regions of the human genome. The method can detect single copies of a rearrangement event that has occurred in a particular region of the genome and, therefore, DNA rearrangement detection does not require survival and continued multiplication of the affected cell. Ionizing radiation-induced DNA rearrangements were detected in several different ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs) are potentially devastating, and due to their asymptomatic behavior, pose a serious health risk characterized by the lack of medical treatment options and high...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The difficulties created by the lack of generally accepted views on classification, diagnostic criteria and natural history of the cutaneous lymphomata are discussed. Only the lymphomata which remain...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Although genetic engineering techniques for baker's yeast might improve the yeast's fermentation characteristics, the lack of scientific data on the survival of such strains in natural environments...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundThere is a lack of studies considering social disparity in oral health emanating from adolescents in low-income countries. This study aimed to assess socio-demographic...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Development of mouse models representing human spontaneous ovarian cancer has been hampered by the lack of understanding of the etiology of this very complex disease. Mouse models representing the different...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Arriving at a firm diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis continues to pose serious problems, particularly when evidence of granulomatous disease outside the nervous system is lacking. The commonest mode of...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A mechanistic understanding of fracture in human bone is critical to predicting fracture risk associated with age and disease. Despite extensive work, a mechanistic framework for describing how the underlying microstructure affects the failure mode in bone is lacking.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Dysregulation of the alternative pathway of complement activation, caused by mutations or polymorphisms in the genes encoding factor H, membrane co-factor protein, factor I or factor B, is associated...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundChildhood is a high risk time for ultraviolet induced skin damage as this age group has more time and opportunity to be outdoors in the sun. Children in Africa with the...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundApolipoprotein E (ApoE), a cholesterol carrier associated with atherosclerosis, is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The low-density lipoprotein receptor...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Disruption of circadian rhythms may be involved in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, including drug addiction. Recently, we detected the significant association between prokineticin 2 receptor...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Natural accumulations of skeletal material (death assemblages) have the potential to provide historical data on species diversity and population structure for regions lacking decades of wildlife monitoring,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundSpecies with heteromorphic sex chromosomes face the challenge of large-scale imbalance in gene dose. Microarray-based studies in several independent male heterogametic...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mice lacking acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), an enzyme that catalyzes the terminal step in triacylglycerol synthesis, have enhanced insulin sensitivity and are protected from...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A micro-mechanistic understanding of bone fracture thatencompasses how cracks interact with the underlying microstructure anddefines their local failure mode is lacking, despite extensive research nthe response of bone to a variety of factors like aging, loading, and/ordisease.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

IntroductionAutologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) is a routine technique to regenerate focal cartilage lesions. However, patients with osteoarthritis (OA) are lacking an appropriate...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Scoping studies have been used across a range of disciplines for a wide variety of purposes. However, their value is increasingly limited by a lack of definition and clarity of purpose. The UK's Service...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundMany commercial banana varieties lack sources of resistance to pests and diseases, as a consequence of sterility and narrow genetic background. Fertile wild relatives,...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundClassification systems may be useful to direct more aggressive treatment to cancer patients with a relatively poor prognosis. The definition of 'poor prognosis' often lacks...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

The chemist and pharmacologist Fritz Hauschild developed the sympathomimetic agent Pervitin (metamphetamin) in the 1930s. Not only because of the abuse of the stimulant during the Second World War ("pilot's chocolate") it is one of the most controversial substances in drug history. Nearly forgotten are Hauschild's contributions to build up the drug system in the GDR. Although he was a convinced communist, the skilful pharmacologist gave very early warning of the imminent lack of innovation in the GDR pharmaceutical industry. A letter which he addressed to the Minister of Health, Max Sefrin (born 1913), did not lack explicitness. PMID:15997840

Science.gov (United States)

The influence of material configuration and impact parameters on the damage tolerance characteristics of sandwich composites comprised of carbon-epoxy woven fabric facesheets and Nomex honeycomb cores was investigated using empirically based response surfaces. A series of carefully selected tests were used to isolate the coupled influence of various combinations of the number of facesheet plies, core density, core thickness, impact energy, impactor diameter, and impact velocity on the damage formation and residual strength degradation due to normal impact. The ranges of selected material parameters were typical of those found in common aircraft applications. The diameter of the planar damage area associated with Through Transmission Ultrasonic C-scan measurements and the peak residual facesheet indentation depth were used to describe the extent of internal and detectable surface damage, respectively. Standard analysis of variance techniques were used to assess the significance of the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Considered is a new type of generalized asymptotic functions, which are not functionals on some space of test functions as the Schwartz distributions. The definition of the generalized asymptotic functions is given. It is pointed out that in future the particular asymptotic functions will be used for solving some topics of quantum mechanics and quantum theory.

Science.gov (United States)

PMID:3716246

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iodized oil has been used as a contrast agent in lymphangiography. One of the commercially available compounds is Lipidol Ultra-fluid(LUF) which contains 38% iodine by weight. Nakakuma et al(1979) reported that LUF was selectively retained in the hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma when injected directly into the ligated hepatic artery. Since that time, it has been widely utilized in the detection as well as the therapeutic attempts of hepatocellular carcinoma, where it has been mixed with chemotherapeutic agents or labeled with radioactive I-131. Like all significant advances, the mechanism of lipid retention within the hepatocellular carcinoma is not clearly understood, and also there is a lack of information about the biodistribution and kinetics of I-131 Lipiodol. The apparent safety of this technique require confirmation. The present study was aimed to assess the biodistribution and kinetics of intraarterially injected I-131 Lipiodol and the histologic ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Recycling of carbon by the photorespiratory pathway involves enzymatic steps in the chloroplast, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. Most of these reactions are essential for plants growing under ambient CO2 concentrations. However, some disruptions of photorespiratory metabolism cause subtle phenotypes in plants grown in air. For example, Arabidopsis thaliana lacking both of the peroxisomal malate dehydrogenase genes (pmdh1pmdh2) or hydroxypyruvate reductase (hpr1) are viable in air and have rates of photosynthesis only slightly lower than wild-type plants. To investigate how disruption of the peroxisomal reduction of hydroxypyruvate to glycerate influences photorespiratory carbon metabolism we analyzed leaf gas exchange in A. thaliana plants lacking peroxisomal HPR1 expression. In addition, b...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Summary A prospective and randomized trial design is of utmost interest when it comes to evaluating new developments in the management of cardiovascular medicine. By defining the primary end point and a profound related statistic new therapeutic options can be tested with an adequate number of patients. The course of the trial is supervised by a Clinical Events Committee and a Data and Safety Monitoring Board. Registries are promising tools for describing how the results of clinical trials are translated into daily practice. Their drawbacks include lack of control of the clinical endpoints and their uniform definition and lack of a control group. There are numerous examples from cardiology of the limited usefulness of data obtained from registry studies with their often unexpected results ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The asymptotic functions are a new type of generalized functions. But they are not functionals on some space of test-functions as the distributions of Schwartz. They are mappings of the set denoted by A into A, where A is the set of the asymptotic numbers introduced by Christov. On its part A is a totally-ordered set of generalized numbers including the system of real numbers R as well as infinitesimals and infinitely large numbers. Every two asymptotic functions can be multiplied. On the other hand, the distributions have realizations as asymptotic functions in a certain sense. (author).

