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Sample records for dynamic range bf3

  1. A wide dynamic range BF3 neutron monitor with front-end electronics based on a logarithmic amplifier

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrarini, M.; Varoli, V.; Favalli, A.; Caresana, M.; Pedersen, B.

    2010-01-01

    This paper describes a wide dynamic range neutron monitor based on a BF 3 neutron detector. The detector is used in current mode, and front-end electronics based on a logarithmic amplifier are used in order to have a measurement capability ranging over many orders of magnitude. The system has been calibrated at the Polytechnic of Milan, CESNEF, with an AmBe neutron source, and has been tested in a pulsed field at the PUNITA facility at JRC, Ispra. The detector has achieved a dynamic range of over 6 orders of magnitude, being able to measure single neutron pulses and showing saturation-free response for a reaction rate up to 10 6 s -1 . It has also proved effective in measuring the PUNITA facility pulse integral fluence.

  2. A wide dynamic range BF{sub 3} neutron monitor with front-end electronics based on a logarithmic amplifier

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferrarini, M., E-mail: michele.ferrarini@polimi.i [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento Energia, via G. Ponzio 34/3, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Fondazione CNAO, via Caminadella 16, 20123 Milano (Italy); Varoli, V. [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento Energia, via G. Ponzio 34/3, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Favalli, A. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and Security of Citizen, TP 800, Via E. Fermi, 21027 Ispra (Vatican City State, Holy See) (Italy); Caresana, M. [Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento Energia, via G. Ponzio 34/3, I-20133 Milano (Italy); Pedersen, B. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and Security of Citizen, TP 800, Via E. Fermi, 21027 Ispra (Italy)

    2010-02-01

    This paper describes a wide dynamic range neutron monitor based on a BF{sub 3} neutron detector. The detector is used in current mode, and front-end electronics based on a logarithmic amplifier are used in order to have a measurement capability ranging over many orders of magnitude. The system has been calibrated at the Polytechnic of Milan, CESNEF, with an AmBe neutron source, and has been tested in a pulsed field at the PUNITA facility at JRC, Ispra. The detector has achieved a dynamic range of over 6 orders of magnitude, being able to measure single neutron pulses and showing saturation-free response for a reaction rate up to 10{sup 6} s{sup -1}. It has also proved effective in measuring the PUNITA facility pulse integral fluence.

  3. Dinamics of BF3 sorption on activated carbons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polevoj, A.S.; Petrenko, A.E.

    1989-01-01

    The dynamics of BF 3 sorption on BAUAG-3 and SKT-4A carbons is studied by recording the curve of BF 3 concentration change in time at the outlet from the column filled with activated carbon when blowing it with a current of BF 3 and helium mixture. The effect of sorbent type, temperature and pressure of the gaseous mixture, BF 3 content in it and its partial pressure, BF 3 consumption on the width of sorption zone is studied. The results of studies can be used to calculate and optimize the conditions of sorption processes connected with the absorption of BF 3 by carbons from the gaseous flows in the dynamic mode

  4. MCNP to study the BF3 detection efficiency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, Vinicius A.; Cavalieri, Tassio A.; Siqueira, Paulo T.D.; Fedorenko, Giuliana G.; Coelho, Paulo R.P.; Madi Filho, Tufic

    2011-01-01

    One of the main parameters to monitor on the employment of the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is the thermal neutron flux. It can be performed by different techniques such as the activation analysis and the detection by a Boron Trifluoride detector (BF 3 ). BF 3 detector is a real time neutron flux detector which retrieves results in real time. It is however necessary to study the efficiency of the BF 3 detectors when they are exposed to fields of different neutron energy spectra. BF 3 is known to have high efficiency for thermal neutrons (with energy up to 0.5 eV) due the presence of 10 B atoms in the detector. However, one must also understand how this detector interacts with other neutron energy ranges (epithermal and fast). This work shows the experiment and a set of associated simulations carried out in order to evaluate the BF 3 detector efficiency dependence on neutron energy spectra. A set of experiments was conducted in which a BF 3 detector was submitted to different mixed fields (field containing gamma rays and neutrons). These fields were generated by the interposition of paraffin layers with distinct thicknesses between the Am-Be source and the BF 3 detector. The BF 3 detector responses were recorded according to the number of paraffin planes used. MCNP simulations were also performed to study the detector responses on such experimental conditions. It has been possible to achieve the intended goal of evaluating the BF 3 detector response to different mixed irradiation fields. (author)

  5. A mathematical method to calculate efficiency of BF3 detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Si Fenni; Hu Qingyuan; Peng Taiping

    2009-01-01

    In order to calculate absolute efficiency of the BF 3 detector, MCNP/4C code is applied to calculate relative efficiency of the BF 3 detector first, and then absolute efficiency is figured out through mathematical techniques. Finally an energy response curve of the BF 3 detector for 1-20 MeV neutrons is derived. It turns out that efficiency of BF 3 detector are relatively uniform for 2-16 MeV neutrons. (authors)

  6. Dissipation of pyraclostrobin and its metabolite BF-500-3 in maize under field conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    You, Xiangwei; Liu, Congyun; Liu, Fengmao; Liu, Yanping; Dong, Jiannan

    2012-06-01

    The dissipation and residue of pyraclostrobin and its metabolite BF-500-3 in maize under field conditions were investigated. A sensitive, simple and fast method for simultaneous determination of pyraclostrobin and BF-500-3 in maize matrix was established by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The average recoveries of pyraclostrobin and BF-500-3 were found in the range of 83.6-104.9% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 2.3-10.0%. The results showed that pyraclostrobin dissipated quickly in maize plant with half-lives of 1.6-1.7 days. Its metabolite BF-500-3 showed a tendency of rapid increasing initially and decreasing afterwards. At harvest time, the terminal residues of pyraclostrobin were below the maximum residue limit (MRL) set by USA and Canada in maize grain when measured 7 days after the final application, which suggested that the use of this fungicide was safe for humans. The results could provide guidance to safe and reasonable use of pyraclostrobin in agriculture. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. An additional memory effect in mass spectrometry for BF3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoshino, Kiichi; Satooka, Sakae

    1978-01-01

    It is considered that the memory effect appears in a metallic gas inlet of a mass spectrometer for measurement with samples of BF 3 is classified into two kinds, one is essential memory effect which is caused by an action between the surface of metal and BF 3 , and the other is additional memory effect which is caused by viscous liquid produced by reaction among water, BF 3 and metals. The additional memory effect is caused by stain on the inner surface of the gas inlet. Air is introduced into the sample bottle joint at each time for change of sample bottle. Moisture in the air is adsorbed on inner surfaces of the joint and piping made of metal, and combined with BF 3 which is introduced, and then viscous compound is produced by dissolution of the metal into the compound made from H 2 O and BF 3 . The vapour pressure of the viscous compound is not sufficient low, and so the compound propagates from the sample bottle joint to the whole of the gas inlet at each time of opening and closing of valves of the gas inlet. The coated film of the viscous compound with adsorption and release of Bf 3 is a cause of the additional memory effect. If the stain of the inner surface of the gas inlet grows up, the additional memory effect becomes more intense compared with the essential memory effect, and the measured values are not converged. To remove the additional memory effect, it is desirable to introduce the sample BF 3 after the moisture intruded into the piping by the exchange of sample bottles is removed sufficiently by introduction of F 2 or ClF 3 . (auth.)

  8. Densities and viscosities for ionic liquids mixtures containing [eOHmim][BF4], [bmim][BF4] and [bpy][BF4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Dayong; Chen, Jing

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Targets of this research are ILs mixtures. • Densities and viscosities were measured for three ILs mixtures. • Excess molar properties were deduced from the experiments. • Viscosities were discussed by the ideal Grunberg and Nissan mixing law. - Abstract: Densities and viscosities of binary ionic liquids mixtures, 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([eOHmim][BF 4 ]) + 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF 4 ]), 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([eOHmim][BF 4 ]) + N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([bpy][BF 4 ]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF 4 ]) + N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([bpy][BF 4 ]) were measured over the entire mole fraction from T = (298.15 to 343.15) K. The excess molar volumes were calculated and correlated by Redlich–Kiser polynomial expansions. The viscosities for pure ionic liquids were analyzed by means of the Vogel–Tammann–Fulcher equation and ideal mixing rules were applied for the ILs mixtures

  9. Verification of Gamma-ray Sensitivity for BF3 Neutron Detection System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Yu Sun; Cho, Jin Bok; Lyou, Seok Jean

    2016-01-01

    The BF3(Boron Tri-Fluorides) gas filled neutron detector(hereafter BF3 Detector) is commonly used for nuclear reactor’s startup channel due to its relatively high neutron efficiency and good discrimination against gamma-ray backgrounds. In order to measure how much this gamma-ray will affect on BF3 neutron detector performance in view of gamma noise discrimination, Multi-Channel Analyzer(MCA) is utilized for spectrum based signal analysis. The pre-test of BF3 Detector should be performed in an area where the ionization does not exceed 2.5 micro Gy/Hr(Ref.1). In this paper, the discrimination level (Voltage Unit) is verified by experimentally measurement if that discrimination level is acceptable within the criteria or not before installation. The maximum discrimination level, so called LLD, is determined by experimentally measurement. This BF3 Detector (LND20372) is insensitive under 540 micro Gy/Hr of gamma ray and 0.3V of LLD could cut off a background and gamma induced signal in a laboratory. MCA could be a convenient tool for spectrum analysis of signals that induced from gamma ray and a time saving tool rather than oscilloscope investigation due to its function to integrate all input signals at a sudden duration

  10. Oxygen evolution from BF3/MnO4-.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yiu, Shek-Man; Man, Wai-Lun; Wang, Xin; Lam, William W Y; Ng, Siu-Mui; Kwong, Hoi-Ki; Lau, Kai-Chung; Lau, Tai-Chu

    2011-04-14

    MnO(4)(-) is activated by BF(3) to undergo intramolecular coupling of two oxo ligands to generate O(2). DFT calculations suggest that there should be a spin intercrossing between the singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces on going from the active intermediate [MnO(2)(OBF(3))(2)](-) to the O···O coupling transition state.

  11. An R-matrix study of electron induced processes in BF3 plasma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Dhanoj; Chakrabarti, Kalyan; Yoon, Jung-Sik; Song, Mi-Young

    2017-12-01

    An R-matrix formalism is used to study electron collision with the BF3 molecule using Quantemol-N, a computational system for electron molecule collisions which uses the molecular R-matrix method. Several target models are tested for BF3 in its equilibrium geometry, and the results are presented for the best model. Scattering calculations are then performed to yield resonance parameters, elastic, differential, excitation, and momentum transfer cross sections. The results for all the cross sections are compared with the experimental and theoretical data, and a good agreement is obtained. The resonances have been detected at 3.79 and 13.58 eV, with the ionization threshold being 15.7 eV. We have also estimated the absolute dissociative electron attachment (DEA) cross section for the F- ion production from BF3, which is a maiden attempt. The peak of the DEA is at around 13.5 eV, which is well supported by the resonance detected at 13.58 eV. The cross sections reported here find a variety of applications in the plasma technology.

  12. Performance Test of BF3 Neutron Detection System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Yu Sun; Shin, Ho Cheol [KHNP-CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Jin Bok; Oh, Sae Hyun; Ryou, Seok Jean [USERS, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    The neutron detecting system of First-of-a-kind plant such an APR1400 at Shin Kori should have been verified in the condition of low operating temperature and pressure of the primary coolant system before receiving the operation license. Auxiliary Ex-core Neutron Flux Monitoring System (AENFMS) is supposed to be installed using BF3 neutron detector in Shin Kori plant. The performance test of AENFMS was conducted to measure neutron sensitivity, moderation ratio and count rate in the same condition with Ex-core Neutron Flux Monitoring System (ENFMS) of APR1400 to verify its detection characteristics in compliance with the functional requirement. Performance test has been conducted for AENFMS of APR1400 to verify BF3 neutron sensitivity, moderation ration of PE, expecting neutron signal count rate from AENFMS, possible extending cable length from detector to pre-amplifier. As a result of measurement, the neutron sensitivity of 34.246±0.168(95%CI)cps/nv, moderation ratio of 11.343±0.039(95%CI) and AENFMS expecting count rate related to ENFMS of 17.8 times are acceptable in compliance with functional requirement, respectively.

  13. 1H, 19F and 11B nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of BF3:amine catalysts used in the cure of C fiber-epoxy prepregs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Happe, J.A.; Morgan, R.J.; Walkup, C.M.

    1983-12-01

    The chemical composition of commercial BF 3 :amine complexes are variable and contain BF 4 - and BF 3 (OH) - salts together with other unidentified highly reactive species. The BF 3 :amine complexes, which are susceptible to hydrolysis, also partially convert to the BF 4 - salt (i.e. BF 4 - NH 3 + C 2 H 5 ) upon heating. This salt formation is accelerated in dimethyl sulfoxide solution and in the presence of the epoxides that are present in commercial prepregs. Commercial C fiber-epoxy prepregs are shown to contain either BF 3 :NH 2 C 2 H 5 or BF 3 :NHC 5 H 10 species together with their BF 4 - salts and a variety of boron-fluorine or carbon-fluorine prepreg species. Considerable variation in the relative quantities of BF 3 :amine to its BF 4 - salt was observed from prepreg lot to lot, which will cause variable viscosity-time-temperature prepreg cure profiles. It is concluded that the chemically stable and mobile BF 4 - salt is the pre-dominant catalytic species, acting as a cationic catalyst for the prepreg cure reactions. During the early stages of cure the BF 3 :amine catalyst converts to the BF 4 - salt in the presence of epoxides, whereas the BF 3 -prepreg species are susceptible to catalytic deactivation and immobilization

  14. The reaction of Cs{sub 2}[Tc(NO)F{sub 5}] with BF{sub 3} in acetonitrile. Formation and structure of [{Tc(NO)(CH_3CN)_4}{sub 2}(μ-F)](BF{sub 4}){sub 3}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Balasekaran, Samundeeswari Mariappan [Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universitaet Berlin (Germany); Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States); Hagenbach, Adelheid; Spandl, Johann; Abram, Ulrich [Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universitaet Berlin (Germany)

    2017-10-04

    The deep blue, paramagnetic Cs{sub 2}[Tc{sup II}(NO)F{sub 5}] is formed during reactions of pertechnetate, acetohydroxamic acid, and CsF in aqueous HF. A reaction of Cs{sub 2}[Tc(NO)F{sub 5}] with BF{sub 3}.MeOH in acetonitrile gives yellow blocks of the fluorido-bridged dimer [{Tc"I(NO)(CH_3CN)_4}{sub 2}F](BF{sub 4}){sub 3}. The compound is stable as solid and in acetonitrile solutions. The complex cation contains a bent μ-F{sup -} ligand and two linear nitrosyl groups. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

  15. BF3/nano-γ-Al2O3 Promoted Knoevenagel Condensation at Room Temperature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. F. Mirjalili

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The Knoevenagel condensation of aromatic aldehydes with barbituric acid, dimedone and malononitrile occurred in the presence of BF3/nano-γ-Al2O3 at room temperature in ethanol. This catalyst is characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS.

  16. Nuclear Hyperfine Structure in the Donor – Acceptor Complexes (CH3)3N-BF3 and (CH)33N-B(CH3)3

    Science.gov (United States)

    The donor-acceptor complexes (CH3)3N-BF3 and (CH3)3N-B(CH3)3 have been reinvestigated at high resolution by rotational spectroscopy in a supersonic jet. Nuclear hyperfine structure resulting from both nitrogen and boron has been resolved and quadrupole coupling constants have bee...

  17. Dicty_cDB: FC-BF01 [Dicty_cDB

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available FC (Link to library) FC-BF01 (Link to dictyBase) - - - Contig-U15105-1 FC-BF01Z (Li...nk to Original site) - - FC-BF01Z 674 - - - - Show FC-BF01 Library FC (Link to library) Clone ID FC-BF01 (Link to dict...yBase) Atlas ID - NBRP ID - dictyBase ID - Link to Contig Contig-U15105-1 Original site URL http://dict...402813_1( AF402813 |pid:none) Ictalurus punctatus 40S ribosomal ... 260 3e-68 AJ783868_1( AJ783868 |pid:none...lasmic 8.0 %: mitochondrial 4.0 %: nuclear >> prediction for FC-BF01 is cyt 5' end seq. ID - 5' end seq. - L

  18. Sensitivity of electrospray molecular dynamics simulations to long-range Coulomb interaction models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Neil A; Levin, Deborah A

    2018-03-01

    Molecular dynamics (MD) electrospray simulations of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIM-BF_{4}) ion liquid were performed with the goal of evaluating the influence of long-range Coulomb models on ion emission characteristics. The direct Coulomb (DC), shifted force Coulomb sum (SFCS), and particle-particle particle-mesh (PPPM) long-range Coulomb models were considered in this work. The DC method with a sufficiently large cutoff radius was found to be the most accurate approach for modeling electrosprays, but, it is computationally expensive. The Coulomb potential energy modeled by the DC method in combination with the radial electric fields were found to be necessary to generate the Taylor cone. The differences observed between the SFCS and the DC in terms of predicting the total ion emission suggest that the former should not be used in MD electrospray simulations. Furthermore, the common assumption of domain periodicity was observed to be detrimental to the accuracy of the capillary-based electrospray simulations.

  19. M1 distributions for {sup 163}Dy and {sup 157}Gd in the SU{sup BF}{sub sdg}(3) and SU{sup BF}{sub sd}(3) x 1g limits of pn-sdgIBFM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Devi, Y.D. [Saha Inst. of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta (India); Kota, V.K.B. [Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009 (India)

    1996-04-01

    The SU{sup BF}{sub sdg}(3) limit of pn-sdgIBFM, which was developed earlier, is applied with success in analyzing the recently observed M1 data in the {sup 163}Dy nucleus. As new experiments are being planned for {sup 157}Gd nucleus and that {sup 156}Gd is known to be a good SU{sub sd}(3) x 1g nucleus, in the second part of the paper a formalism for M1 distributions in the SU{sup BF}{sub sd}(3) x 1g limit is developed. In both these analytically solvable limiting situations, predictions are made for M1 distributions in the {sup 157}Gd nucleus. (orig.).

  20. On chirality transfer in electron donor-acceptor complexes. A prediction for the sulfinimine···BF3 system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rode, Joanna E; Dobrowolski, Jan Cz

    2012-01-01

    Stabilization energies of the electron donor-acceptor sulfinimine···BF(3) complexes calculated at either the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ or the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level do not allow to judge, whether the N- or O-atom in sulfinimine is stronger electron-donor to BF(3) . The problem seems to be solvable because chirality transfer phenomenon between chiral sulfinimine and achiral BF(3) is expected to be vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) active. Moreover, the bands associated with the achiral BF(3) molecule are predicted to be the most intense in the entire spectrum. However, the VCD band robustness analyses show that most of the chirality transfer modes of BF(3) are unreliable. Conversely, variation of VCD intensity with change of intermolecular distance, angle, and selected dihedrals between the complex partners shows that to establish the robustness of chirality transfer mode. It is also necessary to determine the influence of the potential energy surface (PES) shape on the VCD intensity. At the moment, there is still no universal criterion for the chirality transfer mode robustness and the conclusions formulated based on one system cannot be directly transferred even to a quite similar one. However, it is certain that more attention should be focused on relation of PES shape and the VCD mode robustness problem. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Toxicity of two imidazolium ionic liquids, [bmim][BF4] and [omim][BF4], to standard aquatic test organisms: Role of acetone in the induced toxicity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsarpali, Vasiliki; Dailianis, Stefanos

    2015-07-01

    The main goal of this study was to investigate the toxicity of the imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs), [bmim][BF4] (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) and [omim][BF4] (1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate), in battery of standard aquatic toxicity test organisms. Specifically, exposure of the algae Scenedesmus rubescens, crustaceans Thamnocephalus platyurus and Artemia franciscana, rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus and Brachionus plicatilis and bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis to different concentrations of [bmim][BF4], [omim][BF4] and/or a binary mixture of [bmim][BF4]-[omim][BF4] (1:1) with or without acetone (carrier solvent), revealed that solvent can differentially mediate ILs' toxic profile. Acetone's ability to differentially affect ILs' cation's alkyl chain length, as well as the hydrolysis of [BF4(-)] anions was evident. Given that the toxic potency of the tested ILs seemed to be equal or even higher (in some cases) than those of conventional organic solvents, the present study revealed that the characterization of imidazolium-based ILs as "green solvents" should not be generalized, at least in case of their natural occurrence in mixtures with organic solvents, such as acetone. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Tests of BF3 counters with getter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Comte, R.; Dauphin, G.

    1968-01-01

    BF 3 counters with addition of a getter have been developed to improve operation characteristics of these detectors in presence of strong gamma flows. The getter is made of an active coal deposit on the cathode. As noticed by other studies, the degradation of these counters is related to the exposure to strong neutron flows and to gamma radiations. The authors report tests performed on these counters with a brief presentation of the counters, and a presentation of the test installation. A threshold curve and an amplitude spectrum are obtained, and counting is performed for a fixed threshold before and after the exposure of detectors to variable doses of γ radiation. The results after a first 2 hour long irradiation, a 230 hour long second irradiation, and a third irradiation under high voltage (2100 V) are discussed. Thermal tests are then performed and commented

  3. A modified method of 3D-SSP analysis for amyloid PET imaging using [¹¹C]BF-227.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneta, Tomohiro; Okamura, Nobuyuki; Minoshima, Satoshi; Furukawa, Katsutoshi; Tashiro, Manabu; Furumoto, Shozo; Iwata, Ren; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Shoki; Yanai, Kazuhiko; Kudo, Yukitsuka; Arai, Hiroyuki

    2011-12-01

    Three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection (3D-SSP) analyses have been widely used in dementia imaging studies. However, 3D-SSP sometimes shows paradoxical results on amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) analyses. This is thought to be caused by errors in anatomical standardization (AS) based on an (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) template. We developed a new method of 3D-SSP analysis for amyloid PET imaging, and used it to analyze (11)C-labeled 2-(2-[2-dimethylaminothiazol-5-yl]ethenyl)-6-(2-[fluoro]ethoxy)benzoxazole (BF-227) PET images of subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The subjects were 20 with MCI, 19 patients with AD, and 17 healthy controls. Twelve subjects with MCI were followed up for 3 years or more, and conversion to AD was seen in 6 cases. All subjects underwent PET with both FDG and BF-227. For AS and 3D-SSP analyses of PET data, Neurostat (University of Washington, WA, USA) was used. Method 1 involves AS for BF-227 images using an FDG template. In this study, we developed a new method (Method 2) for AS: First, an FDG image was subjected to AS using an FDG template. Then, the BF-227 image of the same patient was registered to the FDG image, and AS was performed using the transformation parameters calculated for AS of the corresponding FDG images. Regional values were normalized by the average value obtained at the cerebellum and values were calculated for the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. For statistical comparison of the 3 groups, we applied one-way analysis of variance followed by the Bonferroni post hoc test. For statistical comparison between converters and non-converters, the t test was applied. Statistical significance was defined as p SSP analysis of amyloid PET imaging possible. This new method of 3D-SSP analysis for BF-227 PET could prove useful for detecting differences between normal groups and AD and MCI groups, and between converters and non-converters.

  4. A reciprocity formula from abelian BF and Turaev–Viro theories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Mathieu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In this article we show that the use of Deligne–Beilinson cohomology in the context of the U(1 BF theory on a closed 3-manifold M yields a discrete ZN BF theory whose partition function is an abelian TV invariant of M. By comparing the expectation values of the U(1 and ZN holonomies in both BF theories we obtain a reciprocity formula.

  5. From lattice BF gauge theory to area-angle Regge calculus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonzom, Valentin

    2009-01-01

    We consider Riemannian 4D BF lattice gauge theory, on a triangulation of spacetime. Introducing the simplicity constraints which turn BF theory into simplicial gravity, some geometric quantities of Regge calculus, areas, and 3D and 4D dihedral angles, are identified. The parallel transport conditions are taken care of to ensure a consistent gluing of simplices. We show that these gluing relations, together with the simplicity constraints, contain the constraints of area-angle Regge calculus in a simple way, via the group structure of the underlying BF gauge theory. This provides a precise road from constrained BF theory to area-angle Regge calculus. Doing so, a framework combining variables of lattice BF theory and Regge calculus is built. The action takes a form a la Regge and includes the contribution of the Immirzi parameter. In the absence of simplicity constraints, the standard spin foam model for BF theory is recovered. Insertions of local observables are investigated, leading to Casimir insertions for areas and reproducing for 3D angles known results obtained through angle operators on spin networks. The present formulation is argued to be suitable for deriving spin foam models from discrete path integrals and to unravel their geometric content.

  6. Study on Digital Pulse Shape Discrimination System in BF{sub 3} Detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jinhyeong; Kim, J. H.; Choi, H. D. [Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-10-15

    In this study, we develop the digital PSD system and discriminate the background signal of BF{sub 3}. Spectrum shapes are different according to the t{sub start} setting method, and it is favorable to set it as the certain ratio of maximum height. In future, it will be performed to vary t{sub start} point to optimize the pulse discrimination. To quantify the performance, Figure Of Merit (FOM) will be determined. For the nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards, an accurate and reliable measurement of nuclear material is essential. The nuclear material emits neutron and γ-ray, simultaneously. For the accurate detection of the nuclear material, neutron should be discriminated from γ-ray or background radiation. In previous study, N. S. Jung developed pulse shape analysis method based on NIM and CAMAC system. However, applications of other discrimination methods based on different detection modules or changing parameters are time-and-money consuming procedures in analogue systems. Today, the performance of digitizers is improved and it replaces some radiation measurement systems which require simple and portable equipment. Digital Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) method by using a digital oscilloscope is developed and applied to a neutron detection system by using BF{sub 3} detector in this study.

  7. Behaviour of BF{sub 3} counters after in-pile irradiation; Comportement de compteurs a BF{sub 3} apres irradiation dans un reacteur

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Verdant, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1967-07-01

    The behaviour of a proportional BF{sub 3}LCT 14 NE 31 counter with aluminium cathode has been studied after irradiation from 10{sup 5} to 10{sup 6} n.cm{sup -2} in the swimming-pool reactor Triton. The pulse spectrum was only slightly modified by two successive irradiations at 10{sup 15} n.cm{sup -2}, and 1 hour after the end of the irradiation the decrease in sensitivity reached 10 to 20 per cent. One hour after irradiation at 10{sup 16} n.cm{sup -2} this decrease was 20 per cent but the pulse spectrum was affected. The advantages of an aluminium cathode with respect to a standard counter using a copper cathode and irradiated under the same conditions are given. Beforehand, it had been established that the limit for use of an aluminium-cathode counter in the presence of {gamma} radiation is about 200 R.h{sup -1}. (author) [French] Le comportement d'un compteur proportionnel a BF-3LCT 14 NE 31, a cathode d'aluminium, a ete etudie apres des irradiations de 10{sup 5} a 10{sup 6} n.cm{sup -2} dans la pile-piscine TRITON. Deux irradiations successives de 10{sup 15} n.cm{sup -2} ont peu modifie le spectre des impulsions et 1 heure apres la fin de l'exposition la perte de sensibilite etait de 10 a 20 pour cent. Une heure apres une irradiation de 10{sup 16} n.cm{sup -2}, cette perte etait de 20 pour cent mais le spectre d'impulsions etait perturbe. L'avantage d'une cathode en aluminium est mis en evidence par comparaison avec un compteur standard a cathode de cuivre irradie dans les memes conditions. En preliminaire, on avait etabli que la limite d'utilisation d'un compteur a cathode d'aluminium en presence de rayonnements {gamma} etait de l'ordre de 200 R.h{sup -1}. (auteur)

  8. BF2.649 [1-{3-[3-(4-Chlorophenyl)propoxy]propyl}piperidine, hydrochloride], a nonimidazole inverse agonist/antagonist at the human histamine H3 receptor: Preclinical pharmacology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ligneau, X; Perrin, D; Landais, L; Camelin, J-C; Calmels, T P G; Berrebi-Bertrand, I; Lecomte, J-M; Parmentier, R; Anaclet, C; Lin, J-S; Bertaina-Anglade, V; la Rochelle, C Drieu; d'Aniello, F; Rouleau, A; Gbahou, F; Arrang, J-M; Ganellin, C R; Stark, H; Schunack, W; Schwartz, J-C

    2007-01-01

    Histamine H3 receptor inverse agonists are known to enhance the activity of histaminergic neurons in brain and thereby promote vigilance and cognition. 1-{3-[3-(4-Chlorophenyl)propoxy]propyl}piperidine, hydrochloride (BF2.649) is a novel, potent, and selective nonimidazole inverse agonist at the recombinant human H3 receptor. On the stimulation of guanosine 5'-O-(3-[35S]thio)triphosphate binding to this receptor, BF2.649 behaved as a competitive antagonist with a Ki value of 0.16 nM and as an inverse agonist with an EC50 value of 1.5 nM and an intrinsic activity approximately 50% higher than that of ciproxifan. Its in vitro potency was approximately 6 times lower at the rodent receptor. In mice, the oral bioavailability coefficient, i.e., the ratio of plasma areas under the curve after oral and i.v. administrations, respectively, was 84%. BF2.649 dose dependently enhanced tele-methylhistamine levels in mouse brain, an index of histaminergic neuron activity, with an ED50 value of 1.6 mg/kg p.o., a response that persisted after repeated administrations for 17 days. In rats, the drug enhanced dopamine and acetylcholine levels in microdialysates of the prefrontal cortex. In cats, it markedly enhanced wakefulness at the expense of sleep states and also enhanced fast cortical rhythms of the electroencephalogram, known to be associated with improved vigilance. On the two-trial object recognition test in mice, a promnesiant effect was shown regarding either scopolamine-induced or natural forgetting. These preclinical data suggest that BF2.649 is a valuable drug candidate to be developed in wakefulness or memory deficits and other cognitive disorders.

