General Theory of Decoy-State Quantum Cryptography with Dark Count Rate Fluctuation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang, Gao; Shi-Hai, Sun; Lin-Mei, Liang

2009-01-01

The existing theory of decoy-state quantum cryptography assumes that the dark count rate is a constant, but in practice there exists fluctuation. We develop a new scheme of the decoy state, achieve a more practical key generation rate in the presence of fluctuation of the dark count rate, and compare the result with the result of the decoy-state without fluctuation. It is found that the key generation rate and maximal secure distance will be decreased under the influence of the fluctuation of the dark count rate

Bayesian analysis of energy and count rate data for detection of low count rate radioactive sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Klumpp, John [Colorado State University, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Molecular and Radiological Biosciences Building, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523 (United States)

2013-07-01

We propose a radiation detection system which generates its own discrete sampling distribution based on past measurements of background. The advantage to this approach is that it can take into account variations in background with respect to time, location, energy spectra, detector-specific characteristics (i.e. different efficiencies at different count rates and energies), etc. This would therefore be a 'machine learning' approach, in which the algorithm updates and improves its characterization of background over time. The system would have a 'learning mode,' in which it measures and analyzes background count rates, and a 'detection mode,' in which it compares measurements from an unknown source against its unique background distribution. By characterizing and accounting for variations in the background, general purpose radiation detectors can be improved with little or no increase in cost. The statistical and computational techniques to perform this kind of analysis have already been developed. The necessary signal analysis can be accomplished using existing Bayesian algorithms which account for multiple channels, multiple detectors, and multiple time intervals. Furthermore, Bayesian machine-learning techniques have already been developed which, with trivial modifications, can generate appropriate decision thresholds based on the comparison of new measurements against a nonparametric sampling distribution. (authors)

Interrelated temperature dependence of bulk etch rate and track length saturation time in CR-39 detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Azooz, A.A.; Al-Jubbori, M.A.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • New empirical parameterization of CR-39 bulk etch rate. • Bulk etch rates measurements using two different methods give consistent results. • Temperature independence of track saturation length. • Two empirical relation between bulk etch rate and temperature are suggested. • Simple inverse relation between bulk etch rate and track saturation time. -- Abstract: Experimental measurements of the etching solution temperature dependence of bulk etch rate using two independent methods revealed a few interesting properties. It is found that while the track saturation length is independent of etching temperature, the etching time needed to reach saturation is strongly temperature-dependent. It is demonstrated that there is systematic simple inverse relation between track saturation time, and etching solution temperature. In addition, and although, the relation between the bulk etch rate and etching solution temperature can be reasonably described by a modified form of the Arrhenius equation, better fits can be obtained by another equation suggested in this work

Effects of the Strain Rate Sensitivity and Strain Hardening on the Saturated Impulse of Plates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ling Zhu

Full Text Available Abstract This paper studies the stiffening effects of the material strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening on the saturated impulse of elastic, perfectly plastic plates. Finite element (FE code ABAQUS is employed to simulate the elastoplastic response of square plates under rectangular pressure pulse. Rigid-plastic analyses for saturated impulse, which consider strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening, are conducted. Satisfactory agreement between the finite element models (FEM and predictions of the rigid-plastic analysis is obtained, which verifies that the proposed rigid-plastic methods are effective to solve the problem including strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening. The quantitative results for the scale effect of the strain rate sensitivity are given. The results for the stiffening effects suggest that two general stiffening factors n 1 and n 2, which characterizes the strain rate sensitivity and strain hardening effect, respectively can be defined. The saturated displacement is inversely proportional to the stiffening factors (i.e. n 1 and n 2 and saturated impulse is inversely proportional to the square roots of the stiffening factors (i.e. n 1 and n 2. Formulae for displacement and saturated impulse are proposed based on the empirical analysis.

[Design of Oxygen Saturation, Heart Rate, Respiration Rate Detection System Based on Smartphone of Android Operating System].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Mingshan; Zeng, Bixin

2015-03-01

In this paper, we designed an oxygen saturation, heart rate, respiration rate monitoring system based on smartphone of android operating system, physiological signal acquired by MSP430 microcontroller and transmitted by Bluetooth module.

Smart pile-up consideration for evaluation of high count rate EDS spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggert, F; Anderhalt, R; Nicolosi, J; Elam, T

2012-01-01

This work describes a new pile-up consideration for the very high count rate spectra which are possible to acquire with silicon drift detector (SDD) technology. Pile-up effects are the major and still remaining challenge with the use of SDD for EDS in scanning electron microscopes (SEM) with ultra thin windows for soft X-ray detection. The ability to increase the count rates up to a factor of 100 compared with conventional Si(Li) detectors, comes with the problem that the pile-up recognition (pile-up rejection) in pulse processors is not able to improve by the same order of magnitude, just only with a factor of about 3. Therefore, it is common that spectra will show significant pile-up effects if count rates of more than 10000 counts per second (10 kcps) are used. These false counts affect both automatic qualitative analysis and quantitative evaluation of the spectra. The new idea is to use additional inputs for pile-up calculation to shift the applicability towards very high count rates of up to 200 kcps and more, which can be easily acquired with the SDD. The additional input is the 'known' (estimated) background distribution, calculated iteratively during all automated qualitative or quantitative evaluations. This additional knowledge gives the opportunity for self adjustment of the pile-up calculation parameters and avoids over-corrections which challenge the evaluation as well as the pile-up artefacts themselves. With the proposed method the pile-up correction is no longer a 'correction' but an integral part of all spectra evaluation steps. Examples for the application are given with evaluation of very high count rate spectra.

Studies on the Pulse Rate, Pedometer Count and Satisfactoin Degree at Various Exercise

OpenAIRE

小原, 史朗

2004-01-01

This investigation examined whether free exercise of students became good stimulation of breathing circulation function from relation of pulse rate and pedometer count. And, I examined it on satisfaction degree after exercise. Object person was 432 man students (total of 1391) and 94 woman students (total of 472). As for relation of pulse rate and pedometer count, statistical meaning was recognized by man and women. The exercise that a pulse rate and pedometer count were high together seemed ...

Study on the behaviour of timing photomultipliers at a high counting rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gladyshev, D.A.; Li, B.N.; Yunusov, Kh.R.

1978-01-01

Variations in the amplification factor K of a photomultiplier (PMU) with the accuracy of 1% in a pulse mode are studied. Measurements were performed by means of a light pulse generator based on a light diode which generates pulses at the repetition rate of 250-10 5 pulse/s. Relative variations in K were determined by the position of the peak gravity centre from the light diode using a pulse analyzer and a frequency meter. Results of PM testing show that, at a sudden counting rate increase, the amplification increases during the time period less than, the measurement time (less than 1 s) and returns to the stationary value. When the counting rate returns from 10 5 pulse/s to the initial value of 250 pulse/s, the amplification decreases and than increases to stationary value. The total time of K stabilization after counting rate applying constitutes 10-70 min. Restoration of K after counting rate removal occurs to be much slower, during 3 hr. 40 min. K values varied from 1 to 12%

Testing the count rate performance of the scintillation camera by exponential attenuation: Decaying source; Multiple filters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, R.; Mena, I.

1988-01-01

An algorithm and two fortrAN programs have been developed to evaluate the count rate performance of scintillation cameras from count rates reduced exponentially, either by a decaying source or by filtration. The first method is used with short-lived radionuclides such as 191 /sup m/Ir or 191 /sup m/Au. The second implements a National Electrical Manufacturers' Association (NEMA) protocol in which the count rate from a source of 191 /sup m/Tc is attenuated by a varying number of copper filters stacked over it. The count rate at each data point is corrected for deadtime loss after assigning an arbitrary deadtime (tau). A second-order polynomial equation is fitted to the logarithms of net count rate values: ln(R) = A+BT+CT 2 where R is the net corrected count rate (cps), and T is the elapsed time (or the filter thickness in the NEMA method). Depending on C, tau is incremented or decremented iteratively, and the count rate corrections and curve fittings are repeated until C approaches zero, indicating a correct value of the deadtime (tau). The program then plots the measured count rate versus the corrected count rate values

Accuracy in activation analysis: count rate effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindstrom, R.M.; Fleming, R.F.

1980-01-01

The accuracy inherent in activation analysis is ultimately limited by the uncertainty of counting statistics. When careful attention is paid to detail, several workers have shown that all systematic errors can be reduced to an insignificant fraction of the total uncertainty, even when the statistical limit is well below one percent. A matter of particular importance is the reduction of errors due to high counting rate. The loss of counts due to random coincidence (pulse pileup) in the amplifier and to digitization time in the ADC may be treated as a series combination of extending and non-extending dead times, respectively. The two effects are experimentally distinct. Live timer circuits in commercial multi-channel analyzers compensate properly for ADC dead time for long-lived sources, but not for pileup. Several satisfactory solutions are available, including pileup rejection and dead time correction circuits, loss-free ADCs, and computed corrections in a calibrated system. These methods are sufficiently reliable and well understood that a decaying source can be measured routinely with acceptably small errors at a dead time as high as 20 percent

Automatic NAA. Saturation activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westphal, G.P.; Grass, F.; Kuhnert, M.

2008-01-01

A system for Automatic NAA is based on a list of specific saturation activities determined for one irradiation position at a given neutron flux and a single detector geometry. Originally compiled from measurements of standard reference materials, the list may be extended also by the calculation of saturation activities from k 0 and Q 0 factors, and f and α values of the irradiation position. A systematic improvement of the SRM approach is currently being performed by pseudo-cyclic activation analysis, to reduce counting errors. From these measurements, the list of saturation activities is recalculated in an automatic procedure. (author)

Count-rate analysis from clinical scans in PET with LSO detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonutti, F.; Cattaruzzi, E.; Cragnolini, E.; Floreani, M.; Foti, C.; Malisan, M. R.; Moretti, E.; Geatti, O.; Padovani, R.

2008-01-01

The purpose of optimising the acquisition parameters in positron emission tomography is to improve the quality of the diagnostic images. Optimisation can be done by maximising the noise equivalent count rate (NECR) that in turn depends on the coincidence rate. For each bed position the scanner records coincidences and singles rates. For each patient, the true, random and scattered coincidences as functions of the single count rate(s) are determined by fitting the NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) 70 cm phantom count rate curves to measured clinical points. This enables analytical calculation of the personalised PNECR [pseudo NECR(s)] curve, linked to the NECR curve. For central bed positions, missing activity of ∼70% is estimated to get maximum PNECR (PNECR max ), but the improvement in terms of signal-to-noise ratio would be ∼15%. The correlation between patient weight and PNECR max is also estimated to determine the optimal scan duration of a single bed position as a function of patient weight at the same PNEC. Normalising the counts at PNECR max for the 70 kg patient, the bed duration for a 90 kg patient should be 230 s, which is ∼30% longer. Although the analysis indicates that the fast scanner electronics allow using higher administered activities, this would involve poor improvement in terms of NECR. Instead, attending to higher bed duration for heavier patients may be more useful. (authors)

The impact of highway base-saturation flow rate adjustment on Kuwait's transport and environmental parameters estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

AlRukaibi, Fahad; AlKheder, Sharaf; Al-Rukaibi, Duaij; Al-Burait, Abdul-Aziz

2018-03-23

Traditional transportation systems' management and operation mainly focused on improving traffic mobility and safety without imposing any environmental concerns. Transportation and environmental issues are interrelated and affected by the same parameters especially at signalized intersections. Additionally, traffic congestion at signalized intersections has a major contribution in the environmental problem as related to vehicle emission, fuel consumption, and delay. Therefore, signalized intersections' design and operation is an important parameter to minimize the impact on the environment. The design and operation of signalized intersections are highly dependent on the base saturation flow rate (BSFR). Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses a base-saturation flow rate of 1900-passenger car/h/lane for areas with a population intensity greater than or equal to 250,000 and a value of 1750-passenger car/h/lane for less populated areas. The base-saturation flow rate value in HCM is derived from a field data collected in developed countries. The adopted value in Kuwait is 1800passengercar/h/lane, which is the value that used in this analysis as a basis for comparison. Due to the difference in behavior between drivers in developed countries and their fellows in Kuwait, an adjustment was made to the base-saturation flow rate to represent Kuwait's traffic and environmental conditions. The reduction in fuel consumption and vehicles' emission after modifying the base-saturation flow rate (BSFR increased by 12.45%) was about 34% on average. Direct field measurements of the saturation flow rate were used while using the air quality mobile lab to calculate emissions' rates. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fast radio burst event rate counts - I. Interpreting the observations

Science.gov (United States)

Macquart, J.-P.; Ekers, R. D.

2018-02-01

The fluence distribution of the fast radio burst (FRB) population (the `source count' distribution, N (>F) ∝Fα), is a crucial diagnostic of its distance distribution, and hence the progenitor evolutionary history. We critically reanalyse current estimates of the FRB source count distribution. We demonstrate that the Lorimer burst (FRB 010724) is subject to discovery bias, and should be excluded from all statistical studies of the population. We re-examine the evidence for flat, α > -1, source count estimates based on the ratio of single-beam to multiple-beam detections with the Parkes multibeam receiver, and show that current data imply only a very weak constraint of α ≲ -1.3. A maximum-likelihood analysis applied to the portion of the Parkes FRB population detected above the observational completeness fluence of 2 Jy ms yields α = -2.6_{-1.3}^{+0.7 }. Uncertainties in the location of each FRB within the Parkes beam render estimates of the Parkes event rate uncertain in both normalizing survey area and the estimated post-beam-corrected completeness fluence; this uncertainty needs to be accounted for when comparing the event rate against event rates measured at other telescopes.

High rate 4π β-γ coincidence counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, L.O.; Gehrke, R.J.

1978-01-01

A high count rate 4π β-γ coincidence counting system for the determination of absolute disintegration rates of short half-life radionuclides is described. With this system the dead time per pulse is minimized by not stretching any pulses beyond the width necessary to satisfy overlap coincidence requirements. The equations used to correct for the β, γ, and coincidence channel dead times and for accidental coincidences are presented but not rigorously developed. Experimental results are presented for a decaying source of 56 Mn initially at 2 x 10 6 d/s and a set of 60 Co sources of accurately known source strengths varying from 10 3 to 2 x 10 6 d/s. A check of the accidental coincidence equation for the case of two independent sources with varying source strengths is presented

Fluctuations and dark count rates in superconducting NbN single-photon detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Engel, Andreas; Semenov, Alexei; Huebers, Heinz-Wilhelm; Il'in, Kostya; Siegel, Michael

2005-01-01

We measured the temperature- and current-dependence of dark count rates of a superconducting singlephoton detector. The detector's key element is a 84 nm wide meander strip line fabricated from a 5 nm thick NbN film. Due to its reduced dimensions various types of fluctuations can cause temporal and localized transitions into a resistive state leading to dark count events. Adopting a recent refinement of the hotspot model we achieve a satisfying description of the experimental dark count rates taking into account fluctuations of the Cooper-pair density and current-assisted unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs. (copyright 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Reducing the Teen Death Rate. KIDS COUNT Indicator Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Shore, Rima; Shore, Barbara

2009-01-01

Life continues to hold considerable risk for adolescents in the United States. In 2006, the teen death rate stood at 64 deaths per 100,000 teens (13,739 teens) (KIDS COUNT Data Center, 2009). Although it has declined by 4 percent since 2000, the rate of teen death in this country remains substantially higher than in many peer nations, based…

Method and system of simulating nuclear power plant count rate for training purposes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alliston, W.H.; Koenig, R.H.

1975-01-01

A method and system are described for the real-time simulation of the dynamic operation of a nuclear power plant in which nuclear flux rate counters are provided for monitoring the rate of nuclear fission of the reactor. The system utilizes apparatus that includes digital computer means for calculating data relating to the rate of nuclear fission of a simulated reactor model, which rate is controlled in accordance with the operation of control panel devices. A digital number from the computer corresponding to the flux rate controls an oscillator driven counter means to produce a pulse after a predetermined count. This pulse controls an oscillator driven polynomial counter to count a random number that controls a third counter in accordance with pulse from the first counter to produce a random fission count for operating the meters. (U.S.)

Accurate disintegration-rate measurement of 55Fe by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steyn, J.; Oberholzer, P.; Botha, S.M.

1979-01-01

A method involving liquid scintillation counting is described for the accurate measurement of disintegration rate of 55 Fe. The method is based on the use of calculated efficiency functions together with either of the nuclides 54 Mn and 51 Cr as internal standards for measurement of counting efficiencies by coincidence counting. The method was used by the NAC during a recent international intercomparison of radioactivity measurements, and a summary of the results obtained by nine participating laboratories is presented. A spread in results of several percent is evident [af

Soft X ray spectrometry at high count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanc, P.; Brouquet, P.; Uhre, N.

1978-06-01

Two modifications of the classical method of X-ray spectrometry by a semi-conductor diode permit a count rate of 10 5 c/s with an energy resolution of 350 eV. With a specially constructed pulse height analyzer, this detector can measure four spectra of 5 ms each, in the range of 1-30 keV, during a plasma shot

Platelet Counts, MPV and PDW in Culture Proven and Probable Neonatal Sepsis and Association of Platelet Counts with Mortality Rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, M. S.; Waheed, A.

2014-01-01

Objective: To determine frequency of thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis, the MPV (mean platelet volume) and PDW (platelet distribution width) in patients with probable and culture proven neonatal sepsis and determine any association between platelet counts and mortality rate. Study Design: Descriptive analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: NICU, Fazle Omar Hospital, from January 2011 to December 2012. Methodology: Cases of culture proven and probable neonatal sepsis, admitted in Fazle Omar Hospital, Rabwah, were included in the study. Platelet counts, MPV and PDW of the cases were recorded. Mortality was documented. Frequencies of thrombocytopenia ( 450000/mm3) were ascertained. Mortality rates in different groups according to platelet counts were calculated and compared by chi-square test to check association. Results: Four hundred and sixty nine patients were included; 68 (14.5%) of them died. One hundred and thirty six (29%) had culture proven sepsis, and 333 (71%) were categorized as probable sepsis. Thrombocytopenia was present in 116 (24.7%), and thrombocytosis was present in 36 (7.7%) cases. Median platelet count was 213.0/mm3. Twenty eight (27.7%) patients with thrombocytopenia, and 40 (12.1%) cases with normal or raised platelet counts died (p < 0.001). Median MPV was 9.30, and median PDW was 12.30. MPV and PDW of the patients who died and who were discharged were not significantly different from each other. Conclusion: Thrombocytopenia is a common complication of neonatal sepsis. Those with thrombocytopenia have higher mortality rate. No significant difference was present between PDW and MPV of the cases who survived and died. (author)

Simple bounds for counting processes with monotone rate of occurrence of failures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaminskiy, Mark P.

2007-01-01

The article discusses some aspects of analogy between certain classes of distributions used as models for time to failure of nonrepairable objects, and the counting processes used as models for failure process for repairable objects. The notion of quantiles for the counting processes with strictly increasing cumulative intensity function is introduced. The classes of counting processes with increasing (decreasing) rate of occurrence of failures are considered. For these classes, the useful nonparametric bounds for cumulative intensity function based on one known quantile are obtained. These bounds, which can be used for repairable objects, are similar to the bounds introduced by Barlow and Marshall [Barlow, R. Marshall, A. Bounds for distributions with monotone hazard rate, I and II. Ann Math Stat 1964; 35: 1234-74] for IFRA (DFRA) time to failure distributions applicable to nonrepairable objects

Relationship between salivary flow rates and Candida counts in subjects with xerostomia.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Sandra R; Peixoto, Camila Bernardo; Caldas, Daniele Manhães; Silva, Eline Barboza; Akiti, Tiyomi; Nucci, Márcio; de Uzeda, Milton

2002-02-01

This study evaluated the relationship between salivary flow and Candida colony counts in the saliva of patients with xerostomia. Sialometry and Candida colony-forming unit (CFU) counts were taken from 112 subjects who reported xerostomia in a questionnaire. Chewing-stimulated whole saliva was collected and streaked in Candida plates and counted in 72 hours. Species identification was accomplished under standard methods. There was a significant inverse relationship between salivary flow and Candida CFU counts (P =.007) when subjects with high colony counts were analyzed (cutoff point of 400 or greater CFU/mL). In addition, the median sialometry of men was significantly greater than that of women (P =.003), even after controlling for confounding variables like underlying disease and medications. Sjögren's syndrome was associated with low salivary flow rate (P =.007). There was no relationship between the median Candida CFU counts and gender or age. There was a high frequency (28%) of mixed colonization. Candida albicans was the most frequent species, followed by C parapsilosis, C tropicalis, and C krusei. In subjects with high Candida CFU counts there was an inverse relationship between salivary flow and Candida CFU counts.

Calibration of a neutron log in partially saturated media. Part II. Error analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hearst, J.R.; Kasameyer, P.W.; Dreiling, L.A.

1981-01-01

Four sources or error (uncertainty) are studied in water content obtained from neutron logs calibrated in partially saturated media for holes up to 3 m. For this calibration a special facility was built and an algorithm for a commercial epithermal neutron log was developed that obtains water content from count rate, bulk density, and gap between the neutron sonde and the borehole wall. The algorithm contained errors due to the calibration and lack of fit, while the field measurements included uncertainties in the count rate (caused by statistics and a short time constant), gap, and density. There can be inhomogeneity in the material surrounding the borehole. Under normal field conditions the hole-size-corrected water content obtained from such neutron logs can have an uncertainty as large as 15% of its value

Ballistic deficit correction methods for large Ge detectors-high counting rate study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duchene, G.; Moszynski, M.

1995-01-01

This study presents different ballistic correction methods versus input count rate (from 3 to 50 kcounts/s) using four large Ge detectors of about 70 % relative efficiency. It turns out that the Tennelec TC245 linear amplifier in the BDC mode (Hinshaw method) is the best compromise for energy resolution throughout. All correction methods lead to narrow sum-peaks indistinguishable from single Γ lines. The full energy peak throughput is found representative of the pile-up inspection dead time of the corrector circuits. This work also presents a new and simple representation, plotting simultaneously energy resolution and throughput versus input count rate. (TEC). 12 refs., 11 figs

ChromAIX2: A large area, high count-rate energy-resolving photon counting ASIC for a Spectral CT Prototype

Science.gov (United States)

Steadman, Roger; Herrmann, Christoph; Livne, Amir

2017-08-01

Spectral CT based on energy-resolving photon counting detectors is expected to deliver additional diagnostic value at a lower dose than current state-of-the-art CT [1]. The capability of simultaneously providing a number of spectrally distinct measurements not only allows distinguishing between photo-electric and Compton interactions but also discriminating contrast agents that exhibit a K-edge discontinuity in the absorption spectrum, referred to as K-edge Imaging [2]. Such detectors are based on direct converting sensors (e.g. CdTe or CdZnTe) and high-rate photon counting electronics. To support the development of Spectral CT and show the feasibility of obtaining rates exceeding 10 Mcps/pixel (Poissonian observed count-rate), the ChromAIX ASIC has been previously reported showing 13.5 Mcps/pixel (150 Mcps/mm2 incident) [3]. The ChromAIX has been improved to offer the possibility of a large area coverage detector, and increased overall performance. The new ASIC is called ChromAIX2, and delivers count-rates exceeding 15 Mcps/pixel with an rms-noise performance of approximately 260 e-. It has an isotropic pixel pitch of 500 μm in an array of 22×32 pixels and is tile-able on three of its sides. The pixel topology consists of a two stage amplifier (CSA and Shaper) and a number of test features allowing to thoroughly characterize the ASIC without a sensor. A total of 5 independent thresholds are also available within each pixel, allowing to acquire 5 spectrally distinct measurements simultaneously. The ASIC also incorporates a baseline restorer to eliminate excess currents induced by the sensor (e.g. dark current and low frequency drifts) which would otherwise cause an energy estimation error. In this paper we report on the inherent electrical performance of the ChromAXI2 as well as measurements obtained with CZT (CdZnTe)/CdTe sensors and X-rays and radioactive sources.

Gain reduction due to space charge at high counting rates in multiwire proportional chambers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, G.C.; Mathieson, E.

1986-10-01

Measurements with a small MWPC of gas gain reduction, due to ion space charge at high counting rates, have been compared with theoretical predictions. The quantity ln(q/q 0 )/(q/q 0 ), where (q/q 0 ) is the relative reduced avalanche charge, has been found to be closely proportional to count rate, as predicted. The constant of proportionality is in good agreement with calculations made with a modified version of the original, simplified theory

Positron imaging system with improved count rate and tomographic capability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muehllehner, G.; Buchin, M.P.

1980-01-01

Improvements to a positron camera imaging system are described. A pair of Angear-type scintillation cameras serve as the detectors, each camera being positioned on opposite sides of the organ of interest. Pulse shaping circuits reduce the pulse duration below 900 nanoseconds and the integration time below 500 noneseconds, improving the count rate capability and the counting statistics of the system and thus the image quality and processing speed. The invention also provides means for rotating the opposed camera heads about an axis which passes through the organ of interest. The cameras do not use collimators, and are capable of accepting radiation travelling in planes not perpendicular to the scintillation crystals. (LL)

Precise method for correcting count-rate losses in scintillation cameras

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madsen, M.T.; Nickles, R.J.

1986-01-01

Quantitative studies performed with scintillation detectors often require corrections for lost data because of the finite resolving time of the detector. Methods that monitor losses by means of a reference source or pulser have unacceptably large statistical fluctuations associated with their correction factors. Analytic methods that model the detector as a paralyzable system require an accurate estimate of the system resolving time. Because the apparent resolving time depends on many variables, including the window setting, source distribution, and the amount of scattering material, significant errors can be introduced by relying on a resolving time obtained from phantom measurements. These problems can be overcome by curve-fitting the data from a reference source to a paralyzable model in which the true total count rate in the selected window is estimated from the observed total rate. The resolving time becomes a free parameter in this method which is optimized to provide the best fit to the observed reference data. The fitted curve has the inherent accuracy of the reference source method with the precision associated with the observed total image count rate. Correction factors can be simply calculated from the ratio of the true reference source rate and the fitted curve. As a result, the statistical uncertainty of the data corrected by this method is not significantly increased

A pulse shape discriminator with high precision of neutron and gamma ray selection at high counting rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bialkowski, J.; Moszynski, M.; Wolski, D.

1989-01-01

A pulse shape discriminator based on the zero-crossing principle is described. Due to dc negative feedback loops stabilizing the shaping amplifier and the zero-crossing discriminator, the working of the circuit is not affected by the high counting rate and the temperature variations. The pileup rejection circuit built into the discriminator improves the quality of the n-γ separation at high counting rates. A full γ-ray rejection is obtained for a recoil energy of electrons down to 25 keV. At high counting rates the remaining γ-ray contribution is evidently due to the pileup effect which is equal to about 2% at 4x10 5 counts/s. (orig.)

ULY JUP GRB SOLAR X-RAY/COSMIC GAMMA-RAY RAW COUNT RATE

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The archived data consist of count rates from the sum of two hemispherical detectors covering 4 pi steradians and operating continuously. The detectors are 3 mm...

Balanced cross-rate model for saturated molecular fluorescence in flames using a nanosecond pulse length laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucht, R.P.; Sweeney, D.W.; Laurendeau, N.M.

1980-01-01

The balanced cross-rate model is proposed to analyze laser-induced molecular fluorescence signals when the laser pulse length is of the order of nanoseconds. Nanosecond pulse length lasers. specifically Q-switched Nd:YAG-pumped dye lasers, are attractive for saturated molecular fluorescence spectroscopy because of their high peak power and because of their short pulse length minimizes the risk of laser-induced chemistry. In the balanced cross-rate model, single upper and lower rotational levels are assumed to be directly coupled by the laser radiation. Because the laser-induced processes which couple these levels are so fast at saturation intensities, a steady state is established between the two levels within picoseconds. Provided that the total population of the two laser-coupled rotational levels is constant during the laser pulse, the total molecular population can be calculated from the observed upper rotational level population using a two-level saturation model and Boltzmann statistics. Numerical simulation of the laser excitation dynamics of OH in an atmospheric pressure H 2 /O 2 /N 2 flame indicates that the balanced cross-rate model will give accurate results provided that the rotational relaxation rates in the upper and lower sets of rotational levels are approximately equal

CASA-Mot technology: how results are affected by the frame rate and counting chamber.

Science.gov (United States)

Bompart, Daznia; García-Molina, Almudena; Valverde, Anthony; Caldeira, Carina; Yániz, Jesús; Núñez de Murga, Manuel; Soler, Carles

2018-04-04

For over 30 years, CASA-Mot technology has been used for kinematic analysis of sperm motility in different mammalian species, but insufficient attention has been paid to the technical limitations of commercial computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA) systems. Counting chamber type and frame rate are two of the most important aspects to be taken into account. Counting chambers can be disposable or reusable, with different depths. In human semen analysis, reusable chambers with a depth of 10µm are the most frequently used, whereas for most farm animal species it is more common to use disposable chambers with a depth of 20µm . The frame rate was previously limited by the hardware, although changes in the number of images collected could lead to significant variations in some kinematic parameters, mainly in curvilinear velocity (VCL). A frame rate of 60 frames s-1 is widely considered to be the minimum necessary for satisfactory results. However, the frame rate is species specific and must be defined in each experimental condition. In conclusion, we show that the optimal combination of frame rate and counting chamber type and depth should be defined for each species and experimental condition in order to obtain reliable results.

Positron imaging system with improved count rate and tomographic capability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-01-01

A system with improved count rate capability for detecting the radioactive distribution of positron events within an organ of interest in a living subject is described. Objects of the invention include improving the scintillation crystal and pulse processing electronics, avoiding the limitations of collimators and provide an Arger camera positron imaging system that avoids the use of collimators. (U.K.)

Single electron counting using a dual MCP assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Yuzhen; Liu, Shulin; Zhao, Tianchi; Yan, Baojun; Wang, Peiliang; Yu, Yang; Lei, Xiangcui; Yang, Luping; Wen, Kaile; Qi, Ming

2016-01-01

The gain, pulse height resolution and peak-to-valley ratio of single electrons detected by using a Chevron configured Microchannel Plate (MCP) assembly are studied. The two MCPs are separated by a 280 µm gap and are biased by four electrodes. The purpose of the study is to determine the optimum bias voltage arrangements for single electron counting. By comparing the results of various bias voltage combinations, we conclude that good performance for the electron counting can be achieved by operating the MCP assembly in saturation mode. In addition, by applying a small reverse bias voltage across the gap while adjusting the bias voltages of the MCPs, optimum performance of electron counting can be obtained. - Highlights: • Dual MCPs assembly with four electrodes using different voltage combinations has been investigated for single electron counting. • Both the MCP voltages and the gap voltage can affect the gain, pulse height resolution and P/V ratio. • A high gain of the first stage MCP, a saturation mode of the second stage MCP and an appropriately reverse gap voltage can improve the resolution greatly. • The optimum voltage arrangements is significant for the design of MCP detectors in single electron counting applications.

CD4+ count and Nitro-Blue Tetrazolium reduction rate of neutrophil ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

CD4+ count and Nitro-Blue Tetrazolium reduction rate of neutrophil in newly diagnosed HIV-infected adults in Sokoto Metropolis. U.K. Mustapha, C.C. Onyenekwe, A. Yakubu, B.R. Alkali, M.H. Yeldu, K.M. Hamid, I. Abdullahi, N.M. Bunza, M. Bello, A.B. Ibrahim ...

Effect of recirculation and regional counting rate on reliability of noninvasive bicompartmental CBF measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herholz, K.

1985-01-01

Based on data from routine intravenous Xe133-rCBF studies in 50 patients, using Obrist's algorithm the effect of counting rate statistics and amount of recirculating activity on reproducibility of results was investigated at five simulated counting rate levels. Dependence of the standard deviation of compartmental and noncompartmental flow parameters on recirculation and counting rate was determined by multiple linear regression analysis. Those regression equations permit determination of the optimum accuracy that may be expected from individual flow measurements. Mainly due to a delay of the start-of-fit time an exponential increase in standard deviation of flow measurements was observed as recirculation increased. At constant start-of-fit, however, a linear increase in standard deviation of compartmental flow parameters only was found, while noncompartmental results remained constant. Therefore, and in regard to other studies of potential sources of error, an upper limit of 2.5 min for the start-of-fit time and usage of noncompartmental flow parameters for measurements affected by high recirculation are suggested

A compact 7-cell Si-drift detector module for high-count rate X-ray spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, K; Reckleben, C; Diehl, I; Klär, H

2008-05-01

A new Si-drift detector module for fast X-ray spectroscopy experiments was developed and realized. The Peltier-cooled module comprises a sensor with 7 × 7-mm 2 active area, an integrated circuit for amplification, shaping and detection, storage, and derandomized readout of signal pulses in parallel, and amplifiers for line driving. The compactness and hexagonal shape of the module with a wrench size of 16mm allow very short distances to the specimen and multi-module arrangements. The power dissipation is 186mW. At a shaper peaking time of 190 ns and an integration time of 450 ns an electronic rms noise of ~11 electrons was achieved. When operated at 7 °C, FWHM line widths around 260 and 460 eV (Cu-K α ) were obtained at low rates and at sum-count rates of 1.7 MHz, respectively. The peak shift is below 1% for a broad range of count rates. At 1.7-MHz sum-count rate the throughput loss amounts to 30%.

A count rate model for PET and its application to an LSO HR PLUS scanner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moisan, C.; Rogers, J.G.; Douglas, J.L.

1996-10-01

We present a count rate model for PET. Considering a standard 20 x 20 cm phantom in the field-of-view of a cylindrical septaless tomograph, the model computes the acceptance to prompt and random events from simple geometric considerations. Dead time factors at all stages of a typical event acquisition architecture are calculated from specified processing clock cycles. Validations of the model's predictions against the measured performances of the ECAT-953B and the EXACT HR PLUS are presented. The model is then used to investigate the benefit of using detectors made of LSO in the EXACT HR PLUS scanner geometry. The results indicate that in replacing BGO by the faster LSO, one can count on an increase of the peak noise-equivalent-count rate by a factor 2.2. This gain will be achieved by using a 5 nsec coincidence window, buckets operating on 128 nsec clock cycle, and front-end data acquisition that can sustain a total rate of 2.9 MHz. (authors)

Count rate balance method of measuring sediment transport of sand beds by radioactive tracers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauzay, G.

1968-01-01

Radioactive tracers are applied to the direct measurement of the sediment transport rate of sand beds. The theoretical measurement formula is derived: the variation of the count rate balance is inverse of that of the transport thickness. Simultaneously the representativeness of the tracer is critically studied. The minimum quantity of tracer which has to be injected in order to obtain a correct statistical definition of count rate given by a low number of grains 'seen' by the detector is then studied. A field experiment was made and has let to study the technological conditions for applying this method: only the treatment of results is new, the experiment itself is carried out with conventional techniques applied with great care. (author) [fr

A scintillation detector signal processing technique with active pileup prevention for extending scintillation count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, W.H.; Li, H.

1998-01-01

A new method for processing signals from scintillation detectors is proposed for very high count-rate situations where multiple-event pileups are the norm. This method is designed to sort out and recover every impinging event from multiple-event pileups while maximizing the collection of scintillation signal for every event to achieve optimal accuracy in determining the energy of the event. For every detected event, this method cancels the remnant signals from previous events, and excludes the pileup of signals from following events. With this technique, pileup events can be recovered and the energy of every recovered event can be optimally measured despite multiple pileups. A prototype circuit demonstrated that the maximum count rates have been increased by more than 10 times, comparing to the standard pulse-shaping method, while the energy resolution is as good as that of the pulse shaping (or the fixed integration) method at normal count rates. At 2 x 10 6 events/sec for NaI(Tl), the true counts acquired are 3 times more than the delay-line clipping method (commonly used in fast processing designs) due to events recovered from pileups. Pulse-height spectra up to 3.5 x 10 6 events/sec have been studied

On the counting rate-dependent amplitude shifts in proportional counters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahesh, K.

1976-01-01

The presence of a positive ion cloud near the anode wire, which has been believed to be the cause of the observed counting rate-dependent peak shifts in proportional counters, does not explain various exhibited features of these shifts. The possibility of other mechanisms involved is, therefore, examined. The columnar recombination of primary ions in the counter is considered to explain the origin of the shifts and their observed features. (Auth.)

High resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy at high count rates with a prototype High Purity Germanium detector

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, R. J.; Amman, M.; Vetter, K.

2018-04-01

High-resolution gamma-ray spectrometers are required for applications in nuclear safeguards, emergency response, and fundamental nuclear physics. To overcome one of the shortcomings of conventional High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors, we have developed a prototype device capable of achieving high event throughput and high energy resolution at very high count rates. This device, the design of which we have previously reported on, features a planar HPGe crystal with a reduced-capacitance strip electrode geometry. This design is intended to provide good energy resolution at the short shaping or digital filter times that are required for high rate operation and which are enabled by the fast charge collection afforded by the planar geometry crystal. In this work, we report on the initial performance of the system at count rates up to and including two million counts per second.

Pulse-duration discrimination for increasing counting characteristic plateau and for improving counting rate stability of a scintillation counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuz'min, M.G.

1977-01-01

For greater stability of scintillation counters operation, discussed is the possibility for increasing the plateau and reducing its slope. Presented is the circuit for discrimination of the signal pulses from input pulses of a photomultiplier. The counting characteristics have been measured with the scintillation detectors being irradiated by different gamma sources ( 60 Co, 137 Cs, 241 Am) and without the source when the scintillation detector is shielded by a tungsten cylinder with a wall thickness of 23 mm. The comparison has revealed that discrimination in duration increase the plateau and reduces its slope. Proceeding from comparison of the noise characteristics, the relationship is found between the noise pulse number and gamma radiation energy. For better stability of the counting rate it is suggested to introduce into the scintillation counter the circuit for duration discrimination of the output pulses of a photomultiplier

An integral whole circuit of amplifying and discriminating suited to high counting rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong Chengfu; Su Hong; Wu Ming; Li Xiaogang; Peng Yu; Qian Yi; Liu Yicai; Xu Sijiu; Ma Xiaoli

2007-01-01

A hybrid circuit consists of charge sensitive preamplifier, main amplifier, discriminator and shaping circuit was described. This instrument has characteristics of low power consumption, small volume, high sensitivity, potable and so on, and is convenient for use in field. The output pulse of this instrument may directly consist with CMOS or TTL logic level. This instrument was mainly used for count measurement, for example, for high sensitive 3 He neutron detector, meanwhile also may used for other heavy ion detectors, the highest counting rate can reach 10 6 /s. (authors)

High counting rate resistive-plate chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peskov, V.; Anderson, D.F.; Kwan, S.

1993-05-01

Parallel-plate avalanche chambers (PPAC) are widely used in physics experiments because they are fast ( 5 counts/mm 2 . A resistive-plate chamber (RPC) is similar to the PPAC in construction except that one or both of the electrodes are made from high resistivity (≥10 10 Ω·cm) materials. In practice RPCs are usually used in the spark mode. Resistive electrodes are charged by sparks, locally reducing the actual electric field in the gap. The size of the charged surface is about 10 mm 2 , leaving the rest of the detector unaffected. Therefore, the rate capability of such detectors in the spark mode is considerably higher than conventional spark counters. Among the different glasses tested the best results were obtained with electron type conductive glasses, which obey Ohm's law. Most of the work with such glasses was done with high pressure parallel-plate chambers (10 atm) for time-of-flight measurements. Resistive glasses have been expensive and produced only in small quantities. Now resistive glasses are commercially available, although they are still expensive in small scale production. From the positive experience of different groups working with the resistive glasses, it was decided to review the old idea to use this glass for the RPC. This work has investigated the possibility of using the RPC at 1 atm and in the avalanche mode. This has several advantages: simplicity of construction, high rate capability, low voltage operation, and the ability to work with non-flammable gases

Effect of Pedestrians on the Saturation Flow Rate of Right Turn Movements at Signalized Intersection - Case Study from Rasht City

Science.gov (United States)

Roshani, Mostafa; Bargegol, Iraj

2017-10-01

Saturation flow rate is one of the important items in the analysis of the capacity of signalized intersections that are affected by some factors. Pedestrian crossing on signalized intersection is one of the factors which influence the vehicles flow. In addition, the released researches determined that the greatest impact of pedestrian on the saturation flow occurred in the Conflict zone where the highest chance of the encounter of pedestrians and vehicles has in turning movements. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the saturation flow rate considering the effect of a pedestrian on right turn movements of the signalized intersections in Rasht city. For this goal, 6 signalized intersections with 90 cycles of reviews were selected for the estimation of saturation flow rate by the microscopic method and also 3 right turn lanes containing radius differences with 70 cycles of reviews were collected for the investigation of the pedestrians’ effects. Each phase of right turn lanes cycle was divided in the pieces of 10-second period which was totally 476 sample volumes of considered pedestrians and vehicles at that period. Only 101 samples of those were ranged as saturated conditions. Finally, using different regression models, the best relationship between pedestrian’s volume and right turning vehicles flow parameters was evaluated. The results indicate that there is a primarily linear relationship between pedestrian volume and right turning vehicles flow with R2=0.6261. According to this regression model with the increase in pedestrians, saturation flow rate will be reduced. In addition, by comparing the adjustment factor obtained in the present study and other studies, it was found that the effect of pedestrians on the right-turn movements in Rasht city is less than the rest of the world.

Analysis of geomagnetic storm variations and count-rate of cosmic ray muons recorded at the Brazilian southern space observatory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frigo, Everton; Savian, Jairo Francisco; Silva, Marlos Rockenbach da; Lago, Alisson dal; Trivedi, Nalin Babulal; Schuch, Nelson Jorge

2007-01-01

An analysis of geomagnetic storm variations and the count rate of cosmic ray muons recorded at the Brazilian Southern Space Observatory -OES/CRS/INPE-MCT, in Sao Martinho da Serra, RS during the month of November 2004, is presented in this paper. The geomagnetic measurements are done by a three component low noise fluxgate magnetometer and the count rates of cosmic ray muons are recorded by a muon scintillator telescope - MST, both instruments installed at the Observatory. The fluxgate magnetometer measures variations in the three orthogonal components of Earth magnetic field, H (North-South), D (East-West) and Z (Vertical), with data sampling rate of 0.5 Hz. The muon scintillator telescope records hourly count rates. The arrival of a solar disturbance can be identified by observing the decrease in the muon count rate. The goal of this work is to describe the physical morphology and phenomenology observed during the geomagnetic storm of November 2004, using the H component of the geomagnetic field and vertical channel V of the multi-directional muon detector in South of Brazil. (author)

Analysis of geomagnetic storm variations and count-rate of cosmic ray muons recorded at the Brazilian southern space observatory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frigo, Everton [University of Sao Paulo, USP, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, IAG/USP, Department of Geophysics, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Savian, Jairo Francisco [Space Science Laboratory of Santa Maria, LACESM/CT, Southern Regional Space Research Center, CRS/INPE, MCT, Santa Maria, RS (Brazil); Silva, Marlos Rockenbach da; Lago, Alisson dal; Trivedi, Nalin Babulal [National Institute for Space Research, INPE/MCT, Division of Space Geophysics, DGE, Sao Jose dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Schuch, Nelson Jorge, E-mail: efrigo@iag.usp.br, E-mail: savian@lacesm.ufsm.br, E-mail: njschuch@lacesm.ufsm.br, E-mail: marlos@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: dallago@dge.inpe.br, E-mail: trivedi@dge.inpe.br [Southern Regional Space Research Center, CRS/INPE, MCT, Santa Maria, RS (Brazil)

2007-07-01

An analysis of geomagnetic storm variations and the count rate of cosmic ray muons recorded at the Brazilian Southern Space Observatory -OES/CRS/INPE-MCT, in Sao Martinho da Serra, RS during the month of November 2004, is presented in this paper. The geomagnetic measurements are done by a three component low noise fluxgate magnetometer and the count rates of cosmic ray muons are recorded by a muon scintillator telescope - MST, both instruments installed at the Observatory. The fluxgate magnetometer measures variations in the three orthogonal components of Earth magnetic field, H (North-South), D (East-West) and Z (Vertical), with data sampling rate of 0.5 Hz. The muon scintillator telescope records hourly count rates. The arrival of a solar disturbance can be identified by observing the decrease in the muon count rate. The goal of this work is to describe the physical morphology and phenomenology observed during the geomagnetic storm of November 2004, using the H component of the geomagnetic field and vertical channel V of the multi-directional muon detector in South of Brazil. (author)

Expected count rate for the Self- Interrogation Neutron Resonance Densitometry measurements of spent nuclear fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rossa, Riccardo [SCK.CEN, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Boeretang, 200 - B2400 Mol (Belgium); Universite libre de Bruxelles, Ecole polytechnique de Bruxelles - Service de Metrologie Nucleaire, CP 165/84, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 - B1050 Brussels (Belgium); Borella, Alessandro; Van der Meer, Klaas [SCK.CEN, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Boeretang, 200 - B2400 Mol (Belgium); Labeau, Pierre-Etienne; Pauly, Nicolas [Universite libre de Bruxelles, Ecole polytechnique de Bruxelles - Service de Metrologie Nucleaire, CP 165/84, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 - B1050 Brussels (Belgium)

2015-07-01

The Self-Interrogation Neutron Resonance Densitometry (SINRD) is a passive neutron technique that aims at a direct quantification of {sup 239}Pu in the fuel assemblies by measuring the attenuation of the neutron flux in the energy region close to the 0.3 eV resonance of {sup 239}Pu. The {sup 239}Pu mass is estimated by calculating the SINRD signature, that is the ratio between the neutron flux integrated over the fast energy region and around the 0.3 eV resonance region. The SINRD measurement approach considered in this study consists in introducing a small neutron detector in the central guide tube of a PWR 17x17 fuel assembly. In order to measure the neutron flux in the energy regions defined in the SINRD signature, different detector types are used. The response of a bare {sup 238}U fission chamber is considered for the determination of the fast neutron flux, while other thermal-epithermal detectors wrapped in neutron absorbers are envisaged to measure the neutron flux around the resonance region. This paper provides an estimation of the count rate that can be achieved with the detector types proposed for the SINRD measurement. In the first section a set of detectors are evaluated in terms of count rate and sensitivity to the {sup 239}Pu content, in order to identify the optimal measurement configuration for each detector type. Then a study is performed to increase the count rate by increasing the detector size. The study shows that the highest count rate is achieved by using either {sup 3}He or {sup 10}B proportional counters because of the high neutron efficiency of these detectors. However, the calculations indicate that the biggest contribution to the measurement uncertainty is due to the measurement of the fast neutron flux. Finally, similar sensitivity to the {sup 239}Pu content is obtained by using the different detector types for the measurement of the neutron flux close to the resonance region. Therefore, the count rate associated to each detector type

PVO VENUS ONMS BROWSE SUPRTHRML ION MAX COUNT RATE 12S V1.0

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains PVO Neutral Mass Spectrometer superthermal ion data. Each record contains the maximum count rate per second in a 12 second period beginning...

Exchange rates of creatine kinase metabolites: feasibility of imaging creatine by chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Haris, Mohammad; Nanga, Ravi Prakash Reddy; Singh, Anup; Cai, Kejia; Kogan, Feliks; Hariharan, Hari; Reddy, Ravinder

2012-11-01

Creatine (Cr), phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine-5-triphosphate (ATP) are major metabolites of the enzyme creatine kinase (CK). The exchange rate of amine protons of CK metabolites at physiological conditions has been limited. In the current study, the exchange rate and logarithmic dissociation constant (pKa) of amine protons of CK metabolites were calculated. Further, the chemical exchange saturation transfer effect (CEST) of amine protons of CK metabolites with bulk water was explored. At physiological temperature and pH, the exchange rate of amine protons in Cr was found to be 7-8 times higher than PCr and ATP. A higher exchange rate in Cr was associated with lower pKa value, suggesting faster dissociation of its amine protons compared to PCr and ATP. CEST MR imaging of these metabolites in vitro in phantoms displayed predominant CEST contrast from Cr and negligible contribution from PCr and ATP with the saturation pulse parameters used in the current study. These results provide a new method to perform high-resolution proton imaging of Cr without contamination from PCr. Potential applications of these finding are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Frost heave susceptibility of saturated soil under constant rate of freezing

Science.gov (United States)

Ryokai, K.; Iguro, M.; Yoneyama, K.

Introduced are the results of experiments carried out to quantitatively obtain the frost heave pressure and displacement of soil subjected to artificial freezing or freezing around in-ground liquefied natural gas storage tanks. This experiment is conducted to evaluate the frost heave susceptibility of saturated soil under overconsolidation. In other words, this experiment was carried out to obtain the relation of the over-burden pressure and freezing rate to the frost heave ratio by observing the frost heave displacement and freezing time of specimens by freezing the specimens at a constant freezing rate under a constant overburden pressure, while letting water freely flow in and out of the system. Introduced are the procedures for frost heave test required to quantitatively obtain the frost heave displacement and pressure of soil. Furthermore, the relation between the frost heave susceptibility and physical properties of soil obtained by this test is reported.

An explanation of efficiency droop in InGaN-based light emitting diodes: saturated radiative recombination rate at randomly distributed In-rich active areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shim, Jong-In; Kim, Hyun-Sung; Shin, Dong-Soo; Yoo, Han-Youl

2011-01-01

We present a comprehensive model of the dependence of the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) on both the temperature and the carrier density in InGaN-based blue and green light emitting diodes (LEDs). In our model, carriers are dominantly located and recombine both radiatively and nonradiatively inside randomly distributed In-rich areas of the InGaN quantum wells (QWs). In those areas, the carrier density is very high even at a small current density. We propose that the saturated radiative recombination rate is a primary factor determining the IQE droop of InGaN based LEDs. In typical InGaN-based QWs, it is common for the total carrier recombination rate to be smaller than the carrier injection rate even at a small current density. This is mostly attributable to the saturation of the radiative recombination rate. The saturation of the radiative recombination rate increases carrier density in InGaN QWs, enlarges nonradiative carrier losses, and eventually gives rise to the large IQE droop with increasing current. We show how the radiative recombination rate saturates and the radiative recombination rate has influence on the IQE droop in InGaN-based QW LEDs.

Fluorescence decay data analysis correcting for detector pulse pile-up at very high count rates

Science.gov (United States)

Patting, Matthias; Reisch, Paja; Sackrow, Marcus; Dowler, Rhys; Koenig, Marcelle; Wahl, Michael

2018-03-01

Using time-correlated single photon counting for the purpose of fluorescence lifetime measurements is usually limited in speed due to pile-up. With modern instrumentation, this limitation can be lifted significantly, but some artifacts due to frequent merging of closely spaced detector pulses (detector pulse pile-up) remain an issue to be addressed. We propose a data analysis method correcting for this type of artifact and the resulting systematic errors. It physically models the photon losses due to detector pulse pile-up and incorporates the loss in the decay fit model employed to obtain fluorescence lifetimes and relative amplitudes of the decay components. Comparison of results with and without this correction shows a significant reduction of systematic errors at count rates approaching the excitation rate. This allows quantitatively accurate fluorescence lifetime imaging at very high frame rates.

A constant velocity Moessbauer spectrometer free of long-term instrumental drifts in the count rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarma, P.R.; Sharma, A.K.; Tripathi, K.C.

1979-01-01

Two new control circuits to be used with a constant velocity Moessbauer spectrometer with a loud-speaker drive have been described. The wave-forms generated in the circuits are of the stair-case type instead of the usual square wave-form, so that in each oscillation of the source it remains stationary for a fraction of the time-period. The gamma-rays counted during this period are monitored along with the positive and negative velocity counts and are used to correct any fluctuation in the count rate by feeding these pulses into the timer. The associated logic circuits have been described and the statistical errors involved in the circuits have been computed. (auth.)

A high count rate position decoding and energy measuring method for nuclear cameras using Anger logic detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, W.H.; Li, H.; Uribe, J.