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Background. New-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) may solve several problems encountered with first-generation DES, but there is a lack of prospective head-to-head comparisons between...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Escherichia coli rnh mutants lacking RNase H activity are capable of recA+-dependent DNA replication in the absence of concomitant protein synthesis (stable DNA replication). In rnh dnaA::Tn10 and rnh...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

Two patients receiving maintenance dialysis therapy developed osteonecrosis, the first in the humeral head and the second in the talus. Both patients lacked known risk factors for developing osteonecrosis. A possible pathogenic role of secondary hyperparathyroidism in this disorder is suggested. Rheumatologists evaluating patients receiving maintenance dialysis with rheumatic manifestations should be aware of this potential complication. PMID:2185360

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The long pentraxin PTX3 has multiple roles in innate immunity. For example, PTX3 regulates C1q binding to pathogens and dead cells and regulates their uptake by phagocytes. It also inhibits P-selectin-mediated...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Mice lacking Kv1.1 Shaker-like potassium channels encoded by the Kcna1 gene exhibit severe seizures and die prematurely. The channel is widely expressed in...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Most algorithms for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction from electron micrographs assume that images correspond to projections of the 3D structure. This approximation limits the attainable resolution of the reconstruction when the dimensions of the structure exceed the depth of field of the microscope. We have developed two methods to calculate a reconstruction that corrects for the depth of field. Either method applied to synthetic data representing a large virus yields a higher resolution reconstruction than a method lacking this correction.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is developing a number of demonstration projects using geothermal heat pumps. This paper discusses some of the barriers and issues that have emerged over the past two years. The most important barriers are: regulatory impediments; high first cost; and a lack of local design and installation infrastructure.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)-seropositive patients with ESRD may have more CD4⁺ T cells lacking the co-stimulatory molecule CD28 (CD4⁺CD28null) than CMV-seronegative patients. Increased...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

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KoreaScience (Korea)

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KoreaScience (Korea)

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No abstract prepared.

KoreaScience (Korea)

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The wave function of the Bianchi type-IX universe with small anisotropy is calculated using the Hartle-Hawking prescription.

CERN Document Server

Overview on some functional issues related to the uninterrupible power systems design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The performance of conjugate gradient schemes for minimizing unconstrained energy functionals in the context of electronic structure calculations is studied. The unconstrained functionals allow a straightforward application of conjugate gradients by removing the explicit orthonormality constraints on the quantum-mechanical wave functions. However, the removal of the constraints can lead to slow convergence, in particular when preconditioning is used. The convergence properties of two previously suggested energy functionals are analyzed, and a new functional is proposed, which unifies some of the advantages of the other functionals. A numerical example confirms the analysis.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In the San Joaquin River Basin, California, a realtime water quality forecasting model was developed to help improve the management of saline agricultural and wetland drainage to meet water quality objectives. Predicted salt loads from the water quality forecasting model, SJRIODAY, were consistently within +- 11 percent of actual, within +- 14 percent for seven-day forecasts, and with in +- 26 percent for 14-day forecasts for the 16-month trial period. When the 48 days dominated by rainfall/runoff events were eliminated from the data set, the error bar decreased to +- 9 percent for the model and +- 11 percent and +- 17 percent for the seven-day and 14-day forecasts, respectively. Constraints on the use of the model for salinity management on the San Joaquin River include the number of entities that control or influence water quality and the lack of a centralized authority to direct their activities. The lack of real-time monitoring sensors for ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Targeted studies completed include the evaluation of tritiated N-0437, evaluation of /sup 35/S-cysteamine, evaluation of /sup 18/F-FDG and initiation of synthetic efforts towards the synthesis of iodinated N-0437 and pergolide analogs. The direction of the project has been changed due to several factors which include the decided lack of favorable experimental results, the excellence of results using muscarinic receptor ligands in pituitary, brain and heart and the contention of the DOE review panel that the original grant proposal was based on flawed assumptions together with their perceived lack of importance to pituitary imaging. In the final year of this grant, three studies will be completed. The first study is the continuation of synthetic efforts to prepare iodinated N-0437 and pergolide analogs for possible use as brain imaging agents. The second study is directed towards completion of biochemical evaluation of various muscarinic ...

Science.gov (United States)

The identification of crystallographic phases in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been limited by the lack of a simple way to obtain electron diffraction data of an unknown while observing the micro structure of the specimen. With the development of Charge Coupled Device (CCD) based detectors, backscattered electron Kikuchi patterns (BEKP), alternately referred to as electron backscattered diffraction patterns (EBSP), can be easily collected. Previously, BEKP has been limited to crystallographic orientation studies due to the poor pattern quality collected with video rate detector systems. With CCD detectors, a typical BEKP can now be acquired from a micron or sub-micron-sized crystal using an exposure time of 1-10 seconds with an accelerating voltage of 10-40 kV and a beam current as low as 0.1 nA. Crystallographic phase analysis using BEKP is unique in that the properly equipped SEM permits high magnification images, BEKP`s, and elemental information to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report presented an analysis of incidents gathered by the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry committee in relation to explosive atmospheres in wellbores, vessels, tanks, and piping systems. The aim of the report was to develop industry recommended practices for oil and gas industry fires and explosions. Two accident theory models were used to set out the relationships between hazards, defenses, and losses. Three levels of defenses were identified based on organizational, local workplace, and human factors. An organizational responsibility approach was used to examine the activities of key people with the system. Incidents were analyzed based on an expanded fire triangle used to identify fire and explosion hazards. The study showed that the ignition of hydrocarbons into the air was a factor in nearly 50 per cent of the incidents. A lack of understanding of liquid-hydrocarbon properties was demonstrated in incidents involving oxidized hydrocarbons. A ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

An operator of FE-closure is introduced on the set of functions of a multivalued logic based on the systems of functional equations. It is proved that, for every k ? 2, the FE-closure operator generates a finite classification on the set P k of functions of k-valued logic. The least class in this classification is shown to be the class H k of all homogeneous functions. Also a series of corollaries are obtained concerning the finite FE-generating sets in the FE-closed classes.

Science.gov (United States)

The parathyroid endocrine glands, usually four in number and about the size of a split pea, lie on either side of the posterior aspect of the thyroid gland. Occasionally one or more of these structures are found in an aberrant position in the neck or even in the superior mediastinum. The parathyroid secretion, parathormone, regulates the level of serum calcium within sharply defined limits. Lack of parathormone, with lowering of the serum calcium, results in hyper-irritability of skeletal muscle, the clinical condition known as tetany. This is encountered following inadvertent removal or bruising of the parathyroid glands at thyroidectomy. PMID:21488463

CERN Document Server

The Schmidt decomposition is an important tool in the study of quantum systems especially for the quantification of the entanglement of pure states. However, the Schmidt decomposition is only unique for bipartite pure states, and {\\it some} multipartite pure states. Here a generalized Schmidt decomposition is given for a class of mixed quantum states. It is shown that it shares some desirable properties with its pure-state counterpart, but lacks some properties which make the pure-state decomposition so important. Experimental methods for the identification of this class of mixed states are provided and some examples are discussed which show the utility of this description.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Results are given for deep-level petroleum and gas drilling probes in various coastal zones of Southern Sakhalin covering the Poronai depression and the Aniv Bay trough. The exploratory probes indicate that the Middle Miocence deposits of the Boundary trough contain commercial-size deposits of petroleum, that commercial-size gas deposits are in the upper Myocene deposits of the Aliv Bay trough, and that the upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic deposits of the eastern section of Southern Sakhalin lack folded deformations. 7 references, 2 figures.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This study illustrates the way to perform protocols, collect samples, and conduct laboratory analyses in order to characterize the physical properties of wood used in the industrial sector of the Valle de Aburra metropalitan area and the gains obtained by characterizing the properties of the most frequently used woods. In this investigation some of the most important sampling parameters are presented, such as taking samples in piles or accumulations of waste, handling of these samples in the laboratory and others of great importance such as the ignition point. the proposed methodology is based upon some of the international astm coal norms, for the similarity it has with wood and for the lack of information on sampling this type in wood