  9. Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTA-Br) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmim-BF4) in aqueous solution: An ephemeral binary system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comelles, Francesc; Ribosa, Isabel; Gonzalez, Juan José; Garcia, M Teresa

    2017-03-15

    Mixtures of the cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTA-Br) and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmim-BF 4 ) in aqueous solutions are expected to behave as typical binary cationic surfactant system taking into account the surface activity displayed by the ionic liquid, instead of considering the IL as a water cosolvent. Surface tension and conductivity measurements have been conducted as a function of the total concentration of the mixtures at different surfactant mole fraction (α CTA-Br ) to investigate the surface active properties. Turbidity immediately appearing when the compounds are mixed in water suggests the spontaneous formation of the low soluble compound hexadecyltrimethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (CTA-BF 4 ), together with the salt formed by the respective counterions bmim + and Br - in solution. For α CTA-Br ≠0.5, furthermore of the mentioned compounds, the spare bmim-BF 4 (for α CTA-Br Br (for α CTA-Br >0.5), are also present in the aqueous solution. Systems containing excess of bmim-BF 4 show a low critical aggregate concentration (cac), but an unexpected high surface tension at cac (γ cac ≈53-56mN/m), as pure CTA-BF 4 . For systems containing excess of CTA-Br, cac increases but γ cac decreases up to 36mN/m. Mixtures of pure CTA-BF 4 and bmim-BF 4 or CTA-Br behave as typical binary surfactant systems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Topological BF field theory description of topological insulators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Gil Young; Moore, Joel E.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → We show that a BF theory is the effective theory of 2D and 3D topological insulators. → The non-gauge-invariance of the bulk theory yields surface terms for a bosonized Dirac fermion. → The 'axion' term in electromagnetism is correctly obtained from gapped surfaces. → Generalizations to possible fractional phases are discussed in closing. - Abstract: Topological phases of matter are described universally by topological field theories in the same way that symmetry-breaking phases of matter are described by Landau-Ginzburg field theories. We propose that topological insulators in two and three dimensions are described by a version of abelian BF theory. For the two-dimensional topological insulator or quantum spin Hall state, this description is essentially equivalent to a pair of Chern-Simons theories, consistent with the realization of this phase as paired integer quantum Hall effect states. The BF description can be motivated from the local excitations produced when a π flux is threaded through this state. For the three-dimensional topological insulator, the BF description is less obvious but quite versatile: it contains a gapless surface Dirac fermion when time-reversal-symmetry is preserved and yields 'axion electrodynamics', i.e., an electromagnetic E . B term, when time-reversal symmetry is broken and the surfaces are gapped. Just as changing the coefficients and charges of 2D Chern-Simons theory allows one to obtain fractional quantum Hall states starting from integer states, BF theory could also describe (at a macroscopic level) fractional 3D topological insulators with fractional statistics of point-like and line-like objects.

  11. Investigation of toxic effects of imidazolium ionic liquids, [bmim][BF4] and [omim][BF4], on marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis with or without the presence of conventional solvents, such as acetone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsarpali, Vasiliki; Belavgeni, Alexia; Dailianis, Stefanos

    2015-07-01

    This study investigated the cytotoxic, oxidative and genotoxic effects of two commonly used imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs), [bmim][BF4] (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) and [omim][BF4] (1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate), on the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, as well as whether acetone could mediate their toxic profile. In this context, mussels were firstly exposed to different concentrations of [bmim][BF4] or [omim][BF4], with or without the presence of acetone (at a final concentration of 0.06% v/v), for a period of 96h, in order to determine the concentration that causes 50% mussel mortality (LC50 values) in each case. Thereafter, mussels were exposed to sub- and non-lethal concentrations of ILs for investigating their ability to cause lysosomal membrane impairment (with the use of neutral red retention assay/NRRT), superoxide anion and lipid peroxidation byproduct (malondialdehyde/MDA) formation, as well as DNA damage and formation of nuclear abnormalities in hemocytes. The results showed that [omim][BF4] was more toxic than [bmim][BF4] in all cases, while the presence of acetone resulted in a slight attenuation of its toxicity. The different toxic behavior of ILs was further revealed by the significantly lower levels of NRRT values observed in [omim][BF4]-treated mussels, compared to those occurring in [bmim][BF4] in all cases. Similarly, [bmim][BF4]-mediated oxidative and genotoxic effects were observed only in the highest concentration tested (10mgL(-1)), while [omim][BF4]-mediated effects were enhanced at lower concentrations (0.01-0.05mgL(-1)). Overall, the present study showed that [bmim][BF4] and [omim][BF4] could induce not only lethal but also nonlethal effects on mussel M. galloprovincialis. The extent of [bmim][BF4] and/or [omim][BF4]-mediated effects could be ascribed to the length of each IL alkyl chain, as well as to their lipophilicity. Moreover, the role of acetone on the obtained toxic effects of the specific ILs was

  12. Green synthesis of 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-carbazoles/ 2,3-dimethylindoles catalyzed by [bmim (BF 4] ionic liquid in methanol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tamatakallu O. Shrungesh Kumar

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [bmim (BF 4] ionic liquid has been used as catalyst for the synthesis of tetrahydrocarbazoles and 2, 3-dimethylindoles with excellent yields in a shorter reaction time. The results show that the [bmim (BF 4] ionic liquid is very efficient in the Fischer indole synthesis due to its operational simplicity, high yields, dual catalyst-solvent properties and reused for five consecutive reactions without significant loss of catalytic efficiency. The applicability of the methodology for large-scale reaction highlights its potentiality for industrial scale synthesis. The main advantage of this procedure is that the products could be obtained in pure form after filtration and evaporation of MeOH solvent.

  13. Turbine trip transient analysis in peach bottom NPP with TRAC-BF1 code and Simtab-1D methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrachina, T.; Miro, R.; Verdu, G.; Collazo, I.; Gonzalez, P.; Concejal, A.; Ortego, P.; Melara, J.

    2010-01-01

    In TRAC-BF1 nuclear cross-sections are specified in the input deck in as a polynomial expansion. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain the coefficients of this polynomial function. One of the methods proposed in the literature is the KINPAR methodology. This methodology uses the results from different perturbations of the original state to obtain the coefficients of the polynominal expansion. The simulations are performed using the SIMULATE3 code. In this work, a new methodology to obtain the cross-sections set in 1D is presented. The first step consists of the application of the SIMTAB methodology, developed in UPV, to obtain the 3D cross-sections sets from CASMO4/SIMULATE3. These 3D cross-sections sets are collapsed to 1D, using as a weighting factor the 3D thermal and rapid neutron fluxes obtained from SIMULATE3. The 1D cross-sections obtained are in the same format as the 3D sets, hence, it has been necessary to modify the TRAC-BF1 code in order to be able to read and interpolate between these tabulated 1D cross-sections. With this new methodology it is not necessary to perform simulations of different perturbations of the original state, and also the variation range of the moderator density can be higher than using the former KINPAR methodology. This is important for simulating severe accidents in which the variables vary in a wide range. This new methodology is applied to the simulation of the turbine trip transient Benchmark in Peach Bottom NPP using the TRAC-BF1 code. The results of the transient simulation in TRAC-BF1 using the KINPAR methodology and the new methodology, SIMTAB-1D, are compared. (author)

  14. The entropic boundary law in BF theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livine, Etera R.; Terno, Daniel R.

    2009-01-01

    We compute the entropy of a closed bounded region of space for pure 3d Riemannian gravity formulated as a topological BF theory for the gauge group SU(2) and show its holographic behavior. More precisely, we consider a fixed graph embedded in space and study the flat connection spin network state without and with particle-like topological defects. We regularize and compute exactly the entanglement for a bipartite splitting of the graph and show it scales at leading order with the number of vertices on the boundary (or equivalently with the number of loops crossing the boundary). More generally these results apply to BF theory with any compact gauge group in any space-time dimension.

  15. BF3·Et2O promoted conjugate addition of ethanethiol to electron-deficient alkynes

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Qing Fa Zhou; Xue Ping Chu; Shen Zhao; Tao Lu; Wei Fang Tang

    2012-01-01

    An effective method for the synthesis of vinyl thioethers through the conjugate addition of ethanethiol to electron-deficient alkynes promoted by BF3·Et2O has been developed.Electron-deficient internal alkynes react with ethanethiol in this system to yield mainly Z-isomer of vinyl thioether adducts,while electron-deficient terminal alkynes afford mainly E-isomer of vinyl thioether adducts.

  16. Analysis on ingress of coolant event in vacuum vessel using modified TRAC-BF1 code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ajima, Toshio; Kurihara, Ryoichi; Seki, Yasushi

    1999-08-01

    The Transient Reactor Analysis Code (TRAC-BF1) was modified on the basis of ICE experimental results so as to analyze the Ingress of Coolant Event (ICE) in the vacuum vessel of a nuclear fusion reactor. In the previous report, the TRAC-BF1 code, which was originally developed for the safety analysis of a light water reactor, had been modified for the ICE of the fusion reactor. And the addition of the flat structural plate model to the VESSEL component and arbitrary appointment of the gravity direction had been added in the TRAC-BF1 code. This TRAC-BF1 code was further modified. The flat structural plate model of the VESSEL component was enabled to divide in multi layers having different materials, and a part of the multi layers could take a buried heater into consideration. Moreover, the TRAC-BF1 code was modified to analyze under the low-pressure condition close to vacuum within range of the steam table. This paper describes additional functions of the modified TRAC-BF1 code, analytical evaluation using ICE experimental data and the ITER model with final design report (FDR) data. (author)

  17. Investigation of toxic effects of imidazolium ionic liquids, [bmim][BF{sub 4}] and [omim][BF{sub 4}], on marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis with or without the presence of conventional solvents, such as acetone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tsarpali, Vasiliki; Belavgeni, Alexia; Dailianis, Stefanos, E-mail: sdailianis@upatras.gr

    2015-07-15

    Highlights: • The toxic effects of [bmim][BF{sub 4}] and [omim][BF{sub 4}] on mussels were investigated. • Both ILs could induce lethal and nonlethal effects on Mytilus galloprovincialis. • Different extent of IL-mediated adverse effects was observed in mussel hemocytes. • The alkyl chain length and lipophilicity of ILs are crucial for their toxicity. • Acetone influences the oxidative and genotoxic effects of [omim][BF{sub 4}]. - Abstract: This study investigated the cytotoxic, oxidative and genotoxic effects of two commonly used imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs), [bmim][BF{sub 4}] (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) and [omim][BF{sub 4}] (1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate), on the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, as well as whether acetone could mediate their toxic profile. In this context, mussels were firstly exposed to different concentrations of [bmim][BF{sub 4}] or [omim][BF{sub 4}], with or without the presence of acetone (at a final concentration of 0.06% v/v), for a period of 96 h, in order to determine the concentration that causes 50% mussel mortality (LC{sub 50} values) in each case. Thereafter, mussels were exposed to sub- and non-lethal concentrations of ILs for investigating their ability to cause lysosomal membrane impairment (with the use of neutral red retention assay/NRRT), superoxide anion and lipid peroxidation byproduct (malondialdehyde/MDA) formation, as well as DNA damage and formation of nuclear abnormalities in hemocytes. The results showed that [omim][BF{sub 4}] was more toxic than [bmim][BF{sub 4}] in all cases, while the presence of acetone resulted in a slight attenuation of its toxicity. The different toxic behavior of ILs was further revealed by the significantly lower levels of NRRT values observed in [omim][BF{sub 4}]-treated mussels, compared to those occurring in [bmim][BF{sub 4}] in all cases. Similarly, [bmim][BF{sub 4}]-mediated oxidative and genotoxic effects were observed only in the highest

  18. Janus field theories from non-linear BF theories for multiple M2-branes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryang, Shijong

    2009-01-01

    We integrate the nonpropagating B μ gauge field for the non-linear BF Lagrangian describing N M2-branes which includes terms with even number of the totally antisymmetric tensor M IJK in arXiv:0808.2473 and for the two-types of non-linear BF Lagrangians which include terms with odd number of M IJK as well in arXiv:0809:0985. For the former Lagrangian we derive directly the DBI-type Lagrangian expressed by the SU(N) dynamical A μ gauge field with a spacetime dependent coupling constant, while for the low-energy expansions of the latter Lagrangians the B μ integration is iteratively performed. The derived Janus field theory Lagrangians are compared.

  19. Pulse discrimination of background and gamma-ray source by digital pulse shape discrimination in a BF3 detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jinhyung; Kim, J. H.; Choi, H. D.

    2014-01-01

    As a representative method of non-destructive assay, accurate neutron measurement is difficult due to large background radiation such as γ-ray, secondary radiation, spurious pulse, etc. In a BF 3 detector, the process of signal generation is different between neutron and other radiations. As the development of detection technique, all of signal data can be digitized by digital measurement method. In the previous study, Applied Nuclear Physics Group in Seoul National University has developed digital Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) method using digital oscilloscope. In this study, optimization of parameters for pulse discrimination is discussed and γ-ray region is determined by measuring 60 Co source. The background signal of BF 3 detector is discriminated by digital PSD system. Parameters for PSD are optimized through FOM calculation. And the γ-ray region is determined by measuring 60 Co source. In the future, the performance of developed system will be tested in low and high intensity neutron field

  20. Face recognition based on matching of local features on 3D dynamic range sequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Echeagaray-Patrón, B. A.; Kober, Vitaly

    2016-09-01

    3D face recognition has attracted attention in the last decade due to improvement of technology of 3D image acquisition and its wide range of applications such as access control, surveillance, human-computer interaction and biometric identification systems. Most research on 3D face recognition has focused on analysis of 3D still data. In this work, a new method for face recognition using dynamic 3D range sequences is proposed. Experimental results are presented and discussed using 3D sequences in the presence of pose variation. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of conventional face recognition algorithms based on descriptors.

  1. Investigation of electric conductivity, viscosity and density of LiBF4-1,3-dioxolane system in homogeneity region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Plakhotnik, V.N.; Tovmash, N.F.; Mishustin, A.N.; Dam'e, V.N.

    1987-01-01

    Solutions of lithium tetrafluoborate in 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) in temperature range and concentrations limiting the homogeneity region from the side of salt crystallization and formation of polymer structures from -30 deg to +25 deg and from 10 -6 to 1.4 mol/l. are investigated using methods of conductometry, densimetry, viscosimetry and by measuring time of spinlattice 7 Li nuclei relaxation. The dissociation constant of LiBF 4 in DOL (pK D =4.9±0.2 at 25 deg) is determined. Comparison with systems based on 1,2-dimethoxyethane and tetrahydrofurane studied earlier is carried out. Suppositions concerning considerable contribution of ion molecular structures with participation of salt ions and solvent molecules to electric conductivity are stated, and it agrees with the data on measurements of velocities of spin-lattice relaxation of 7 Li nuclei

  2. Volumetric and viscosity properties of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid in methanol%[Bmim]BF4离子液体在甲醇中的体积和黏度性质

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李诗琴; 周贤丰; 许映杰

    2013-01-01

    在298.15 K和常压下,测定了1-丁基-3-甲基咪唑四氟硼酸([Bmim] BF4)离子液体+甲醇体系的密度和黏度.由密度计算了体系的表观摩尔体积,并采用Redlich-Mayer方程关联了体系的表观摩尔体积与组成的关系,得到了[Bmim]BF4在甲醇中的标准偏摩尔体积.由Jones-Dole方程对体系的黏度随组成的变化进行了拟合,获得了[Bmim] BF4在甲醇中的黏度B系数.结果表明:[Bmim] BF4+甲醇体系的表观摩尔体积和黏度均随[Bmim] BF4浓度的增加而增加,[Bmim] BF4在甲醇中的标准偏摩尔体积和黏度B系数分别为155.72×10-6m3/mol和0.282 9.%Densities and viscosities of l-butyl-3-methylimi-dazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid ( [ Bmim ] BF4 ) with methanol were measured at 298. 15 K and atmospheric pressure. Apparent molar volumes, Vf of the above-mentioned mixture were determined from the experimental densities. Standard partial molar volume , Vo/f of [ Bmim] BF4 in methanol was estimated by the Redlich-Mayer equation. The achieved viscosities were used to calculate the viscosity B-coefficient of [ Bmim ] BF4 in methanol through Jones-Dole equation. The results indicate that the apparent molar volumes and viscosities increase with increasing of ionic liquid concentration. Standard partial molar volume and viscosity B-coefficient of [Bmim] BF4 in methanol is 155.72 ?10-6 m3 穖ol-1 and 0.282 9,respectively.

  3. [Cu(I)(bpp)]BF4: the first extended coordination network prepared solvothermally in an ionic liquid solvent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Kun; Huang, Xiaoying; Pan, Long; Li, Jing; Appel, Aaron; Wherland, Scot; Pang, Long

    2002-12-07

    Use of an ionic liquid [bmim][BF4] (bmim = 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) as solvent has resulted in the first extended coordination structure, the two-dimensional network [Cu(bpp)]BF4 [bpp = 1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane], produced via a solvothermal route.

  4. Molecular Orbital and Density Functional Study of the Formation, Charge Transfer, Bonding and the Conformational Isomerism of the Boron Trifluoride (BF3 and Ammonia (NH3 Donor-Acceptor Complex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dulal C. Ghosh

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available The formation of the F3B–NH3 supermolecule by chemical interaction of its fragment parts, BF3 and NH3, and the dynamics of internal rotation about the ‘B–N’ bond have been studied in terms of parameters provided by the molecular orbital and density functional theories. It is found that the pairs of frontier orbitals of the interacting fragments have matching symmetry and are involved in the charge transfer interaction. The donation process stems from the HOMO of the donor into the LUMO of the acceptor and simultaneously, back donation stems from the HOMO of acceptor into the LUMO of the donor. The density functional computation of chemical activation in the donor and acceptor fragments, associated with the physical process of structural reorganization just prior to the event of chemical reaction, indicates that BF3 becomes more acidic and NH3 becomes more basic, compared to their separate equilibrium states. Theoretically it is observed that the chemical reaction event of the formation of the supermolecule from its fragment parts is in accordance with the chemical potential equalization principle of the density functional theory and the electronegativity equalization principle of Sanderson. The energetics of the chemical reaction, the magnitude of the net charge transfer and the energy of the newly formed bond are quite consistent, both internally and with the principle of maximum hardness, PMH. The dynamics of the internal rotation of one part with respect to the other part of the supermolecule about the ‘B–N’ bond mimics the pattern of the conformational isomerism of the isostructural ethane molecule. It is also observed that the dynamics and evolution of molecular conformations as a function of dihedral angles is also in accordance with the principle of maximum hardness, PMH. Quite consistent with spectroscopic predictions, the height of the molecule

  5. Electrochemical fabrication of TiO2 nanoparticles/[BMIM]BF4 ionic liquid hybrid film electrode and its application in determination of p-acetaminophen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Bin; Li, Yuan; Qin, Xianjing; Zhan, Guoqing; Ma, Ming; Li, Chunya

    2012-01-01

    A water soluble ionic liquid, 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF 4 ), was incorporated into TiO 2 nanoparticles to fabricate a hybrid film modified glassy carbon electrode (nano‐TiO 2 /[BMIM]BF 4 /GCE) through electrochemical deposition in a tetrabutyltitanate sol solution containing [BMIM]BF 4 . The obtained nano‐TiO 2 /[BMIM]BF 4 /GCEs were characterized scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Electrochemical behaviors of p‐acetaminophen at the nano‐TiO 2 /[BMIM]BF 4 /GCEs were thoroughly investigated. Compared to the redox reaction of p‐acetaminophen using an unmodified electrode under the same conditions, a new reduction peak was observed clearly at 0.26 V with the modified electrode. In addition, the peak potential for the oxidation of p‐acetaminophen was found to shift negatively about 90 mV and the current response increased significantly. These changes indicate that the nano‐TiO 2 /[BMIM]BF 4 hybrid film can improve the redox reactions of p‐acetaminophen in aqueous medium. Under optimum conditions, a linear relationship was obtained for the p‐acetaminophen solutions with concentration in the range from 5.0 × 10 −8 to 5.0 × 10 −5 M. The estimated detection limit was 1.0 × 10 −8 M (S/N = 3). The newly developed method was applied for the determination of p-acetaminophen in urine samples. - Highlights: ► Nano-TiO 2 /[BMIM]BF 4 hybrid film electrode was fabricated with electrodeposition. ► Voltammetric behavior of p-acetaminophen at the obtained electrode was investigated. ► The hybrid film electrode shows good electrocatalytic response to p-acetaminophen. ► p-acetaminophen in urine samples was successfully determined.

  6. Young's modulus of BF wood material by longitudinal vibration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phadke, Sushil; Shrivastava, Bhakt Darshan; Mishra, Ashutosh; Dagaonkar, N

    2014-01-01

    All engineered structures are designed and built with consideration of resisting the same fundamental forces of tension, compression, shear, bending and torsion. Structural design is a balance of these internal and external forces. So, it is interesting to calculate the Young's moduli of Borassus Flabellifier BF wood are quite important from the application point of view. The ultrasonic waves are closely related with the elastic and inelastic properties of the materials. In the present study, we measured longitudinal wave ultrasonic velocities in BF wood material by longitudinal vibration method. After measuring ultrasonic velocity in BF wood material, we calculated Young's modulus of Borassus Flabellifier BF wood material. We used ultrasonic interferometer for measuring longitudinal wave ultrasonic velocity in BF wood material made by Mittal Enterprises, New Delhi, India in our laboratory. Borassus Flabellifier BF wood material was collected from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, India.

  7. Investigation of electric conductivity, viscosity and density of LiBF/sub 4/-1,3-dioxolane system in homogeneity region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Plakhotnik, V N; Tovmash, N F; Mishustin, A N; Dam' e, V N

    1987-01-01

    Solutions of lithium tetrafluoborate in 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) in temperature range and concentrations limiting the homogeneity region from the side of salt crystallization and formation of polymer structures from -30 deg to +25 deg and from 10/sup -6/ to 1.4 mol/l. are investigated using methods of conductometry, densimetry, viscosimetry and by measuring time of spinlattice /sup 7/Li nuclei relaxation. The dissociation constant of LiBF/sub 4/ in DOL (pK/sub D/=4.9+-0.2 at 25 deg) is determined. Comparison with systems based on 1,2-dimethoxyethane and tetrahydrofurane studied earlier is carried out. Suppositions concerning considerable contribution of ion molecular structures with participation of salt ions and solvent molecules to electric conductivity are stated, and it agrees with the data on measurements of velocities of spin-lattice relaxation of /sup 7/Li nuclei.

  8. Di-ureasil hybrids doped with LiBF{sub 4}: Spectroscopic study of the ionic interactions and hydrogen bonding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fernandes, Mariana [Departamento de Quimica/CQ-VR, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real (Portugal); Barbosa, Paula C.; Manuela Silva, M.; Smith, Michael J. [Departamento de Quimica/Centro de Quimica, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); Zea Bermudez, Veronica de, E-mail: vbermude@utad.pt [Departamento de Quimica/CQ-VR, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real (Portugal)

    2011-09-15

    Highlights: {yields} FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize cation interactions in two LiBF{sub 4}-doped di-ureasil networks incorporating POE chains with different length. {yields} Over the range of salt content analyzed the cations bond to amorphous POE chains and form ion contact pairs with BF{sub 4}{sup -}. {yields} A crystalline POE/LiBF{sub 4} complex of unknown stoichiometry emerges at high salt concentration. - Abstract: In the present work Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the cation/polymer, cation/cross-link, cation/anion and hydrogen bonding interactions in hybrid electrolytes composed of lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF{sub 4}) and di-urea cross-linked poly(oxyethylene) (POE)/siloxane hybrid networks (di-ureasils) designated as d-U(2000) and d-U(600) and incorporating polyether chains with ca. 40.5 and 8.5 oxyethylene repeat units, respectively. Samples with {infinity} > n {>=} 2.5 (where n, composition, is the molar ratio of CH{sub 2}CH{sub 2}O units per Li{sup +} ion) were analyzed. In both di-ureasil systems over the whole range of salt content examined the Li{sup +} ions bond to the ether oxygen atoms of amorphous POE chains and to BF{sub 4}{sup -} ions forming ion contact pairs. Spectroscopic evidences and SEM images confirm the presence of a crystalline POE/LiBF{sub 4} complex of unknown stoichiometry at n < 20 and 25, respectively. Ionic association is particularly important in the case of the d-U(600)-based materials, as a result of the presence of strong hydrogen-bonded aggregates that prevent the establishment of Li{sup +}/urea carbonyl oxygen atom interactions.

  9. Synthesis of 11C labelled methyl esters: transesterification of enol esters versus BF3 catalysed esterification-a comparative study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ackermann, Uwe; Blanc, Paul; Falzon, Cheryl L.; Issa, William; White, Jonathan; Tochon-Danguy, Henri J.; Sachinidis, John I.; Scott, Andrew M.

    2006-01-01

    C-11 labelled methyl esters have been synthesized via the transesterification of enol esters in the presence of C-11 methanol and 1,3 dichlorodibutylstannoxane as catalyst. This method leaves functional groups intact and allows access to a wider variety of C-11 labelled methyl esters compared to the BF 3 catalysed ester formation, which uses carboxylic acids and C-11 methanol as starting materials

  10. Mass transfer dynamics of ammonia in high rate biomethanation of poultry litter leachate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangagni Rao, A; Gandu, Bharath; Swamy, Y V

    2012-04-01

    In the present study possibility of coupling biofilter to arrest ammonia (NH(3)) emission to the atmosphere from the integrated UASB and stripper (UASB+ST) system treating poultry litter leachate was studied. UASB+ST with biofilter (UASB+ST+BF) exhibited removal efficiency (RE) of NH(3) in the range of 98-99% (below 28 ppmV (parts per million by volume)) with low cost agricultural residue as a bedding material. Mass transfer dynamics of TAN in the system revealed that TAN loss to atmosphere was below 1% in UASB+ST+BF where as it was in the range of 70-90% in UASB+ST. Cost estimates revealed that financial implications due to the addition of biofilter were below 10% of total capital cost. TAN retained in the bedding material of biofilter could also be utilized as soil conditioner upon saturation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. BF3.SiO2: an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of azo dyes at room temperature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bi Bi Fatemeh Mirjalili

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available A rapid one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of azo dyes via ‎sequential diazotization–diazo coupling of aromatic amines with coupling agents at room ‎temperature in the presence of BF3.SiO2 as acidic catalyst. The obtained aryl diazonium salts bearing silica supported boron tri-flouride counter ion‎ was sufficiently stable to be kept at room ‎temperature in the dry state.‎

  12. Spin-crossover in [Fe(3-bpp)2][BF4]2 in different solvents--a dramatic stabilisation of the low-spin state in water.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, Simon A; Kilner, Colin A; Halcrow, Malcolm A

    2011-12-07

    The temperature of spin-crossover in [Fe(3-bpp)(2)][BF(4)](2) (3-bpp = 2,6-di{pyrazol-3-yl}pyridine) tends to increase in associating solvents. In particular, T(½) shifts to 60-70 K higher temperature in water compared to organic solvents.

  13. A high sensitive 66 dB linear dynamic range receiver for 3-D laser radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Rui; Zheng, Hao; Zhu, Zhangming

    2017-08-01

    This study presents a CMOS receiver chip realized in 0.18 μm standard CMOS technology and intended for high precision 3-D laser radar. The chip includes an adjustable gain transimpedance pre-amplifier, a post-amplifier and two timing comparators. An additional feedback is employed in the regulated cascode transimpedance amplifier to decrease the input impedance, and a variable gain transimpedance amplifier controlled by digital switches and analog multiplexer is utilized to realize four gain modes, extending the input dynamic range. The measurement shows that the highest transimpedance of the channel is 50 k {{Ω }}, the uncompensated walk error is 1.44 ns in a wide linear dynamic range of 66 dB (1:2000), and the input referred noise current is 2.3 pA/\\sqrt{{Hz}} (rms), resulting in a very low detectable input current of 1 μA with SNR = 5.