1998-01-01

A new method for processing signals from Anger position-sensitive detectors used in gamma cameras and PET is proposed for very high count-rate imaging where multiple-event pileups are the norm. This method is designed to sort out and recover every impinging event from multiple-event pileups while maximizing the collection of scintillation signal for every event to achieve optimal accuracy in the measurement of energy and position. For every detected event, this method cancels the remnant signals from previous events, and excludes the pileup of signals from following events. The remnant subtraction is exact even for multiple pileup events. A prototype circuit for energy recovery demonstrated that the maximum count rates can be increased by more than 10 times comparing to the pulse-shaping method, and the energy resolution is as good as pulse shaping (or fixed integration) at low count rates. At 2 x 10 6 events/sec on NaI(Tl), the true counts acquired with this method is 3.3 times more than the delay-line clipping method (256 ns clipping) due to events recovered from pileups. Pulse-height spectra up to 3.5 x 10 6 events/sec have been studied. Monte Carlo simulation studies have been performed for image-quality comparisons between different processing methods

A look at the determination of liquid saturations in two dimensions, and the determination of count rates from scattered radiation, in connection with the EFP-96 project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sletsgaard, Jan

1996-11-01

The purpose of this project is to determine oil-and water saturations in a core plug, and to make this determination two dimentional. By grouping a series of two dimentional sections together, it would be possible to obtain a primitive three dimentional view of the liquid saturations in the plug. The idea behind the project is to provide a relatively cheap alternative to the existing NMR-and CT scanning methods. This reduction in cost is obtained at the price of a reduced spatial resolution

A burst-mode photon counting receiver with automatic channel estimation and bit rate detection

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Hemonth G.; DeVoe, Catherine E.; Fletcher, Andrew S.; Gaschits, Igor D.; Hakimi, Farhad; Hamilton, Scott A.; Hardy, Nicholas D.; Ingwersen, John G.; Kaminsky, Richard D.; Moores, John D.; Scheinbart, Marvin S.; Yarnall, Timothy M.

2016-04-01

We demonstrate a multi-rate burst-mode photon-counting receiver for undersea communication at data rates up to 10.416 Mb/s over a 30-foot water channel. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of burst-mode photon-counting communication. With added attenuation, the maximum link loss is 97.1 dB at λ=517 nm. In clear ocean water, this equates to link distances up to 148 meters. For λ=470 nm, the achievable link distance in clear ocean water is 450 meters. The receiver incorporates soft-decision forward error correction (FEC) based on a product code of an inner LDPC code and an outer BCH code. The FEC supports multiple code rates to achieve error-free performance. We have selected a burst-mode receiver architecture to provide robust performance with respect to unpredictable channel obstructions. The receiver is capable of on-the-fly data rate detection and adapts to changing levels of signal and background light. The receiver updates its phase alignment and channel estimates every 1.6 ms, allowing for rapid changes in water quality as well as motion between transmitter and receiver. We demonstrate on-the-fly rate detection, channel BER within 0.2 dB of theory across all data rates, and error-free performance within 1.82 dB of soft-decision capacity across all tested code rates. All signal processing is done in FPGAs and runs continuously in real time.

Low power ion spectrometer for high counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein, J.W.; Dullenkopf, P.; Glasmachers, A.; Melbert, J.; Winkelnkemper, W.

1980-01-01

This report describes in detail the electronic concept for a time-of-flight (TOF) ion spectrometer for high counting rates and high dynamic range which can be used as a satellite instrument. The detection principle of the spectrometer is based on a time-of-flight and energy measurement for each incident ion. The ionmass is related to these two quantities by a simple equation. The described approach for the mass identification systems is using an analog fast-slow concept: The fast TOF-signal preselects the gainstep in the much slower energy channel. The conversion time of the mass identifier is approximately 10 -6 s and the dynamic range of the energy channel is better than 10 3 (20 keV to 25 MeV). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a TOF-spectrometer capable to measure the ion composition in planetary magnetospheres. (orig.) [de

Improvements in the energy resolution and high-count-rate performance of bismuth germanate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koehler, P.E.; Wender, S.A.; Kapustinsky, J.S.

1985-01-01

Several methods for improving the energy resolution of bismuth germanate (BGO) have been investigated. It is shown that some of these methods resulted in a substantial improvement in the energy resolution. In addition, a method to improve the performance of BGO at high counting rates has been systematically studied. The results of this study are presented and discussed

Heterogeneous counting on filter support media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long, E.; Kohler, V.; Kelly, M.J.

1976-01-01

Many investigators in the biomedical research area have used filter paper as the support for radioactive samples. This means that a heterogeneous counting of sample sometimes results. The count rate of a sample on a filter will be affected by positioning, degree of dryness, sample application procedure, the type of filter, and the type of cocktail used. Positioning of the filter (up or down) in the counting vial can cause a variation of 35% or more when counting tritiated samples on filter paper. Samples of varying degrees of dryness when added to the counting cocktail can cause nonreproducible counts if handled improperly. Count rates starting at 2400 CPM initially can become 10,000 CPM in 24 hours for 3 H-DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) samples dried on standard cellulose acetate membrane filters. Data on cellulose nitrate filters show a similar trend. Sample application procedures in which the sample is applied to the filter in a small spot or on a large amount of the surface area can cause nonreproducible or very low counting rates. A tritiated DNA sample, when applied topically, gives a count rate of 4,000 CPM. When the sample is spread over the whole filter, 13,400 CPM are obtained with a much better coefficient of variation (5% versus 20%). Adding protein carrier (bovine serum albumin-BSA) to the sample to trap more of the tritiated DNA on the filter during the filtration process causes a serious beta absorption problem. Count rates which are one-fourth the count rate applied to the filter are obtained on calibrated runs. Many of the problems encountered can be alleviated by a proper choice of filter and the use of a liquid scintillation cocktail which dissolves the filter. Filter-Solv has been used to dissolve cellulose nitrate filters and filters which are a combination of cellulose nitrate and cellulose acetate. Count rates obtained for these dissolved samples are very reproducible and highly efficient

High Resolution Gamma Ray Spectroscopy at MHz Counting Rates With LaBr3 Scintillators for Fusion Plasma Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Nocente, M.; Tardocchi, M.; Olariu, A.; Olariu, S.; Pereira, R. C.; Chugunov, I. N.; Fernandes, A.; Gin, D. B.; Grosso, G.; Kiptily, V. G.; Neto, A.; Shevelev, A. E.; Silva, M.; Sousa, J.; Gorini, G.

2013-04-01

High resolution γ-ray spectroscopy measurements at MHz counting rates were carried out at nuclear accelerators, combining a LaBr 3(Ce) detector with dedicated hardware and software solutions based on digitization and off-line analysis. Spectra were measured at counting rates up to 4 MHz, with little or no degradation of the energy resolution, adopting a pile up rejection algorithm. The reported results represent a step forward towards the final goal of high resolution γ-ray spectroscopy measurements on a burning plasma device.

Correction for decay during counting in gamma spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nir-El, Y.

2013-01-01

A basic result in gamma spectrometry is the count rate of a relevant peak. Correction for decay during counting and expressing the count rate at the beginning of the measurement can be done by a multiplicative factor that is derived from integrating the count rate over time. The counting time substituted in this factor must be the live time, whereas the use of the real-time is an error that underestimates the count rate by about the dead-time (DT) (in percentage). This error of underestimation of the count rate is corroborated in the measurement of a nuclide with a high DT. The present methodology is not applicable in systems that include a zero DT correction function. (authors)

AEROSOL NUCLEATION AND GROWTH DURING LAMINAR TUBE FLOW: MAXIMUM SATURATIONS AND NUCLEATION RATES. (R827354C008)

Science.gov (United States)

An approximate method of estimating the maximum saturation, the nucleation rate, and the total number nucleated per second during the laminar flow of a hot vapour–gas mixture along a tube with cold walls is described. The basis of the approach is that the temperature an...

Low-Noise Free-Running High-Rate Photon-Counting for Space Communication and Ranging

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Wei; Krainak, Michael A.; Yang, Guan; Sun, Xiaoli; Merritt, Scott

2016-01-01

We present performance data for low-noise free-running high-rate photon counting method for space optical communication and ranging. NASA GSFC is testing the performance of two types of novel photon-counting detectors 1) a 2x8 mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) avalanche array made by DRS Inc., and a 2) a commercial 2880-element silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) array. We successfully measured real-time communication performance using both the 2 detected-photon threshold and logic AND-gate coincidence methods. Use of these methods allows mitigation of dark count, after-pulsing and background noise effects without using other method of Time Gating The HgCdTe APD array routinely demonstrated very high photon detection efficiencies (50) at near infrared wavelength. The commercial silicon APD array exhibited a fast output with rise times of 300 ps and pulse widths of 600 ps. On-chip individually filtered signals from the entire array were multiplexed onto a single fast output. NASA GSFC has tested both detectors for their potential application for space communications and ranging. We developed and compare their performances using both the 2 detected photon threshold and coincidence methods.

Can simple mobile phone applications provide reliable counts of respiratory rates in sick infants and children? An initial evaluation of three new applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, James; Gerdtz, Marie; Nicholson, Pat; Crellin, Dianne; Browning, Laura; Simpson, Julie; Bell, Lauren; Santamaria, Nick

2015-05-01

Respiratory rate is an important sign that is commonly either not recorded or recorded incorrectly. Mobile phone ownership is increasing even in resource-poor settings. Phone applications may improve the accuracy and ease of counting of respiratory rates. The study assessed the reliability and initial users' impressions of four mobile phone respiratory timer approaches, compared to a 60-second count by the same participants. Three mobile applications (applying four different counting approaches plus a standard 60-second count) were created using the Java Mobile Edition and tested on Nokia C1-01 phones. Apart from the 60-second timer application, the others included a counter based on the time for ten breaths, and three based on the time interval between breaths ('Once-per-Breath', in which the user presses for each breath and the application calculates the rate after 10 or 20 breaths, or after 60s). Nursing and physiotherapy students used the applications to count respiratory rates in a set of brief video recordings of children with different respiratory illnesses. Limits of agreement (compared to the same participant's standard 60-second count), intra-class correlation coefficients and standard errors of measurement were calculated to compare the reliability of the four approaches, and a usability questionnaire was completed by the participants. There was considerable variation in the counts, with large components of the variation related to the participants and the videos, as well as the methods. None of the methods was entirely reliable, with no limits of agreement better than -10 to +9 breaths/min. Some of the methods were superior to the others, with ICCs from 0.24 to 0.92. By ICC the Once-per-Breath 60-second count and the Once-per-Breath 20-breath count were the most consistent, better even than the 60-second count by the participants. The 10-breath approaches performed least well. Users' initial impressions were positive, with little difference between the

The 30-second rule: the effects of prolonged intubation attempts on oxygen saturation and heart rate in preterm infants in the delivery room.

Science.gov (United States)

Wozniak, Madeline; Arnell, Kathy; Brown, Melissa; Gonzales, Sarah; Lazarus, Danielle; Rich, Wade; Katheria, Anup

2018-04-01

A duration of 30 seconds has been shown to improve the success rate of intubation attempts without any decompensation. There is limited data regarding the detrimental effects of prolonged intubation attempts in preterm infants. The aim was to determine the effect of prolonged intubation attempts on heart rate and oxygen saturation in preterm infants. We retrospectively reviewed videos and physiologic data collected during delivery room (DR) resuscitations. Infants who had a functioning pulse oximeter at the time of intubation in the delivery room were analyzed using video and analog recordings. The duration of the intubation attempt was defined as the time the laryngoscope blade was in the infant's mouth. Prolonged intubations were defined as intubations over 30 seconds. Baseline heart rate and saturations were defined as the heart rate and saturation immediately prior to the intubation attempt. Video recording was used to determine time laryngoscope was in the mouth, what other procedures were performed, and whether there was recovery between attempts. Analog data including heart rate, airway pressure and saturation was also recorded. There were 52 intubation attempts in 28 infants. The median (IQR) birth weight and gestational age were 795 (705, 972) grams and 25 (25, 27) weeks. The duration of an intubation attempt was 35 (27, 46) seconds with number of attempts 2 (1, 2). There were 34 intubation attempts greater than 30 seconds (prolonged group) and 18 attempts less than or equal to 30 seconds (short group). Longer attempts did not affect intubation success (successful 34 [25,37] seconds vs. unsuccessful 41[29, 53] seconds; P=0.05). Infants in the prolonged group had a greater decrease in oxygen saturation percentage from baseline (5±8 percent, short intubation group and 13±27 prolonged intubation group; P=0.004). There was also a significant decrease in heart rate beats per minute between the two groups (6±9 in the short intubation group and 23±29

A relationship between salivary flow rates and Candida counts in patients with xerostomia.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadig, Suchetha Devendrappa; Ashwathappa, Deepak Timmasandra; Manjunath, Muniraju; Krishna, Sowmya; Annaji, Araleri Gopalkrishna; Shivaprakash, Praveen Kunigal

2017-01-01

Most of the adult population is colonized by Candida in their oral cavity. The process of colonization depends on several factors, including the interaction between Candida and salivary proteins. Therefore, salivary gland hypofunction may alter the oral microbiota and increase the risk for opportunistic infections, such as candidiasis. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the relationship between salivary flow rates (SFRs) and Candida colony counts in the saliva of patients with xerostomia. This study aims to determine and evaluate the relationship between SFRs and Candida colony forming units (CFUs) in patients with xerostomia. This study was a descriptive study. The study participants were taken from the patients attending outpatient department in a private dental college. Fifty patients, who reported xerostomia in a questionnaire of the symptoms of xerostomia, were selected. Chewing stimulated whole saliva samples were collected from them and their SFRs were assessed. Saliva samples were inoculated in the Sabouraud dextrose agar culture media for 24-48 h, and Candida CFUs were counted. Chi-squared test was used to analyze the data. There was a significant inverse relationship between salivary flow and candida CFUs count when patients with high colony counts were analyzed (cutoff point of 400 or greater CFU/mL). Females had less SFR than males. Most of the patients who had hyposalivation were taking medication for the underlying systemic diseases. Candida albicans was the most frequent species. There was a significantly negative correlation between SFRs and Candida CFUs in the patients with xerostomia.

The Bayesian count rate probability distribution in measurement of ionizing radiation by use of a ratemeter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weise, K.

2004-06-01

Recent metrological developments concerning measurement uncertainty, founded on Bayesian statistics, give rise to a revision of several parts of the DIN 25482 and ISO 11929 standard series. These series stipulate detection limits and decision thresholds for ionizing-radiation measurements. Part 3 and, respectively, part 4 of them deal with measurements by use of linear-scale analogue ratemeters. A normal frequency distribution of the momentary ratemeter indication for a fixed count rate value is assumed. The actual distribution, which is first calculated numerically by solving an integral equation, differs, however, considerably from the normal distribution although this one represents an approximation of it for sufficiently large values of the count rate to be measured. As is shown, this similarly holds true for the Bayesian probability distribution of the count rate for sufficiently large given measured values indicated by the ratemeter. This distribution follows from the first one mentioned by means of the Bayes theorem. Its expectation value and variance are needed for the standards to be revised on the basis of Bayesian statistics. Simple expressions are given by the present standards for estimating these parameters and for calculating the detection limit and the decision threshold. As is also shown, the same expressions can similarly be used as sufficient approximations by the revised standards if, roughly, the present indicated value exceeds the reciprocal ratemeter relaxation time constant. (orig.)

The study of error for analysis in dynamic image from the error of count rates in Nal (Tl) scintillation camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Joo Young; Kang, Chun Goo; Kim, Jung Yul; Oh, Ki Baek; Kim, Jae Sam; Park, Hoon Hee

2013-01-01

This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of T 1/2 upon count rates in the analysis of dynamic scan using NaI (Tl) scintillation camera, and suggest a new quality control method with this effects. We producted a point source with '9 9m TcO 4 - of 18.5 to 185 MBq in the 2 mL syringes, and acquired 30 frames of dynamic images with 10 to 60 seconds each using Infinia gamma camera (GE, USA). In the second experiment, 90 frames of dynamic images were acquired from 74 MBq point source by 5 gamma cameras (Infinia 2, Forte 2, Argus 1). There were not significant differences in average count rates of the sources with 18.5 to 92.5 MBq in the analysis of 10 to 60 seconds/frame with 10 seconds interval in the first experiment (p>0.05). But there were significantly low average count rates with the sources over 111 MBq activity at 60 seconds/frame (p<0.01). According to the second analysis results of linear regression by count rates of 5 gamma cameras those were acquired during 90 minutes, counting efficiency of fourth gamma camera was most low as 0.0064%, and gradient and coefficient of variation was high as 0.0042 and 0.229 each. We could not find abnormal fluctuation in χ 2 test with count rates (p>0.02), and we could find the homogeneity of variance in Levene's F-test among the gamma cameras (p>0.05). At the correlation analysis, there was only correlation between counting efficiency and gradient as significant negative correlation (r=-0.90, p<0.05). Lastly, according to the results of calculation of T 1/2 error from change of gradient with -0.25% to +0.25%, if T 1/2 is relatively long, or gradient is high, the error increase relationally. When estimate the value of 4th camera which has highest gradient from the above mentioned result, we could not see T 1/2 error within 60 minutes at that value. In conclusion, it is necessary for the scintillation gamma camera in medical field to manage hard for the quality of radiation measurement. Especially, we found a

Water table and the neutron moisture meter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Visvalingam, M [Hull Univ. (UK). Geography Dept.

1975-12-01

Measurements with a neutron moisture meter at Westlands, near Hull, showed count rates at capillary saturation to be within the error limits of count rates at full saturation. However, the saturation profiles in themselves were interesting as they indicated not only the zonation of the soil but also differences in drainable porosity when compared to count-rate profiles at the end of November.

Comparison of McMaster and FECPAKG2 methods for counting nematode eggs in the faeces of alpacas.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Mohammed H; Stevenson, Mark A; Waenga, Shea; Mirams, Greg; Campbell, Angus J D; Vaughan, Jane L; Jabbar, Abdul

2018-05-02

This study aimed to compare the FECPAK G2 and the McMaster techniques for counting of gastrointestinal nematode eggs in the faeces of alpacas using two floatation solutions (saturated sodium chloride and sucrose solutions). Faecal eggs counts from both techniques were compared using the Lin's concordance correlation coefficient and Bland and Altman statistics. Results showed moderate to good agreement between the two methods, with better agreement achieved when saturated sugar is used as a floatation fluid, particularly when faecal egg counts are less than 1000 eggs per gram of faeces. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to assess agreement of measurements between McMaster and FECPAK G2 methods for estimating faecal eggs in South American camelids.

Association between success rate and citation count of studies of radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: possible evidence of citation bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Perino, Alexander C; Hoang, Donald D; Holmes, Tyson H; Santangeli, Pasquale; Heidenreich, Paul A; Perez, Marco V; Wang, Paul J; Turakhia, Mintu P

2014-09-01

The preferential citation of studies with the highest success rates could exaggerate perceived effectiveness, particularly for treatments with widely varying published success rates such as radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. We systematically identified observational studies and clinical trials of radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation between 1990 and 2012. Generalized Poisson regression was used to estimate association between study success rate and total citation count, adjusting for sample size, journal impact factor, time since publication, study design, and whether first or last author was a consensus-defined pre-eminent expert. We identified 174 articles meeting our inclusion criteria (36 289 subjects). After adjustment only for time since publication, a 10-point increase above the mean in pooled reported success rates was associated with a 17.8% increase in citation count at 5 years postpublication (95% confidence interval, 7.1-28.4%; Pcitation count; 95% confidence interval, 7.6-29.6%; Pcitation count, which may indicate citation bias. To readers of the literature, radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation could be perceived to be more effective than the data supports. These findings may have implications for a wide variety of novel cardiovascular therapies. © 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.

The Dependence of Tropical Cyclone Count and Size on Rotation Rate

Science.gov (United States)

Chavas, D. R.; Reed, K. A.

2017-12-01

Both theory and idealized equilibrium modeling studies indicate that tropical cyclone size decreases with background rotation rate. In contrast, in real-world observations size tends to increase with latitude. Here we seek to resolve this apparent contradiction via a set of reduced-complexity global aquaplanet simulations with varying planetary rotation rates using the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model 5. The latitudinal distribution of both storm count and size are found to vary markedly with rotation rate, yielding insight into the dynamical constraints on tropical cyclone activity on a rotating planet. Moreover, storm size is found to vary non-monotonically with latitude, indicating that non-equilibrium effects are crucial to the life-cycle evolution of size in nature. Results are then compared to experiments in idealized, time-dependent limited-area modeling simulations using CM1 in axisymmetric and three-dimensional geometry. Taken together, this hierarchy of models is used to quantify the role of equilibrium versus transient controls on storm size and the relevance of each to real storms in nature.

Sample to answer visualization pipeline for low-cost point-of-care blood cell counting

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Suzanne; Naidoo, Thegaran; Davies, Emlyn; Fourie, Louis; Nxumalo, Zandile; Swart, Hein; Marais, Philip; Land, Kevin; Roux, Pieter

2015-03-01

We present a visualization pipeline from sample to answer for point-of-care blood cell counting applications. Effective and low-cost point-of-care medical diagnostic tests provide developing countries and rural communities with accessible healthcare solutions [1], and can be particularly beneficial for blood cell count tests, which are often the starting point in the process of diagnosing a patient [2]. The initial focus of this work is on total white and red blood cell counts, using a microfluidic cartridge [3] for sample processing. Analysis of the processed samples has been implemented by means of two main optical visualization systems developed in-house: 1) a fluidic operation analysis system using high speed video data to determine volumes, mixing efficiency and flow rates, and 2) a microscopy analysis system to investigate homogeneity and concentration of blood cells. Fluidic parameters were derived from the optical flow [4] as well as color-based segmentation of the different fluids using a hue-saturation-value (HSV) color space. Cell count estimates were obtained using automated microscopy analysis and were compared to a widely accepted manual method for cell counting using a hemocytometer [5]. The results using the first iteration microfluidic device [3] showed that the most simple - and thus low-cost - approach for microfluidic component implementation was not adequate as compared to techniques based on manual cell counting principles. An improved microfluidic design has been developed to incorporate enhanced mixing and metering components, which together with this work provides the foundation on which to successfully implement automated, rapid and low-cost blood cell counting tests.

A relationship between salivary flow rates and Candida counts in patients with xerostomia

OpenAIRE

Nadig, Suchetha Devendrappa; Ashwathappa, Deepak Timmasandra; Manjunath, Muniraju; Krishna, Sowmya; Annaji, Araleri Gopalkrishna; Shivaprakash, Praveen Kunigal

2017-01-01

Context: Most of the adult population is colonized by Candida in their oral cavity. The process of colonization depends on several factors, including the interaction between Candida and salivary proteins. Therefore, salivary gland hypofunction may alter the oral microbiota and increase the risk for opportunistic infections, such as candidiasis. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the relationship between salivary flow rates (SFRs) and Candida colony counts in the saliva of patients with xerost...

Lipid order, saturation and surface property relationships: a study of human meibum saturation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mudgil, Poonam; Borchman, Douglas; Yappert, Marta C; Duran, Diana; Cox, Gregory W; Smith, Ryan J; Bhola, Rahul; Dennis, Gary R; Whitehall, John S

2013-11-01

Tear film stability decreases with age however the cause(s) of the instability are speculative. Perhaps the more saturated meibum from infants may contribute to tear film stability. The meibum lipid phase transition temperature and lipid hydrocarbon chain order at physiological temperature (33 °C) decrease with increasing age. It is reasonable that stronger lipid-lipid interactions could stabilize the tear film since these interactions must be broken for tear break up to occur. In this study, meibum from a pool of adult donors was saturated catalytically. The influence of saturation on meibum hydrocarbon chain order was determined by infrared spectroscopy. Meibum is in an anhydrous state in the meibomian glands and on the surface of the eyelid. The influence of saturation on the surface properties of meibum was determined using Langmuir trough technology. Saturation of native human meibum did not change the minimum or maximum values of hydrocarbon chain order so at temperatures far above or below the phase transition of human meibum, saturation does not play a role in ordering or disordering the lipid hydrocarbon chains. Saturation did increase the phase transition temperature in human meibum by over 20 °C, a relatively high amount. Surface pressure-area studies showing the late take off and higher maximum surface pressure of saturated meibum compared to native meibum suggest that the saturated meibum film is quite molecularly ordered (stiff molecular arrangement) and elastic (molecules are able to rearrange during compression and expansion) compared with native meibum films which are more fluid agreeing with the infrared spectroscopic results of this study. In saturated meibum, the formation of compacted ordered islands of lipids above the surfactant layer would be expected to decrease the rate of evaporation compared to fluid and more loosely packed native meibum. Higher surface pressure observed with films of saturated meibum compared to native meibum

Time and position resolution of high granularity, high counting rate MRPC for the inner zone of the CBM-TOF wall

CERN Document Server

Petriş, M.

2016-09-13

Multi-gap RPC prototypes with readout on a multi-strip electrode were developed for the small polar angle region of the CBM-TOF subdetector, the most demanding zone in terms of granularity and counting rate. The prototypes are based on low resistivity ($\\sim$10$^{10}$ $\\Omega$cm) glass electrodes for performing in high counting rate environment. The strip width/pitch size was chosen such to fulfill the impedance matching with the front-end electronics and the granularity requirements of the innermost zone of the CBM-TOF wall. The in-beam tests using secondary particles produced in heavy ion collisions on a Pb target at SIS18 - GSI Darmstadt and SPS - CERN were focused on the performance of the prototype in conditions similar to the ones expected at SIS100/FAIR. An efficiency larger than 98\\% and a system time resolution in the order of 70~-~80~ps were obtained in high counting rate and high multiplicity environment.

Color and emotion: effects of hue, saturation, and brightness.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilms, Lisa; Oberfeld, Daniel

2017-06-13

Previous studies on emotional effects of color often failed to control all the three perceptual dimensions of color: hue, saturation, and brightness. Here, we presented a three-dimensional space of chromatic colors by independently varying hue (blue, green, red), saturation (low, medium, high), and brightness (dark, medium, bright) in a factorial design. The 27 chromatic colors, plus 3 brightness-matched achromatic colors, were presented via an LED display. Participants (N = 62) viewed each color for 30 s and then rated their current emotional state (valence and arousal). Skin conductance and heart rate were measured continuously. The emotion ratings showed that saturated and bright colors were associated with higher arousal. The hue also had a significant effect on arousal, which increased from blue and green to red. The ratings of valence were the highest for saturated and bright colors, and also depended on the hue. Several interaction effects of the three color dimensions were observed for both arousal and valence. For instance, the valence ratings were higher for blue than for the remaining hues, but only for highly saturated colors. Saturated and bright colors caused significantly stronger skin conductance responses. Achromatic colors resulted in a short-term deceleration in the heart rate, while chromatic colors caused an acceleration. The results confirm that color stimuli have effects on the emotional state of the observer. These effects are not only determined by the hue of a color, as is often assumed, but by all the three color dimensions as well as their interactions.

Construction and Test of Muon Drift Tube Chambers for High Counting Rates

CERN Document Server

Schwegler, Philipp; Dubbert, Jörg

2010-01-01

Since the start of operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN on 20 November 2009, the instantaneous luminosity is steadily increasing. The muon spectrometer of the ATLAS detector at the LHC is instrumented with trigger and precision tracking chambers in a toroidal magnetic field. Monitored Drift-Tube (MDT) chambers are employed as precision tracking chambers, complemented by Cathode Strip Chambers (CSC) in the very forward region where the background counting rate due to neutrons and γ's produced in shielding material and detector components is too high for the MDT chambers. After several upgrades of the CERN accelerator system over the coming decade, the instantaneous luminosity is expected to be raised to about five times the LHC design luminosity. This necessitates replacement of the muon chambers in the regions with the highest background radiation rates in the so-called Small Wheels, which constitute the innermost layers of the muon spectrometer end-caps, by new detectors with higher rate cap...

Exponential decay and exponential recovery of modal gains in high count rate channel electron multipliers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, S.F.; Burch, J.L.

1980-01-01

A series of data on high count rate channel electron multipliers revealed an initial drop and subsequent recovery of gains in exponential fashion. The FWHM of the pulse height distribution at the initial stage of testing can be used as a good criterion for the selection of operating bias voltage of the channel electron multiplier

The effect of pulse pile-up on threshold crossing rates in a system with a known impulse response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikitin, A.V.; Davidchack, R.L.; Armstrong, T.P.

1998-01-01

The problem of counting rates in a counting detection system is viewed as a stochastic problem of mean threshold crossing rates for a dynamic system driven by a stationary random force. We present a general formula for calculating the rates of such a system at an arbitrary threshold for all values of event occurrence rates, given that the amplitude distribution of the incoming events and the impulse response of the detection system are known. From a single general formula we derive asymptotic expressions for counting rates at both limits of high and low incoming rates. We give a simple expression for the saturation counting rate of a detection system and show that for a high-order pile-up the average intensity and variation of the incoming signal can be determined by measuring the counting rates at two thresholds. For low incoming rates, we show how the unknown incoming distribution can be computed from the measured pulse-height spectrum. Based on the asymptotic results, we demonstrate how to construct an approximation to the impulse response function of the detection system, which facilitates numerical evaluation of the general formula. In each case, we present a comparison with numerical experiments. Throughout the paper, we illustrate how well-known experimental facts can be deduced from a single general formula. (orig.)

[Study of blood oxygen saturation, heart rate changes and plateau reaction of the Antarctic Kunlun station investigation team in different plateau environments].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Shun-yun; Wu, Xin-min; Guo, Ya-min; Zhang, Shu-shun; An, Yan-ming; Li, Bing; Wang, Hao

2013-06-11

To explore the blood oxygen saturation and heart rate changes of the Antarctic explorers. During August 2010 to April 2011, the changes in blood oxygen saturation, heart rate and plateau reaction of 16 Antarctic expedition team in different plateau environments (Tibetan plateau versus Antarctic plateau) were monitored with the noninvasive pulse oximeter MD300-C. The extent of acute mountain sickness was determined according to the Lake Louise Consensus acute mountain reaction symptom scores and judgment method. The changes of blood oxygen saturation, heart rate at different altitudes of 110, 3650, 4300 m (96.8% ± 1.2%,89.1% ± 1.2%, 86.1% ± 2.0%, (75.0 ± 5.4) times/min, (104.0 ± 4.3) times/min, (113.0 ± 5.2) times/min,F = 214.155, 240.088,both P rate at different altitudes of 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500 and 4087 m(91.9% ± 1.3%,90.5% ± 1.3%,87.6% ± 1.4%,85.0% ± 1.8%,81.5% ± 2.2%, (85.9 ± 3.2) times/min, (90.6 ± 2.8) times/min, (97.8 ± 4.1) times/min, (102.0 ± 3.4) times/min, (106.3 ± 3.9) times/min, F = 105.418, 90.174, both P rate were both correlated with the risk of altitude sickness (r = -0.446 and 0.565, both P rate of the Antarctic explorers. And with the increases of altitude, the risk of altitude sickness gradually increases.

Investigation of the behaviour of both dead time and observed counting rates of He-3 gas filled neutron detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adib, M.; Eid, Y.; Abdel Kawy, A.; Maayouf, R.M.A.; Shuriet, G.M.; Hamouda, I.

1981-01-01

The behaviour of the dead time of He-3 detector, operating at both the proportional and the corona discharge regions, is investigated as a function of the neutron reaction rate inside the detector. The applied experimental method makes use of the fluctuations, due to the detector dead time in the observed counting rates from Poisson's distribution. In order to check the validity of the experimental method used in the present work, the dead time of BF/sub 3/ neutron detectors with different efficiencies (due to different enrichement in B-10) were determined. It is shown that the observed counting rate from the He-3 detector operating at the proportional region for neutron reaction rates ranging from 8 x 10/sup 3/ to 2.5 x 10/sup 4/ reaction/sec decreases with the increase of the neutron reaction rate. Such behaviour was not observed when operating the He-3 detector at the corona discharge region.

Investigation of the behaviour of both dead time and observed counting rates of He-3 gas filled neutron detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adib, M.; Eid, Y.; Abdel Kawy, A.; Maayouf, R.M.A.; Shuriet, G.M.; Hamouda, I.

1981-01-01

The behaviour of the dead time of He-3 detector, operating at both the proportional and the corona discharge regions, is investigated as a function of the neutron reaction rate inside the detector. The applied experimental method makes use of the fluctuations, due to the detector dead time in the observed counting rates from Poisson's distribution. In order to check the validity of the experimental method used in the present work, the dead time of BF 3 neutron detectors with different efficiencies (due to different enrichement in B-10) were determined. It is shown that the observed counting rate from the He-3 detector operating at the proportional region for neutron reaction rates ranging from 8 x 10 3 to 2.5 x 10 4 reaction/sec decreases with the increase of the neutron reaction rate. Such behaviour was not observed when operating the He-3 detector at the corona discharge region. (orig.) [de

A generalization of the preset count moving average algorithm for digital rate meters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arandjelovic, Vojislav; Koturovic, Aleksandar; Vukanovic, Radomir

2002-01-01

A generalized definition of the preset count moving average algorithm for digital rate meters has been introduced. The algorithm is based on the knowledge of time intervals between successive pulses in random-pulse sequences. The steady state and transient regimes of the algorithm have been characterized. A measure for statistical fluctuations of the successive measurement results has been introduced. The versatility of the generalized algorithm makes it suitable for application in the design of the software of modern measuring/control digital systems

Tower counts

Science.gov (United States)

Woody, Carol Ann; Johnson, D.H.; Shrier, Brianna M.; O'Neal, Jennifer S.; Knutzen, John A.; Augerot, Xanthippe; O'Neal, Thomas A.; Pearsons, Todd N.

2007-01-01

Counting towers provide an accurate, low-cost, low-maintenance, low-technology, and easily mobilized escapement estimation program compared to other methods (e.g., weirs, hydroacoustics, mark-recapture, and aerial surveys) (Thompson 1962; Siebel 1967; Cousens et al. 1982; Symons and Waldichuk 1984; Anderson 2000; Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2003). Counting tower data has been found to be consistent with that of digital video counts (Edwards 2005). Counting towers do not interfere with natural fish migration patterns, nor are fish handled or stressed; however, their use is generally limited to clear rivers that meet specific site selection criteria. The data provided by counting tower sampling allow fishery managers to determine reproductive population size, estimate total return (escapement + catch) and its uncertainty, evaluate population productivity and trends, set harvest rates, determine spawning escapement goals, and forecast future returns (Alaska Department of Fish and Game 1974-2000 and 1975-2004). The number of spawning fish is determined by subtracting subsistence, sport-caught fish, and prespawn mortality from the total estimated escapement. The methods outlined in this protocol for tower counts can be used to provide reasonable estimates ( plus or minus 6%-10%) of reproductive salmon population size and run timing in clear rivers. 

Comparison of O2 saturation, heart and respiratory rate following injection of vasoconstrictor containing anesthetic (lidocaine 2% and without vasoconstrictor anesthetic (Mepivacaine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bayat M.

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Along with higher usage of dental local anesthesia with risks to people health together with their positive role, the important goal of dentistry, patients’ health, has been stressed repeatedly nowadays. This study was conducted to compare O2 saturation, respiratory rate and heart rate of patients following injection of anesthetic containing vasoconstrictor (lidocaine 2% and without vasoconstrictor (Mepivacaine. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 32 healthy humans (16 females and 16 males with 25-50 years age range and no history of drug usage. Cases were classified into two matched groups. O2 saturation, heart and respiratory rate were recorded before extraction of a mandibular posterior tooth. In the first group, 3.6 ml lidocaine 2% with 1:80,000 epinephrine and in the second group Mepivacaine 3% was injected, using inferior alveolar dental nerve block with aspiration. Variables were measured and recorded. Tooth extraction was performed and the mentioned variables were recorded again. Data were analyzed with SPSS software using t and Paired t-test with P<0.05 as the limit of significance. Results: After injection of lidocaine, the heart rate was increased (12.25±1.75 bpm, and the time to reach the maximum rate was 64.75±11.26 seconds. After extraction of tooth, heart rate in both groups was increased not considering the type of injection. Conclusion: The study showed that the injection of lidocaine (containing epinephrine in patients without contraindication has no risk. Also, possible increase in heart rate is not risky and is not associated with O2 saturation decrease and respiratory interruption.

On the saturation of astrophysical dynamos

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dorch, Bertil; Archontis, Vasilis

2004-01-01

In the context of astrophysical dynamos we illustrate that the no-cosines flow, with zero mean helicity, can drive fast dynamo action and we study the dynamo's mode of operation during both the linear and non-linear saturation regimes. It turns out that in addition to a high growth rate in the li......In the context of astrophysical dynamos we illustrate that the no-cosines flow, with zero mean helicity, can drive fast dynamo action and we study the dynamo's mode of operation during both the linear and non-linear saturation regimes. It turns out that in addition to a high growth rate...

A Configurable Event-Driven Convolutional Node with Rate Saturation Mechanism for Modular ConvNet Systems Implementation

Science.gov (United States)

Camuñas-Mesa, Luis A.; Domínguez-Cordero, Yaisel L.; Linares-Barranco, Alejandro; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Linares-Barranco, Bernabé

2018-01-01

Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets) are a particular type of neural network often used for many applications like image recognition, video analysis or natural language processing. They are inspired by the human brain, following a specific organization of the connectivity pattern between layers of neurons known as receptive field. These networks have been traditionally implemented in software, but they are becoming more computationally expensive as they scale up, having limitations for real-time processing of high-speed stimuli. On the other hand, hardware implementations show difficulties to be used for different applications, due to their reduced flexibility. In this paper, we propose a fully configurable event-driven convolutional node with rate saturation mechanism that can be used to implement arbitrary ConvNets on FPGAs. This node includes a convolutional processing unit and a routing element which allows to build large 2D arrays where any multilayer structure can be implemented. The rate saturation mechanism emulates the refractory behavior in biological neurons, guaranteeing a minimum separation in time between consecutive events. A 4-layer ConvNet with 22 convolutional nodes trained for poker card symbol recognition has been implemented in a Spartan6 FPGA. This network has been tested with a stimulus where 40 poker cards were observed by a Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) in 1 s time. Different slow-down factors were applied to characterize the behavior of the system for high speed processing. For slow stimulus play-back, a 96% recognition rate is obtained with a power consumption of 0.85 mW. At maximum play-back speed, a traffic control mechanism downsamples the input stimulus, obtaining a recognition rate above 63% when less than 20% of the input events are processed, demonstrating the robustness of the network. PMID:29515349

A Configurable Event-Driven Convolutional Node with Rate Saturation Mechanism for Modular ConvNet Systems Implementation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis A. Camuñas-Mesa

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets are a particular type of neural network often used for many applications like image recognition, video analysis or natural language processing. They are inspired by the human brain, following a specific organization of the connectivity pattern between layers of neurons known as receptive field. These networks have been traditionally implemented in software, but they are becoming more computationally expensive as they scale up, having limitations for real-time processing of high-speed stimuli. On the other hand, hardware implementations show difficulties to be used for different applications, due to their reduced flexibility. In this paper, we propose a fully configurable event-driven convolutional node with rate saturation mechanism that can be used to implement arbitrary ConvNets on FPGAs. This node includes a convolutional processing unit and a routing element which allows to build large 2D arrays where any multilayer structure can be implemented. The rate saturation mechanism emulates the refractory behavior in biological neurons, guaranteeing a minimum separation in time between consecutive events. A 4-layer ConvNet with 22 convolutional nodes trained for poker card symbol recognition has been implemented in a Spartan6 FPGA. This network has been tested with a stimulus where 40 poker cards were observed by a Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS in 1 s time. Different slow-down factors were applied to characterize the behavior of the system for high speed processing. For slow stimulus play-back, a 96% recognition rate is obtained with a power consumption of 0.85 mW. At maximum play-back speed, a traffic control mechanism downsamples the input stimulus, obtaining a recognition rate above 63% when less than 20% of the input events are processed, demonstrating the robustness of the network.

A Configurable Event-Driven Convolutional Node with Rate Saturation Mechanism for Modular ConvNet Systems Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Camuñas-Mesa, Luis A; Domínguez-Cordero, Yaisel L; Linares-Barranco, Alejandro; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Linares-Barranco, Bernabé

2018-01-01

Convolutional Neural Networks (ConvNets) are a particular type of neural network often used for many applications like image recognition, video analysis or natural language processing. They are inspired by the human brain, following a specific organization of the connectivity pattern between layers of neurons known as receptive field. These networks have been traditionally implemented in software, but they are becoming more computationally expensive as they scale up, having limitations for real-time processing of high-speed stimuli. On the other hand, hardware implementations show difficulties to be used for different applications, due to their reduced flexibility. In this paper, we propose a fully configurable event-driven convolutional node with rate saturation mechanism that can be used to implement arbitrary ConvNets on FPGAs. This node includes a convolutional processing unit and a routing element which allows to build large 2D arrays where any multilayer structure can be implemented. The rate saturation mechanism emulates the refractory behavior in biological neurons, guaranteeing a minimum separation in time between consecutive events. A 4-layer ConvNet with 22 convolutional nodes trained for poker card symbol recognition has been implemented in a Spartan6 FPGA. This network has been tested with a stimulus where 40 poker cards were observed by a Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) in 1 s time. Different slow-down factors were applied to characterize the behavior of the system for high speed processing. For slow stimulus play-back, a 96% recognition rate is obtained with a power consumption of 0.85 mW. At maximum play-back speed, a traffic control mechanism downsamples the input stimulus, obtaining a recognition rate above 63% when less than 20% of the input events are processed, demonstrating the robustness of the network.

Relationship of long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy on salivary flow rate and CD4 Count among HIV-infected patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, J Vijay; Baghirath, P Venkat; Naishadham, P Parameswar; Suneetha, Sujai; Suneetha, Lavanya; Sreedevi, P

2015-01-01

To determine if long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) therapy alters salivary flow rate and also to compare its relation of CD4 count with unstimulated and stimulated whole saliva. A cross-sectional study was performed on 150 individuals divided into three groups. Group I (50 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive patients, but not on HAART therapy), Group II (50 HIV-infected subjects and on HAART for less than 3 years called short-term HAART), Group III (50 HIV-infected subjects and on HAART for more than or equal to 3 years called long-term HAART). Spitting method proposed by Navazesh and Kumar was used for the measurement of unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rate. Chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis. The mean CD4 count was 424.78 ± 187.03, 497.82 ± 206.11 and 537.6 ± 264.00 in the respective groups. Majority of the patients in all the groups had a CD4 count between 401 and 600. Both unstimulated and stimulated whole salivary (UWS and SWS) flow rates in Group I was found to be significantly higher than in Group II (P flow rate between Group II and III subjects were also found to be statistically significant (P relationship in Group II (P flow rates of HIV-infected individuals who are on long-term HAART.

Two dimensional localization of electrons and positrons under high counting rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbosa, A.F.; Anjos, J.C.; Sanchez-Hernandez, A.; Pepe, I.M.; Barros, N.

1997-12-01

The construction of two wire chambers for the experiment E831 at Fermilab is reported. Each chamber includes three wire planes - one anode and two orthogonal cathodes - in which the wires operate as independent proportional counters. One of the chambers is rotated with respect to the other, so that four position coordinates may be encoded for a charged particle crossing both chambers. Spatial resolution is determined by the wire pitch: 1 mm for cathodes, 2 mm for anodes. 320 electronic channels are involved in the detection system readout. Global counting rates in excess to 10 7 events per second have been measured, while the average electron-positron beam intensity may be as high as 3 x 10 7 events per second. (author)

Performance of a GM tube based environmental dose rate monitor operating in the Time-To-Count mode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zickefoose, J.; Kulkarni, T.; Martinson, T.; Phillips, K.; Voelker, M. [Canberra Industries Inc. (United States)

2015-07-01

The events at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in the aftermath of a natural disaster underline the importance of a large array of networked environmental monitors to cover areas around nuclear power plants. These monitors should meet a few basic criteria: have a uniform response over a wide range of gamma energies, have a uniform response over a wide range of incident angles, and have a large dynamic range. Many of these criteria are met if the probe is qualified to the international standard IEC 60532 (Radiation protection instrumentation - Installed dose rate meters, warning assemblies and monitors - X and gamma radiation of energy between 50 keV and 7 MeV), which specifically deals with energy response, angle of incidence, dynamic range, response time, and a number of environmental characteristics. EcoGamma is a dual GM tube environmental gamma radiation monitor designed specifically to meet the requirements of IEC 60532 and operate in the most extreme conditions. EcoGamma utilizes two energy compensated GM tubes operating with a Time-To-Count (TTC) collection algorithm. The TTC algorithm extends the lifetime and range of a GM tube significantly and allows the dual GM tube probe to achieve linearity over approximately 10 decades of gamma dose rate (from the Sv/hr range to 100 Sv/hr). In the TTC mode of operation, the GM tube is not maintained in a biased condition continuously. This is different from a traditional counting system where the GM tube is held at a constant bias continuously and the total number of strikes that the tube registers are counted. The traditional approach allows for good sensitivity, but does not lend itself to a long lifetime of the tube and is susceptible to linearity issues at high count rates. TTC on the other hand only biases the tube for short periods of time and in effect measures the time between events, which is statistically representative of the total strike rate. Since the tube is not continually biased, the life of the tube

Performance of a GM tube based environmental dose rate monitor operating in the Time-To-Count mode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zickefoose, J.; Kulkarni, T.; Martinson, T.; Phillips, K.; Voelker, M.

2015-01-01

The events at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in the aftermath of a natural disaster underline the importance of a large array of networked environmental monitors to cover areas around nuclear power plants. These monitors should meet a few basic criteria: have a uniform response over a wide range of gamma energies, have a uniform response over a wide range of incident angles, and have a large dynamic range. Many of these criteria are met if the probe is qualified to the international standard IEC 60532 (Radiation protection instrumentation - Installed dose rate meters, warning assemblies and monitors - X and gamma radiation of energy between 50 keV and 7 MeV), which specifically deals with energy response, angle of incidence, dynamic range, response time, and a number of environmental characteristics. EcoGamma is a dual GM tube environmental gamma radiation monitor designed specifically to meet the requirements of IEC 60532 and operate in the most extreme conditions. EcoGamma utilizes two energy compensated GM tubes operating with a Time-To-Count (TTC) collection algorithm. The TTC algorithm extends the lifetime and range of a GM tube significantly and allows the dual GM tube probe to achieve linearity over approximately 10 decades of gamma dose rate (from the Sv/hr range to 100 Sv/hr). In the TTC mode of operation, the GM tube is not maintained in a biased condition continuously. This is different from a traditional counting system where the GM tube is held at a constant bias continuously and the total number of strikes that the tube registers are counted. The traditional approach allows for good sensitivity, but does not lend itself to a long lifetime of the tube and is susceptible to linearity issues at high count rates. TTC on the other hand only biases the tube for short periods of time and in effect measures the time between events, which is statistically representative of the total strike rate. Since the tube is not continually biased, the life of the tube

Phase space representation of neutron monitor count rate and atmospheric electric field in relation to solar activity in cycles 21 and 22.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, H G; Lopes, I

Heliospheric modulation of galactic cosmic rays links solar cycle activity with neutron monitor count rate on earth. A less direct relation holds between neutron monitor count rate and atmospheric electric field because different atmospheric processes, including fluctuations in the ionosphere, are involved. Although a full quantitative model is still lacking, this link is supported by solid statistical evidence. Thus, a connection between the solar cycle activity and atmospheric electric field is expected. To gain a deeper insight into these relations, sunspot area (NOAA, USA), neutron monitor count rate (Climax, Colorado, USA), and atmospheric electric field (Lisbon, Portugal) are presented here in a phase space representation. The period considered covers two solar cycles (21, 22) and extends from 1978 to 1990. Two solar maxima were observed in this dataset, one in 1979 and another in 1989, as well as one solar minimum in 1986. Two main observations of the present study were: (1) similar short-term topological features of the phase space representations of the three variables, (2) a long-term phase space radius synchronization between the solar cycle activity, neutron monitor count rate, and potential gradient (confirmed by absolute correlation values above ~0.8). Finally, the methodology proposed here can be used for obtaining the relations between other atmospheric parameters (e.g., solar radiation) and solar cycle activity.

An Adaptive Smoother for Counting Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kondrasovs Vladimir; Coulon Romain; Normand Stephane

2013-06-01

Counting measurements associated with nuclear instruments are tricky to carry out due to the stochastic process of the radioactivity. Indeed events counting have to be processed and filtered in order to display a stable count rate value and to allow variations monitoring in the measured activity. Smoothers (as the moving average) are adjusted by a time constant defined as a compromise between stability and response time. A new approach has been developed and consists in improving the response time while maintaining count rate stability. It uses the combination of a smoother together with a detection filter. A memory of counting data is processed to calculate several count rate estimates using several integration times. These estimates are then sorted into the memory from short to long integration times. A measurement position, in terms of integration time, is then chosen into this memory after a detection test. An inhomogeneity into the Poisson counting process is detected by comparison between current position estimate and the other estimates contained into the memory in respect with the associated statistical variance calculated with homogeneous assumption. The measurement position (historical time) and the ability to forget an obsolete data or to keep in memory a useful data are managed using the detection test result. The proposed smoother is then an adaptive and a learning algorithm allowing an optimization of the response time while maintaining measurement counting stability and converging efficiently to the best counting estimate after an effective change in activity. This algorithm has also the specificity to be low recursive and thus easily embedded into DSP electronics based on FPGA or micro-controllers meeting 'real life' time requirements. (authors)

Hidden Fermi liquid, scattering rate saturation, and Nernst effect: a dynamical mean-field theory perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Wenhu; Haule, Kristjan; Kotliar, Gabriel

2013-07-19

We investigate the transport properties of a correlated metal within dynamical mean-field theory. Canonical Fermi liquid behavior emerges only below a very low temperature scale T(FL). Surprisingly the quasiparticle scattering rate follows a quadratic temperature dependence up to much higher temperatures and crosses over to saturated behavior around a temperature scale T(sat). We identify these quasiparticles as constituents of the hidden Fermi liquid. The non-Fermi-liquid transport above T(FL), in particular the linear-in-T resistivity, is shown to be a result of a strongly temperature dependent band dispersion. We derive simple expressions for the resistivity, Hall angle, thermoelectric power and Nernst coefficient in terms of a temperature dependent renormalized band structure and the quasiparticle scattering rate. We discuss possible tests of the dynamical mean-field theory picture of transport using ac measurements.

Performance of Drift-Tube Detectors at High Counting Rates for High-Luminosity LHC Upgrades

CERN Document Server

Bittner, Bernhard; Kortner, Oliver; Kroha, Hubert; Manfredini, Alessandro; Nowak, Sebastian; Ott, Sebastian; Richter, Robert; Schwegler, Philipp; Zanzi, Daniele; Biebel, Otmar; Hertenberger, Ralf; Ruschke, Alexander; Zibell, Andre

2016-01-01

The performance of pressurized drift-tube detectors at very high background rates has been studied at the Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) at CERN and in an intense 20 MeV proton beam at the Munich Van-der-Graaf tandem accelerator for applications in large-area precision muon tracking at high-luminosity upgrades of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The ATLAS muon drifttube (MDT) chambers with 30 mm tube diameter have been designed to cope with and neutron background hit rates of up to 500 Hz/square cm. Background rates of up to 14 kHz/square cm are expected at LHC upgrades. The test results with standard MDT readout electronics show that the reduction of the drift-tube diameter to 15 mm, while leaving the operating parameters unchanged, vastly increases the rate capability well beyond the requirements. The development of new small-diameter muon drift-tube (sMDT) chambers for LHC upgrades is completed. Further improvements of tracking e?ciency and spatial resolution at high counting rates will be achieved with ...

Association between minor loading vein architecture and light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes from different latitudes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher M Cohu

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Through microscopic analysis of veins and assessment of light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution, we investigated the relationship between minor loading vein anatomy and photosynthesis of mature leaves in three ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under four different combinations of temperature and photon flux density (PFD. All three ecotypes exhibited greater numbers and cross-sectional area of phloem cells as well as higher photosynthesis rates in response to higher PFD and especially lower temperature. The Swedish ecotype exhibited the strongest response to these conditions, the Italian ecotype the weakest response, and the Col-0 ecotype exhibited an intermediate response. Among all three ecotypes, strong linear relationships were found between light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution and the number and area of either sieve elements or of companion and phloem parenchyma cells in foliar minor loading veins, with the Swedish ecotype showing the highest number of cells in minor loading veins (and largest minor veins coupled with unprecedented high rates of photosynthesis. Linear, albeit less significant, relationships were also observed between number and cross-sectional area of tracheids per minor loading vein versus light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution. We suggest that sugar distribution infrastructure in the phloem is co-regulated with other features that set the upper limit for photosynthesis. The apparent genetic differences among Arabidopsis ecotypes should allow for future identification of the gene(s involved in augmenting sugar-loading and -transporting phloem cells and maximal rates of photosynthesis.