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The quality of the end product from andrology services continues to lack consistency and in some cases fails to meet the needs of the end users (patients or clinicians). Results of external quality assessment (EQA) schemes continue to show unacceptably wide variation for the results of a single specimen. Some laboratories are able to show that the results of semen analyses relate to both natural and assisted pregnancy and are therefore useful in the management of the infertile couple, whereas others claim that their value is limited to the identification of severe male factor infertility. With wide variation in standardisation of methodology, levels of staff training and quality assurance, it is entirely understandable that such discrepancies persist. The following article proposes that Qu...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The genetically and leukemia-significant doses (GSD and LSD) were calculated from the average gonad and bone marrow doses caused by the most frequently applied radiopharmaceuticals in Bulgaria in 1976. Because of the lack of information about the age groups of the patients examined assumptions have been made which led to estimated values of 0.97 mrad for GSD and 2.0 mrad for LSD which must be considered as the upper limit of the real GSD and LSD. The influence of the different radiopharmaceuticals on the average radiation exposure of the population is discussed. (author).

Science.gov (United States)

In November 1977, 627 soldiers belonging primarily to the First Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Bragg, were sent to the Canal Zone, Panama, for jungle warfare training. A medical surveillance program incorporating pre- and post-evaluations over a 6-month period with dermatologic examinations, questionnaires, and serologic tests was established. Ten cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (1.6/100 men) were diagnosed by positive Leishmania culture. The demonstrated lack of sensitivity and specificity of the indirect fluorescent antibody test and the direct agglutination test render these serological methods useless as diagnostic screening methods in the early stages of this disease. PMID:7406101

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Marburg virus belongs to the genus Marburgvirus in the family Filoviridae and causes a severe hemorrhagic fever, known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF), in both humans and nonhuman primates. Similar to the more widely known Ebola hemorrhagic fever, MHF is characterized by systemic viral replication, immunosuppression and abnormal inflammatory responses. These pathological features of the disease contribute to a number of systemic dysfunctions including hemorrhages, edema, coagulation abnormalities and, ultimately, multiorgan failure and shock, often resulting in death. A detailed understanding of the pathological processes that lead to this devastating disease remains elusive, a fact that contributes to the lack of licensed vaccines or effective therapeutics. This article will review the...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Immunotoxicity encompasses both reduced and heightened immune function. Diverse chemicals can impair functioning of the immune system. Both monographs and books have been devoted to detailed descriptions...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

Several central results of the method of structural formulae for some classes of analytic functions, which were known before for a disc and an annulus, are generalized to analytic functions in a finitely connected circular domain.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Studies fail to find uniform effects of age-related or induced hypogonadism on human sexual function. We examined the effects of induced hypogonadism on sexual function in healthy men and women...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveThis report describes initial activities of the Cancer Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Sexual Function domain group (CaPS-SF),...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The functional gene and three intronless pseudogenes for human triosephosphate isomerase were isolated from a recombinant DNA library and characterized in detail. The functional gene spans 3.5 kilobase...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) is executing a plan for improvement of the United States Nuclear Waste Management Program. As part of the plan, OCRWM is performing a systems engineering analysis of both the physical system, i.e., the Nuclear Waste Management System (NWMS), and the programmatic functions that must be accomplished to bring the physical system into being. The functional analysis effort is being performed by two separate teams working in parallel, one of which addresses the physical system functions and the other the programmatic functions. This paper presents information on the analysis of the programmatic functions.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Prokaryotic genomes can be annotated based on their structural, operational, and functional properties. These annotations provide the pivotal scaffold for understanding cellular functions on a genome-scale,...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

... Those functions are fundamental routines to build a power model for more complex circuits or functional blocks. ... 21 of 54 6. Memory Power Model ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Age-associated changes within an individual are inherently complex and occur at multiple levels of organismal function. The overall decline in function of various tissues is known to play a...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Frogs are characterized by a unique morphology associated with their saltatory lifestyle. Although variation in the form and function of the pelvic girdle and associated appendicular system related...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Objective:To evaluate the effect of urethral reconstructive surgery on sexual drive, erectile function and ejaculation.Materials and Methods:The...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AIM: To investigate the effects of gallbladder stones on motor functions of the gallbladder and the dynamics of bile flow in asymptomatic gallstone disease.METHODS: Quantitative hepatobiliary...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AIM: To evaluate the effects of ginger on gastric motility and emptying, abdominal symptoms, and hormones that influence motility in dyspepsia.METHODS: Eleven patients with functional dyspepsia...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of upper gastrointestinal symptoms and their association with clinical and functional characteristics in elderly outpatients.METHODS: The study involved 3238 outpatients...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

PMID:7628679

CERN Document Server

We show that the generating function of all amplitudes with N twisted and M untwisted states, i.e. the Reggeon vertex for magnetized branes on R^2 can be computed once the correlator of N non excited twisted states and the corresponding Green function are known and we give an explicit expression as a functional of the these objects

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An automatic data-smoothing algorithm for data from digital oscilloscopes is described. The algorithm adjusts the bandwidth of the filtering as a function of time to provide minimum mean squared error at each time. It produces an estimate of the root-mean-square error as a function of time and does so without any statistical assumptions about the unknown signal. The algorithm is based on least-squares fitting to the data of cubic spline functions.

KoreaScience (Korea)

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No abstract prepared.

CERN Document Server

We discuss three distinct topics of independent interest; one in enumerative combinatorics, one in symmetric function theory, and one in algebraic geometry. The topic in enumerative combinatorics concerns a q-analog of a generalization of the Eulerian polynomials, the one in symmetric function theory deals with a refinement of the chromatic symmetric functions of Stanley, and the one in algebraic geometry deals with Tymoczko's representation of the symmetric group on the cohomology of the regular semisimple Hessenberg variety of type A. Our purpose is to explore some remarkable connections between these topics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

No abstract prepared.