  14. Molecular cloning, structural analysis and expression of complement component Bf/C2 genes in the nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Dong-Ho; Webb, Barbara; Nakao, Miki; Smith, Sylvia L

    2007-01-01

    Factor B and C2 are serine proteases that provide the catalytic subunits of C3 and C5 convertases of the alternative (AP) and classical (CP) complement pathways. Two Bf/C2 cDNAs, GcBf/C2-1 and -2 (previously referred to as nsBf/C2-A and nsBf/C2-B), were isolated from the nurse shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum. GcBf/C2-1 and -2 are 3364 and 3082bp in length and encode a leader peptide, three CCPs, one VWFA, the serine protease domain and have a putative factor D/C1s/MASP cleavage site. Southern blots show that there might be up to two Bf/C2-like genes for each of the two GcBf/C2 isoforms. GcBf/C2-1 and -2 are constitutively expressed, albeit at different levels, in all nine tissues examined. Expression in erythrocytes is a novel finding. Structural analysis has revealed that the localization of glycosylation sites in the SP domain of both putative proteins indicates that the molecular organization of the shark molecules is more like C2 than factor B. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that GcBf/C2-1 and -2 and TrscBf of Triakis scyllia (another shark species) originated from a common ancestor and share a remote ancestor with Bf and C2 of mammals and bony fish.

  15. The Quantum Description of BF Model in Superspace

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manoj Kumar Dwivedi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the BRST symmetric four-dimensional BF theory, a topological theory, containing antisymmetric tensor fields in Landau gauge and extend the BRST symmetry by introducing a shift symmetry to it. Within this formulation, the antighost fields corresponding to shift symmetry coincide with antifields of standard field/antifield formulation. Furthermore, we provide a superspace description for the BF model possessing extended BRST and extended anti-BRST transformations.

  16. Assessing toxic effects of [Omim]Cl and [Omim]BF4 in zebrafish adults using a biomarker approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Tong; Guo, Yingying; Wang, Jinhua; Wang, Jun; Zhu, Lusheng; Zhang, Jun; Zhang, Cheng

    2016-04-01

    In the present study, the toxic effects of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Omim]Cl) and 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Omim]BF4) on the zebrafish livers were studied at 0, 5, 10, 20, and 40 mg L(-1) on the 7th and 14th days. In addition, the concentrations of [Omim]Cl and [Omim]BF4 in the test water, the acute toxicity of the two ionic liquids (ILs), and the influence of anions on the toxicity of the ILs were evaluated. The acute toxicity test results showed 50 % lethal concentration (LC50) values of 152.3 ± 12.1 mg L(-1) for [Omim]Cl and 144.0 ± 11.4 mg L(-1) for [Omim]BF4. At the lowest concentration investigated (5 mg L(-1)), [Omim]Cl and [Omim]BF4 did not significantly affect zebrafish during the exposure period. However, the toxic effects of these substances were enhanced as dosing concentrations and exposure times were increased. Levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly enhanced on the 7th day after 20 mg L(-1) and on the 14th day after 10 mg L(-1) of either substance was applied, resulting in oxidative damage, such as lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. The experimental results also indicated little effect of the anions on the toxicity of ILs and consistent toxic effects of [Omim]Cl and [Omim]BF4. Graphical Abstract The graphical abstract for the present study after exposure to [Omim]Cl and [Omim]BF4. The letter R represents the anions Cl(-) and BF4 (.)

  17. Assessment of the turbine trip transient in Cofrentes NPP with TRAC-BF1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castrillo, F.; Gomez, A.; Gallego, I.

    1993-06-01

    This report presents the results of the assessment of TRAC-BF1 (G1-J1) code with the model of C. N. Cofrentes for simulation of the transient originated by the manual trip of the main turbine. C. N. Cofrentes is a General Electric designed BWR/6 plant, with a nominal core thermal power of 2894 Mwt, in commercial operation since 1985, owned and operated by Hidroelectrica Espanola, S. A. The plant incorporates all the characteristics of BWR/6 reactors, with two turbine driven FW pumps. As a result of this assessment a model of C. N. Cofrentes has been developed for TRAC-BF1 that fairly reproduces operational transient behavior of the plant. A special purpose code was generated to obtain reactivity coefficients, as required by TRAC-BF1, from the 3D simulator

  18. Fe4 cluster and a buckled macrocycle complex from the reduction of [(dmgBF2)2Fe(L)2] (L = MeCN, (t)Bu(i)NC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Michael J; Winkler, Jay R; Gray, Harry B

    2012-02-20

    We report the syntheses, X-ray structures, and reductive electrochemistry of the Fe(II) complexes [(dmgBF(2))(2)Fe(MeCN)(2)] (1; dmg = dimethylglyoxime, MeCN = acetonitrile) and [(dmgBF(2))Fe((t)Bu(i)NC)(2)] (2; (t)Bu(i)NC = tert-butylisocyanide). The reaction of 1 with Na/Hg amalgam led to isolation and the X-ray structure of [(dmgBF(2))(2)Fe(glyIm)] (3; glyIm = glyimine), wherein the (dmgBF(2))(2) macrocyclic frame is bent to accommodate the binding of a bidentate apical ligand. We also report the X-ray structure of a rare mixed-valence Fe(4) cluster with supporting dmg-type ligands. In the structure of [(dmg(2)BF(2))(3)Fe(3)((1)/(2)dmg)(3)Fe(O)(6)] (4), the (dmgBF(2))(2) macrocycle has been cleaved, eliminating BF(2) groups. Density functional theory calculations and electron paramagnetic resonance data are in accordance with a central Fe(III) ion surrounded by three formally Fe(II)dmg(2)BF(2) units.

  19. A Low-Power High-Dynamic-Range Receiver System for In-Probe 3-D Ultrasonic Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attarzadeh, Hourieh; Xu, Ye; Ytterdal, Trond

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, a dual-mode low-power, high dynamic-range receiver circuit is designed for the interface with a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer. The proposed ultrasound receiver chip enables the development of an in-probe digital beamforming imaging system. The flexibility of having two operation modes offers a high dynamic range with minimum power sacrifice. A prototype of the chip containing one receive channel, with one variable transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and one analog to digital converter (ADC) circuit is implemented. Combining variable gain TIA functionality with ADC gain settings achieves an enhanced overall high dynamic range, while low power dissipation is maintained. The chip is designed and fabricated in a 65 nm standard CMOS process technology. The test chip occupies an area of 76[Formula: see text] 170 [Formula: see text]. A total average power range of 60-240 [Formula: see text] for a sampling frequency of 30 MHz, and a center frequency of 5 MHz is measured. An instantaneous dynamic range of 50.5 dB with an overall dynamic range of 72 dB is obtained from the receiver circuit.

  20. Thermodynamic study of binary mixture of x1[C6mim][BF4] + x21-propanol: Measurements and molecular modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kermanpour, F.; Sharifi, T.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Densities and viscosities for binary mixture of {x 1 [C 6 mim][BF 4 ] + x 2 1-propanol} were measured at different temperatures. ► The excess molar functions were calculated from the obtained experimental data. ► These data were correlated with the Redlich–Kister equation and PFP model to obtain the coefficients and standard deviations. - Abstract: Densities, ρ, and viscosities, η, of pure 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazoliumtetrafluoro borate ([C 6 mim][BF 4 ]) and 1-propanol, and their binary mixture {x 1 [C 6 mim][BF 4 ] + x 2 1-propanol} were measured at atmospheric pressure and in the temperature range of 293.15–333.15 K. The excess molar volumes, V m E , thermal expansion coefficients, α, and their excess values, α E , isothermal coefficient of excess molar enthalpy, (∂H m E /∂p) T,x and excess viscosities, η E , were calculated from the experimental values of densities and viscosities. The excess molar volumes of the binary mixture are negative over the entire mole fraction range and increase with increasing temperature. Excess viscosities are negative over the entire mole fraction range of the mixture and decrease with increasing temperature. The obtained excess molar volumes and excess viscosities were correlated with the Redlich–Kister equation. The experimental results have also been used to examine the applicability of Prigogine–Flory–Patterson (PFP) theory in predicting the excess molar volume of the binary mixture. It is indicated that agreement between excess molar volumes calculated via PFP theory and the experimental results is good in all temperatures.

  1. Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz (BfS). Annual report 1991

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-08-01

    The progress report submitted by Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz reveals that this federal radiation protection agency is not only entrusted with the fulfillment of the federal administrative tasks imposed by law but engages in applications-oriented research regarding the operational, metrological and health-related aspects of radiation protection, regarding nuclear safety and radioactive waste management. In addition, BfS takes care of public-relations tasks. The reports submitted by the BfS departments are completed by summaries of the main research results. (DG) [de

  2. The HIV-1 epidemic in Bolivia is dominated by subtype B and CRF12_BF "family" strains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guimarães, Monick L; Velarde-Dunois, Ketty G; Segurondo, David; Morgado, Mariza G

    2012-01-16

    Molecular epidemiological studies of HIV-1 in South America have revealed the occurrence of subtypes B, F1 and BF1 recombinants. Even so, little information concerning the HIV-1 molecular epidemiology in Bolivia is available. In this study we performed phylogenetic analyses from samples collected in Bolivia at two different points in time over a 10 year span. We analyzed these samples to estimate the trends in the HIV subtype and recombinant forms over time. Fifty one HIV-1 positive samples were collected in Bolivia over two distinct periods (1996 and 2005). These samples were genetically characterized based on partial pol protease/reverse transcriptase (pr/rt) and env regions. Alignment and neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic analyses were established from partial env (n = 37) and all pol sequences using Mega 4. The remaining 14 env sequences from 1996 were previously characterized based on HMA-env (Heteroduplex mobility assay). The Simplot v.3.5.1 program was used to verify intragenic recombination, and SplitsTree 4.0 was employed to confirm the phylogenetic relationship of the BF1 recombinant samples. Phylogenetic analysis of both env and pol regions confirmed the predominance of "pure" subtype B (72.5%) samples circulating in Bolivia and revealed a high prevalence of BF1 genotypes (27.5%). Eleven out of 14 BF1 recombinants displayed a mosaic structure identical or similar to that described for the CRF12_BF variant, one sample was classified as CRF17_BF, and two others were F1pol/Benv. No "pure" HIV-1 subtype F1 or B" variant of subtype B was detected in the present study. Of note, samples characterized as CRF12_BF-related were depicted only in 2005. HIV-1 genetic diversity in Bolivia is mostly driven by subtype B followed by BF1 recombinant strains from the CRF12_BF "family". No significant temporal changes were detected between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s for subtype B (76.2% vs 70.0%) or BF1 recombinant (23.8% vs 30.0%) samples from Bolivia.

  3. BF2 complex of fluorinated dipyrrolyldiketone: a new class of efficient receptor for acetate anions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maeda, Hiromitsu; Ito, Yoshihiro

    2006-10-02

    The beta-fluorinated derivative (2b) of the 1,3-dipyrrolyl-1,3-propanedione BF2 complex has been prepared from 3,4-difluoropyrrole and malonyl chloride, followed by treatment with BF3.OEt2. Despite the simple, acyclic, and neutral structure, 2b exhibits efficient 1:1 binding for anions in CH2Cl2 using the bridging CH and pyrrole NH as interaction sites. The binding constant (Ka) of 2b for acetate (CH3CO(2-)), associating more effectively than anions such as F-, Cl-, Br-, H2PO(4-), and HSO(4-), is estimated to be 9.6 x 10(5) M(-1), approximately 9 times larger than that of the beta-H derivative 2a (1.1 x 10(5) M(-1)). The UV-vis and fluorescence spectral changes of 2b elucidate the effective recognition of an amino acid, such as phenylalanine, in the anionic form; this is also supported by CD spectral changes with mirror images by L- and D-isomers. Furthermore, in the solid state, BF2 complex 2b provides Cl- -bridged supramolecular networks and, in sharp contrast, deprotonated "anionic" self-assembled structures by F- binding.

  4. Characterization of plasticized PMMA–LiBF4 based solid polymer ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    Polymer electrolyte films prepared from poly(methyl methacrylate) and LiBF4 with different con- centrations of ... 1. Introduction. Many types of ionically conducting polymers, generally ... 2. Experimental. Thin films of PMMA–LiBF4–DBP in different mole ratios ... remains very close to that of a liquid electrolyte. It is con-.

  5. In vivo detection of prion amyloid plaques using [11C]BF-227 PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okamura, Nobuyuki; Yanai, Kazuhiko; Shiga, Yusei; Itoyama, Yasuhito; Furumoto, Shozo; Tashiro, Manabu; Tsuboi, Yoshio; Furukawa, Katsutoshi; Arai, Hiroyuki; Iwata, Ren; Kudo, Yukitsuka; Doh-ura, Katsumi

    2010-01-01

    In vivo detection of pathological prion protein (PrP) in the brain is potentially useful for the diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). However, there are no non-invasive ante-mortem means for detection of pathological PrP deposition in the brain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the amyloid imaging tracer BF-227 with positron emission tomography (PET) for the non-invasive detection of PrP amyloid in the brain. The binding ability of BF-227 to PrP amyloid was investigated using autoradiography and fluorescence microscopy. Five patients with TSEs, including three patients with Gerstmann-Straeussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) and two patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), underwent [ 11 C]BF-227 PET scans. Results were compared with data from 10 normal controls and 17 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The regional to pons standardized uptake value ratio was calculated as an index of BF-227 retention. Binding of BF-227 to PrP plaques was confirmed using brain samples from autopsy-confirmed GSS cases. In clinical PET study, significantly higher retention of BF-227 was detected in the cerebellum, thalamus and lateral temporal cortex of GSS patients compared to that in the corresponding tissues of normal controls. GSS patients also showed higher retention of BF-227 in the cerebellum, thalamus and medial temporal cortex compared to AD patients. In contrast, the two CJD patients showed no obvious retention of BF-227 in the brain. Although [ 11 C]BF-227 is a non-specific imaging marker of cerebral amyloidosis, it is useful for in vivo detection of PrP plaques in the human brain in GSS, based on the regional distribution of the tracer. PET amyloid imaging might provide a means for both early diagnosis and non-invasive disease monitoring of certain forms of TSEs. (orig.)

  6. Dynamic Planar Range Maxima Queries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brodal, Gerth Stølting; Tsakalidis, Konstantinos

    2011-01-01

    We consider the dynamic two-dimensional maxima query problem. Let P be a set of n points in the plane. A point is maximal if it is not dominated by any other point in P. We describe two data structures that support the reporting of the t maximal points that dominate a given query point, and allow...... for insertions and deletions of points in P. In the pointer machine model we present a linear space data structure with O(logn + t) worst case query time and O(logn) worst case update time. This is the first dynamic data structure for the planar maxima dominance query problem that achieves these bounds...... are integers in the range U = {0, …,2 w  − 1 }. We present a linear space data structure that supports 3-sided range maxima queries in O(logn/loglogn+t) worst case time and updates in O(logn/loglogn) worst case time. These are the first sublogarithmic worst case bounds for all operations in the RAM model....

  7. Boron Profile Sharpening in Ultra-Shallow p+-n Junction Produced by Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation from BF3 Plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lukichev, V.; Rudenko, K.; Orlikovsky, A.; Pustovit, A.; Vyatkin, A.

    2008-01-01

    We have investigated plasma immersion ion implantation (PI 3 ) of boron with energies of 500 eV (doses up to 2x10 15 cm -2 ) from BF 3 plasma with He pre-amorphizing implantation (PAI)(energy 3 keV, dose 5x10 16 cm -2 ). Implanted samples were subjected to RTA (T = 900 to 1050 deg. C, t = 2 to 24 sec and spike anneal). SIMS analysis of boron profiles revealed its anomalous behavior. For short RTA times the profile tail (below 5x10 19 cm -3 ) moves toward the surface and then, as in the usual diffusion, toward the bulk at longer annealing times.

  8. Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz (BfS). Annual report 2011; Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz (BfS). Jahresbericht 2011

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ebermann, Lutz (comp.)

    2012-07-01

    The annual report 2011 of the Bundesamt fuer Strahlenschutz (BfS) includes the following main articles: Fukushima and the consequences, new power lines across Germany and the management of radioactive wastes in Germany. Further topics of the BfS were reasonable exposure to sun and skin cancer prevention, individual health assessment of lung cancer with low-dose CT, occupational radiation exposure in medicine, radiation protection at setting up digital radio of security authorities and organizations, importance of laboratory ring experiments for incorporation monitoring, defence against nuclear hazards: cooperation and exercises in 2011, new developments with regard to radioactivity in drinking water, reportable events in nuclear facilities in 2011, decommissioning of a permanently shut down NPP. The environmental research program of the Federal Environmental ministry - research for strengthening nuclear safety and radiation protection: German uranium miners biobank: consequences of uranium mining and radiological impacts, German miners cohort study, health effects of strong magnetic fields of NMR imaging, radiation exposure due to nuclear medical examinations, national survey on the radio-cesium contamination of wild boars.

  9. Incident reporting to BfArM - regulatory framework, results and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seidel, Robin; Stößlein, Ekkehard; Lauer, Wolfgang

    2016-04-01

    Medical devices are manifold and one of the most innovative fields of technology. As technologies advance, former limits cease to exist and complex devices become reality. Medical devices represent a very dynamic field with high economic relevance. The manufacturer of a medical device is obliged to minimize product-related risks as well as to demonstrate compliance with the so-called "essential requirements" regarding safety and performance before placing the device on the market. Any critical incident in relation to the application of a medical device has to be reported to the competent authority for risk assessment, which in Germany is either the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) or the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) depending on the type of device. In this article, the German regulatory framework for medical devices and the resulting tasks for BfArM are described as well as the topics of its recently installed research and development group on prospective risk identification and application safety for medical devices. Results of failure mode and root cause analyses of incident data are presented as well as further data on cases with the result "root-cause analysis not possible". Finally an outlook is given on future challenges regarding risk assessment for medical devices.

  10. The HIV-1 epidemic in Bolivia is dominated by subtype B and CRF12_BF "family" strains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guimarães Monick L

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Molecular epidemiological studies of HIV-1 in South America have revealed the occurrence of subtypes B, F1 and BF1 recombinants. Even so, little information concerning the HIV-1 molecular epidemiology in Bolivia is available. In this study we performed phylogenetic analyses from samples collected in Bolivia at two different points in time over a 10 year span. We analyzed these samples to estimate the trends in the HIV subtype and recombinant forms over time. Materials and methods Fifty one HIV-1 positive samples were collected in Bolivia over two distinct periods (1996 and 2005. These samples were genetically characterized based on partial pol protease/reverse transcriptase (pr/rt and env regions. Alignment and neighbor-joining (NJ phylogenetic analyses were established from partial env (n = 37 and all pol sequences using Mega 4. The remaining 14 env sequences from 1996 were previously characterized based on HMA-env (Heteroduplex mobility assay. The Simplot v.3.5.1 program was used to verify intragenic recombination, and SplitsTree 4.0 was employed to confirm the phylogenetic relationship of the BF1 recombinant samples. Results Phylogenetic analysis of both env and pol regions confirmed the predominance of "pure" subtype B (72.5% samples circulating in Bolivia and revealed a high prevalence of BF1 genotypes (27.5%. Eleven out of 14 BF1 recombinants displayed a mosaic structure identical or similar to that described for the CRF12_BF variant, one sample was classified as CRF17_BF, and two others were F1pol/Benv. No "pure" HIV-1 subtype F1 or B" variant of subtype B was detected in the present study. Of note, samples characterized as CRF12_BF-related were depicted only in 2005. Conclusion HIV-1 genetic diversity in Bolivia is mostly driven by subtype B followed by BF1 recombinant strains from the CRF12_BF "family". No significant temporal changes were detected between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s for subtype B (76.2% vs 70

  11. Nonlinear dynamic range transformation in visual communication channels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alter-Gartenberg, R

    1996-01-01

    The article evaluates nonlinear dynamic range transformation in the context of the end-to-end continuous-input/discrete processing/continuous-display imaging process. Dynamic range transformation is required when we have the following: (i) the wide dynamic range encountered in nature is compressed into the relatively narrow dynamic range of the display, particularly for spatially varying irradiance (e.g., shadow); (ii) coarse quantization is expanded to the wider dynamic range of the display; and (iii) nonlinear tone scale transformation compensates for the correction in the camera amplifier.

  12. A Kallosh theorem for BF-type topological field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birmingham, D.; Gibbs, R.; Mokhtari, S.

    1991-01-01

    A Kallosh theorem is established for the case of BF-type theories in three dimensions, including a coupling to Chern-Simons theory. The phase contribution to the one-loop off-shell effective action is computed for a two-parameter family of local covariant gauges. It is shown that the phase is independent of these parameters, and thus equals the 'no Vilkovisky-DeWitt' gauge result. The field space metric dependence of a corresponding calculation for generalized BF theory is briefly discussed. (orig.)

  13. Bone marrow CD11b(+)F4/80(+) dendritic cells ameliorate collagen-induced arthritis through modulating the balance between Treg and Th17.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lingling; Fu, Jingjing; Sheng, Kangliang; Li, Ying; Song, Shanshan; Li, Peipei; Song, Shasha; Wang, Qingtong; Chen, Jingyu; Yu, Jianhua; Wei, Wei

    2015-03-01

    Tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) are well-known to show an immunosuppressive function. In this study we determine the therapeutic effects and potential mechanisms of transferred bone marrow (BM) CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. Murine BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs were generated under the stimulation of GM-CSF and IL-4, and the function of BM CD11b(+) F4/80(+) DCs was identified by measuring the levels of IL-10, TGF-beta and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs were transferred to CIA mice by intravenous injections. The histopathology of joint and spleen were evaluated. T lymphocyte proliferation, Treg and Th17 subsets were analyzed. The expressions of Foxp3, Helios and RORγt in T lymphocytes co-cultured with BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs were measured in vitro. We found that BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs induced by GM-CSF and IL-4 could express high levels of IL-10, TGF-beta and IDO. BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs significantly reduced the pathologic scores in joints and spleens, which correlated significantly with the reduced T lymphocyte proliferation and Th17 cell number, and with the increased Tregs number. In vitro, OVA-pulsed BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs promoted Treg cell expansion, enhanced IL-10 and CTLA-4 protein expression, augmented Foxp3 and Helios mRNA expression, and inhibited RORγt and IL-17 mRNA expression. Taken together, BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs are able to ameliorate the development and severity of CIA, at least partly by inducing Foxp3(+) Treg cell expansion and suppressing Th17 function. The BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+) DCs might have a promising immunotherapeutic potential for autoimmune arthritis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. A Kallosh theorem for BF-type topological field theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Birmingham, D. (Theory Div., CERN, Geneva (Switzerland)); Gibbs, R.; Mokhtari, S. (Physics Dept., Louisiana Tech. Univ., Ruston, LA (United States))

    1991-12-12

    A Kallosh theorem is established for the case of BF-type theories in three dimensions, including a coupling to Chern-Simons theory. The phase contribution to the one-loop off-shell effective action is computed for a two-parameter family of local covariant gauges. It is shown that the phase is independent of these parameters, and thus equals the 'no Vilkovisky-DeWitt' gauge result. The field space metric dependence of a corresponding calculation for generalized BF theory is briefly discussed. (orig.).

  15. In vivo detection of prion amyloid plaques using [{sup 11}C]BF-227 PET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Okamura, Nobuyuki; Yanai, Kazuhiko [Tohoku University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Sendai (Japan); Shiga, Yusei; Itoyama, Yasuhito [Tohoku University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Sendai (Japan); Furumoto, Shozo [Tohoku University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Sendai (Japan); Tohoku University, Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Sendai (Japan); Tashiro, Manabu [Tohoku University, Division of Cyclotron Nuclear Medicine, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Sendai (Japan); Tsuboi, Yoshio [Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Fukuoka (Japan); Furukawa, Katsutoshi; Arai, Hiroyuki [Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer, Tohoku University, Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Division of Brain Sciences, Sendai (Japan); Iwata, Ren [Tohoku University, Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center, Sendai (Japan); Kudo, Yukitsuka [Tohoku University, Innovation of New Biomedical Engineering Center, Sendai (Japan); Doh-ura, Katsumi [Tohoku University School of Medicine, Department of Prion Research, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai (Japan)

    2010-05-15

    In vivo detection of pathological prion protein (PrP) in the brain is potentially useful for the diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). However, there are no non-invasive ante-mortem means for detection of pathological PrP deposition in the brain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the amyloid imaging tracer BF-227 with positron emission tomography (PET) for the non-invasive detection of PrP amyloid in the brain. The binding ability of BF-227 to PrP amyloid was investigated using autoradiography and fluorescence microscopy. Five patients with TSEs, including three patients with Gerstmann-Straeussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) and two patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), underwent [{sup 11}C]BF-227 PET scans. Results were compared with data from 10 normal controls and 17 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The regional to pons standardized uptake value ratio was calculated as an index of BF-227 retention. Binding of BF-227 to PrP plaques was confirmed using brain samples from autopsy-confirmed GSS cases. In clinical PET study, significantly higher retention of BF-227 was detected in the cerebellum, thalamus and lateral temporal cortex of GSS patients compared to that in the corresponding tissues of normal controls. GSS patients also showed higher retention of BF-227 in the cerebellum, thalamus and medial temporal cortex compared to AD patients. In contrast, the two CJD patients showed no obvious retention of BF-227 in the brain. Although [{sup 11}C]BF-227 is a non-specific imaging marker of cerebral amyloidosis, it is useful for in vivo detection of PrP plaques in the human brain in GSS, based on the regional distribution of the tracer. PET amyloid imaging might provide a means for both early diagnosis and non-invasive disease monitoring of certain forms of TSEs. (orig.)

  16. Structure and Supersaturation of Highly Concentrated Solutions of Buckyball in 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fileti, E. E.; Chaban, V. V.

    2014-01-01

    Solubilization of fullerenes is of high interest because of their wide usage in both fundamental research and numerous applications. This paper reports molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of saturated and supersaturated solutions of C-60 in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [C4C1IM......-long real-time dynamics. The ion-molecular structure patterns in saturated and supersaturated solutions are distinguished in terms of radial distribution functions and cluster analysis of the solute particles. The cation separated solute pair is found to be a common structure in both saturated......][BF4], room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL). The simulations cover a wide range of temperatures between 280 and 500 K at ambient pressure. Unlike in simpler solvents, C-60 in [C4C1IM][BF4] forms highly supersaturated solutions, whose internal arrangement remains unaltered during nearly a microsecond...

  17. The interaction between Xe and F in Si (1 0 0) pre-amorphised with 20 keV Xe and implanted with low energy BF{sub 2}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Werner, M. [Joule Physics Laboratory, Institute of Materials Research, University of Salford, Salford M54WT (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: m.werner@pgr.salford.ac.uk; Berg, J.A. van den [Joule Physics Laboratory, Institute of Materials Research, University of Salford, Salford M54WT (United Kingdom); Armour, D.G. [Joule Physics Laboratory, Institute of Materials Research, University of Salford, Salford M54WT (United Kingdom); Carter, G. [Joule Physics Laboratory, Institute of Materials Research, University of Salford, Salford M54WT (United Kingdom); Feudel, T. [AMD Saxony LLC and Co. KG, Wilschdorfer Landstrasse, 101 D-01109 Dresden (Italy); Herden, M. [AMD Saxony LLC and Co. KG, Wilschdorfer Landstrasse, 101 D-01109 Dresden (Italy); Bersani, M. [ITC IRST, 38050 Povo, Trento (Italy); Giubertoni, D. [ITC IRST, 38050 Povo, Trento (Italy); Bailey, P. [CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury WA44A (United Kingdom); Noakes, T.C.Q. [CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury WA44A (United Kingdom)

    2004-12-15

    The pre-amorphisation of Si by Xe{sup +} ions, before source/drain and extension implants, is an attractive alternative to Ge{sup +} or Si{sup +}, as it produces sharper amorphous/crystalline interfaces. Si (1 0 0) samples pre-amorphised with 20 keV Xe{sup +} to a nominal dose of 2E14 cm{sup -2} were implanted with 1 and 3 keV BF{sub 2} {sup +} to doses of 7E14 cm{sup -2}. Samples were annealed at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1130 deg. C and investigated by medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Following annealing, it was observed that implanted Xe has interacted with F originating from the BF{sub 2} {sup +} implant. MEIS studies showed that for all annealing conditions, approximately half of the Xe accumulated at depths of 7 nm for the 1 keV and at 13 nm for the 3 keV BF{sub 2} {sup +} implant. This equates to the end of range of B and F within the amorphous Si. SIMS showed that in the pre-amorphised samples, approximately 10% of the F migrates into the bulk and is trapped at the same depth in a {approx}1:1 ratio to Xe. A small fraction of the implanted B is also trapped. The effect is interpreted in terms of the formation of a defect structure within the amorphised Si, leading to F stabilised Xe bubble or XeF compound formation.