Determining of the Parking Manoeuvre and the Taxi Blockage Adjustment Factor for the Saturation Flow Rate at the Outlet Legs of Signalized Intersections: Case Study from Rasht City (Iran)

Science.gov (United States)

Behbahani, Hamid; Jahangir Samet, Mehdi; Najafi Moghaddam Gilani, Vahid; Amini, Amir

2017-10-01

The presence of taxi stops within the area of signalized intersections at the outlet legs due to unnatural behaviour of the taxis, sudden change of lanes, parking manoeuvres activities and stopping the vehicle to discharge or pick up the passengers have led to reduction of saturation flow rate at the outlet leg of signalized intersections and increased delay as well as affecting the performance of a crossing lane. So far, in term of evaluating effective adjustment factors on saturation flow rate at the inlet legs of the signalized intersections, various studies have been carried out, however; there has not been any studies on effective adjustment factors on saturation flow rate at the inlet legs. Hence, the evaluating of the traffic effects of unique behaviours on the saturation flow rate of the outlet leg is very important. In this research the parking manoeuvre time and taxi blockage time were evaluated and analyzed based on the available lane width as well as determining the effective adjustment factors on the saturation flow rate using recording related data at four signalized intersections in Rasht city. The results show that the average parking manoeuvre time is a function of the lane width and is increased as the lane width is reduced. Also, it is suggested to use the values of 7.37 and 11.31 seconds, respectively for the average parking manoeuvre time and the average blockage time of taxies at the outlet legs of signalized intersections for the traffic designing in Rasht city.

Regression analysis of mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data with additive rate models.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Liang; Zhao, Hui; Sun, Jianguo; Leisenring, Wendy; Robison, Leslie L

2015-03-01

Event-history studies of recurrent events are often conducted in fields such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, and social sciences (Cook and Lawless, 2007, The Statistical Analysis of Recurrent Events. New York: Springer-Verlag; Zhao et al., 2011, Test 20, 1-42). For such analysis, two types of data have been extensively investigated: recurrent-event data and panel-count data. However, in practice, one may face a third type of data, mixed recurrent-event and panel-count data or mixed event-history data. Such data occur if some study subjects are monitored or observed continuously and thus provide recurrent-event data, while the others are observed only at discrete times and hence give only panel-count data. A more general situation is that each subject is observed continuously over certain time periods but only at discrete times over other time periods. There exists little literature on the analysis of such mixed data except that published by Zhu et al. (2013, Statistics in Medicine 32, 1954-1963). In this article, we consider the regression analysis of mixed data using the additive rate model and develop some estimating equation-based approaches to estimate the regression parameters of interest. Both finite sample and asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established, and the numerical studies suggest that the proposed methodology works well for practical situations. The approach is applied to a Childhood Cancer Survivor Study that motivated this study. © 2014, The International Biometric Society.

Magnetic field saturation in the Riga dynamo experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gailitis, A; Lielausis, O; Platacis, E; Dement'ev, S; Cifersons, A; Gerbeth, G; Gundrum, T; Stefani, F; Christen, M; Will, G

2001-04-02

After the dynamo experiment in November 1999 [A. Gailitis et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4365 (2000)] had shown magnetic field self-excitation in a spiraling liquid metal flow, in a second series of experiments emphasis was placed on the magnetic field saturation regime as the next principal step in the dynamo process. The dependence of the strength of the magnetic field on the rotation rate is studied. Various features of the saturated magnetic field are outlined and possible saturation mechanisms are discussed.

Automated uranium analysis by delayed-neutron counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunzendorf, H.; Loevborg, L.; Christiansen, E.M.

1980-10-01

Automated uranium analysis by fission-induced delayed-neutron counting is described. A short description is given of the instrumentation including transfer system, process control, irradiation and counting sites, and computer operations. Characteristic parameters of the facility (sample preparations, background, and standards) are discussed. A sensitivity of 817 +- 22 counts per 10 -6 g U is found using irradiation, delay, and counting times of 20 s, 5 s, and 10 s, respectively. Presicion is generally less than 1% for normal geological samples. Critical level and detection limits for 7.5 g samples are 8 and 16 ppb, respectively. The importance of some physical and elemental interferences are outlined. Dead-time corrections of measured count rates are necessary and a polynomical expression is used for count rates up to 10 5 . The presence of rare earth elements is regarded as the most important elemental interference. A typical application is given and other areas of application are described. (auther)

Radiation-induced polymerization of water-saturated styrene in a wide range of dose rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takezaki, J.; Okada, T.; Sakurada, I.

1978-01-01

Radiation-induced polymerization of water-saturated styrene (water content 3.5 x 10 -2 mole/liter) was carried out in a wide range of dose rate between 1.2 x 10 3 and 1.8 x 10 7 rad/sec, and compared with the polymerization of the moderately dried styrene (water content 3.2 x 10 -3 mole/liter). Molecular weight distribution curves of the polymerization products showed that they were generally consisted of four parts, namely, oligomers, radical, cationic, and super polymers. Contributions of the four constituents to the polymerization and the number average degrees of polymerization (DP) of the four kinds of polymers were calculated by the graphical analysis of the curves. The rate of radical polymerization and DP of radical polymers are independent of the water content; the dose rate dependences of the polymerization rate and DP agree with the well known square root and inverse square root laws, respectively, of the radical polymerization of styrene. The rate of ionic polymerization is directly proportional to the dose rate, but it decreases, at a given dose rate, inversely proportional to the water content of styrene. DP of ionic polymer is independent of the dose rate but decreases with increasing water content. The super polymer of DP about 10 4 is not formed in the case of the moderately dried styrene. G values for the initiating radical and ion formation are calculated to be independently of the dose rate and water content, 0.66 and 0.027, respectively. It was suggested that oligomer was formed in the early stage by the interaction of cation with anion and only those cations which had survived underwent polymerization. 10 figures, 4 tables

Influence of materials and counting-rate effects on 3He neutron spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, A.E.

1984-01-01

The high energy resolution of the Cuttler-Shalev 3 He neutron spectrometer causes spectral measurements with this instrument to be strongly susceptible to artifacts caused by the presence of scattering or absorbing materials in or near the detector or the source, and to false peaks generated by pileup coincidences of the rather long-risetime pulses from the detector. These effects are particularly important when pulse-height distributions vary over several orders of magnitude in count rate versus channel. A commercial pile-up elimination circuit greatly improves but does not eliminate the pileup problem. Previously reported spurious peaks in the pulse-height distributions from monoenergetic neutron sources have been determined to be due to the influence of the iron in the detector wall. 6 references, 9 figures

Signal shaping and tail cancellation for gas proportional detectors at high counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boie, R.A.; Hrisoho, A.T.; Rehak, P.

1982-01-01

A low noise, wide bandwidth preamplifier and signal processing filter were developed for high counting rate proportional counters. The filter consists of a seven pole Gaussian integrator with symmetrical weighting function and continuously variable shaping time, tausub(s), of 8-50 ns (fwhm) preceded by a second order pole/zero circuit which cancels the long (1/t) tails of the chamber signals. The preamplifier is an optimized common base input design with 2 ns rise time and an equivalent noise input charge < 2000 r.m.s. electrons, when connected to a chamber with 10 pF capacitance and at a filtering time, tausub(s), of 10 ns. (orig.)

Development of bonded semiconductor device for high counting rate high efficiency photon detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanno, Ikuo

2008-01-01

We are trying to decrease dose exposure in medical diagnosis by way of measuring the energy of X-rays. For this purpose, radiation detectors for X-ray energy measurement with high counting rate should be developed. Direct bonding of Si wafers was carried out to make a radiation detector, which had separated X-ray absorber and detector. The resistivity of bonding interface was estimated with the results of four-probe measurements and model calculations. Direct bonding of high resistivity p and n-Si wafers was also performed. The resistance of the pn bonded diode was 0.7 MΩ. The resistance should be increased in the future. (author)

Variable sampling-time technique for improving count rate performance of scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, E.; Nohara, N.; Murayama, H.

1979-01-01

A new technique is presented to improve the count rate capability of a scintillation spectrometer or a position sensitive detector with minimum loss of resolution. The technique is based on the combination of pulse shortening and selective integration in which the integration period is not fixed but shortened by the arrival of the following pulse. Theoretical analysis of the degradation of the statiscal component of resolution is made for the proposed system with delay line pulse shortening, and the factor of resolution loss is formulated as a function of the input pulse rate. A new method is also presented for determining the statistical component of resolution separately from the non-statistical system resolution. Preliminary experiments with a NaI(Tl) detector have been carried out, the results of which are consistent with the theoretical prediction. However, due to the non-exponential scintillation decay of the NaI(Tl) crystal, a simple delay line clipping is not satisfactory, and an RC high-pass filter has been added, which results in further degradation of the statistical resolution. (Auth.)

Comparing sensitivity and count rate performance of small-bore DOI-PET scanners by computer simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobayashi, Tetsuya; Takahashi, Hisashi; Yamaya, Taiga; Murayama, Hideo; Kitamura, Keishi; Hasegawa, Tomoyuki; Suga, Mikio

2006-01-01

In the development of a dedicated small-bore DOI-PET scanner for small animals (jPET-RD), we performed Monte Carlo simulations using the GATE based on Geant4 and investigated the influence of the proximity of the detectors to the target object on the sensitivity and count rate performance. The jPET-RD is based on a large-size depth-of-interaction (DOI) block detector that consists of a 4-layered array of 32 x 32 LSO crystals (1.4 mm x 1.4 mm x 4.5 mm) and a 256-ch flat panel position-sensitive photomultiplier tube. In this work, three detector geometries were simulated: two rings of six detector blocks arranged in a hexagonal pattern (FOV 85 mm in diameter) and four detector blocks arranged in a tetragonal pattern (FOV 49 mm in diameter) and in an overlapped tetragonal pattern (FOV 38 mm in diameter). The simulation results showed that the smaller bore geometry can provide higher sensitivity because of its larger solid angle. Although it clearly affected the noise equivalent count rate (NECR) due to its high dead-time, parallel readout with appropriate anode segmentation improved the NECR at 20 MBq by a factor of 1.1 to 1.4 compared with the case of 256-ch anodes read out by one front-end circuit. (author)

An Expectation-Maximization Algorithm for Amplitude Estimation of Saturated Optical Transient Signals.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kagie, Matthew J. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lanterman, Aaron D. [Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

2017-12-01

This paper addresses parameter estimation for an optical transient signal when the received data has been right-censored. We develop an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the amplitude of a Poisson intensity with a known shape in the presence of additive background counts, where the measurements are subject to saturation effects. We compare the results of our algorithm with those of an EM algorithm that is unaware of the censoring.

Virus movement in soil during saturated and unsaturated flow.

Science.gov (United States)

Lance, J C; Gerba, C P

1984-02-01

Virus movement in soil during saturated and unsaturated flow was compared by adding poliovirus to sewage water and applying the water at different rates to a 250-cm-long soil column equipped with ceramic samplers at different depths. Movement of viruses during unsaturated flow of sewage through soil columns was much less than during saturated flow. Viruses did not move below the 40-cm level when sewage water was applied at less than the maximum infiltration rate; virus penetration in columns flooded with sewage was at least 160 cm. Therefore, virus movement in soils irrigated with sewage should be less than in flooded groundwater recharge basins or in saturated soil columns. Management of land treatment systems to provide unsaturated flow through the soil should minimize the depth of virus penetration. Differences in virus movement during saturated and unsaturated flow must be considered in the development of any model used to simulate virus movement in soils.

Geiger-Mueller haloid counter dead time dependence on counting rate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onishchenko, A.M.; Tsvetkov, A.A.

1980-01-01

The experimental dependences of the dead time of Geiger counters (SBM-19, SBM-20, SBM-21 and SGM-19) on the loading, are presented. The method of two sources has been used to determine the dead time counters of increased stability. The counters are switched on according to the usually used circuit of discrete counting with loading resistance of 50 MOhm and the separating capacity of 10 pF. Voltage pulses are given to the counting device with the time of resolution of 100 ns, discrimenation threshold 3 V, input resistance 3.6 Ω and the input capacity-15 pF. The time constant of the counter RC-circuit is 50 μs

Saturation flow mathematical model based on multiple combinations of lane groups

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Racila, L.

2016-07-01

The ideal value of the traffic stream that can pass through an intersection is known as the saturation flow rate per hour on vehicle green time. The saturation flow is important in the understanding of the traffic light cycle and from there the understanding the Level of Service. The paper wishes to evaluate through a series of applied mathematical methods the effect of different lane grouping and critical lane group concept on the saturation flow rate. The importance of this method is that it creates a base for a signalized intersections timing plan. (Author)

Analysis of an SEIR Epidemic Model with Saturated Incidence and Saturated Treatment Function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinhong Zhang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The dynamics of SEIR epidemic model with saturated incidence rate and saturated treatment function are explored in this paper. The basic reproduction number that determines disease extinction and disease survival is given. The existing threshold conditions of all kinds of the equilibrium points are obtained. Sufficient conditions are established for the existence of backward bifurcation. The local asymptotical stability of equilibrium is verified by analyzing the eigenvalues and using the Routh-Hurwitz criterion. We also discuss the global asymptotical stability of the endemic equilibrium by autonomous convergence theorem. The study indicates that we should improve the efficiency and enlarge the capacity of the treatment to control the spread of disease. Numerical simulations are presented to support and complement the theoretical findings.

Simultaneous, noninvasive, in vivo, continuous monitoring of hematocrit, vascular volume, hemoglobin oxygen saturation, pulse rate and breathing rate in humans and other animal models using a single light source

Science.gov (United States)

Dent, Paul; Tun, Sai Han; Fillioe, Seth; Deng, Bin; Satalin, Josh; Nieman, Gary; Wilcox, Kailyn; Searles, Quinn; Narsipur, Sri; Peterson, Charles M.; Goodisman, Jerry; Mostrom, James; Steinmann, Richard; Chaiken, J.

2018-02-01

We previously reported a new algorithm "PV[O]H" for continuous, noninvasive, in vivo monitoring of hematocrit changes in blood and have since shown its utility for monitoring in humans during 1) hemodialysis, 2) orthostatic perturbations and 3) during blood loss and fluid replacement in a rat model. We now show that the algorithm is sensitive to changes in hemoglobin oxygen saturation. We document the phenomenology of the effect and explain the effect using new results obtained from humans and rat models. The oxygen sensitivity derives from the differential absorption of autofluorescence originating in the static tissues by oxy and deoxy hemoglobin. Using this approach we show how to perform simultaneous, noninvasive, in vivo, continuous monitoring of hematocrit, vascular volume, hemoglobin oxygen saturation, pulse rate and breathing rate in mammals using a single light source. We suspect that monitoring of changes in this suite of vital signs can be provided with improved time response, sensitivity and precision compared to existing methodologies. Initial results also offer a more detailed glimpse into the systemic oxygen transport in the circulatory system of humans.

A counting-card circuit based on PCI bus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi Jing; Li Yong; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou; Su Hong; Dong Chengfu; Li Xiaogang; Ma Xiaoli

2004-01-01

A counting-card circuit based on PCI bus that we developed recently used for advanced personal computer will be introduced in this paper briefly. The maximum count capacity of this counting-card is 10 9 -1, ranging from 0 to 999 999 999, the maximum counting time range, 1 x 10 6 s, can be set in 1 cycle, the maximum counting rate is 20 MHz for positive input. (authors)

Optimization of the ATLAS (s)MDT readout electronics for high counting rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kortner, Oliver; Kroha, Hubert; Nowak, Sebastian; Schmidt-Sommerfeld, Korbinian [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Foehringer Ring 6, 80805 Muenchen (Germany)

2016-07-01

In the ATLAS muon spectrometer, Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) chambers are used for precise muon track measurement. For the high background rates expected at HL-LHC, which are mainly due to neutrons and photons produced by interactions of the proton collision products in the detector and shielding, new small-diameter muon drift tube (sMDT)-chambers with half the drift tube diameter of the MDT-chambers and ten times higher rate capability have been developed. The standard MDT readout electronics uses bipolar shaping in front of a discriminator. This shaping leads to an undershoot of same charge but opposite polarity following each pulse. With count rates also the probability of having the subsequent pulse in this undershoot increases, which leads to losses in efficiency and spatial resolution. In order to decrease this effect, discrete prototype electronics including Baseline Restoration has been developed. Results of their tests and data taken with them during muon beamtime measurements at CERN's Gamma Irradiation Facility will be presented. which causes a deterioration of signal pulses by preceding background hits, leading to losses in muon efficiency and drift tube spatial resolution. In order to mitigate these so-called signal pile-up effects, new readout electronics with active baseline restoration (BLR) is under development. Discrete prototype electronics with BLR functionality has been tested in laboratory measurements and in the Gamma Irradiation Facility at CERN under high γ-irradiation rates. Results of the measurements are presented.

Dynamic Mechanical Behavior of Dry and Water Saturated Igneous Rock with Acoustic Emission Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Guo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The uniaxial cyclic loading tests have been conducted to study the mechanical behavior of dry and water saturated igneous rock with acoustic emission (AE monitoring. The igneous rock samples are dried, naturally immersed, and boiled to get specimens with different water contents for the testing. The mineral compositions and the microstructures of the dry and water saturated igneous rock are also presented. The dry specimens present higher strength, fewer strains, and rapid increase of AE count subjected to the cyclic loading, which reflects the hard and brittle behavior and strong burst proneness of igneous rock. The water saturated specimens have lower peak strength, more accumulated strains, and increase of AE count during the cyclic loading. The damage of the igneous rocks with different water contents has been identified by the Felicity Ratio Analysis. The cyclic loading and unloading increase the dislocation between the mineral aggregates and the water-rock interactions further break the adhesion of the clay minerals, which jointly promote the inner damage of the igneous rock. The results suggest that the groundwater can reduce the burst proneness of the igneous rock but increase the potential support failure of the surrounding rock in igneous invading area. In addition, the results inspire the fact that the water injection method is feasible for softening the igneous rock and for preventing the dynamic disasters within the roadways and working faces located in the igneous intrusion area.

Detectors for proton counting. Si-APD and scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kishimoto, Shunji

2008-01-01

Increased intensity of synchrotron radiation requests users to prepare photon pulse detectors having higher counting rates. As detectors for photon counting, silicon-avalanche photodiode (Si-APD) and scintillation detectors were chosen for the fifth series of detectors. Principle of photon detection by pulse and need of amplification function of the detector were described. Structure and working principle, high counting rate measurement system, bunch of electrons vs. counting rate, application example of NMR time spectroscopy measurement and comments for users were described for the Si-APD detector. Structure of scintillator and photomultiplier tube, characteristics of scintillator and performance of detector were shown for the NaI detector. Future development of photon pulse detectors was discussed. (T. Tanaka)

Correlations for Saturation Efficiency of Evaporative Cooling Pads

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, J. K.; Hindoliya, D. A.

2014-01-01

This paper presents some experimental investigations to obtain correlations for saturation efficiency of evaporative cooling pads. Two commonly used materials namely aspen and khus fibers along with new materials namely coconut fibers and palash fibers were tested in a laboratory using suitably fabricated test setup. Simple mathematical correlations have been developed for calculating saturation efficiency of evaporating cooling pads which can be used to predict their performance at any desired mass flow rate. Performances of four different pad materials were also compared using developed correlations. An attempt was made to test two new materials (i.e. fibers of palash wood and coconut) to check their suitability as wetted media for evaporative cooling pads. It was found that Palash wood fibers offered highest saturation efficiency compared to that of other existing materials such as aspen and khus fibers at different mass flow rate of air.

Development of 'Dose Rate Meter' android app for radiation detection using camera of smartphones and tablet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaikh, Aatef; Sharma, M.K.; Kulkarni, M.S.; Romal, Jis; Gupta, A.; Chaudhury, P.

2018-01-01

An android app 'Dose Rate Meter' for gamma radiation field measurement over wide range using smart phone has been developed. The android app implements the cluster counting and high delta algorithm. The high delta algorithm processes multiple images captured by the camera. It is more sensitive at lower dose rates but it saturates at higher dose rates of the order of 1Gy/h and its response starts decreasing. Since, this algorithm analyses a number of images to compute the dose rate, it takes few minutes to process on a typical smart phone with 1 GB RAM, dual core processor and a clock in the range of 1GHz. However, the cluster count algorithm computes the results in a few seconds only as it operates on a single image but it can be used to measure dose rate only in the range of 5 mGy/h and above. Therefore, we have implemented the two algorithms in such a way that initially, the control goes to the cluster count algorithm and in case the dose rate is below 5mGy/h, it has provision to invoke the high delta algorithm, thereby covering a dose rate measurement range from μGy/h to Gy/h

300-MHz-repetition-rate, all-fiber, femtosecond laser mode-locked by planar lightwave circuit-based saturable absorber.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Chur; Kim, Dohyun; Cheong, YeonJoon; Kwon, Dohyeon; Choi, Sun Young; Jeong, Hwanseong; Cha, Sang Jun; Lee, Jeong-Woo; Yeom, Dong-Il; Rotermund, Fabian; Kim, Jungwon

2015-10-05

We show the implementation of fiber-pigtailed, evanescent-field-interacting, single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT)-based saturable absorbers (SAs) using standard planar lightwave circuit (PLC) fabrication processes. The implemented PLC-CNT-SA device is employed to realize self-starting, high-repetition-rate, all-fiber ring oscillators at telecommunication wavelength. We demonstrate all-fiber Er ring lasers operating at 303-MHz (soliton regime) and 274-MHz (stretched-pulse regime) repetition-rates. The 303-MHz (274-MHz) laser centered at 1555 nm (1550 nm) provides 7.5 nm (19 nm) spectral bandwidth. After extra-cavity amplilfication, the amplified pulse train of the 303-MHz (274-MHz) laser delivers 209 fs (178 fs) pulses. To our knowledge, this corresponds to the highest repetition-rates achieved for femtosecond lasers employing evanescent-field-interacting SAs. The demonstrated SA fabrication method, which is based on well-established PLC processes, also shows a potential way for mass-producible and lower-cost waveguide-type SA devices suitable for all-fiber and waveguide lasers.

More accurate thermal neutron coincidence counting technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baron, N.

1978-01-01

Using passive thermal neutron coincidence counting techniques, the accuracy of nondestructive assays of fertile material can be improved significantly using a two-ring detector. It was shown how the use of a function of the coincidence count rate ring-ratio can provide a detector response rate that is independent of variations in neutron detection efficiency caused by varying sample moderation. Furthermore, the correction for multiplication caused by SF- and (α,n)-neutrons is shown to be separable into the product of a function of the effective mass of 240 Pu (plutonium correction) and a function of the (α,n) reaction probability (matrix correction). The matrix correction is described by a function of the singles count rate ring-ratio. This correction factor is empirically observed to be identical for any combination of PuO 2 powder and matrix materials SiO 2 and MgO because of the similar relation of the (α,n)-Q value and (α,n)-reaction cross section among these matrix nuclei. However the matrix correction expression is expected to be different for matrix materials such as Na, Al, and/or Li. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that for comparison measurements among samples of similar matrix content, it is expected that some function of the singles count rate ring-ratio can be defined to account for variations in the matrix correction due to differences in the intimacy of mixture among the samples. Furthermore the magnitude of this singles count rate ring-ratio serves to identify the contaminant generating the (α,n)-neutrons. Such information is useful in process control

Estimation of Saturation Flow Rate and Start-Up Lost Time for Signal Timing Based on Headway Distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Zhao

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to calibrate saturation flow rate (SFR and start-up lost time (SLT when developing signal timing. In current commonly used methods, SFR for one given lane is usually calibrated from many subjective adjustment factors and a fixed result. SLT is calculated based on the fixed SFR, which prevents local applications in China. Considering the importance of traffic behavior (headway in determining SFR and SLT, this study started from headway distribution and attempted to specify the relationships between headway and vehicle position directly. A common intersection in Nanjing, China, was selected to implement field study and data from 920 queues was collected. Headway distribution was explored and the 78th percentile of headway at each position was selected to build model. Based on the developed relationships, SFR and SLT were calibrated. The results showed that SFR and SLT were correlated with queue length. Moreover, the results showed that it was difficult to reach saturated state even with a long queue length. This paper provides a new perspective on calibrating important parameters in signal timing, which will be useful for traffic agencies to complete signal timing by making the process simpler.

Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning hospitalization and emergency department counts and rates by county, year, and fire-relatedness among California residents,2000-2007

Data.gov (United States)

California Environmental Health Tracking Program — This dataset contains case counts, rates, and confidence intervals of unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning (CO) inpatient hospitalizations and emergency...

Implementation of a nonlinear filter for online nuclear counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coulon, R.; Dumazert, J.; Kondrasovs, V.; Normand, S.

2016-01-01

Nuclear counting is a challenging task for nuclear instrumentation because of the stochastic nature of radioactivity. Event counting has to be processed and filtered to determine a stable count rate value and perform variation monitoring of the measured event. An innovative approach for nuclear counting is presented in this study, improving response time and maintaining count rate stability. Some nonlinear filters providing a local maximum likelihood estimation of the signal have been recently developed, which have been tested and compared with conventional linear filters. A nonlinear filter thus developed shows significant performance in terms of response time and measurement precision. The filter also presents the specificity of easy embedment into digital signal processor (DSP) electronics based on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or microcontrollers, compatible with real-time requirements. © 2001 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved. - Highlights: • An efficient approach based on nonlinear filtering has been implemented. • The hypothesis test provides a local maximum likelihood estimation of the count rate. • The filter ensures an optimal compromise between precision and response time.

The absolute counting of red cell-derived microparticles with red cell bead by flow rate based assay.

Science.gov (United States)

Nantakomol, Duangdao; Imwong, Malika; Soontarawirat, Ingfar; Kotjanya, Duangporn; Khakhai, Chulalak; Ohashi, Jun; Nuchnoi, Pornlada

2009-05-01

Activation of red blood cell is associated with the formation of red cell-derived microparticles (RMPs). Analysis of circulating RMPs is becoming more refined and clinically useful. A quantitative Trucount tube method is the conventional method uses for quantitating RMPs. In this study, we validated a quantitative method called "flow rate based assay using red cell bead (FCB)" to measure circulating RMPs in the peripheral blood of healthy subjects. Citrated blood samples collected from 30 cases of healthy subjects were determined the RMPs count by using double labeling of annexin V-FITC and anti-glycophorin A-PE. The absolute RMPs numbers were measured by FCB, and the results were compared with the Trucount or with flow rate based calibration (FR). Statistical correlation and agreement were analyzed using linear regression and Bland-Altman analysis. There was no significant difference in the absolute number of RMPs quantitated by FCB when compared with those two reference methods including the Trucount tube and FR method. The absolute RMPs count obtained from FCB method was highly correlated with those obtained from Trucount tube (r(2) = 0.98, mean bias 4 cell/microl, limit of agreement [LOA] -20.3 to 28.3 cell/microl), and FR method (r(2) = 1, mean bias 10.3 cell/microl, and LOA -5.5 to 26.2 cell/microl). This study demonstrates that FCB is suitable and more affordable for RMPs quantitation in the clinical samples. This method is a low cost and interchangeable to latex bead-based method for generating the absolute counts in the resource-limited areas. (c) 2008 Clinical Cytometry Society.

Improving the counting efficiency in time-correlated single photon counting experiments by dead-time optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peronio, P.; Acconcia, G.; Rech, I.; Ghioni, M. [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano (Italy)

2015-11-15

Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC) has been long recognized as the most sensitive method for fluorescence lifetime measurements, but often requiring “long” data acquisition times. This drawback is related to the limited counting capability of the TCSPC technique, due to pile-up and counting loss effects. In recent years, multi-module TCSPC systems have been introduced to overcome this issue. Splitting the light into several detectors connected to independent TCSPC modules proportionally increases the counting capability. Of course, multi-module operation also increases the system cost and can cause space and power supply problems. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach based on a new detector and processing electronics designed to reduce the overall system dead time, thus enabling efficient photon collection at high excitation rate. We present a fast active quenching circuit for single-photon avalanche diodes which features a minimum dead time of 12.4 ns. We also introduce a new Time-to-Amplitude Converter (TAC) able to attain extra-short dead time thanks to the combination of a scalable array of monolithically integrated TACs and a sequential router. The fast TAC (F-TAC) makes it possible to operate the system towards the upper limit of detector count rate capability (∼80 Mcps) with reduced pile-up losses, addressing one of the historic criticisms of TCSPC. Preliminary measurements on the F-TAC are presented and discussed.

Aperture and counting rate of rectangular telescopes for single and multiple parallel particles. [Spark chamber telescopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D' Ettorre Piazzoli, B; Mannocchi, G [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Turin (Italy). Lab. di Cosmo-Geofisica; Melone, S [Istituto di Fisica dell' Universita, Ancona, Italy; Picchi, P; Visentin, R [Comitato Nazionale per l' Energia Nucleare, Frascati (Italy). Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati

1976-06-01

Expressions for the counting rate of rectangular telescopes in the case of single as well as multiple particles are given. The aperture for single particles is obtained in the form of a double integral and analytical solutions are given for some cases. The intensity for different multiplicities of parallel particles is related to the geometry of the detectors and to the features of the radiation. This allows an absolute comparison between the data recorded by different devices.

Principles of correlation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, J.W.

1975-01-01

A review is given of the various applications which have been made of correlation techniques in the field of nuclear physics, in particular for absolute counting. Whereas in most cases the usual coincidence method will be preferable for its simplicity, correlation counting may be the only possible approach in such cases where the two radiations of the cascade cannot be well separated or when there is a longliving intermediate state. The measurement of half-lives and of count rates of spurious pulses is also briefly discussed. The various experimental situations lead to different ways the correlation method is best applied (covariance technique with one or with two detectors, application of correlation functions, etc.). Formulae are given for some simple model cases, neglecting dead-time corrections

Effect of time walk in the use of single channel analyzer/discriminator for saturated pulses in the 4πβ–γ coincidence experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawada, Yasushi; Yunoki, Akira; Yamada, Takahiro; Hino, Yoshio

2016-01-01

Using the TAC technique, the timing properties of a 4πβ–γ coincidence counting system were experimentally studied with an emphasis on saturated pulses. Experiments were performed for several discriminators (integral mode of TSCA) each with different kinds of timing techniques. Timing spectra were measured at various applied voltage to the 4π proportional detector covering the entire region of the plateau. Most of timing discriminators show good timing property when the pulses remain the linear region, but suddenly deteriorate after the pulses was saturated, and the timing spectra expands seriously up to a few μs in some types of timing discriminator. To overcome this problem, two techniques were proposed. - Highlights: • Timing properties of several kinds of SCA/Discriminators were studied, including trailing edge CFT. • Focus of study on saturated pulses, using a 4πβ–γ coincidence counting system and TAC. • Validity of two novel techniques to overcome this problem was shown.

Bayesian approach in MN low dose of radiation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Serna Berna, A.; Alcaraz, M.; Acevedo, C.; Navarro, J. L.; Alcanzar, M. D.; Canteras, M.

2006-01-01

The Micronucleus assay in lymphocytes is a well established technique for the assessment of genetic damage induced by ionizing radiation. Due to the presence of a natural background of MN the net MN is obtained by subtracting this value to the gross value. When very low doses of radiation are given the induced MN is close even lower than the predetermined background value. Furthermore, the damage distribution induced by the radiation follows a Poisson probability distribution. These two facts pose a difficult task to obtain the net counting rate in the exposed situations. It is possible to overcome this problem using a bayesian approach, in which the selection of a priori distributions for the background and net counting rate plays an important role. In the present work we make a detailed analysed using bayesian theory to infer the net counting rate in two different situations: a) when the background is known for an individual sample, using exact value value for the background and Jeffreys prior for the net counting rate, and b) when the background is not known and we make use of a population background distribution as background prior function and constant prior for the net counting rate. (Author)

Delayed system control in presence of actuator saturation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Mahjoub

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper is introducing a new design method for systems’ controllers with input delay and actuator saturations and focuses on how to force the system output to track a reference input not necessarily saturation-compatible. We propose a new norm based on the way we quantify tracking performance as a function of saturation errors found using the same norm. The newly defined norm is related to signal average power making possible to account for most common reference signals e.g. step, periodic. It is formally shown that, whatever the reference shape and amplitude, the achievable tracking quality is determined by a well defined reference tracking mismatch error. This latter depends on the reference rate and its compatibility with the actuator saturation constraint. In fact, asymptotic output-reference tracking is achieved in the presence of constraint-compatible step-like references.

Growth of mussels Mytilus edulis at algal (Rhodomonas salina) concentrations below and above saturation level for reduced filtration rate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riisgård, Hans Ulrik; Pleissner, Daniel; Larsen, Poul Scheel

2013-01-01

Average filtration and growth rates of groups of juvenile Mytilus edulis (n =2545 of 22-35 mm shell length) were measured at different concentrations of an algal cell monoculture in 9 laboratory experiments of duration 14-30 days, 4 experiments below and 5 above the limit of incipient saturation...... concentration (Csat ≈ 6000-7000 Rhodomonas salina cells ml-1). From a nearly constant filtration rate (F ≈ 30 ml min-1 for a 30 mm shell length) at measured algal concentrations below Csat the steady-state filtration rate decreased approximately as 1/C for increasing algal concentrations (C) above Csat...... is exceeded and then as partial valve closure and reduced filtration and growth rates along with production of pseudofaeces. A survey of naturally occurring phytoplankton biomass in the sea shows that this is generally below Csat except for the short spring bloom periods; hence mussels generally feed...

Loss-Free Counting with Digital Signal Processors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markku Koskelo; Dave Hall; Martin Moslinger

2000-01-01

Loss-free-counting (LFC) techniques have frequently been used with traditional analog pulse processing systems to compensate for the time or pulses lost when a spectroscopy system is unavailable (busy) for processing an accepted pulse. With the availability of second-generation digital signal processing (DSP) electronics that offer a significantly improved performance for both high and low count rate applications, the LFC technique has been revisited. Specific attention was given to the high and ultra-high count rate behavior, using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors with both transistor reset preamplifiers (TRP) and conventional RC preamplifiers. The experiments conducted for this work show that the known LFC techniques further benefit when combined with modern DSP pulse shaping

Detectability of changes in cosmic-ray counting rate measured with the Liulin detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malusek, A.; Kubancak, J.; Ambrozova, I.

2011-05-01

Experimental data are needed to improve and validate models predicting the dynamics of solar particle events because the mechanisms of processes leading to the acceleration of solar energetic particles are not yet fully understood. The aim of this work was to examine whether the spectrometer of deposited energy, Liulin, positioned at the Lomnický štít mountain observatory can collect such data. Decision thresholds and detection limits for the increase or decrease in the average number of particles detected by Liulin were determined for a period in February 2011. The changes in counts corresponding to the decision thresholds and detection limits relative to the average number of detected particles were about 17% and 33%, respectively. The Forbush decrease with a maximum change of about 6.8%, which started on February 18, was detectable neither during the 10-minute acquisition time nor during any other, longer period. Statistical analysis showed that an acquisition time about 7 hours would be needed to detect a 5% decrease. As this time was shorter than the duration of the Forbush decrease (about 56 hours), we theorize that the current placement of the Liulin detector inside a living room shielded by a thick concrete ceiling may have had an adverse impact on the detectability of the the cosmic ray counting rate decrease. To test this hypothesis, we recommend positioning the Liulin detector outside the main observatory building.. (author)

Atmospheric sugar alcohols: evaporation rates and saturation vapor pressures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bilde, Merete; Zardini, Alessandro Alessio; Hong, Juan

alcohols. These polyols are common in the water soluble fraction of atmospheric aerosols. In our experimental system sub-micron particles are generated by nebulization from aqueous solution, and a mono disperse fraction of the aerosol is selected using a differential mobility analyzer. The particles......The atmospheric partitioning between gas and condensed phase of organic molecules is poorly understood, and discrepancies exist between predicted and observed concentrations of secondary organic aerosols. A key problem is the lack of information about thermodynamic properties of semi- and low...... volatile organic molecules. Saturation vapor pressure and the associated temperature dependence (dH) are key parameters for improving predictive atmospheric models. In this work we combine experiments and thermodynamic modeling to investigate these parameters for a series of polyols, so-called sugar...

High count-rate study of two TES x-ray microcalorimeters with different transition temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang-Jun; Adams, Joseph S.; Bandler, Simon R.; Betancourt-Martinez, Gabriele L.; Chervenak, James A.; Eckart, Megan E.; Finkbeiner, Fred M.; Kelley, Richard L.; Kilbourne, Caroline A.; Porter, Frederick S.; Sadleir, John E.; Smith, Stephen J.; Wassell, Edward J.

2017-10-01

We have developed transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter arrays with high count-rate capability and high energy resolution to carry out x-ray imaging spectroscopy observations of various astronomical sources and the Sun. We have studied the dependence of the energy resolution and throughput (fraction of processed pulses) on the count rate for such microcalorimeters with two different transition temperatures (T c). Devices with both transition temperatures were fabricated within a single microcalorimeter array directly on top of a solid substrate where the thermal conductance of the microcalorimeter is dependent upon the thermal boundary resistance between the TES sensor and the dielectric substrate beneath. Because the thermal boundary resistance is highly temperature dependent, the two types of device with different T cs had very different thermal decay times, approximately one order of magnitude different. In our earlier report, we achieved energy resolutions of 1.6 and 2.3 eV at 6 keV from lower and higher T c devices, respectively, using a standard analysis method based on optimal filtering in the low flux limit. We have now measured the same devices at elevated x-ray fluxes ranging from 50 Hz to 1000 Hz per pixel. In the high flux limit, however, the standard optimal filtering scheme nearly breaks down because of x-ray pile-up. To achieve the highest possible energy resolution for a fixed throughput, we have developed an analysis scheme based on the so-called event grade method. Using the new analysis scheme, we achieved 5.0 eV FWHM with 96% throughput for 6 keV x-rays of 1025 Hz per pixel with the higher T c (faster) device, and 5.8 eV FWHM with 97% throughput with the lower T c (slower) device at 722 Hz.

Saturated Switching Systems

CERN Document Server

Benzaouia, Abdellah

2012-01-01

Saturated Switching Systems treats the problem of actuator saturation, inherent in all dynamical systems by using two approaches: positive invariance in which the controller is designed to work within a region of non-saturating linear behaviour; and saturation technique which allows saturation but guarantees asymptotic stability. The results obtained are extended from the linear systems in which they were first developed to switching systems with uncertainties, 2D switching systems, switching systems with Markovian jumping and switching systems of the Takagi-Sugeno type. The text represents a thoroughly referenced distillation of results obtained in this field during the last decade. The selected tool for analysis and design of stabilizing controllers is based on multiple Lyapunov functions and linear matrix inequalities. All the results are illustrated with numerical examples and figures many of them being modelled using MATLAB®. Saturated Switching Systems will be of interest to academic researchers in con...

Studies of non-isothermal flow in saturated and partially saturated porous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ho, C.K.; Maki, K.S.; Glass, R.J.

1993-01-01

Physical and numerical experiments have been performed to investigate the behavior of nonisothermal flow in two-dimensional saturated and partially saturated porous media. The physical experiments were performed to identify non-isothermal flow fields and temperature distributions in fully saturated, half-saturated, and residually saturated two-dimensional porous media with bottom heating and top cooling. Two counter-rotating liquid-phase convective cells were observed to develop in the saturated regions of all three cases. Gas-phase convection was also evidenced in the unsaturated regions of the partially saturated experiments. TOUGH2 numerical simulations of the saturated case were found to be strongly dependent on the assumed boundary conditions of the physical system. Models including heat losses through the boundaries of the test cell produced temperature and flow fields that were in better agreement with the observed temperature and flow fields than models that assumed insulated boundary conditions. A sensitivity analysis also showed that a reduction of the bulk permeability of the porous media in the numerical simulations depressed the effects of convection, flattening the temperature profiles across the test cell

HEPS-BPIX, a single photon counting pixel detector with a high frame rate for the HEPS project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Wei, E-mail: weiw@ihep.ac.cn [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, Beijing 100049 (China); Zhang, Jie; Ning, Zhe; Lu, Yunpeng; Fan, Lei; Li, Huaishen; Jiang, Xiaoshan; Lan, Allan K.; Ouyang, Qun; Wang, Zheng; Zhu, Kejun; Chen, Yuanbo [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, Beijing 100049 (China); Liu, Peng [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)

2016-11-01

China's next generation light source, named the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS), is currently under construction. HEPS-BPIX (HEPS-Beijing PIXel) is a dedicated pixel readout chip that operates in single photon counting mode for X-ray applications in HEPS. Designed using CMOS 0.13 µm technology, the chip contains a matrix of 104×72 pixels. Each pixel measures 150 µm×150 µm and has a counting depth of 20 bits. A bump-bonded prototyping detector module with a 300-µm thick silicon sensor was tested in the beamline of Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility. A fast stream of X-ray images was demonstrated, and a frame rate of 1.2 kHz was proven, with a negligible dead time. The test results showed an equivalent noise charge of 115 e{sup −} rms after bump bonding and a threshold dispersion of 55 e{sup −} rms after calibration.

Computed neutron coincidence counting applied to passive waste assay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bruggeman, M.; Baeten, P.; De Boeck, W.; Carchon, R. [Nuclear Research Centre, Mol (Belgium)

1997-11-01

Neutron coincidence counting applied for the passive assay of fissile material is generally realised with dedicated electronic circuits. This paper presents a software based neutron coincidence counting method with data acquisition via a commercial PC-based Time Interval Analyser (TIA). The TIA is used to measure and record all time intervals between successive pulses in the pulse train up to count-rates of 2 Mpulses/s. Software modules are then used to compute the coincidence count-rates and multiplicity related data. This computed neutron coincidence counting (CNCC) offers full access to all the time information contained in the pulse train. This paper will mainly concentrate on the application and advantages of CNCC for the non-destructive assay of waste. An advanced multiplicity selective Rossi-alpha method is presented and its implementation via CNCC demonstrated. 13 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.

Computed neutron coincidence counting applied to passive waste assay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruggeman, M.; Baeten, P.; De Boeck, W.; Carchon, R.

1997-01-01

Neutron coincidence counting applied for the passive assay of fissile material is generally realised with dedicated electronic circuits. This paper presents a software based neutron coincidence counting method with data acquisition via a commercial PC-based Time Interval Analyser (TIA). The TIA is used to measure and record all time intervals between successive pulses in the pulse train up to count-rates of 2 Mpulses/s. Software modules are then used to compute the coincidence count-rates and multiplicity related data. This computed neutron coincidence counting (CNCC) offers full access to all the time information contained in the pulse train. This paper will mainly concentrate on the application and advantages of CNCC for the non-destructive assay of waste. An advanced multiplicity selective Rossi-alpha method is presented and its implementation via CNCC demonstrated. 13 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs

Effect of percolation rate on water-travel time in deep, partially saturated zones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peters, R.R.; Gauthier, J.H.; Dudley, A.L.

1986-02-01

The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project is investigating Yucca Mountain, Nye county, Nevada, as a prospective site for a radioactive-waste repository. The Yucca Mountain site is unique among those currently being investigated by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in that the prospective repository location is in the unsaturated zone, approximately 300 m above the water table. The rock units at Yucca Mountain can be grouped into three types: (1) vitric tuffs with high matrix conductivity and few fractures; (2) zeolitized tuffs with low matrix conductivity and few fractures; and (3) densely welded tuffs with low matrix conductivities and many fractures. The prospective repository zone is in densely welded tuff; the units between it and the water table are of types 1 and 2. Current percolation rates through Yucca Mountain, and those that are currently postulated under future climatic conditions, are thought to be of the order of the saturated matrix conductivity of some of the units. Although it is probable that there is now little or no water movement in fracture, it is necessary to investigate the potential for fracture flow, especially that which could be initiated under future climatic conditions. Significant fracture flow, if present, could reduce the water travel time between the repository and the water table. A composite-porosity, continuum model was developed to model flow in a fractured, porous medium. Simulations using data from the Yucca Mountain site and this model in the one-dimensional code TOSPAC indicate that current estimates of the percolation rate result in water movement confined to the matrix and that the water-travel time from the repository to the water table is on the order of hundreds of thousands of years. this result is sensitive to the percolation rate; an increase in percolation rate of a factor of 10 many initiate water movement in the fractures, reducing the travel time significantly

Aspartic acid racemization rate in narwhal (Monodon monoceros) eye lens nuclei estimated by counting of growth layers in tusks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garde, Eva; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Ditlevsen, Susanne

2012-01-01

Ages of marine mammals have traditionally been estimated by counting dentinal growth layers in teeth. However, this method is difficult to use on narwhals (Monodon monoceros) because of their special tooth structures. Alternative methods are therefore needed. The aspartic acid racemization (AAR......) technique has been used in age estimation studies of cetaceans, including narwhals. The purpose of this study was to estimate a species-specific racemization rate for narwhals by regressing aspartic acid D/L ratios in eye lens nuclei against growth layer groups in tusks (n=9). Two racemization rates were...

Experimental verification of preset time count rate meters based on adaptive digital signal processing algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Žigić Aleksandar D.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Experimental verifications of two optimized adaptive digital signal processing algorithms implemented in two pre set time count rate meters were per formed ac cording to appropriate standards. The random pulse generator realized using a personal computer, was used as an artificial radiation source for preliminary system tests and performance evaluations of the pro posed algorithms. Then measurement results for background radiation levels were obtained. Finally, measurements with a natural radiation source radioisotope 90Sr-90Y, were carried out. Measurement results, con ducted without and with radio isotopes for the specified errors of 10% and 5% showed to agree well with theoretical predictions.

Liquid scintillation counting of chlorophyll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fric, F.; Horickova, B.; Haspel-Horvatovic, E.

1975-01-01

A precise and reproducible method of liquid scintillation counting was worked out for measuring the radioactivity of 14 C-labelled chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b solutions without previous bleaching. The spurious count rate caused by luminescence of the scintillant-chlorophyll system is eliminated by using a suitable scintillant and by measuring the radioactivity at 4 to 8 0 C after an appropriate time of dark adaptation. Bleaching of the chlorophyll solutions is necessary only for measuring of very low radioactivity. (author)

Development of a high-count-rate neutron detector with position sensitivity and high efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, R.; Sandoval, J.

1996-01-01

While the neutron scattering community is bombarded with hints of new technologies that may deliver detectors with high-count-rate capability, high efficiency, gamma-ray insensitivity, and high resolution across large areas, only the time-tested, gas-filled 3 He and scintillation detectors are in widespread use. Future spallation sources with higher fluxes simply must exploit some of the advanced detector schemes that are as yet unproved as production systems. Technologies indicating promise as neutron detectors include pixel arrays of amorphous silicon, silicon microstrips, microstrips with gas, and new scintillation materials. This project sought to study the competing neutron detector technologies and determine which or what combination will lead to a production detector system well suited for use at a high-intensity neutron scattering source

Perturbation of longitudinal relaxation rate in rotating frame (PLRF) analysis for quantification of chemical exchange saturation transfer signal in a transient state.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Zhang, Yaoyu; Zhao, Xuna; Wu, Bing; Gao, Jia-Hong

2017-11-01

To develop a novel analytical method for quantification of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) in the transient state. The proposed method aims to reduce the effects of non-chemical-exchange (non-CE) parameters on the CEST signal, emphasizing the effect of chemical exchange. The difference in the longitudinal relaxation rate in the rotating frame ( ΔR1ρ) was calculated based on perturbation of the Z-value by R1ρ, and a saturation-pulse-amplitude-compensated exchange-dependent relaxation rate (SPACER) was determined with a high-exchange-rate approximation. In both phantom and human subject experiments, MTRasym (representative of the traditional CEST index), ΔR1ρ, and SPACER were measured, evaluated, and compared by altering the non-CE parameters in a transient-state continuous-wave CEST sequence. In line with the theoretical expectation, our experimental data demonstrate that the effects of the non-CE parameters can be more effectively reduced using the proposed indices (  ΔR1ρ and SPACER) than using the traditional CEST index ( MTRasym). The proposed method allows for the chemical exchange weight to be better emphasized in the transient-state CEST signal, which is beneficial, in practice, for quantifying the CEST signal. Magn Reson Med 78:1711-1723, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Spectrometry with high count rate for the study of the soft X-rays. Application for the plasma of WEGA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brouquet, P.

1979-04-01

The plasma of the WEGA torus, whose electron temperature varies between 0.5 and 1 keV, emits electromagnetic radiation extending to wavelengths of the order of 1A. Different improvements performed on a semi-conductor spectrometer have permitted the study of this emission in the soft X ray region (1 keV - 30 keV) at a count rate of 3.10 5 counts/s with an energy resolution of 350 eV. For each plasma shot, this diagnostic gives 4 measurements of the plasma electron temperature and of the effective charge, Zeff, with a time resolution of 5 ms. The values of the electron temperature and of the effective charge derived from the study of soft X rays are in agreement with those given by other diagnostic methods [fr

Counting statistics and loss corrections for the APS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.K.; Mills, D.M.

1992-01-01

It has been suggested that for timing experiments, it might be advantageous to arrange the bunches in the storage ring in an asymmetrical mode. In this paper, we determine the counting losses from pulsed x-ray sources from basic probabilistic arguments and from Poisson statistics. In particular the impact on single photon counting losses of a variety of possible filling modes for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is examined. For bunches of equal current, a loss of 10% occurs whenever the count rate exceeds 21% of the bunch repetition rate. This changes slightly when bunches containing unequal numbers of particles are considered. The results are applied to several common detector/electronics systems

Counting statistics and loss corrections for the APS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.K.; Mills, D.M.

1992-01-01

It has been suggested that for timing experiments, it might be advantageous to arrange the bunches in the storage ring in an asymmetrical mode. In this paper, we determine the counting losses from pulsed x-ray sources from basic probabilistic arguments and from Poisson statistics. In particular the impact on single-photon counting losses of a variety of possible filling modes for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is examined. For bunches of equal current, a loss of 10% occurs whenever the count rate exceeds 21% of the bunch repetition rate. This changes slightly when bunches containing unequal numbers of particles are considered. The results are applied to several common detector/electronics systems

Photon Counting Using Edge-Detection Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Gin, Jonathan W.; Nguyen, Danh H.; Farr, William H.

2010-01-01

New applications such as high-datarate, photon-starved, free-space optical communications require photon counting at flux rates into gigaphoton-per-second regimes coupled with subnanosecond timing accuracy. Current single-photon detectors that are capable of handling such operating conditions are designed in an array format and produce output pulses that span multiple sample times. In order to discern one pulse from another and not to overcount the number of incoming photons, a detection algorithm must be applied to the sampled detector output pulses. As flux rates increase, the ability to implement such a detection algorithm becomes difficult within a digital processor that may reside within a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Systems have been developed and implemented to both characterize gigahertz bandwidth single-photon detectors, as well as process photon count signals at rates into gigaphotons per second in order to implement communications links at SCPPM (serial concatenated pulse position modulation) encoded data rates exceeding 100 megabits per second with efficiencies greater than two bits per detected photon. A hardware edge-detection algorithm and corresponding signal combining and deserialization hardware were developed to meet these requirements at sample rates up to 10 GHz. The photon discriminator deserializer hardware board accepts four inputs, which allows for the ability to take inputs from a quadphoton counting detector, to support requirements for optical tracking with a reduced number of hardware components. The four inputs are hardware leading-edge detected independently. After leading-edge detection, the resultant samples are ORed together prior to deserialization. The deserialization is performed to reduce the rate at which data is passed to a digital signal processor, perhaps residing within an FPGA. The hardware implements four separate analog inputs that are connected through RF connectors. Each analog input is fed to a high-speed 1

Microscopic analysis of saturable absorbers: Semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors versus graphene

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hader, J.; Moloney, J. V. [Nonlinear Control Strategies, Inc., 3542 N. Geronimo Ave., Tucson, Arizona 85705 (United States); College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States); Yang, H.-J.; Scheller, M. [College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States); Koch, S. W. [Department of Physics and Materials Sciences Center, Philipps Universität Marburg, Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg (Germany)

2016-02-07

Fully microscopic many-body calculations are used to study the influence of strong sub-picosecond pulses on the carrier distributions and corresponding optical response in saturable absorbers used for mode-locking—semiconductor (quantum well) saturable absorber mirrors (SESAMs) and single layer graphene based saturable absorber mirrors (GSAMs). Unlike in GSAMs, the saturation fluence and recovery time in SESAMs show a strong spectral dependence. While the saturation fluence in the SESAM is minimal at the excitonic bandgap, the optimal recovery time and least pulse distortion due to group delay dispersion are found for excitation higher in the first subband. For excitation near the SESAM bandgap, the saturation fluence is about one tenth of that in the GSAM. At energies above the bandgap, the fluences in both systems become similar. A strong dependence of the saturation fluence on the pulse width in both systems is caused by carrier relaxation during the pulse. The recovery time in graphene is found to be about two to four times faster than that in the SESAMs. The occurrence of negative differential transmission in graphene is shown to be caused by dopant related carriers. In SESAMs, a negative differential transmission is found when exciting below the excitonic resonance where excitation induced dephasing leads to an enhancement of the absorption. Comparisons of the simulation data to the experiment show a very good quantitative agreement.

Saturation of the turbulent dynamo.