Science.gov (United States)

Hybrid density functionals, which replaces a fraction of a density functional theory exchange with exact Hartree-Fock (HF) exchange, have been used to study the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of ?-Pu. The fractions of exact Hartree-Fock exchange used were 25%, 40%, and 55%. Compared to the pure PBE functional, the lattice constants expanded with respect to the experimental value when the PBE-HF hybrid functionals were applied. For pure PBE and hybrids functionals with HF exchange amounts of 25% and 40%, the ground state structure was anti-ferromagnetic, while for 55% HF contribution the ground state was non-magnetic. The 5f electrons tend to exhibit slight delocalization or itinerancy for the pure PBE functional and well-defined localization for the hybrid functionals, with the degree of 5f electron localization increasing ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hybrid density functionals, which replace a fraction of density functional theory (DFT) exchange with exact Hartree-Fock (HF) exchange, have been used to study the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of #delta#-Pu. The fraction of exact Hartree-Fock exchange used were 25%, 40%, and 55%. Compared to the pure PBE functional, the lattice constants expanded with respect to the experimental value when the PBE-HF hybrid functionals were applied. For pure PBE and hybrid functionals with HF exchanges amounts of 25% and 40%, the ground state structure was anti-ferromagnetic, while for 55% HF contribution the ground state was non-magnetic. The 5f electrons tend to exhibit slight delocalization of itinerancy for the pure PBE functional and well-defined localization for the hybrid functionals, with the degree of 5f electron localization ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Transdifferentiation of an individual's own cells into functional differentiated cells to replace an organ's lost function would be a personalized approach to therapeutics. In this two part series, we will describe the progress toward establishing functional transdifferentiated adrenal cortical cells. In this article (Part 1), we describe adrenal development and function, and discuss genes involved in these processess and selected for use in our pilot studies of transdifferentiation that are presented in the second article (Part 2).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The construction materials used in coolant systems in nuclear power plants become covered with oxide films as a result of exposure to the aqueous environment. The susceptibility of the materials to different forms of corrosion, as well as the extent of the incorporation of radioactive species on the surfaces of the primary circuit, are greatly influenced by the physical and chemical properties of these oxide films. The composition and characteristics of the oxide films in turn depend on the applied water chemistry. This work was undertaken in order to collect and evaluate the present views on the structure and behaviour of oxide films formed on iron- and nickel-based materials in aqueous environments. This survey should serve to recognise the areas in which more understanding and research effort is needed. The review begins with a discussion on the bulk oxides of iron, nickel and chromium, as well as their mixed oxides. In addition to bulk oxides, the structure and properties of oxide ...

Science.gov (United States)

Water is one of our most precious resources. However, for many in the United States, having fresh, safe drinking water is taken for granted, and due to this perceived lack of relevance, students may not fully appreciate the luxury of having safe running water--in the home. One approach to resolving water-quality issues in the United States may reside in providing education that presents accurate information in a meaningful way. Accordingly, this article describes a unit designed to emphasize the importance of water-quality testing and purification and to introduce students to local water-quality issues. The engineering-based module of this eighth-grade science activity is particularly important due to the design-build-test component. (Contains 5 figures.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

R-matrix analyses of neutron-induced reactions for many of the lightest p-shell nuclei are difficult due to a lack of distinct resonance structure in the reaction cross sections. Initial values for the required R-matrix parameters, E,sub(lambda) and ..gamma..sub(lambdac) for states in the compound system, can be obtained from shell model calculations. In the present work, the results of recent shell model calculations for the lithium isotopes have been used in R-matrix analyses of /sup 6/Li+n and /sup 7/Li+n reactions for E sub(n) < 8 MeV. Consequences of the shell model predictions for the level structure of /sup 7/Li and /sup 8/Li on the /sup 6/Li+n and /sup 7/Li+n reaction mechanisms and cross sections are discussed.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This review describes how a mismatch between the knowledge produced by scientists and the evidence demanded by regulators has emerged, and how society has struggled to find definitive answers to questions of safety, for an important flame retardant chemical in current use ? Deca-BDE. This has involved two key disciplines: analytical chemistry and toxicology. Within the chemistry, a lack of standardized methodologies among scientists has resulted in a persistent yet largely undeclared failure to replicate results within the discipline. Within the toxicology, the quest for innovative, curiosity-driven research by university scientists in preference to using validated standard protocols, designed to promote consistency within the risk assessment process, has prompted questions about the credi...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The important use of nuclear energy in Europe, and in particular in France, has a beneficial impact on the air quality but raises important problems of radioactive waste management. The technical problems encountered by the French government with the dismantling of Superphenix reactor are a good example. Moreover, despite its reassuring talks, the electronuclear industry lobby, particularly powerful, has never been able to propose any satisfactory solution for the elimination of radioactive wastes. This article makes a criticism of the lack of visibility and democratic debate in France about the sensible subject of nuclear waste management. A comparison with the situation in other countries is made. (J.S.)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Tailor die quenching in the hot stamping of quenchable steel sheets was developed to produce ultra-high strength steel formed parts having strength distribution. Local portions of the heated sheet were quenched by holding grooved tools at the bottom dead centre during the stamping. Non-contact portions were generated in the sheet by grooving the tools, and thus the strength in the contact portions is high owing to the quenching and that in the non-contact portions is low owing to the lack of the quenching. Hat-shaped products having a tensile strength of approximately 1.5GPa only at four corners were formed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Advances in the theory and practice of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are reviewed for the period 1965-1990. The proceedings of two landmark conferences are used as a basis for discussion: Ohio State University (1967) and Kohler, WI (1988). The discussion is developed around the following topics: metal-environment combinations, testing, fractography, metallurgical aspects, electrochemical aspects and crack chemistry, mechanisms, and prediction and mitigation. It is concluded that the main developments since 1967 are the recognition of the lack of specificity of SCC environments, the use of slow strain rate and fracture mechanics testing, quantitative SEM fractography, studies of grain boundary structure and compositions, transient electrochemistry of bare metal surfaces, measurement and modelling of crack chemistry, elaboration of several SCC models, including slip-dissolution and film induced cleavage, and mitigation by alloy development or anodic protection. ...

CERN Document Server

Results that contradict known physics, data manipulated, lack of vigilance by co-authors, failures in the system for scientific publication... Last September a US Committee of Enquiry unveiled one of the most serious frauds in the history of physics. Over a two year period, a young researcher at Bell Laboratories had published a large number of articles with exciting results for solid state physics, but which, alas, were fraudulent! Obviously a fraud of this magnitude is exceptional. However, it did serve to focus attention on the problem of integrity and honesty in research practices. This subject, crucial to the well-being and credibility of scientific research, will be the central theme of the lecture given by Nicholas Steneck, Professor of History at the University of Michigan. A leading expert on this issue, on which he has published extensively, he is a consultant to the Office of Research Integrity in the US, and has been closely involved in public ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Porous flow occurs in a wide range of materials and applies to many commercially relevant applications such as oil recovery, chemical reactors and contaminant transport in soils. Typically, breakthrough and pressure curves of column floods are used in the laboratory characterization of these materials. These characterization methods lack the detail to easily and unambiguously resolve flow mechanisms with similar effects at the core scale that can dominate at the aquifer or oil field scale, as well as the effects of geometry that control the flow at interfaces as in a perforated well or the inlet of an improperly designed column. Non-invasive imaging techniques such as MRI have been shown to provide a far more detailed characterization of the properties of the solid matrix and flow, but usu...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract Ultrastructural studies have shown that the formation of pigment glands in Gossypium hirsutum L. leaves is a lysigenous process, originating from a cluster of cells in the ground meristem. Various techniques were used here to investigate whether programmed cell death (PCD) plays a critical role in this developmental process. Nuclei of internal cells in the pigment gland-forming tissue were TUNEL-positive and DAPI-negative, suggesting that DNA cleavage is an early event and complete DNA degradation is a late event. Smeared bands and a lack of laddering after gel electrophoresis indicate that DNA cleavage is random. Ultrastructurally, secretory cells in the pigment glands become distorted, nuclei are densely stained, and chromosomes become condensed until completely degraded at late...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