  18. Topological higher gauge theory: From BF to BFCG theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Girelli, F.; Pfeiffer, H.; Popescu, E. M.

    2008-01-01

    We study generalizations of three- and four-dimensional BF theories in the context of higher gauge theory. First, we construct topological higher gauge theories as discrete state sum models and explain how they are related to the state sums of Yetter, Mackaay, and Porter. Under certain conditions, we can present their corresponding continuum counterparts in terms of classical Lagrangians. We then explain that two of these models are already familiar from the literature: the ΣΦEA model of three-dimensional gravity coupled to topological matter and also a four-dimensional model of BF theory coupled to topological matter

  19. Enhanced Iron and Selenium Uptake in Plants by Volatile Emissions of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BF06

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianfei Wang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Volatile organic compounds (VOCs released by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR are involved in promoting growth and triggering systemic resistance (ISR in plants. Importantly, the release of VOCs by some PGPR strains confers improved plant uptake of nutrient elements from the soil. However, the underlying mechanisms of VOCs-regulated nutrient acquisition remain elusive. In this study, VOCs were extracted and identified from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (strain BF06 using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS. BF06 VOCs exposure significantly promoted the growth and photosynthesis of Arabidopsis plants. To explore how microbial VOCs stimulate growth in plants, gene expression profiles of Arabidopsis seedlings exposed to BF06 VOCs were examined using transcriptomic analyses. In screening differentially expressed genes (DEGs, most upregulated DEGs were found to be related to amino acid transport, iron (Fe uptake and homeostasis, and sulfate transport. Furthermore, BF06 VOCs significantly enhanced Fe absorption in plants under Fe-limited conditions. However, when nitric oxide (NO synthesis was inhibited, BF06 VOCs exposure could not substantially augment Fe acquisition in plants under alkaline stress, indicating that VOCs-mediated plant uptake of Fe was required for induction of root NO accumulation. In addition, BF06 VOCs exposure led to a marked increase in some genes encoding for sulfate transporters, and further increased Se accumulation in plants. Intriguingly, BF06 VOCs exposure failed to increase Se uptake in sultr1;2 mutants, which may indicate that high-level transcription of these sulfate transporters induced by BF06 VOCs was essential for enhancing Se absorption by plants. Taken together, our results demonstrated the potential of VOCs released by this strain BF06 to increase Fe and Se uptake in plants.

  20. BF-30 effectively inhibits ciprofloxacin-resistant bacteria in vitro and in a rat model of vaginosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jing; Li, Bing; Li, Yang; Dou, Jie; Hao, Qingru; Tian, Yuwei; Wang, Hui; Zhou, Changlin

    2014-07-01

    Bacterial infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to the increasing number of multidrug-resistant strains. Cathelicidin-BF (BF-30) is a cathelicidin-like antimicrobial peptide and exhibits broad antimicrobial activity against bacteria. In the present study, the antibacterial activity of BF-30 against ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was examined, and the protective effects of this peptide against these bacteria in rats with bacterial vaginosis were identified for the first time. The data showed that BF-30 had effective antimicrobial activities against ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli and S. aureus. The minimal inhibitory concentrations for both bacterial strains were 16 μg/ml, and the minimal bactericidal concentrations were 64 and 128 μg/ml, respectively. A time course experiment showed that the CFU counts rapidly decreased after BF-30 treatment, and the bacteria were nearly eliminated within 4 h. BF-30 could reduce the fold change (CFU/ml) in local colonization by drug-resistant E. coli and S. aureus to 0.01 at a dose of 0.8 mg/kg/day in the rats' vaginal secretions. In addition, BF-30 induced membrane permeabilization and bound to the genomic DNA, interrupting protein synthesis. Taken together, our data demonstrate that BF-30 has potential therapeutic value for the prevention and treatment of bacterial vaginosis.

  1. Surface morphologies of excimer-laser annealed BF2+ implanted Si diodes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burtsev, A.; Schut, H.; Nanver, L.K.; Veen, A. van; Slabbekoorn, J.; Scholtes, T.L.M.

    2004-01-01

    Laser-induced surface roughness and damage formation in ultra-shallow n + -p and p + -n junctions, formed by low energy (5 keV) As + and BF 2 + implantations in Si, respectively, with a dose of 1 x 10 15 cm -2 have been investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Positron Annihilation Doppler Broadening (PADB) technique. The Si surface roughness is found to increase with laser energy density, and reaches a value of 3.5 nm after excimer-laser annealing (ELA) at 1100 mJ/cm 2 . However, anomalous behavior is witnessed for BF 2 + -implanted Si sample at 800 mJ/cm 2 , at which energy very high surface protrusions up to 9 nm high are observed. By PADB this behavior is correlated to extensive deep microcavity formation in the Si whereby the volatile F 2 fraction can accumulate and evaporate/out-diffuse, leading to Si surface roughening. The consequences for the diode characteristics and contact resistivity are examined

  2. Capillary evaporation of the ionic liquid [EMIM][BF4] in nanoscale solvophobic confinement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrivastav, Gourav; Remsing, Richard C.; Kashyap, Hemant K.

    2018-05-01

    Solvent density fluctuations play a crucial role in liquid-vapor transitions in solvophobic confinement and can also be important for understanding solvation of polar and apolar solutes. In the case of ionic liquids (ILs), density fluctuations can be used to understand important processes in the context of nanoscale aggregation and colloidal self-assemblies. In this article, we explore the nature of density fluctuations associated with capillary evaporation of the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF4]) in the confined region of model solvophobic nanoscale sheets by using molecular dynamics simulations combined with non-Boltzmann sampling techniques. We demonstrate that density fluctuations of the confined IL play an important role in capillary evaporation, suggesting analogies to dewetting transitions involving water. Significant changes in the interfacial structure of the IL are also detailed and suggested to underlie a non-classical (non-parabolic) dependence of the free energy barrier to evaporation on the degree of confinement.

  3. High dynamic range image acquisition based on multiplex cameras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Hairui; Sun, Huayan; Zhang, Tinghua

    2018-03-01

    High dynamic image is an important technology of photoelectric information acquisition, providing higher dynamic range and more image details, and it can better reflect the real environment, light and color information. Currently, the method of high dynamic range image synthesis based on different exposure image sequences cannot adapt to the dynamic scene. It fails to overcome the effects of moving targets, resulting in the phenomenon of ghost. Therefore, a new high dynamic range image acquisition method based on multiplex cameras system was proposed. Firstly, different exposure images sequences were captured with the camera array, using the method of derivative optical flow based on color gradient to get the deviation between images, and aligned the images. Then, the high dynamic range image fusion weighting function was established by combination of inverse camera response function and deviation between images, and was applied to generated a high dynamic range image. The experiments show that the proposed method can effectively obtain high dynamic images in dynamic scene, and achieves good results.

  4. Assessment of TRAC-BF1 1D reflood model with CCTF and SCTF data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimoto, Hajime; Ohnuki, Akira; Murao, Yoshio; Abe, Yutaka.

    1993-03-01

    Post test calculations for six selected Cylindrical Core Test Facility (CCTF) and Slab Core Test Facility (SCTF) tests were performed to assess the core thermal hydraulic models of the TRAC-BF1 code during the reflood in a PWR LOCA. A special version of the TRAC code was developed at JAERI by implementing the constitutive package of the TRAC-BF1 code into the TRAC-PF1 code for this assessment. The TRAC-BF1 model predicted well the void fraction at either bottom or top part of the core and overpredicted the void fraction at the center part of the core in the CCTF and SCTF tests performed under so-called licensing conditions. The TRAC-BF1 model overpredicted the clad temperatures at the center part of the core. The TRAC-BF1 model predicted a jump of void fraction where the flow pattern transition between the bubbly/slug flow and the annular/dispersed flow regimes occurred. The jump caused the water mass flow rate to be unstable and resulted in the overprediction of the void fraction at the center part of the core. It was also found that the TRAC-BF1 film boiling model underestimated the heat transfer coefficient in the vicinity of the quench front and caused the quench front propagation to be delayed. These assessment results suggest the following areas should be improved in future to apply the TRAC-BF1 code to the reflood in a PWR LOCA: (1) Core hydraulic model where flow pattern transition occurs, (2) Core heat transfer model in the film boiling regime, especially for the dependence on the distance from the quench front. (author)

  5. Crossed-beam experiment for the scattering of low- and intermediate-energy electrons from BF{sub 3}: A comparative study with XF{sub 3} (X = C, N, and CH) molecules

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoshino, M., E-mail: masami-h@sophia.ac.jp; Suga, A.; Kato, H.; Tanaka, H. [Department of Physics, Sophia University, Tokyo 102-8554 (Japan); Limão-Vieira, P. [Department of Physics, Sophia University, Tokyo 102-8554 (Japan); Laboratório de Colisões Atómicas e Moleculares, CEFITEC, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Ferreira da Silva, F. [Laboratório de Colisões Atómicas e Moleculares, CEFITEC, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); Blanco, F. [Departamento de Fisica Atomica, Molecular y Nuclear, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid (Spain); García, G. [Instituto de Fisica Fundamental, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28006 Madrid (Spain)

    2015-07-14

    Absolute differential cross sections (DCSs) for electron interaction with BF{sub 3} molecules have been measured in the impact energy range of 1.5–200 eV and recorded over a scattering angle range of 15°–150°. These angular distributions have been normalized by reference to the elastic DCSs of the He atom and integrated by employing a modified phase shift analysis procedure to generate integral cross sections (ICSs) and momentum transfer cross sections (MTCSs). The calculations of DCSs and ICSs have been carried out using an independent atom model under the screening corrected additivity rule (IAM-SCAR). The present elastic DCSs have been found to agree well with the results of IAM-SCAR calculation above 20 eV, and also with a recent Schwinger multichannel calculation below 30 eV. Furthermore, in the comparison with the XF{sub 3} (X = B, C, N, and CH) molecules, the elastic DCSs reveal a similar angular distribution which are approximately equal in magnitude from 30 to 200 eV. This feature suggests that the elastic scattering is dominated virtually by the 3-outer fluorine atoms surrounding the XF{sub 3} molecules. The vibrational DCSs have also been obtained in the energy range of 1.5–15 eV and vibrational analysis based on the angular correlation theory has been carried out to explain the nature of the shape resonances. Limited experiments on vibrational inelastic scattering confirmed the existence of a shape resonance with a peak at 3.8 eV, which is also observed in the vibrational ICS. Finally, the estimated elastic ICSs, MTCSs, as well as total cross sections are compared with the previous cross section data available.

  6. Modulation of neuronal dynamic range using two different adaptation mechanisms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Wang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The capability of neurons to discriminate between intensity of external stimulus is measured by its dynamic range. A larger dynamic range indicates a greater probability of neuronal survival. In this study, the potential roles of adaptation mechanisms (ion currents in modulating neuronal dynamic range were numerically investigated. Based on the adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire model, which includes two different adaptation mechanisms, i.e. subthreshold and suprathreshold (spike-triggered adaptation, our results reveal that the two adaptation mechanisms exhibit rather different roles in regulating neuronal dynamic range. Specifically, subthreshold adaptation acts as a negative factor that observably decreases the neuronal dynamic range, while suprathreshold adaptation has little influence on the neuronal dynamic range. Moreover, when stochastic noise was introduced into the adaptation mechanisms, the dynamic range was apparently enhanced, regardless of what state the neuron was in, e.g. adaptive or non-adaptive. Our model results suggested that the neuronal dynamic range can be differentially modulated by different adaptation mechanisms. Additionally, noise was a non-ignorable factor, which could effectively modulate the neuronal dynamic range.

  7. The analysis on dynamic range of industrial CT system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Huiqian; Wang Jue; Tan Hui

    2011-01-01

    Concerning the limitations of the definition of the dynamic range of industrial computed tomography (ICT) system, it researches the definition, measuring method and influencing factors of the dynamic range of industrial computed tomography (ICT) system from the concept of quantization and system. First, the character of the input-output curve was analyzed, and the method of obtaining the dynamic range of industrial computed tomography (ICT) system was proposed. Then, an experiment model was designed to gain dynamic range, based on 6 MeV high-energy industrial computed tomography (ICT) system. The results show that the larger the photosurface is, the smaller the dynamic range is, when the other parameters are unchanged. (authors)

  8. Dynamic range meter for radiofrequency amplifiers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Drozd S. S.

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available The new measurement setup having increased on 20…30 dB the own dynamic range in comparison with the standard circuit of the dynamic range meter is offered and the rated value of an error bringing by setup in the worst case does not exceed ± 2,8 dB. The measurement setup can be applied also to determinate levels of intermodulation components average power amplifiers and powerful amplifiers of a low-frequency at replacement of the quartz filter on meeting low-frequency the LC-filter and the spectrum analyzer.

  9. Tumor cell-released TLR4 ligands stimulate Gr-1+CD11b+F4/80+ cells to induce apoptosis of activated T cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yan-Yan; Sun, Ling-Cong; Wei, Jing-Jing; Li, Dong; Yuan, Ye; Yan, Bin; Liang, Zhi-Hui; Zhu, Hui-Fen; Xu, Yong; Li, Bo; Song, Chuan-Wang; Liao, Sheng-Jun; Lei, Zhang; Zhang, Gui-Mei; Feng, Zuo-Hua

    2010-09-01

    Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells play important roles in tumor development and have a negative effect on tumor immunotherapy. So far, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of their immunosuppressive phenotype by classical and alternative macrophage activation stimuli are not well elucidated. In this study, we found that molecules from necrotic tumor cells (NTC-Ms) stimulated Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells to induce apoptosis of activated T cells but not nonstimulated T cells. The apoptosis-inducing capacity was determined by higher expression levels of arginase I and IL-10 relative to those of NO synthase 2 and IL-12 in Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells, which were induced by NTC-Ms through TLR4 signaling. The apoptosis-inducing capacity of NTC-Ms-stimulated Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells could be enhanced by IL-10. IFN-gamma may reduce the apoptosis-inducing capacity of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells only if their response to IFN-gamma was not attenuated. However, the potential of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells to express IL-12 in response to IFN-gamma could be attenuated by tumor, partially due to the existence of active STAT3 in Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells and NTC-Ms from tumor. In this situation, IFN-gamma could not effectively reduce the apoptosis-inducing capacity of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells. Tumor immunotherapy with 4-1BBL/soluble programmed death-1 may significantly reduce, but not abolish the apoptosis-inducing capacity of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells in local microenvironment. Blockade of TLR4 signaling could further reduce the apoptosis-inducing capacity of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells and enhance the suppressive effect of 4-1BBL/soluble form of programmed death-1 on tumor growth. These findings indicate the relationship of distinct signaling pathways with apoptosis-inducing capacity of Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells and emphasize the importance of blocking TLR4 signaling to prevent the induction of T cell apoptosis by Gr-1(+)CD11b(+)F4/80(+) cells.

  10. Equivalent and Alternative Forms for BF Gravity with Immirzi Parameter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Merced Montesinos

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available A detailed analysis of the BF formulation for general relativity given by Capovilla, Montesinos, Prieto, and Rojas is performed. The action principle of this formulation is written in an equivalent form by doing a transformation of the fields of which the action depends functionally on. The transformed action principle involves two BF terms and the two Lorentz invariants that appear in the original action principle generically. As an application of this formalism, the action principle used by Engle, Pereira, and Rovelli in their spin foam model for gravity is recovered and the coupling of the cosmological constant in such a formulation is obtained.

  11. Diffusion modelling of low-energy ion-implanted BF{sub 2} in crystalline silicon: Study of fluorine vacancy effect on boron diffusion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marcon, J. [Laboratoire Electronique Microtechnologie et Instrumentation (LEMI), University of Rouen, 76821 Mont Saint Aignan (France)], E-mail: Jerome.Marcon@univ-rouen.fr; Merabet, A. [Laboratoire de Physique et Mecanique des Materiaux Metalliques, Departement d' O.M.P., Faculte des Sciences de l' Ingenieur, Universite de Setif, 19000 Setif (Algeria)

    2008-12-05

    We have investigated and modelled the diffusion of boron implanted into crystalline silicon in the form of boron difluoride BF{sub 2}{sup +}. We have used published data for BF{sub 2}{sup +} implanted with an energy of 2.2 keV in crystalline silicon. Fluorine effects are considered by using vacancy-fluorine pairs which are responsible for the suppression of boron diffusion in crystalline silicon. Following Uematsu's works, the simulations satisfactory reproduce the SIMS experimental profiles in the 800-1000 deg. C temperature range. The boron diffusion model in silicon of Uematsu has been improved taking into account the last experimental data.

  12. Development of NRESP98 Monte Carlo codes for the calculation of neutron response functions of neutron detectors. Calculation of the response function of spherical BF{sub 3} proportional counter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hashimoto, M.; Saito, K.; Ando, H. [Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., Oarai, Ibaraki (Japan). Oarai Engineering Center

    1998-05-01

    The method to calculate the response function of spherical BF{sub 3} proportional counter, which is commonly used as neutron dose rate meter and neutron spectrometer with multi moderator system, is developed. As the calculation code for evaluating the response function, the existing code series NRESP, the Monte Carlo code for the calculation of response function of neutron detectors, is selected. However, the application scope of the existing NRESP is restricted, the NRESP98 is tuned as generally applicable code, with expansion of the geometrical condition, the applicable element, etc. The NRESP98 is tested with the response function of the spherical BF{sub 3} proportional counter. Including the effect of the distribution of amplification factor, the detailed evaluation of the charged particle transportation and the effect of the statistical distribution, the result of NRESP98 calculation fit the experience within {+-}10%. (author)

  13. Sensitivity and Dynamic Range Considerations for Homodyne Detection Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jaggard, Dwight L.; King, Ray J

    1973-01-01

    The effects of modulation frequency, RF reference power, and external bias upon the sensitivity and dynamic range of microwave homodyne detection systems was measured for point contact diodes and low l/f noise Schottky and backward diodes. The measurements were made at 4.89 GHz using a signal...... to noise ratio of 3 dB and a detection system bandwidth of 10 Hz. Maximum sensitivities of -135, -150, and -145 dBm, and dynamic ranges of 92, 110, and 124 dB were measured for the point contact, Schottky, and backward diodes at modulation frequencies of 30, 30, and 3 kHz, respectively. It was found...... that the level of RF reference signal needed to obtain the maximum sensitivity was equal to or somewhat above the point where the diode changes from square law to linear detection. The results are significant in that previously reported homodyne sensitivities (not necessarily maximum) were on the order of -90...

  14. Learning effects of dynamic postural control by auditory biofeedback versus visual biofeedback training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasegawa, Naoya; Takeda, Kenta; Sakuma, Moe; Mani, Hiroki; Maejima, Hiroshi; Asaka, Tadayoshi

    2017-10-01

    Augmented sensory biofeedback (BF) for postural control is widely used to improve postural stability. However, the effective sensory information in BF systems of motor learning for postural control is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning effects of visual versus auditory BF training in dynamic postural control. Eighteen healthy young adults were randomly divided into two groups (visual BF and auditory BF). In test sessions, participants were asked to bring the real-time center of pressure (COP) in line with a hidden target by body sway in the sagittal plane. The target moved in seven cycles of sine curves at 0.23Hz in the vertical direction on a monitor. In training sessions, the visual and auditory BF groups were required to change the magnitude of a visual circle and a sound, respectively, according to the distance between the COP and target in order to reach the target. The perceptual magnitudes of visual and auditory BF were equalized according to Stevens' power law. At the retention test, the auditory but not visual BF group demonstrated decreased postural performance errors in both the spatial and temporal parameters under the no-feedback condition. These findings suggest that visual BF increases the dependence on visual information to control postural performance, while auditory BF may enhance the integration of the proprioceptive sensory system, which contributes to motor learning without BF. These results suggest that auditory BF training improves motor learning of dynamic postural control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. A note on structural and dielectric properties of BiFeO3- PbTiO3 and BiFeO3- PbZrO3 composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satpathy, S. K.; Mohanty, N. K.; Behera, A. K.; Behera, B.; Nayak, P.

    2015-01-01

    The composites of BiFeO 3 -PbTiO 3 (BF-PT) and BiFeO 3 -PbZrO 3 (BF-PZ) were prepared by mixed oxide method. Room temperature X-ray diffraction data confirms the rhombohedral and tetragonal crystal structure respectively. Dielectric constant of BF-PZ is found to give high value compared to BF-PT and hence, there is an increase value of ac conductivity for the former. Both the composites show negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behavior. The activation energies of BF-PT and BF-PZ are found to be 0.35 eV and 0.53 eV respectively. The d 33 coefficients are found to be 2.0 and 2.1 pC/N for BF-PT and BF-PZ respectively

  16. On Dynamic Range Limitations of CMOS Current Conveyors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bruun, Erik

    1999-01-01

    frequency band and for the situation where the conveyor is used over the full bandwidth achievable. Finally, the optimisation of the current input range is related to the distortion characteristics and it is pointed out that to a first order approximation the distortion is independent of the current range.......This paper is concerned with the dynamic range of continuous time CMOS current mode circuits. As a representative current mode device a class AB current conveyor is examined. First, the voltage input range of the high impedance Y input is investigated. Next, the current input range of the low...... impedance X input is investigated. It is compared to the thermal noise in the X to Z signal path in order to evaluate the dynamic range, and the dependencies of the dynamic range on the supply voltage and the transistor lay-out is derived, both for the situation where the conveyor is used over a narrow...

  17. HEVC for high dynamic range services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Seung-Hwan; Zhao, Jie; Misra, Kiran; Segall, Andrew

    2015-09-01

    Displays capable of showing a greater range of luminance values can render content containing high dynamic range information in a way such that the viewers have a more immersive experience. This paper introduces the design aspects of a high dynamic range (HDR) system, and examines the performance of the HDR processing chain in terms of compression efficiency. Specifically it examines the relation between recently introduced Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) ST 2084 transfer function and the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. SMPTE ST 2084 is designed to cover the full range of an HDR signal from 0 to 10,000 nits, however in many situations the valid signal range of actual video might be smaller than SMPTE ST 2084 supported range. The above restricted signal range results in restricted range of code values for input video data and adversely impacts compression efficiency. In this paper, we propose a code value remapping method that extends the restricted range code values into the full range code values so that the existing standards such as HEVC may better compress the video content. The paper also identifies related non-normative encoder-only changes that are required for remapping method for a fair comparison with anchor. Results are presented comparing the efficiency of the current approach versus the proposed remapping method for HM-16.2.

  18. Dynamic Range Across Music Genres and the Perception of Dynamic Compression in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Kirchberger

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Dynamic range compression serves different purposes in the music and hearing-aid industries. In the music industry, it is used to make music louder and more attractive to normal-hearing listeners. In the hearing-aid industry, it is used to map the variable dynamic range of acoustic signals to the reduced dynamic range of hearing-impaired listeners. Hence, hearing-aided listeners will typically receive a dual dose of compression when listening to recorded music. The present study involved an acoustic analysis of dynamic range across a cross section of recorded music as well as a perceptual study comparing the efficacy of different compression schemes. The acoustic analysis revealed that the dynamic range of samples from popular genres, such as rock or rap, was generally smaller than the dynamic range of samples from classical genres, such as opera and orchestra. By comparison, the dynamic range of speech, based on recordings of monologues in quiet, was larger than the dynamic range of all music genres tested. The perceptual study compared the effect of the prescription rule NAL-NL2 with a semicompressive and a linear scheme. Music subjected to linear processing had the highest ratings for dynamics and quality, followed by the semicompressive and the NAL-NL2 setting. These findings advise against NAL-NL2 as a prescription rule for recorded music and recommend linear settings.

  19. Dynamic Range Across Music Genres and the Perception of Dynamic Compression in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirchberger, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Dynamic range compression serves different purposes in the music and hearing-aid industries. In the music industry, it is used to make music louder and more attractive to normal-hearing listeners. In the hearing-aid industry, it is used to map the variable dynamic range of acoustic signals to the reduced dynamic range of hearing-impaired listeners. Hence, hearing-aided listeners will typically receive a dual dose of compression when listening to recorded music. The present study involved an acoustic analysis of dynamic range across a cross section of recorded music as well as a perceptual study comparing the efficacy of different compression schemes. The acoustic analysis revealed that the dynamic range of samples from popular genres, such as rock or rap, was generally smaller than the dynamic range of samples from classical genres, such as opera and orchestra. By comparison, the dynamic range of speech, based on recordings of monologues in quiet, was larger than the dynamic range of all music genres tested. The perceptual study compared the effect of the prescription rule NAL-NL2 with a semicompressive and a linear scheme. Music subjected to linear processing had the highest ratings for dynamics and quality, followed by the semicompressive and the NAL-NL2 setting. These findings advise against NAL-NL2 as a prescription rule for recorded music and recommend linear settings. PMID:26868955

  20. Dynamic Range Across Music Genres and the Perception of Dynamic Compression in Hearing-Impaired Listeners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirchberger, Martin; Russo, Frank A

    2016-02-10

    Dynamic range compression serves different purposes in the music and hearing-aid industries. In the music industry, it is used to make music louder and more attractive to normal-hearing listeners. In the hearing-aid industry, it is used to map the variable dynamic range of acoustic signals to the reduced dynamic range of hearing-impaired listeners. Hence, hearing-aided listeners will typically receive a dual dose of compression when listening to recorded music. The present study involved an acoustic analysis of dynamic range across a cross section of recorded music as well as a perceptual study comparing the efficacy of different compression schemes. The acoustic analysis revealed that the dynamic range of samples from popular genres, such as rock or rap, was generally smaller than the dynamic range of samples from classical genres, such as opera and orchestra. By comparison, the dynamic range of speech, based on recordings of monologues in quiet, was larger than the dynamic range of all music genres tested. The perceptual study compared the effect of the prescription rule NAL-NL2 with a semicompressive and a linear scheme. Music subjected to linear processing had the highest ratings for dynamics and quality, followed by the semicompressive and the NAL-NL2 setting. These findings advise against NAL-NL2 as a prescription rule for recorded music and recommend linear settings. © The Author(s) 2016.

  1. High dynamic range coding imaging system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Renfan; Huang, Yifan; Hou, Guangqi

    2014-10-01

    We present a high dynamic range (HDR) imaging system design scheme based on coded aperture technique. This scheme can help us obtain HDR images which have extended depth of field. We adopt Sparse coding algorithm to design coded patterns. Then we utilize the sensor unit to acquire coded images under different exposure settings. With the guide of the multiple exposure parameters, a series of low dynamic range (LDR) coded images are reconstructed. We use some existing algorithms to fuse and display a HDR image by those LDR images. We build an optical simulation model and get some simulation images to verify the novel system.

  2. Density nonlinearities and a field theory for the dynamics of simple fluids

    OpenAIRE

    Mazenko, Gene F.; Yeo, Joonhyun

    1994-01-01

    We study the role of the Jacobian arising from a constraint enforcing the nonlinear relation: ${\\bf g}=\\rho{\\bf V}$, where $\\rho,\\: {\\bf g}$ and ${\\bf V}$ are the mass density, the momentum density and the local velocity field, respectively, in the field theoretic formulation of the nonlinear fluctuating hydrodynamics of simple fluids. By investigating the Jacobian directly and by developing a field theoretic formulation without the constraint, we find that no changes in dynamics result as co...

  3. RADIANCE DOMAIN COMPOSITING FOR HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.R. Renu

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available High dynamic range imaging aims at creating an image with a range of intensity variations larger than the range supported by a camera sensor. Most commonly used methods combine multiple exposure low dynamic range (LDR images, to obtain the high dynamic range (HDR image. Available methods typically neglect the noise term while finding appropriate weighting functions to estimate the camera response function as well as the radiance map. We look at the HDR imaging problem in a denoising frame work and aim at reconstructing a low noise radiance map from noisy low dynamic range images, which is tone mapped to get the LDR equivalent of the HDR image. We propose a maximum aposteriori probability (MAP based reconstruction of the HDR image using Gibb’s prior to model the radiance map, with total variation (TV as the prior to avoid unnecessary smoothing of the radiance field. To make the computation with TV prior efficient, we extend the majorize-minimize method of upper bounding the total variation by a quadratic function to our case which has a nonlinear term arising from the camera response function. A theoretical justification for doing radiance domain denoising as opposed to image domain denoising is also provided.

  4. New polymers containing BF2-benzoylacetonate groups. Synthesis, luminescence, excimer and exciplex formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fedorenko, Elena V.; Mirochnik, Anatolii G.; Beloliptsev, Anton Yu.