Science.gov (United States)

Schober, J; Schleicher, D R G; Federrath, C; Bovino, S; Klessen, R S

2015-08-01

The origin of strong magnetic fields in the Universe can be explained by amplifying weak seed fields via turbulent motions on small spatial scales and subsequently transporting the magnetic energy to larger scales. This process is known as the turbulent dynamo and depends on the properties of turbulence, i.e., on the hydrodynamical Reynolds number and the compressibility of the gas, and on the magnetic diffusivity. While we know the growth rate of the magnetic energy in the linear regime, the saturation level, i.e., the ratio of magnetic energy to turbulent kinetic energy that can be reached, is not known from analytical calculations. In this paper we present a scale-dependent saturation model based on an effective turbulent resistivity which is determined by the turnover time scale of turbulent eddies and the magnetic energy density. The magnetic resistivity increases compared to the Spitzer value and the effective scale on which the magnetic energy spectrum is at its maximum moves to larger spatial scales. This process ends when the peak reaches a characteristic wave number k☆ which is determined by the critical magnetic Reynolds number. The saturation level of the dynamo also depends on the type of turbulence and differs for the limits of large and small magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm. With our model we find saturation levels between 43.8% and 1.3% for Pm≫1 and between 2.43% and 0.135% for Pm≪1, where the higher values refer to incompressible turbulence and the lower ones to highly compressible turbulence.

Transfer Rate Edited experiment for the selective detection of Chemical Exchange via Saturation Transfer (TRE-CEST)

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Joshua I.; Xia, Ding; Regatte, Ravinder R.; Jerschow, Alexej

2015-07-01

Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) magnetic resonance experiments have become valuable tools in magnetic resonance for the detection of low concentration solutes with far greater sensitivity than direct detection methods. Accurate measures of rates of chemical exchange provided by CEST are of particular interest to biomedical imaging communities where variations in chemical exchange can be related to subtle variations in biomarker concentration, temperature and pH within tissues using MRI. Despite their name, however, traditional CEST methods are not truly selective for chemical exchange and instead detect all forms of magnetization transfer including through-space NOE. This ambiguity crowds CEST spectra and greatly complicates subsequent data analysis. We have developed a Transfer Rate Edited CEST experiment (TRE-CEST) that uses two different types of solute labeling in order to selectively amplify signals of rapidly exchanging proton species while simultaneously suppressing 'slower' NOE-dominated magnetization transfer processes. This approach is demonstrated in the context of both NMR and MRI, where it is used to detect the labile amide protons of proteins undergoing chemical exchange (at rates ⩾ 30 s-1) while simultaneously eliminating signals originating from slower (∼5 s-1) NOE-mediated magnetization transfer processes. TRE-CEST greatly expands the utility of CEST experiments in complex systems, and in-vivo, in particular, where it is expected to improve the quantification of chemical exchange and magnetization transfer rates while enabling new forms of imaging contrast.

Tearing mode saturation with finite pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.K.

1988-01-01

With finite pressure, the saturation of the current-driven tearing mode is obtained in three-dimensional nonlinear resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations for Tokamak plasmas. To effectively focus on the tearing modes, the perturbed pressure effects are excluded while the finite equilibrium pressure effects are retained. With this model, the linear growth rates of the tearing modes are found to be very insensitive to the equilibrium pressure increase. The nonlinear aspects of the tearing modes, however, are found to be very sensitive to the pressure increase in that the saturation level of the nonlinear harmonics of the tearing modes increases monotonically with the pressure rise. The increased level is associated with enhanced tearing island sizes or increased stochastic magnetic field region. (author)

The role of zonal flows in the saturation of multi-scale gyrokinetic turbulence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Staebler, G. M.; Candy, J. [General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186 (United States); Howard, N. T. [Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States); Holland, C. [University of California San Diego, San Diego, California 92093 (United States)

2016-06-15

The 2D spectrum of the saturated electric potential from gyrokinetic turbulence simulations that include both ion and electron scales (multi-scale) in axisymmetric tokamak geometry is analyzed. The paradigm that the turbulence is saturated when the zonal (axisymmetic) ExB flow shearing rate competes with linear growth is shown to not apply to the electron scale turbulence. Instead, it is the mixing rate by the zonal ExB velocity spectrum with the turbulent distribution function that competes with linear growth. A model of this mechanism is shown to be able to capture the suppression of electron-scale turbulence by ion-scale turbulence and the threshold for the increase in electron scale turbulence when the ion-scale turbulence is reduced. The model computes the strength of the zonal flow velocity and the saturated potential spectrum from the linear growth rate spectrum. The model for the saturated electric potential spectrum is applied to a quasilinear transport model and shown to accurately reproduce the electron and ion energy fluxes of the non-linear gyrokinetic multi-scale simulations. The zonal flow mixing saturation model is also shown to reproduce the non-linear upshift in the critical temperature gradient caused by zonal flows in ion-scale gyrokinetic simulations.

Material screening with HPGe counting station for PandaX experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, X.; Chen, X.; Fu, C.; Ji, X.; Liu, X.; Xie, P.; Zhang, T.; Mao, Y.; Wang, S.; Wang, H.

2016-01-01

A gamma counting station based on high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector was set up for the material screening of the PandaX dark matter experiments in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. Low background gamma rate of 2.6 counts/min within the energy range of 20 to 2700 keV is achieved due to the well-designed passive shield. The sentivities of the HPGe detetector reach mBq/kg level for isotopes like K, U, Th, and even better for Co and Cs, resulted from the low-background rate and the high relative detection efficiency of 175%. The structure and performance of the counting station are described in this article. Detailed counting results for the radioactivity in materials used by the PandaX dark-matter experiment are presented. The upgrading plan of the counting station is also discussed.

A new theoretical interpretation of Archie's saturation exponent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. W. J. Glover

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the extension of the concepts of connectedness and conservation of connectedness that underlie the generalized Archie's law for n phases to the interpretation of the saturation exponent. It is shown that the saturation exponent as defined originally by Archie arises naturally from the generalized Archie's law. In the generalized Archie's law the saturation exponent of any given phase can be thought of as formally the same as the phase (i.e. cementation exponent, but with respect to a reference subset of phases in a larger n-phase medium. Furthermore, the connectedness of each of the phases occupying a reference subset of an n-phase medium can be related to the connectedness of the subset itself by Gi = GrefSini. This leads naturally to the idea of the term Sini for each phase i being a fractional connectedness, where the fractional connectednesses of any given reference subset sum to unity in the same way that the connectednesses sum to unity for the whole medium. One of the implications of this theory is that the saturation exponent of any phase can be now be interpreted as the rate of change of the fractional connectedness with saturation and connectivity within the reference subset.

Preamplifier development for high count-rate, large dynamic range readout of inorganic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keshelashvili, Irakli; Erni, Werner; Steinacher, Michael; Krusche, Bernd; Collaboration: PANDA-Collaboration

2013-07-01

Electromagnetic calorimeter are central component of many experiments in nuclear and particle physics. Modern ''trigger less'' detectors run with very high count-rates, require good time and energy resolution, and large dynamic range. In addition photosensors and preamplifiers must work in hostile environments (magnetic fields). Due to later constraints mainly Avalanche Photo Diodes (APD's), Vacuum Photo Triodes (VPT's), and Vacuum Photo Tetrodes (VPTT's) are used. A disadvantage is their low gain which together with other requirements is a challenge for the preamplifier design. Our group has developed special Low Noise / Low Power (LNP) preamplifier for this purpose. They will be used to equip PANDA EMC forward end-cap (dynamic range 15'000, rate 1MHz), where the PWO II crystals and preamplifier have to run in an environment cooled down to -25{sup o}C. Further application is the upgrade of the Crystal Barrel detector at the Bonn ELSA accelerator with APD readout for which special temperature comparison of the APD gain and good time resolution is necessary. Development and all test procedures after the mass production done by our group during past several years in Basel University will be reported.

Calibration and diagnostic accuracy of simple flotation, McMaster and FLOTAC for parasite egg counts in sheep.

Science.gov (United States)

Rinaldi, L; Coles, G C; Maurelli, M P; Musella, V; Cringoli, G

2011-05-11

The present study was aimed at carrying out a calibration and a comparison of diagnostic accuracy of three faecal egg counts (FEC) techniques, simple flotation, McMaster and FLOTAC, in order to find the best flotation solution (FS) for Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Moniezia expansa and gastrointestinal (GI) strongyle eggs, and to evaluate the influence of faecal preservation methods combined with FS on egg counts. Simple flotation failed to give satisfactory results with any samples. Overall, FLOTAC resulted in similar or higher eggs per gram of faeces (EPG) and lower coefficient of variation (CV) than McMaster. The "gold standard" for D. dendriticum was obtained with FLOTAC when using FS7 (EPG=219, CV=3.9%) and FS8 (EPG=226, CV=5.2%) on fresh faeces. The "gold standard" for M. expansa was obtained with FLOTAC, using FS3 (EPG=122, CV=4.1%) on fresh faeces. The "gold standard" for GI strongyles was obtained with FLOTAC when using FS5 (EPG=320, CV=4%) and FS2 (EPG=298, CV=5%). As regard to faecal preservation methods, formalin 5% and 10% or freezing showed performance similar to fresh faeces for eggs of D. dendriticum and M. expansa. However, these methods of preservation were not as successful with GI strongyle eggs. Vacuum packing with storage at +4°C permitted storage of GI strongyle eggs for up to 21 days prior to counting. Where accurate egg counts are required in ovine samples the optimum method of counting is the use of FLOTAC. In addition, we suggest the use of two solutions that are easy and cheap to purchase and prepare, saturated sodium chloride (FS2) for nematoda and cestoda eggs and saturated zinc sulphate (FS7) for trematoda eggs and nematoda larvae. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Upper limits from counting experiments with multiple pipelines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutton, Patrick J

2009-01-01

In counting experiments, one can set an upper limit on the rate of a Poisson process based on a count of the number of events observed due to the process. In some experiments, one makes several counts of the number of events, using different instruments, different event detection algorithms or observations over multiple time intervals. We demonstrate how to generalize the classical frequentist upper limit calculation to the case where multiple counts of events are made over one or more time intervals using several (not necessarily independent) procedures. We show how different choices of the rank ordering of possible outcomes in the space of counts correspond to applying different levels of significance to the various measurements. We propose an ordering that is matched to the sensitivity of the different measurement procedures and show that in typical cases it gives stronger upper limits than other choices. As an example, we show how this method can be applied to searches for gravitational-wave bursts, where multiple burst-detection algorithms analyse the same data set, and demonstrate how a single combined upper limit can be set on the gravitational-wave burst rate.

THE SATURATION OF SASI BY PARASITIC INSTABILITIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guilet, Jerome; Sato, Jun'ichi; Foglizzo, Thierry

2010-01-01

The standing accretion shock instability (SASI) is commonly believed to be responsible for large amplitude dipolar oscillations of the stalled shock during core collapse, potentially leading to an asymmetric supernovae explosion. The degree of asymmetry depends on the amplitude of SASI, but the nonlinear saturation mechanism has never been elucidated. We investigate the role of parasitic instabilities as a possible cause of nonlinear SASI saturation. As the shock oscillations create both vorticity and entropy gradients, we show that both Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor types of instabilities are able to grow on a SASI mode if its amplitude is large enough. We obtain simple estimates of their growth rates, taking into account the effects of advection and entropy stratification. In the context of the advective-acoustic cycle, we use numerical simulations to demonstrate how the acoustic feedback can be decreased if a parasitic instability distorts the advected structure. The amplitude of the shock deformation is estimated analytically in this scenario. When applied to the set up of Fernandez and Thompson, this saturation mechanism is able to explain the dramatic decrease of the SASI power when both the nuclear dissociation energy and the cooling rate are varied. Our results open new perspectives for anticipating the effect, on the SASI amplitude, of the physical ingredients involved in the modeling of the collapsing star.

Saturated Fat Intake Is Related to Heart Rate Variability in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Graff, Scheila K; Mario, Fernanda M; Magalhães, Jose A; Moraes, Ruy S; Spritzer, Poli Mara

2017-01-01

There is a heightened risk for cardiovascular diseases in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Alterations in heart rate variability (HRV) may reflect subclinical cardiovascular disease, with a putative association between HRV and dietary fat. This study evaluated HRV in PCOS and control women based on the dietary intake of saturated fatty acid (SFA). Biochemical/hormonal profile, resting metabolic rate, physical activity, HRV in response to the Stroop test, and dietary intake were assessed in 84 PCOS and 54 control women stratified by median SFA intake in the PCOS group (8.5% of daily energy intake). Body mass index (p = 0.041), blood pressure (p PCOS vs. PCOS women had higher testosterone (p = 0.001), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (p = 0.012), and free androgen index (p = 0.001), and lower sex hormone-binding globulin levels than controls (p = 0.001). In both groups, the clinical profile and calorie intake were similar between SFA categories. In PCOS, testosterone was lower when SFA intake PCOS women with SFA PCOS, age and SFA intake were independent predictors of HRV. Lower SFA intake is related to improved cardiovascular autonomic function in PCOS. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The impact of preapheresis white blood cell count on autologous peripheral blood stem cell collection efficiency and HSC infusion side effect rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakashita, Araci M; Kondo, Andrea T; Yokoyama, Ana Paula H; Lira, Sanny M C; Bub, Carolina B; Souza, Aline M; Cipolletta, Andrea N F; Alvarez, Kelen C; Hamerschlak, Nelson; Kutner, Jose M; Chiattone, Carlos S

2018-01-19

Autologous peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell (PBSC) collection efficiency (CE) is reportedly affected by the patient's blood properties; however, studies to identify factors correlated with CE have shown inconsistent results. Additionally, variables such as stem cell graft granulocyte content and patient age, sex, and underlying disease, may be associated with hematopietic stem cell (HSC) infusion-related adverse reactions. In this study, we evaluated the correlation of preleukapheresis PB granulocyte count and PBSC harvest variables with CD34 + collection yield and efficiency, and thawed HSC infusion side effect occurrence. We evaluated data from 361 patients who had undergone autologous PBSC transplant. Large volume leukapheresis was the method for PBSC collection. Complete Blood Count and CD34 + cell enumeration were performed in the preapheresis PB and the apheresis product sample. The PBSC grafts were submitted to non-controlled rate freezing after addition of 5% DMSO plus 6% hidroxyethylstarch as a cryoprotectant solution. The cryopreserved graft was thawed in a 37°C water bath and then infused without further manipulation. The CD34 + yield was associated with preapheresis PB CD34 + count and immature granulocyte count. The PBSC CE was negatively correlated with preapheresis white blood cell (WBC), immature granulocyte and granulocyte count. The leukapheresis product total nucleated cell (TNC) and granulocyte content was correlated with the thawed graft infusion side effect occurrence. This study has shown that preapheresis PB WBC and granulocyte counts were associated with leukapheresis CE. Additionally, the leukapheresis product TNC and granulocyte content was correlated with thawed graft infusion side effect occurrence. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Central venous oxygen saturation during hypovolaemic shock in humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, P; Iversen, H; Secher, N H

1993-01-01

We compared central venous oxygen saturation and central venous pressure (CVP) as indices of the effective blood volume during 50 degrees head-up tilt (anti-Trendelenburg's position) induced hypovolaemic shock in eight healthy subjects. Head-up tilt increased thoracic electrical impedance from 31...... (28-36) (median and range) to 34 (30-40) Ohm, mean arterial pressure (MAP) from 79 (70-88) to 86 (80-99) mmHg, heart rate (HR) from 67 (56-71) to 99 (78-119) beats min-1 (p ....05) but thereafter remained stable. In contrast, central venous oxygen saturation showed a linear decrease with time from 0.75 (0.69-0.78) at rest to 0.60 (0.49-0.67) (p measurement of central venous oxygen saturation...

Gluon saturation in a saturated environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopeliovich, B. Z.; Potashnikova, I. K.; Schmidt, Ivan

2011-01-01

A bootstrap equation for self-quenched gluon shadowing leads to a reduced magnitude of broadening for partons propagating through a nucleus. Saturation of small-x gluons in a nucleus, which has the form of transverse momentum broadening of projectile gluons in pA collisions in the nuclear rest frame, leads to a modification of the parton distribution functions in the beam compared with pp collisions. In nucleus-nucleus collisions all participating nucleons acquire enhanced gluon density at small x, which boosts further the saturation scale. Solution of the reciprocity equations for central collisions of two heavy nuclei demonstrate a significant, up to several times, enhancement of Q sA 2 , in AA compared with pA collisions.

Metal ion levels and lymphocyte counts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Penny, Jeannette Ø; Varmarken, Jens-Erik; Ovesen, Ole

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wear particles from metal-on-metal arthroplasties are under suspicion for adverse effects both locally and systemically, and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System (RHA) has above-average failure rates. We compared lymphocyte counts in RHA and total hip arthroplasty (THA) an....../ppb. INTERPRETATION: Circulating T-lymphocyte levels may decline after surgery, regardless of implant type. Metal ions-particularly cobalt-may have a general depressive effect on T- and B-lymphocyte levels. Registered with ClinicalTrials.gov under # NCT01113762.......BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wear particles from metal-on-metal arthroplasties are under suspicion for adverse effects both locally and systemically, and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System (RHA) has above-average failure rates. We compared lymphocyte counts in RHA and total hip arthroplasty (THA....... RESULTS: The T-lymphocyte counts for both implant types declined over the 2-year period. This decline was statistically significant for CD3(+)CD8(+) in the THA group, with a regression coefficient of -0.04 × 10(9)cells/year (95% CI: -0.08 to -0.01). Regression analysis indicated a depressive effect...

Antral follicle counts are strongly associated with live-birth rates after assisted reproduction, with superior treatment outcome in women with polycystic ovaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Holte, Jan; Brodin, Thomas; Berglund, Lars; Hadziosmanovic, Nermin; Olovsson, Matts; Bergh, Torbjörn

2011-09-01

To evaluate the association of antral follicle count (AFC) with in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) outcome in a large unselected cohort of patients covering the entire range of AFC. Prospective observational study. University-affiliated private infertility center. 2,092 women undergoing 4,308 IVF-ICSI cycles. AFC analyzed for associations with treatment outcome and statistically adjusted for repeated treatments and age. Pregnancy rate, live-birth rate, and stimulation outcome parameters. The AFC was log-normally distributed. Pregnancy rates and live-birth rates were positively associated with AFC in a log-linear way, leveling out above AFC ∼30. Treatment outcome was superior among women with polycystic ovaries, independent from ovulatory status. The findings were significant also after adjustment for age and number of oocytes retrieved. Pregnancy and live-birth rates are log-linearly related to AFC. Polycystic ovaries, most often excluded from studies on ovarian reserve, fit as one extreme in the spectrum of AFC; a low count constitutes the other extreme, with the lowest ovarian reserve and poor treatment outcome. The findings remained statistically significant also after adjustment for the number of oocytes retrieved, suggesting this measure of ovarian reserve comprises information on oocyte quality and not only quantity. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Near-infrared spectroscopy during stagnant ischemia estimates central venous oxygen saturation and mixed venous oxygen saturation discrepancy in patients with severe left heart failure and additional sepsis/septic shock

OpenAIRE

Mo?ina, Hugo; Podbregar, Matej

2010-01-01

Introduction Discrepancies of 5-24% between superior vena cava oxygen saturation (ScvO2) and mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) have been reported in patients with severe heart failure. Thenar muscle tissue oxygenation (StO2) measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during arterial occlusion testing decreases slower in sepsis/septic shock patients (lower StO2 deoxygenation rate). The StO2 deoxygenation rate is influenced by dobutamine. The aim of this study was to determine the rela...

CERNDxCTA counting mode chip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moraes, D.; Kaplon, J.; Nygard, E.

2008-01-01

This ASIC is a counting mode front-end electronic optimized for the readout of CdZnTe/CdTe and silicon sensors, for possible use in applications where the flux of ionizing radiation is high. The chip is implemented in 0.25 μm CMOS technology. The circuit comprises 128 channels equipped with a transimpedance amplifier followed by a gain shaper stage with 21 ns peaking time, two discriminators and two 18-bit counters. The channel architecture is optimized for the detector characteristics in order to achieve the best energy resolution at counting rates of up to 5 M counts/second. The amplifier shows a linear sensitivity of 118 mV/fC and an equivalent noise charge of about 711 e - , for a detector capacitance of 5 pF. Complete evaluation of the circuit is presented using electronic pulses and pixel detectors

Pitch Counts in Youth Baseball and Softball: A Historical Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Feeley, Brian T; Schisel, Jessica; Agel, Julie

2018-07-01

Pitching injuries are getting increased attention in the mass media. Many references are made to pitch counts and the role they play in injury prevention. The original purpose of regulating the pitch count in youth baseball was to reduce injury and fatigue to pitchers. This article reviews the history and development of the pitch count limit in baseball, the effect it has had on injury, and the evidence regarding injury rates on softball windmill pitching. Literature search through PubMed, mass media, and organizational Web sites through June 2015. Pitch count limits and rest recommendations were introduced in 1996 after a survey of 28 orthopedic surgeons and baseball coaches showed injuries to baseball pitchers' arms were believed to be from the number of pitches thrown. Follow-up research led to revised recommendations with more detailed guidelines in 2006. Since that time, data show a relationship between innings pitched and upper extremity injury, but pitch type has not clearly been shown to affect injury rates. Current surveys of coaches and players show that coaches, parents, and athletes often do not adhere to these guidelines. There are no pitch count guidelines currently available in softball. The increase in participation in youth baseball and softball with an emphasis on early sport specialization in youth sports activities suggests that there will continue to be a rise in injury rates to young throwers. The published pitch counts are likely to positively affect injury rates but must be adhered to by athletes, coaches, and parents.

Saturation and postsaturation phenomena of Rayleigh-Taylor instability with adjacent modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikegawa, Tadashi; Nishihara, Katsunobu

2003-01-01

A weakly nonlinear theory has been developed for the classical Rayleigh-Taylor instability with a finite bandwidth taken into account self-consistently. The theory includes up to third order nonlinearity, which results in the saturation of linear growth and determines subsequent weakly nonlinear growth. Analytical results are shown to agree fairly well with two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. There are generally many local peaks of a perturbation with a finite bandwidth due to the interference of modes. Since a local amplitude is determined from phases among the modes as well as the bandwidth, we have investigated an onset of the linear growth saturation and the subsequent weakly nonlinear growth for different bandwidths and phases. It is shown that the saturation of the linear growth occurs locally, i.e., each of the local maximum amplitudes (LMAs) grows exponentially until it reaches almost the same saturation amplitude. In the random phase case, the root mean square amplitude thus saturates with almost the same amplitude as the LMA, after most of the LMAs have saturated. The saturation amplitude of the LMA is found to be independent of the bandwidth and depends on the Atwood number. We derive a formula of the saturation amplitude of modes based on the results obtained, and discuss its relation with Haan's formula [Phys. Rev. A 39, 5812 (1989)]. The LMAs grow linearly in time after the saturation and their speeds are approximated by the product of the linear growth rate and the saturation amplitude. We investigate the Atwood number dependence of both the saturation amplitude and the weakly nonlinear growth

THE PROGNOSTIC AND DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF REPEATED TRANSRECTAL PROSTATE SATURATION BIOPSY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. A. Kurdzhiev

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Objective: to determine the rate of prostate cancer (PC development after repeated transrectal saturation prostate biopsy (RTRSPB, to study the characteristics of diagnosed tumors, and to estimate their clinical significance from the data of radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP.Materials and methods. The results of RTRSPB were analyzed in 226 patients with a later evaluation of a tumor from the results of RRP. All the patients underwent at least 2 prostate biopsies (mean 2.4. The average number of biopsy cores was 26.7 (range 24—30. The average value of total prostate-specific antigen before saturation biopsy was 7.5 (range 7.5 to 28.6 ng/ml. The mean age of patients was 62 years (range 53 to 70.  Results. PC was diagnosed in 14.6% of cases (33/226. An isolated lesion of the prostatic transition zone was in 12.1% of cases. If this zone had been excluded from the biopsy scheme, the detection rate of PC during saturation biopsy should be reduced by 13.8%. Better PC detectability during repeated saturation biopsy generally occurred due to the localized forms of the disease (93.3%. The agreement of Gleason tumor grading in the biopsy and prostatectomy specimens was noted in 66.7% of cases.Conclusion. Saturation biopsy allows prediction of a pathological stage of PC, Gleason grade of a tumor and its site localization with a greater probability. Most tumors detectable by saturation biopsy were clinically significant, which makes it possible to recommend RTRSPB to some cohort of high PC-risk patients 

Optimization of statistical methods for HpGe gamma-ray spectrometer used in wide count rate ranges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gervino, G., E-mail: gervino@to.infn.it [UNITO - Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Fisica, Turin (Italy); INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. Torino, Turin (Italy); Mana, G. [INRIM - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Turin (Italy); Palmisano, C. [UNITO - Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Fisica, Turin (Italy); INRIM - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Turin (Italy)

2016-07-11

The need to perform γ-ray measurements with HpGe detectors is a common technique in many fields such as nuclear physics, radiochemistry, nuclear medicine and neutron activation analysis. The use of HpGe detectors is chosen in situations where isotope identification is needed because of their excellent resolution. Our challenge is to obtain the “best” spectroscopy data possible in every measurement situation. “Best” is a combination of statistical (number of counts) and spectral quality (peak, width and position) over a wide range of counting rates. In this framework, we applied Bayesian methods and the Ellipsoidal Nested Sampling (a multidimensional integration technique) to study the most likely distribution for the shape of HpGe spectra. In treating these experiments, the prior information suggests to model the likelihood function with a product of Poisson distributions. We present the efforts that have been done in order to optimize the statistical methods to HpGe detector outputs with the aim to evaluate to a better order of precision the detector efficiency, the absolute measured activity and the spectra background. Reaching a more precise knowledge of statistical and systematic uncertainties for the measured physical observables is the final goal of this research project.

Point Count Length and Detection of Forest Neotropical Migrant Birds

Science.gov (United States)

Deanna K. Dawson; David R. Smith; Chandler S. Robbins

1995-01-01

Comparisons of bird abundances among years or among habitats assume that the rates at which birds are detected and counted are constant within species. We use point count data collected in forests of the Mid-Atlantic states to estimate detection probabilities for Neotropical migrant bird species as a function of count length. For some species, significant differences...

Evaluation of Standard and Modified M-FC, MacConkey, and Teepol Media for Membrane Filtration Counting of Fecal Coliforms in Water

OpenAIRE

Grabow, W. O. K.; Hilner, C. A.; Coubrough, P.

1981-01-01

MacConkey agar, standard M-FC agar, M-FC agar without rosolic acid, M-FC agar with a resuscitation top layer, Teepol agar, and pads saturated with Teepol broth, were evaluated as growth media for membrane filtration counting of fecal coliform bacteria in water. In comparative tests on 312 samples of water from a wide variety of sources, including chlorinated effluents, M-FC agar without rosolic acid proved the medium of choice because it generally yielded the highest counts, was readily obtai...

Resonance saturation of the chiral couplings at next-to-leading order in 1/NC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosell, Ignasi; Ruiz-Femenia, Pedro; Sanz-Cillero, Juan Jose

2009-01-01

The precision obtainable in phenomenological applications of chiral perturbation theory is currently limited by our lack of knowledge on the low-energy constants (LECs). The assumption that the most important contributions to the LECs come from the dynamics of the low-lying resonances, often referred to as the resonance saturation hypothesis, has stimulated the use of large-N C resonance Lagrangians in order to obtain explicit values for the LECs. We study the validity of the resonance saturation assumption at the next-to-leading order in the 1/N C expansion within the framework of resonance chiral theory. We find that, by imposing QCD short-distance constraints, the chiral couplings can be written in terms of the resonance masses and couplings and do not depend explicitly on the coefficients of the chiral operators in the Goldstone boson sector of resonance chiral theory. As we argue, this is the counterpart formulation of the resonance saturation statement in the context of the resonance Lagrangian. Going beyond leading order in the 1/N C counting allows us to keep full control of the renormalization scale dependence of the LEC estimates.

Determination of saturation functions and wettability for chalk based on measured fluid saturations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Olsen, D.; Bech, N.; Moeller Nielsen, C.

1998-08-01

The end effect of displacement experiments on low permeable porous media is used for determination of relative permeability functions and capillary pressure functions. Saturation functions for a drainage process are determined from a primary drainage experiment. A reversal of the flooding direction creates an intrinsic imbibition process in the sample, which enables determination if imbibition saturation functions. The saturation functions are determined by a parameter estimation technique. Scanning effects are modelled by the method of Killough. Saturation profiles are determined by NMR. (au)

A computer simulation used to investigate optimization in low level counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, R.C.; Kephart, G.S.

1984-01-01

The differential form of the interval distribution for randomly spaced events such as radioactive decay is represented as dP/sub t/=ae - /supat/dt, the Poisson distribution. As applied to radioactive decay, this states that the probability (dP/sub t/) of the duration of a particular interval (elapsed time between counts) will be between t and t+dt as a function of the count rate (a). Thus a logarithmic transformation of this probability distribution results in a linear function whose slope and intercept are defined by the count rate. The effort expended in defining the interval distribution of a given radiation measurement equates in the laboratory to measuring and accumulating discrete time intervals between events rather than the usual approach of counting events per unit time. It follows from basic information theory that this greater effort should result in an improved statistical confidence in determinations of the ''true'' count rate (a). Using a random number generator as an analog of the discrete decay event, the authors have devised a Monte Carlo approach to investigate application of the above theory to the low level counting situation. This investigative approach is well suited to sensitivity analyses such that any constraints on proposed optimization techniques can be well defined prior to introducing these methods into the counting requirements in the laboratory

On the stability of performance of NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer with FEhU-49 photomultiplier at high counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belousov, A.S.; Vazdik, Ya.A.; Malinovskij, E.N.; Rusakov, S.V.; Solov'ev, Yu.V.; Fomenko, A.M.; Sharejko, P.N.

1986-01-01

The dependence of instability in NaI(Tl)-spectrometer characteristics on the instability of photomultiplier (PM), the multiplication factor of which grows with an increase in counting rate, is determined. A simple way to stabilize PM gain factor with an accuracy up to 1.7% is suggested, which consists in stabilization of voltage in two terminal dynodes of PM and photocathode illumination by an auxillary light source

Affinity functions for modeling glass dissolution rates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bourcier, W.L. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

1997-07-01

Glass dissolution rates decrease dramatically as glass approach ''saturation'' with respect to the leachate solution. Most repository sites are chosen where water fluxes are minimal, and therefore the waste glass is most likely to dissolve under conditions close to ''saturation''. The key term in the rate expression used to predict glass dissolution rates close to ''saturation'' is the affinity term, which accounts for saturation effects on dissolution rates. Interpretations of recent experimental data on the dissolution behaviour of silicate glasses and silicate minerals indicate the following: 1) simple affinity control does not explain the observed dissolution rate for silicate minerals or glasses; 2) dissolution rates can be significantly modified by dissolved cations even under conditions far from saturation where the affinity term is near unity; 3) the effects of dissolved species such as Al and Si on the dissolution rate vary with pH, temperature, and saturation state; and 4) as temperature is increased, the effect of both pH and temperature on glass and mineral dissolution rates decrease, which strongly suggests a switch in rate control from surface reaction-based to diffusion control. Borosilicate glass dissolution models need to be upgraded to account for these recent experimental observations. (A.C.)

Salt-saturated concrete strength and permeability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfeifle, T.W.; Hansen, F.D.; Knowles, M.K.

1996-01-01

Laboratory-scale experiments applicable to the use of salt-saturated concrete as a seal material for a transuranic waste repository have been completed. Nitrogen gas permeability measurements were made using a flexible-wall permeameter, a confining pressure of 1 MPa, and gas pressure gradients ranging from 0.3 MPa to 0.75 MPa. Results show that salt-saturated concrete has very low intrinsic permeability with values ranging from 9.4 x 10 -22 m 2 to 9.7 x 10 -17 m 2 . Strength and deformation characteristics were investigated under conditions of triaxial compression with confining pressures ranging from 0 to 15 MPa using either axial strain-rate or axial stress-rate control and show that the failure strength of concrete increases with confining pressure which can be adequately described through pressure-sensitive failure criteria. Axial, radial, and volumetric strains were also measured during each test and these data were used to determine elastic properties. Experimental results are applicable in the design and analysis of scale-related functions and apply to other concrete structures subjected to compressive loadings such as dams and prestressed structural members

Distribution of ion space charge in the volume of a multiwire proportional chamber at high counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dmitriev, G.D.; Frumkin, I.B.

1990-01-01

The accumulation of ion space charge in the drift gap of a MWPC, separated from the amplification gap by a cathode grid, is studied. A significant dependence of the cathode grid transparency to ions on the counting rate is observed. It is shown that the decrease of ion transparency with beam intensity is defined both by the parameters and the mode of operation of the MWPC as well as by the gas mixture chosen. On the basis of suggested explanation of this effect a formula is obtained, that proved to be in good agreement with the experimental results. (orig.)

Transfer Rate Edited experiment for the selective detection of Chemical Exchange via Saturation Transfer (TRE-CEST).

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Joshua I; Xia, Ding; Regatte, Ravinder R; Jerschow, Alexej

2015-07-01

Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) magnetic resonance experiments have become valuable tools in magnetic resonance for the detection of low concentration solutes with far greater sensitivity than direct detection methods. Accurate measures of rates of chemical exchange provided by CEST are of particular interest to biomedical imaging communities where variations in chemical exchange can be related to subtle variations in biomarker concentration, temperature and pH within tissues using MRI. Despite their name, however, traditional CEST methods are not truly selective for chemical exchange and instead detect all forms of magnetization transfer including through-space NOE. This ambiguity crowds CEST spectra and greatly complicates subsequent data analysis. We have developed a Transfer Rate Edited CEST experiment (TRE-CEST) that uses two different types of solute labeling in order to selectively amplify signals of rapidly exchanging proton species while simultaneously suppressing 'slower' NOE-dominated magnetization transfer processes. This approach is demonstrated in the context of both NMR and MRI, where it is used to detect the labile amide protons of proteins undergoing chemical exchange (at rates⩾30s(-1)) while simultaneously eliminating signals originating from slower (∼5s(-1)) NOE-mediated magnetization transfer processes. TRE-CEST greatly expands the utility of CEST experiments in complex systems, and in-vivo, in particular, where it is expected to improve the quantification of chemical exchange and magnetization transfer rates while enabling new forms of imaging contrast. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relationship between γ detection dead-time and count correction factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Huailong; Zhang Jianhua; Chu Chengsheng; Hu Guangchun; Zhang Changfan; Hu Gen; Gong Jian; Tian Dongfeng

2015-01-01

The relationship between dead-time and count correction factor was investigated by using interference source for purpose of high γ activity measurement. The count rates maintain several 10 s"-"l with γ energy of 0.3-1.3 MeV for 10"4-10"5 Bq radioactive source. It is proved that the relationship between count loss and dead-time is unconcerned at various energy and various count intensities. The same correction formula can be used for any nuclide measurement. (authors)

Calculation of heat exchangers with saturated and underheated superfluid helium (He-2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyakov, V.P.; Shaposhnikov, V.A.; Budrik, V.V.; Volkova, N.M.

1986-01-01

Calculation technique for heat exchangers with saturated and underheated He-2 under conditions of natural inner convection and forced convection is delivered. The following variants of heat exchangers are considered: inside the bath with saturated He-2 a tube is placed along which subcooled He-2 flow moves with a constant rate; inside the bath with subcooled He-2 a tube is placed both ends of which are in the bath with saturated He-2; inside the bath with saturated He-2 a tube is placed both ends of which are in the bath with subcooled He-2. For all cases examples of calculation and experimental data of heat exchanger tests are presented. The developed methods of calculation of heat exchangers for saturated He-2 and subcooled He-2 make it possible to design and create superfluid helium cryostatting systems

Quantitative chemical exchange saturation transfer (qCEST) MRI--RF spillover effect-corrected omega plot for simultaneous determination of labile proton fraction ratio and exchange rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Phillip Zhe; Wang, Yu; Dai, ZhuoZhi; Xiao, Gang; Wu, Renhua

2014-01-01

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is sensitive to dilute proteins and peptides as well as microenvironmental properties. However, the complexity of the CEST MRI effect, which varies with the labile proton content, exchange rate and experimental conditions, underscores the need for developing quantitative CEST (qCEST) analysis. Towards this goal, it has been shown that omega plot is capable of quantifying paramagnetic CEST MRI. However, the use of the omega plot is somewhat limited for diamagnetic CEST (DIACEST) MRI because it is more susceptible to direct radio frequency (RF) saturation (spillover) owing to the relatively small chemical shift. Recently, it has been found that, for dilute DIACEST agents that undergo slow to intermediate chemical exchange, the spillover effect varies little with the labile proton ratio and exchange rate. Therefore, we postulated that the omega plot analysis can be improved if RF spillover effect could be estimated and taken into account. Specifically, simulation showed that both labile proton ratio and exchange rate derived using the spillover effect-corrected omega plot were in good agreement with simulated values. In addition, the modified omega plot was confirmed experimentally, and we showed that the derived labile proton ratio increased linearly with creatine concentration (p plot for quantitative analysis of DIACEST MRI. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Experimental procedure for the determination of counting efficiency and sampling flow rate of a grab-sampling working level meter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grenier, M.; Bigu, J.

1982-07-01

The calibration procedures used for a working level meter (WLM) of the grab-sampling type are presented in detail. The WLM tested is a Pylon WL-1000C working level meter and it was calibrated for radon/thoron daughter counting efficiency (E), for sampling pump flow rate (Q) and other variables of interest. For the instrument calibrated at the Elliot Lake Laboratory, E was 0.22 +- 0.01 while Q was 4.50 +- 0.01 L/min

On-line statistical processing of radiation detector pulse trains with time-varying count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apostolopoulos, G.

2008-01-01

Statistical analysis is of primary importance for the correct interpretation of nuclear measurements, due to the inherent random nature of radioactive decay processes. This paper discusses the application of statistical signal processing techniques to the random pulse trains generated by radiation detectors. The aims of the presented algorithms are: (i) continuous, on-line estimation of the underlying time-varying count rate θ(t) and its first-order derivative dθ/dt; (ii) detection of abrupt changes in both of these quantities and estimation of their new value after the change point. Maximum-likelihood techniques, based on the Poisson probability distribution, are employed for the on-line estimation of θ and dθ/dt. Detection of abrupt changes is achieved on the basis of the generalized likelihood ratio statistical test. The properties of the proposed algorithms are evaluated by extensive simulations and possible applications for on-line radiation monitoring are discussed

Mechanics of non-saturated soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coussy, O.; Fleureau, J.M.

2002-01-01

This book presents the different ways to approach the mechanics of non saturated soils, from the physico-chemical aspect to the mechanical aspect, from the experiment to the theoretical modeling, from the laboratory to the workmanship, and from the microscopic scale to the macroscopic one. Content: water and its representation; experimental bases of the behaviour of non-saturated soils; transfer laws in non-saturated environment; energy approach of the behaviour of non-saturated soils; homogenization for the non-saturated soils; plasticity and hysteresis; dams and backfilling; elaborated barriers. (J.S.)

A rotation-symmetric, position-sensitive annular detector for maximum counting rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Igel, S.

1993-12-01

The Germanium Wall is a semiconductor detector system containing up to four annular position sensitive ΔE-detectors from high purity germanium (HPGe) planned to complement the BIG KARL spectrometer in COSY experiments. The first diode of the system, the Quirl-detector, has a two dimensional position sensitive structure defined by 200 Archimedes' spirals on each side with opposite orientation. In this way about 40000 pixels are defined. Since each spiral element detects almost the same number of events in an experiment the whole system can be optimized for maximal counting rates. This paper describes a test setup for a first prototype of the Quirl-detector and the results of test measurements with an α-source. The detector current and the electrical separation of the spiral elements were measured. The splitting of signals due to the spread of charge carriers produced by an incident ionizing particle on several adjacent elements was investigated in detail and found to be twice as high as expected from calculations. Its influence on energy and position resolution is discussed. Electronic crosstalk via signal wires and the influence of noise from the magnetic spectrometer has been tested under experimental conditions. Additionally, vacuum feedthroughs based on printed Kapton foils pressed between Viton seals were fabricated and tested successfully concerning their vacuum and thermal properties. (orig.)

Performance of n-γ pulse-shape discrimination with simple pile-up rejection at high γ-ray count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okuda, T.; Yamazaki, H.; Kawabata, M.; Kasagi, J.; Harada, H.

1999-01-01

The performance of n-γ pulse-shape discrimination for a liquid scintillation detector has been investigated for γ-ray count rates up to 50 kcps. A method in which the ratio of the total to partial charge in the anode pulse is directly measured has shown much improved quality of the pulse-shape discrimination when pile-up events are rejected; it can discriminate neutron events of 50 cps from γ-ray events of 29 kcps. The method with simple pile-up rejection has the advantage that only general purpose electronics are required

Arterial blood oxygen saturation during blood pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kyriacou, P A; Shafqat, K; Pal, S K

2007-01-01

Pulse oximetry has been one of the most significant technological advances in clinical monitoring in the last two decades. Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive photometric technique that provides information about the arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) and heart rate, and has widespread clinical applications. When peripheral perfusion is poor, as in states of hypovolaemia, hypothermia and vasoconstriction, oxygenation readings become unreliable or cease. The problem arises because conventional pulse oximetry sensors must be attached to the most peripheral parts of the body, such as finger, ear or toe, where pulsatile flow is most easily compromised. Pulse oximeters estimate arterial oxygen saturation by shining light at two different wavelengths, red and infrared, through vascular tissue. In this method the ac pulsatile photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal associated with cardiac contraction is assumed to be attributable solely to the arterial blood component. The amplitudes of the red and infrared ac PPG signals are sensitive to changes in arterial oxygen saturation because of differences in the light absorption of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin at these two wavelengths. From the ratios of these amplitudes, and the corresponding dc photoplethysmographic components, arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) is estimated. Hence, the technique of pulse oximetry relies on the presence of adequate peripheral arterial pulsations, which are detected as photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion on photoplethysmographic signals and arterial blood oxygen saturation using a custom made finger blood oxygen saturation PPG/SpO 2 sensor and a commercial finger pulse oximeter. Blood oxygen saturation values from the custom oxygen saturation sensor and a commercial finger oxygen saturation sensor were recorded from 14 healthy volunteers at various induced brachial pressures. Both pulse

Arterial blood oxygen saturation during blood pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion

Science.gov (United States)

Kyriacou, P. A.; Shafqat, K.; Pal, S. K.

2007-10-01

Pulse oximetry has been one of the most significant technological advances in clinical monitoring in the last two decades. Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive photometric technique that provides information about the arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate, and has widespread clinical applications. When peripheral perfusion is poor, as in states of hypovolaemia, hypothermia and vasoconstriction, oxygenation readings become unreliable or cease. The problem arises because conventional pulse oximetry sensors must be attached to the most peripheral parts of the body, such as finger, ear or toe, where pulsatile flow is most easily compromised. Pulse oximeters estimate arterial oxygen saturation by shining light at two different wavelengths, red and infrared, through vascular tissue. In this method the ac pulsatile photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal associated with cardiac contraction is assumed to be attributable solely to the arterial blood component. The amplitudes of the red and infrared ac PPG signals are sensitive to changes in arterial oxygen saturation because of differences in the light absorption of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin at these two wavelengths. From the ratios of these amplitudes, and the corresponding dc photoplethysmographic components, arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) is estimated. Hence, the technique of pulse oximetry relies on the presence of adequate peripheral arterial pulsations, which are detected as photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion on photoplethysmographic signals and arterial blood oxygen saturation using a custom made finger blood oxygen saturation PPG/SpO2 sensor and a commercial finger pulse oximeter. Blood oxygen saturation values from the custom oxygen saturation sensor and a commercial finger oxygen saturation sensor were recorded from 14 healthy volunteers at various induced brachial pressures. Both pulse

Non-Poisson counting statistics of a hybrid G-M counter dead time model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Jae, Moosung; Gardner, Robin P.

2007-01-01

The counting statistics of a G-M counter with a considerable dead time event rate deviates from Poisson statistics. Important characteristics such as observed counting rates as a function true counting rates, variances and interval distributions were analyzed for three dead time models, non-paralyzable, paralyzable and hybrid, with the help of GMSIM, a Monte Carlo dead time effect simulator. The simulation results showed good agreements with the models in observed counting rates and variances. It was found through GMSIM simulations that the interval distribution for the hybrid model showed three distinctive regions, a complete cutoff region for the duration of the total dead time, a degraded exponential and an enhanced exponential regions. By measuring the cutoff and the duration of degraded exponential from the pulse interval distribution, it is possible to evaluate the two dead times in the hybrid model

EcoCount

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phillip P. Allen

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Techniques that analyze biological remains from sediment sequences for environmental reconstructions are well established and widely used. Yet, identifying, counting, and recording biological evidence such as pollen grains remain a highly skilled, demanding, and time-consuming task. Standard procedure requires the classification and recording of between 300 and 500 pollen grains from each representative sample. Recording the data from a pollen count requires significant effort and focused resources from the palynologist. However, when an adaptation to the recording procedure is utilized, efficiency and time economy improve. We describe EcoCount, which represents a development in environmental data recording procedure. EcoCount is a voice activated fully customizable digital count sheet that allows the investigator to continuously interact with a field of view during the data recording. Continuous viewing allows the palynologist the opportunity to remain engaged with the essential task, identification, for longer, making pollen counting more efficient and economical. EcoCount is a versatile software package that can be used to record a variety of environmental evidence and can be installed onto different computer platforms, making the adoption by users and laboratories simple and inexpensive. The user-friendly format of EcoCount allows any novice to be competent and functional in a very short time.

RBC count

Science.gov (United States)

... by kidney disease) RBC destruction ( hemolysis ) due to transfusion, blood vessel injury, or other cause Leukemia Malnutrition Bone ... slight risk any time the skin is broken) Alternative Names Erythrocyte count; Red blood cell count; Anemia - RBC count Images Blood test ...

Tutorial on X-ray photon counting detector characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Liqiang; Zheng, Bin; Liu, Hong

2018-01-01

Recent advances in photon counting detection technology have led to significant research interest in X-ray imaging. As a tutorial level review, this paper covers a wide range of aspects related to X-ray photon counting detector characterization. The tutorial begins with a detailed description of the working principle and operating modes of a pixelated X-ray photon counting detector with basic architecture and detection mechanism. Currently available methods and techniques for charactering major aspects including energy response, noise floor, energy resolution, count rate performance (detector efficiency), and charge sharing effect of photon counting detectors are comprehensively reviewed. Other characterization aspects such as point spread function (PSF), line spread function (LSF), contrast transfer function (CTF), modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), detective quantum efficiency (DQE), bias voltage, radiation damage, and polarization effect are also remarked. A cadmium telluride (CdTe) pixelated photon counting detector is employed for part of the characterization demonstration and the results are presented. This review can serve as a tutorial for X-ray imaging researchers and investigators to understand, operate, characterize, and optimize photon counting detectors for a variety of applications.

Systematic ultrasound-guided saturation and template biopsy of the prostate: indications and advantages of extended sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Isbarn, Hendrik; Briganti, Alberto; De Visschere, Pieter J L; Fütterer, Jurgen J; Ghadjar, Pirus; Giannarini, Gianluca; Ost, Piet; Ploussard, Guillaume; Sooriakumaran, Prasanna; Surcel, Christian I; van Oort, Inge M; Yossepowitch, Ofer; van den Bergh, Roderick C N

2015-04-01

Prostate biopsy (PB) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). However, the optimal number of biopsy cores remains debatable. We sought to compare contemporary standard (10-12 cores) vs. saturation (=18 cores) schemes on initial as well as repeat PB. A non-systematic review of the literature was performed from 2000 through 2013. Studies of highest evidence (randomized controlled trials, prospective non-randomized studies, and retrospective reports of high quality) comparing standard vs saturation schemes on initial and repeat PB were evaluated. Outcome measures were overall PCa detection rate, detection rate of insignificant PCa, and procedure-associated morbidity. On initial PB, there is growing evidence that a saturation scheme is associated with a higher PCa detection rate compared to a standard one in men with lower PSA levels (40 cc), or lower PSA density values (sampling is associated with a high rate of acute urinary retention, whereas other severe adverse events, such as sepsis, appear not to occur more frequently with saturation schemes. Current evidence suggests that saturation schemes are associated with a higher PCa detection rate compared to standard ones on initial PB in men with lower PSA levels or larger prostates, and on repeat PB. Since most data are derived from retrospective studies, other endpoints such as detection rate of insignificant disease - especially on repeat PB - show broad variations throughout the literature and must, thus, be interpreted with caution. Future prospective controlled trials should be conducted to compare extended templates with newer techniques, such as image-guided sampling, in order to optimize PCa diagnostic strategy.

Fast counting electronics for neutron coincidence counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swansen, J.E.

1987-01-01

This patent describes a high speed circuit for accurate neutron coincidence counting comprising: neutron detecting means for providing an above-threshold signal upon neutron detection; amplifying means inputted by the neutron detecting means for providing a pulse output having a pulse width of about 0.5 microseconds upon the input of each above threshold signal; digital processing means inputted by the pulse output of the amplifying means for generating a pulse responsive to each input pulse from the amplifying means and having a pulse width of about 50 nanoseconds effective for processing an expected neutron event rate of about 1 Mpps: pulse stretching means inputted by the digital processing means for producing a pulse having a pulse width of several milliseconds for each pulse received form the digital processing means; visual indicating means inputted by the pulse stretching means for producing a visual output for each pulse received from the digital processing means; and derandomizing means effective to receive the 50 ns neutron event pulses from the digital processing means for storage at a rate up to the neutron event rate of 1 Mpps and having first counter means for storing the input neutron event pulses

2D dark-count-rate modeling of PureB single-photon avalanche diodes in a TCAD environment

Science.gov (United States)

Knežević, Tihomir; Nanver, Lis K.; Suligoj, Tomislav

2018-02-01

PureB silicon photodiodes have nm-shallow p+n junctions with which photons/electrons with penetration-depths of a few nanometer can be detected. PureB Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) were fabricated and analysed by 2D numerical modeling as an extension to TCAD software. The very shallow p+ -anode has high perimeter curvature that enhances the electric field. In SPADs, noise is quantified by the dark count rate (DCR) that is a measure for the number of false counts triggered by unwanted processes in the non-illuminated device. Just like for desired events, the probability a dark count increases with increasing electric field and the perimeter conditions are critical. In this work, the DCR was studied by two 2D methods of analysis: the "quasi-2D" (Q-2D) method where vertical 1D cross-sections were assumed for calculating the electron/hole avalanche-probabilities, and the "ionization-integral 2D" (II-2D) method where crosssections were placed where the maximum ionization-integrals were calculated. The Q-2D method gave satisfactory results in structures where the peripheral regions had a small contribution to the DCR, such as in devices with conventional deepjunction guard rings (GRs). Otherwise, the II-2D method proved to be much more precise. The results show that the DCR simulation methods are useful for optimizing the compromise between fill-factor and p-/n-doping profile design in SPAD devices. For the experimentally investigated PureB SPADs, excellent agreement of the measured and simulated DCR was achieved. This shows that although an implicit GR is attractively compact, the very shallow pn-junction gives a risk of having such a low breakdown voltage at the perimeter that the DCR of the device may be negatively impacted.

CONSUMPTION OF SATURATED ANIMAL FATS IN THE DIET OF HUMANS MAY DECREASE THE RATE OF HEART DISEASE IN THE FUTURE

OpenAIRE

Somayeh Zaminpira; Sorush Niknamian

2017-01-01

Fats, as part of the human dietary regime are a concentrated source of energy. Animals contain saturated and plants contain unsaturated type of fatty acids. In this prospective research, the role of animal saturated fatty acids is highlighted and is proven to be a rational dietary source for the human diet. Saturated fats consumption is a wise choice in order to reduce the coronary heart disease risk, although it is believed in an opposite way. Researching through the healthiest tribes and kn...

Estimation of equivalent dose and its uncertainty in the OSL SAR protocol when count numbers do not follow a Poisson distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bluszcz, Andrzej; Adamiec, Grzegorz; Heer, Aleksandra J.

2015-01-01

The current work focuses on the estimation of equivalent dose and its uncertainty using the single aliquot regenerative protocol in optically stimulated luminescence measurements. The authors show that the count numbers recorded with the use of photomultiplier tubes are well described by negative binomial distributions, different ones for background counts and photon induced counts. This fact is then exploited in pseudo-random count number generation and simulations of D e determination assuming a saturating exponential growth. A least squares fitting procedure is applied using different types of weights to determine whether the obtained D e 's and their error estimates are unbiased and accurate. A weighting procedure is suggested that leads to almost unbiased D e estimates. It is also shown that the assumption of Poisson distribution in D e estimation may lead to severe underestimation of the D e error. - Highlights: • Detailed analysis of statistics of count numbers in luminescence readers. • Generation of realistically scattered pseudo-random numbers of counts in luminescence measurements. • A practical guide for stringent analysis of D e values and errors assessment.