There have been several reports of transient-enhanced diffusion during furnace or rapid thermal annealing of ion-implanted silicon and some reports of no enhancement. In this contribution, the authors show that many of the observed effects can be accounted for by an interstitial trapping mechanism, in which large numbers of Si atoms are trapped by group V dopant atoms in the amorphous material during implantation. These trapped atoms are retained during solid-phase-epitaxial (SPE) growth, but can be released later during thermal processing to give the transient-enhanced diffusion. The authors present a model which can predict the transient effects (or lack of them) for any concentration of Sb, Bi, or As dopants sufficient to amorphize the silicon and any thermal processing technology which relies on SPE growth (furnace, cw laser, or rapid thermal annealing).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

One of the major concerns during high speed welding of magnesium alloys is the presence of porosity in the weld metal that can deteriorate mechanical properties. This study seeks to analyze the presence method and quantity of pore during hybrid laser-tungsten inert gas arc (TIG) welding of magnesium alloy AZ31B by radiography, optical microscopy and electron probe microanalysis (EMPA). At the same time, it identifies both the mechanism of pore formation and a remedy for this problem. The experimental results indicate that lacking of shielding gas for laser beam is the dominant cause of macroporosity formation during the hybrid of laser-TIG welding of magnesium Alloys AZ31B plate, and hydrogen is not main cause to form large pores. A favorable weld without porosity can be obtained by appending lateral shielding gas for laser beam.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Using a novel, pulsed micro-second time-resolved photoacoustic (PA) instrument, we measured thermal dissipation and energy storage (ES) in the intact cells of wild type (WT) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and mutants lacking either PSI or PSII reaction centers (RCs). On this time scale, the kinetic contributions of the thermal expansion component due to heat dissipation of absorbed energy and the negative volume change due to electrostriction induced by charge separation in each of the photosystems could be readily distinguished. Kinetic analysis revealed that PSI and PSII RCs exhibit strikingly different PA signals where PSI is characterized by a strong electrostriction signal and a weak thermal expansion component while PSII has a small electrostriction component and large thermal expansion....

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels offer a cost-effective field development solution, especially in deepwater areas lacking an adequate pipeline network. Most FPSOs are permanently moored, i.e. the complete system is designed to withstand any kind of extreme environment at the field location. FPSOs that can be quickly disconnected from their moorings and risers have also been designed and deployed. The key feature of this type of disconnectable FPSO is that it can be disconnect and so avoid dangerous environmental conditions such as icebergs, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and typhoons in the South China Sea. In this paper, the concept of disconnectable FPSOs for deepwater field development is presented. Key technologies and their engineering analyses are highlight...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The FLAPW (full-potential linearized-augmented plane-wave) method is one of the most accurate first-principles methods for determining electronic and magnetic properties of crystals and surfaces. Until the present work, the FLAPW method has been limited to systems of less than about one hundred atoms due to a lack of an efficient parallel implementation to exploit the power and memory of parallel computers. In this work we present an efficient parallelization of the method by division among the processors of the plane-wave components for each state. The code is also optimized for RISC (reduced instruction set computer) architectures, such as those found on most parallel computers, making full use of BLAS (basic linear algebra subprograms) wherever possible. Scaling results are presented for systems of up to 686 silicon atoms and 343 palladium atoms per unit cell, running on up to 512 processors on a CRAY T3E parallel computer.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

One-electron oxidation of several derivatives of pyrazolin-5-one, including the drug antipyrine, were studied by pulse radiolysis of aqueous solutions. All the compounds were found to be oxidized by Br2 rapidly but considerably more slowly by weaker oxidants, such as peroxyl radicals. From redox equilibria using p-methoxyphenol and N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine as reference compounds, the one-electron oxidation potentials of the methyl-substituted 2-pyrazolin-5-ones were found to be in the range of 0.32-0.39 V versus normal hydrogen electrode. The relevance of these findings to the properties of the drug nafazatrom is discussed. Antipyrine was found to have a much higher oxidation potential, estimated as 1.2-1.5 V, which is rationalized on the basis of the phenyl substitution and lack of resonance stabilization of the radical cation.

CERN Document Server

General relativity postulates the Minkowski space-time to be the standard flat geometry against which we compare all curved space-times and the gravitational ground state where particles, quantum fields and their vacuum states are primarily conceived. On the other hand, experimental evidences show that there exists a non-zero cosmological constant, which implies in a deSitter space-time, not compatible with the assumed Minkowski structure. Such inconsistency is shown to be a consequence of the lack of a application independent curvature standard in Riemann's geometry, leading eventually to the cosmological constant problem in general relativity. We show how the curvature standard in Riemann's geometry can be fixed by Nash's theorem on locally embedded Riemannian geometries, which imply in the existence of extra dimensions. The resulting gravitational theory is more general than general relativity, similar to brane-world gravity, but where the propagation of the ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Remote, offshore gas reserves have long been a challenging deepwater petroleum resource to tap. Natural gas in many offshore regions is plentiful, but lacks access to the market because of the logistical challenges and costs. Most large offshore gas discoveries are capped, and gas associated with oil production is re-injected into the reservoir or is flared. A more attractive option is to convert the gas into a liquid product on a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. However, some conventional process technologies are not well suited for operation on floating vessels that are highly space and weight constrained and may challenge vessel stability during inclement weather. Microchannel process technology units under development offer intensified processes that are suit...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Magnetic properties of Fe-Co-Mo-Cu-B alloy system with Co up to 26at.% were investigated. After proper thermal treatment, the nanocrystalline grain remains tiny, the density hardly increases, but the room-temperature saturation attains 1.5T mainly due to a high enough Curie temperature. The generally observed slant hysteresis loops point to ribbon surfaces, which stress the ribbon interior and induce a specific magnetoelastic contribution to hard-ribbon-axis magnetic anisotropy even after vacuum annealing. The effect does not come from cobalt but rather from the lack of silicon. Partial removal of the surfaces resulted in a decrease of the loop tilt.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Partial adrenalectomy is usually performed for the treatment of bilateral pheochromocytomas and in case of sporadic, monolateral tumors, to minimize the risk of adrenal failure, especially in younger patients. Due to the lack of consistent series, many issues such as correct surgical indications and technical aspects still need to be debated. From 2007 to 2010 we performed four unilateral partial adrenalectomies (3 aldosterone-producing adenomas and 1 cortisol-producing adenoma), and three bilateral subtotal adrenalectomies, consisting in total adrenalectomy on one side and partial adrenalectomy on the contralateral gland (3 bilateral pheochromocytomas in MEN IIa). In case of single tumor, partial adrenalectomy was carried out without adrenal vein ligation and the results were similar to t...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Studies of the adsorption of oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, and their coadsorption, on black carbon in the form of n-hexane soot have been carried out by microgravimetry, EPR and FTIR spectroscopy over a wide range of experimental conditions. The mechanisms of adsorption of O{sub 2} and NO{sub 2} are entirely different, as reflected by adsorption isotherms, the behavior of carbon`s unpaired electrons, the spectral features of surface species formed, mass changes during adsorption-desorption cycles, and an essential lack of competition for surface sites. Significant effects of temperature, water, SO{sub 2} and NO{sub 2} concentration, O{sub 2}, simulated solar radiation, and the presence of trace metals, have been observed and interpreted.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We investigate ordering properties of two-dimensional granular materials using several shapes created by welding ball bearings together. Ordered domains form much more easily in two than in three dimensions, even when configurations lack long-range order. The onset of ordered domains occurs near a packing density of 0.8, a phenomenon observed previously for disks. One of our shapes, the trapezoid, has packings that remain disordered and near the transition density even after annealing by shaking. Although random packings are unstable for disks and many other shapes in two dimensions, trapezoid packings provide an approach to studying two-dimensional randomness. We also find that the rotational symmetry of a shape is an excellent predictor of how easily it orders, and a potential guide to identifying two-dimensional shapes that remain random after annealing.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Current Intrusion Detection System (IDS) technology is not suited to be widely deployed inside a Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) environment. Anomaly- and signature-based IDS technologies have developed methods to cover information technology-based networks activity and protocols effectively. However, these IDS technologies do not include the fine protocol granularity required to ensure network security inside an environment with weak protocols lacking authentication and encryption. By implementing a more specific and more intelligent packet inspection mechanism, tailored traffic flow analysis, and unique packet tampering detection, IDS technology developed specifically for SCADA environments can be deployed with confidence in detecting malicious activity.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Fuzzy theory has been regarded as a very important technique for quality management (QM) of distributed manufacturing system and attracts the attentions of academic and industry; however, there is a lack of a comprehensive literature review and a classification scheme for it. This paper is the first academic literature review of the fuzzy theory applied in quality management of distributed manufacturing system. It involves five most popular databases in this research area and covers more than 20 journals, proposes a classification scheme using clustering analysis method. Sixty-one journal articles were finally selected, reviewed and classified. Each selected article was classified firstly based on four QM dimensions (quality planning, quality control, quality assurance and quality improvem...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Several natural gas vehicles have been built as part of Ford's Alternative Fuel Demonstration Fleet. Two basic methods, compressed gas (CNG), and liquified gas (LNG) were used. Heat transfer danger and the expense and special training needed for LNG refueling are cited. CNG in a dual-fuel engine was demonstrated first. The overall results were unsatisfactory. A single fuel LNG vehicle was then demonstrated. Four other demonstrations, testing different tank weights and engine sizes, lead to the conclusion that single fuel vehicles optimized for CNG use provide better fuel efficiency than dual-fuel vehicles. Lack of public refueling stations confines use to fleet operations.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sheltering, evacuation and distribution of stable iodine tablets are considered to be major early emergency actions aiming at diminishing the consequences after a release of radioactive materials from nuclear power plants into the air. Whether in real situations emergency managers will act accordingly is hard to predict. Uncertainties associated with these decisions are termed 'volitional' uncertainties. These uncertainties, however, cannot be assessed by expert judgements as they express the decision at stake in an emergency situation. Uncertainties on the times to implement countermeasures and on the times for the general population to respond to these measures can be assessed by experts, as they represent 'lack-of-knowledge' uncertainties. This paper describes the difference in approach of both types of uncertainties and shows the results of expert judgements on the latter type of uncertainties in early emergency actions. Ten ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The risks from mining and processing of ores is reviewed on a generic basis with particular reference to some of the confusions which can arise due to lack of consistency or common logic in the use of exclusion, exemption and clearance. The difference in exclusion and exemption are challenged by comparing doses received in high background radiation areas and the doses received from a mining practice. The common principle of risk to the human species is not applied consistently. The differences between IAEA recommendations and local regulatory conditions are compared, and the use of exemption levels as clearance levels is considered. A case study on management of mine tailings is presented with special focus on the use of clearance levels. In all areas of review the interpretation of regulation is subject to confusion resulting from inconsistencies which can distort free market economics. (author).