    2017-01-01

    In the present study, a new synthetic method for the functionalization of polystyrene (PS) and (styrene-methyl methacrylate) copolymer has been developed. Using the new method, polymers containing BF 2 -benzoylacetonate groups have been obtained through double acylation by acetic anhydride with boron trifluoride. Luminescence of the produced polymers in solutions and films has been studied. Quantum yields of polymer solution luminescence are significantly higher than those of the low-molecular-weight analog – boron difluoride benzoylacetonate. For the polymer, in which styrene fragments are separated by methyl methacrylate groups, at low concentrations of the polymer in solution one observes the monomer luminescence of BF 2 -benzoylacetonate groups, while at high concentrations – the excimer luminescence. In case of PS-based polymers, in which BF 2 -benzoylacetonate groups and phenyl rings are not separated, in diluted solutions one observes the fluorescence of the intramolecular exciplexes, while at the concentration increase – the luminescence of intermolecular exciplexes. The ability of excimer formation is responsible for the increased photostability of the produced polymers. - Highlights: •Polymers containing BF 2 -benzoylacetonate groups have been synthesized. •Luminescence of the produced polymers in solutions and films has been studied. •Formation of excimers and exciplexes in solution has been revealed. •Formation of excimers in films increases their photostability.

  5. High dynamic range emission measurements of shocked energetic materials: Octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassett, Will P.; Dlott, Dana D.

    2016-06-01

    A new emission apparatus with high time resolution and high dynamic range was used to study shock-induced ignition of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine in the form of ultrafine powder (4 ± 3 μm particle size), over a range of impact velocities (0.8-4.3 km s-1) and impact durations (2.5-16 ns). A graybody model was used to extract graybody emissivities and time-dependent temperatures from a few ns to 100 μs. The emission transients consisted of three parts: a 6700 K nanosecond burst during the shocks, a 4000-4500 K temperature spike near 0.3 μs followed by a ˜3300 K tail extending out to ˜100 μs. These temperatures varied remarkably little with impact velocity and duration, while the emission intensities and emissivities changed by over an order of magnitude. The emissivity changes were interpreted with a hot spot model, where hot spot temperatures reached a maximum of 6700 K and the hot spot volume fractions increased from 5% to 100% as impact velocity increased from 1 to 3 km s-1. Changing shock durations in the 2.5-16 ns range had noticeable effects on the microsecond emission. The 0.3 μs temperature spike was much smaller or absent with 2.5 ns shocks, but prominent with longer durations. An explanation for these effects was put forth that invoked the formation of carbon-rich clusters during the shock. In this view, cluster formation was minimal with 2.5 ns shocks, but longer-duration shocks produced increasingly larger clusters, and the 0.3 μs temperature spikes represented cluster ignition.

  6. Dynamic range compression in a liquid argon calorimeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cleland, W.E.; Lissauer, D.; Radeka, V.; Rescia, S.; Takai, H.; Wingerter-Seez, I.

    1996-01-01

    The anticipated range of particle energies at the LHC, coupled with the need for precision, low noise calorimetry makes severe demands on the dynamic range of the calorimeter readout. A common approach to this problem is to use shapers with two or more gain scales. In this paper, the authors describe their experience with a new approach in which a preamplifier with dynamic gain compression is used. An unavoidable consequence of dynamic gain adjustment is that the peaking time of the shaper output signal becomes amplitude dependent. The authors have carried out a test of such a readout system in the RD3 calorimeter, a liquid argon device with accordion geometry. The calibration system is used to determine both the gain of the individual channels as well as to map the shape of the waveform as a function of signal amplitude. A new procedure for waveform analysis, in which the fitted parameters describe the impulse response of the system, permits a straightforward translation of the calibration waveform to the waveform generated by a particle crossing the ionization gap. They find that the linearity and resolution of the calorimeter is equivalent to that obtained with linear preamplifiers, up to an energy of 200 GeV

  7. High Dynamic Range Imaging Using Multiple Exposures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Xinglin; Luo, Haibo; Zhou, Peipei; Zhou, Wei

    2017-06-01

    It is challenging to capture a high-dynamic range (HDR) scene using a low-dynamic range (LDR) camera. This paper presents an approach for improving the dynamic range of cameras by using multiple exposure images of same scene taken under different exposure times. First, the camera response function (CRF) is recovered by solving a high-order polynomial in which only the ratios of the exposures are used. Then, the HDR radiance image is reconstructed by weighted summation of the each radiance maps. After that, a novel local tone mapping (TM) operator is proposed for the display of the HDR radiance image. By solving the high-order polynomial, the CRF can be recovered quickly and easily. Taken the local image feature and characteristic of histogram statics into consideration, the proposed TM operator could preserve the local details efficiently. Experimental result demonstrates the effectiveness of our method. By comparison, the method outperforms other methods in terms of imaging quality.

  8. Performance enhancement of Ge-on-Insulator tunneling FETs with source junctions formed by low-energy BF2 ion implantation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katoh, Takumi; Matsumura, Ryo; Takaguchi, Ryotaro; Takenaka, Mitsuru; Takagi, Shinichi

    2018-04-01

    To clarify the process of formation of source regions of high-performance Ge n-channel tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs), p+-n junctions formed by low-energy ion implantation (I/I) of BF2 atoms are characterized. Here, the formation of p+-n junctions with steep B profiles and low junction leakage is a key issue. The steepness of 5.7 nm/dec in profiles of B implanted into Ge is obtained for BF2 I/I at 3 keV with a dose of 4 × 1014 cm-2. Ge-on-insulator (GOI) n-TFETs with the source tunnel junctions formed by low-energy B and BF2 I/I are fabricated on GOI substrates and the device operation is confirmed. Although the performance at room temperature is significantly degraded by the source junction leakage current, an I on/I off ratio of 105 and the minimum sub-threshold swing (S.S.) of 130 mV/dec are obtained at 10 K. It is found that GOI n-TFETs with steeper B profiles formed by BF2 I/I have led to higher on current and a lower sub-threshold slope, demonstrating the effectiveness of steep B profiles in enhancing the GOI TFET performance.

  9. Benchmarking novel approaches for modelling species range dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zurell, Damaris; Thuiller, Wilfried; Pagel, Jörn; Cabral, Juliano S; Münkemüller, Tamara; Gravel, Dominique; Dullinger, Stefan; Normand, Signe; Schiffers, Katja H; Moore, Kara A; Zimmermann, Niklaus E

    2016-08-01

    Increasing biodiversity loss due to climate change is one of the most vital challenges of the 21st century. To anticipate and mitigate biodiversity loss, models are needed that reliably project species' range dynamics and extinction risks. Recently, several new approaches to model range dynamics have been developed to supplement correlative species distribution models (SDMs), but applications clearly lag behind model development. Indeed, no comparative analysis has been performed to evaluate their performance. Here, we build on process-based, simulated data for benchmarking five range (dynamic) models of varying complexity including classical SDMs, SDMs coupled with simple dispersal or more complex population dynamic models (SDM hybrids), and a hierarchical Bayesian process-based dynamic range model (DRM). We specifically test the effects of demographic and community processes on model predictive performance. Under current climate, DRMs performed best, although only marginally. Under climate change, predictive performance varied considerably, with no clear winners. Yet, all range dynamic models improved predictions under climate change substantially compared to purely correlative SDMs, and the population dynamic models also predicted reasonable extinction risks for most scenarios. When benchmarking data were simulated with more complex demographic and community processes, simple SDM hybrids including only dispersal often proved most reliable. Finally, we found that structural decisions during model building can have great impact on model accuracy, but prior system knowledge on important processes can reduce these uncertainties considerably. Our results reassure the clear merit in using dynamic approaches for modelling species' response to climate change but also emphasize several needs for further model and data improvement. We propose and discuss perspectives for improving range projections through combination of multiple models and for making these approaches

  10. Reconstructing Interlaced High-Dynamic-Range Video Using Joint Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inchang Choi; Seung-Hwan Baek; Kim, Min H

    2017-11-01

    For extending the dynamic range of video, it is a common practice to capture multiple frames sequentially with different exposures and combine them to extend the dynamic range of each video frame. However, this approach results in typical ghosting artifacts due to fast and complex motion in nature. As an alternative, video imaging with interlaced exposures has been introduced to extend the dynamic range. However, the interlaced approach has been hindered by jaggy artifacts and sensor noise, leading to concerns over image quality. In this paper, we propose a data-driven approach for jointly solving two specific problems of deinterlacing and denoising that arise in interlaced video imaging with different exposures. First, we solve the deinterlacing problem using joint dictionary learning via sparse coding. Since partial information of detail in differently exposed rows is often available via interlacing, we make use of the information to reconstruct details of the extended dynamic range from the interlaced video input. Second, we jointly solve the denoising problem by tailoring sparse coding to better handle additive noise in low-/high-exposure rows, and also adopt multiscale homography flow to temporal sequences for denoising. We anticipate that the proposed method will allow for concurrent capture of higher dynamic range video frames without suffering from ghosting artifacts. We demonstrate the advantages of our interlaced video imaging compared with the state-of-the-art high-dynamic-range video methods.

  11. Characterization and frequency of a newly identified HIV-1 BF1 intersubtype circulating recombinant form in São Paulo, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neto Walter

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background HIV circulating recombinant forms (CRFs play an important role in the global and regional HIV epidemics, particularly in regions where multiple subtypes are circulating. To date, several (>40 CRFs are recognized worldwide with five currently circulating in Brazil. Here, we report the characterization of near full-length genome sequences (NFLG of six phylogenetically related HIV-1 BF1 intersubtype recombinants (five from this study and one from other published sequences representing CRF46_BF1. Methods Initially, we selected 36 samples from 888 adult patients residing in São Paulo who had previously been diagnosed as being infected with subclade F1 based on pol subgenomic fragment sequencing. Proviral DNA integrated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC was amplified from the purified genomic DNA of all 36-blood samples by five overlapping PCR fragments followed by direct sequencing. Sequence data were obtained from the five fragments that showed identical genomic structure and phylogenetic trees were constructed and compared with previously published sequences. Genuine subclade F1 sequences and any other sequences that exhibited unique mosaic structures were omitted from further analysis Results Of the 36 samples analyzed, only six sequences, inferred from the pol region as subclade F1, displayed BF1 identical mosaic genomes with a single intersubtype breakpoint identified at the nef-U3 overlap (HXB2 position 9347-9365; LTR region. Five of these isolates formed a rigid cluster in phylogentic trees from different subclade F1 fragment regions, which we can now designate as CRF46_BF1. According to our estimate, the new CRF accounts for 0.56% of the HIV-1 circulating strains in São Paulo. Comparison with previously published sequences revealed an additional five isolates that share an identical mosaic structure with those reported in our study. Despite sharing a similar recombinant structure, only one sequence appeared to

  12. Real-time high dynamic range laser scanning microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinegoni, C.; Leon Swisher, C.; Fumene Feruglio, P.; Giedt, R. J.; Rousso, D. L.; Stapleton, S.; Weissleder, R.

    2016-04-01

    In conventional confocal/multiphoton fluorescence microscopy, images are typically acquired under ideal settings and after extensive optimization of parameters for a given structure or feature, often resulting in information loss from other image attributes. To overcome the problem of selective data display, we developed a new method that extends the imaging dynamic range in optical microscopy and improves the signal-to-noise ratio. Here we demonstrate how real-time and sequential high dynamic range microscopy facilitates automated three-dimensional neural segmentation. We address reconstruction and segmentation performance on samples with different size, anatomy and complexity. Finally, in vivo real-time high dynamic range imaging is also demonstrated, making the technique particularly relevant for longitudinal imaging in the presence of physiological motion and/or for quantification of in vivo fast tracer kinetics during functional imaging.

  13. Comparison of the local binding motifs in the imidazolium-based ionic liquids [EMIM][BF{sub 4}] and [EMMIM][BF{sub 4}] through cryogenic ion vibrational predissociation spectroscopy: Unraveling the roles of anharmonicity and intermolecular interactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fournier, Joseph A.; Wolke, Conrad T.; Johnson, Christopher J.; Johnson, Mark A., E-mail: mark.johnson@yale.edu, E-mail: mccoy@chemistry.ohio-state.edu [Sterling Chemistry Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States); McCoy, Anne B., E-mail: mark.johnson@yale.edu, E-mail: mccoy@chemistry.ohio-state.edu [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States)

    2015-02-14

    We clarify the role of the critical imidazolium C{sub (2)}H position (the central C between N atoms in the heterocycle) in the assembly motif of the [EMIM][BF{sub 4}] ionic liquid by analyzing the vibrational spectra of the bare EMIM{sup +} ion as well as that of the cationic [EMIM]{sub 2}[BF{sub 4}]{sup +} (EMIM{sup +} = 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, C{sub 6}H{sub 11}N{sub 2}{sup +}) cluster. Vibrational spectra of the cold, mass-selected ions are obtained using cryogenic ion vibrational predissociation of weakly bound D{sub 2} molecules formed in a 10 K ion trap. The C{sub (2)}H behavior is isolated by following the evolution of key vibrational features when the C{sub (2)} hydrogen, the proposed binding location of the anion to the imidazolium ring, is replaced by either deuterium or a methyl group (i.e., in the EMMIM{sup +} analogue). Strong features in the ring CH stretching region of the bare ion are traced to Fermi resonances with overtones of lower frequency modes. Upon incorporation into the EMIM{sup +} ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ BF{sub 4}{sup −} ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ EMIM{sup +} ternary complex, the C{sub (2)}H oscillator strength is dramatically increased, accounting for the much more complicated patterns derived from the EMIM{sup +} ring CH stretches in the light isotopomer, which are strongly suppressed in the deuterated analogue. Further changes in the spectra that occur when the C{sub (2)}H is replaced by a methyl group are consistent with BF{sub 4}{sup −} attachment directly to the imidazolium ring in an arrangement that maximizes the electrostatic interaction between the molecular ions.

  14. FTIR Spectroscopic and DC Ionic conductivity Studies of PVDF-HFP: LiBF4: EC Plasticized Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sangeetha, M.; Mallikarjun, A.; Jaipal Reddy, M.; Siva Kumar, J.

    2017-08-01

    In the present paper; the FTIR and Temperature dependent DC Ionic conductivity studies of polymer (80 Wt% PVDF-HFP) with inorganic lithium tetra fluoroborate salt (20 Wt% LiBF4) as ionic charge carrier and plasticized with various weight ratios of Ethylene carbonate plasticizer (10 Wt% to 70 Wt% EC) as gel polymer electrolytes. Solution casting method is used for the preparation of plasticized polymer-salt electrolyte films. FTIR analysis shows the good complexation between PVDF-HFP: LiBF4 and the presence of functional groups in the plasticized polymer-salt electrolyte membrane. Also the analysis and results show that the highest DC ionic conductivity of 1.66 × 10-3 SCm -1 was found at 373 K for a particular concentration of 80 Wt% PVDF-HFP: 20 Wt% LiBF4: 40 Wt% EC porous gel type polymer-salt plasticized porous membrane. Increase of temperature results expansion and segmental motion of polymer chain that generates free volume in turn promotes hopping of the lithium ions satisfying Vogel-Tammann-Fulcher equation.

  15. Li+ solvation and kinetics of Li+-BF4-/PF6- ion pairs in ethylene carbonate. A molecular dynamics study with classical rate theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Tsun-Mei; Dang, Liem X.

    2017-10-01

    Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ethylene carbonate (EC) exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li+ and the dissociation kinetics of ion pairs Li+-[BF4] and Li+-[PF6] in this solvent. We calculate the exchange rates using transition state theory and correct them with transmission coefficients computed by the reactive flux, Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches, and Grote-Hynes theory. We found that the residence times of EC around Li+ ions varied from 60 to 450 ps, depending on the correction method used. We found that the relaxation times changed significantly from Li+-[BF4] to Li+-[PF6] ion pairs in EC. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of dissociation in EC, the anion type also significantly influences the dissociation kinetics of ion pairing.

  16. Higgsless superconductivity from topological defects in compact BF terms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Cristina Diamantini

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We present a new Higgsless model of superconductivity, inspired from anyon superconductivity but P- and T-invariant and generalisable to any dimension. While the original anyon superconductivity mechanism was based on incompressible quantum Hall fluids as average field states, our mechanism involves topological insulators as average field states. In D space dimensions it involves a (D−1-form fictitious pseudovector gauge field which originates from the condensation of topological defects in compact low-energy effective BF theories. In the average field approximation, the corresponding uniform emergent charge creates a gap for the (D−2-dimensional branes via the Magnus force, the dual of the Lorentz force. One particular combination of intrinsic and emergent charge fluctuations that leaves the total charge distribution invariant constitutes an isolated gapless mode leading to superfluidity. The remaining massive modes organise themselves into a D-dimensional charged, massive vector. There is no massive Higgs scalar as there is no local order parameter. When electromagnetism is switched on, the photon acquires mass by the topological BF mechanism. Although the charge of the gapless mode (2 and the topological order (4 are the same as those of the standard Higgs model, the two models of superconductivity are clearly different since the origins of the gap, reflected in the high-energy sectors are totally different. In 2D this type of superconductivity is explicitly realised as global superconductivity in Josephson junction arrays. In 3D this model predicts a possible phase transition from topological insulators to Higgsless superconductors.

  17. Image dynamic range test and evaluation of Gaofen-2 dual cameras

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhenhua; Gan, Fuping; Wei, Dandan

    2015-12-01

    In order to fully understand the dynamic range of Gaofen-2 satellite data and support the data processing, application and next satellites development, in this article, we evaluated the dynamic range by calculating some statistics such as maximum ,minimum, average and stand deviation of four images obtained at the same time by Gaofen-2 dual cameras in Beijing area; then the maximum ,minimum, average and stand deviation of each longitudinal overlap of PMS1,PMS2 were calculated respectively for the evaluation of each camera's dynamic range consistency; and these four statistics of each latitudinal overlap of PMS1,PMS2 were calculated respectively for the evaluation of the dynamic range consistency between PMS1 and PMS2 at last. The results suggest that there is a wide dynamic range of DN value in the image obtained by PMS1 and PMS2 which contains rich information of ground objects; in general, the consistency of dynamic range between the single camera images is in close agreement, but also a little difference, so do the dual cameras. The consistency of dynamic range between the single camera images is better than the dual cameras'.

  18. Stereoisomerization of the P(OCH2CH2)3N+BF4– radical: a single-crystal e.s.r. study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hamerlinck, J.H.H.; Schipper, P.; Buck, H.M.

    1981-01-01

    The [graphic omitted]+BF4– radical with the unpaired electron in an apical position of the trigonal-bipyramidal (TBP) structure is generated by X-irradiation via an intermediate TBP structure in which the unpaired electron is located in an equatorial position.

  19. Highly precise (liquid + liquid) equilibrium and heat capacity measurements near the critical point for [Bmim][BF4] + 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H perfluoroctanol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pérez-Sánchez, G.; Troncoso, J.; Losada-Pérez, P.; Méndez-Castro, P.; Romaní, L.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • Highly precise liquid–liquid curves for [Bmim][BF 4 ] + perfluoroctanol are reported. • Critical behavior of heat capacity for the same system was also characterized. • In contrast to previous results, no coulombic/solvophobic crossover for coexistence curve diameter was found. • The system criticality shows characteristics both solvophobic and coulombic. -- Abstract: Liquid + liquid equilibrium of the system [Bmim][BF 4 ] + 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H perfluoroctanol using a highly precise methodology based on refractive index measurements was experimentally determined. In addition, isobaric heat capacity near the critical point was obtained. The performance of the new refractive index set-up was successfully checked against the coexistence curve of the system dimethyl carbonate + decane, since highly accurate data are available in the literature. The choice of [Bmim][BF 4 ] + 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H perfluoroctanol was motivated by a previous experimental work, whose results suggest that this system could present characteristics of both solvophobic and coulombic behavior, which are the two categories to which an ionic system can belong. Although this was previously observed for other ionic systems, this mixture presented a very striking feature: the diameter of the coexistence curve seemed to change its criticality in the studied temperature range, from solvophobic far away to coulombic close to the critical point. The results of this work reveal that, in fact, [Bmim][BF 4 ] + 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H perfluoroctanol presents characteristics of both solvophobic and coulombic criticality, but no evidence of the observed crossover over the experimental temperature range has been found

  20. Stabilization and reactivity of a terminal phosphidounit on Pt(II). Synthesis and X-ray structure of cationic diphelylphosphine [Pt{C6H3(CH2NMe2)2-2,6}(PHPh2)][CF3SO3] and Diphenyl-phosphido Bridged Pt(II)-Pd(II) Complex [Pt{C6H3(CH2NMe2)2-2,6} (µ-PPh2) Pd(C6H4CH2NMe2-2)(H2O)][BF4] CH2Cl2

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koten, G. van; Maassarani, F.; Davidson, M.F.; Wehman-Ooyevaar, ICM; Grove, D.M.; Koten, M.A. van; Smeets, W.J.J.; Spek, A.L.

    1995-01-01

    Reaction of diphenylphosphine with the complexes [Pt(NCN)(H{2}O)]X (NCN = C{6}H{3}(CH{2}NMe{2}){2}-2, 6; X = BF{4} (1a), OSO{2}CF{3} (1b)) leads to substitution of the H{2}O ligand to afford the ionic Pt(II) complexes [Pt(NCN)(PHPh{2})]X (X = BF{4} (2a), OSO{2}CF{3} (2b)). The X-ray structure of the

  1. Characteristics of ZnO nanostructures produced with [DMIm]BF{sub 4} using ultrasonic radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rahman, I. B. Abdul; Ayob, M. T. M.; Ishak, I. S.; Mohd Lawi, R. L.; Isahak, W. N. R. W.; Hamid, M. H. N. Abd; Othman, N. K.; Radiman, S. [School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan (Malaysia); School of Chemistry and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan (Malaysia); School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology (FST), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan (Malaysia)

    2012-11-27

    Great interests in metallic oxides have emerged because of the promising properties of these materials for various applications such as solar cells and sensors. ZnO nanostructures with different morphologies were successfully synthesized from Zn(CH{sub 3}COO){sub 2} Bullet 2H{sub 2}O, NaOH and room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [DMIm][BF{sub 4}] with ultrasound irradiation. Parameters such as the effect of sonication time (30, 60 and 90 minutes) and Zn(Ac){sub 2} precursor to [DMIm][BF{sub 4}] ratios of 3:5, 5:5 and 5:3 were investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that the ZnO nanocrystals were hexagonal zincite crystalline in structure. The band gap energies (E{sub g}) were estimated to be 3.35-3.55 eV from the UV-Visible spectrum. The solution with the highest ratio of Zn was analysed with photoluminescence spectroscopy, which exhibited peaks at 362, 403, 468 and 539 nm, at room temperature. The micrographs of field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that the synthesis products were spherical (30-60 nm), spindle ({approx}10 Multiplication-Sign 70 nm for width Multiplication-Sign length) and whisker-like (100-200 nm), with their dimensions decreasing systematically with increased sonication time. Chemical compositions were approximated at 1:1 for Zn and O, estimated by electron dispersive x-ray spectrum.

  2. Membrane fouling mechanism of biofilm-membrane bioreactor (BF-MBR): Pore blocking model and membrane cleaning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yi; Zhang, Wenxiang; Tang, Bing; Ding, Jie; Zheng, Yi; Zhang, Zhien

    2018-02-01

    Biofilm membrane bioreactor (BF-MBR) is considered as an important wastewater treatment technology that incorporates advantages of both biofilm and MBR process, as well as can alleviate membrane fouling, with respect to the conventional activated sludge MBR. But, to be efficient, it necessitates the establishment of proper methods for the assessment of membrane fouling. Four Hermia membrane blocking models were adopted to quantify and evaluate the membrane fouling of BF-MBR. The experiments were conducted with various operational conditions, including membrane types, agitation speeds and transmembrane pressure (TMP). Good agreement between cake formation model and experimental data was found, confirming the validity of the Hermia models for assessing the membrane fouling of BF-MBR and that cake layer deposits on membrane. Moreover, the influences of membrane types, agitation speeds and transmembrane pressure on the Hermia pore blocking coefficient of cake layer were investigated. In addition, the permeability recovery after membrane cleaning at various operational conditions was studied. This work confirms that, unlike conventional activated sludge MBR, BF-MBR possesses a low degree of membrane fouling and a higher membrane permeability recovery after cleaning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. LINK codes TRAC-BF1/PARCSv2.7 in LINUX without external communication interface; Acoplamiento de los codigos TRAC-BF1/PARCSv2.7 en Linux sin interfaz externa de comunicacion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barrachina, T.; Garcia-Fenoll, M.; Abarca, A.; Miro, R.; Verdu, G.; Concejal, A.; Solar, A.

    2014-07-01

    The TRAC-BF1 code is still widely used by the nuclear industry for safety analysis. The plant models developed using this code are highly validated, so it is advisable to continue improving this code before migrating to another completely different code. The coupling with the NRC neutronic code PARCSv2.7 increases the simulation capabilities in transients in which the power distribution plays an important role. In this paper, the procedure for the coupling of TRAC-BF1 and PARCSv2.7 codes without PVM and in Linux is presented. (Author)

  4. Vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy with BF2-chelated Tetraaryl-Azadipyrromethene agents: a multi-modality molecular imaging approach to therapeutic assessment.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Byrne, A T

    2009-11-03

    Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment modality for a range of diseases including cancer. The BF(2)-chelated tetraaryl-azadipyrromethenes (ADPMs) are an emerging class of non-porphyrin PDT agent, which have previously shown excellent photochemical and photophysical properties for therapeutic application. Herein, in vivo efficacy and mechanism of action studies have been completed for the lead agent, ADMP06.

  5. New polymers containing BF{sub 2}-benzoylacetonate groups. Synthesis, luminescence, excimer and exciplex formation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fedorenko, Elena V., E-mail: gev@ich.dvo.ru [Institute of Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, Prosp. 100 letiya Vladivostoka, Vladivostok 690022 (Russian Federation); Mirochnik, Anatolii G.; Beloliptsev, Anton Yu. [Institute of Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, Prosp. 100 letiya Vladivostoka, Vladivostok 690022 (Russian Federation)

    2017-05-15

    In the present study, a new synthetic method for the functionalization of polystyrene (PS) and (styrene-methyl methacrylate) copolymer has been developed. Using the new method, polymers containing BF{sub 2}-benzoylacetonate groups have been obtained through double acylation by acetic anhydride with boron trifluoride. Luminescence of the produced polymers in solutions and films has been studied. Quantum yields of polymer solution luminescence are significantly higher than those of the low-molecular-weight analog – boron difluoride benzoylacetonate. For the polymer, in which styrene fragments are separated by methyl methacrylate groups, at low concentrations of the polymer in solution one observes the monomer luminescence of BF{sub 2}-benzoylacetonate groups, while at high concentrations – the excimer luminescence. In case of PS-based polymers, in which BF{sub 2}-benzoylacetonate groups and phenyl rings are not separated, in diluted solutions one observes the fluorescence of the intramolecular exciplexes, while at the concentration increase – the luminescence of intermolecular exciplexes. The ability of excimer formation is responsible for the increased photostability of the produced polymers. - Highlights: •Polymers containing BF{sub 2}-benzoylacetonate groups have been synthesized. •Luminescence of the produced polymers in solutions and films has been studied. •Formation of excimers and exciplexes in solution has been revealed. •Formation of excimers in films increases their photostability.

  6. Note: A high dynamic range, linear response transimpedance amplifier.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckel, S; Sushkov, A O; Lamoreaux, S K

    2012-02-01

    We have built a high dynamic range (nine decade) transimpedance amplifier with a linear response. The amplifier uses junction-gate field effect transistors (JFETs) to switch between three different resistors in the feedback of a low input bias current operational amplifier. This allows for the creation of multiple outputs, each with a linear response and a different transimpedance gain. The overall bandwidth of the transimpedance amplifier is set by the bandwidth of the most sensitive range. For our application, we demonstrate a three-stage amplifier with transimpedance gains of approximately 10(9)Ω, 3 × 10(7)Ω, and 10(4)Ω with a bandwidth of 100 Hz.

  7. What Powers the 2006 Outburst of the Symbiotic Star BF Cygni?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Skopal

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available BF Cygni is a classical symbiotic binary. Its optical light curve occasionally shows outbursts of the Z And-type, whose nature is not well understood. During the 2006 August, BF Cyg underwent the recent outburst, and continues its active phase to the present. The aim of this contribution is to determine the fundamental parameters of the hot component in the binary during the active phase. For this purpose we used a high- and low-resolution optical spectroscopy and the multicolour UBV RCIC photometry. Our photometric monitoring revealed that a high level of the star’s brightness lasts for unusually long time of > 7 years. A sharp violet-shifted absorption component and broad emission wings in the Hα profile developed during the whole active phase. From 2009, our spectra revealed a bipolar ejection from the white dwarf (WD. Modelling the spectral energy distribution (SED of the low-resolution spectra showed simultaneous presence of a warm (< 10 000 K disk-like pseudophotosphere and a strong nebular component of radiation (emission measure of ~1061 cm−3. The luminosity of the hot active object was estimated to > 5−8×103 Lʘ. Such high luminosity, sustained for the time of years, can be understood as a result of an enhanced transient accretion rate throughout a large disk, leading also to formation of collimated ejection from the WD.