Partially to fully saturated flow through smooth, clean, open fractures: qualitative experimental studies

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Brendon R.; Brouwers, Luke B.; Dippenaar, Matthys A.

2018-05-01

Fractures are both rough and irregular but can be expressed by a simple model concept of two smooth parallel plates and the associated cubic law governing discharge through saturated fractures. However, in natural conditions and in the intermediate vadose zone, these assumptions are likely violated. This paper presents a qualitative experimental study investigating the cubic law under variable saturation in initially dry free-draining discrete fractures. The study comprised flow visualisation experiments conducted on transparent replicas of smooth parallel plates with inlet conditions of constant pressure and differing flow rates over both vertical and horizontal inclination. Flow conditions were altered to investigate the influence of intermittent and continuous influx scenarios. Findings from this research proved, for instance, that saturated laminar flow is not likely achieved, especially in nonhorizontal fractures. In vertical fractures, preferential flow occupies the minority of cross-sectional area despite the water supply. Movement of water through the fractured vadose zone therefore becomes a matter of the continuity principle, whereby water should theoretically be transported downward at significantly higher flow rates given the very low degree of water saturation. Current techniques that aim to quantify discrete fracture flow, notably at partial saturation, are questionable. Inspired by the results of this study, it is therefore hypothetically improbable to achieve saturation in vertical fractures under free-draining wetting conditions. It does become possible under extremely excessive water inflows or when not free-draining; however, the converse is not true, as a wet vertical fracture can be drained.

Partially to fully saturated flow through smooth, clean, open fractures: qualitative experimental studies

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Brendon R.; Brouwers, Luke B.; Dippenaar, Matthys A.

2017-11-01

Fractures are both rough and irregular but can be expressed by a simple model concept of two smooth parallel plates and the associated cubic law governing discharge through saturated fractures. However, in natural conditions and in the intermediate vadose zone, these assumptions are likely violated. This paper presents a qualitative experimental study investigating the cubic law under variable saturation in initially dry free-draining discrete fractures. The study comprised flow visualisation experiments conducted on transparent replicas of smooth parallel plates with inlet conditions of constant pressure and differing flow rates over both vertical and horizontal inclination. Flow conditions were altered to investigate the influence of intermittent and continuous influx scenarios. Findings from this research proved, for instance, that saturated laminar flow is not likely achieved, especially in nonhorizontal fractures. In vertical fractures, preferential flow occupies the minority of cross-sectional area despite the water supply. Movement of water through the fractured vadose zone therefore becomes a matter of the continuity principle, whereby water should theoretically be transported downward at significantly higher flow rates given the very low degree of water saturation. Current techniques that aim to quantify discrete fracture flow, notably at partial saturation, are questionable. Inspired by the results of this study, it is therefore hypothetically improbable to achieve saturation in vertical fractures under free-draining wetting conditions. It does become possible under extremely excessive water inflows or when not free-draining; however, the converse is not true, as a wet vertical fracture can be drained.

CERN_DxCTA counting mode chip

CERN Document Server

Moraes, D; Nygård, E

2008-01-01

This ASIC is a counting mode front-end electronic optimized for the readout of CdZnTe/CdTe and silicon sensors, for possible use in applications where the flux of ionizing radiation is high. The chip is implemented in 0.25 μm CMOS technology. The circuit comprises 128 channels equipped with a transimpedance amplifier followed by a gain shaper stage with 21 ns peaking time, two discriminators and two 18-bit counters. The channel architecture is optimized for the detector characteristics in order to achieve the best energy resolution at counting rates of up to 5 M counts/second. The amplifier shows a linear sensitivity of 118 mV/fC and an equivalent noise charge of about 711 e−, for a detector capacitance of 5 pF. Complete evaluation of the circuit is presented using electronic pulses and pixel detectors.

Femoral venous oxygen saturation is no surrogate for central venous oxygen saturation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Beest, Paul A.; van der Schors, Alice; Liefers, Henriëtte; Coenen, Ludo G. J.; Braam, Richard L.; Habib, Najib; Braber, Annemarije; Scheeren, Thomas W. L.; Kuiper, Michaël A.; Spronk, Peter E.

2012-01-01

Objective: The purpose of our study was to determine if central venous oxygen saturation and femoral venous oxygen saturation can be used interchangeably during surgery and in critically ill patients. Design: Prospective observational controlled study. Setting: Nonacademic university-affiliated

Femoral venous oxygen saturation is no surrogate for central venous oxygen saturation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Beest, Paul A.; van der Schors, Alice; Liefers, Henriette; Coenen, Ludo G. J.; Braam, Richard L.; Habib, Najib; Braber, Annemarije; Scheeren, Thomas W. L.; Kuiper, Michael A.; Spronk, Peter E.

2012-01-01

Objective:  The purpose of our study was to determine if central venous oxygen saturation and femoral venous oxygen saturation can be used interchangeably during surgery and in critically ill patients. Design:  Prospective observational controlled study. Setting:  Nonacademic university-affiliated

2Kx2K resolution element photon counting MCP sensor with >200 kHz event rate capability

CERN Document Server

Vallerga, J V

2000-01-01

Siegmund Scientific undertook a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract to develop a versatile, high-performance photon (or particle) counting detector combining recent technical advances in all aspects of Microchannel Plate (MCP) detector development in a low cost, commercially viable package that can support a variety of applications. The detector concept consists of a set of MCPs whose output electron pulses are read out with a crossed delay line (XDL) anode and associated high-speed event encoding electronics. The delay line anode allows high-resolution photon event centroiding at very high event rates and can be scaled to large formats (>40 mm) while maintaining good linearity and high temporal stability. The optimal sensitivity wavelength range is determined by the choice of opaque photocathodes. Specific achievements included: spatial resolution of 200 000 events s sup - sup 1; local rates of >100 events s sup - sup 1 per resolution element; event timing of <1 ns; and low background ...

Arterial blood oxygen saturation during blood pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kyriacou, P A [School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, City University, London EC1V 0HB (United Kingdom); Shafqat, K [School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, City University, London EC1V 0HB (United Kingdom); Pal, S K [St Andrew' s Centre for Plastic Surgery and Burns, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, CM1 7ET (United Kingdom)

2007-10-15

Pulse oximetry has been one of the most significant technological advances in clinical monitoring in the last two decades. Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive photometric technique that provides information about the arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO{sub 2}) and heart rate, and has widespread clinical applications. When peripheral perfusion is poor, as in states of hypovolaemia, hypothermia and vasoconstriction, oxygenation readings become unreliable or cease. The problem arises because conventional pulse oximetry sensors must be attached to the most peripheral parts of the body, such as finger, ear or toe, where pulsatile flow is most easily compromised. Pulse oximeters estimate arterial oxygen saturation by shining light at two different wavelengths, red and infrared, through vascular tissue. In this method the ac pulsatile photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal associated with cardiac contraction is assumed to be attributable solely to the arterial blood component. The amplitudes of the red and infrared ac PPG signals are sensitive to changes in arterial oxygen saturation because of differences in the light absorption of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin at these two wavelengths. From the ratios of these amplitudes, and the corresponding dc photoplethysmographic components, arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO{sub 2}) is estimated. Hence, the technique of pulse oximetry relies on the presence of adequate peripheral arterial pulsations, which are detected as photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pressure cuff-induced hypoperfusion on photoplethysmographic signals and arterial blood oxygen saturation using a custom made finger blood oxygen saturation PPG/SpO{sub 2} sensor and a commercial finger pulse oximeter. Blood oxygen saturation values from the custom oxygen saturation sensor and a commercial finger oxygen saturation sensor were recorded from 14 healthy volunteers at various induced brachial pressures

Characterization of saturation of CR-39 detector at high alpha-particle fluence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. El Ghazaly

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The occurrence of saturation in the CR-39 detector reduces and limits its detection dynamic range; nevertheless, this range could be extended using spectroscopic techniques and by measuring the net bulk rate of the saturated CR-39 detector surface. CR-39 detectors were irradiated by 1.5 MeV high alpha-particle fluence varying from 0.06 × 108 to 7.36 × 108 alphas/cm2 from Am-241 source; thereafter, they were etched in a 6.25N NaOH solution at a temperature of 70°C for different durations. Net bulk etch rate measurement of the 1.5 MeV alpha-irradiated CR-39 detector surface revealed that rate increases with increasing etching time and reaches its maximum value at the end of the alpha-particle range. It is also correlated with the alpha-particle fluence. The measurements of UV–Visible (UV–Vis absorbance at 500 and 600 nm reveal that the absorbance is linearly correlated with the fluence of alpha particles at the etching times of 2 and 4 hour. For extended etching times of 6, 10, and 14.5 hour, the absorbance is saturated for fluence values of 4.05 × 108, 5.30 × 108, and 7.36 × 108 alphas/cm2. These new methods pave the way to extend the dynamic range of polymer-based solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs in measurement of high fluence of heavy ions as well as in radiation dosimetry. Keywords: Alpha Particle, Bulk Etch Rate, CR-39 Detector, Saturated Regime, UV–Vis Spectroscopy

Counting statistics in low level radioactivity measurements fluctuating counting efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pazdur, M.F.

1976-01-01

A divergence between the probability distribution of the number of nuclear disintegrations and the number of observed counts, caused by counting efficiency fluctuation, is discussed. The negative binominal distribution is proposed to describe the probability distribution of the number of counts, instead of Poisson distribution, which is assumed to hold for the number of nuclear disintegrations only. From actual measurements the r.m.s. amplitude of counting efficiency fluctuation is estimated. Some consequences of counting efficiency fluctuation are investigated and the corresponding formulae are derived: (1) for detection limit as a function of the number of partial measurements and the relative amplitude of counting efficiency fluctuation, and (2) for optimum allocation of the number of partial measurements between sample and background. (author)

Law of nonlinear flow in saturated clays and radial consolidation

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2007-01-01

It was derived that micro-scale amount level of average pore radius of clay changed from 0.01 to 0.1 micron by an equivalent concept of flow in porous media. There is good agreement between the derived results and test ones. Results of experiments show that flow in micro-scale pore of saturated clays follows law of nonlinear flow. Theoretical analyses demonstrate that an interaction of solid-liquid interfaces varies inversely with permeability or porous radius. The interaction is an important reason why nonlinear flow in saturated clays occurs. An exact mathematical model was presented for nonlinear flow in micro-scale pore of saturated clays. Dimension and physical meanings of parameters of it are definite. A new law of nonlinear flow in saturated clays was established. It can describe characteristics of flow curve of the whole process of the nonlinear flow from low hydraulic gradient to high one. Darcy law is a special case of the new law. A mathematical model was presented for consolidation of nonlinear flow in radius direction in saturated clays with constant rate based on the new law of nonlinear flow. Equations of average mass conservation and moving boundary, and formula of excess pore pressure distribution and average degree of consolidation for nonlinear flow in saturated clay were derived by using an idea of viscous boundary layer, a method of steady state in stead of transient state and a method of integral of an equation. Laws of excess pore pressure distribution and changes of average degree of consolidation with time were obtained. Results show that velocity of moving boundary decreases because of the nonlinear flow in saturated clay. The results can provide geology engineering and geotechnical engineering of saturated clay with new scientific bases. Calculations of average degree of consolidation of the Darcy flow are a special case of that of the nonlinear flow.

Complex dynamics of an SEIR epidemic model with saturated incidence rate and treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Muhammad Altaf; Khan, Yasir; Islam, Saeed

2018-03-01

In this paper, we describe the dynamics of an SEIR epidemic model with saturated incidence, treatment function, and optimal control. Rigorous mathematical results have been established for the model. The stability analysis of the model is investigated and found that the model is locally asymptotically stable when R0 1. The proposed model may possess a backward bifurcation. The optimal control problem is designed and obtained their necessary results. Numerical results have been presented for justification of theoretical results.

Sperm count as a surrogate endpoint for male fertility control.

Science.gov (United States)

Benda, Norbert; Gerlinger, Christoph

2007-11-30

When assessing the effectiveness of a hormonal method of fertility control in men, the classical approach used for the assessment of hormonal contraceptives in women, by estimating the pregnancy rate or using a life-table analysis for the time to pregnancy, is difficult to apply in a clinical development program. The main reasons are the dissociation of the treated unit, i.e. the man, and the observed unit, i.e. his female partner, the high variability in the frequency of male intercourse, the logistical cost and ethical concerns related to the monitoring of the trial. A reasonable surrogate endpoint of the definite endpoint time to pregnancy is sperm count. In addition to the avoidance of the mentioned problems, trials that compare different treatments are possible with reasonable sample sizes, and study duration can be shorter. However, current products do not suppress sperm production to 100 per cent in all men and the sperm count is only observed with measurement error. Complete azoospermia might not be necessary in order to achieve an acceptable failure rate compared with other forms of male fertility control. Therefore, the use of sperm count as a surrogate endpoint must rely on the results of a previous trial in which both the definitive- and surrogate-endpoint results were assessed. The paper discusses different estimation functions of the mean pregnancy rate (corresponding to the cumulative hazard) that are based on the results of sperm count trial and a previous trial in which both sperm count and time to pregnancy were assessed, as well as the underlying assumptions. Sample size estimations are given for pregnancy rate estimation with a given precision.

Simulated effects of nitrogen saturation the global carbon budget using the IBIS model

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Xuehe; Jiang, Hong; Liu, Jinxun; Zhang, Xiuying; Jin, Jiaxin; Zhu, Qiuan; Zhang, Zhen; Peng, Changhui

2016-01-01

Over the past 100 years, human activity has greatly changed the rate of atmospheric N (nitrogen) deposition in terrestrial ecosystems, resulting in N saturation in some regions of the world. The contribution of N saturation to the global carbon budget remains uncertain due to the complicated nature of C-N (carbon-nitrogen) interactions and diverse geography. Although N deposition is included in most terrestrial ecosystem models, the effect of N saturation is frequently overlooked. In this study, the IBIS (Integrated BIosphere Simulator) was used to simulate the global-scale effects of N saturation during the period 1961–2009. The results of this model indicate that N saturation reduced global NPP (Net Primary Productivity) and NEP (Net Ecosystem Productivity) by 0.26 and 0.03 Pg C yr−1, respectively. The negative effects of N saturation on carbon sequestration occurred primarily in temperate forests and grasslands. In response to elevated CO2 levels, global N turnover slowed due to increased biomass growth, resulting in a decline in soil mineral N. These changes in N cycling reduced the impact of N saturation on the global carbon budget. However, elevated N deposition in certain regions may further alter N saturation and C-N coupling.

Saturation flow versus green time at two-stage signal controlled intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Boumediene

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Intersections are the key components of road networks considerably affecting capacity. As flow levels and experience have increased over the years, methods and means have been developed to cope with growing demand for traffic at road junctions. Among various traffic control devices and techniques developed to cope with conflicting movements, traffic signals create artificial gaps to accommodate the impeded traffic streams. The majority of parameters that govern signalised intersection control and operations such as a degree of saturation, delays, queue lengths, the level of service etc. are very sensitive to saturation flow. Therefore, it is essential to reliably evaluate saturation flow for correctly setting traffic signals to avoid unnecessary delays and conflicts. Generally, almost all guidelines support the constancy of saturation flow irrespective of green time duration. This paper presents the results of field studies carried out to enable the performance of signalised intersections to be compared at different green time durations. It was found that saturation flow decreased slightly with growing green time. Reduction corresponded to between 2 and 5 pcus/gh per second of green time. However, the analyses of the discharge rate during the successive time intervals of 6-seconds showed a substantial reduction of 10% to 13% in saturation flow levels after 36 seconds of green time compared to those relating to 6–36 seconds range. No reduction in saturation flow levels was detected at the sites where only green periods of 44 seconds or less were implemented.

Development of Fast High-Resolution Muon Drift-Tube Detectors for High Counting Rates

CERN Document Server

INSPIRE-00287945; Dubbert, J.; Horvat, S.; Kortner, O.; Kroha, H.; Legger, F.; Richter, R.; Adomeit, S.; Biebel, O.; Engl, A.; Hertenberger, R.; Rauscher, F.; Zibell, A.

2011-01-01

Pressurized drift-tube chambers are e?cient detectors for high-precision tracking over large areas. The Monitored Drift-Tube (MDT) chambers of the muon spectrometer of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reach a spatial resolution of 35 micons and almost 100% tracking e?ciency with 6 layers of 30 mm diameter drift tubes operated with Ar:CO2 (93:7) gas mixture at 3 bar and a gas gain of 20000. The ATLAS MDT chambers are designed to cope with background counting rates due to neutrons and gamma-rays of up to about 300 kHz per tube which will be exceeded for LHC luminosities larger than the design value of 10-34 per square cm and second. Decreasing the drift-tube diameter to 15 mm while keeping the other parameters, including the gas gain, unchanged reduces the maximum drift time from about 700 ns to 200 ns and the drift-tube occupancy by a factor of 7. New drift-tube chambers for the endcap regions of the ATLAS muon spectrometer have been designed. A prototype chamber consisting of 12 times 8 l...

HgCdTe APD-based linear-mode photon counting components and ladar receivers

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Michael; Wehner, Justin; Edwards, John; Chapman, George; Hall, Donald N. B.; Jacobson, Shane M.

2011-05-01

Linear mode photon counting (LMPC) provides significant advantages in comparison with Geiger Mode (GM) Photon Counting including absence of after-pulsing, nanosecond pulse to pulse temporal resolution and robust operation in the present of high density obscurants or variable reflectivity objects. For this reason Raytheon has developed and previously reported on unique linear mode photon counting components and modules based on combining advanced APDs and advanced high gain circuits. By using HgCdTe APDs we enable Poisson number preserving photon counting. A metric of photon counting technology is dark count rate and detection probability. In this paper we report on a performance breakthrough resulting from improvement in design, process and readout operation enabling >10x reduction in dark counts rate to ~10,000 cps and >104x reduction in surface dark current enabling long 10 ms integration times. Our analysis of key dark current contributors suggest that substantial further reduction in DCR to ~ 1/sec or less can be achieved by optimizing wavelength, operating voltage and temperature.

In vivo 31P nuclear magnetic resonance saturation transfer measurements of phosphate exchange reactions in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, S.L.; Jones, K.A.; Schulman, R.G.

1985-01-01

31 P saturation transfer techniques have been used to measure phosphate kinetics in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The phosphate comsumption rate observed in acetate grown mid-log cells was combined with measurements of O 2 consumption to yield P/O ratios of 2.2 and 2.9, for cells respiring on glucose and ethanol, respectively. However, no phosphate consumption activity was observed in saturation transfer experiments on anaerobic glucose fed cells. The phosphate consumption rates measured by saturation transfer in cells respiring on glucose and ethanol was attributed to the unidirectional rates of mitochondrial ATP synthesis. (Auth.)

Accuracy in the quantification of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) and relayed nuclear Overhauser enhancement (rNOE) saturation transfer effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiao-Yong; Wang, Feng; Li, Hua; Xu, Junzhong; Gochberg, Daniel F; Gore, John C; Zu, Zhongliang

2017-07-01

Accurate quantification of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) effects, including dipole-dipole mediated relayed nuclear Overhauser enhancement (rNOE) saturation transfer, is important for applications and studies of molecular concentration and transfer rate (and thereby pH or temperature). Although several quantification methods, such as Lorentzian difference (LD) analysis, multiple-pool Lorentzian fits, and the three-point method, have been extensively used in several preclinical and clinical applications, the accuracy of these methods has not been evaluated. Here we simulated multiple-pool Z spectra containing the pools that contribute to the main CEST and rNOE saturation transfer signals in the brain, numerically fit them using the different methods, and then compared their derived CEST metrics with the known solute concentrations and exchange rates. Our results show that the LD analysis overestimates contributions from amide proton transfer (APT) and intermediate exchanging amine protons; the three-point method significantly underestimates both APT and rNOE saturation transfer at -3.5 ppm (NOE(-3.5)). The multiple-pool Lorentzian fit is more accurate than the other two methods, but only at lower irradiation powers (≤1 μT at 9.4 T) within the range of our simulations. At higher irradiation powers, this method is also inaccurate because of the presence of a fast exchanging CEST signal that has a non-Lorentzian lineshape. Quantitative parameters derived from in vivo images of rodent brain tumor obtained using an irradiation power of 1 μT were also compared. Our results demonstrate that all three quantification methods show similar contrasts between tumor and contralateral normal tissue for both APT and the NOE(-3.5). However, the quantified values of the three methods are significantly different. Our work provides insight into the fitting accuracy obtainable in a complex tissue model and provides guidelines for evaluating other newly developed

A pulse stacking method of particle counting applied to position sensitive detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basilier, E.

1976-03-01

A position sensitive particle counting system is described. A cyclic readout imaging device serves as an intermediate information buffer. Pulses are allowed to stack in the imager at very high counting rates. Imager noise is completely discriminated to provide very wide dynamic range. The system has been applied to a detector using cascaded microchannel plates. Pulse height spread produced by the plates causes some loss of information. The loss is comparable to the input loss of the plates. The improvement in maximum counting rate is several hundred times over previous systems that do not permit pulse stacking. (Auth.)

Determining random counts in liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horrocks, D.L.

1979-01-01

During measurements involving coincidence counting techniques, errors can arise due to the detection of chance or random coincidences in the multiple detectors used. A method and the electronic circuits necessary are here described for eliminating this source of error in liquid scintillation detectors used in coincidence counting. (UK)

Cerenkov counting and Cerenkov-scintillation counting with high refractive index organic liquids using a liquid scintillation counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiebe, L.I.; Helus, F.; Maier-Borst, W.

1978-01-01

18 F and 14 C radioactivity was measured in methyl salicylate (MS), a high refractive index hybrid Cherenkov-scintillation generating medium, using a liquid scintillation counter. At concentrations of up to 21.4%, in MS, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) quenched 14 C fluorescence, and with a 10-fold excess of DMSO over MS, 18 F count rates were reduced below that for DMSO alone, probably as a result of concentration-independent self-quenching due to 'dark-complex' formation. DMSO in lower concentrations did not reduce the counting efficiency of 18 F in MS. Nitrobenzene was a concentration-dependent quencher for both 14 C and 18 F in MS. Chlorobenzene (CB) and DMSO were both found to be weak Cherenkov generators with 18 F. Counting efficiencies for 18 F in MS, CB, and DMSO were 50.3, 7.8 and 4.3% respectively in the coincidence counting mode, and 58.1, 13.0 and 6.8% in the singles mode. 14 C efficiencies were 14.4 and 22.3% for coincidence and singles respectively, and 15.3 and 42.0% using a modern counter designed for coincidence and single photon counting. The high 14 C and 18 F counting efficiency in MS are discussed with respect to excitation mechanism, on the basis of quench and channels ratios changes observed. It is proposed that MS functions as an efficient Cherenkov-scintillation generator for high-energy beta emitters such as 18 F, and as a low-efficiency scintillator for weak beta emitting radionuclides such as 14 C. (author)

Optimizing the calculation of point source count-centroid in pixel size measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Luyi; Kuang Anren; Su Xianyu

2004-01-01

Purpose: Pixel size is an important parameter of gamma camera and SPECT. A number of Methods are used for its accurate measurement. In the original count-centroid method, where the image of a point source(PS) is acquired and its count-centroid calculated to represent PS position in the image, background counts are inevitable. Thus the measured count-centroid (Xm) is an approximation of the true count-centroid (Xp) of the PS, i.e. Xm=Xp+(Xb-Xp)/(1+Rp/Rb), where Rp is the net counting rate of the PS, Xb the background count-centroid and Rb the background counting rate. To get accurate measurement, Rp must be very big, which is unpractical, resulting in the variation of measured pixel size. Rp-independent calculation of PS count-centroid is desired. Methods: The proposed method attempted to eliminate the effect of the term (Xb-Xp)/(1+Rp/Rb) by bringing Xb closer to Xp and by reducing Rb. In the acquired PS image, a circular ROI was generated to enclose the PS, the pixel with the maximum count being the center of the ROI. To choose the diameter (D) of the ROI, a Gaussian count distribution was assumed for the PS, accordingly, K=I-(0.5)D/R percent of the total PS counts was in the ROI, R being the full width at half maximum of the PS count distribution. D was set to be 6*R to enclose most (K=98.4%) of the PS counts. The count-centroid of the ROI was calculated to represent Xp. The proposed method was tested in measuring the pixel size of a well-tuned SPECT, whose pixel size was estimated to be 3.02 mm according to its mechanical and electronic setting (128*128 matrix, 387 mm UFOV, ZOOM=1). For comparison, the original method, which was use in the former versions of some commercial SPECT software, was also tested. 12 PSs were prepared and their image acquired and stored. The net counting rate of the PSs increased from 10cps to 1183cps. Results: Using the proposed method, the measured pixel size (in mm) varied only between 3.00 and 3.01( mean= 3.01±0.00) as Rp increased

Radiation counting statistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K.; Park, Y. J.; Kim, W. H

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiment. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. (Author). 11 refs., 8 tabs., 8 figs.

Radiation counting statistics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K. [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea)

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiments. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. 11 refs., 6 figs., 8 tabs. (Author)

Radiation counting statistics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suh, M. Y.; Jee, K. Y.; Park, K. K.; Park, Y. J.; Kim, W. H.

1999-08-01

This report is intended to describe the statistical methods necessary to design and conduct radiation counting experiments and evaluate the data from the experiment. The methods are described for the evaluation of the stability of a counting system and the estimation of the precision of counting data by application of probability distribution models. The methods for the determination of the uncertainty of the results calculated from the number of counts, as well as various statistical methods for the reduction of counting error are also described. (Author). 11 refs., 8 tabs., 8 figs

Oil flow rate measurements using 198Au and total count technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goncalves, Eduardo R.; Crispim, Verginia R.

2013-01-01

In industrial plants, oil and oil compounds are usually transported by closed pipelines with circular cross-section. The use of radiotracers in oil transport and processing industrial facilities allows calibrating flowmeters, measuring mean residence time in cracking columns, locate points of obstruction or leak in underground ducts, as well as investigating flow behavior or industrial processes such as in distillation towers. Inspection techniques using radiotracers are non-destructive, simple, economic and highly accurate. Among them, Total Count, which uses a small amount of radiotracer with known activity, is acknowledged as an absolute technique for flow rate measurement. A viscous fluid transport system, composed by four PVC pipelines with 13m length (12m horizontal and 1m vertical) and 1/2, 3/4, 1 and 2-inch gauges, respectively, interconnected by maneuvering valves was designed and assembled in order to conduct the research. This system was used to simulate different flow conditions of petroleum compounds and for experimental studies of flow profile in the horizontal and upward directions. As 198 Au presents a single photopeak (411,8 keV), it was the radioisotope chosen for oil labeling, in small amounts (6 ml) or around 200 kBq activity, and it was injected in the oil transport lines. A NaI scintillation detector 2'x 2', with well-defined geometry, was used to measure total activity, determine the calibration factor F and, positioned after a homogenization distance and interconnected to a standardized electronic set of nuclear instrumentation modules (NIM), to detect the radioactive cloud. (author)

Limit of sensitivity of low-background counting equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Homann, S.G.

1991-01-01

The Hazards Control Department's Radiological Measurements Laboratory (RML) analyzes many types of sample media in support of the Laboratory's health and safety program. The Department has determined that the equation for the minimum limit of sensitivity, MDC(α,β) = 2.71 + 3.29 (r b t s ) 1/2 is also adequate for RML counting systems with very-low-background levels. This paper reviews the normal distribution case and address the special case of determining the limit of sensitivity of a counting system when the background count rate is well known and small. In the latter case, we must use an exact test procedure based on the binomial distribution. However, the error in using the normal distribution for calculating a detection system's limit of sensitivity is not significant even as the total observed number of counts approaches or equals zero. 2 refs., 4 figs

SATURATED ZONE IN-SITU TESTING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

P.W. REIMUS

2004-11-08

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to document the results and interpretations of field experiments that test and validate conceptual flow and radionuclide transport models in the saturated zone (SZ) near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The test interpretations provide estimates of flow and transport parameters used in the development of parameter distributions for total system performance assessment (TSPA) calculations. These parameter distributions are documented in ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]), Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170036]), Saturated Zone Colloid Transport (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170006]), and ''Saturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Abstraction'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170042]). Specifically, this scientific analysis contributes the following to the assessment of the capability of the SZ to serve as part of a natural barrier for waste isolation for the Yucca Mountain repository system: (1) The bases for selection of conceptual flow and transport models in the saturated volcanics and the saturated alluvium located near Yucca Mountain. (2) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated fractured volcanics at the C-wells complex near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, matrix diffusion coefficients, fracture apertures, and colloid transport parameters. (3) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated alluvium at the Alluvial Testing Complex (ATC) located at the southwestern corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass

SATURATED ZONE IN-SITU TESTING

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

REIMUS, P.W.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to document the results and interpretations of field experiments that test and validate conceptual flow and radionuclide transport models in the saturated zone (SZ) near Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The test interpretations provide estimates of flow and transport parameters used in the development of parameter distributions for total system performance assessment (TSPA) calculations. These parameter distributions are documented in ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170037]), Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170036]), Saturated Zone Colloid Transport (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170006]), and ''Saturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Abstraction'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170042]). Specifically, this scientific analysis contributes the following to the assessment of the capability of the SZ to serve as part of a natural barrier for waste isolation for the Yucca Mountain repository system: (1) The bases for selection of conceptual flow and transport models in the saturated volcanics and the saturated alluvium located near Yucca Mountain. (2) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated fractured volcanics at the C-wells complex near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, matrix diffusion coefficients, fracture apertures, and colloid transport parameters. (3) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated alluvium at the Alluvial Testing Complex (ATC) located at the southwestern corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, and colloid

The Money/Counting Kit. The Prospectus Series, Paper No. 6.

Science.gov (United States)

Musumeci, Judith

The Money/Counting Kit for Handicapped Children and Youth, frees the teacher from lessons in money and counting concepts and enables a student to learn at his own rate with immediate feedback from activity cards, name cards, thermoformed coin cards (optional), and self-instructional booklets. The activity cards, which may be used individually or…

Relationship of Total Motile Sperm Count and Percentage Motile Sperm to Successful Pregnancy Rates Following Intrauterine Insemination

OpenAIRE

Pasqualotto, Eleonora B.; Daitch, James A.; Hendin, Benjamin N.; Falcone, Tommaso; Thomas, Anthony J.; Nelson, David R.; Agarwal, Ashok

1999-01-01

Purpose:This study sought (i) to investigate the relationship between postwash total motile sperm count and postwash percentage motile sperm in predicting successful intrauterine insemination and (ii) to determine the minimal postwash total motile sperm count required to achieve pregnancy with intrauterine insemination.

Heart Rate and Oxygen Saturation Change Patterns During 6-min Walk Test in Subjects With Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension.

Science.gov (United States)

Inagaki, Takeshi; Terada, Jiro; Yahaba, Misuzu; Kawata, Naoko; Jujo, Takayuki; Nagashima, Kengo; Sakao, Seiichiro; Tanabe, Nobuhiro; Tatsumi, Koichiro

2017-12-26

The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is commonly performed to assess functional status in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. However, changes in heart rate and oxygen saturation ( S pO 2 ) patterns during 6MWT in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension remain unclear. Thirty-one subjects with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension were retrospectively evaluated to examine the relationships between the change in heart rate (Δheart rate), heart rate acceleration time, slope of heart rate acceleration, heart rate recovery during the first minute after 6MWT (HRR1), change in S pO 2 (Δ S pO 2 ), S pO 2 reduction time, and S pO 2 recovery time during 6MWT, and the severity of pulmonary hemodynamics assessed by right heart catheterization and echocardiography. Subjects with severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension had significantly longer heart rate acceleration time (144.9 ± 63.9 s vs 96.0 ± 42.5 s, P = .033), lower Δheart rate (47.4 ± 16.9 vs 61.8 ± 13.6 beats, P = .02), and lower HRR1 (13.3 ± 9.0 beats vs 27.1 ± 9.2 beats, P pulmonary hypertension. Subjects with severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension also had significantly longer S pO 2 reduction time (178.3 ± 70.3 s vs 134.3 ± 58.4 s, P = .03) and S pO 2 recovery time (107.6 ± 35.3 s vs 69.8 ± 32.7 s, P = .004) than did subjects with mild chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed only mean pulmonary arterial pressure independently was associated with heart rate acceleration time and slope of heart rate acceleration. Heart rate and S pO 2 change patterns during 6MWT is predominantly associated with pulmonary hemodynamics in subjects with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Evaluating heart rate and S pO 2 change patterns during 6MWT may serve a safe and convenient way to follow the change in pulmonary hemodynamics. Copyright © 2017 by Daedalus Enterprises.

Investigation of Primary Dew-Point Saturator Efficiency in Two Different Thermal Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Zvizdic, D.; Heinonen, M.; Sestan, D.

2015-08-01

The aim of this paper is to describe the evaluation process of the performance of the low-range saturator (LRS), when exposed to two different thermal environments. The examined saturator was designed, built, and tested at MIKES (Centre for Metrology and Accreditation, Finland), and then transported to the Laboratory for Process Measurement (LPM) in Croatia, where it was implemented in a new dew-point calibration system. The saturator works on a single-pressure-single-pass generation principle in the dew/frost-point temperature range between and . The purpose of the various tests performed at MIKES was to examine the efficiency and non-ideality of the saturator. As a test bath facility in Croatia differs from the one used in Finland, the same tests were repeated at LPM, and the effects of different thermal conditions on saturator performance were examined. Thermometers, pressure gauges, an air preparation system, and water for filling the saturator at LPM were also different than those used at MIKES. Results obtained by both laboratories indicate that the efficiency of the examined saturator was not affected either by the thermal conditions under which it was tested or by equipment used for the tests. Both laboratories concluded that LRS is efficient enough for a primary realization of the dew/frost-point temperature scale in the range from to , with flow rates between and . It is also shown that a considerable difference of the pre-saturator efficiency, indicated by two laboratories, did not have influence to the overall performance of the saturator. The results of the research are presented in graphical and tabular forms. This paper also gives a brief description of the design and operation principle of the investigated low-range saturator.

Multiplicity counting from fission detector signals with time delay effects

Science.gov (United States)

Nagy, L.; Pázsit, I.; Pál, L.

2018-03-01

In recent work, we have developed the theory of using the first three auto- and joint central moments of the currents of up to three fission chambers to extract the singles, doubles and triples count rates of traditional multiplicity counting (Pázsit and Pál, 2016; Pázsit et al., 2016). The objective is to elaborate a method for determining the fissile mass, neutron multiplication, and (α, n) neutron emission rate of an unknown assembly of fissile material from the statistics of the fission chamber signals, analogous to the traditional multiplicity counting methods with detectors in the pulse mode. Such a method would be an alternative to He-3 detector systems, which would be free from the dead time problems that would be encountered in high counting rate applications, for example the assay of spent nuclear fuel. A significant restriction of our previous work was that all neutrons born in a source event (spontaneous fission) were assumed to be detected simultaneously, which is not fulfilled in reality. In the present work, this restriction is eliminated, by assuming an independent, identically distributed random time delay for all neutrons arising from one source event. Expressions are derived for the same auto- and joint central moments of the detector current(s) as in the previous case, expressed with the singles, doubles, and triples (S, D and T) count rates. It is shown that if the time-dispersion of neutron detections is of the same order of magnitude as the detector pulse width, as they typically are in measurements of fast neutrons, the multiplicity rates can still be extracted from the moments of the detector current, although with more involved calibration factors. The presented formulae, and hence also the performance of the proposed method, are tested by both analytical models of the time delay as well as with numerical simulations. Methods are suggested also for the modification of the method for large time delay effects (for thermalised neutrons).

Maturing CCD Photon-Counting Technology for Space Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Mallik, Udayan; Lyon, Richard; Petrone, Peter; McElwain, Michael; Benford, Dominic; Clampin, Mark; Hicks, Brian

2015-01-01

This paper discusses charge blooming and starlight saturation - two potential technical problems - when using an Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Device (EMCCD) type detector in a high-contrast instrument for imaging exoplanets. These problems especially affect an interferometric type coronagraph - coronagraphs that do not use a mask to physically block starlight in the science channel of the instrument. These problems are presented using images taken with a commercial Princeton Instrument EMCCD camera in the Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC), Interferometric Coronagraph facility. In addition, this paper discusses techniques to overcome such problems. This paper also discusses the development and architecture of a Field Programmable Gate Array and Digital-to-Analog Converter based shaped clock controller for a photon-counting EMCCD camera. The discussion contained here will inform high-contrast imaging groups in their work with EMCCD detectors.

Fast pulse discriminator for photon counting at high photon densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benoit, R.; Pedrini, A.

1977-03-01

A fast tunnel diode discriminator for photon counting up to 200MHz count frequency is described. The tunnel diode is operated on its apparent I.V. characteristics displayed when the diode is driven into its oscillating region. The pulse shaper-discriminator is completely D.C. coupled in order to avoid base-line shift at high pulse rates

Quantitative chemical exchange saturation transfer (qCEST) MRI - omega plot analysis of RF-spillover-corrected inverse CEST ratio asymmetry for simultaneous determination of labile proton ratio and exchange rate.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Renhua; Xiao, Gang; Zhou, Iris Yuwen; Ran, Chongzhao; Sun, Phillip Zhe

2015-03-01

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is sensitive to labile proton concentration and exchange rate, thus allowing measurement of dilute CEST agent and microenvironmental properties. However, CEST measurement depends not only on the CEST agent properties but also on the experimental conditions. Quantitative CEST (qCEST) analysis has been proposed to address the limitation of the commonly used simplistic CEST-weighted calculation. Recent research has shown that the concomitant direct RF saturation (spillover) effect can be corrected using an inverse CEST ratio calculation. We postulated that a simplified qCEST analysis is feasible with omega plot analysis of the inverse CEST asymmetry calculation. Specifically, simulations showed that the numerically derived labile proton ratio and exchange rate were in good agreement with input values. In addition, the qCEST analysis was confirmed experimentally in a phantom with concurrent variation in CEST agent concentration and pH. Also, we demonstrated that the derived labile proton ratio increased linearly with creatine concentration (P analysis can simultaneously determine labile proton ratio and exchange rate in a relatively complex in vitro CEST system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Automated high performance liquid chromatography and liquid scintillation counting determination of pesticide mixture octanol/water partition rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moody, R.P.; Carroll, J.M.; Kresta, A.M.

1987-01-01

Two novel methods are reported for measuring octanol/water partition rates of pesticides. A liquid scintillation counting (LSC) method was developed for automated monitoring of 14 C-labeled pesticides partitioning in biphasic water/octanol cocktail systems with limited success. A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for automated partition rate monitoring of several constituents in a pesticide mixture, simultaneously. The mean log Kow +/- SD determined from triplicate experimental runs were for: 2,4-D-DMA (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid dimethylamine), 0.65 +/- .17; Deet (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide), 2.02 +/- .01; Guthion (O,O-dimethyl-S-(4-oxo-1,2,3-benzotriazin-3(4H)-ylmethyl) phosphorodithioate), 2.43 +/- .03; Methyl-Parathion (O,O-dimethyl-O-(p-nitrophenyl) phosphorothioate), 2.68 +/- .05; and Fenitrothion (O,O-dimethyl O-(4-nitro-m-tolyl) phosphorothioate), 3.16 +/- .03. A strong positive linear correlation (r = .9979) was obtained between log Kow and log k' (log Kow = 2.35 (log k') + 0.63). The advantages that this automated procedure has in comparison with the standard manual shake-flask procedure are discussed

Low-priced, time-saving, reliable and stable LR-115 counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tchorz-Trzeciakiewicz, D.E.

2015-01-01

Nuclear alpha particles leave etches (tracks) when they hit the surface of a LR-115 detector. The density of these tracks is used to measure radon concentration. Counting these tracks by human sense is tedious and time-consuming procedure and may introduce counting error, whereas most available automatic and semiautomatic counting systems are expensive or complex. An uncomplicated, robust, reliable and stable counting system using freely available on the Internet software as Digimizer™ and PhotoScape was developed and proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure was evaluated by comparing the amount of tracks counted by software with the amount of tracks counted manually for 223 detectors. The percentage error for each analysed detector was obtained as a difference between automatic and manual counts divided by manual count. For more than 97% of detectors, the percentage errors oscillated between −3% and 3%. - Highlights: • Semiautomatic, uncomplicated procedure was proposed to count the amount of alpha tracks. • Freely available software on the Internet used as alpha tracks counting system for LR-115. • LR-115 detectors used to measure radon concentration and radon exhalation rate

Determination of phosphorus-32 in wet-digested plant leaves by Cerenkov counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wahid, P.A.; Kamalam, N.V.; Sankar, S.J.

1985-01-01

A method of determination of 32 P activity in leaf samples by Cerenkov counting technique is described. The method involves wet digestion of oven-dried leaves with 1:1 nitric-perchloric acid mixture followed by transferring the digest into a scintillation counting vial with distilled water upto a final volume of 20 mL, and determining the activity in a liquid scintillation system. Reproducible count rates can be obtained if the vials are counted after 4h allowing the silica in the digest to settle. (author)

Cerenkov counting and Cerenkov-scintillation counting with high refractive index organic liquids using a liquid scintillation counter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiebe, L I; Helus, F; Maier-Borst, W [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg (Germany, F.R.). Inst. fuer Nuklearmedizin

1978-06-01

/sup 18/F and /sup 14/C radioactivity was measured in methyl salicylate (MS), a high refractive index hybrid Cherenkov-scintillation generating medium, using a liquid scintillation counter. At concentrations of up to 21.4%, in MS, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) quenched /sup 14/C fluorescence, and with a 10-fold excess of DMSO over MS, /sup 18/F count rates were reduced below that for DMSO alone, probably as a result of concentration-independent self-quenching due to 'dark-complex' formation. DMSO in lower concentrations did not reduce the counting efficiency of /sup 18/F in MS. Nitrobenzene was a concentration-dependent quencher for both /sup 14/C and /sup 18/F in MS. Chlorobenzene (CB) and DMSO were both found to be weak Cherenkov generators with /sup 18/F. Counting efficiencies for /sup 18/F in MS, CB, and DMSO were 50.3, 7.8 and 4.3% respectively in the coincidence counting mode, and 58.1, 13.0 and 6.8% in the singles mode. /sup 14/C efficiencies were 14.4 and 22.3% for coincidence and singles respectively, and 15.3 and 42.0% using a modern counter designed for coincidence and single photon counting. The high /sup 14/C and /sup 18/F counting efficiency in MS are discussed with respect to excitation mechanism, on the basis of quench and channels ratios changes observed. It is proposed that MS functions as an efficient Cherenkov-scintillation generator for high-energy beta emitters such as /sup 18/F, and as a low-efficiency scintillator for weak beta emitting radionuclides such as /sup 14/C.

Fault tolerant control of systems with saturations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niemann, Hans Henrik

2013-01-01

This paper presents framework for fault tolerant controllers (FTC) that includes input saturation. The controller architecture known from FTC is based on the Youla-Jabr-Bongiorno-Kucera (YJBK) parameterization is extended to handle input saturation. Applying this controller architecture in connec......This paper presents framework for fault tolerant controllers (FTC) that includes input saturation. The controller architecture known from FTC is based on the Youla-Jabr-Bongiorno-Kucera (YJBK) parameterization is extended to handle input saturation. Applying this controller architecture...... in connection with faulty systems including input saturation gives an additional YJBK transfer function related to the input saturation. In the fault free case, this additional YJBK transfer function can be applied directly for optimizing the feedback loop around the input saturation. In the faulty case......, the design problem is a mixed design problem involved both parametric faults and input saturation....

The Intrinsic Variability in the Water Vapor Saturation Ratio due to Turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, J. C.; Cantrell, W. H.; Chandrakar, K. K.; Kostinski, A. B.; Niedermeier, D.; Shaw, R. A.

2017-12-01

In the atmosphere, the concentration of water vapor plays an important role in Earth's weather and climate. The mean concentration of water vapor is key to its efficiency as a greenhouse gas; the fluctuations about the mean are important for heat fluxes near the surface of earth. In boundary layer clouds, fluctuations in the water vapor concentration are linked to turbulence. Conditions representative of boundary layer clouds are simulated in Michigan Tech's multiphase, turbulent reaction chamber, the ∏ chamber, where the boundary conditions are controlled and repeatable. Measurements for temperature and water vapor concentration were recorded under forced Rayleigh-Bénard convection. As expected, the distributions for temperature and water vapor concentration broaden as the turbulence becomes more vigorous. From these two measurements the saturation ratio can be calculated. The fluctuations in the water vapor concentration are more important to the variability in the saturation ratio than fluctuations in temperature. In a cloud, these fluctuations in the saturation ratio can result in some cloud droplets experiencing much higher supersaturations. Those "lucky" droplets grow by condensation at a faster rate than other cloud droplets. The difference in the droplet growth rate could contribute to a broadened droplet distribution, which leads to the onset of collision-coalescence. With more intense turbulence these effect will become more pronounced as the fluctuations about the mean saturation ratio become more pronounced.

Correct liquid scintillation counting of steroids and glycosides in RIA samples: a comparison of xylene-based, dioxane-based and colloidal counting systems. Chapter 14

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spolders, H.

1977-01-01

In RIA, the following parameters are important for accurate liquid scintillation counting. (1) Absence of chemiluminescence. (2) Stability of count rate. (3) Dissolving properties for the sample. For samples with varying colours, a quench correction must be applied. For any type of accurate quench correction, a homogeneous sample is necessary. This can be obtained if proteins and the buffer can be dissolved completely in the scintillator solution. In this paper, these criteria are compared in xylene-based, dioxane-based and colloidal scintillation solutions for either bound or free antigens of different polarity. The labelling radioisotope used was 3 H. Using colloidal scintillators with plasma and buffer samples, phasing or sedimentation of salt or proteins sometimes occurs. The influence of sedimentation or phasing on count rate stability and correct quench correction is illustrated by varying the ratio between the scintillator solution and a RIA sample containing a semi-polar steroid aldosterone. (author)

Counting carbohydrates

Science.gov (United States)

Carb counting; Carbohydrate-controlled diet; Diabetic diet; Diabetes-counting carbohydrates ... Many foods contain carbohydrates (carbs), including: Fruit and fruit juice Cereal, bread, pasta, and rice Milk and milk products, soy milk Beans, legumes, ...

Saturated hydraulic conductivity in relation to physical properties of soils in the Nsukka Plains, SE Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mbagwu, J.S.C.

1994-05-01

The objective of the study is to develop and validate statistical models for estimating the saturated hydraulic conductivity of soils with high water intake rates from more easily-determined properties and to test the hypothesis that it is equal to Philip transmissivity term and the steady infiltration rate. The results of the study show that the dominant physical property influencing saturated hydraulic conductivity of the investigated soils is the macroporosity. 37 refs, 6 figs, 5 tabs

How fast can quantum annealers count?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hen, Itay

2014-01-01

We outline an algorithm for the quantum counting problem using adiabatic quantum computation (AQC). We show that the mechanism of quantum-adiabatic evolution may be utilized toward estimating the number of solutions to a problem, and not only to find them. Using local adiabatic evolution, a process in which the adiabatic procedure is performed at a variable rate, the problem of counting the number of marked items in an unstructured database is solved quadratically faster than the corresponding classical algorithm. The above algorithm provides further evidence for the potentially powerful capabilities of AQC as a paradigm for more efficient problem solving on a quantum computer, and may be used as the basis for solving more sophisticated problems. (paper)

A total pressure-saturation formulation of two-phase flow incorporating dynamic effects in the capillary-pressure-saturation relationship

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahle, H K; Celia, M A; Hassanizadeh, S M; Karlsen, K H

2002-07-01

New theories suggest that the relationship between capillary pressure and saturation should be enhanced by a dynamic term that is proportional to the time rate of change of saturation. This so-called dynamic capillary pressure formulation is supported by laboratory experiments, and can be included in various forms of the governing equations for two-phase flow in porous media. An extended model of two-phase flow in porous media may be developed based on fractional flow curves and a total pressure - saturation description that includes the dynamic capillary pressure terms. A dimensionless form of the resulting equation set provides an ideal tool to study the relative importance of the dynamic capillary pressure effect. This equation provides a rich set of mathematical research questions, and numerical solutions to the equation provide insights into the behavior of two-phase immiscible flow. For typical two-phase flow systems, dynamic capillary pressure acts to retard infiltration fronts, with responses dependent on system parameters including boundary conditions. Recent theoretical work suggests that the traditional algebraic relationship between capillary pressure and saturation may be inadequate. Instead, a so-called dynamic capillary pressure formulation is needed, where capillary pressure is defined as a thermodynamic variable, and the difference between phase pressures is only equal to the capillary pressure at equilibrium. Under dynamic conditions, the disequilibrium between phase-pressure differences and the capillary pressure is taken to be proportional to the time rate of change of saturation. A recent study by Hassanizadeh et al. presents experimental evidence, culled from the literature, to support this claim. Numerical simulations using dynamic pore-scale network models and upscaling also support the claim. Hassanizadeh et al. also presented numerical solutions for an enhanced version of Richards' equation that included the dynamic terms. A preliminary

Comparison of pulseoximetry oxygen saturation and arterial oxygen saturation in open heart intensive care unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza Mahoori

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Pulseoximetry is widely used in the critical care setting, currently used to guide therapeutic interventions. Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of SPO2 (puls-eoximetry oxygen saturation in intensive care unit after cardiac surgery. Our objective was to compare pulseoximetry with arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2 during clinical routine in such patients, and to examine the effect of mild acidosis on this relationship.Methods: In an observational prospective study 80 patients were evaluated in intensive care unit after cardiac surgery. SPO2 was recorded and compared with SaO2 obtained by blood gas analysis. One or serial arterial blood gas analyses (ABGs were performed via a radial artery line while a reliable pulseoximeter signal was present. One hundred thirty seven samples were collected and for each blood gas analyses, SaO2 and SPO2 we recorded.Results: O2 saturation as a marker of peripheral perfusion was measured by Pulseoxim-etry (SPO2. The mean difference between arterial oxygen saturation and pulseoximetry oxygen saturation was 0.12%±1.6%. A total of 137 paired readings demonstrated good correlation (r=0.754; P<0.0001 between changes in SPO2 and those in SaO2 in samples with normal hemoglobin. Also in forty seven samples with mild acidosis, paired readings demonstrated good correlation (r=0.799; P<0.0001 and the mean difference between SaO2 and SPO2 was 0.05%±1.5%.Conclusion: Data showed that in patients with stable hemodynamic and good signal quality, changes in pulseoximetry oxygen saturation reliably predict equivalent changes in arterial oxygen saturation. Mild acidosis doesn’t alter the relation between SPO2 and SaO2 to any clinically important extent. In conclusion, the pulse oximeter is useful to monitor oxygen saturation in patients with stable hemodynamic.

Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count

OpenAIRE

Koop, G.; Dik, N.; Nielen, M.; Lipman, L.J.A.

2010-01-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms, 3 bulk milk samples were collected at intervals of 2 wk. The samples were cultured for SPC, coliform count, and staphylococcal count and for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, SCC ...

Clustering method for counting passengers getting in a bus with single camera

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Tao; Zhang, Yanning; Shao, Dapei; Li, Ying

2010-03-01

Automatic counting of passengers is very important for both business and security applications. We present a single-camera-based vision system that is able to count passengers in a highly crowded situation at the entrance of a traffic bus. The unique characteristics of the proposed system include, First, a novel feature-point-tracking- and online clustering-based passenger counting framework, which performs much better than those of background-modeling-and foreground-blob-tracking-based methods. Second, a simple and highly accurate clustering algorithm is developed that projects the high-dimensional feature point trajectories into a 2-D feature space by their appearance and disappearance times and counts the number of people through online clustering. Finally, all test video sequences in the experiment are captured from a real traffic bus in Shanghai, China. The results show that the system can process two 320×240 video sequences at a frame rate of 25 fps simultaneously, and can count passengers reliably in various difficult scenarios with complex interaction and occlusion among people. The method achieves high accuracy rates up to 96.5%.

Radon Daughters Background Reduction in Alpha Particles Counting System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dadon, S. S.; Pelled, O.; Orion, I.