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Although a large number of different organisations offer various forest education programmes within Germany, specific information (i.e., sectoral and programme content and provision at a state level) is lacking. This study used a survey of all 61 forest education organisations (43 respondents) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, to evaluate its forest education sector, with a specific focus on the organisations, demand for its services, forest educational programmes and framework conditions. Input from expert interviews was also used to develop recommendations. The study indicates that, especially with children as the main target group, many non-formal programmes are offered to support the formal environmental education sector and to promote leisure activities in the forest. Y...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Background Fracture healing in osteoporosis is delayed. Quality and speed of fracture healing in osteoporotic fractures are crucial with regard to the outcome of patients. The question arises whether established antiosteoporotic drugs can further improve fracture healing. Materials and methods Osteoporosis manifests predominantly in the metaphyseal bone. Nevertheless, an established metaphyseal fracture model is lacking. A standardized metaphyseal fracture-healing model with stable plate fixation was developed for rat tibiae. The healing process was analyzed by biomechanical, gene expression, and histomorphometric methods in ovariectomized (OVX) and sham-operated rats (SHAM), compared to standardized estrogen (E)- and raloxifene (R)-supplemented diets. Results Estrogen and raloxifene impro...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Since Taiwan lacks sufficient self-produced energy, increasing energy efficiency and energy savings are essential aspects of Taiwan's energy policy. This work summarizes the energy savings implemented by 303 firms in Taiwan's textile industry from the on-line Energy Declaration System in 2008. It was found that the total implemented energy savings amounted to 46,074 ton of oil equivalent (TOE). The energy saving was equivalent to 94,614 MWh of electricity, 23,686 kl of fuel oil and 4887 ton of fuel coal. It represented a potential reduction of 143,669 ton in carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide absorption capacity of a 3848 ha plantation forest. This study summarizes energy-saving measures for energy users and identifies the areas for making energy saving to provide an energy efficiency baseline.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of tef, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, is very low, either caused by untimely use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers or lack of other essential nutrients like sulphur (S). The average grain yield of this crop is low, averaging ?1 in farmer?s fields of the semi-arid conditions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to see the effect of the timing of combined N and S fertilization on the yield, yield components, and N and S concentration in the plant parts of the crop. A factorial combination of three rates of N (0, 70, and 105?kg?ha?1) with four rates of S (0, 16, 32, and 48?kg?ha?1) was applied in randomized complete blocks in three replications. The experiment was carried out in the 2004 and 2005 cropping seasons in the Cambisols of the semi-arid area of Ethi...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Abstract When both sexes mate with multiple partners, theory predicts that males should adjust their investment in ejaculates in response to the risk and/or intensity of sperm competition. Here, we demonstrate that, in the harlequin beetle riding pseudoscorpion, Cordylochernes scorpioides, males use cues deposited on females by previous males to distinguish between virgin, once-mated, and multiply-mated females and adjust sperm allocation accordingly. Sperm number declined in direct proportion to the number of previous males, with virgin females receiving nearly three times more sperm than females exposed to three previous males. Given the lack of first-male sperm precedence in C.scorpioides, this pattern is not consistent with current sperm competition models and appears best explained by...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