  8. The BfR publishes workshop report based on the expert meeting on endocrine disruptors

    OpenAIRE

    German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

    2016-01-01

    On the occasion of an expert meeting organised by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) held in Berlin on 11 and 12 April 2016, a consensus was reached on the identification of endocrine disruptors. The BfR has now published the workshop report from the conference. It contains, among other things, the consensus paper agreed by all participants. The report is published at http://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/349/scientific-principles-for-the-identification-of-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-a-co...

  9. Synthesis of new low band gap dyes with BF{sub 2}-azopyrrole complex and their use for dye-sensitized solar cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mikroyannidis, John A. [Chemical Technology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, GR-26500 Patras (Greece); Roy, M.S. [Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur (Raj.) (India); Sharma, G.D. [Physics Department, Molecular Electronic and Optoelectronic Device Laboratory, JNV University, Jodhpur (Raj.) 342005 (India); Jaipur Engineering College, Kukas, Jaipur (Raj.) (India)

    2010-08-15

    The diazonium salt derived from 4-aminobenzoic acid, 4-aminophenol or 2-aminophenol reacted with half equivalent of pyrrole to afford symmetrical 2,5-bisazopyrroles. They reacted subsequently with boron trifluoride in the presence of triethylamine to afford the corresponding BF{sub 2}-azopyrrole complexes D1, D2 and D3 respectively. They were soluble and stable in nonprotic solvents such as chloroform, dichloromethane and tetrahydrofuran but unstable in protic solvents such as ethanol. Their absorption spectra were broad with optical band gap of 1.49-1.70 eV. Among these dyes D2 displayed the broader absorption spectrum with low band gap E{sub g}{sup opt} of 1.49 eV. We have utilized these complexes as photosensitizers for quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and achieved power conversion efficiency in the range of 4.0-6.0%. We have also found that the co-adsorption of citric acid hindered the formation of dye aggregates and might improve the electron injection efficiency leading to an enhancement in short circuit photocurrent. This work suggests that metal-free dyes based on BF{sub 2}-azopyrrole complex are promising candidates for improvement of the DSSC performance. (author)

  10. BF*F allotype of the alternative pathway of complement: A marker of protection against the development of antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picceli, V F; Skare, T L; Nisihara, R M; Nass, F R; Messias-Reason, I T; Utiyama, S R R

    2016-04-01

    B factor (BF) from the alternative complement pathway seems to participate in the pathophysiology of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). To study the allotypic variability of BF in SLE and their associations with clinical and autoantibodies profile. BF allotypes were determined by high-voltage agarose gel electrophoresis, under constant cooling, followed by immunofixation with anti-human BF antibody, in 188 SLE patients and 103 controls. Clinical and serological data were obtained from medical examination and records. No significant differences of BF variants between patients and controls were found, neither in relation to epidemiologic or clinical manifestations. Associations of phenotype BF SS07 and allotype BF*S07 were found with anticardiolipin IgM (aCl-IgM) antibodies (p = 0.014 and p = 0.009 respectively), but not with aCl-IgG, lupus anticoagulant (LA), anti β2GPI or clinical APS. A significant decrease in BF*F allotype (p = 0.043) and BF SF phenotype (p = 0.018) was detected in patients with anti-phospholipid antibodies as a whole (aCl-IgG, aCl-IgM, LA and anti β2GPI). There is a link between phenotype BF SS07 and allotype BF*S07 with aCl-IgM in SLE patients; BF*F allotype could be considered a marker of protection against the development of antiphospholipid antibodies in these patients. © The Author(s) 2015.

  11. Time course of dynamic range adaptation in the auditory nerve

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Grace I.; Dean, Isabel; Delgutte, Bertrand

    2012-01-01

    Auditory adaptation to sound-level statistics occurs as early as in the auditory nerve (AN), the first stage of neural auditory processing. In addition to firing rate adaptation characterized by a rate decrement dependent on previous spike activity, AN fibers show dynamic range adaptation, which is characterized by a shift of the rate-level function or dynamic range toward the most frequently occurring levels in a dynamic stimulus, thereby improving the precision of coding of the most common sound levels (Wen B, Wang GI, Dean I, Delgutte B. J Neurosci 29: 13797–13808, 2009). We investigated the time course of dynamic range adaptation by recording from AN fibers with a stimulus in which the sound levels periodically switch from one nonuniform level distribution to another (Dean I, Robinson BL, Harper NS, McAlpine D. J Neurosci 28: 6430–6438, 2008). Dynamic range adaptation occurred rapidly, but its exact time course was difficult to determine directly from the data because of the concomitant firing rate adaptation. To characterize the time course of dynamic range adaptation without the confound of firing rate adaptation, we developed a phenomenological “dual adaptation” model that accounts for both forms of AN adaptation. When fitted to the data, the model predicts that dynamic range adaptation occurs as rapidly as firing rate adaptation, over 100–400 ms, and the time constants of the two forms of adaptation are correlated. These findings suggest that adaptive processing in the auditory periphery in response to changes in mean sound level occurs rapidly enough to have significant impact on the coding of natural sounds. PMID:22457465

  12. BF3·Et2O-promoted cleavage of the Csp-Csp2 bond of 2-propynolphenols/anilines: route to C2-alkenylated benzoxazoles and benzimidazoles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Xian-Rong; Qiu, Yi-Feng; Song, Bo; Hao, Xin-Hua; Han, Ya-Ping; Gao, Pin; Liu, Xue-Yuan; Liang, Yong-Min

    2015-02-20

    A novel BF3·Et2O-promoted tandem reaction of easily prepared 2-propynolphenols/anilines and trimethylsilyl azide is developed to give C2-alkenylated benzoxazoles and benzimidazoles in moderate to good yields. Most reactions could be accomplished in 30 min at room temperature. This tandem process involves a Csp-Csp2 bond cleavage and a C-N bond formation. Moreover, both tertiary and secondary propargylic alcohols with diverse functional groups were tolerated under the mild conditions.

  13. Interfaces of dicationic ionic liquids and graphene: a molecular dynamics simulation study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Song; Feng, Guang; Cummings, Peter T

    2014-01-01

    Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the interfacial structure and capacitance of electrical double layers (EDLs) in dicationic ionic liquids (DILs) 1-alkyl-3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate [C n (mim) 2 ](BF 4 ) 2 (n = 3, 6, 9), with respect to a baseline of a monocationic ionic liquid [C 3 mim][BF 4 ], near planar carbon electrodes consisting of graphene sheets. The simulation results show that an adsorbed layer with double peaks is exclusively found for [C 3 (mim) 2 ](BF 4 ) 2 , while a single peak of the other three cations is observed at the neutral electrode, due to the difference in ion–wall interaction and cation–anion association. As the electrode becomes negatively charged, the second peak of [C 3 (mim) 2 ] 2+ is dramatically reduced, whereas those of [C 6 (mim) 2 ] 2+ and [C 9 (mim) 2 ] 2+ become non-trivial. The capacitance–potential curve of EDLs in DILs manifests a transition from camel shape to bell shape as the cation chain length increases, which is attributed to the enlargement of ion adsorption (per unit charge) on the electrode and the decrease of attractive interaction between ions. (paper)

  14. LINK codes TRAC-BF1/PARCSv2.7 in LINUX without external communication interface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrachina, T.; Garcia-Fenoll, M.; Abarca, A.; Miro, R.; Verdu, G.; Concejal, A.; Solar, A.

    2014-01-01

    The TRAC-BF1 code is still widely used by the nuclear industry for safety analysis. The plant models developed using this code are highly validated, so it is advisable to continue improving this code before migrating to another completely different code. The coupling with the NRC neutronic code PARCSv2.7 increases the simulation capabilities in transients in which the power distribution plays an important role. In this paper, the procedure for the coupling of TRAC-BF1 and PARCSv2.7 codes without PVM and in Linux is presented. (Author)

  15. Efficient processing of 3-sided range queries with probabilistic guarantees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaporis, Alexis; Papadopoulos, Apostolos; Sioutas, Spyros

    2010-01-01

    This work studies the problem of 2-dimensional searching for the 3-sided range query of the form [a, b] x (-∞, c] in both main and external memory, by considering a variety of input distributions. A dynamic linear main memory solution is proposed, which answers 3-sided queries in O(log n + t) worst...

  16. Electroreduction Property and MD Simulation of Nitrobenzene in Ionic Liquid [BMim][Tf2N]/[BMim][BF4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeng, Jianping; Zhang, Yinxu; Sun, Ruyao; Chen, Song

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • The two different common accessible ionic liquids are mixed in a simple and economic way. • In some compound ratios, the dynamic performance of nitrobenzene is superior to either of ionic liquids. • Modification and functionalization of ionic liquids in electrochemical field is feasible. • The mass transfer of diffusion of nitrobenzene in ionic liquids can be simulated with molecular dynamics. • Molecular dynamics explains the improvement of nitrobenzene in composite ionic liquids. - Abstract: The two different common accessible ionic liquids [BMim][BF 4 ] and [BMim][Tf 2 N] were mixed each other in a simple and economic way. In some compound ratios, the dynamic performance of nitrobenzene in electric reduction was superior to that of any single kind of ionic liquid has been appeared. The interaction and mass transfer of diffusion of nitrobenzene in composite ionic liquids with different volume ratios were studied with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The improvement of the electroreduction performance of nitrobenzene in composite ionic liquids was verified and was tried to explain. This provides a new idea for the modification and functionalization of ionic liquids in electrochemical field. The experimental results showed that kinematic viscosity and electroconductibility of different ionic liquid systems display a regular change. And the change law has been basically unchanged after adding water. The two different functional ionic liquids were complemented each other in a simple and economic way, which has compensated for the disadvantage of mono-component ionic liquids. At 25 °C, electroreduction property of V [BMim][BF4] :V [BMim][Tf2N] = 1:1 is the best in cyclic voltammetry experiments of nitrobenzene in different composite ionic liquids. Its electrochemical behavior is significantly affected by scan rate, temperature, concentration of nitrobenzene and concentration of water. The MD simulation results showed most of interaction

  17. Evaluation of color encodings for high dynamic range pixels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boitard, Ronan; Mantiuk, Rafal K.; Pouli, Tania

    2015-03-01

    Traditional Low Dynamic Range (LDR) color spaces encode a small fraction of the visible color gamut, which does not encompass the range of colors produced on upcoming High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays. Future imaging systems will require encoding much wider color gamut and luminance range. Such wide color gamut can be represented using floating point HDR pixel values but those are inefficient to encode. They also lack perceptual uniformity of the luminance and color distribution, which is provided (in approximation) by most LDR color spaces. Therefore, there is a need to devise an efficient, perceptually uniform and integer valued representation for high dynamic range pixel values. In this paper we evaluate several methods for encoding colour HDR pixel values, in particular for use in image and video compression. Unlike other studies we test both luminance and color difference encoding in a rigorous 4AFC threshold experiments to determine the minimum bit-depth required. Results show that the Perceptual Quantizer (PQ) encoding provides the best perceptual uniformity in the considered luminance range, however the gain in bit-depth is rather modest. More significant difference can be observed between color difference encoding schemes, from which YDuDv encoding seems to be the most efficient.

  18. POTENTIALS OF IMAGE BASED ACTIVE RANGING TO CAPTURE DYNAMIC SCENES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Jutzi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Obtaining a 3D description of man-made and natural environments is a basic task in Computer Vision and Remote Sensing. To this end, laser scanning is currently one of the dominating techniques to gather reliable 3D information. The scanning principle inherently needs a certain time interval to acquire the 3D point cloud. On the other hand, new active sensors provide the possibility of capturing range information by images with a single measurement. With this new technique image-based active ranging is possible which allows capturing dynamic scenes, e.g. like walking pedestrians in a yard or moving vehicles. Unfortunately most of these range imaging sensors have strong technical limitations and are not yet sufficient for airborne data acquisition. It can be seen from the recent development of highly specialized (far-range imaging sensors – so called flash-light lasers – that most of the limitations could be alleviated soon, so that future systems will be equipped with improved image size and potentially expanded operating range. The presented work is a first step towards the development of methods capable for application of range images in outdoor environments. To this end, an experimental setup was set up for investigating these proposed possibilities. With the experimental setup a measurement campaign was carried out and first results will be presented within this paper.

  19. Empirical parameters for solvent acidity, basicity, dipolarity, and polarizability of the ionic liquids [BMIM][BF4] and [BMIM][PF6].

    Science.gov (United States)

    del Valle, J C; García Blanco, F; Catalán, J

    2015-04-02

    The empirical solvent scales for polarizability (SP), dipolarity (SdP), acidity (SA), and basicity (SB) have been successfully used to interpret the solvatochromism of compounds dissolved in organic solvents and their solvent mixtures. Providing that the published solvatochromic parameters for the ionic liquids 1-(1-butyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [BMIM][BF4] and 1-(1-butyl)-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [BMIM][PF6], are excessively widespread, their SP, SdP, SA, and SB values are measured herein at temperatures from 293 to 353 K. Four key points are emphasized herein: (i) the origin of the solvatochromic solvent scales--the gas phase, that is the absence of any medium perturbation--; (ii) the separation of the polarizability and dipolarity effects; (iii) the simplification of the probing process in order to obtain the solvatochromic parameters; and (iv) the SP, SdP, SA, and SB solvent scales can probe the polarizability, dipolarity, acidity, and basicity of ionic liquids as well as of organic solvents and water-organic solvent mixtures. From the multiparameter approach using the four pure solvent scales one can draw the conclusion that (a) the solvent influence of [BMIM][BF4] parallels that of formamide at 293 K, both of them miscible with water; (b) [BMIM][PF6] shows a set of solvatochromic parameters similar to that of chloroacetonitrile, both of them water insoluble; and (c) that the corresponding solvent acidity and basicity of the ionic liquids can be explained to a great extent from the cation species by comparing the empirical parameters of [BMIM](+) with those of the solvent 1-methylimidazole. The insolubility of [BMIM][PF6] in water as compared to [BMIM][BF4] is tentatively connected to some extent to the larger molar volume of the anion [PF6](-), and to the difference in basicity of [PF6](-) and [BF4](-).

  20. Superacid Catalyzed Depolymerization and Conversion of Coals. Final Technical Report. [HF:BF{sub 2}/H{sub 2}

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olah, G.

    1980-01-01

    We were interested in applying superacid catalyzed cleavage-depolymerization and ionic hydrogenation low temperature conversion of coal to liquid hydrocarbon, as well as obtaining information about the reactions involved and the structure of intermediates of the coal liquefaction process. In order to show the feasibility of our proposed research we have carried out preliminary investigation in these areas. Preceding our work there was no practical application of a superacid system to coal liquefaction. We carried out an extensive study of the potential of the HF:BF{sub 3}/H{sub 2} system for coal hydroliquefaction. Under varying conditions of reactant ratio, reaction time and temperature, we were able to obtain over 95% pyridine extractible product by treating coal in HF:BF{sub 3}:H{sub 2} system at approx. 100 degrees C for 4 hours. The coal to acid ratio was 1:5 and FB{sub 3} at 900 psi and H{sub 2} at 500 psi were used. These are extremely encouraging results in that the conditions used are drastically milder than those used in any known process, such as Exxon donor solvent and related processes. The cyclohexane extractibility of the treated coal was as high as 27% and the yield of liquid distillate at 400 degrees C/5 x 10{sup -3}/sup torr/ was approx. 30%. The infrared spectrum of product coal, extracts and distillates were distinctly different from the starting coal and show a significant increase in the amount of saturates. The {sup 1}H NMR spectrum of cyclohexane extract of the treated coal shows essentially all aliphatic photons. The spectra of other treated coal extracts show increased amounts and types of aliphatic protons as well as significant amounts of protons bound to unsaturated sites. This again indicates that the HF-BF{sub 3} system is depolymerizing the coal to small fragments which are soluble in non-polar solvents.

  1. Cartan's equations define a topological field theory of the BF type

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuesta, Vladimir; Montesinos, Merced

    2007-01-01

    Cartan's first and second structure equations together with first and second Bianchi identities can be interpreted as equations of motion for the tetrad, the connection and a set of two-form fields T I and R J I . From this viewpoint, these equations define by themselves a field theory. Restricting the analysis to four-dimensional spacetimes (keeping gravity in mind), it is possible to give an action principle of the BF type from which these equations of motion are obtained. The action turns out to be equivalent to a linear combination of the Nieh-Yan, Pontrjagin, and Euler classes, and so the field theory defined by the action is topological. Once Einstein's equations are added, the resulting theory is general relativity. Therefore, the current results show that the relationship between general relativity and topological field theories of the BF type is also present in the first-order formalism for general relativity

  2. Rate theory of solvent exchange and kinetics of Li(+) - BF4 (-)/PF6 (-) ion pairs in acetonitrile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dang, Liem X; Chang, Tsun-Mei

    2016-09-07

    In this paper, we describe our efforts to apply rate theories in studies of solvent exchange around Li(+) and the kinetics of ion pairings in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). We report one of the first computer simulations of the exchange dynamics around solvated Li(+) in acetonitrile (ACN), which is a common solvent used in LIBs. We also provide details of the ion-pairing kinetics of Li(+)-[BF4] and Li(+)-[PF6] in ACN. Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ACN exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li(+). We calculate exchange rates using transition state theory and weighted them with the transmission coefficients determined by the reactive flux, Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches, and Grote-Hynes theory. We found the relaxation times changed from 180 ps to 4600 ps and from 30 ps to 280 ps for Li(+)-[BF4] and Li(+)-[PF6] ion pairs, respectively. These results confirm that the solvent response to the kinetics of ion pairing is significant. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of solvation into ACN, the anion type also should significantly influence the kinetics of ion pairing. These results will increase our understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of LIB systems.

  3. Long-Range Coulomb Effect in Intense Laser-Driven Photoelectron Dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quan, Wei; Hao, XiaoLei; Chen, YongJu; Yu, ShaoGang; Xu, SongPo; Wang, YanLan; Sun, RenPing; Lai, XuanYang; Wu, ChengYin; Gong, QiHuang; He, XianTu; Liu, XiaoJun; Chen, Jing

    2016-06-03

    In strong field atomic physics community, long-range Coulomb interaction has for a long time been overlooked and its significant role in intense laser-driven photoelectron dynamics eluded experimental observations. Here we report an experimental investigation of the effect of long-range Coulomb potential on the dynamics of near-zero-momentum photoelectrons produced in photo-ionization process of noble gas atoms in intense midinfrared laser pulses. By exploring the dependence of photoelectron distributions near zero momentum on laser intensity and wavelength, we unambiguously demonstrate that the long-range tail of the Coulomb potential (i.e., up to several hundreds atomic units) plays an important role in determining the photoelectron dynamics after the pulse ends.

  4. Video Enhancement and Dynamic Range Control of HDR Sequences for Automotive Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni Ramponi

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available CMOS video cameras with high dynamic range (HDR output are particularly suitable for driving assistance applications, where lighting conditions can strongly vary, going from direct sunlight to dark areas in tunnels. However, common visualization devices can only handle a low dynamic range, and thus a dynamic range reduction is needed. Many algorithms have been proposed in the literature to reduce the dynamic range of still pictures. Anyway, extending the available methods to video is not straightforward, due to the peculiar nature of video data. We propose an algorithm for both reducing the dynamic range of video sequences and enhancing its appearance, thus improving visual quality and reducing temporal artifacts. We also provide an optimized version of our algorithm for a viable hardware implementation on an FPGA. The feasibility of this implementation is demonstrated by means of a case study.

  5. High Dynamic Velocity Range Particle Image Velocimetry Using Multiple Pulse Separation Imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tadhg S. O’Donovan

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The dynamic velocity range of particle image velocimetry (PIV is determined by the maximum and minimum resolvable particle displacement. Various techniques have extended the dynamic range, however flows with a wide velocity range (e.g., impinging jets still challenge PIV algorithms. A new technique is presented to increase the dynamic velocity range by over an order of magnitude. The multiple pulse separation (MPS technique (i records series of double-frame exposures with different pulse separations, (ii processes the fields using conventional multi-grid algorithms, and (iii yields a composite velocity field with a locally optimized pulse separation. A robust criterion determines the local optimum pulse separation, accounting for correlation strength and measurement uncertainty. Validation experiments are performed in an impinging jet flow, using laser-Doppler velocimetry as reference measurement. The precision of mean flow and turbulence quantities is significantly improved compared to conventional PIV, due to the increase in dynamic range. In a wide range of applications, MPS PIV is a robust approach to increase the dynamic velocity range without restricting the vector evaluation methods.

  6. High dynamic velocity range particle image velocimetry using multiple pulse separation imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Persoons, Tim; O'Donovan, Tadhg S

    2011-01-01

    The dynamic velocity range of particle image velocimetry (PIV) is determined by the maximum and minimum resolvable particle displacement. Various techniques have extended the dynamic range, however flows with a wide velocity range (e.g., impinging jets) still challenge PIV algorithms. A new technique is presented to increase the dynamic velocity range by over an order of magnitude. The multiple pulse separation (MPS) technique (i) records series of double-frame exposures with different pulse separations, (ii) processes the fields using conventional multi-grid algorithms, and (iii) yields a composite velocity field with a locally optimized pulse separation. A robust criterion determines the local optimum pulse separation, accounting for correlation strength and measurement uncertainty. Validation experiments are performed in an impinging jet flow, using laser-Doppler velocimetry as reference measurement. The precision of mean flow and turbulence quantities is significantly improved compared to conventional PIV, due to the increase in dynamic range. In a wide range of applications, MPS PIV is a robust approach to increase the dynamic velocity range without restricting the vector evaluation methods.

  7. A highly sensitive RF-to-DC power converter with an extended dynamic range

    KAUST Repository

    Almansouri, Abdullah Saud Mohammed

    2017-10-24

    This paper proposes a highly sensitive RF-to-DC power converter with an extended dynamic range that is designed to operate at the medical band 433 MHz and simulated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Compared to the conventional fully cross-coupled rectifier, the proposed design offers 3.2× the dynamic range. It is also highly sensitive and requires −18 dBm of input power to produce a 1 V-output voltage when operating with a 100 kΩ load. Furthermore, the proposed design offers an open circuit sensitivity of −23.4 dBm and a peak power conversion efficiency of 67%.

  8. Multiprobe Spectroscopic Inverstigation of Molecular-level Behavior within Aqueous 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarkar, Abhra [Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Ali, Maroof [Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Baker, Gary A [ORNL; Tetin, Sergey Y. [Abbott Laboratories; Ruan, Qiaoqiao [Abbott Laboratories; Pandey, Siddharth [Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

    2009-01-01

    In this work, an array of molecular-level solvent featuressincluding solute-solvent/solvent-solvent interactions, dipolarity, heterogeneity, dynamics, probe accessibility, and diffusionswere investigated across the entire composition of ambient mixtures containing the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [bmim][BF4], and pH 7.0 phosphate buffer, based on results assembled for nine different molecular probes utilized in a range of spectroscopic modes. These studies uncovered interesting and unusual solvatochromic probe behavior within this benchmark mixture. Solvatochromic absorbance probessa watersoluble betaine dye (betaine dye 33), N,N-diethyl-4-nitroaniline, and 4-nitroanilineswere employed to determine ET (a blend of dipolarity/polarizability and hydrogen bond donor contributions) and the Kamlet-Taft indices * (dipolarity/polarizability), R (hydrogen bond donor acidity), and (hydrogen bond acceptor basicity) characterizing the [bmim][BF4] + phosphate buffer system. These parameters each showed a marked deviation from ideality, suggesting selective solvation of the individual probe solutes by [bmim][BF4]. Similar conclusions were derived from the responses of the fluorescent polarity-sensitive probes pyrene and pyrene-1-carboxaldehyde. Importantly, the fluorescent microfluidity probe 1,3-bis(1-pyrenyl)propane senses a microviscosity within the mixture that significantly exceeds expectations derived from simple interpolation of the behavior in the neat solvents. On the basis of results from this probe, a correlation between microviscosity and bulk viscosity was established; pronounced solvent-solvent hydrogen-bonding interactions were implicit in this behavior. The greatest deviation from ideal additive behavior for the probes studied herein was consistently observed to occur in the buffer-rich regime. Nitromethane-based fluorescence quenching of pyrene within the [bmim][BF4] + phosphate buffer system showed unusual compliance with a sphere

  9. In-Vivo High Dynamic Range Vector Flow Imaging

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villagómez Hoyos, Carlos Armando; Stuart, Matthias Bo; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt

    2015-01-01

    example with a high dynamic velocity range. Velocities with an order of magnitude apart are detected on the femoral artery of a 41 years old healthy individual. Three distinct heart cycles are captured during a 3 secs acquisition. The estimated vector velocities are compared against each other within...... the heart cycle. The relative standard deviation of the measured velocity magnitude between the three peak systoles was found to be 5.11% with a standard deviation on the detected angle of 1.06◦ . In the diastole, it was 1.46% and 6.18◦ , respectively. Results proves that the method is able to estimate flow...

  10. Characterization of BF4− in terms of its effect on water by the 1-propanol probing methodology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morita, Takeshi; Ayako, Nitta; Nishikawa, Keilo

    2014-01-01

    One of the most common constituent anions for room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), BF4−, was characterized in terms of its effect on H2O using the so-called 1-propanol (1P) probing methodology developed by us earlier [PCCP, 15(2013) 14548-14565]. The results indicated that BF4− is quantitatively...

  11. A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Lianxi; Zou Jiao; Liu Shubin; Niu Yue; Zhu Zhangming; Yang Yintang; En Yunfei

    2014-01-01

    As the front-end preamplifiers in optical receivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) are commonly required to have a high gain and low input noise to amplify the weak and susceptible input signal. At the same time, the TIAs should possess a wide dynamic range (DR) to prevent the circuit from becoming saturated by high input currents. Based on the above, this paper presents a CMOS transimpedance amplifier with high gain and a wide DR for 2.5 Gbit/s communications. The TIA proposed consists of a three-stage cascade pull push inverter, an automatic gain control circuit, and a shunt transistor controlled by the resistive divider. The inductive-series peaking technique is used to further extend the bandwidth. The TIA proposed displays a maximum transimpedance gain of 88.3 dBΩ with the −3 dB bandwidth of 1.8 GHz, exhibits an input current dynamic range from 100 nA to 10 mA. The output voltage noise is less than 48.23 nV/√Hz within the −3 dB bandwidth. The circuit is fabricated using an SMIC 0.18 μm 1P6M RFCMOS process and dissipates a dc power of 9.4 mW with 1.8 V supply voltage. (semiconductor integrated circuits)

  12. High-dynamic-range imaging for cloud segmentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dev, Soumyabrata; Savoy, Florian M.; Lee, Yee Hui; Winkler, Stefan

    2018-04-01

    Sky-cloud images obtained from ground-based sky cameras are usually captured using a fisheye lens with a wide field of view. However, the sky exhibits a large dynamic range in terms of luminance, more than a conventional camera can capture. It is thus difficult to capture the details of an entire scene with a regular camera in a single shot. In most cases, the circumsolar region is overexposed, and the regions near the horizon are underexposed. This renders cloud segmentation for such images difficult. In this paper, we propose HDRCloudSeg - an effective method for cloud segmentation using high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging based on multi-exposure fusion. We describe the HDR image generation process and release a new database to the community for benchmarking. Our proposed approach is the first using HDR radiance maps for cloud segmentation and achieves very good results.

  13. Systemic Responses of Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii Following Exposure to the Antimicrobial Peptide Cathelicidin-BF Imply Multiple Intracellular Targets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cunbao Liu

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Cathelicidin-BF, derived from the banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus, is a typically cationic, amphiphilic and α-helical antimicrobial peptide (AMP with 30 amino acids that exerts powerful effects on multidrug-resistant (MDR clinical isolates, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, but whether it targets plasma membranes or intracellular targets to kill bacteria is still controversial. In the present study, we demonstrated that the disruption of bacterial membranes with high concentrations of cathelicidin-BF was the cause of bacterial death, as with conventional antibiotics at high concentrations. At lower concentrations, cathelicidin-BF did not cause bacterial plasma membrane disruption, but it was able to cross the membrane and aggregate at the nucleoid regions. Functional proteins of the transcription processes of P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii were affected by sublethal doses of cathelicidin-BF, as demonstrated by comparative proteomics using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification and subsequent gene ontology (GO analysis. Analysis using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes showed that cathelicidin-BF mainly interferes with metabolic pathways related to amino acid synthesis, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, metabolism of purine and energy supply, and other processes. Although specific targets of cathelicidin-BF must still be validated, our study offers strong evidence that cathelicidin-BF may act upon intracellular targets to kill superbugs, which may be helpful for further efforts to discover novel antibiotics to fight against them.