2014-01-01

The ABPC method is using a serially occurring events of the beta decay of the 214Bi fallow by alpha decay of the 214Po that take place almost simultaneously to detect the Pseudo Coincidence Event (PCE) from the RDP, and to subtract them from the gross alpha counts. 267 This work showed that it is possible to improve the efficiency of RDP background reduction, including subtracting the 218Po contribution by using the ABPC method based on a single solid state silicon PIPS detector. False counts percentage obtained at the output of the PCE circuit were smaller than 0.1%. The results show that the PCE circuit was not influenced by non RDP alpha emitters. The PCE system did not reduce the non PCE of the 218Po. After 20 minutes the 218Po was strongly decayed, and its contribution became negligible. In order to overcome this disadvantage, a mathematical matching calculations for the 214Po and the 218Po decay equations were employed, and a constant ratio of the APo214(0) / APo218(0) was obtained. This ratio can be used to estimate the count rate of the 218Po at the first 20 minutes, and to subtract it from the total count rate in order to obtain correct RDP reduction

Thermal conductivity of water-saturated rocks from the KTB pilot hole at temperatures of 25 to 300°C

Science.gov (United States)

Pribnow, D.; Williams, C.F.; Sass, J.H.; Keating, R.

1996-01-01

The conductivitites of selected gneiss (two) and amphibolite (one) core samples have been measured under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure with a needle-probe. Water-saturated thermal conductivity measurements spanning temperatures from 25 to 300??C and hydrostatic pressures of 0.1 and 34 MPa confirm the general decrease in conductivity with increasing temperature but deviate significantly from results reported from measurements on dry samples over the same temperature range. The thermal conductivity of water-saturated amphibolite decreases with temperature at a rate approximately 40% less than the rate for dry amphibolite, and the conductivity of water-saturated gneiss decreases at a rate approximately 20% less than the rate for dry gneiss. The available evidence points to thermal cracking as the primary cause of the more rapid decrease in dry thermal conductivity with temperature. The effects of thermal cracking were also observed in the water-saturated samples but resulted in a net decrease in room-temperature conductivity of less than 3%. These results highlight the importance of duplicating in-situ conditions when determining thermal conductivity for the deep crust.

Scale-dependent associations of Band-tailed Pigeon counts at mineral sites

Science.gov (United States)

Overton, Cory T.; Casazza, Michael L.; Coates, Peter S.

2010-01-01

The abundance of Band-tailed Pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata monilis) has declined substantially from historic numbers along the Pacific Coast. Identification of patterns and causative factors of this decline are hampered because habitat use data are limited, and temporal and spatial variability patterns associated with population indices are not known. Furthermore, counts are influenced not only by pigeon abundance but also by rate of visitation to mineral sites, which may not be consistent. To address these issues, we conducted mineral site counts during 2001 and 2002 at 20 locations from 4 regions in the Pacific Northwest, including central Oregon and western Washington, USA, and British Columbia, Canada. We developed inference models that consisted of environmental factors and spatial characteristics at multiple spatial scales. Based on information theory, we compared models within a final set that included variables measured at 3 spatial scales (0.03 ha, 3.14 ha, and 7850 ha). Pigeon counts increased from central Oregon through northern Oregon and decreased into British Columbia. After accounting for this spatial pattern, we found that pigeon counts increased 12% ± 2.7 with a 10% increase in the amount of deciduous forested area within 100 m from a mineral site. Also, distance from the mineral site of interest to the nearest known mineral site was positively related to pigeon counts. These findings provide direction for future research focusing on understanding the relationships between indices of relative abundance and complete counts (censuses) of pigeon populations by identifying habitat characteristics that might influence visitation rates. Furthermore, our results suggest that spatial arrangement of mineral sites influences Band-tailed Pigeon counts and the populations which those counts represent.

Saturated Zone Colloid Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

H. S. Viswanathan

2004-01-01

This scientific analysis provides retardation factors for colloids transporting in the saturated zone (SZ) and the unsaturated zone (UZ). These retardation factors represent the reversible chemical and physical filtration of colloids in the SZ. The value of the colloid retardation factor, R col is dependent on several factors, such as colloid size, colloid type, and geochemical conditions (e.g., pH, Eh, and ionic strength). These factors are folded into the distributions of R col that have been developed from field and experimental data collected under varying geochemical conditions with different colloid types and sizes. Attachment rate constants, k att , and detachment rate constants, k det , of colloids to the fracture surface have been measured for the fractured volcanics, and separate R col uncertainty distributions have been developed for attachment and detachment to clastic material and mineral grains in the alluvium. Radionuclides such as plutonium and americium sorb mostly (90 to 99 percent) irreversibly to colloids (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170025], Section 6.3.3.2). The colloid retardation factors developed in this analysis are needed to simulate the transport of radionuclides that are irreversibly sorbed onto colloids; this transport is discussed in the model report ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170036]). Although it is not exclusive to any particular radionuclide release scenario, this scientific analysis especially addresses those scenarios pertaining to evidence from waste-degradation experiments, which indicate that plutonium and americium may be irreversibly attached to colloids for the time scales of interest. A section of this report will also discuss the validity of using microspheres as analogs to colloids in some of the lab and field experiments used to obtain the colloid retardation factors. In addition, a small fraction of colloids travels with the groundwater without any significant retardation. Radionuclides irreversibly

Investigation of Chemical Exchange at Intermediate Exchange Rates using a Combination of Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) and Spin-Locking methods (CESTrho)

Science.gov (United States)

Kogan, Feliks; Singh, Anup; Cai, Keija; Haris, Mohammad; Hariharan, Hari; Reddy, Ravinder

2011-01-01

Proton exchange imaging is important as it allows for visualization and quantification of the distribution of specific metabolites with conventional MRI. Current exchange mediated MRI methods suffer from poor contrast as well as confounding factors that influence exchange rates. In this study we developed a new method to measure proton exchange which combines chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) and T1ρ magnetization preparation methods (CESTrho). We demonstrated that this new CESTrho sequence can detect proton exchange in the slow to intermediate exchange regimes. It has a linear dependence on proton concentration which allows it to be used to quantitatively measure changes in metabolite concentration. Additionally, the magnetization scheme of this new method can be customized to make it insensitive to changes in exchange rate while retaining its dependency on solute concentration. Finally, we showed the feasibility of using CESTrho in vivo. This sequence is able to detect proton exchange at intermediate exchange rates and is unaffected by the confounding factors that influence proton exchange rates thus making it ideal for the measurement of metabolites with exchangeable protons in this exchange regime. PMID:22009759

Investigation of chemical exchange at intermediate exchange rates using a combination of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) and spin-locking methods (CESTrho).

Science.gov (United States)

Kogan, Feliks; Singh, Anup; Cai, Keija; Haris, Mohammad; Hariharan, Hari; Reddy, Ravinder

2012-07-01

Proton exchange imaging is important as it allows for visualization and quantification of the distribution of specific metabolites with conventional MRI. Current exchange mediated MRI methods suffer from poor contrast as well as confounding factors that influence exchange rates. In this study we developed a new method to measure proton exchange which combines chemical exchange saturation transfer and T(1)(ρ) magnetization preparation methods (CESTrho). We demonstrated that this new CESTrho sequence can detect proton exchange in the slow to intermediate exchange regimes. It has a linear dependence on proton concentration which allows it to be used to quantitatively measure changes in metabolite concentration. Additionally, the magnetization scheme of this new method can be customized to make it insensitive to changes in exchange rate while retaining its dependency on solute concentration. Finally, we showed the feasibility of using CESTrho in vivo. This sequence is able to detect proton exchange at intermediate exchange rates and is unaffected by the confounding factors that influence proton exchange rates thus making it ideal for the measurement of metabolites with exchangeable protons in this exchange regime. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparative Effectiveness of Two Walking Interventions on Participation, Step Counts, and Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith-McLallen, Aaron; Heller, Debbie; Vernisi, Kristin; Gulick, Diana; Cruz, Samantha; Snyder, Richard L

2017-03-01

To (1) compare the effects of two worksite-based walking interventions on employee participation rates; (2) compare average daily step counts between conditions, and; (3) examine the effects of increases in average daily step counts on biometric and psychologic outcomes. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in which six employer groups were randomly selected and randomly assigned to condition. Four manufacturing worksites and two office-based worksite served as the setting. A total of 474 employees from six employer groups were included. A standard walking program was compared to an enhanced program that included incentives, feedback, competitive challenges, and monthly wellness workshops. Walking was measured by self-reported daily step counts. Survey measures and biometric screenings were administered at baseline and 3, 6, and 9 months after baseline. Analysis used linear mixed models with repeated measures. During 9 months, participants in the enhanced condition averaged 726 more steps per day compared with those in the standard condition (p women (-2.1 lbs.), and reductions in body mass index (-0.41 men, -0.31 women). Higher step counts were also associated with improvements in mood, having more energy, and higher ratings of overall health. An enhanced walking program significantly increases participation rates and daily step counts, which were associated with weight loss and reductions in body mass index.

An applicable approach for extracting human heart rate and oxygen saturation during physical movements using a multi-wavelength illumination optoelectronic sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

Alharbi, Samah; Hu, Sijung; Mulvaney, David; Blanos, Panagiotis

2018-02-01

The ability to gather physiological parameters such as heart rate (HR) and oxygen saturation (SpO2%) during physical movement allows to continuously monitor personal health status without disrupt their normal daily activities. Photoplethysmography (PPG) based pulse oximetry and similar principle devices are unable to extract the HR and SpO2% reliably during physical movement due to interference in the signals that arise from motion artefacts (MAs). In this research, a flexible reflectance multi-wavelength optoelectronic patch sensor (OEPS) has been developed to overcome the susceptibility of conventional pulse oximetry readings to MAs. The OEPS incorporates light embittered diodes as illumination sources with four different wavelengths, e.g. green, orange, red, and infrared unlike the conventional pulse oximetry devices that normally measure the skin absorption of only two wavelengths (red and infrared). The additional green and orange wavelengths were found to be distinguish to the absorption of deoxyhemoglobin (RHb) and oxyhemoglobin (HbO2). The reliability of extracting physiological parameters from the green and orange wavelengths is due to absorbed near to the surface of the skin, thereby shortening the optical path and so effectively reducing the influence of physical movements. To compensate of MAs, a three-axis accelerometer was used as a reference with help of adaptive filter to reduce MAs. The experiments were performed using 15 healthy subjects aged 20 to 30. The primary results show that there are no significant difference of heart rate and oxygen saturation measurements between commercial devices and OEPS Green (r=0.992), Orange(r=0.984), Red(r=0.952) and IR(r=0.97) and SpO2% (r = 0.982, p = 0.894).

nitrogen saturation in stream ecosystems

OpenAIRE

Earl, S. R.; Valett, H. M.; Webster, J. R.

2006-01-01

The concept of nitrogen (N) saturation has organized the assessment of N loading in terrestrial ecosystems. Here we extend the concept to lotic ecosystems by coupling Michaelis-Menten kinetics and nutrient spiraling. We propose a series of saturation response types, which may be used to characterize the proximity of streams to N saturation. We conducted a series of short-term N releases using a tracer ((NO3)-N-15-N) to measure uptake. Experiments were conducted in streams spanning a gradient ...

Alabama Kids Count 2002 Data Book.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Apreill; Bogie, Don

This Kids Count data book examines statewide trends in well-being of Alabamas children. The statistical portrait is based on 18 indicators in the areas of child health, education, safety, and security: (1) infant mortality rate; (2) low weight births; (3) child health index; (4) births to unmarried teens; (5) first grade retention; (6) school…

Corrosion rate of nuclear glass in saturated media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fillet, S.; Vernaz, E.; Nogues, J.L.; Jacquet-Francillon, N.

1986-01-01

Leaching experiments under a static mode have shown that, after a given time, the concentration of the solubilized elements reaches an apparent steady state which can be detected by a plateau in the curve of cumulated leach rates vs time. Since the real slope of this plateau is a key datum to modernize the source term, works related to the evaluation of this slope and based on a statistical approach have been necessary. Twelve static leaching experiments carried out for one year at 90 0 C were scrutinized. Various glasses, both active and nonactive, akin to the LWR French reference glass were involved. Previously, an abnormally high corrosion rate had been found after 12 months of testing. This feature could have been interpreted as a further leaching step occuring after the plateau period. The corrosion rates at 90 0 C with deionized water are compared to those gained from integral tests at 90 0 C

Measures to handle accidental contamination of persons with standard counting devices available in a department of nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aiginger, H.; Lauer, D.; Unfried, E.; Koenig, F.; Ogris, E.

1998-01-01

The assets and shortcomings of a well-type NaI detector and a Ge detector were examined using the Marinelli geometry, test tube geometry, and beaker geometry. Plots of the efficiency vs. energy (efficiency calibration), recorded time vs. true time (dead-time effects), and maximum activity vs. energy are reproduced. A high counting efficiency is typical of the scintillation detector in the well for the test tube geometry, particularly in the low energy range. For energies higher than 100 keV, the counting efficiency decreases because of the increasing penetration of the detector bulk by high-energy photons. For the germanium detector, the highest counting efficiency was achieved in the beaker geometry. A linear relationship exists between the calculated and measured counts at the beginning of the recorded curve for both systems. For the well-type detector the maximum detectable count rate was about 30 kcps, the linearity of the plot of the true count rate was guaranteed up to 10 kcps. Dead time correction was to be made at higher count rates. For the germanium detector the maximum detectable count rate was only about 8 kcps due to the longer dead time, the linear segment, however, was longer than for the scintillation detector. It is concluded that although the maximum detectable count rate of the germanium detector is lower, higher true activities can be detected with it owing to the lower detection efficiency. The well-type scintillation detector is advantageous for the test tube geometry. (P.A.)

Photon counting and fluctuation of molecular movement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inohara, Koichi

1978-01-01

The direct measurement of the fluctuation of molecular motions, which provides with useful information on the molecular movement, was conducted by introducing photon counting method. The utilization of photon counting makes it possible to treat the molecular system consisting of a small number of molecules like a radioisotope in the detection of a small number of atoms, which are significant in biological systems. This method is based on counting the number of photons of the definite polarization emitted in a definite time interval from the fluorescent molecules excited by pulsed light, which are bound to the marked large molecules found in a definite spatial region. Using the probability of finding a number of molecules oriented in a definite direction in the definite spatial region, the probability of counting a number of photons in a definite time interval can be calculated. Thus the measurable count rate of photons can be related with the fluctuation of molecular movement. The measurement was carried out under the condition, in which the probability of the simultaneous arrival of more than two photons at a detector is less than 1/100. As the experimental results, the resolving power of photon-counting apparatus, the frequency distribution of the number of photons of some definite polarization counted for 1 nanosecond are shown. In the solution, the variance of the number of molecules of 500 on the average is 1200, which was estimated from the experimental data by assuming normal distribution. This departure from the Poisson distribution means that a certain correlation does exist in molecular movement. In solid solution, no significant deviation was observed. The correlation existing in molecular movement can be expressed in terms of the fluctuation of the number of molecules. (Nakai, Y.)

Semiconductor saturable absorbers for ultrafast terahertz signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmann, Matthias C.; Turchinovich, Dmitry

2010-01-01

states, due to conduction band onparabolicity and scattering into satellite valleys in strong THz fields. Saturable absorber parameters, such as linear and nonsaturable transmission, and saturation fluence, are extracted by fits to a classic saturable absorber model. Further, we observe THz pulse......We demonstrate saturable absorber behavior of n-type semiconductors GaAs, GaP, and Ge in the terahertz THz frequency range at room temperature using nonlinear THz spectroscopy. The saturation mechanism is based on a decrease in electron conductivity of semiconductors at high electron momentum...

Analysis of overdispersed count data by mixtures of Poisson variables and Poisson processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hougaard, P; Lee, M L; Whitmore, G A

1997-12-01

Count data often show overdispersion compared to the Poisson distribution. Overdispersion is typically modeled by a random effect for the mean, based on the gamma distribution, leading to the negative binomial distribution for the count. This paper considers a larger family of mixture distributions, including the inverse Gaussian mixture distribution. It is demonstrated that it gives a significantly better fit for a data set on the frequency of epileptic seizures. The same approach can be used to generate counting processes from Poisson processes, where the rate or the time is random. A random rate corresponds to variation between patients, whereas a random time corresponds to variation within patients.

Standardization of 241Am by digital coincidence counting, liquid scintillation counting and defined solid angle counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Balpardo, C.; Capoulat, M.E.; Rodrigues, D.; Arenillas, P.

2010-01-01

The nuclide 241 Am decays by alpha emission to 237 Np. Most of the decays (84.6%) populate the excited level of 237 Np with energy of 59.54 keV. Digital coincidence counting was applied to standardize a solution of 241 Am by alpha-gamma coincidence counting with efficiency extrapolation. Electronic discrimination was implemented with a pressurized proportional counter and the results were compared with two other independent techniques: Liquid scintillation counting using the logical sum of double coincidences in a TDCR array and defined solid angle counting taking into account activity inhomogeneity in the active deposit. The results show consistency between the three methods within a limit of a 0.3%. An ampoule of this solution will be sent to the International Reference System (SIR) during 2009. Uncertainties were analysed and compared in detail for the three applied methods.

Statistical Methods for Unusual Count Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guthrie, Katherine A.; Gammill, Hilary S.; Kamper-Jørgensen, Mads

2016-01-01

microchimerism data present challenges for statistical analysis, including a skewed distribution, excess zero values, and occasional large values. Methods for comparing microchimerism levels across groups while controlling for covariates are not well established. We compared statistical models for quantitative...... microchimerism values, applied to simulated data sets and 2 observed data sets, to make recommendations for analytic practice. Modeling the level of quantitative microchimerism as a rate via Poisson or negative binomial model with the rate of detection defined as a count of microchimerism genome equivalents per...

Resolving time of scintillation camera-computer system and methods of correction for counting loss, 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iinuma, Takeshi; Fukuhisa, Kenjiro; Matsumoto, Toru

1975-01-01

Following the previous work, counting-rate performance of camera-computer systems was investigated for two modes of data acquisition. The first was the ''LIST'' mode in which image data and timing signals were sequentially stored on magnetic disk or tape via a buffer memory. The second was the ''HISTOGRAM'' mode in which image data were stored in a core memory as digital images and then the images were transfered to magnetic disk or tape by the signal of frame timing. Firstly, the counting-rates stored in the buffer memory was measured as a function of display event-rates of the scintillation camera for the two modes. For both modes, stored counting-rated (M) were expressed by the following formula: M=N(1-Ntau) where N was the display event-rates of the camera and tau was the resolving time including analog-to-digital conversion time and memory cycle time. The resolving time for each mode may have been different, but it was about 10 μsec for both modes in our computer system (TOSBAC 3400 model 31). Secondly, the date transfer speed from the buffer memory to the external memory such as magnetic disk or tape was considered for the two modes. For the ''LIST'' mode, the maximum value of stored counting-rates from the camera was expressed in terms of size of the buffer memory, access time and data transfer-rate of the external memory. For the ''HISTOGRAM'' mode, the minimum time of the frame was determined by size of the buffer memory, access time and transfer rate of the external memory. In our system, the maximum value of stored counting-rates were about 17,000 counts/sec. with the buffer size of 2,000 words, and minimum frame time was about 130 msec. with the buffer size of 1024 words. These values agree well with the calculated ones. From the author's present analysis, design of the camera-computer system becomes possible for quantitative dynamic imaging and future improvements are suggested. (author)

Alabama Kids Count 2001 Data Book.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Apreill; Bogie, Don

This Kids Count data book examines statewide trends in well-being for Alabama's children. The statistical portrait is based on 17 indicators in the areas of health, education, safety, and security. The indicators are: (1) infant mortality rate; (2) low weight births; (3) child health index; (4) births to unmarried teens; (5) first grade retention;…

Nevada Kids Count Data Book, 1997.

Science.gov (United States)

We Can, Inc., Las Vegas, NV.

This Kids Count data book is the first to examine statewide indicators of the well being of Nevada's children. The statistical portrait is based on 15 indicators of child well being: (1) percent low birth-weight babies; (2) infant mortality rate; (3) percent of children in poverty; (4) percent of children in single-parent families; (5) percent of…

Nitrogen saturation in stream ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Earl, Stevan R; Valett, H Maurice; Webster, Jackson R

2006-12-01

The concept of nitrogen (N) saturation has organized the assessment of N loading in terrestrial ecosystems. Here we extend the concept to lotic ecosystems by coupling Michaelis-Menten kinetics and nutrient spiraling. We propose a series of saturation response types, which may be used to characterize the proximity of streams to N saturation. We conducted a series of short-term N releases using a tracer (15NO3-N) to measure uptake. Experiments were conducted in streams spanning a gradient of background N concentration. Uptake increased in four of six streams as NO3-N was incrementally elevated, indicating that these streams were not saturated. Uptake generally corresponded to Michaelis-Menten kinetics but deviated from the model in two streams where some other growth-critical factor may have been limiting. Proximity to saturation was correlated to background N concentration but was better predicted by the ratio of dissolved inorganic N (DIN) to soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), suggesting phosphorus limitation in several high-N streams. Uptake velocity, a reflection of uptake efficiency, declined nonlinearly with increasing N amendment in all streams. At the same time, uptake velocity was highest in the low-N streams. Our conceptual model of N transport, uptake, and uptake efficiency suggests that, while streams may be active sites of N uptake on the landscape, N saturation contributes to nonlinear changes in stream N dynamics that correspond to decreased uptake efficiency.

On the fast response of charnel electron multipliers in coUnting mode operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyaevskij, O.A.; Gladyshev, I.L.; Korobochko, Yu.S.; Mineev, V.I.

1983-01-01

Dependences of amplitude distribution of pulses at the outlet of channel electron multipliers (CEM) and effectiveness of monitoring on counting rate at different supply voltages are determined. It is shown that the maximUm counting rate of CEM runs into 6x10 5 s -1 at short-term and 10 5 s -1 at long-term operation using monitoring eqUipment with operation threshold of 2.5 mV

Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford Count Rumford on the nature of heat

CERN Document Server

Brown, Sanborn C

1967-01-01

Men of Physics: Benjamin Thompson - Count Rumford: Count Rumford on the Nature of Heat covers the significant contributions of Count Rumford in the fields of physics. Count Rumford was born with the name Benjamin Thompson on March 23, 1753, in Woburn, Massachusetts. This book is composed of two parts encompassing 11 chapters, and begins with a presentation of Benjamin Thompson's biography and his interest in physics, particularly as an advocate of an """"anti-caloric"""" theory of heat. The subsequent chapters are devoted to his many discoveries that profoundly affected the physical thought

Brain oxygen saturation assessment in neonates using T2-prepared blood imaging of oxygen saturation and near-infrared spectroscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alderliesten, Thomas; De Vis, Jill B; Lemmers, Petra Ma

2017-01-01

saturation in the sagittal sinus (R(2 )= 0.49, p = 0.023), but no significant correlations could be demonstrated with frontal and whole brain cerebral blood flow. These results suggest that measuring oxygen saturation by T2-prepared blood imaging of oxygen saturation is feasible, even in neonates. Strong...... sinus. A strong linear relation was found between the oxygen saturation measured by magnetic resonance imaging and the oxygen saturation measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (R(2 )= 0.64, p ..., and magnetic resonance imaging measures of frontal cerebral blood flow, whole brain cerebral blood flow and venous oxygen saturation in the sagittal sinus (R(2 )= 0.71, 0.50, 0.65; p 

CLARO: an ASIC for high rate single photon counting with multi-anode photomultipliers

Science.gov (United States)

Baszczyk, M.; Carniti, P.; Cassina, L.; Cotta Ramusino, A.; Dorosz, P.; Fiorini, M.; Gotti, C.; Kucewicz, W.; Malaguti, R.; Pessina, G.

2017-08-01

The CLARO is a radiation-hard 8-channel ASIC designed for single photon counting with multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. Each channel outputs a digital pulse when the input signal from the photomultiplier crosses a configurable threshold. The fast return to baseline, typically within 25 ns, and below 50 ns in all conditions, allows to count up to 107 hits/s on each channel, with a power consumption of about 1 mW per channel. The ASIC presented here is a much improved version of the first 4-channel prototype. The threshold can be precisely set in a wide range, between 30 ke- (5 fC) and 16 Me- (2.6 pC). The noise of the amplifier with a 10 pF input capacitance is 3.5 ke- (0.6 fC) RMS. All settings are stored in a 128-bit configuration and status register, protected against soft errors with triple modular redundancy. The paper describes the design of the ASIC at transistor-level, and demonstrates its performance on the test bench.

Inferior clinical outcome of the CD4+ cell count-guided antiretroviral treatment interruption strategy in the SMART study: role of CD4+ Cell counts and HIV RNA levels during follow-up

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundgren, Jens; Babiker, Abdel; El-Sadr, Wafaa

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The SMART study compared 2 strategies for using antiretroviral therapy-drug conservation (DC) and viral suppression (VS)-in 5,472 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with CD4+ cell counts >350 cells/microL. Rates and predictors of opportunistic disease...... or death (OD/death) and the relative risk (RR) in DC versus VS groups according to the latest CD4+ cell count and HIV RNA level are reported. RESULTS: During a mean of 16 months of follow-up, DC patients spent more time with a latest CD4+ cell count ...%) and with a latest HIV RNA level >400 copies/mL (71% vs. 28%) and had a higher rate of OD/death (3.4 vs. 1.3/100 person-years) than VS patients. For periods of follow- up with a CD4+ cell count

Patient-dependent count-rate adaptive normalization for PET detector efficiency with delayed-window coincidence events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niu, Xiaofeng; Ye, Hongwei; Xia, Ting; Asma, Evren; Gagnon, Daniel; Wang, Wenli; Winkler, Mark

2015-01-01

Quantitative PET imaging is widely used in clinical diagnosis in oncology and neuroimaging. Accurate normalization correction for the efficiency of each line-of- response is essential for accurate quantitative PET image reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a normalization calibration method by using the delayed-window coincidence events from the scanning phantom or patient. The proposed method could dramatically reduce the ‘ring’ artifacts caused by mismatched system count-rates between the calibration and phantom/patient datasets. Moreover, a modified algorithm for mean detector efficiency estimation is proposed, which could generate crystal efficiency maps with more uniform variance. Both phantom and real patient datasets are used for evaluation. The results show that the proposed method could lead to better uniformity in reconstructed images by removing ring artifacts, and more uniform axial variance profiles, especially around the axial edge slices of the scanner. The proposed method also has the potential benefit to simplify the normalization calibration procedure, since the calibration can be performed using the on-the-fly acquired delayed-window dataset. (paper)

Modelling nitrogen saturation and carbon accumulation in heathland soils under elevated nitrogen deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, C.D.; Caporn, S.J.M.; Carroll, J.A.; Pilkington, M.G.; Wilson, D.B.; Ray, N.; Cresswell, N.

2006-01-01

A simple model of nitrogen (N) saturation, based on an extension of the biogeochemical model MAGIC, has been tested at two long-running heathland N manipulation experiments. The model simulates N immobilisation as a function of organic soil C/N ratio, but permits a proportion of immobilised N to be accompanied by accumulation of soil carbon (C), slowing the rate of C/N ratio change and subsequent N saturation. The model successfully reproduced observed treatment effects on soil C and N, and inorganic N leaching, for both sites. At the C-rich upland site, N addition led to relatively small reductions in soil C/N, low inorganic N leaching, and a substantial increase in organic soil C. At the C-poor lowland site, soil C/N ratio decreases and N leaching increases were much more dramatic, and soil C accumulation predicted to be smaller. The study suggests that (i) a simple model can effectively simulate observed changes in soil and leachate N; (ii) previous model predictions based on a constant soil C pool may overpredict future N leaching; (iii) N saturation may develop most rapidly in dry, organic-poor, high-decomposition systems; and (iv) N deposition may lead to significantly enhanced soil C sequestration, particularly in wet, nutrient-poor, organic-rich systems. - Enhanced carbon sequestration may slow the rate of nitrogen saturation in heathlands

Daily step count predicts acute exacerbations in a US cohort with COPD.

Science.gov (United States)

Moy, Marilyn L; Teylan, Merilee; Weston, Nicole A; Gagnon, David R; Garshick, Eric

2013-01-01

COPD is characterized by variability in exercise capacity and physical activity (PA), and acute exacerbations (AEs). Little is known about the relationship between daily step count, a direct measure of PA, and the risk of AEs, including hospitalizations. In an observational cohort study of 169 persons with COPD, we directly assessed PA with the StepWatch Activity Monitor, an ankle-worn accelerometer that measures daily step count. We also assessed exercise capacity with the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and patient-reported PA with the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire Activity Score (SGRQ-AS). AEs and COPD-related hospitalizations were assessed and validated prospectively over a median of 16 months. Mean daily step count was 5804±3141 steps. Over 209 person-years of observation, there were 263 AEs (incidence rate 1.3±1.6 per person-year) and 116 COPD-related hospitalizations (incidence rate 0.56±1.09 per person-year). Adjusting for FEV1 % predicted and prednisone use for AE in previous year, for each 1000 fewer steps per day walked at baseline, there was an increased rate of AEs (rate ratio 1.07; 95%CI = 1.003-1.15) and COPD-related hospitalizations (rate ratio 1.24; 95%CI = 1.08-1.42). There was a significant linear trend of decreasing daily step count by quartiles and increasing rate ratios for AEs (P = 0.008) and COPD-related hospitalizations (P = 0.003). Each 30-meter decrease in 6MWT distance was associated with an increased rate ratio of 1.07 (95%CI = 1.01-1.14) for AEs and 1.18 (95%CI = 1.07-1.30) for COPD-related hospitalizations. Worsening of SGRQ-AS by 4 points was associated with an increased rate ratio of 1.05 (95%CI = 1.01-1.09) for AEs and 1.10 (95%CI = 1.02-1.17) for COPD-related hospitalizations. Lower daily step count, lower 6MWT distance, and worse SGRQ-AS predict future AEs and COPD-related hospitalizations, independent of pulmonary function and previous AE history. These results support the importance of

All-fiber Yb-doped fiber laser passively mode-locking by monolayer MoS2 saturable absorber

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yue; Zhu, Jianqi; Li, Pingxue; Wang, Xiaoxiao; Yu, Hua; Xiao, Kun; Li, Chunyong; Zhang, Guangyu

2018-04-01

We report on an all-fiber passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped (Yb-doped) fiber laser with monolayer molybdenum disulfide (ML-MoS2) saturable absorber (SA) by three-temperature zone chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The modulation depth, saturation fluence, and non-saturable loss of this ML-MoS2 are measured to be 3.6%, 204.8 μJ/cm2 and 6.3%, respectively. Based on this ML-MoS2SA, a passively mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser has been achieved at 979 nm with pulse duration of 13 ps and repetition rate of 16.51 MHz. A mode-locked fiber laser at 1037 nm is also realized with a pulse duration of 475 ps and repetition rate of 26.5 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that the ML-MoS2 SA is used in an all-fiber Yb-doped mode-locked fiber laser at 980 nm. Our work further points the excellent saturable absorption ability of ML-MoS2 in ultrafast photonic applications.

Space Charge Saturated Sheath Regime and Electron Temperature Saturation in Hall Thrusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raitses, Y.; Staack, D.; Smirnov, A.; Fisch, N.J.

2005-01-01

Secondary electron emission in Hall thrusters is predicted to lead to space charge saturated wall sheaths resulting in enhanced power losses in the thruster channel. Analysis of experimentally obtained electron-wall collision frequency suggests that the electron temperature saturation, which occurs at high discharge voltages, appears to be caused by a decrease of the Joule heating rather than by the enhancement of the electron energy loss at the walls due to a strong secondary electron emission

Neutron activation detector saturation activities measured in the AAEC research reactor HIFAR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilditch, R.J.; Lowenthal, G.C.

1980-01-01

Titanium and cobalt wires are irradiated with radiation damage specimens in each reactor period to determine variations in neutron flux densities. The results from these monitors constitute a considerable body of data with good statistical significance. However, a difficulty encountered when using measurements collected over a number of reactor periods for determining flux depression factors or cadmium ratios is accounting for the effects on saturation activities of different irradiation conditions, in particular the continuously changing fuel burn-up rates. This difficulty was overcome by correlating the saturation activities of (n,γ) reactions with the number of fissions in the fuel. The experimental saturation activities so correlated enable (1) flux depression factors to be obtained for cobalt and silver wires, relative to thin foils, and (2) use of these flux depression factors and others quoted in the literature to calculate the ratio of saturation activities of Co and Ag wires. Finally, reference is made to the potential usefulness of the 123 Sb(n,γ) reaction as a resonance detector given that a new method for making thin monitors can be readily applied to antimony

Counting cormorants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bregnballe, Thomas; Carss, David N; Lorentsen, Svein-Håkon

2013-01-01

This chapter focuses on Cormorant population counts for both summer (i.e. breeding) and winter (i.e. migration, winter roosts) seasons. It also explains differences in the data collected from undertaking ‘day’ versus ‘roost’ counts, gives some definitions of the term ‘numbers’, and presents two...

Saturation of single toroidal number Alfvén modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, X; Briguglio, S

2016-01-01

The results of numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the saturation mechanism of a single toroidal number Alfvén mode, driven unstable, in a tokamak plasma, by the resonant interaction with energetic ions. The effects of equilibrium geometry non-uniformities and finite mode radial width on the wave-particle nonlinear dynamics are discussed. Saturation occurs as the fast-ion density flattening produced by the radial flux associated to the resonant particles captured in the potential well of the Alfvén wave extends over the whole region where mode-particle power exchange can take place. The occurrence of two different saturation regimes is shown. In the first regime, dubbed resonance detuning, that region is limited by the resonance radial width (that is, the width of the region where the fast-ion resonance frequency matches the mode frequency). In the second regime, called radial decoupling, the power exchange region is limited by the mode radial width. In the former regime, the mode saturation amplitude scales quadratically with the growth rate; in the latter, it scales linearly. The occurrence of one or the other regime can be predicted on the basis of linear dynamics: in particular, the radial profile of the fast-ion resonance frequency and the mode structure. Here, we discuss how such properties can depend on the considered toroidal number and compare simulation results with the predictions obtained from a simplified nonlinear pendulum model. (paper)

Saturated Zone Colloid-Facilitated Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolfsberg, A.; Reimus, P.

2001-01-01

The purpose of the Saturated Zone Colloid-Facilitated Transport Analysis and Modeling Report (AMR), as outlined in its Work Direction and Planning Document (CRWMS MandO 1999a), is to provide retardation factors for colloids with irreversibly-attached radionuclides, such as plutonium, in the saturated zone (SZ) between their point of entrance from the unsaturated zone (UZ) and downgradient compliance points. Although it is not exclusive to any particular radionuclide release scenario, this AMR especially addresses those scenarios pertaining to evidence from waste degradation experiments, which indicate that plutonium and perhaps other radionuclides may be irreversibly attached to colloids. This report establishes the requirements and elements of the design of a methodology for calculating colloid transport in the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain. In previous Total Systems Performance Assessment (TSPA) analyses, radionuclide-bearing colloids were assumed to be unretarded in their migration. Field experiments in fractured tuff at Yucca Mountain and in porous media at other sites indicate that colloids may, in fact, experience retardation relative to the mean pore-water velocity, suggesting that contaminants associated with colloids should also experience some retardation. Therefore, this analysis incorporates field data where available and a theoretical framework when site-specific data are not available for estimating plausible ranges of retardation factors in both saturated fractured tuff and saturated alluvium. The distribution of retardation factors for tuff and alluvium are developed in a form consistent with the Performance Assessment (PA) analysis framework for simulating radionuclide transport in the saturated zone. To improve on the work performed so far for the saturated-zone flow and transport modeling, concerted effort has been made in quantifying colloid retardation factors in both fractured tuff and alluvium. The fractured tuff analysis used recent data

Current automated 3D cell detection methods are not a suitable replacement for manual stereologic cell counting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph eSchmitz

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Stereologic cell counting has had a major impact on the field of neuroscience. A major bottleneck in stereologic cell counting is that the user must manually decide whether or not each cell is counted according to three-dimensional (3D stereologic counting rules by visual inspection within hundreds of microscopic fields-of-view per investigated brain or brain region. Reliance on visual inspection forces stereologic cell counting to be very labor-intensive and time-consuming, and is the main reason why biased, non-stereologic two-dimensional (2D cell counting approaches have remained in widespread use. We present an evaluation of the performance of modern automated cell detection and segmentation algorithms as a potential alternative to the manual approach in stereologic cell counting. The image data used in this study were 3D microscopic images of thick brain tissue sections prepared with a variety of commonly used nuclear and cytoplasmic stains. The evaluation compared the numbers and locations of cells identified unambiguously and counted exhaustively by an expert observer with those found by three automated 3D cell detection algorithms: nuclei segmentation from the FARSIGHT toolkit, nuclei segmentation by 3D multiple level set methods, and the 3D object counter plug-in for ImageJ. Of these methods, FARSIGHT performed best, with true-positive detection rates between 38–99% and false-positive rates from 3.6–82%. The results demonstrate that the current automated methods suffer from lower detection rates and higher false-positive rates than are acceptable for obtaining valid estimates of cell numbers. Thus, at present, stereologic cell counting with manual decision for object inclusion according to unbiased stereologic counting rules remains the only adequate method for unbiased cell quantification in histologic tissue sections.

Short communication: Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count.

Science.gov (United States)

Koop, G; Dik, N; Nielen, M; Lipman, L J A

2010-06-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms, 3 bulk milk samples were collected at intervals of 2 wk. The samples were cultured for SPC, coliform count, and staphylococcal count and for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, SCC (Fossomatic 5000, Foss, Hillerød, Denmark) and TBC (BactoScan FC 150, Foss) were measured. Staphylococcal count was correlated to SCC (r=0.40), TBC (r=0.51), and SPC (r=0.53). Coliform count was correlated to TBC (r=0.33), but not to any of the other variables. Staphylococcus aureus did not correlate to SCC. The contribution of the staphylococcal count to the SPC was 31%, whereas the coliform count comprised only 1% of the SPC. The agreement of the repeated measurements was low. This study indicates that staphylococci in goat bulk milk are related to SCC and make a significant contribution to SPC. Because of the high variation in bacterial counts, repeated sampling is necessary to draw valid conclusions from bulk milk culturing. 2010 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of weightlessness on mineral saturation of bone tissue

Science.gov (United States)

Krasnykh, I. G.

1975-01-01

X-ray photometry of bone density established dynamic changes in mineral saturation of bone tissues for Soyuz spacecraft and Salyut orbital station crews. Calcaneus optical bone densities in all crew members fell below initial values; an increase in spacecrew exposure time to weightlessness conditions also increased the degree of decalcification. Demineralization under weightlessness conditions took place at a higher rate than under hypodynamia.

Quantitative clinical uptake measurements using conjugate counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lathrop, K.A.; Bartlett, R.D.; Chen, C.T.; Chou, J.S.; Faulhaber, P.F.; Harper, P.V.; Stark, V.J.

1986-01-01

While the use of conjugate counting for determination of organ uptake in human subjects has been extensively described, in the present study the determination of the organ uptake of ortho-iodohippurate presented several opportunities for validation of the in vivo counting data. Ortho-iodohippurate is distributed in the extracellular space, is largely extracted on each pass through the kidneys, and is not significantly deiodinated in vivo. Thus, the kidney uptake rate should be proportional to the blood level, the appearance rate of activity in the bladder is equal to the disappearance rate from the kidneys, and direct measurement of activity in the urine after voiding provides an internal standard for imaging measurements of bladder activity. Since the activity levels in the kidneys, bladder, and remainder of the body changed fairly rapidly, especially in the first 20 to 30 minutes following injection, posterior images of the trunk including kidneys and bladder were obtained continuously using a gamma camera fitted with a diverging collimator for 30 minutes and then at intervals for several hours. Simultaneous conjugate counting determinations were made using a whole body scanning system previously described at these meetings. Imaging data corrected for decay and adjacent background were fitted by least squares methods to curves representing a sum of exponentials, and the curves were normalized to the conjugate uptake measurements. The uptake curves of the kidneys and bladder matched well with the direct measurements of the urinary excretion. Data were collected in 16 normal subjects, and the estimated absorbed dose was calculated for the kidneys, the bladder and the remainder of the body for seven radioisotopes of iodine. 4 references, 6 figures, 2 tables

Conversion of Beckman DK-2A spectrophotometer into an automatic single-photon counting fluorescence spectrophotometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chikkur, G.C.; Lagare, M.T.; Umakantha, N.

1981-01-01

Details of how a DK-2A spectrophotometer can be modified into an automatic single-photon counting fluorescence spectrophotometer for recording a low intensity spectrum, are reported. The single-photon count-rate converted into a DC voltage is applied at the appropriate stage in the sample channel amplifier circuit of a DK-2A to get the pen deflection proportional to the count-rate. A high intensity spectrum may be recorded in the usual way by merely turning the shaft of the mirror motor by 180 degrees. (author)

Assessing species saturation: conceptual and methodological challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Olivares, Ingrid; Karger, Dirk N; Kessler, Michael

2018-05-07

Is there a maximum number of species that can coexist? Intuitively, we assume an upper limit to the number of species in a given assemblage, or that a lineage can produce, but defining and testing this limit has proven problematic. Herein, we first outline seven general challenges of studies on species saturation, most of which are independent of the actual method used to assess saturation. Among these are the challenge of defining saturation conceptually and operationally, the importance of setting an appropriate referential system, and the need to discriminate among patterns, processes and mechanisms. Second, we list and discuss the methodological approaches that have been used to study species saturation. These approaches vary in time and spatial scales, and in the variables and assumptions needed to assess saturation. We argue that assessing species saturation is possible, but that many studies conducted to date have conceptual and methodological flaws that prevent us from currently attaining a good idea of the occurrence of species saturation. © 2018 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Saturated Zone Colloid Transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

H. S. Viswanathan

2004-10-07

This scientific analysis provides retardation factors for colloids transporting in the saturated zone (SZ) and the unsaturated zone (UZ). These retardation factors represent the reversible chemical and physical filtration of colloids in the SZ. The value of the colloid retardation factor, R{sub col} is dependent on several factors, such as colloid size, colloid type, and geochemical conditions (e.g., pH, Eh, and ionic strength). These factors are folded into the distributions of R{sub col} that have been developed from field and experimental data collected under varying geochemical conditions with different colloid types and sizes. Attachment rate constants, k{sub att}, and detachment rate constants, k{sub det}, of colloids to the fracture surface have been measured for the fractured volcanics, and separate R{sub col} uncertainty distributions have been developed for attachment and detachment to clastic material and mineral grains in the alluvium. Radionuclides such as plutonium and americium sorb mostly (90 to 99 percent) irreversibly to colloids (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170025], Section 6.3.3.2). The colloid retardation factors developed in this analysis are needed to simulate the transport of radionuclides that are irreversibly sorbed onto colloids; this transport is discussed in the model report ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'' (BSC 2004 [DIRS 170036]). Although it is not exclusive to any particular radionuclide release scenario, this scientific analysis especially addresses those scenarios pertaining to evidence from waste-degradation experiments, which indicate that plutonium and americium may be irreversibly attached to colloids for the time scales of interest. A section of this report will also discuss the validity of using microspheres as analogs to colloids in some of the lab and field experiments used to obtain the colloid retardation factors. In addition, a small fraction of colloids travels with the groundwater without any significant

Misconceptions in Reporting Oxygen Saturation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Toffaletti, John; Zijlstra, Willem G.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: We describe some misconceptions that have become common practice in reporting blood gas and cooximetry results. In 1980, oxygen saturation was incorrectly redefined in a report of a new instrument for analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) derivatives. Oxygen saturation (sO(2)) was redefined as the

Landsliding in partially saturated materials

Science.gov (United States)

Godt, J.W.; Baum, R.L.; Lu, N.

2009-01-01

[1] Rainfall-induced landslides are pervasive in hillslope environments around the world and among the most costly and deadly natural hazards. However, capturing their occurrence with scientific instrumentation in a natural setting is extremely rare. The prevailing thinking on landslide initiation, particularly for those landslides that occur under intense precipitation, is that the failure surface is saturated and has positive pore-water pressures acting on it. Most analytic methods used for landslide hazard assessment are based on the above perception and assume that the failure surface is located beneath a water table. By monitoring the pore water and soil suction response to rainfall, we observed shallow landslide occurrence under partially saturated conditions for the first time in a natural setting. We show that the partially saturated shallow landslide at this site is predictable using measured soil suction and water content and a novel unified effective stress concept for partially saturated earth materials. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

Method and apparstus for determining random coincidence count rate in a scintillation counter utilizing the coincidence technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horrocks, D.L.

1980-01-01

A method and apparatus for the reliable determination of a random coincidence count attributable to chance coincidences of single-photon events which are each detected in only a single detector of a scintillation counter utilizing two detectors in a coincidence counting technique are described. A firstdelay device is employed to delay output pulses from one detector, and then the delayed signal is compared with the undelayed signal from the other detector in a coincidence circuit, to obtain an approximate random coincidence count. The output of the coincidence circuit is applied to an anti-coincidence circuit, where it is corrected by elimination of pulses coincident with, and attributable to, conventionally detected real coincidences, and by elimination of pulses coincident with, and attributable to, real coincidences that have been delayed by a second delay device having the same time parameter as the first. 8 claims

Recipe for residual oil saturation determination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guillory, A.J.; Kidwell, C.M.

1979-01-01

In 1978, Shell Oil Co., in conjunction with the US Department of Energy, conducted a residual oil saturation study in a deep, hot high-pressured Gulf Coast Reservoir. The work was conducted prior to initiation of CO/sub 2/ tertiary recovery pilot. Many problems had to be resolved prior to and during the residual oil saturation determination. The problems confronted are outlined such that the procedure can be used much like a cookbook in designing future studies in similar reservoirs. Primary discussion centers around planning and results of a log-inject-log operation used as a prime method to determine the residual oil saturation. Several independent methods were used to calculate the residual oil saturation in the subject well in an interval between 12,910 ft (3935 m) and 12,020 ft (3938 m). In general, these numbers were in good agreement and indicated a residual oil saturation between 22% and 24%. 10 references.

Correcting human heart 31P NMR spectra for partial saturation. Evidence that saturation factors for PCr/ATP are homogeneous in normal and disease states

Science.gov (United States)

Bottomley, Paul A.; Hardy, Christopher J.; Weiss, Robert G.

Heart PCr/ATP ratios measured from spatially localized 31P NMR spectra can be corrected for partial saturation effects using saturation factors derived from unlocalized chest surface-coil spectra acquired at the heart rate and approximate Ernst angle for phosphor creatine (PCr) and again under fully relaxed conditions during each 31P exam. To validate this approach in studies of normal and disease states where the possibility of heterogeneity in metabolite T1 values between both chest muscle and heart and normal and disease states exists, the properties of saturation factors for metabolite ratios were investigated theoretically under conditions applicable in typical cardiac spectroscopy exams and empirically using data from 82 cardiac 31P exams in six study groups comprising normal controls ( n = 19) and patients with dilated ( n = 20) and hypertrophic ( n = 5) cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease ( n = 16), heart transplants ( n = 19), and valvular heart disease ( n = 3). When TR ≪ T1,(PCr), with T1(PCr) ⩾ T1(ATP), the saturation factor for PCr/ATP lies in the range 1.5 ± 0.5, regardless of the T1 values. The precise value depends on the ratio of metabolite T1 values rather than their absolute values and is insensitive to modest changes in TR. Published data suggest that the metabolite T1 ratio is the same in heart and muscle. Our empirical data reveal that the saturation factors do not vary significantly with disease state, nor with the relative fractions of muscle and heart contributing to the chest surface-coil spectra. Also, the corrected myocardial PCr/ATP ratios in each normal or disease state bear no correlation with the corresponding saturation factors nor the fraction of muscle in the unlocalized chest spectra. However, application of the saturation correction (mean value, 1.36 ± 0.03 SE) significantly reduced scatter in myocardial PCr/ATP data by 14 ± 11% (SD) ( p ⩽ 0.05). The findings suggest that the relative T1 values of PCr and ATP are

Repeatability of differential goat bulk milk culture and associations with somatic cell count, total bacterial count, and standard plate count

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koop, G.; Dik, N.; Nielen, M.; Lipman, L.J.A.

2010-01-01

The aims of this study were to assess how different bacterial groups in bulk milk are related to bulk milk somatic cell count (SCC), bulk milk total bacterial count (TBC), and bulk milk standard plate count (SPC) and to measure the repeatability of bulk milk culturing. On 53 Dutch dairy goat farms,

The Effect of Intra-Ruminal Infusion of Saturated and Unsaturated ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the effect of different proportional combinations of a saturated fatty acid (Palmitic acid, PA) and unsaturated fatty acid (Linolenic acid, LA) on rumen outflow rate (r) in West African dwarf (WAD) sheep. A 5x5 Latin square experimental model of five sheep and five combination proportions of palmitic and ...

Studies on diagnosis of endometriosis by magnetic resonance imaging by means of fat saturation techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okada, Saori

1995-01-01

It is difficult to distinguish a small endometrial implant from adipose tissue by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). I assessed the usefulness of fat saturated MRI in detecting small endometrial implants by comparing it with conventional MRI. Seventy-four patients with clinically suspected endometriosis were referred for MRI. In every patient, laparoscopy or laparotomy was performed. MRI was performed with a 1.5 T superconducting magnet with spin echo T1, T2 and fat saturated T1 weighted images. Surgery revealed a normal pelvis in 6 patients, endometriosis in 65, and cystic lesions in three others. With fat saturated MRI, overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 87.7%, 66.7%, 95.0% and 42.9%, respectively. At surgery, 160 pigmented lesions of endometriosis were detected. Conventional MRI permitted identification of almost all ovarian endometriomas >10 mm in diameter, as with fat saturated MRI. With conventional MRI, 18 endometrial implant lesions <10 mm in diameter were detected. Including those detected by fat saturated MRI, altogether 42 lesions were detected. Conventional MRI demonstrated only 3 lesions among the 48 blueberry spots, but the additional fat saturated MRI technique increased the detection rate to 21 out of 48. Fat saturated MRI can therefore be used for detecting small endometrial implants. (author)

Studies on diagnosis of endometriosis by magnetic resonance imaging by means of fat saturation techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okada, Saori [Shimane Medical Univ., Izumo (Japan)

1995-03-01

It is difficult to distinguish a small endometrial implant from adipose tissue by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). I assessed the usefulness of fat saturated MRI in detecting small endometrial implants by comparing it with conventional MRI. Seventy-four patients with clinically suspected endometriosis were referred for MRI. In every patient, laparoscopy or laparotomy was performed. MRI was performed with a 1.5 T superconducting magnet with spin echo T1, T2 and fat saturated T1 weighted images. Surgery revealed a normal pelvis in 6 patients, endometriosis in 65, and cystic lesions in three others. With fat saturated MRI, overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 87.7%, 66.7%, 95.0% and 42.9%, respectively. At surgery, 160 pigmented lesions of endometriosis were detected. Conventional MRI permitted identification of almost all ovarian endometriomas >10 mm in diameter, as with fat saturated MRI. With conventional MRI, 18 endometrial implant lesions <10 mm in diameter were detected. Including those detected by fat saturated MRI, altogether 42 lesions were detected. Conventional MRI demonstrated only 3 lesions among the 48 blueberry spots, but the additional fat saturated MRI technique increased the detection rate to 21 out of 48. Fat saturated MRI can therefore be used for detecting small endometrial implants. (author).

Dose-rate determination by radiochemical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mangini, A.; Pernicka, E.; Wagner, G.A.

1983-01-01

At the previous TL Specialist Seminr we had suggested that α-counting is an unsuitable technique for dose-rate determination due to overcounting effects. This is confirmed by combining α-counting, neutron activation analysis, fission track counting, α-spectrometry on various pottery samples. One result of this study is that disequilibrium in the uranium decay chain alone cannot account for the observed discrepancies between α-counting and chemical analysis. Therefore we propose for routine dose-rate determination in TL dating to apply chemical analysis of the radioactive elements supplemented by an α-spectrometric equilibrium check. (author)

Correction for intrinsic and set dead-time losses in radioactivity counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyllie, H.A.

1992-12-01

Equations are derived for the determination of the intrinsic dead time of the components which precede the paralysis unit in a counting system for measuring radioactivity. The determination depends on the extension of the set dead time by the intrinsic dead time. Improved formulae are given for the dead-time correction of the count rate of a radioactive source in a single-channel system. A variable in the formulae is the intrinsic dead time which is determined concurrently with the counting of the source. The only extra equipment required in a conventional system is a scaler. 5 refs., 2 tabs., 21 figs

Comparative analysis of dose rates in bricks determined by neutron activation analysis, alpha counting and X-ray fluorescence analysis for the thermoluminescence fine grain dating method

Science.gov (United States)

Bártová, H.; Kučera, J.; Musílek, L.; Trojek, T.