As part of the United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP), food composition data for vitamin D in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference are being updated and expanded, focusing on high priority foods and validated analytical methodology. A lack of certified reference materials and analytical methods validated for these key foods required the development of five matrix-specific control composite materials (CC) (canned salmon and vitamin D3 fortified cereal, orange juice, milk, and cheese). Each of six experienced laboratories (research and commercial) analyzed vitamin D3 in five subsamples of each CC in five separate analytical batches, with one subsample of each material in each run. Research laboratories perform...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The decrease and subsequent lack of recovery of the North American scaup population has increased concerns about contaminants acquired during migration. We collected 189 fall- and spring-migrant lesser (Aythya affinis) and greater scaup (A. marila) on the lower Great Lakes (LGL) to determine if organic contaminants and trace elements in scaup livers were increased and to evaluate sources of variation in selenium (Se) burdens. We found that all organic contaminants were below toxic levels. Of 18 trace elements, only Se was detected at increased (>10-ppm dry-mass) levels. Se in lesser scaup increased but remained constant in greater scaup throughout fall; levels were increased in 14% of lesser scaup and 46% of greater scaup. During spring, Se increased in lesser scaup but decreased slightly ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Japanese companies have developed suitable cleansing technologies and export their know-how. Some original technologies are developed today, like: in-situ chemical oxidation, iron confinement, hot-soil process, low-temperature catalytic decomposition or dechlorination of dioxins. However, some pollutions are still poorly considered (nitrates) or badly mastered (dioxins). This situation is partly due to late legal decisions and to limited pollution abatement measures. Japan is also very active in bio-cleansing research, and this, despite the lack of dialogue and directives at the national level. Several research programs with important funds have started since 1995. However, Japan is still at the preliminary stage in open-field applications of cleansing methods. (J.S.)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has been proposed as a way of operationalising sustainable development (SD). However, until now, in view of the difficulties in conceptualising SC, emphasis has been placed mainly on a pragmatic approach. In an a-conceptual and pragmatic account of SC, many problems remain unaddressed, such as the danger of the notion becoming empty and lack of integration between the different dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, we propose that the informational space provided by the capability approach (CA) offers a conceptual framework to elaborate SC. The CA is employed here (i) to discuss the philosophical underpinnings of SC as part of a strategy for enhancing quality-of-life and (ii) to investigate the links between the different dimensions of SC....

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant is put into commercial operation in 1994 Until 1996, there are 368 human error events in operating and maintenance area, occupying 39% of total events. These events occurred mainly in the processes of maintenance, test equipment isolation and system on-line, in particular in refuelling and maintenance. The author analyses root causes for human errorievents, which are mainly operator omission or error procedure deficiency; procedure not followed; lack of training; communication failures; work management inadequacy. The protective measures and treatment principle for human error events are also discussed, and several examples applying them are given. Finally, it is put forward that key to prevent human error event lies in the coordination and management, person in charge of work, and good work habits of staffs.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This analysis of the June 8, 1976 California Nuclear Initiative was prepared by the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. The defeat of Proposition 15 in the California election was successful for several reasons. A record 70 percent of the voters in California went to the polls and 97 percent of those voted on the nuclear issue with the results showing defeat by two-to-one. Apparently, the voters perceived the Nuclear Initiative as being too drastic. The campaign for defeat of the initiative stressed the consequences of closing down existing plants and closing off the nuclear option in California, namely: higher costs, job losses, and less-desirable alternatives. The campaign waged for the Initiative seems to have suffered from weak management and lack of consistent messages.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Research and bioethical policies are increasingly seen to facilitate, rather than to impede, scientific progress. Bioethical structures, nonetheless, often fail to account for or to shape the specific social surrounds in which scientific research is conducted. In Taiwan, a perceived shortage in human biological donations threatens to hamper stem cell research progress. This paper considers the stalled national biobank project and the lack of a reliable embryo supply for stem cell research, and suggests that one must look beyond regulatory structures in seeking explanations for such shortages. Specific aspects of Taiwan's democratization and social changes combine with problematic relations between patients and physicians to shape the terrain upon which human biologicals are given or withhe...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

In this work, long-term operation of a pilot scale mixed anaerobic reactor processing crude glycerol and rapeseed meal is discussed. These materials are generated as by-products of biodiesel production. Mixed reactor was operated under mesophilic conditions for the period of 654 days. Total cumulative production of biogas reached 379 m3 (at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature). Maximum volumetric loading achieved during the operation was 2.17 kg m?3 d?1 for the crude glycerol dose of 2 L. When dosing crude glycerol as a single substrate, average specific production of biogas of 0.76 m3 per L of the g-phase was achieved. The lack of nutrients in the g-phase had to be compensated by an addition of ammonium nitrogen in the form of urea into the reactor. Long term processing of crude ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The authors report an effort to determine the basis for the altered migration of seven inherited albumin variants detected by one-dimensional electrophoresis in population surveys involving tribal Amerindians and Japanese children. An amino acid substitution has thus far been determined for four of the variants. The randomness in the albumin polypeptide of these and the other sixteen independently ascertained amino acid substitutions of albumin and proalbumin thus far established was analyzed; the clustering of eight of these at two positions in the six-amino acid propeptide sequence seems noteworthy. By comparison with other proteins studied by electrophoresis, albumin exhibits average variability. It is a paradox that individuals who, for genetic reasons, lack albumin exhibit no obvious ill effects; yet, electrophoretic variants of albumin are no more numerous than are variants of proteins, the absence of which results in severe disease.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The A.C.R.O. is an association law 1901 declared at the Calvados prefecture at the date of 14. october 1986 and registered as environment protection. It was created, by more than 900 persons, in the months following the Chernobylsk accident in reaction to a lack of information and means of independent radiation monitoring. The particularity of the association is to own a laboratory of radioactivity analysis. Since the end of the nineties, the concerns include the natural sources of irradiation as the radon and apply to the consequences, out of nuclear industry, of the use of ionizing radiation or radioactive matter. On this last point, the affair of the orphan industrial site Bayard at Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont, massively contaminated by radium-226 devoted to the fabrication of alarm clocks, and the appearance of exemption threshold in the European law are elements at the origin of this evolution. (N.C.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Experimental data on A-15 binary phases (the lattice parameter dependence on composition, phase diagrams, etc.) have been considered and the so-called ''compounds with A-15 structure'' are shown to be solid solutions of element substitution in the structure of A-15 type. Values of lattice parameter and atomic volume of A-15 modifications for 21 elements have been obtained (for Zr, W, Nb, Mo, V in particular). There has been shown the possibility of calculation of atomic volumes and lattice parameters of A-15 binary phases at the lack of direct experimental data. The essential role of atomic volume relations of different phases has been observed for the estimation of stability conditions of A-15 phase.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Managing service quality is vital to retain customer satisfaction and augment revenues for any business organization. Often it is difficult to assess service quality due to lack of quantifiable measures and limited data. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach based on SERVQUAL and fuzzy TOPSIS for evaluating service quality of urban transportation systems. The proposed approach consists of three steps. The first step involves development of a SERVQUAL based questionnaire to collect data for measuring transportation service quality. The participants provide linguistic assessments to rate the service quality criteria and the alternatives. In step 2, the linguistic ratings are combined through fuzzy TOPSIS to generate an overall performance score for each alternative. The alternative wit...

CERN Document Server

One of the most common types of functions in mathematics, physics, and engineering is a sum of products, sometimes called a partition function. After "normalization," a sum of products has a natural graphical representation, called a normal factor graph (NFG), in which vertices represent factors, edges represent internal variables, and half-edges represent the external variables of the partition function. In physics, so-called trace diagrams share similar features. We believe that the conceptual framework of representing sums of products as partition functions of NFGs is an important and intuitive paradigm that, surprisingly, does not seem to have been introduced explicitly in the previous factor graph literature. Of particular interest are NFG modifications that leave the partition function invariant. A simple subclass of such NFG modifications offers a unifying view of the Fourier ...