  14. Synthesis and characterization of ionic liquid (EMImBF{sub 4})/Li{sup +} - chitosan membranes for ion battery

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pasaribu, Marvin H., E-mail: marvin-shady88@yahoo.com; Arcana, I Made, E-mail: arcana@chem.itb.ac.id; Wahyuningrum, Deana, E-mail: deana@chem.itb.ac.id [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, InstitutTeknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha No. 10, Bandung 40132 (Indonesia)

    2015-09-30

    Lithium ion battery has been currently developed and produced because it has a longer life time, high energycapacity, and the efficient use of lithium ion battery that is suitable for storing electrical energy. However, this battery has some drawbacks such as use liquid electrolytes that are prone to leakage and flammability during the battery charging process in high temperature. In this study, an ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMImBF4) containing Li{sup +} ions was synthesized and combined with chitosan polymer host as a polymer electrolyte membrane for lithium-ion batteries to solve this problems. This ionic liquid was obtained from the anion metathesis reaction between EMImBr and LiBF4 salt, while EMImBr was synthesized from the reaction between 1-methylimidazole and ethyl bromide utilizing Microwave Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS) method. The ionic liquid obtained was characterized by microstructure analysis with using NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. The polymer electrolyte membrane was characterized by analysis functional groups (FTIR), ionic conductivity (EIS), and surface morphology (SEM). The analysis results of ion conductivity by the EIS method showed the increase the ionic conductivity value of membranes from 1.30 × 10{sup −2} S cm{sup −1} for chitosan to 1.30 × 10{sup −2} S cm{sup −1} for chitosan with EMImBF4/Li{sup +}, and this result was supported by analysis the surface morphology (SEM)

  15. Surface and finite size effect on fluctuations dynamics in nanoparticles with long-range order

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morozovska, A. N.; Eliseev, E. A.

    2010-02-01

    The influence of surface and finite size on the dynamics of the order parameter fluctuations and critical phenomena in the three-dimensional (3D)-confined systems with long-range order was not considered theoretically. In this paper, we study the influence of surface and finite size on the dynamics of the order parameter fluctuations in the particles of arbitrary shape. We consider concrete examples of the spherical and cylindrical ferroic nanoparticles within Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach. Allowing for the strong surface energy contribution in micro and nanoparticles, the analytical expressions derived for the Ornstein-Zernike correlator of the long-range order parameter spatial-temporal fluctuations, dynamic generalized susceptibility, relaxation times, and correlation radii discrete spectra are different from those known for bulk systems. Obtained analytical expressions for the correlation function of the order parameter spatial-temporal fluctuations in micro and nanosized systems can be useful for the quantitative analysis of the dynamical structural factors determined from magnetic resonance diffraction and scattering spectra. Besides the practical importance of the correlation function for the analysis of the experimental data, derived expressions for the fluctuations strength determine the fundamental limits of phenomenological theories applicability for 3D-confined systems.

  16. Entanglement Growth in Quench Dynamics with Variable Range Interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Schachenmayer

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Studying entanglement growth in quantum dynamics provides both insight into the underlying microscopic processes and information about the complexity of the quantum states, which is related to the efficiency of simulations on classical computers. Recently, experiments with trapped ions, polar molecules, and Rydberg excitations have provided new opportunities to observe dynamics with long-range interactions. We explore nonequilibrium coherent dynamics after a quantum quench in such systems, identifying qualitatively different behavior as the exponent of algebraically decaying spin-spin interactions in a transverse Ising chain is varied. Computing the buildup of bipartite entanglement as well as mutual information between distant spins, we identify linear growth of entanglement entropy corresponding to propagation of quasiparticles for shorter-range interactions, with the maximum rate of growth occurring when the Hamiltonian parameters match those for the quantum phase transition. Counterintuitively, the growth of bipartite entanglement for long-range interactions is only logarithmic for most regimes, i.e., substantially slower than for shorter-range interactions. Experiments with trapped ions allow for the realization of this system with a tunable interaction range, and we show that the different phenomena are robust for finite system sizes and in the presence of noise. These results can act as a direct guide for the generation of large-scale entanglement in such experiments, towards a regime where the entanglement growth can render existing classical simulations inefficient.

  17. The BF formalism for QCD and quark confinement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fucito, F.; Zeni, M.

    1997-01-01

    Using the BF version of pure Yang-Mills, it is possible to find a covariant representation of the 't Hooft magnetic flux operator. In this framework, 't Hooft's pioneering work on confinement finds an explicit realization in the continuum. Employing the Abelian projection gauge we compute the expectation value of the magnetic variable and find the expected perimeter law. We also check the area law behavior for the Wilson loop average and compute the string tension which turns out to be of the right order of magnitude. (orig.)

  18. 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.

  19. Mitochondrial uncouplers with an extraordinary dynamic range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lou, Phing-How; Hansen, Birgit S; Olsen, Preben H; Tullin, Søren; Murphy, Michael P; Brand, Martin D

    2007-10-01

    We have discovered that some weak uncouplers (typified by butylated hydroxytoluene) have a dynamic range of more than 10(6) in vitro: the concentration giving measurable uncoupling is less than one millionth of the concentration causing full uncoupling. They achieve this through a high-affinity interaction with the mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase that causes significant but limited uncoupling at extremely low uncoupler concentrations, together with more conventional uncoupling at much higher concentrations. Uncoupling at the translocase is not by a conventional weak acid/anion cycling mechanism since it is also caused by substituted triphenylphosphonium molecules, which are not anionic and cannot protonate. Covalent attachment of the uncoupler to a mitochondrially targeted hydrophobic cation sensitizes it to membrane potential, giving a small additional effect. The wide dynamic range of these uncouplers in isolated mitochondria and intact cells reveals a novel allosteric activation of proton transport through the adenine nucleotide translocase and provides a promising starting point for designing safer uncouplers for obesity therapy.

  20. An Over 90 dB Intra-Scene Single-Exposure Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor Using a 3.0 μm Triple-Gain Pixel Fabricated in a Standard BSI Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takayanagi, Isao; Yoshimura, Norio; Mori, Kazuya; Matsuo, Shinichiro; Tanaka, Shunsuke; Abe, Hirofumi; Yasuda, Naoto; Ishikawa, Kenichiro; Okura, Shunsuke; Ohsawa, Shinji; Otaka, Toshinori

    2018-01-12

    To respond to the high demand for high dynamic range imaging suitable for moving objects with few artifacts, we have developed a single-exposure dynamic range image sensor by introducing a triple-gain pixel and a low noise dual-gain readout circuit. The developed 3 μm pixel is capable of having three conversion gains. Introducing a new split-pinned photodiode structure, linear full well reaches 40 ke - . Readout noise under the highest pixel gain condition is 1 e - with a low noise readout circuit. Merging two signals, one with high pixel gain and high analog gain, and the other with low pixel gain and low analog gain, a single exposure dynamic rage (SEHDR) signal is obtained. Using this technology, a 1/2.7", 2M-pixel CMOS image sensor has been developed and characterized. The image sensor also employs an on-chip linearization function, yielding a 16-bit linear signal at 60 fps, and an intra-scene dynamic range of higher than 90 dB was successfully demonstrated. This SEHDR approach inherently mitigates the artifacts from moving objects or time-varying light sources that can appear in the multiple exposure high dynamic range (MEHDR) approach.

  1. High dynamic range imaging sensors and architectures

    CERN Document Server

    Darmont, Arnaud

    2013-01-01

    Illumination is a crucial element in many applications, matching the luminance of the scene with the operational range of a camera. When luminance cannot be adequately controlled, a high dynamic range (HDR) imaging system may be necessary. These systems are being increasingly used in automotive on-board systems, road traffic monitoring, and other industrial, security, and military applications. This book provides readers with an intermediate discussion of HDR image sensors and techniques for industrial and non-industrial applications. It describes various sensor and pixel architectures capable

  2. Rate Coefficients for the Reactions of BF with O and O2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-12-21

    2 indicate that indi- vidual molecular orbitals of BF are quite asymmetric so that the small overall dipole moment could be misleading. Nevertheless...radiation effects on materials, lu- brication and surface phenomena, thersionic " emision . photosensitive materials and detectors, atomic frequency standards

  3. Effect of bone marrow-derived CD11b(+)F4/80 (+) immature dendritic cells on the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in DBA/1 mice with collagen-induced arthritis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Jingjing; Zhang, Lingling; Song, Shanshan; Sheng, Kangliang; Li, Ying; Li, Peipei; Song, Shasha; Wang, Qingtong; Chu, Jianhong; Wei, Wei

    2014-05-01

    To explore the effect of bone marrow-derived CD11b(+)F4/80(+) immature dendritic cells (BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC) on the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in DBA/1 mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC were induced with rmGM-CSF and rmIL-4, and were identified by the expressions of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2), indoleamine 2,3-deoxygenase (IDO), interleukin (IL)-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR). CIA was established in DBA/1 mice by immunization with type II collagen. CIA mice were injected intravenously with BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC three times after immunization. The effect of BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC on CIA was evaluated by the arthritis index, joint histopathology, body weight, thymus index, thymocytes proliferation, IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-17, IL-10 and TGF-β1 levels. BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC induced with rmGM-CSF and rmIL-4 expressed high levels of TLR-2, IDO, IL-10 and TGF-β1. Infusion of BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC in CIA mice significantly reduced the arthritis index and pathological scores of joints, recovered the weight, decreased the thymus index and inhibited thymocyte proliferation. Levels of IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-17 were decreased in BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC-treated mice. BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC can be induced successfully with rmGM-CSF and rmIL-4. BM CD11b(+)F4/80(+)iDC treatment can ameliorate the development and severity of CIA by regulating the balance between pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines.

  4. High speed, wide dynamic range analog signal processing for avalanche photodiode

    CERN Document Server

    Walder, J P; Pangaud, P

    2000-01-01

    A wide dynamic range multi-gain analog transimpedance amplifier integrated circuit has been developed for avalanche photodiode signal processing. The 96 dB input dynamic range is divided into four ranges of 12-bits each in order to provide 40 MHz analog sampled data to a 12-bits ADC. This concept which has been integrated in both BiCMOS and full complementary bipolar technology along with fitted design techniques will be presented.

  5. High speed, wide dynamic range analog signal processing for avalanche photodiode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walder, J.P.; El Mamouni, Houmani; Pangaud, Patrick

    2000-01-01

    A wide dynamic range multi-gain analog transimpedance amplifier integrated circuit has been developed for avalanche photodiode signal processing. The 96 dB input dynamic range is divided into four ranges of 12-bits each in order to provide 40 MHz analog sampled data to a 12-bits ADC. This concept which has been integrated in both BiCMOS and full complementary bipolar technology along with fitted design techniques will be presented

  6. High speed, wide dynamic range analog signal processing for avalanche photodiode

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walder, J.P. E-mail: walder@in2p3.fr; El Mamouni, Houmani; Pangaud, Patrick

    2000-03-11

    A wide dynamic range multi-gain analog transimpedance amplifier integrated circuit has been developed for avalanche photodiode signal processing. The 96 dB input dynamic range is divided into four ranges of 12-bits each in order to provide 40 MHz analog sampled data to a 12-bits ADC. This concept which has been integrated in both BiCMOS and full complementary bipolar technology along with fitted design techniques will be presented.

  7. Determination of the solubility parameter of ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate by inverse gas chromatography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Xiaohong; Wang, Qiang; Li, Xiaoping; Tang, Jun; Zhang, Zhengfang

    2015-11-01

    Thermodynamic properties of ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM] BF4) were determined via inverse gas chromatography (IGC). Two groups of solvents with different chemical natures and polarities were used to obtain information about [BMIM] BF4-solvent interactions. The specific retention volume, molar heat of sorption, weight fraction activity coefficient, Flory-Huggins interaction parameter as well as solubility parameter were also determined in a temperature range of 333 - 373 K. The results showed that the selected solvents n-C10 to n-C12, carbon tetrachloride, cyclohexane and toluene were poor solvents for [BMIM] BF4, while dichloromethane, acetone, chloroform, methyl acetate, ethanol and methanol were favorite solvents for [BMIM] BF4. In addition, the solubility parameter of [ BMIM] BF4 was determined as 23.39 (J/cm3)0.5 by the extrapolation at 298 K. The experiment proved that IGC was a simple and accurate method to obtain the thermodynamic properties of ionic liquids. This study could be used as a reference to the application and research of the ionic liquids.

  8. Effect of the structure of imidazolium cations in [BF4](-)-type ionic liquids on direct electrochemistry and electrocatalysis of horseradish peroxidase in Nafion films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Lu; Huang, Xirong; Qu, Yinbo

    2011-10-01

    The direct electrochemistry and bioelectrocatalysis of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in Nafion films at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was investigated in three [BF(4)](-)-type room-temperature ionic liquids (ILs) to understand the structural effect of imidazolium cations. The three ILs are 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Emim][BF(4)]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF(4)]) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Hmim][BF(4)]). A small amount of water in the three ILs is indispensable for maintaining the electrochemical activity of HRP in Nafion films, and the optimum water contents decrease with the increase of alkyl chain length on imidazole ring. Analysis shows that the optimum water contents are primarily determined by the hydrophilicity of ILs used. In contrast to aqueous medium, ILs media facilitate the direct electron transfer of HRP, and the electrochemical parameters obtained in different ILs are obviously related to the nature of ILs. The direct electron transfer between HRP and GCE is a surface-confined quasi-reversible single electron transfer process. The apparent heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant decreases gradually with the increase of alkyl chain length on imidazole ring, but the changing extent is relatively small. The electrocatalytic reduction current of H(2)O(2) at the present electrode decreases obviously with the increase of alkyl chain length, and the mass transfer of H(2)O(2) via diffusion in ILs should be responsible for the change. In addition, the modified electrode has good stability and reproducibility; the ability to tolerate high levels of F(-) has been greatly enhanced due to the use of Nafion film. When an appropriate mediator is included in the sensing layer, a sensitive nonaqueous biosensor could be fabricated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Regulation of Cortical Dynamic Range by Background Synaptic Noise and Feedforward Inhibition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khubieh, Ayah; Ratté, Stéphanie; Lankarany, Milad; Prescott, Steven A

    2016-08-01

    The cortex encodes a broad range of inputs. This breadth of operation requires sensitivity to weak inputs yet non-saturating responses to strong inputs. If individual pyramidal neurons were to have a narrow dynamic range, as previously claimed, then staggered all-or-none recruitment of those neurons would be necessary for the population to achieve a broad dynamic range. Contrary to this explanation, we show here through dynamic clamp experiments in vitro and computer simulations that pyramidal neurons have a broad dynamic range under the noisy conditions that exist in the intact brain due to background synaptic input. Feedforward inhibition capitalizes on those noise effects to control neuronal gain and thereby regulates the population dynamic range. Importantly, noise allows neurons to be recruited gradually and occludes the staggered recruitment previously attributed to heterogeneous excitation. Feedforward inhibition protects spike timing against the disruptive effects of noise, meaning noise can enable the gain control required for rate coding without compromising the precise spike timing required for temporal coding. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modeling for High Rate Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) to Blast Furnaces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Chenn

    2008-01-01

    Pulverized coal injection (PCI) into the blast furnace (BF) has been recognized as an effective way to decrease the coke and total energy consumption along with minimization of environmental impacts. However, increasing the amount of coal injected into the BF is currently limited by the lack of knowledge of some issues related to the process. It is therefore important to understand the complex physical and chemical phenomena in the PCI process. Due to the difficulty in attaining trus BF measurements, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling has been identified as a useful technology to provide such knowledge. CFD simulation is powerful for providing detailed information on flow properties and performing parametric studies for process design and optimization. In this project, comprehensive 3-D CFD models have been developed to simulate the PCI process under actual furnace conditions. These models provide raceway size and flow property distributions. The results have provided guidance for optimizing the PCI process

  11. Temperature dependence of the elastic constant of Borassus Flabellifier 'BF' material by acoustic response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phadke, Sushil; DShrivastava, B; Dagaonkar, N; Mishra, Ashutosh

    2012-01-01

    The homogeneous continuous materials are widely used for many structural applications. Migrations of atoms or molecules are the mechanism of mechanical and kinetic processes in materials for their synthesis processing as well as for their structural evolutions. The elastic constant of solids provides valuable information on their mechanical and dynamical properties. In particular, they provide information on the stability and stiffness of materials. In the present study author investigated relation between elastic constant and temperature in Borassus Flabellifier 'BF' wood part. Determination of elastic properties of material is based on the longitudinal wave's velocities via ultrasonic methods. The resonant frequencies of the specimens were measured by Ultrasonic Interferometer (for solids) dual frequency using longitudinal cubic piezoelectric crystal of quartz of frequency 123.62 KHz. The temperature variations from room temperature were done by PID control unit, Mittal Enterprises, New Delhi, India. Characterization of the samples was done by scanning electron microscope (SEM) Model JEOL JSM5400 at 5.0kvx750, 10 μm.

  12. Improvement of neutron kinetics module in TRAC-BF1code: one-dimensional nodal collocation method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jambrina, Ana; Barrachina, Teresa; Miro, Rafael; Verdu, Gumersindo, E-mail: ajambrina@iqn.upv.es, E-mail: tbarrachina@iqn.upv.es, E-mail: rmiro@iqn.upv.es, E-mail: gverdu@iqn.upv.es [Universidade Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), Valencia (Spain); Soler, Amparo, E-mail: asoler@iberdrola.es [SEA Propulsion S.L., Madrid (Spain); Concejal, Alberto, E-mail: acbe@iberdrola.es [Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construcion S.A.U., Madrid (Spain)

    2013-07-01

    The TRAC-BF1 one-dimensional kinetic model is a formulation of the neutron diffusion equation in the two energy groups' approximation, based on the analytical nodal method (ANM). The advantage compared with a zero-dimensional kinetic model is that the axial power profile may vary with time due to thermal-hydraulic parameter changes and/or actions of the control systems but at has the disadvantages that in unusual situations it fails to converge. The nodal collocation method developed for the neutron diffusion equation and applied to the kinetics resolution of TRAC-BF1 thermal-hydraulics, is an adaptation of the traditional collocation methods for the discretization of partial differential equations, based on the development of the solution as a linear combination of analytical functions. It has chosen to use a nodal collocation method based on a development of Legendre polynomials of neutron fluxes in each cell. The qualification is carried out by the analysis of the turbine trip transient from the NEA benchmark in Peach Bottom NPP using both the original 1D kinetics implemented in TRAC-BF1 and the 1D nodal collocation method. (author)

  13. An Over 90 dB Intra-Scene Single-Exposure Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor Using a 3.0 μm Triple-Gain Pixel Fabricated in a Standard BSI Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isao Takayanagi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available To respond to the high demand for high dynamic range imaging suitable for moving objects with few artifacts, we have developed a single-exposure dynamic range image sensor by introducing a triple-gain pixel and a low noise dual-gain readout circuit. The developed 3 μm pixel is capable of having three conversion gains. Introducing a new split-pinned photodiode structure, linear full well reaches 40 ke−. Readout noise under the highest pixel gain condition is 1 e− with a low noise readout circuit. Merging two signals, one with high pixel gain and high analog gain, and the other with low pixel gain and low analog gain, a single exposure dynamic rage (SEHDR signal is obtained. Using this technology, a 1/2.7”, 2M-pixel CMOS image sensor has been developed and characterized. The image sensor also employs an on-chip linearization function, yielding a 16-bit linear signal at 60 fps, and an intra-scene dynamic range of higher than 90 dB was successfully demonstrated. This SEHDR approach inherently mitigates the artifacts from moving objects or time-varying light sources that can appear in the multiple exposure high dynamic range (MEHDR approach.

  14. Viscosity of binary mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid with four organic solvents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ciocirlan, Oana; Croitoru, Oana; Iulian, Olga

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Viscosities of four binary mixtures of [Emim][BF4] with organic solvents. • Viscosity models based on Eyring’s theory. • Excess functions calculated. • Data for binaries new in the literature, except for system with DMSO. - Abstract: This paper reports experimental values of dynamic viscosity for four binary systems of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [Emim][BF4], with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile (ACN), ethylene glycol (EG) and 1,4-dioxane over the temperature ranges from 293.15 K to 353.15 K at p = 0.1 MPa. All binary mixtures were completely miscible over the entire range of mole fraction, except the system with 1,4-dioxane. The viscosity results have been correlated by the one parameter Grunberg–Nissan and Fang and He equations and the two-parameter McAllister, Eyring-UNIQUAC, Eyring-NRTL and Eyring-Wilson models and the results were compared. Additionally, the viscosity deviations, Δη, and the excess Gibbs energy of activation for viscous flow, G"∗"E, were calculated and fitted to the Redlich–Kister equation. The results show that all Δη values are negative over the whole composition range and the G"∗"E values are positive, except for the system with EG. The results of the excess functions are discussed in terms of molecular interactions.

  15. Comparison between a conventional membrane bioreactor (C-MBR and a biofilm membrane bioreactor (BF-MBR for domestic wastewater treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. L. Subtil

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the influence of biofilm carriers in a MBR on the performance of organic matter and nitrogen removal and the influence on membrane fouling were evaluated. The configurations studied included a Conventional Membrane Bioreactor (C-MBR and a Biofilm Membrane Bioreactor (BF-MBR operated in parallel, both fed with domestic wastewater. Regarding organic matter removal, no statistically significant differences were observed between C-MBR and BF-MBR, producing an effluent with a Soluble COD concentration of 27 ± 9.0 mgO2/L and 26 ±1.0 mgO2/L and BOD concentration of 6.0 ± 2.5 mgO2/L and 6.2 ± 2.1 mgO2/L, respectively. On the other hand, the BF-MBR produced a permeate with lower ammonia and total nitrogen concentrations, which resulted in a removal efficiency of 98% and 73%, respectively. It was also observed that the fouling rate was about 35% higher in the C-MBR than that for the BF-MBR, which also presented a reduction of total membrane resistance, about 29%, and increased operational cycle length around 7 days, compared to C-MBR.

  16. Mixing thermodynamic properties of 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate [b4mpy][BF{sub 4}] with water and with an alkan-1ol (methanol to pentanol)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ortega, J. [Laboratorio de Termodinamica y Fisicoquimica de Fluidos, Parque Cientifico-Tecnologico, Campus Universitario de Tafira, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35071-Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands (Spain)], E-mail: jortega@dip.ulpgc.es; Vreekamp, R.; Penco, E.; Marrero, E. [Laboratorio de Termodinamica y Fisicoquimica de Fluidos, Parque Cientifico-Tecnologico, Campus Universitario de Tafira, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35071-Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands (Spain)

    2008-07-15

    This article presents a study of the behaviour in solution of 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate [b4mpy][BF{sub 4}] in water and in the first five alkanols of the series methanol to pentan-1-ol. The excess enthalpies, H{sub m}{sup E} and volumes, V{sub m}{sup E} were determined at the temperatures (298.15 and 318.15) K. At these temperatures, the [b4mpy][BF{sub 4}] was completely miscible in water, methanol, and ethanol, but only partially miscible in the other alkanols. A solubility study was carried out and the (liquid + liquid) equilibria of the ([b4mpy][BF{sub 4}] + alkanol) systems were experimentally determined, evaluating zones of complete miscibility and determining the UCST in each case. The mixtures with water gave positive values of H{sub m}{sup E} and V{sub m}{sup E}, being also positive the changes of these quantities with temperature. The mixtures with alkanols gave values of H{sub m}{sup E}>0 and V{sub m}{sup E}<0, and for these binary mixtures (dH{sub m}{sup E}/dT){sub p}>0 and (dV{sub m}{sup E}/dT){sub p}<0. For all cases, results were interpreted and compared with data obtained in mixtures with another isomer [b3mpy][BF{sub 4}]. Excess properties were correlated with a suitable equation and the area and volume parameters were calculated for [b4mpy][BF{sub 4}].

  17. A low-power high dynamic range front-end ASIC for imaging calorimeters

    CERN Document Server

    Bagliesi, M G; Marrocchesi, P S; Meucci, M; Millucci, V; Morsani, F; Paoletti, R; Pilo, F; Scribano, A; Turini, N; Valle, G D

    2002-01-01

    High granularity calorimeters with shower imaging capabilities require dedicated front-end electronics. The ICON 4CH and VA4 PMT chip-set is suitable for very high dynamic range systems with strict noise requirements. The ICON 4CH is a 4 channel input, 12 channel output ASIC designed for use in a multi-anode photomultiplier system with very large dynamic range and low-noise requirements. Each of the four input signals to the ASIC is split equally into three branches by a current conveyor. Each of the three branches is scaled differently: 1:1, 1:8 and 1:80. The signal is read out by a 12 channel low noise/low power high dynamic range charge sensitive preamplifier-shaper circuit (VA4-PMT chip), with simultaneous sample- and-hold, multiplexed analog read-out, calibration facilities. Tests performed in our lab with a PMT are reported in terms of linearity, dynamic range and cross-talk of the system. (5 refs).

  18. Extending the Dynamic Range of a Time Projection Chamber

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estee, Justin; S πRIT Collaboration

    2017-09-01

    The use of Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) in intermediate heavy ion reactions faces some challenges in addressing the energy losses that range from the small energy loss of relativistic pions to the large energy loss of slow moving heavy ions. A typical trade-off can be to set the smallest desired signals to be well within the lower limits of the dynamic range of the electronics while allowing for some larger signals to saturate the electronics. With wire plane anodes, signals from readout pads further away from the track remain unsaturated and allow signals from tracks with saturated pads to be accurately recovered. We illustrate this technique using data from the SAMURAI Pion-Reconstruction and Ion-Tracker (S πRIT) TPC , which recently measured pions and light charged particles in collisions of Sn+Sn isotopes. Our method exploits knowledge of how the induced charge distribution depends on the distance from the track to smoothly extend dynamic range even when some of the pads in the track are saturated. To accommodate the analysis of slow moving heavy ions, we have extended the Bichsel energy loss distributions to handle slower moving ions as well. In this talk, I will discuss a combined approach which successfully extends the dynamic range of the TPC electronics. This work is supported by the U.S. DOE under Grant Nos. DE-SC0014530, DE-NA0002923, US NSF Grant No. PHY-1565546 and the Japan MEXT KAKENHI Grant No. 24105004.

  19. Comparison of proteomics profiles of Campylobacter jejuni strain Bf under microaerobic and aerobic conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramila Christiane Rodrigues

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Campylobacter jejuni accounts for one of the leading causes of foodborne bacterial enteritis in humans. Despite being considered an obligate microaerobic microorganism, C. jejuni is regularly exposed to oxidative stress. However, its adaptive strategies to survive the atmospheric oxygen level during transmission to humans remain unclear. Recently, the atypical clinical C. jejuni Bf strain was shown by its unexpected ability to grow under ambient atmosphere. Here, we aimed to understand better the biological mechanisms underlying its atypical aerotolerance trait using two-dimensional protein electrophoresis, gene expression and enzymatic activities. Forty-seven proteins were identified with a significantly different abundance between cultivation under microaerobic and aerobic conditions. The over-expressed proteins in aerobiosis belonged mainly to the oxidative stress response, modulation of the main enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, iron uptake and regulation and amino acid uptake when compared to microaerobic conditions. The higher abundance of proteins related to oxidative stress was correlated to dramatically higher transcript levels of the corresponding encoding genes in aerobic conditions compared to microaerobic conditions. In addition, a higher catalase-equivalent activity in strain Bf was observed. Despite the restricted catabolic capacities of C. jejuni, this study reveals that strain Bf is equipped to withstand oxidative stress. This ability could contribute to emergence and persistence of particular strains of C. jejuni throughout food processing or macrophage attack during human infection.

  20. Hybrid biofilm-membrane bioreactor (Bf-MBR) for minimization of bulk liquid-phase organic substances and its positive effect on membrane permeability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, F Y; Li, P; Li, J; Li, H J; Ou, Q M; Sun, T T; Dong, Z J

    2015-12-01

    Four biofilm membrane bioreactors (Bf-MBRs) with various fixed carrier volumes (C:M) were operated in parallel to investigate the effect of attached-growth mode biomass involvement to the change of liquid-phase organics characteristics and membrane permeability, by comparing with conventional MBR. The experiments displayed that C:M and co-existence of biofilm with suspended solids in Bf-MBRs resulted in slight difference in pollutants removal effectiveness, and in rather distinct biomass properties and bacterial activities. The membrane permeability and specific resistance of bulk suspension of Bf-MBRs related closely with the liquid-phase organic substance, including soluble microbial products (SMP) and biopolymer cluster (BPC). Compared with conventional MBR, Bf-MBR with proper C:M had a low total biomass content and food-chain, where biofilm formation and its dominance affected liquid-phase organics, especially through reducing their content and minimizing strongly and weakly hydrophobic components with small molecular weight, and thus to mitigate membrane fouling significantly. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Krypton-85 Monitoring at BfS in Germany and Technical Solutions for Safeguards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlosser, C.; Klingberg, F.