2014-11-01

In order to evaluate the age from the equivalent dose and to obtain an optimized and efficient procedure for thermoluminescence (TL) dating, it is necessary to obtain the values of both the internal and the external dose rates from dated samples and from their environment. The measurements described and compared in this paper refer to bricks from historic buildings and a fine-grain dating method. The external doses are therefore negligible, if the samples are taken from a sufficient depth in the wall. However, both the alpha dose rate and the beta and gamma dose rates must be taken into account in the internal dose. The internal dose rate to fine-grain samples is caused by the concentrations of natural radionuclides 238U, 235U, 232Th and members of their decay chains, and by 40K concentrations. Various methods can be used for determining trace concentrations of these natural radionuclides and their contributions to the dose rate. The dose rate fraction from 238U and 232Th can be calculated, e.g., from the alpha count rate, or from the concentrations of 238U and 232Th, measured by neutron activation analysis (NAA). The dose rate fraction from 40K can be calculated from the concentration of potassium measured, e.g., by X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) or by NAA. Alpha counting and XRF are relatively simple and are accessible for an ordinary laboratory. NAA can be considered as a more accurate method, but it is more demanding regarding time and costs, since it needs a nuclear reactor as a neutron source. A comparison of these methods allows us to decide whether the time- and cost-saving simpler techniques introduce uncertainty that is still acceptable.

The Effects of NaCl Concentration and Confining Pressure on Mechanical and Acoustic Behaviors of Brine-Saturated Sandstone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan-Hua Huang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available To better understand the mechanical behavior of rock with brine saturation, conventional triaxial experiments were carried out on sandstone for a range of confining pressures (0–60 MPa and NaCl concentrations (0–30%. As the confining pressure and NaCl concentration increased, the triaxial compressive strength, crack damage threshold, Young’s modulus, cohesion, and internal friction angle all increased. Real-time ultrasonic wave and acoustic emission (AE techniques were used to obtain the relationship between acoustic behavior and stress level during the whole triaxial compression process. During the whole deformation process, the evolution of P-wave velocity and accumulated AE count could be divided into four phases. The microstructural characteristics of brine-saturated sandstone, before and after loading, indicated that the strength enhancement mechanism may be attributed to an increase in inter-particle friction resulting from salt crystallisation around the points of contact. The angle of friction increased by more than 86% at maximum NaCl concentration compared to that for distilled water. The NaCl deposition in the pore space resulted in nonlinear strength increases for the brine-saturated sandstone specimens with increasing salinity. The present study is expected to improve the knowledge of the strength and failure mechanisms of sedimentary rock in deep saline aquifers.

Characteristics of soil under variations in clay, water saturation, and water flow rates, and the implications upon soil remediation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aikman, M.; Mirotchnik, K.; Kantzas, A.

1997-01-01

A potential remediation method for hydrocarbon contaminated soils was discussed. The new method was based on the use of proven and economic petroleum reservoir engineering methods for soil remediation. The methods that were applied included water and gas displacement methods together with horizontal boreholes as the flow inlet and outlets. This system could be used in the case of spills that seep beneath a plant or other immovable infrastructure which requires in-situ treatment schemes to decontaminate the soil. A study was conducted to characterize native soils and water samples from industrial plants in central Alberta and Sarnia, Ontario and to determine the variables that impact upon the flow conditions of synthetic test materials. The methods used to characterize the soils included X-Ray computed tomographic analysis, grain size and density measurements, and X-Ray diffraction. Clay content, initial water saturation, and water and gas flow rate were the variables that impacted on the flow conditions

Saturation spectroscopy of an optically opaque argon plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Eshel, Ben; Rice, Christopher A.; Perram, Glen P.

2018-02-01

A pure argon (Ar) plasma formed by a capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharge was analyzed using Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy. The expected line shape was a characteristic of sub-Doppler spectra in the presence of velocity-changing collisions, a narrow Lorentzian centered on a Doppler pedestal, but the observed line shapes contain a multi-peak structure, attributed to opacity of the medium. Laser absorption and inter-modulated fluorescence spectroscopy measurements were made to validate opacity as a driving factor of the observed line shapes. Spectral line shapes are further complicated by the spatial dependence of the pump laser, probe laser and of the absorbing medium, as well as the large absorbance of the transition under investigation. A numerical line shape was derived by accounting for the spatial variation of the pump and probe with a saturated line shape obtained from the rate equations for an equivalent two-level system. This simulated line shape shows good qualitative agreement with the trends observed in the data.

Standardization of {sup 241}Am by digital coincidence counting, liquid scintillation counting and defined solid angle counting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Balpardo, C., E-mail: balpardo@cae.cnea.gov.a [Laboratorio de Metrologia de Radioisotopos, CNEA, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Capoulat, M.E.; Rodrigues, D.; Arenillas, P. [Laboratorio de Metrologia de Radioisotopos, CNEA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2010-07-15

The nuclide {sup 241}Am decays by alpha emission to {sup 237}Np. Most of the decays (84.6%) populate the excited level of {sup 237}Np with energy of 59.54 keV. Digital coincidence counting was applied to standardize a solution of {sup 241}Am by alpha-gamma coincidence counting with efficiency extrapolation. Electronic discrimination was implemented with a pressurized proportional counter and the results were compared with two other independent techniques: Liquid scintillation counting using the logical sum of double coincidences in a TDCR array and defined solid angle counting taking into account activity inhomogeneity in the active deposit. The results show consistency between the three methods within a limit of a 0.3%. An ampoule of this solution will be sent to the International Reference System (SIR) during 2009. Uncertainties were analysed and compared in detail for the three applied methods.

CERN{sub D}xCTA counting mode chip

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moraes, D. [CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)], E-mail: danielle.moraes@cern.ch; Kaplon, J. [CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Nygard, E. [Interon AS, Asker, Norway and DX-ray Inc., Northridge, CA (United States)

2008-06-11

This ASIC is a counting mode front-end electronic optimized for the readout of CdZnTe/CdTe and silicon sensors, for possible use in applications where the flux of ionizing radiation is high. The chip is implemented in 0.25 {mu}m CMOS technology. The circuit comprises 128 channels equipped with a transimpedance amplifier followed by a gain shaper stage with 21 ns peaking time, two discriminators and two 18-bit counters. The channel architecture is optimized for the detector characteristics in order to achieve the best energy resolution at counting rates of up to 5 M counts/second. The amplifier shows a linear sensitivity of 118 mV/fC and an equivalent noise charge of about 711 e{sup -}, for a detector capacitance of 5 pF. Complete evaluation of the circuit is presented using electronic pulses and pixel detectors.

A fast, dataflow-oriented preprocessor for cluster counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imhof, M.

1995-01-01

One of the main problems in the use of cluster counting for particle identification in high energy physics is the huge primary data rate. By means of an online data reduction system, this data rate can be reduced to the amount known from conventional integral charge/time readout. For tests and optimization of online data reduction algorithms, a RISC-based, data-flow-oriented multiprocessor board has been designed. (orig.)

Gas detectors for thermal neutron at high counting rates; Etude des detecteurs a gaz pour neutrons thermiques fonctionnant en collection de courant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mai, V Q [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Grenoble (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1965-09-01

After reminding of the current pulse formation theory in a cylindrical shape counter with and without gas multiplication, one gives the schemes of pulse amplifier and level discriminator which have allowed to verify the above calculations and to make clear the part at high counting rates of the space charge in proportional counters. The theory of that phenomenon is given in chapter V I at last, one gives the results obtained in a nuclear reactor with a counting-channel built with the above electronics circuits. (author) [French] Apres avoir rappele la theorie de la formation de l'impulsion de courant dans un compteur a geometrie cylindrique, fonctionnant sans et avec multiplication de charge, on etudie l'amplificateur et le discriminateur qui ont permis de verifier experimentalement les calculs precedents et de mettre en evidence l'action de la charge d'espace dans les compteurs proportionnels fonctionnant a tres fort taux de comptage. Une theorie de ce phenomene est donnee au chapitre VI; on indique enfin les resultats obtenus dans un reacteur avec une chaine de comptage utilisant les circuits electroniques precedents. (auteur)

Saturation and linear transport equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kutak, K.

2009-03-01

We show that the GBW saturation model provides an exact solution to the one dimensional linear transport equation. We also show that it is motivated by the BK equation considered in the saturated regime when the diffusion and the splitting term in the diffusive approximation are balanced by the nonlinear term. (orig.)

Q-Switched Operation with Carbon-Based Saturable Absorbers in a Nd:YLF Laser

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosa Weigand

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We have numerically studied the influence of the absorption modulation depth of carbon-based saturable absorbers (graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs on the Q-switched regime of a diode-pumped Nd:YLF laser. A short-length cavity was used with an end mirror on which CNTs or mono- or bi-layer graphene were deposited, forming a saturable absorber mirror (SAM. Using a standard model, the generated energy per pulse was calculated, as well as the pulse duration and repetition rate. The results show that absorbers with higher modulation depths, i.e., graphene, deliver higher energy pulses at lower repetition rates. However, the pulse duration did not have a monotonic behavior and reaches a minimum for a given low value of the modulation depth typical of CNTs.

Daily step count predicts acute exacerbations in a US cohort with COPD.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marilyn L Moy

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: COPD is characterized by variability in exercise capacity and physical activity (PA, and acute exacerbations (AEs. Little is known about the relationship between daily step count, a direct measure of PA, and the risk of AEs, including hospitalizations. METHODS: In an observational cohort study of 169 persons with COPD, we directly assessed PA with the StepWatch Activity Monitor, an ankle-worn accelerometer that measures daily step count. We also assessed exercise capacity with the 6-minute walk test (6MWT and patient-reported PA with the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire Activity Score (SGRQ-AS. AEs and COPD-related hospitalizations were assessed and validated prospectively over a median of 16 months. RESULTS: Mean daily step count was 5804±3141 steps. Over 209 person-years of observation, there were 263 AEs (incidence rate 1.3±1.6 per person-year and 116 COPD-related hospitalizations (incidence rate 0.56±1.09 per person-year. Adjusting for FEV1 % predicted and prednisone use for AE in previous year, for each 1000 fewer steps per day walked at baseline, there was an increased rate of AEs (rate ratio 1.07; 95%CI = 1.003-1.15 and COPD-related hospitalizations (rate ratio 1.24; 95%CI = 1.08-1.42. There was a significant linear trend of decreasing daily step count by quartiles and increasing rate ratios for AEs (P = 0.008 and COPD-related hospitalizations (P = 0.003. Each 30-meter decrease in 6MWT distance was associated with an increased rate ratio of 1.07 (95%CI = 1.01-1.14 for AEs and 1.18 (95%CI = 1.07-1.30 for COPD-related hospitalizations. Worsening of SGRQ-AS by 4 points was associated with an increased rate ratio of 1.05 (95%CI = 1.01-1.09 for AEs and 1.10 (95%CI = 1.02-1.17 for COPD-related hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Lower daily step count, lower 6MWT distance, and worse SGRQ-AS predict future AEs and COPD-related hospitalizations, independent of pulmonary function and previous AE

Analogue saturation limit of single and double 10 mm microchannel plate photomultiplier tubes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milnes, J. S., E-mail: james.milnes@photek.co.uk; Conneely, T. M. [Photek Ltd., 26 Castleham Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex TN38 9NS (United Kingdom); Horsfield, C. J. [AWE Aldermaston, Reading, Berkshire RG7 4PR (United Kingdom)

2016-11-15

Photek are a well-established supplier of microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to the inertial confinement fusion community. The analogue signals produced at the major inertial confinement fusion facilities cover many orders of magnitude, therefore understanding the upper saturation limit of MCP-PMTs to large low rate signals takes on a high importance. Here we present a study of a single and a double MCP-PMT with 10 mm diameter active area. The saturation was studied for a range of optical pulse widths from 4 ns to 100 ns and at a range of electron gain values: 10{sup 3} to 10{sup 4} for the single and 10{sup 4} to 10{sup 6} for the double. We have shown that the saturation level of ∼1.2 nC depends only on the integrated charge of the pulse and is independent of pulse width and gain over this range, but that the level of charge available in deep saturation is proportional to the operating gain.

Mathematical simulation of the kinetics of radiation induced hydroxyalkylation of aliphatic saturated alcohols

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silaev, M.M.; Bugaenko, L.T.

1992-01-01

The paper reports on the development of the kinetics of radiation hydroxymethylation and hydroxypropylation chain processes relating to aliphatic saturated alcohols in the γ-radiolysis of the alcohol-unsaturated compound systems to give 1,2- and 1,4-diols respectively. These processes were simulated mathematically. The kinetic curves computed are in good agreement with the experimental dependences. The kinetic parameters of the processes, including the rate constants for the addition of α-hydroxyalkyl radicals from the saturated alcohols to the double bond of the unsaturated component, viz formaldehyde or 2-propene-1-ol in the systems, were estimated. The constants (in dm 3 /mol.s) for the saturated alcohol-formaldehyde systems incorporating ethanol as the saturated alcohol were found to be (1.5±0.3).10 4 at 413 K and (2.1±0.5).10 4 at 443K; incorporating 1-propanol- (6.0±1.3).10 3 at 413 K; for the saturated alcohol-2-propene-1-ol systems incorporating methanol, ethanol, 1- and 2-propanol-(2.5±0.3).10 4 , (6.5±0.9).10 4 , (2.7±0.4).10 4 and (1.0±0.1).10 5 , respectively, at 433 K. (author)

Nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of the stationary dynamics of partially saturated media during steady-state infiltration flow

Science.gov (United States)

Rassi, Erik M.; Codd, Sarah L.; Seymour, Joseph D.

2011-01-01

Flow in porous media and the resultant hydrodynamics are important in fields including but not limited to the hydrology, chemical, medical and petroleum industries. The observation and understanding of the hydrodynamics in porous media are critical to the design and optimal utilization of porous media, such as those seen in trickle-bed reactors, medical filters, subsurface flows and carbon sequestration. Magnetic resonance (MR) provides for a non-invasive technique that can probe the hydrodynamics on pore and bulk scale lengths; many previous works have characterized fully saturated porous media, while rapid MR imaging (MRI) methods in particular have previously been applied to partially saturated flows. We present time- and ensemble-averaged MR measurements to observe the effects on a bead pack partially saturated with air under flowing water conditions. The 10 mm internal diameter bead pack was filled with 100 μm borosilicate glass beads. Air was injected into the bead pack as water flowed simultaneously through the sample at 25 ml h-1. The initial partially saturated state was characterized with MRI density maps, free induction decay (FID) experiments, propagators and velocity maps before the water flow rate was increased incrementally from 25 to 500 ml h-1. After the maximum flow rate of 500 ml h-1, the MRI density maps, FID experiments, propagators and velocity maps were repeated and compared to the data taken before the maximum flow rate. This work shows that a partially saturated single-phase flow has global flow dynamics that return to characteristic flow statistics once a steady-state high flow rate has been reached. This high flow rate pushed out a significant amount of the air in the bead pack and caused the return of a preferential flow pattern. Velocity maps indicated that local flow statistics were not the same for the before and after blow out conditions. It has been suggested and shown previously that a flow pattern can return to

Nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of the stationary dynamics of partially saturated media during steady-state infiltration flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rassi, Erik M; Codd, Sarah L; Seymour, Joseph D

2011-01-01

Flow in porous media and the resultant hydrodynamics are important in fields including but not limited to the hydrology, chemical, medical and petroleum industries. The observation and understanding of the hydrodynamics in porous media are critical to the design and optimal utilization of porous media, such as those seen in trickle-bed reactors, medical filters, subsurface flows and carbon sequestration. Magnetic resonance (MR) provides for a non-invasive technique that can probe the hydrodynamics on pore and bulk scale lengths; many previous works have characterized fully saturated porous media, while rapid MR imaging (MRI) methods in particular have previously been applied to partially saturated flows. We present time- and ensemble-averaged MR measurements to observe the effects on a bead pack partially saturated with air under flowing water conditions. The 10 mm internal diameter bead pack was filled with 100 μm borosilicate glass beads. Air was injected into the bead pack as water flowed simultaneously through the sample at 25 ml h -1 . The initial partially saturated state was characterized with MRI density maps, free induction decay (FID) experiments, propagators and velocity maps before the water flow rate was increased incrementally from 25 to 500 ml h -1 . After the maximum flow rate of 500 ml h -1 , the MRI density maps, FID experiments, propagators and velocity maps were repeated and compared to the data taken before the maximum flow rate. This work shows that a partially saturated single-phase flow has global flow dynamics that return to characteristic flow statistics once a steady-state high flow rate has been reached. This high flow rate pushed out a significant amount of the air in the bead pack and caused the return of a preferential flow pattern. Velocity maps indicated that local flow statistics were not the same for the before and after blow out conditions. It has been suggested and shown previously that a flow pattern can return to similar

Diagnostic value of inflammatory markers (complete blood count ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of inflammatory markers [complete blood cell count (CBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),. C-reactive protein (CRP)] for the differentiation of acute appendicitis from nonspecific abdominal pain in children. Patients and methods In this prospective ...

Diagnostic value of inflammatory markers (complete blood count ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of inflammatory markers [complete blood cell count (CBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP)] for the differentiation of acute appendicitis from nonspecific abdominal pain in children. Patients and methods In this prospective ...

Quantitative monitoring of the fluorination process by neutron counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russo, P.A.; Appert, Q.D.; Biddle, R.S.; Kelley, T.A.; Martinez, M.M.; West, M.H.

1993-01-01

Plutonium metal is produced by reducing PuF 4 prepared from PuO 2 by fluorination. Both fluorination and reduction are batch processes at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility. The conversion of plutonium oxide to fluoride greatly increases the neutron yield, a result of the high cross section for alpha-neutron (α,n) reactions on fluorine targets compared to the (more than 100 times) smaller α,n yield on oxygen targets. Because of the increase, total neutron counting can be used to monitor the conversion process. This monitoring ability can lead to an improved metal product, reduced scrap for recycle, waste reduction, minimized reagent usage, and reduce personnel radiation exposures. A new stirred-bed fluorination process has been developed simultaneously with a recent evaluation of an automated neutron-counting instrument for quantitative process monitoring. Neutrons are counted with polyethylene-moderated 3 He-gas proportional counters. Results include a calibration of the real-time neutron-count-rate indicator for the extent of fluorination using reference values obtained from destructive analysis of samples from the blended fluoroinated batch

Modelling contaminant transport in saturated aquifers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lakshminarayana, V.; Nayak, T.R.

1990-01-01

With the increase in population and industrialization the problem of pollution of groundwater has become critical. The present study deals with modelling of pollutant transport through saturated aquifers. Using this model it is possible to predict the concentration distribution, spatial as well as temporal, in the aquifer. The paper also deals with one of the methods of controlling the pollutant movement, namely by pumping wells. A simulation model is developed to determine the number, location and rate of pumping of a number of wells near the source of pollution so that the concentration is within acceptable limits at the point of interest. (Author) (18 refs., 14 figs., tab.)

Optimizing the calculation of point source count-centroid in pixel size measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Luyi; Kuang Anren; Su Xianyu

2004-01-01

Pixel size is an important parameter of gamma camera and SPECT. A number of methods are used for its accurate measurement. In the original count-centroid method, where the image of a point source (PS) is acquired and its count-centroid calculated to represent PS position in the image, background counts are inevitable. Thus the measured count-centroid (X m ) is an approximation of the true count-centroid (X p ) of the PS, i.e. X m =X p + (X b -X p )/(1+R p /R b ), where Rp is the net counting rate of the PS, X b the background count-centroid and Rb the background counting. To get accurate measurement, R p must be very big, which is unpractical, resulting in the variation of measured pixel size. R p -independent calculation of PS count-centroid is desired. Methods: The proposed method attempted to eliminate the effect of the term (X b -X p )/(1 + R p /R b ) by bringing X b closer to X p and by reducing R b . In the acquired PS image, a circular ROI was generated to enclose the PS, the pixel with the maximum count being the center of the ROI. To choose the diameter (D) of the ROI, a Gaussian count distribution was assumed for the PS, accordingly, K=1-(0.5) D/R percent of the total PS counts was in the ROI, R being the full width at half maximum of the PS count distribution. D was set to be 6*R to enclose most (K=98.4%) of the PS counts. The count-centroid of the ROI was calculated to represent X p . The proposed method was tested in measuring the pixel size of a well-tuned SPECT, whose pixel size was estimated to be 3.02 mm according to its mechanical and electronic setting (128 x 128 matrix, 387 mm UFOV, ZOOM=1). For comparison, the original method, which was use in the former versions of some commercial SPECT software, was also tested. 12 PSs were prepared and their image acquired and stored. The net counting rate of the PSs increased from 10 cps to 1183 cps. Results: Using the proposed method, the measured pixel size (in mm) varied only between 3.00 and 3.01 (mean

Another look at zonal flows: Resonance, shearing, and frictionless saturation

Science.gov (United States)

Li, J. C.; Diamond, P. H.

2018-04-01

We show that shear is not the exclusive parameter that represents all aspects of flow structure effects on turbulence. Rather, wave-flow resonance enters turbulence regulation, both linearly and nonlinearly. Resonance suppresses the linear instability by wave absorption. Flow shear can weaken the resonance, and thus destabilize drift waves, in contrast to the near-universal conventional shear suppression paradigm. Furthermore, consideration of wave-flow resonance resolves the long-standing problem of how zonal flows (ZFs) saturate in the limit of weak or zero frictional drag, and also determines the ZF scale. We show that resonant vorticity mixing, which conserves potential enstrophy, enables ZF saturation in the absence of drag, and so is effective at regulating the Dimits up-shift regime. Vorticity mixing is incorporated as a nonlinear, self-regulation effect in an extended 0D predator-prey model of drift-ZF turbulence. This analysis determines the saturated ZF shear and shows that the mesoscopic ZF width scales as LZ F˜f3 /16(1-f ) 1 /8ρs5/8l03 /8 in the (relevant) adiabatic limit (i.e., τckk‖2D‖≫1 ). f is the fraction of turbulence energy coupled to ZF and l0 is the base state mixing length, absent ZF shears. We calculate and compare the stationary flow and turbulence level in frictionless, weakly frictional, and strongly frictional regimes. In the frictionless limit, the results differ significantly from conventionally quoted scalings derived for frictional regimes. To leading order, the flow is independent of turbulence intensity. The turbulence level scales as E ˜(γL/εc) 2 , which indicates the extent of the "near-marginal" regime to be γLcase of avalanche-induced profile variability. Here, εc is the rate of dissipation of potential enstrophy and γL is the characteristic linear growth rate of fluctuations. The implications for dynamics near marginality of the strong scaling of saturated E with γL are discussed.

Clean Hands Count

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Role of repair saturation in the response of plateau-phase Chinese hamster ovary cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braby, L.A.; Nelson, J.M.; Metting, N.F.

1987-01-01

Two repair rates are seen in split-dose experiments on starved plateau-phase CHO cells. It has been assumed that this indicates two different processes repairing two distinct types of sublethal damage. However results of experiments at different dose levels are not consistent with models that assume that the damage is entirely sublethal. Another hypothesis that has been considered is the saturation of a repair mechanism having a limited pool of repair enzymes. Such saturation phenomena have been observed in biochemical repair studies and have thus formed the basis for a model of cellular response, which was shown to be capable of producing dose response curves in good agreement with experimental observations. This model can be extended to account for both dose-rate and split-dose effects

Cascade damage in nickel: Production, saturation and recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birtcher, R.C.; Blewitt, T.H.

1988-01-01

Changes in the electrical resistivity and length were simultaneously measured during the bombardment of nickel at 70 K with 235 U fission fragments and during a subsequent isothermal annealing program. The resistivity changes and length changes were linearly related during the damage production for damage concentrations less 80% of the defect saturation limit. The initial ratio of the length change to the resistivity change was 8.4x10 4 /Ω m. At high damage concentrations, the length change increased at a slightly higher rate than the resistivity change. During isothermal annealing of the near-saturation defect concentration, the resistivity and the length changes had identical recoveries through stage I and most of stage II. During stage III annealing, the ratio of the length change to the resistivity change showed a small increase. At temperatures above 475 K, this ratio showed a marked increase as the resistivity change exhibited recovery without a corresponding recovery of the length change. These differences, which are attributed to the direct formation and growth of three-dimensional vacancy agglomerates, and results of tranmission electron microscopy suggest that the sign of the third derivative of the resistivity with respect to fast-neutron fluence (the sense of curvature in the damage rate) is positive for materials in which cascades collapse to loops, and negative for materials in which three-dimensional vacancy agglomerates are stable. (orig.)

Gluon Saturation and EIC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sichtermann, Ernst

2016-12-15

The fundamental structure of nucleons and nuclear matter is described by the properties and dynamics of quarks and gluons in quantum chromodynamics. Electron-nucleon collisions are a powerful method to study this structure. As one increases the energy of the collisions, the interaction process probes regions of progressively higher gluon density. This density must eventually saturate. An high-energy polarized Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed to observe and study the saturated gluon density regime. Selected measurements will be discussed, following a brief introduction.

An Economical Fast Discriminator for Nuclear Pulse Counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Issarachai, Opas; Punnachaiya, Suvit

2009-07-01

Full text: This research work was aimed to develop a fast discriminator at low cost but high capability for discrimination a nanosecond nuclear pulse. The fast discriminator can be used in association with fast photon counting system. The designed structure consisted of the ultra-fast voltage comparator using ADCMP601 integrated circuit, the monostable multivibrator with controllable pulse width output by propagation delay of logic gate, and the fast response buffer amplifier. The tested results of pulse height discrimination of 0-5 V nuclear pulse with 20 ns (FWHM) pulse width showed the correlation coefficient (R 2 ) between discrimination level and pulse height was 0.998, while the pulse rate more than 10 MHz could be counted. The 30 ns logic pulse width output revealed high stable and could be smoothly driven to low impedance load at 50 Ω. For pulse signal transmission to the counter, it was also found that the termination of reflected signal must be considered because it may cause pulse counting error

Musculoskeletal imaging with a prototype photon-counting detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Gruber, M; Homolka, P; Chmeissani, M; Uffmann, M; Pretterklieber, M; Kainberger, F

2012-01-01

To test a digital imaging X-ray device based on the direct capture of X-ray photons with pixel detectors, which are coupled with photon-counting readout electronics. The chip consists of a matrix of 256 × 256 pixels with a pixel pitch of 55 μm. A monolithic image of 11.2 cm × 7 cm was obtained by the consecutive displacement approach. Images of embalmed anatomical specimens of eight human hands were obtained at four different dose levels (skin dose 2.4, 6, 12, 25 μGy) with the new detector, as well as with a flat-panel detector. The overall rating scores for the evaluated anatomical regions ranged from 5.23 at the lowest dose level, 6.32 at approximately 6 μGy, 6.70 at 12 μGy, to 6.99 at the highest dose level with the photon-counting system. The corresponding rating scores for the flat-panel detector were 3.84, 5.39, 6.64, and 7.34. When images obtained at the same dose were compared, the new system outperformed the conventional DR system at the two lowest dose levels. At the higher dose levels, there were no significant differences between the two systems. The photon-counting detector has great potential to obtain musculoskeletal images of excellent quality at very low dose levels.

Asthma and myocardial infarction inpatient hospitalization and emergency room visit counts and rates by county, year and month of admission, age group, race/ethnicity and gender of California residents, 2000-2009.

Data.gov (United States)

California Environmental Health Tracking Program — This dataset contains case counts, rates, and confidence intervals of asthma (ICD9-CM 493.0-493.9) and myocardial infarction (ICD9-CM 410) inpatient hospitalizations...

On Neglecting Chemical Exchange Effects When Correcting in Vivo 31P MRS Data for Partial Saturation

Science.gov (United States)

Ouwerkerk, Ronald; Bottomley, Paul A.

2001-02-01

Signal acquisition in most MRS experiments requires a correction for partial saturation that is commonly based on a single exponential model for T1 that ignores effects of chemical exchange. We evaluated the errors in 31P MRS measurements introduced by this approximation in two-, three-, and four-site chemical exchange models under a range of flip-angles and pulse sequence repetition times (TR) that provide near-optimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In two-site exchange, such as the creatine-kinase reaction involving phosphocreatine (PCr) and γ-ATP in human skeletal and cardiac muscle, errors in saturation factors were determined for the progressive saturation method and the dual-angle method of measuring T1. The analysis shows that these errors are negligible for the progressive saturation method if the observed T1 is derived from a three-parameter fit of the data. When T1 is measured with the dual-angle method, errors in saturation factors are less than 5% for all conceivable values of the chemical exchange rate and flip-angles that deliver useful SNR per unit time over the range T1/5 ≤ TR ≤ 2T1. Errors are also less than 5% for three- and four-site exchange when TR ≥ T1*/2, the so-called "intrinsic" T1's of the metabolites. The effect of changing metabolite concentrations and chemical exchange rates on observed T1's and saturation corrections was also examined with a three-site chemical exchange model involving ATP, PCr, and inorganic phosphate in skeletal muscle undergoing up to 95% PCr depletion. Although the observed T1's were dependent on metabolite concentrations, errors in saturation corrections for TR = 2 s could be kept within 5% for all exchanging metabolites using a simple interpolation of two dual-angle T1 measurements performed at the start and end of the experiment. Thus, the single-exponential model appears to be reasonably accurate for correcting 31P MRS data for partial saturation in the presence of chemical exchange. Even in systems where

Noun Countability; Count Nouns and Non-count Nouns, What are the Syntactic Differences Between them?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azhar A. Alkazwini

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Words that function as the subjects of verbs, objects of verbs or prepositions and which can have a plural form and possessive ending are known as nouns. They are described as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities and might also be used as an attributive modifier. In this paper, classes and subclasses of nouns shall be presented, then, noun countability branching into count and non-count nous shall be discussed. A number of present examples illustrating differences between count and non-count nouns and this includes determiner-head-co-occurrence restrictions of number, subject-verb agreement, in addition to some exceptions to this agreement rule shall be discussed. Also, the lexically inherent number in nouns and how inherently plural nouns are classified in terms of (+/- count are illustrated. This research will discuss partitive construction of count and non-count nouns, nouns as attributive modifier and, finally, conclude with the fact that there are syntactic difference between count and non-count in the English Language.

Soil aquifer treatment of artificial wastewater under saturated conditions

KAUST Repository

Essandoh, H. M K

2011-05-01

A 2000 mm long saturated laboratory soil column was used to simulate soil aquifer treatment under saturated conditions to assess the removal of chemical and biochemical oxygen demand (COD and BOD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen and phosphate, using high strength artificial wastewater. The removal rates were determined under a combination of constant hydraulic loading rates (HLR) and variable COD concentrations as well as variable HLR under a constant COD. Within the range of COD concentrations considered (42 mg L-1-135 mg L-1) it was found that at fixed hydraulic loading rate, a decrease in the influent concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen and phosphate improved their removal efficiencies. At the high COD concentrations applied residence times influenced the redox conditions in the soil column. Long residence times were detrimental to the removal process for COD, BOD and DOC as anoxic processes and sulphate reduction played an important role as electron acceptors. It was found that total COD mass loading within the range of 911 mg d-1-1780 mg d-1 applied as low COD wastewater infiltrated coupled with short residence times would provide better effluent quality than the same mass applied as a COD with higher concentration at long residence times. The opposite was true for organic nitrogen where relatively high concentrations coupled with long residence time gave better removal efficiency. © 2011.

Fly's Eye: a counting camera for thermal neutrons, some applications, problems, and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidson, J.B.

1975-01-01

An area detector for thermal neutrons based on image intensification techniques is described and some capabilities and limitations of the detection system are discussed. Among the former are high spatial resolution high instantaneous counting rate, electronic zoom, time-gating, and integration. The detector is limited in that the maximum counting rate for a resolution element is 60 regularly spaced counts per second. Also, the nonuniformity of response over the detector limits the useful size and requires point-by-point calibration. In addition, a higher efficiency for neutron detection would be desirable. Some typical applications of the system are: crystal inspection, neutron magnetic diffraction topography, and searches for temperature induced changes in diffraction patterns. The future application of solid state television sensors and microchannel plate intensifiers to improve the system are briefly mentioned. (U.S.)

Fly's eye: a counting camera for thermal neutrons: some applications, problems, and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davidson, J.B.

1976-01-01

An area detector for thermal neutrons based on image intensification techniques is described. Some capabilities and limitations of the detection system are discussed. Among the former are high spatial resolution, high instantaneous counting rate, electronic zoom, time-gating, and integration. The detector is limited in that the maximum counting rate for a resolution element is 60 regularly spaced counts per second. Also, the nonuniformity of response over the detector puts a limit on the useful size and necessitates point-by-point calibration. In addition, a higher efficiency for neutron detection would be desirable. Some typical applications of the system are crystal inspection, neutron magnetic diffraction topography, and searches for temperature-induced changes in diffraction patterns. The future application of solid-state television sensors and microchannel-plate intensifiers to improve the system is briefly mentioned

Eosinophil count is positively correlated with coronary artery calcification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Muhei; Fukui, Michiaki; Yamasaki, Masahiro; Hasegawa, Goji; Oda, Yohei; Nakamura, Naoto; Tomiyasu, Ki-ichiro; Akabame, Satoshi; Nakano, Koji

2012-01-01

Recent studies suggested that allergic disorders and increased eosinophil count were associated with atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between eosinophil count and coronary artery calcification (CAC). We performed a cross-sectional study in 1363 consecutive participants with clinical suspicion of coronary heart disease (CHD). We evaluated the relationships between CAC score determined by multislice CT and peripheral eosinophil count as well as major cardiovascular risk factors, including age, body mass index, smoking status, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus (DM), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Sex (P=0.0004), hypertension (P=0.0002), dyslipidemia (P=0.0004) and DM (P=0.0061) were associated with log (CAC+1), respectively. Positive correlations were found between log (CAC+1), and age (r=0.325, P<0.0001) and eosinophil count (r=0.165, P<0.0001). Negative correlations were found between log (CAC+1) and eGFR (r=-0.166, P<0.0001). Multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated that age (β=0.314, P<0.0001), sex (β=0.124, P<0.0001), hypertension (β=0.084, P=0.0008), DM (β=0.108, P<0.0001), eGFR (β=-0.079, P=0.0021) and eosinophil count (β=0.147, P<0.0001) were independent determinants of log (CAC+1). In conclusion, eosinophil count correlated positively with CAC in participants with clinical suspicion of CHD. (author)

Single ion counting with a MCP (microchannel plate) detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tawara, Hiroko; Sasaki, Shinichi; Miyajima, Mitsuhiro [National Lab. for High Energy Physics, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Shibamura, Eido

1996-07-01

In this study, a single-ion-counting method using alpha-particle-impact ionization of Ar atoms is demonstrated and the preliminary {epsilon}{sub mcp} for Ar ions with incident energies of 3 to 4.7 keV is determined. The single-ion counting by the MCP is aimed to be performed under experimental conditions as follows: (1) A signal from the MCP is reasonably identified as incidence of single Ar-ion. (2) The counting rate of Ar ions is less than 1 s{sup -1}. (3) The incident Ar ions are not focused on a small part of an active area of the MCP, namely, {epsilon}{sub mcp} is determined with respect to the whole active area of the MCP. So far, any absolute detection efficiency has not been reported under these conditions. (J.P.N.)

Effect of oxygen treatment on heart rate after abdominal surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenberg-Adamsen, S; Lie, C; Bernhard, A

1999-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cardiac complications are common during the postoperative period and may be associated with hypoxemia and tachycardia. Preliminary studies in high-risk patients after operation have shown a possible beneficial effect of oxygen therapy on arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate....... METHODS: The authors studied the effect of oxygen therapy on arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate in 100 consecutive unselected patients randomly and double blindly allocated to receive air or oxygen therapy between the first and fourth day after major abdominal surgery. RESULTS: The median arterial...... oxygen saturation rate increased significantly from 96% to 99% (P heart rate decreased significantly from 85 beats/min to 81 beats/min (P heart rate occurred...

Energy dependent saturable and reverse saturable absorption in cube-like polyaniline/polymethyl methacrylate film

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thekkayil, Remyamol [Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 547 (India); Philip, Reji [Light and Matter Physics Group, Raman Research Institute, C.V. Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560 080 (India); Gopinath, Pramod [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 547 (India); John, Honey, E-mail: honey@iist.ac.in [Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 547 (India)

2014-08-01

Solid films of cube-like polyaniline synthesized by inverse microemulsion polymerization method have been fabricated in a transparent PMMA host by an in situ free radical polymerization technique, and are characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The nonlinear optical properties are studied by open aperture Z-scan technique employing 5 ns (532 nm) and 100 fs (800 nm) laser pulses. At the relatively lower laser pulse energy of 5 μJ, the film shows saturable absorption both in the nanosecond and femtosecond excitation domains. An interesting switchover from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption is observed at 532 nm when the energy of the nanosecond laser pulses is increased. The nonlinear absorption coefficient increases with increase in polyaniline concentration, with low optical limiting threshold, as required for a good optical limiter. - Highlights: • Synthesized cube-like polyaniline nanostructures. • Fabricated polyaniline/PMMA nanocomposite films. • At 5 μJ energy, saturable absorption is observed both at ns and fs regime. • Switchover from SA to RSA is observed as energy of laser beam increases. • Film (0.1 wt % polyaniline) shows high β{sub eff} (230 cm GW{sup −1}) and low limiting threshold at 150 μJ.

Clean Hands Count

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... starting stop Loading... Watch Queue Queue __count__/__total__ It’s YouTube. Uninterrupted. Loading... Want music and videos with ... ads? Get YouTube Red. Working... Not now Try it free Find out why Close Clean Hands Count ...

Stroke saturation on a MEMS deformable mirror for woofer-tweeter adaptive optics.

Science.gov (United States)

Morzinski, Katie; Macintosh, Bruce; Gavel, Donald; Dillon, Daren

2009-03-30

High-contrast imaging of extrasolar planet candidates around a main-sequence star has recently been realized from the ground using current adaptive optics (AO) systems. Advancing such observations will be a task for the Gemini Planet Imager, an upcoming "extreme" AO instrument. High-order "tweeter" and low-order "woofer" deformable mirrors (DMs) will supply a >90%-Strehl correction, a specialized coronagraph will suppress the stellar flux, and any planets can then be imaged in the "dark hole" region. Residual wavefront error scatters light into the DM-controlled dark hole, making planets difficult to image above the noise. It is crucial in this regard that the high-density tweeter, a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) DM, have sufficient stroke to deform to the shapes required by atmospheric turbulence. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the rate and circumstance of saturation, i.e. stroke insufficiency. A 1024-actuator 1.5-microm-stroke MEMS device was empirically tested with software Kolmogorov-turbulence screens of r(0) =10-15 cm. The MEMS when solitary suffered saturation approximately 4% of the time. Simulating a woofer DM with approximately 5-10 actuators across a 5-m primary mitigated MEMS saturation occurrence to a fraction of a percent. While no adjacent actuators were saturated at opposing positions, mid-to-high-spatial-frequency stroke did saturate more frequently than expected, implying that correlations through the influence functions are important. Analytical models underpredict the stroke requirements, so empirical studies are important.

Count-to-count time interval distribution analysis in a fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Navarro Gomez, A.

1973-01-01

The most important kinetic parameters have been measured at the zero power fast reactor CORAL-I by means of the reactor noise analysis in the time domain, using measurements of the count-to-count time intervals. (Author) 69 refs

Analysis of a Heroin Epidemic Model with Saturated Treatment Function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isaac Mwangi Wangari

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A mathematical model is developed that examines how heroin addiction spreads in society. The model is formulated to take into account the treatment of heroin users by incorporating a realistic functional form that “saturates” representing the limited availability of treatment. Bifurcation analysis reveals that the model has an intrinsic backward bifurcation whenever the saturation parameter is larger than a fixed threshold. We are particularly interested in studying the model’s global stability. In the absence of backward bifurcations, Lyapunov functions can often be found and used to prove global stability. However, in the presence of backward bifurcations, such Lyapunov functions may not exist or may be difficult to construct. We make use of the geometric approach to global stability to derive a condition that ensures that the system is globally asymptotically stable. Numerical simulations are also presented to give a more complete representation of the model dynamics. Sensitivity analysis performed by Latin hypercube sampling (LHS suggests that the effective contact rate in the population, the relapse rate of heroin users undergoing treatment, and the extent of saturation of heroin users are mechanisms fuelling heroin epidemic proliferation.

HIV Seropositivity And CD4 T-Lymphocyte Counts Among Infants ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The CD4 cell count was estimated using the Dynamal ® Quant Kit (Dynal Biotechn, ASA, Oslo, Norway). Results: The overall HIV prevalence rate in this study was 23.2%. The distribution of HIV prevalence among different age group revealed a high prevalence rate among the under fives (24.1% for males and 26.4% for ...

DAWN GRAND MAP CERES TPE NEUTRON COUNTS V1.0

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A global map thermal+epithermal neutron counting rates binned on twenty-degree quasi-equal-area pixels is provided. The map was determined from a time series of the...

Automated agitation management accounting for saturation dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudge, A D; Chase, J G; Shaw, G M; Lee, D

2004-01-01

Agitation-sedation cycling in critically ill is damaging to patient health and increases length of and cost. A physiologically representative model of the agitation-sedation system is used as a platform to evaluate feedback controllers offering improved agitation management. A heavy-derivative controller with upper and infusion rate bounds maintains minimum plasma concentrations through a low constant infusion, and minimizes outbursts of agitation through strong, timely boluses. controller provides improved agitation management using from 37 critically ill patients, given the saturation of effect at high concentration. Approval was obtained the Canterbury Ethics Board for this research.

Correction of count losses due to deadtime on a DST-XLi (SMVi-GE) camera during dosimetric studies in patients injected with iodine-131

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delpon, G.; Ferrer, L.; Lisbona, A.; Bardies, M.

2002-01-01

In dosimetric studies performed after therapeutic injection, it is essential to correct count losses due to deadtime on the gamma camera. This note describes four deadtime correction methods, one based on the use of a standard source without preliminary calibration, and three requiring specific calibration and based on the count rate observed in different spectrometric windows (20%, 20% plus a lower energy window and the full spectrum of 50-750 keV). Experiments were conducted on a phantom at increasingly higher count rates to check correction accuracy with the different methods. The error was less than +7% with a standard source, whereas count-rate-based methods gave more accurate results. On the assumption that the model was paralysable, preliminary calibration allowed an observed count rate curve to be plotted as a function of the real count rate. The use of the full spectrum led to a 3.0% underestimation for the highest activity imaged. As count losses depend on photon flux independent of energy, the use of the full spectrum during measurement allowed scatter conditions to be taken into account. A protocol was developed to apply this correction method to whole-body acquisitions. (author)

Serum albumin--a non-saturable carrier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodersen, R; Honoré, B; Larsen, F G

1984-01-01

The shape of binding isotherms for sixteen ligands to human serum albumin showed no signs of approaching saturation at high ligand concentrations. It is suggested that ligand binding to serum albumin is essentially different from saturable binding of substrates to enzymes, of oxygen to haemoglobi...

Saturation and forward jets at HERA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marquet, C.; Peschanski, R.; Royon, C.

2004-01-01

We analyse forward-jet production at HERA in the framework of the Golec-Biernat and Wusthoff saturation models. We obtain a good description of the forward-jet cross-sections measured by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations in the two-hard-scale region (k T∼ Q >> Λ QCD ) with two different parametrizations with either significant or weak saturation effects. The weak saturation parametrization gives a scale compatible with the one found for the proton structure function F2. We argue that Mueller-Navelet jets at the Tevatron and the LHC could help distinguishing between both options

Correcting saturation of detectors for particle/droplet imaging methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalt, Peter A M

2010-01-01

Laser-based diagnostic methods are being applied to more and more flows of theoretical and practical interest and are revealing interesting new flow features. Imaging particles or droplets in nephelometry and laser sheet dropsizing methods requires a trade-off of maximized signal-to-noise ratio without over-saturating the detector. Droplet and particle imaging results in lognormal distribution of pixel intensities. It is possible to fit a derived lognormal distribution to the histogram of measured pixel intensities. If pixel intensities are clipped at a saturated value, it is possible to estimate a presumed probability density function (pdf) shape without the effects of saturation from the lognormal fit to the unsaturated histogram. Information about presumed shapes of the pixel intensity pdf is used to generate corrections that can be applied to data to account for saturation. The effects of even slight saturation are shown to be a significant source of error on the derived average. The influence of saturation on the derived root mean square (rms) is even more pronounced. It is found that errors on the determined average exceed 5% when the number of saturated samples exceeds 3% of the total. Errors on the rms are 20% for a similar saturation level. This study also attempts to delineate limits, within which the detector saturation can be accurately corrected. It is demonstrated that a simple method for reshaping the clipped part of the pixel intensity histogram makes accurate corrections to account for saturated pixels. These outcomes can be used to correct a saturated signal, quantify the effect of saturation on a derived average and offer a method to correct the derived average in the case of slight to moderate saturation of pixels

An examination of the time-dependent background counts of the delayed neutron counting system at the Royal Military College of Canada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sellers, M.T.; Corcoran, E.C.; Kelly, D.G.

2011-01-01

A delayed neutron counting (DNC) system for the analysis of special nuclear materials (SNM) has been constructed and calibrated at the Royal Military College of Canada. The polyethylene vials used to transport SNM samples have been found to contribute a time-dependent count rate, B(t), far above the system background. B(t) has been found to be independent of polyethylene mass and shows a dependence on irradiation position in the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor and irradiation time. A comparison of B(t) and the theoretical delayed neutron production from the fission of small amounts of 235 U has indicated that trace amounts of uranium may be present in the DNC system tubing. (author)

How Fred Hoyle Reconciled Radio Source Counts and the Steady State Cosmology

Science.gov (United States)

Ekers, Ron

2012-09-01

In 1969 Fred Hoyle invited me to his Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (IOTA) in Cambridge to work with him on the interpretation of the radio source counts. This was a period of extreme tension with Ryle just across the road using the steep slope of the radio source counts to argue that the radio source population was evolving and Hoyle maintaining that the counts were consistent with the steady state cosmology. Both of these great men had made some correct deductions but they had also both made mistakes. The universe was evolving, but the source counts alone could tell us very little about cosmology. I will try to give some indication of the atmosphere and the issues at the time and look at what we can learn from this saga. I will conclude by briefly summarising the exponential growth of the size of the radio source counts since the early days and ask whether our understanding has grown at the same rate.

Characterization of spectrometric photon-counting X-ray detectors at different pitches

Science.gov (United States)

Jurdit, M.; Brambilla, A.; Moulin, V.; Ouvrier-Buffet, P.; Radisson, P.; Verger, L.

2017-09-01

There is growing interest in energy-sensitive photon-counting detectors based on high flux X-ray imaging. Their potential applications include medical imaging, non-destructive testing and security. Innovative detectors of this type will need to count individual photons and sort them into selected energy bins, at several million counts per second and per mm2. Cd(Zn)Te detector grade materials with a thickness of 1.5 to 3 mm and pitches from 800 μm down to 200 μm were assembled onto interposer boards. These devices were tested using in-house-developed full-digital fast readout electronics. The 16-channel demonstrators, with 256 energy bins, were experimentally characterized by determining spectral resolution, count rate, and charge sharing, which becomes challenging at low pitch. Charge sharing correction was found to efficiently correct X-ray spectra up to 40 × 106 incident photons.s-1.mm-2.

Phosphorene quantum dot saturable absorbers for ultrafast fiber lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Du, J.; Zhang, M.; Guo, Z.; Chen, J.; Zhu, X.; Hu, G.; Peng, P.; Zheng, Z.; Zhang, H.

2017-01-01

We fabricate ultrasmall phosphorene quantum dots (PQDs) with an average size of 2.6 ± 0.9 nm using a liquid exfoliation method involving ultrasound probe sonication followed by bath sonication. By coupling the as-prepared PQDs with microfiber evanescent light field, the PQD-based saturable absorber (SA) device exhibits ultrafast nonlinear saturable absorption property, with an optical modulation depth of 8.1% at the telecommunication band. With the integration of the all-fiber PQD-based SA, a continuous-wave passively mode-locked erbium-doped (Er-doped) laser cavity delivers stable, self-starting pulses with a pulse duration of 0.88 ps and at the cavity repetition rate of 5.47 MHz. Our results contribute to the growing body of work studying the nonlinear optical properties of ultrasmall PQDs that present new opportunities of this two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial for future ultrafast photonic technologies. PMID:28211471

The effect of volume and quenching on estimation of counting efficiencies in liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoche, H.W.; Parkhurst, A.M.; Tam, S.W.

1979-01-01

The effect of volume on the liquid scintillation counting performance of 14 C-samples has been investigated. A decrease in counting efficiency was observed for samples with volumes below about 6 ml and those above about 18 ml when unquenched samples were assayed. Two quench-correction methods, sample channels ratio and external standard channels ratio, and three different liquid scintillation counters, were used in an investigation to determine the magnitude of the error in predicting counting efficiencies when small volume samples (2 ml) with different levels of quenching were assayed. The 2 ml samples exhibited slightly greater standard deviations of the difference between predicted and determined counting efficiencies than did 15 ml samples. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the errors indicate that if the sample channels ratio method of quench correction is employed, 2 ml samples may be counted in conventional counting vials with little loss in counting precision. (author)

Estimation of DMFT, Salivary Streptococcus Mutans Count, Flow Rate, Ph, and Salivary Total Calcium Content in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women: A Prospective Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamate, Wasim Ismail; Vibhute, Nupura Aniket; Baad, Rajendra Krishna

2017-04-01

Pregnancy, a period from conception till birth, causes changes in the functioning of the human body as a whole and specifically in the oral cavity that may favour the emergence of dental caries. Many studies have shown pregnant women at increased risk for dental caries, however, specific salivary caries risk factors and the particular period of pregnancy at heightened risk for dental caries are yet to be explored and give a scope of further research in this area. The aim of the present study was to assess the severity of dental caries in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women by evaluating parameters like Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index, salivary Streptococcus mutans count, flow rate, pH and total calcium content. A total of 50 first time pregnant women in the first trimester were followed during their second trimester, third trimester and postpartum period for the evaluation of DMFT by World Health Organization (WHO) scoring criteria, salivary flow rate by drooling method, salivary pH by pH meter, salivary total calcium content by bioassay test kit and salivary Streptococcus mutans count by semiautomatic counting of colonies grown on Mitis Salivarius (MS) agar supplemented by 0.2U/ml of bacitracin and 10% sucrose. The observations of pregnant women were then compared with same parameters evaluated in the 50 non-pregnant women. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon sign rank test were performed to assess the association between the study parameters. Evaluation of different caries risk factors between pregnant and non-pregnant women clearly showed that pregnant women were at a higher risk for dental caries. Comparison of caries risk parameters during the three trimesters and postpartum period showed that the salivary Streptococcus mutans count had significantly increased in the second trimester , third trimester and postpartum period while the mean pH and mean salivary total calcium content decreased in the third trimester and postpartum period. These

Estimation of DMFT, Salivary Streptococcus Mutans Count, Flow Rate, Ph, and Salivary Total Calcium Content in Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Women: A Prospective Study

Science.gov (United States)

Vibhute, Nupura Aniket; Baad, Rajendra Krishna

2017-01-01

Introduction Pregnancy, a period from conception till birth, causes changes in the functioning of the human body as a whole and specifically in the oral cavity that may favour the emergence of dental caries. Many studies have shown pregnant women at increased risk for dental caries, however, specific salivary caries risk factors and the particular period of pregnancy at heightened risk for dental caries are yet to be explored and give a scope of further research in this area. Aim The aim of the present study was to assess the severity of dental caries in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women by evaluating parameters like Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index, salivary Streptococcus mutans count, flow rate, pH and total calcium content. Materials and Methods A total of 50 first time pregnant women in the first trimester were followed during their second trimester, third trimester and postpartum period for the evaluation of DMFT by World Health Organization (WHO) scoring criteria, salivary flow rate by drooling method, salivary pH by pH meter, salivary total calcium content by bioassay test kit and salivary Streptococcus mutans count by semiautomatic counting of colonies grown on Mitis Salivarius (MS) agar supplemented by 0.2U/ml of bacitracin and 10% sucrose. The observations of pregnant women were then compared with same parameters evaluated in the 50 non-pregnant women. Paired t-test and Wilcoxon sign rank test were performed to assess the association between the study parameters. Results Evaluation of different caries risk factors between pregnant and non-pregnant women clearly showed that pregnant women were at a higher risk for dental caries. Comparison of caries risk parameters during the three trimesters and postpartum period showed that the salivary Streptococcus mutans count had significantly increased in the second trimester, third trimester and postpartum period while the mean pH and mean salivary total calcium content decreased in the third

Ultrafast THz Saturable Absorption in Semiconductors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turchinovich, Dmitry; Hoffmann, Matthias C.