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Abstract Introduction.- There are no studies on the sexual function of male patients with Behet's disease (BD), but it is probable that male sexual dysfunction may be seen in this chronic condition. Aim.- The aim of this study was to assess the effect of BD on male sexual function and psychiatric status, and to examine the relationship between sexual function and depression in this population. Methods.- Patients with a diagnosis of BD for at least one year were included in the study. The patients' age, educational level, and duration of disease were recorded. A healthy control group was selected with highly similar characteristics to the patient group. The sexual functions of the patient and the control groups were assessed using the International Index of Erectile Functions (IIEF), and th...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The mechanisms involved in the glacial inception are still poorly constrained due to a lack of high resolution and cross-dated climate records at various locations. Using air isotopic measurements in the recently drilled NorthGRIP ice core, we show that no evidence exists for stratigraphic disturbance of the climate record of the last glacial inception ({proportional_to}123-100 kyears BP) encompassing Dansgaard-Oeschger events (DO) 25, 24 and 23, even if we lack sufficient resolution to completely rule out disturbance over DO 25. We quantify the rapid surface temperature variability over DO 23 and 24 with associated warmings of 10{+-}2.5 and 16{+-}2.5 C, amplitudes which mimic those observed in full glacial conditions. We use records of {delta}{sup 18}O of O{sub 2} to propose a common timescale for the NorthGRIP and the Antarctic Vostok ice cores, with a maximum uncertainty of 2,500 years, and to examine the interhemispheric sequence of events ...

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In attempting to detect and map out underground facilities, whether they be large-scale hardened deeply-buried targets (HDBT's) or small-scale tunnels for clandestine border or perimeter crossing, seismic imaging using reflections from the tunnel interface has been seen as one of the better ways to both detect and delineate tunnels from the surface. The large seismic impedance contrast at the tunnel/rock boundary should provide a strong, distinguishable seismic response, but in practice, such strong indicators are often lacking. One explanation for the lack of a good seismic reflection at such a strong contrast boundary is that the damage caused by the tunneling itself creates a zone of altered seismic properties that significantly changes the nature of this boundary. This report examines existing geomechanical data that define the extent of an excavation damage zone around underground tunnels, and the potential impact on rock ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The 1.7 billion pounds of benzene produced each year in the US provide one measure of its utility. At the same time, there are a number of environmental reasons for avoiding the use of benzene in chemical manufacture. Perhaps most compelling: benzene is a potent carcinogen. Scrutiny of many of the chemicals derived from benzene reveals that each molecule contains at least one oxygen atom while benzene completely lacks oxygen atoms. Introduction of oxygen to make up for this lack can require processes that are environmentally problematic. One of the steps used to introduce oxygen atoms during manufacture of adipic acid, a component of Nylon 66, is responsible for 10% of the annual global increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide. This by-product is a causative agent of atmospheric ozone depletion and has been implicated in global warming. With support from EPA and the National Science Foundation, alternative manufacturing processes are being ...

Science.gov (United States)

Gas evolution in aluminum electrolytic capacitors constitutes one of their main drawbacks in comparison to other types of capacitors lacking a liquid electrolyte. In this respect, one of the most common causes of failure shown by liquid electrolyte capacitors is electrolyte leakage through the seal or even explosions produced by internal pressure buildup. In order to prevent these hazards, some substances, known as depolarizers, are usually added to the capacitor electrolyte with the purpose of absorbing the hydrogen evolved at the cathode (1, 2). Although the gas evolution problem in electrolytic capacitors has been known for a long time, there is a lack of literature on both direct measurements of the gas evolved and assessments of the amount of depolarizer active for the hydrogen absorption process. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors of 100..mu..F and 40V nominal voltage, miniature type (diam 8 mm, height 18.5 mm), were manufactured under ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

PurposeWe evaluated the effects of surgery for rectal cancer on postoperative voiding and sexual function over the course of time.Materials and MethodsData...Full Text Available

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We use functional integral techniques to calculate the scattering amplitude for four open off-shell tachyons in Witten's string field theory and show that the residues of the first three poles agree with those obtained using oscillator methods. (orig.).

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The functional outcome after stroke is unpredictable; it is not accurately predicted by clinical pictures upon hospital admission. The presence of apoptotic neurons in the ischemic penumbra and perihematoma...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Few studies have examined the association between sex hormone serum levels, erectile function, and sex drive. Using data from the Olmsted County Study of Urinary Symptoms and Health Status among...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The affinity and temporal course of functional fields in middle and posterior superior temporal cortex for the categorization of complex sounds was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We use functional integral techniques to calculate the scattering amplitude for four open off-shell tachyons in Witten's string field theory and show that the residues of the first three poles agree with those obtained using oscillator methods.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectivesThe updated Rome III criteria for pediatric functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) include new FGID categories and changes to the Rome II criteria...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveThis study assessed the relationship between multiple indicators of ‘real-world’ functioning and scores on a brief performance-based measure...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundTo assess the relationship between improved regional and global myocardial function in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy in response to β-blocker therapy or...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

To evaluate whether children with and without autism could exhibit (a) functional equivalence in the course of yoked repeated-reversal training and (b) reversal learning set, 6 children, in...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Pulmonary function tests were performed on seven adult dairy cows with an expanded lung field (ExLF) and the results were compared to the values from seven cows with normal lung fields. The cows with...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

SUMMARYSmall bowel epithelium is at the frontline of intestinal barrier function. Restitution is considered to be the major determinant of epithelial repair as function recovers...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

ObjectiveTo examine the longitudinal relationship between depressive symptoms at study entry (T1) on pain intensity (PI) and functional disability over a 1-year period...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

IntroductionIn the last few years, various studies have underlined a correlation between thyroid function and male sexual function, hypothesizing a direct action of thyroid hormones...Full Text Available

CERN Document Server

The purpose of this paper is to present the extended definitions and characterizations of the classical notions of APN and maximum nonlinear Boolean functions to deal with the case of mappings from a finite group K to another one N with the possibility that one or both groups are non-Abelian.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Oxidative stress occurs when the level of prooxidants exceeds the level of antioxidants in cells resulting in oxidation of cellular components and consequent loss of cellular function. Oxidative...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Sirt1 (member of the sirtuin family) is a nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylase that removes acetyl groups from various proteins. Sirt1 performs a wide variety of functions...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In this study, we aimed to demonstrate whether spontaneous fluctuations in the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal derived from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reflect...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This volume contains the proceedings of a symposium entitled In Vivo Imaging of Neurotransmitter Function in Brain, Heart, and Tumors'' held August 24--25, 1990 in Montreal Canada. The six individual papers contained herein are separately abstracted and indexed for the database.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

This study investigated the impact of lifelong sedentariness on skeletal muscle mass and mitochondrial function. Thirty C57BL/6 strain mice (2 months) were randomly divided into three groups (young-Y;...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Inactivation of the RB tumor suppressor and activation of the MYC family of oncogenes are frequent events in a large spectrum of human cancers. Loss of RB function and MYC activation are thought to...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We study fluctuation properties of strength function phenomena by employing a quantum mechanical model where a single parent state couples with a large number of background states. The background system is devised in such a way that the classical dynamics of the system may show a regular, an irregular, or a chaotic character as a function of a single parameter. The coupling of the parent state to the background states produces a fragmentation of the parent state, giving rise to a strength function phenomenon. We study various measures of the strength function that characterize its bulk structure or fluctuation properties. They include energy moments, strength distribution, fractal dimensions of the strength function, and Fourier transform of the autocorrelation function. Some of these measures, such as strength distribution or Fourier transform of the ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

AIM: To identify a method for efficient large-scale purification of functional hepatitis B virus polymerase (HBV-Pol) without addition of cellular factors.METHODS: Full-length HBV-Pol (843 amino...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Background/Objective:Reports in the literature suggest that administration of intrathecal baclofen to control spasticity may have deleterious effects on erectile function...Full Text Available