2011-01-01

We demonstrate THz saturable absorption in n-doped semiconductors GaAs, GaP, and Ge in a nonlinear THz time-domain spectroscopy experiment. Saturable absorption is caused by sample conductivity modulation due to electron heating and satellite valley scattering in the field of a strong THz pulse....

TasselNet: counting maize tassels in the wild via local counts regression network.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hao; Cao, Zhiguo; Xiao, Yang; Zhuang, Bohan; Shen, Chunhua

2017-01-01

Accurately counting maize tassels is important for monitoring the growth status of maize plants. This tedious task, however, is still mainly done by manual efforts. In the context of modern plant phenotyping, automating this task is required to meet the need of large-scale analysis of genotype and phenotype. In recent years, computer vision technologies have experienced a significant breakthrough due to the emergence of large-scale datasets and increased computational resources. Naturally image-based approaches have also received much attention in plant-related studies. Yet a fact is that most image-based systems for plant phenotyping are deployed under controlled laboratory environment. When transferring the application scenario to unconstrained in-field conditions, intrinsic and extrinsic variations in the wild pose great challenges for accurate counting of maize tassels, which goes beyond the ability of conventional image processing techniques. This calls for further robust computer vision approaches to address in-field variations. This paper studies the in-field counting problem of maize tassels. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a plant-related counting problem is considered using computer vision technologies under unconstrained field-based environment. With 361 field images collected in four experimental fields across China between 2010 and 2015 and corresponding manually-labelled dotted annotations, a novel Maize Tassels Counting ( MTC ) dataset is created and will be released with this paper. To alleviate the in-field challenges, a deep convolutional neural network-based approach termed TasselNet is proposed. TasselNet can achieve good adaptability to in-field variations via modelling the local visual characteristics of field images and regressing the local counts of maize tassels. Extensive results on the MTC dataset demonstrate that TasselNet outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches by large margins and achieves the overall best counting

TasselNet: counting maize tassels in the wild via local counts regression network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hao Lu

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurately counting maize tassels is important for monitoring the growth status of maize plants. This tedious task, however, is still mainly done by manual efforts. In the context of modern plant phenotyping, automating this task is required to meet the need of large-scale analysis of genotype and phenotype. In recent years, computer vision technologies have experienced a significant breakthrough due to the emergence of large-scale datasets and increased computational resources. Naturally image-based approaches have also received much attention in plant-related studies. Yet a fact is that most image-based systems for plant phenotyping are deployed under controlled laboratory environment. When transferring the application scenario to unconstrained in-field conditions, intrinsic and extrinsic variations in the wild pose great challenges for accurate counting of maize tassels, which goes beyond the ability of conventional image processing techniques. This calls for further robust computer vision approaches to address in-field variations. Results This paper studies the in-field counting problem of maize tassels. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a plant-related counting problem is considered using computer vision technologies under unconstrained field-based environment. With 361 field images collected in four experimental fields across China between 2010 and 2015 and corresponding manually-labelled dotted annotations, a novel Maize Tassels Counting (MTC dataset is created and will be released with this paper. To alleviate the in-field challenges, a deep convolutional neural network-based approach termed TasselNet is proposed. TasselNet can achieve good adaptability to in-field variations via modelling the local visual characteristics of field images and regressing the local counts of maize tassels. Extensive results on the MTC dataset demonstrate that TasselNet outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches by large

A mathematical model of avian influenza with half-saturated incidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Chong, Nyuk Sian; Tchuenche, Jean Michel; Smith, Robert J

2014-03-01

The widespread impact of avian influenza viruses not only poses risks to birds, but also to humans. The viruses spread from birds to humans and from human to human In addition, mutation in the primary strain will increase the infectiousness of avian influenza. We developed a mathematical model of avian influenza for both bird and human populations. The effect of half-saturated incidence on transmission dynamics of the disease is investigated. The half-saturation constants determine the levels at which birds and humans contract avian influenza. To prevent the spread of avian influenza, the associated half-saturation constants must be increased, especially the half-saturation constant H m for humans with mutant strain. The quantity H m plays an essential role in determining the basic reproduction number of this model. Furthermore, by decreasing the rate β m at which human-to-human mutant influenza is contracted, an outbreak can be controlled more effectively. To combat the outbreak, we propose both pharmaceutical (vaccination) and non-pharmaceutical (personal protection and isolation) control methods to reduce the transmission of avian influenza. Vaccination and personal protection will decrease β m, while isolation will increase H m. Numerical simulations demonstrate that all proposed control strategies will lead to disease eradication; however, if we only employ vaccination, it will require slightly longer to eradicate the disease than only applying non-pharmaceutical or a combination of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical control methods. In conclusion, it is important to adopt a combination of control methods to fight an avian influenza outbreak.

Experimental evaluation of the extended Dytlewski-style dead time correction formalism for neutron multiplicity counting

Science.gov (United States)

Lockhart, M.; Henzlova, D.; Croft, S.; Cutler, T.; Favalli, A.; McGahee, Ch.; Parker, R.

2018-01-01

Over the past few decades, neutron multiplicity counting has played an integral role in Special Nuclear Material (SNM) characterization pertaining to nuclear safeguards. Current neutron multiplicity analysis techniques use singles, doubles, and triples count rates because a methodology to extract and dead time correct higher order count rates (i.e. quads and pents) was not fully developed. This limitation is overcome by the recent extension of a popular dead time correction method developed by Dytlewski. This extended dead time correction algorithm, named Dytlewski-Croft-Favalli(DCF), is detailed in reference Croft and Favalli (2017), which gives an extensive explanation of the theory and implications of this new development. Dead time corrected results can then be used to assay SNM by inverting a set of extended point model equations which as well have only recently been formulated. The current paper discusses and presents the experimental evaluation of practical feasibility of the DCF dead time correction algorithm to demonstrate its performance and applicability in nuclear safeguards applications. In order to test the validity and effectiveness of the dead time correction for quads and pents, 252Cf and SNM sources were measured in high efficiency neutron multiplicity counters at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the count rates were extracted up to the fifth order and corrected for dead time. In order to assess the DCF dead time correction, the corrected data is compared to traditional dead time correction treatment within INCC. The DCF dead time correction is found to provide adequate dead time treatment for broad range of count rates available in practical applications.

One hour effects of salbutamol and formoterol on blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation in asthmatics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geraldo Andrade Capuchinho-Júnior

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Aim: To analyse systolic (SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP, partial oxygen saturation (SpO2 and heart rate (HR disorders for an hour after short and long acting ß2-agonists. Material and methods: Twenty-four severe persistent asthma Pulmonology outpatients at Hospital Universitario Gaffree e Guinle were selected. SBP, DBP, SpO2 and HR values were determined before and after 400 μg of salbutamol and 12 μg of formoterol, on different days, with a minimum interval of 24 hours. Results: All patients showed ventilatory obstruction, as seen by a reduced FEV1/FVC ratio. There was no statistical SBP/DBP/HR difference after bronchodilator agents, but SpO2 increased with salbutamol. Conclusion: A standard dose of salbutamol and formoterol does not cause haemodynamic disorder. Resumo: Objectivo: Analisar os possíveis efeitos do uso de β-2-agonistas, de curta e longa duração, nas pressões arteriais sistólica (PAS e diastólica (PAD, na saturação parcial de oxigénio (SpO2 e na frequência cardíaca (FC, durante o período de uma hora. Material e métodos: Vinte e quatro doentes com asma persistente grave, em tratamento no ambulatório de Pneumologia do Hospital Universitário Gaffrée e Guinle, foram seleccionados para um ensaio clínico sequencial e cruzado. Os valores da PAS, PAD, SpO2 e FC foram registados antes e após o uso de broncodilatadores, salbutamol 400 μg e formoterol 12 μg, em dias diferentes, com intervalo mínimo de 24 horas. Resultados: Todos os doentes apresentaram distúrbio ventilatório obstrutivo, identificado pela redução da relação entre o volume expiratório forçado no primeiro segundo (VEMS e a capacidade vital forçada (CVF. Após o uso de substância broncodilatadora, não houve variação significativa nas PAS e PAD, nem na FC; porém, a SpO2 aumentou com o uso de salbutamol. Conclusão: Não foram observadas

Saturation behavior: a general relationship described by a simple second-order differential equation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kepner, Gordon R

2010-04-13

The numerous natural phenomena that exhibit saturation behavior, e.g., ligand binding and enzyme kinetics, have been approached, to date, via empirical and particular analyses. This paper presents a mechanism-free, and assumption-free, second-order differential equation, designed only to describe a typical relationship between the variables governing these phenomena. It develops a mathematical model for this relation, based solely on the analysis of the typical experimental data plot and its saturation characteristics. Its utility complements the traditional empirical approaches. For the general saturation curve, described in terms of its independent (x) and dependent (y) variables, a second-order differential equation is obtained that applies to any saturation phenomena. It shows that the driving factor for the basic saturation behavior is the probability of the interactive site being free, which is described quantitatively. Solving the equation relates the variables in terms of the two empirical constants common to all these phenomena, the initial slope of the data plot and the limiting value at saturation. A first-order differential equation for the slope emerged that led to the concept of the effective binding rate at the active site and its dependence on the calculable probability the interactive site is free. These results are illustrated using specific cases, including ligand binding and enzyme kinetics. This leads to a revised understanding of how to interpret the empirical constants, in terms of the variables pertinent to the phenomenon under study. The second-order differential equation revealed the basic underlying relations that describe these saturation phenomena, and the basic mathematical properties of the standard experimental data plot. It was shown how to integrate this differential equation, and define the common basic properties of these phenomena. The results regarding the importance of the slope and the new perspectives on the empirical

Electrical conductivity modeling in fractal non-saturated porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, W.; Cai, J.; Hu, X.; Han, Q.

2016-12-01

The variety of electrical conductivity in non-saturated conditions is important to study electric conduction in natural sedimentary rocks. The electrical conductivity in completely saturated porous media is a porosity-function representing the complex connected behavior of single conducting phases (pore fluid). For partially saturated conditions, the electrical conductivity becomes even more complicated since the connectedness of pore. Archie's second law is an empirical electrical conductivity-porosity and -saturation model that has been used to predict the formation factor of non-saturated porous rock. However, the physical interpretation of its parameters, e.g., the cementation exponent m and the saturation exponent n, remains questionable. On basis of our previous work, we combine the pore-solid fractal (PSF) model to build an electrical conductivity model in non-saturated porous media. Our theoretical porosity- and saturation-dependent models contain endmember properties, such as fluid electrical conductivities, pore fractal dimension and tortuosity fractal dimension (representing the complex degree of electrical flowing path). We find the presented model with non-saturation-dependent electrical conductivity datasets indicate excellent match between theory and experiments. This means the value of pore fractal dimension and tortuosity fractal dimension change from medium to medium and depends not only on geometrical properties of pore structure but also characteristics of electrical current flowing in the non-saturated porous media.

Isospectral discrete and quantum graphs with the same flip counts and nodal counts

Science.gov (United States)

Juul, Jonas S.; Joyner, Christopher H.

2018-06-01

The existence of non-isomorphic graphs which share the same Laplace spectrum (to be referred to as isospectral graphs) leads naturally to the following question: what additional information is required in order to resolve isospectral graphs? It was suggested by Band, Shapira and Smilansky that this might be achieved by either counting the number of nodal domains or the number of times the eigenfunctions change sign (the so-called flip count) (Band et al 2006 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 13999–4014 Band and Smilansky 2007 Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 145 171–9). Recent examples of (discrete) isospectral graphs with the same flip count and nodal count have been constructed by Ammann by utilising Godsil–McKay switching (Ammann private communication). Here, we provide a simple alternative mechanism that produces systematic examples of both discrete and quantum isospectral graphs with the same flip and nodal counts.

Simple analytical technique for liquid scintillation counting of environmental carbon-14 using gel suspension method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okai, Tomio; Wakabayashi, Genichiro; Nagao, Kenjiro; Matoba, Masaru; Ohura, Hirotaka; Momoshima, Noriyuki; Kawamura, Hidehisa

2000-01-01

A simple analytical technique for liquid scintillation counting of environmental 14 C was developed. Commercially available gelling agent, N-lauroyl-L -glutamic -α,γ-dibutylamide, was used for the gel-formation of the samples (gel suspension method) and for the subsequent liquid scintillation counting of 14 C in the form of CaCO 3 . Our procedure for sample preparation is much simpler than that of the conventional methods and requires no special equipment. Self absorption, stability and reproducibility of gel suspension samples were investigated in order to evaluate the characteristics of the gel suspension method for 14 C activity measurement. The self absorption factor is about 70% and slightly decrease as CaCO 3 weight increase. This is considered to be mainly due to the absorption of β-rays and scintillation light by the CaCO 3 sample itself. No change of the counting rate for the gel suspension sample was observed for more than 2 years after the sample preparation. Four samples were used for checking the reproducibility of the sample preparation method. The same values were obtained for the counting rate of 24 C activity within the counting error. No change of the counting rate was observed for the 're-gelated' sample. These results show that the gel suspension method is appropriate for the 14 C activity measurement by the liquid scintillation counting method and useful for a long-term preservation of the sample for repeated measurement. The above analytical technique was applied to actual environmental samples in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. Results obtained were comparable with those by other researchers and appear to be reasonable. Therefore, the newly developed technique is useful for the routine monitoring of environmental 14 C. (author)

High energy resolution and high count rate gamma spectrometry measurement of primary coolant of generation 4 sodium-cooled fast reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coulon, R.

2010-01-01

Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors are under development for the fourth generation of nuclear reactor. Breeders reactors could gives solutions for the need of energy and the preservation of uranium resources. An other purpose is the radioactive wastes production reduction by transmutation and the control of non-proliferation using a closed-cycle. These thesis shows safety and profit advantages that could be obtained by a new generation of gamma spectrometry system for SFR. Now, the high count rate abilities, allow us to study new methods of accurate power measurement and fast clad failure detection. Simulations have been done and an experimental test has been performed at the French Phenix SFR of the CEA Marcoule showing promising results for these new measurements. (author) [fr

Counting It Twice.

Science.gov (United States)

Schattschneider, Doris

1991-01-01

Provided are examples from many domains of mathematics that illustrate the Fubini Principle in its discrete version: the value of a summation over a rectangular array is independent of the order of summation. Included are: counting using partitions as in proof by pictures, combinatorial arguments, indirect counting as in the inclusion-exclusion…

Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

G. Zyvoloski

2003-01-01

The purpose of this model report is to document the components of the site-scale saturated-zone flow model at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in accordance with administrative procedure (AP)-SIII.lOQ, ''Models''. This report provides validation and confidence in the flow model that was developed for site recommendation (SR) and will be used to provide flow fields in support of the Total Systems Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the License Application. The output from this report provides the flow model used in the ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'', MDL-NBS-HS-000010 Rev 01 (BSC 2003 [162419]). The Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport model then provides output to the SZ Transport Abstraction Model (BSC 2003 [164870]). In particular, the output from the SZ site-scale flow model is used to simulate the groundwater flow pathways and radionuclide transport to the accessible environment for use in the TSPA calculations. Since the development and calibration of the saturated-zone flow model, more data have been gathered for use in model validation and confidence building, including new water-level data from Nye County wells, single- and multiple-well hydraulic testing data, and new hydrochemistry data. In addition, a new hydrogeologic framework model (HFM), which incorporates Nye County wells lithology, also provides geologic data for corroboration and confidence in the flow model. The intended use of this work is to provide a flow model that generates flow fields to simulate radionuclide transport in saturated porous rock and alluvium under natural or forced gradient flow conditions. The flow model simulations are completed using the three-dimensional (3-D), finite-element, flow, heat, and transport computer code, FEHM Version (V) 2.20 (software tracking number (STN): 10086-2.20-00; LANL 2003 [161725]). Concurrently, process-level transport model and methodology for calculating radionuclide transport in the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain using FEHM V 2.20 are being

Low White Blood Cell Count

Science.gov (United States)

Symptoms Low white blood cell count By Mayo Clinic Staff A low white blood cell count (leukopenia) is a decrease ... of white blood cell (neutrophil). The definition of low white blood cell count varies from one medical ...

Temporal aggregation of migration counts can improve accuracy and precision of trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tara L. Crewe

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Temporal replicate counts are often aggregated to improve model fit by reducing zero-inflation and count variability, and in the case of migration counts collected hourly throughout a migration, allows one to ignore nonindependence. However, aggregation can represent a loss of potentially useful information on the hourly or seasonal distribution of counts, which might impact our ability to estimate reliable trends. We simulated 20-year hourly raptor migration count datasets with known rate of change to test the effect of aggregating hourly counts to daily or annual totals on our ability to recover known trend. We simulated data for three types of species, to test whether results varied with species abundance or migration strategy: a commonly detected species, e.g., Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus; a rarely detected species, e.g., Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus; and a species typically counted in large aggregations with overdispersed counts, e.g., Broad-winged Hawk, Buteo platypterus. We compared accuracy and precision of estimated trends across species and count types (hourly/daily/annual using hierarchical models that assumed a Poisson, negative binomial (NB or zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB count distribution. We found little benefit of modeling zero-inflation or of modeling the hourly distribution of migration counts. For the rare species, trends analyzed using daily totals and an NB or ZINB data distribution resulted in a higher probability of detecting an accurate and precise trend. In contrast, trends of the common and overdispersed species benefited from aggregation to annual totals, and for the overdispersed species in particular, trends estimating using annual totals were more precise, and resulted in lower probabilities of estimating a trend (1 in the wrong direction, or (2 with credible intervals that excluded the true trend, as compared with hourly and daily counts.

Estimated average annual rate of change of CD4(+) T-cell counts in patients on combination antiretroviral therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mocroft, Amanda; Phillips, Andrew N; Ledergerber, Bruno

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND: Patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) might continue treatment with a virologically failing regimen. We sought to identify annual change in CD4(+) T-cell count according to levels of viraemia in patients on cART. METHODS: A total of 111,371 CD4(+) T-cell counts...... and viral load measurements in 8,227 patients were analysed. Annual change in CD4(+) T-cell numbers was estimated using mixed models. RESULTS: After adjustment, the estimated average annual change in CD4(+) T-cell count significantly increased when viral load was cells/mm(3), 95......% confidence interval [CI] 26.6-34.3), was stable when viral load was 500-9,999 copies/ml (3.1 cells/mm(3), 95% CI -5.3-11.5) and decreased when viral load was >/=10,000 copies/ml (-14.8 cells/mm(3), 95% CI -4.5--25.1). Patients taking a boosted protease inhibitor (PI) regimen had more positive annual CD4(+) T-cell...

Platelet Counts in Insoluble Platelet-Rich Fibrin Clots: A Direct Method for Accurate Determination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yutaka Kitamura

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF clots have been used in regenerative dentistry most often, with the assumption that growth factor levels are concentrated in proportion to the platelet concentration. Platelet counts in PRF are generally determined indirectly by platelet counting in other liquid fractions. This study shows a method for direct estimation of platelet counts in PRF. To validate this method by determination of the recovery rate, whole-blood samples were obtained with an anticoagulant from healthy donors, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP fractions were clotted with CaCl2 by centrifugation and digested with tissue-plasminogen activator. Platelet counts were estimated before clotting and after digestion using an automatic hemocytometer. The method was then tested on PRF clots. The quality of platelets was examined by scanning electron microscopy and flow cytometry. In PRP-derived fibrin matrices, the recovery rate of platelets and white blood cells was 91.6 and 74.6%, respectively, after 24 h of digestion. In PRF clots associated with small and large red thrombi, platelet counts were 92.6 and 67.2% of the respective total platelet counts. These findings suggest that our direct method is sufficient for estimating the number of platelets trapped in an insoluble fibrin matrix and for determining that platelets are distributed in PRF clots and red thrombi roughly in proportion to their individual volumes. Therefore, we propose this direct digestion method for more accurate estimation of platelet counts in most types of platelet-enriched fibrin matrix.

Partial-Interval Estimation of Count: Uncorrected and Poisson-Corrected Error Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Yoder, Paul J.; Ledford, Jennifer R.; Harbison, Amy L.; Tapp, Jon T.

2018-01-01

A simulation study that used 3,000 computer-generated event streams with known behavior rates, interval durations, and session durations was conducted to test whether the main and interaction effects of true rate and interval duration affect the error level of uncorrected and Poisson-transformed (i.e., "corrected") count as estimated by…

Rapid and quantitative chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging with magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF).

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Ouri; Huang, Shuning; McMahon, Michael T; Rosen, Matthew S; Farrar, Christian T

2018-05-13

To develop a fast magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) method for quantitative chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging. We implemented a CEST-MRF method to quantify the chemical exchange rate and volume fraction of the N α -amine protons of L-arginine (L-Arg) phantoms and the amide and semi-solid exchangeable protons of in vivo rat brain tissue. L-Arg phantoms were made with different concentrations (25-100 mM) and pH (pH 4-6). The MRF acquisition schedule varied the saturation power randomly for 30 iterations (phantom: 0-6 μT; in vivo: 0-4 μT) with a total acquisition time of ≤2 min. The signal trajectories were pattern-matched to a large dictionary of signal trajectories simulated using the Bloch-McConnell equations for different combinations of exchange rate, exchangeable proton volume fraction, and water T 1 and T 2 relaxation times. The chemical exchange rates of the N α -amine protons of L-Arg were significantly (P exchange using saturation power method. Similarly, the L-Arg concentrations determined using MRF were significantly (P exchange rate was well fit (R 2  = 0.9186) by a base catalyzed exchange model. The amide proton exchange rate measured in rat brain cortex (34.8 ± 11.7 Hz) was in good agreement with that measured previously with the water exchange spectroscopy method (28.6 ± 7.4 Hz). The semi-solid proton volume fraction was elevated in white (12.2 ± 1.7%) compared to gray (8.1 ± 1.1%) matter brain regions in agreement with previous magnetization transfer studies. CEST-MRF provides a method for fast, quantitative CEST imaging. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

A saturable repair model for radionuclide therapy using low LET radiation emitters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calderon, Carlos F.; Joaquin Gonzalez; Guido Martin

2004-01-01

Purpose: In conventional radiotherapy doses of about 60Gy are necessary to achieve the tumor control or eradication. For systemic applications in radionuclide radiotherapy (RT) 0.1-0.5cGy/min and total dose 15-20 Gy could be reached with effective irradiation times of few days. The dose rate in tumor change exponentially as a time function where an uptake phase well differentiated from an elimination phase-will- appear both determined by the effective uptake and elimination times respectively. The biological response in RT will be determined not only by the total dose, but also by initial dose rate, the length of irradiation time (effective half-life) and biological factors, like radiosensitivity, repair and doubling times. Most quantitative models of radiation action on cells make the assumption that cell repair mechanisms are relevant in the response and it proceed in a dose-dependent way. The cell proliferation will influence too the response when the overall irradiation is comparable or greater than cell population doubling time. Many proposal had been made to apply radiobiological model for the prediction of the treatment response in RN. Saturable repair models are able, in principle, to explain the usual data base of radiobiological phenomena including which where other biophysical model does not work good. It is presented here an analytical expression to calculate the survival fraction in a cell population after irradiation based on a saturable repair radiobiological model proposed by Sanchez-Reyes [Sanchez-Reyes A. Radiact. Res., 1992;130:139-147] as function of radiobiological and biokinetics parameters which could be used in RN. The original radiobiological model consider a cell population where the DNA repair mechanisms are saturable and it could be affected by radiation action. The contribution of cell proliferation were considered keeping in mind that cell population grow up exponentially at constant rate. The dose rate was considered uniformly

Observability of linear systems with saturated outputs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koplon, R.; Sontag, E.D.; Hautus, M.L.J.

1994-01-01

We present necessary and sufficient conditions for observability of the class of output-saturated systems. These are linear systems whose output passes through a saturation function before it can be measured.

Liquid scintillation counting analysis of cadmium-109

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, M.K.; Barfuss, D.W.

1991-01-01

Recently the authors have used radiolabled cadmium-109 to measure the transport of inorganic cadmium in renal proximal tubules. An anomaly discovered in the liquid scintillation counting analysis of Cd-109 which is not attributable to normal decay; it consists of a significant decrease in the measured count rate of small amounts of sample. The objective is to determine whether the buffer solution used in the membrane transport studies is causing precipitation of the cadmium or whether cadmium is being adsorbed by the glass. It was important to determine whether the procedure could be modified to correct this problem. The problem does not appear to be related to the use of the buffer or to adsorption of Cd onto glass. Correction based on using triated L-glucose in all of these experiments and calculating a correction factor for the concentration of cadmium

Saturated Zone In-Situ Testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reimus, P. W.; Umari, M. J.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to document the results and interpretations of field experiments that have been conducted to test and validate conceptual flow and radionuclide transport models in the saturated zone (SZ) near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations provide estimates of flow and transport parameters that are used in the development of parameter distributions for Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) calculations. These parameter distributions are documented in the revisions to the SZ flow model report (BSC 2003 [ 162649]), the SZ transport model report (BSC 2003 [ 162419]), the SZ colloid transport report (BSC 2003 [162729]), and the SZ transport model abstraction report (BSC 2003 [1648701]). Specifically, this scientific analysis report provides the following information that contributes to the assessment of the capability of the SZ to serve as a barrier for waste isolation for the Yucca Mountain repository system: (1) The bases for selection of conceptual flow and transport models in the saturated volcanics and the saturated alluvium located near Yucca Mountain. (2) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated fractured volcanics at the C-wells complex near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, matrix diffusion coefficients, fracture apertures, and colloid transport parameters. (3) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated alluvium at the Alluvium Testing Complex (ATC), which is located at the southwestern corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, and

Saturated Zone In-Situ Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

P. W. Reimus; M. J. Umari

2003-12-23

The purpose of this scientific analysis is to document the results and interpretations of field experiments that have been conducted to test and validate conceptual flow and radionuclide transport models in the saturated zone (SZ) near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations provide estimates of flow and transport parameters that are used in the development of parameter distributions for Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) calculations. These parameter distributions are documented in the revisions to the SZ flow model report (BSC 2003 [ 162649]), the SZ transport model report (BSC 2003 [ 162419]), the SZ colloid transport report (BSC 2003 [162729]), and the SZ transport model abstraction report (BSC 2003 [1648701]). Specifically, this scientific analysis report provides the following information that contributes to the assessment of the capability of the SZ to serve as a barrier for waste isolation for the Yucca Mountain repository system: (1) The bases for selection of conceptual flow and transport models in the saturated volcanics and the saturated alluvium located near Yucca Mountain. (2) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated fractured volcanics at the C-wells complex near Yucca Mountain. The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, anisotropy in hydraulic conductivity, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, matrix diffusion coefficients, fracture apertures, and colloid transport parameters. (3) Results and interpretations of hydraulic and tracer tests conducted in saturated alluvium at the Alluvium Testing Complex (ATC), which is located at the southwestern corner of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The test interpretations include estimates of hydraulic conductivities, storativities, total porosities, effective porosities, longitudinal dispersivities, matrix diffusion mass transfer coefficients, and

Black phosphorus saturable absorber for Q-switched Er:YAG laser at 1645 nm

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Lei; Li, Tao; Zhang, Shuaiyi; Wang, Mingjian; Yang, Kejian; Fan, Mingqi; Zhao, Shengzhi; Li, Ming

2018-03-01

A Q-switched Er:YAG solid-state laser at 1645 nm based on black phosphorus (BP) saturable absorbers (SAs) was demonstrated firstly to our knowledge. The BP-SA was fabricated by drop-casting BP nanoplatelets dispersion on a YAG substrate and corresponding saturable absorption properties were characterized at 1.6 μm. By employing as-prepared BP-SAs, stable Q-switched laser operations were achieved with a pulse width of 2.8 μs and a repetition rate of 34 kHz, corresponding to the average output power of 0.33 W. The results verify that BP-SAs have great potential for pulsed 1.6 μm lasers.

Evaluation of high-energy electron detectors for probing the inner magnetosphere under high-counting condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamada, Yukihiro; Takashima, Takeshi; Mitani, Takefumi; Miyake, Wataru

2013-01-01

An ERG (Energization and Radiation in Geospace) satellite will be launched to study the acceleration processes of energetic particles in the radiation belt surrounding the earth. It is very important to reveal the acceleration process of high-energy particles for both science and the application to space weather forecast. Drastic increases of high-energy electrons in the radiation belt is sometimes observed during a geomagnetic storm. When a large magnetic storm occurs, energetic electron count rates may exceed flux limits expected in the nominal design and large number of incident electrons leading to detection loss. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that the count rate range of a single detection on board ERG satellite can be expanded by means of reading circuit operations to decrease an area of detection. In our ground experiment, we also found an unexpected result that count peaks shift to the higher energy side under high counting conditions. (author)

Ultra-fast photon counting with a passive quenching silicon photomultiplier in the charge integration regime

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guoqing; Lina, Liu

2018-02-01

An ultra-fast photon counting method is proposed based on the charge integration of output electrical pulses of passive quenching silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). The results of the numerical analysis with actual parameters of SiPMs show that the maximum photon counting rate of a state-of-art passive quenching SiPM can reach ~THz levels which is much larger than that of the existing photon counting devices. The experimental procedure is proposed based on this method. This photon counting regime of SiPMs is promising in many fields such as large dynamic light power detection.

Characterization of spectrometric photon-counting X-ray detectors at different pitches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jurdit, M.; Moulin, V.; Ouvrier-Buffet, P.; Verger, L.; Brambilla, A.; Radisson, P.

2017-01-01

There is growing interest in energy-sensitive photon-counting detectors based on high flux X-ray imaging. Their potential applications include medical imaging, non-destructive testing and security. Innovative detectors of this type will need to count individual photons and sort them into selected energy bins, at several million counts per second and per mm 2 . Cd(Zn)Te detector grade materials with a thickness of 1.5 to 3 mm and pitches from 800 μm down to 200 μm were assembled onto interposer boards. These devices were tested using in-house-developed full-digital fast readout electronics. The 16-channel demonstrators, with 256 energy bins, were experimentally characterized by determining spectral resolution, count rate, and charge sharing, which becomes challenging at low pitch. Charge sharing correction was found to efficiently correct X-ray spectra up to 40 × 10 6 incident photons.s −1 .mm −2 .

Rejection of Erroneous Saturation Data in Optical Pulse Oximetry in Newborn Patients

Science.gov (United States)

Scalise, L.; Marchionni, Paolo; Carnielli, Virgilio P.

2011-08-01

Pulse oximetry (PO) is extensively used in intensive care unit (ICU); this is mainly due to the fact that it is a non-invasive and real-time monitoring method. PO allows to measure arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and in particular hemoglobin oxygenation. Optical PO is typically realized by the use of a clip (to be applied on the ear or on the finger top) containing a couple of monochromatic LED sources and a photodiode. The main drawback with the use of PO is the presence of movement artifacts or disturbance due to optical sources and skin, causing erroneous saturation data. The aim of this work is to present the measurement procedure based on a specially developed algorithm able to reject erroneous oxygen saturation data during long lasting monitoring of patients in ICU and to compare measurement data with reference data provided by EGA. We have collected SaO2 data from a standard PO and used an intensive care unit monitor to collect data. This device was connected to our acquisition system and heart rate (HR) and SaO2 data were acquired and processed by our specially developed algorithm and directly reproduced on the PC screen for use by the clinicians. The algorithm here used for the individuation and rejection of erroneous saturation data is based on the assessment of the difference between the Heart Rate (HR) measured by respectively by the ECG and PO. We have used an emogasanalyzer (EGA) for comparison of the measured data. The study was carried out in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), using 817 data coming from 24 patients and the observation time was of about 10000 hours. Results show a reduction in the maximum difference between the SaO2 data measured, simultaneously, on the same patient by the EGA and by the proposed method of 14.20% and of the 4.76% in average over the 817 samples. The measurement method proposed is therefore able to individuate and eliminate the erroneous saturation data due to motion artifacts and reported by the pulse oxymeter

SATURATION OF MAGNETOROTATIONAL INSTABILITY THROUGH MAGNETIC FIELD GENERATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ebrahimi, F.; Prager, S. C.; Schnack, D. D.

2009-01-01

The saturation mechanism of magnetorotational instability (MRI) is examined through analytical quasi-linear theory and through nonlinear computation of a single mode in a rotating disk. We find that large-scale magnetic field is generated through the α-effect (the correlated product of velocity and magnetic field fluctuations) and causes the MRI mode to saturate. If the large-scale plasma flow is allowed to evolve, the mode can also saturate through its flow relaxation. In astrophysical plasmas, for which the flow cannot relax because of gravitational constraints, the mode saturates through field generation only.

Nitrogen Saturation in Highly Retentive Watersheds?

Science.gov (United States)

Daley, M. L.; McDowell, W. H.

2009-12-01

Watershed managers are often concerned with minimizing the amount of N delivered to N-limited estuaries and coastal zones. A major concern is that watersheds might reach N saturation, in which N delivered to coastal zones increases due to declines in the efficiency of N retention despite constant or even reduced N inputs. We have quantified long-term changes in N inputs (atmospheric deposition, imported food and agricultural fertilizers), outputs (N concentration and export) and retention in the urbanizing Lamprey River watershed in coastal NH. Overall, the Lamprey watershed is 70% forested, receives about 13.5 kg N/ha/yr and has a high rate of annual N retention (85%). Atmospheric deposition (8.7 kg/ha/yr) is the largest N input to the watershed. Of the 2.2 kg N/ha/yr exported in the Lamprey River, dissolved organic N (DON) is the dominant form (50% of total) and it varies spatially throughout the watershed with wetland cover. Nitrate accounts for 30% of the N exported, shows a statistically significant increase from 1999 to 2009, and its spatial variability in both concentration and export is related to human population density. In sub-basins throughout the Lamprey, inorganic N retention is high (85-99%), but the efficiency of N retention declines sharply with increased human population density and associated anthropogenic N inputs. N assimilation in the vegetation, denitrification to the atmosphere and storage in the groundwater pool could all be important contributors to the current high rates of N retention. The temporal and spatial patterns that we have observed in nitrate concentration and export are driven by increases in N inputs and impervious surfaces over time, but the declining efficiency of N retention suggests that the watershed may also be reaching N saturation. The downstream receiving estuary, Great Bay, already suffers from low dissolved oxygen levels and eelgrass loss in part due to N loading from the Lamprey watershed. Targeting and reducing

In vivo detection of hemoglobin oxygen saturation and carboxyhemoglobin saturation with multiwavelength photoacoustic microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhongjiang; Yang, Sihua; Xing, Da

2012-08-15

A method for noninvasively detecting hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2) and carboxyhemoglobin saturation (SCO) in subcutaneous microvasculature with multiwavelength photoacoustic microscopy is presented. Blood samples mixed with different concentrations of carboxyhemoglobin were used to test the feasibility and accuracy of photoacoustic microscopy compared with the blood-gas analyzer. Moreover, fixed-point detection of SO2 and SCO in mouse ear was obtained, and the changes from normoxia to carbon monoxide hypoxia were dynamically monitored in vivo. Experimental results demonstrate that multiwavelength photoacoustic microscopy can detect SO2 and SCO, which has future potential clinical applications.

Effects of soil water saturation on sampling equilibrium and kinetics of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Pil-Gon; Roh, Ji-Yeon; Hong, Yongseok; Kwon, Jung-Hwan

2017-10-01

Passive sampling can be applied for measuring the freely dissolved concentration of hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) in soil pore water. When using passive samplers under field conditions, however, there are factors that might affect passive sampling equilibrium and kinetics, such as soil water saturation. To determine the effects of soil water saturation on passive sampling, the equilibrium and kinetics of passive sampling were evaluated by observing changes in the distribution coefficient between sampler and soil (K sampler/soil ) and the uptake rate constant (k u ) at various soil water saturations. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) passive samplers were deployed into artificial soils spiked with seven selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In dry soil (0% water saturation), both K sampler/soil and k u values were much lower than those in wet soils likely due to the contribution of adsorption of PAHs onto soil mineral surfaces and the conformational changes in soil organic matter. For high molecular weight PAHs (chrysene, benzo[a]pyrene, and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene), both K sampler/soil and k u values increased with increasing soil water saturation, whereas they decreased with increasing soil water saturation for low molecular weight PAHs (phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and pyrene). Changes in the sorption capacity of soil organic matter with soil water content would be the main cause of the changes in passive sampling equilibrium. Henry's law constant could explain the different behaviors in uptake kinetics of the selected PAHs. The results of this study would be helpful when passive samplers are deployed under various soil water saturations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The real-time fitting of radioactive decay curves. Pt. 3. Counting during sampling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartley, B.M.

1994-01-01

An analysis of a least-squares method for the real-time fitting of the theoretical total count function to the actual total count from radioactive decays has been given previously for the case where counting takes place after a sample is taken. The counting may be done in a number of different counting systems which distinguish between different types or energies of radiation emitted from the sample. The method would allow real-time determination of the numbers of atoms and hence activities of the individual isotopes present and has been designated the Time Evolved Least-Squares method (TELS). If the radioactivity which is to be measured exists as an aerosol or in a form where a sample is taken at a constant rate it may be possible to count during sampling and by so doing reduce the total time required to determine the activity of the individual isotopes present. The TELS method is extended here to the case where counting and the evaluation of the activity takes place concurrently with the sampling. The functions which need to be evaluated are derived and the calculations required to implement the method are discussed. As with the TELS method of counting after sampling the technique of counting during sampling and the simultaneous evaluation of activity could be achieved in real-time. Results of testing the method by computer simulation for two counting schemes for the descendants of radon are presented. ((orig.))

A transimpedance CMOS multichannel amplifier with a 50 Ω-wide output range buffer for high counting rate applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haralabidis, N.; Loukas, D.; Misiakos, K.; Katsafouros, S.

1997-01-01

A fast transimpedance multichannel amplifier has been designed, fabricated in CMOS 1.2-microm technology and tested. Each channel consists of a current sensitive preamplifier followed by a voltage amplification stage and an on-chip buffer able to drive 50 Ω loads with an output range of ±800 mV. Measured peaking time at the output is 40 ns and the circuit recovers to baseline in 90 ns. This results in a counting capability of more than 10 7 hits/s. Signals of both polarities can be handled. The first two stages consume a total of 2 mW per channel and the 50 Ω buffer consumes another 17 mW. The equivalent noise charge (ENC) is 1,100 e - rms with a slope of 40e - /pF. The IC is intended for use in gas and solid-state detectors with high particle rate and extensive charge release as in high energy calorimetry

Effects of lek count protocols on greater sage-grouse population trend estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Monroe, Adrian; Edmunds, David; Aldridge, Cameron L.

2016-01-01

Annual counts of males displaying at lek sites are an important tool for monitoring greater sage-grouse populations (Centrocercus urophasianus), but seasonal and diurnal variation in lek attendance may increase variance and bias of trend analyses. Recommendations for protocols to reduce observation error have called for restricting lek counts to within 30 minutes of sunrise, but this may limit the number of lek counts available for analysis, particularly from years before monitoring was widely standardized. Reducing the temporal window for conducting lek counts also may constrain the ability of agencies to monitor leks efficiently. We used lek count data collected across Wyoming during 1995−2014 to investigate the effect of lek counts conducted between 30 minutes before and 30, 60, or 90 minutes after sunrise on population trend estimates. We also evaluated trends across scales relevant to management, including statewide, within Working Group Areas and Core Areas, and for individual leks. To further evaluate accuracy and precision of trend estimates from lek count protocols, we used simulations based on a lek attendance model and compared simulated and estimated values of annual rate of change in population size (λ) from scenarios of varying numbers of leks, lek count timing, and count frequency (counts/lek/year). We found that restricting analyses to counts conducted within 30 minutes of sunrise generally did not improve precision of population trend estimates, although differences among timings increased as the number of leks and count frequency decreased. Lek attendance declined >30 minutes after sunrise, but simulations indicated that including lek counts conducted up to 90 minutes after sunrise can increase the number of leks monitored compared to trend estimates based on counts conducted within 30 minutes of sunrise. This increase in leks monitored resulted in greater precision of estimates without reducing accuracy. Increasing count

Hanford whole body counting manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer, H.E.; Brim, C.P.; Rieksts, G.A.; Rhoads, M.C.

1987-05-01

This document, a reprint of the Whole Body Counting Manual, was compiled to train personnel, document operation procedures, and outline quality assurance procedures. The current manual contains information on: the location, availability, and scope of services of Hanford's whole body counting facilities; the administrative aspect of the whole body counting operation; Hanford's whole body counting facilities; the step-by-step procedure involved in the different types of in vivo measurements; the detectors, preamplifiers and amplifiers, and spectroscopy equipment; the quality assurance aspect of equipment calibration and recordkeeping; data processing, record storage, results verification, report preparation, count summaries, and unit cost accounting; and the topics of minimum detectable amount and measurement accuracy and precision. 12 refs., 13 tabs

A method for the measurement of the intrinsic dead time of a counting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wyllie, H.A.

1989-01-01

Equations are derived for (a) the determination of the intrinsic dead time of a counting system in the components preceding the paralysis unit which imposes the set dead time, and (b) a more accurate correction of count rates in a single-channel system, taking into account the extension of the set dead time by the intrinsic dead time. (author)

Saturation of bentonite dependent upon temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hausmannova, Lucie; Vasicek, Radek

2010-01-01

Document available in extended abstract form only. The fundamental idea behind the long-term safe operation of a deep repository is the use of the Multi-barrier system principle. Barriers may well differ according to the type of host rock in which the repository is located. It is assumed that the buffer in the granitic host rock environment will consist of swelling clays which boast the ideal properties for such a function i.e. low permeability, high swelling pressure, self-healing ability etc. all of which are affected primarily by mineralogy and dry density. Water content plays a crucial role in the activation of swelling pressure as well as, subsequently, in the potential self healing of the various contact areas of the numerous buffer components made from bentonite. In the case of a deep repository, a change in water content is not only connected with the possible intake of water from the host rock, but also with its redistribution owing to changes in temperature after the insertion of the heat source (disposal waste package containing spent fuel) into the repository 'nest'. The principal reason for the experimental testing of this high dry density material is the uncertainty with regard to its saturation ability (final water content or the degree of saturation) at higher temperatures. The results of the Mock-Up-CZ experiment showed that when the barrier is constantly supplied with a saturation medium over a long time period the water content in the barrier as well as the degree of saturation settle independently of temperature. The Mock-Up-CZ experiment was performed at temperatures of 30 deg. - 90 deg. C in the barrier; therefore it was decided to experimentally verify this behaviour by means of targeted laboratory tests. A temperature of 110 deg. C was added to the set of experimental temperatures resulting in samples being tested at 25 deg. C, 95 deg. C and 110 deg. C. The degree of saturation is defined as the ratio of pore water volume to pore

Fabrication of PDMS/SWCNT thin films as saturable absorbers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez-Romano, I; Sanchez-Mondragon, J J; Davila-Rodriguez, J; Delfyett, P J; May-Arrioja, D A

2011-01-01

We present a novel technique to fabricate a saturable absorber thin film based on Polydimethylsiloxane doped with Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes. Using this film a passive mode-locked fiber laser in a standard ring cavity configuration was built by inserting the film between two angled connectors. Self-starting passively mode-locked laser operation was easily observed. The generated pulses have a width of 1.26 ps at a repetition rate of 22.7 MHz with an average power of 4.89 mW.

Collisional redistribution effects on x-ray laser saturation behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, J.A.; MacGowan, B.J.; Da Silva, L.B.; Matthews, D.J.; Lee, R.W.; London, R.A.; Mrowka, S.; Underwood, J.H.; Batson, P.J.

1994-06-01

We recently published a detailed summary of our experimental and theoretical research on Ne-like Se x-ray laser line widths, and one of our conclusions was that collisional redistribution rates are likely to have an effect on the saturation behavior of the 206.4 angstrom Se x-ray laser. In this paper we focus on the effects of collisional redistribution on x-ray laser gain coefficients, and discuss ways of including these effects in existing laser line- transfer models

Minimum K_2,3-saturated Graphs

OpenAIRE

Chen, Ya-Chen

2010-01-01

A graph is K_{2,3}-saturated if it has no subgraph isomorphic to K_{2,3}, but does contain a K_{2,3} after the addition of any new edge. We prove that the minimum number of edges in a K_{2,3}-saturated graph on n >= 5 vertices is sat(n, K_{2,3}) = 2n - 3.

A high dynamic range pulse counting detection system for mass spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Collings, Bruce A; Dima, Martian D; Ivosev, Gordana; Zhong, Feng

2014-01-30

A high dynamic range pulse counting system has been developed that demonstrates an ability to operate at up to 2e8 counts per second (cps) on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Previous pulse counting detection systems have typically been limited to about 1e7 cps at the upper end of the systems dynamic range. Modifications to the detection electronics and dead time correction algorithm are described in this paper. A high gain transimpedance amplifier is employed that allows a multi-channel electron multiplier to be operated at a significantly lower bias potential than in previous pulse counting systems. The system utilises a high-energy conversion dynode, a multi-channel electron multiplier, a high gain transimpedance amplifier, non-paralysing detection electronics and a modified dead time correction algorithm. Modification of the dead time correction algorithm is necessary due to a characteristic of the pulse counting electronics. A pulse counting detection system with the capability to count at ion arrival rates of up to 2e8 cps is described. This is shown to provide a linear dynamic range of nearly five orders of magnitude for a sample of aprazolam with concentrations ranging from 0.0006970 ng/mL to 3333 ng/mL while monitoring the m/z 309.1 → m/z 205.2 transition. This represents an upward extension of the detector's linear dynamic range of about two orders of magnitude. A new high dynamic range pulse counting system has been developed demonstrating the ability to operate at up to 2e8 cps on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. This provides an upward extension of the detector's linear dynamic range by about two orders of magnitude over previous pulse counting systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CalCOFI Egg Counts

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fish egg counts and standardized counts for eggs captured in CalCOFI icthyoplankton nets (primarily vertical [Calvet or Pairovet], oblique [bongo or ring nets], and...

Count-doubling time safety circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keefe, D.J.; McDowell, W.P.; Rusch, G.K.

1981-01-01

There is provided a nuclear reactor count-factor-increase time monitoring circuit which includes a pulse-type neutron detector, and means for counting the number of detected pulses during specific time periods. Counts are compared and the comparison is utilized to develop a reactor scram signal, if necessary

Count-doubling time safety circuit

Science.gov (United States)

Rusch, Gordon K.; Keefe, Donald J.; McDowell, William P.

1981-01-01

There is provided a nuclear reactor count-factor-increase time monitoring circuit which includes a pulse-type neutron detector, and means for counting the number of detected pulses during specific time periods. Counts are compared and the comparison is utilized to develop a reactor scram signal, if necessary.

The Big Pumpkin Count.

Science.gov (United States)

Coplestone-Loomis, Lenny

1981-01-01

Pumpkin seeds are counted after students convert pumpkins to jack-o-lanterns. Among the activities involved, pupils learn to count by 10s, make estimates, and to construct a visual representation of 1,000. (MP)

Variably-saturated groundwater modeling for optimizing managed aquifer recharge using trench infiltration

Science.gov (United States)

Heilweil, Victor M.; Benoit, Jerome; Healy, Richard W.

2015-01-01

Spreading-basin methods have resulted in more than 130 million cubic meters of recharge to the unconfined Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah in the past decade, but infiltration rates have slowed in recent years because of reduced hydraulic gradients and clogging. Trench infiltration is a promising alternative technique for increasing recharge and minimizing evaporation. This paper uses a variably saturated flow model to further investigate the relative importance of the following variables on rates of trench infiltration to unconfined aquifers: saturated hydraulic conductivity, trench spacing and dimensions, initial water-table depth, alternate wet/dry periods, and number of parallel trenches. Modeling results showed (1) increased infiltration with higher hydraulic conductivity, deeper initial water tables, and larger spacing between parallel trenches, (2) deeper or wider trenches do not substantially increase infiltration, (3) alternating wet/dry periods result in less overall infiltration than keeping the trenches continuously full, and (4) larger numbers of parallel trenches within a fixed area increases infiltration but with a diminishing effect as trench spacing becomes tighter. An empirical equation for estimating expected trench infiltration rates as a function of hydraulic conductivity and initial water-table depth was derived and can be used for evaluating feasibility of trench infiltration in other hydrogeologic settings

Scintillation probe with photomultiplier tube saturation indicator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruch, J.F.; Urban, D.J.

1996-01-01

A photomultiplier tube saturation indicator is formed by supplying a supplemental light source, typically an light emitting diode (LED), adjacent to the photomultiplier tube. A switch allows the light source to be activated. The light is forwarded to the photomultiplier tube by an optical fiber. If the probe is properly light tight, then a meter attached to the indicator will register the light from the LED. If the probe is no longer light tight, and the saturation indicator is saturated, no signal will be registered when the LED is activated. 2 figs

A qualitative evaluation of a physician-delivered pedometer-based step count prescription strategy with insight from participants and treating physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Alexandra B; Pace, Romina; Chan, Deborah; Rosenberg, Ellen; Dasgupta, Kaberi; Daskalopoulou, Stella S

2018-05-01

The integration of pedometers into clinical practice has the potential to enhance physical activity levels in patients with chronic disease. Our SMARTER randomized controlled trial demonstrated that a physician-delivered step count prescription strategy has measurable effects on daily steps, glycemic control, and insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension. In this study, we aimed to understand perceived barriers and facilitators influencing successful uptake and sustainability of the strategy, from patient and physician perspectives. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted in a purposive sample of physicians (n = 10) and participants (n = 20), including successful and less successful cases in terms of pedometer-assessed step count improvements. Themes that achieved saturation in either group through thematic analysis are presented. All participants appreciated the pedometer-based monitoring combined with step count prescriptions. Accountability to physicians and support offered by the trial coordinator influenced participant motivation. Those who increased step counts adopted strategies to integrate more steps into their routines and were able to overcome weather-related barriers by finding indoor alternative options to outdoor steps. Those who decreased step counts reported difficulty in overcoming weather-related challenges, health limitations and work constraints. Physicians indicated the strategy provided a framework for discussing physical activity and motivating patients, but emphasized the need for support from allied professionals to help deliver the strategy in busy clinical settings. A physician-delivered step count prescription strategy was feasibly integrated into clinical practice and successful in engaging most patients; however, continual support is needed for maximal engagement and sustained use. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Galaxy number counts: Pt. 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metcalfe, N.; Shanks, T.; Fong, R.; Jones, L.R.

1991-01-01

Using the Prime Focus CCD Camera at the Isaac Newton Telescope we have determined the form of the B and R galaxy number-magnitude count relations in 12 independent fields for 21 m ccd m and 19 m ccd m 5. The average galaxy count relations lie in the middle of the wide range previously encompassed by photographic data. The field-to-field variation of the counts is small enough to define the faint (B m 5) galaxy count to ±10 per cent and this variation is consistent with that expected from galaxy clustering considerations. Our new data confirm that the B, and also the R, galaxy counts show evidence for strong galaxy luminosity evolution, and that the majority of the evolving galaxies are of moderately blue colour. (author)

Digital coincidence counting

Science.gov (United States)

Buckman, S. M.; Ius, D.

1996-02-01

This paper reports on the development of a digital coincidence-counting system which comprises a custom-built data acquisition card and associated PC software. The system has been designed to digitise the pulse-trains from two radiation detectors at a rate of 20 MSamples/s with 12-bit resolution. Through hardware compression of the data, the system can continuously record both individual pulse-shapes and the time intervals between pulses. Software-based circuits are used to process the stored pulse trains. These circuits are constructed simply by linking together icons representing various components such as coincidence mixers, time delays, single-channel analysers, deadtimes and scalers. This system enables a pair of pulse trains to be processed repeatedly using any number of different methods. Some preliminary results are presented in order to demonstrate the versatility and efficiency of this new method.

Digital coincidence counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckman, S.M.; Ius, D.

1996-01-01

This paper reports on the development of a digital coincidence-counting system which comprises a custom-built data acquisition card and associated PC software. The system has been designed to digitise the pulse-trains from two radiation detectors at a rate of 20 MSamples/s with 12-bit resolution. Through hardware compression of the data, the system can continuously record both individual pulse-shapes and the time intervals between pulses. Software-based circuits are used to process the stored pulse trains. These circuits are constructed simply by linking together icons representing various components such as coincidence mixers, time delays, single-channel analysers, deadtimes and scalers. This system enables a pair of pulse trains to be processed repeatedly using any number of different methods. Some preliminary results are presented in order to demonstrate the versatility and efficiency of this new method. (orig.)