    2015-01-01

    The radioactive noble gas isotope krypton-85 with a half-life of 10.76 years is produced by nuclear fission. The main source of krypton-85 in the atmosphere are releases from reprocessing plants for nuclear fuel in the Northern Hemisphere. This volatile isotope is not retained in such plants and thus a very good indicator for the processing of irradiated nuclear fuel. This includes reprocessing for military purposes. Additionally, Kr-85 could be used as tracer for the validation of Atmospheric Transport Models. The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) operates a noble gas laboratory and a global network which continuously monitors the krypton-85 activity concentrations in ground level air since the 1970s. The atmospheric activity concentration has continuously been increasing since the installation of reprocessing plants for nuclear fuels in the early 1950s until 2003. In the first decades it came mostly from military applications and later from civil reprocessing. Since 2003 the atmospheric krypton-85 background level in the Northern Hemisphere is nearly constant with a value of around 1.5 Bq/m 3 in Central Europe. The baseline is superimposed by spikes as a result from discharges of two European reprocessing plants of nuclear fuel, Sellafield and La Hague. The laboratory of the BfS and the techniques used will be presented. Long time series will be discussed and the use of ATM for source location demonstrated. (author)

  2. Two-dimensional topological field theories coupled to four-dimensional BF theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montesinos, Merced; Perez, Alejandro

    2008-01-01

    Four-dimensional BF theory admits a natural coupling to extended sources supported on two-dimensional surfaces or string world sheets. Solutions of the theory are in one to one correspondence with solutions of Einstein equations with distributional matter (cosmic strings). We study new (topological field) theories that can be constructed by adding extra degrees of freedom to the two-dimensional world sheet. We show how two-dimensional Yang-Mills degrees of freedom can be added on the world sheet, producing in this way, an interactive (topological) theory of Yang-Mills fields with BF fields in four dimensions. We also show how a world sheet tetrad can be naturally added. As in the previous case the set of solutions of these theories are contained in the set of solutions of Einstein's equations if one allows distributional matter supported on two-dimensional surfaces. These theories are argued to be exactly quantizable. In the context of quantum gravity, one important motivation to study these models is to explore the possibility of constructing a background-independent quantum field theory where local degrees of freedom at low energies arise from global topological (world sheet) degrees of freedom at the fundamental level

  3. The MOLDY short-range molecular dynamics package

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackland, G. J.; D'Mellow, K.; Daraszewicz, S. L.; Hepburn, D. J.; Uhrin, M.; Stratford, K.

    2011-12-01

    We describe a parallelised version of the MOLDY molecular dynamics program. This Fortran code is aimed at systems which may be described by short-range potentials and specifically those which may be addressed with the embedded atom method. This includes a wide range of transition metals and alloys. MOLDY provides a range of options in terms of the molecular dynamics ensemble used and the boundary conditions which may be applied. A number of standard potentials are provided, and the modular structure of the code allows new potentials to be added easily. The code is parallelised using OpenMP and can therefore be run on shared memory systems, including modern multicore processors. Particular attention is paid to the updates required in the main force loop, where synchronisation is often required in OpenMP implementations of molecular dynamics. We examine the performance of the parallel code in detail and give some examples of applications to realistic problems, including the dynamic compression of copper and carbon migration in an iron-carbon alloy. Program summaryProgram title: MOLDY Catalogue identifier: AEJU_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEJU_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License version 2 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 382 881 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 6 705 242 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Fortran 95/OpenMP Computer: Any Operating system: Any Has the code been vectorised or parallelized?: Yes. OpenMP is required for parallel execution RAM: 100 MB or more Classification: 7.7 Nature of problem: Moldy addresses the problem of many atoms (of order 10 6) interacting via a classical interatomic potential on a timescale of microseconds. It is designed for problems where statistics must be gathered over a number of equivalent runs, such as

  4. Dynamic range studies of the RCA streak tube in the LLL streak camera

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, S.W.; Phillips, G.E.

    1979-01-01

    As indicated by tests on several cameras, the dynamic range of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory streak-camera system appears to be about two orders of magnitude greater than those reported for other systems for 10- to 200-ps pulses. The lack of a fine mesh grid in the RCA streak tube used in these cameras probably contributes to a lower system dynamic noise and therefore raises the dynamic range. A developmental tube with a mesh grid was tested and supports this conjecture. Order-of-magnitude variations in input slit width do not affect the spot size on the phosphor or the dynamic range of the RCA tube. (author)

  5. Kernel optimization for short-range molecular dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Changjun; Wang, Xianmeng; Li, Jianjiang; He, Xinfu; Li, Shigang; Feng, Yangde; Yang, Shaofeng; Bai, He

    2017-02-01

    To optimize short-range force computations in Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, multi-threading and SIMD optimizations are presented in this paper. With respect to multi-threading optimization, a Partition-and-Separate-Calculation (PSC) method is designed to avoid write conflicts caused by using Newton's third law. Serial bottlenecks are eliminated with no additional memory usage. The method is implemented by using the OpenMP model. Furthermore, the PSC method is employed on Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors in both native and offload models. We also evaluate the performance of the PSC method under different thread affinities on the MIC architecture. In the SIMD execution, we explain the performance influence in the PSC method, considering the "if-clause" of the cutoff radius check. The experiment results show that our PSC method is relatively more efficient compared to some traditional methods. In double precision, our 256-bit SIMD implementation is about 3 times faster than the scalar version.

  6. Dynamic range extension of BPM at the NSLS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bordoley, M.

    1993-01-01

    In order to overcome range limitations, the existing Beam Position Monitor (BPM) receiver was modified, extending the dynamic range from 35 dB to 60 dB. The modifications include the insertion of an RF PIN attenuator, RF amplifier, and control circuitry in line with the RF link to add an extra 25dB to the existing AGC loop. This stand alone 25dB RF gain control stage is integrated into the present system without any change to the existing receiver

  7. Electrochemistry of TiF4 in 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andriyko, Yuriy; Andriiko, Alexander; Babushkina, Olga B.; Nauer, Gerhard E.

    2010-01-01

    Electrochemical behaviour of Ti(IV) species in the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMMImBF 4 ) was studied by means of chronopotentiometry (CP) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in melts with different concentrations of TiF 4 (2-35 mol%) within a temperature range of 65-180 deg. C. The electrochemical reduction of Ti(IV) was suggested to proceed via the sequence of one-electron steps with the formation of poorly soluble low valence intermediates (LVI). LVIs undergo further solid-state electrochemical reduction to Ti metal. Thin Ti coatings on a Pt substrate were thus obtained and characterized by ESEM method. FTIR spectroscopy was used for identification of the electrochemical active species of Ti(IV). The reaction 2BF 4 - + TiF 4 ↔ TiF 6 2- + 2BF 3 ↑ takes place in the concentrated solutions of TiF 4 at elevated temperatures.

  8. Rate theory of solvent exchange and kinetics of Li+ − BF4−/PF6− ion pairs in acetonitrile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dang, Liem X.; Chang, Tsun-Mei

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we describe our efforts to apply rate theories in studies of solvent exchange around Li + and the kinetics of ion pairings in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). We report one of the first computer simulations of the exchange dynamics around solvated Li + in acetonitrile (ACN), which is a common solvent used in LIBs. We also provide details of the ion-pairing kinetics of Li + -[BF 4 ] and Li + -[PF 6 ] in ACN. Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ACN exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li + . We calculate exchange rates using transition state theory and weighted them with the transmission coefficients determined by the reactive flux, Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches, and Grote-Hynes theory. We found the relaxation times changed from 180 ps to 4600 ps and from 30 ps to 280 ps for Li + -[BF 4 ] and Li + -[PF 6 ] ion pairs, respectively. These results confirm that the solvent response to the kinetics of ion pairing is significant. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of solvation into ACN, the anion type also should significantly influence the kinetics of ion pairing. These results will increase our understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of LIB systems.

  9. High Dynamic Range RF Front End with Noise Cancellation and Linearization for WiMAX Receivers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.-M. Wu

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This research deals with verification of the high dynamic range for a heterodyne radio frequency (RF front end. A 2.6 GHz RF front end is designed and implemented in a hybrid microwave integrated circuit (HMIC for worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX receivers. The heterodyne RF front end consists of a low-noise amplifier (LNA with noise cancellation, an RF bandpass filter (BPF, a downconverter with linearization, and an intermediate frequency (IF BPF. A noise canceling technique used in the low-noise amplifier eliminates a thermal noise and then reduces the noise figure (NF of the RF front end by 0.9 dB. Use of a downconverter with diode linearizer also compensates for gain compression, which increases the input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3 of the RF front end by 4.3 dB. The proposed method substantially increases the spurious-free dynamic range (DRf of the RF front end by 3.5 dB.

  10. Dynamical arrest in dense short-ranged attractive colloids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foffi, G; Sciortino, F; Zaccarelli, E; Tartaglia, P

    2004-01-01

    We study thermodynamic and dynamic properties of model colloidal systems interacting with a hard core repulsion and a short-range attraction, and provide an overall picture of their phase diagrams which shows a very rich phenomenology. We focus on the slow dynamic properties of this model, investigating in detail the glass transition lines (both repulsive and attractive), the glass-glass transitions and the location of the higher order singularities. We discuss the relative location of the glass lines and of the metastable liquid-gas binodal, an issue relevant for the understanding of low density arrested states of matter

  11. High Precision Sunphotometer using Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) Camera Tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liss, J.; Dunagan, S. E.; Johnson, R. R.; Chang, C. S.; LeBlanc, S. E.; Shinozuka, Y.; Redemann, J.; Flynn, C. J.; Segal-Rosenhaimer, M.; Pistone, K.; Kacenelenbogen, M. S.; Fahey, L.

    2016-12-01

    High Precision Sunphotometer using Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) Camera TrackingThe NASA Ames Sun-photometer-Satellite Group, DOE, PNNL Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, and NASA Goddard's AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) team recently collaborated on the development of a new airborne sunphotometry instrument that provides information on gases and aerosols extending far beyond what can be derived from discrete-channel direct-beam measurements, while preserving or enhancing many of the desirable AATS features (e.g., compactness, versatility, automation, reliability). The enhanced instrument combines the sun-tracking ability of the current 14-Channel NASA Ames AATS-14 with the sky-scanning ability of the ground-based AERONET Sun/sky photometers, while extending both AATS-14 and AERONET capabilities by providing full spectral information from the UV (350 nm) to the SWIR (1,700 nm). Strengths of this measurement approach include many more wavelengths (isolated from gas absorption features) that may be used to characterize aerosols and detailed (oversampled) measurements of the absorption features of specific gas constituents. The Sky Scanning Sun Tracking Airborne Radiometer (3STAR) replicates the radiometer functionality of the AATS-14 instrument but incorporates modern COTS technologies for all instruments subsystems. A 19-channel radiometer bundle design is borrowed from a commercial water column radiance instrument manufactured by Biospherical Instruments of San Diego California (ref, Morrow and Hooker)) and developed using NASA funds under the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. The 3STAR design also incorporates the latest in robotic motor technology embodied in Rotary actuators from Oriental motor Corp. having better than 15 arc seconds of positioning accuracy. Control system was designed, tested and simulated using a Hybrid-Dynamical modeling methodology. The design also replaces the classic quadrant detector tracking sensor with a

  12. Electrodes for the hydrogen through water electrolysis using BMI.BF{sub 4} as electrolyte; Eletrodos para a producao de hidrogenio via eletrolise da agua utilizando BMI.BF{sub 4} como eletrolito

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Botton, Janine Padilha; Martini, Emilse M.A.; Souza, Michele Oberson de; Souza, Roberto Fernando de [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Inst. de Quimica. Lab. de Eletroquimica e Catalise]. E-mail: janine@iq.ufrgs.br; Loget, Gabriel [Universite de Rennes 1, Rennes (France). Lab. de Eletroquimica Molecular e Macromolecular. UMR CNRS 6510

    2008-07-01

    The hydrogen production by water electrolysis was tested with different electrocatalysts (nickel, iron alloys containing nickel, chromium and manganese, and molybdenum) in the ionic liquid electrolyte, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMI.BF{sub 4}), 10 vol.% in water. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) worked at room temperature with a platinum quasi-reference electrode (PtQRE) applying a -1.7 V potential. The experimental conditions used were determined in previous work and such parameters of operation were confirmed with the electrocatalysts employed in this work. A Hoffman cell apparatus was used to perform the water electrolysis. The current density values, j, obtained were between 3.0 mA cm{sup -2} and 77.5 mA cm{sup -2}. The system efficiency was very high for all electrocatalysts tested, between 97.0% and 99.2%. The molybdenum (Mo) electrode was better than others showing the highest current density value in HER. This behavior has been explained by the lower value of activation energy for the electrolysis reaction when Mo is employed comparing with Pt electrode. The energy activation of the HER using platinum (Pt) as electrocatalyst in an aqueous solution of BMI.BF{sub 4} 10 vol.% was 23.40 kJ mol{sup -1}, whereas with electrode of Mo in the same conditions , was 9.22 kJ mol{sup -1}. In an alkaline aqueous electrolyte (usual medium for such reaction), Mo is less efficient than Pt explaining the lack of published citation using pure Mo as cathode for the HER. The excellent results obtained with a Mo electrode employing ionic liquid as electrolyte show that the hydrogen production can be carried out with cheap electrode material at room temperature, which makes this method economically attractive. (author)

  13. Bauhinia forficata lectin (BfL) induces cell death and inhibits integrin-mediated adhesion on MCF7 human breast cancer cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Mariana C C; de Paula, Cláudia A A; Ferreira, Joana G; Paredes-Gamero, Edgar J; Vaz, Angela M S F; Sampaio, Misako U; Correia, Maria Tereza S; Oliva, Maria Luiza V

    2014-07-01

    Plant lectins have attracted great interest in cancer studies due to their antitumor activities. These proteins or glycoproteins specifically and reversibly bind to different types of carbohydrates or glycoproteins. Breast cancer, which presents altered glycosylation of cell surface glycoproteins, is one of the most frequent malignant diseases in women. In this work, we describe the effect of the lectin Bauhinia forficata lectin (BfL), which was purified from B. forficata Link subsp. forficata seeds, on the MCF7 human breast cancer cellular line, investigating the mechanisms involved in its antiproliferative activity. MCF7 cells were treated with BfL. Viability and adhesion alterations were evaluated using flow cytometry and western blotting. BfL inhibited the viability of the MCF7 cell line but was ineffective on MDA-MB-231 and MCF 10A cells. It inhibits MCF7 adhesion on laminin, collagen I and fibronectin, decreases α1, α6 and β1 integrin subunit expression, and increases α5 subunit expression. BfL triggers necrosis and secondary necrosis, with caspase-9 inhibition. It also causes deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation, which leads to cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase and a decrease in the expression of the regulatory proteins pRb and p21. BfL shows selective cytotoxic effect and adhesion inhibition on MCF7 breast cancer cells. Cell death induction and inhibition of cell adhesion may contribute to understanding the action of lectins in breast cancer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Hierarchical tone mapping for high dynamic range image visualization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Guoping; Duan, Jiang

    2005-07-01

    In this paper, we present a computationally efficient, practically easy to use tone mapping techniques for the visualization of high dynamic range (HDR) images in low dynamic range (LDR) reproduction devices. The new method, termed hierarchical nonlinear linear (HNL) tone-mapping operator maps the pixels in two hierarchical steps. The first step allocates appropriate numbers of LDR display levels to different HDR intensity intervals according to the pixel densities of the intervals. The second step linearly maps the HDR intensity intervals to theirs allocated LDR display levels. In the developed HNL scheme, the assignment of LDR display levels to HDR intensity intervals is controlled by a very simple and flexible formula with a single adjustable parameter. We also show that our new operators can be used for the effective enhancement of ordinary images.

  15. Dynamic range of atomically thin vibrating nanomechanical resonators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Zenghui; Feng, Philip X.-L.

    2014-01-01

    Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) crystals offer attractive properties for making resonant nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) operating at high frequencies. While the fundamental limits of linear operation in such systems are important, currently there is very little quantitative knowledge of the linear dynamic range (DR) and onset of nonlinearity in these devices, which are different than in conventional 1D NEMS such as nanotubes and nanowires. Here, we present theoretical analysis and quantitative models that can be directly used to predict the DR of vibrating 2D circular drumhead NEMS resonators. We show that DR has a strong dependence ∝10log(E Y 3/2 ρ 3D -1/2 rtε 5/2 ) on device parameters, in which strain ε plays a particularly important role in these 2D systems, dominating over dimensions (radius r, thickness t). This study formulizes the effects from device physical parameters upon DR and sheds light on device design rules toward achieving high DR in 2D NEMS vibrating at radio and microwave frequencies

  16. High dynamic range adaptive real-time smart camera: an overview of the HDR-ARTiST project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapray, Pierre-Jean; Heyrman, Barthélémy; Ginhac, Dominique

    2015-04-01

    Standard cameras capture only a fraction of the information that is visible to the human visual system. This is specifically true for natural scenes including areas of low and high illumination due to transitions between sunlit and shaded areas. When capturing such a scene, many cameras are unable to store the full Dynamic Range (DR) resulting in low quality video where details are concealed in shadows or washed out by sunlight. The imaging technique that can overcome this problem is called HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging. This paper describes a complete smart camera built around a standard off-the-shelf LDR (Low Dynamic Range) sensor and a Virtex-6 FPGA board. This smart camera called HDR-ARtiSt (High Dynamic Range Adaptive Real-time Smart camera) is able to produce a real-time HDR live video color stream by recording and combining multiple acquisitions of the same scene while varying the exposure time. This technique appears as one of the most appropriate and cheapest solution to enhance the dynamic range of real-life environments. HDR-ARtiSt embeds real-time multiple captures, HDR processing, data display and transfer of a HDR color video for a full sensor resolution (1280 1024 pixels) at 60 frames per second. The main contributions of this work are: (1) Multiple Exposure Control (MEC) dedicated to the smart image capture with alternating three exposure times that are dynamically evaluated from frame to frame, (2) Multi-streaming Memory Management Unit (MMMU) dedicated to the memory read/write operations of the three parallel video streams, corresponding to the different exposure times, (3) HRD creating by combining the video streams using a specific hardware version of the Devebecs technique, and (4) Global Tone Mapping (GTM) of the HDR scene for display on a standard LCD monitor.

  17. Wide dynamic range beam profile monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, D.M.; Brown, D.; Hardekopf, R.; Bilskie, J.R.; van Dyck, O.B.V.

    1985-01-01

    An economical harp multiplexer system has been developed to achieve a wide dynamic range. The harp system incorporates a pneumatically actuated harp detector with ceramic boards and carbon wires; a high-sensitivity multiplexer packaged in a double-wide NIM module; and flat, shielded ribbon cable consisting of individual twisted pairs. The system multiplexes 30 wires in each of the x and y planes simultaneously and operates with or without computer control. The system has operated in beams of 100 nA to 1 mA, 1- to 120-Hz repetition rate, with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 10/1

  18. High-dynamic range compressive spectral imaging by grayscale coded aperture adaptive filtering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Eduardo Diaz

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging system (CASSI is an imaging architecture which senses the three dimensional informa-tion of a scene with two dimensional (2D focal plane array (FPA coded projection measurements. A reconstruction algorithm takes advantage of the compressive measurements sparsity to recover the underlying 3D data cube. Traditionally, CASSI uses block-un-block coded apertures (BCA to spatially modulate the light. In CASSI the quality of the reconstructed images depends on the design of these coded apertures and the FPA dynamic range. This work presents a new CASSI architecture based on grayscaled coded apertu-res (GCA which reduce the FPA saturation and increase the dynamic range of the reconstructed images. The set of GCA is calculated in a real-time adaptive manner exploiting the information from the FPA compressive measurements. Extensive simulations show the attained improvement in the quality of the reconstructed images when GCA are employed.  In addition, a comparison between traditional coded apertures and GCA is realized with respect to noise tolerance.

  19. Image Alignment for Multiple Camera High Dynamic Range Microscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eastwood, Brian S; Childs, Elisabeth C

    2012-01-09

    This paper investigates the problem of image alignment for multiple camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. HDR imaging combines information from images taken with different exposure settings. Combining information from multiple cameras requires an alignment process that is robust to the intensity differences in the images. HDR applications that use a limited number of component images require an alignment technique that is robust to large exposure differences. We evaluate the suitability for HDR alignment of three exposure-robust techniques. We conclude that image alignment based on matching feature descriptors extracted from radiant power images from calibrated cameras yields the most accurate and robust solution. We demonstrate the use of this alignment technique in a high dynamic range video microscope that enables live specimen imaging with a greater level of detail than can be captured with a single camera.

  20. Probing the role of long-range interactions in the dynamics of a long-range Kitaev chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutta, Anirban; Dutta, Amit

    2017-09-01

    We study the role of long-range interactions (more precisely, the long-range superconducting gap term) on the nonequilibrium dynamics considering a long-range p -wave superconducting chain in which the superconducting term decays with distance between two sites in a power-law fashion characterized by an exponent α . We show that the Kibble-Zurek scaling exponent, dictating the power-law decay of the defect density in the final state reached following a slow (in comparison to the time scale associated with the minimum gap in the spectrum of the Hamiltonian) quenching of the chemical potential μ across a quantum critical point, depends nontrivially on the exponent α as long as α 2 , we find that the exponent saturates to the corresponding well-known value of 1 /2 expected for the short-range model. Furthermore, studying the dynamical quantum phase transitions manifested in the nonanalyticities in the rate function of the return possibility I (t ) in subsequent temporal evolution following a sudden change in μ , we show the existence of a new region; in this region, we find three instants of cusp singularities in I (t ) associated with a single sector of Fisher zeros. Notably, the width of this region shrinks as α increases and vanishes in the limit α →2 , indicating that this special region is an artifact of the long-range nature of the Hamiltonian.

  1. Implementing Molecular Dynamics for Hybrid High Performance Computers - 1. Short Range Forces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, W. Michael; Wang, Peng; Plimpton, Steven J.; Tharrington, Arnold N.

    2011-01-01

    The use of accelerators such as general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) have become popular in scientific computing applications due to their low cost, impressive floating-point capabilities, high memory bandwidth, and low electrical power requirements. Hybrid high performance computers, machines with more than one type of floating-point processor, are now becoming more prevalent due to these advantages. In this work, we discuss several important issues in porting a large molecular dynamics code for use on parallel hybrid machines - (1) choosing a hybrid parallel decomposition that works on central processing units (CPUs) with distributed memory and accelerator cores with shared memory, (2) minimizing the amount of code that must be ported for efficient acceleration, (3) utilizing the available processing power from both many-core CPUs and accelerators, and (4) choosing a programming model for acceleration. We present our solution to each of these issues for short-range force calculation in the molecular dynamics package LAMMPS. We describe algorithms for efficient short range force calculation on hybrid high performance machines. We describe a new approach for dynamic load balancing of work between CPU and accelerator cores. We describe the Geryon library that allows a single code to compile with both CUDA and OpenCL for use on a variety of accelerators. Finally, we present results on a parallel test cluster containing 32 Fermi GPGPUs and 180 CPU cores.

  2. Increasing Linear Dynamic Range of a CMOS Image Sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pain, Bedabrata

    2007-01-01

    A generic design and a corresponding operating sequence have been developed for increasing the linear-response dynamic range of a complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. The design provides for linear calibrated dual-gain pixels that operate at high gain at a low signal level and at low gain at a signal level above a preset threshold. Unlike most prior designs for increasing dynamic range of an image sensor, this design does not entail any increase in noise (including fixed-pattern noise), decrease in responsivity or linearity, or degradation of photometric calibration. The figure is a simplified schematic diagram showing the circuit of one pixel and pertinent parts of its column readout circuitry. The conventional part of the pixel circuit includes a photodiode having a small capacitance, CD. The unconventional part includes an additional larger capacitance, CL, that can be connected to the photodiode via a transfer gate controlled in part by a latch. In the high-gain mode, the signal labeled TSR in the figure is held low through the latch, which also helps to adapt the gain on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Light must be coupled to the pixel through a microlens or by back illumination in order to obtain a high effective fill factor; this is necessary to ensure high quantum efficiency, a loss of which would minimize the efficacy of the dynamic- range-enhancement scheme. Once the level of illumination of the pixel exceeds the threshold, TSR is turned on, causing the transfer gate to conduct, thereby adding CL to the pixel capacitance. The added capacitance reduces the conversion gain, and increases the pixel electron-handling capacity, thereby providing an extension of the dynamic range. By use of an array of comparators also at the bottom of the column, photocharge voltages on sampling capacitors in each column are compared with a reference voltage to determine whether it is necessary to switch from the high-gain to the low-gain mode. Depending upon

  3. Kinetic and spectroscopic studies of cytochrome b-563 in isolated cytochrome b/f complex and in thylakoid membranes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hind, G.; Clark, R.D.; Houchins, J.P.

    1983-01-01

    Extensive studies, performed principally by Hauska, Hurt and collaborators, have shown that a cytochrome (cyt) b/f complex isolated from photosynthetic membranes of spinach or Anabaena catalyzes electron transport from plastoquinol (PQH/sub 2/) to plastocyanin or algal cyt c-552. The complex from spinach thylakoids generated a membrane potential when reconstituted into liposomes, and although the electrogenic mechanism remains unknown, a key role for cyt b-563 is widely accepted. Electrogenesis by a Q-cycle mechanism requires a plastoquinone (PQ) reductase to be associated with the stromal side of the thylakoid b/f complex though this activity has yet to be demonstrated. It seemed possible that more gentle isolation of the complex might yield a form containing additional polypeptides, perhaps including a PQ reductase or a component involved in returning electrons from reduced ferredoxin to the complex in cyclic electron flow. Optimization of the isolation of cyt b/f complex for Hybrid 424 spinach from a growth room was also required. The procedure we devised is compared to the protocol of Hurt and Hauska (1982). 13 references.

  4. A Study of the Spin-State Transition and Phase Transformation in [Fe(bpp)(2)][CF(3)SO(3)](2).H(2)O and [Fe(bpp)(2)][BF(4)](2) Using Mn(2+) Electron Spin Resonance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Raymond C. W.; McGarvey, Bruce R.

    1999-08-09

    X-band ESR powder studies have been done on the spin transition in Mn(2+)-doped [Fe(bpp)(2)][CF(3)SO(3)](2).H(2)O and [Fe(bpp)(2)][BF(4)](2) (bpp = 2,6-bis(pyrazol-3-yl) pyridine). The change in D value of Mn(2+) during the thermally induced high-spin (HS) low-spin (LS) transition shows that the spin transition is accompanied by a phase transformation involving a domain mechanism. Irradiation experiments at 77 K have shown that a LS --> HS spin change occurs without a change in the crystalline phase. The rate of the change from the HS phase to the LS phase in the vicinity of 100 K has been measured and is found to be the same as that measured for the corresponding spin change obtained from Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility studies.

  5. Characterization of a backfill candidate material, IBECO-RWC-BF Baclo Project - Phase 3 Laboratory tests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johannesson, Lars-Erik; Sanden, Torbjoern; Dueck, Ann; Ohlsson, Lars (Clay Technology AB, Lund (Sweden))

    2010-01-15

    A backfill candidate material, IBECO-RWC-BF, which origin from Milos, Greece, has been investigated. The material was delivered both as granules and as pellets. The investigation described in this report aimed to characterize the material and evaluate if it can be used in a future repository. The following investigations have been done and are presented in this report: 1. Standard laboratory tests. Water content, liquid limit and swelling potential are examples on standard tests that have been performed. 2. Block manufacturing. The block compaction properties of the material have been determined. A first test was performed in laboratory but also tests in large scale have been performed. After finishing the test phase, 60 tons of blocks were manufactured at Hoeganaes Bjuf AB. The blocks will be used in large scale laboratory tests at Aespoe HRL. 3. Mechanical parameters. The compressibility of the material was investigated with oedometer tests (four tests) where the load was applied in steps after saturation. The evaluated oedometer modulus varied between 34.50 MPa. Tests were made to evaluate the elastic parameters of the material (E, nu). Altogether three tests were made on specimens with dry densities of about 1,710 kg/m3. The evaluated E-modulus and Poisson's ratio varied between 231-263 MPa and 0.16-0.19 respectively. The strength of the material, both the compressive strength and the tensile strength were measured on specimens compacted to different dry densities. The test results yielded a relation between density and the two types of strength. Furthermore, tests have been made in order to determine the compressibility of the unsaturated filling of pellets. Two tests were made where the pellets were loosely filled in a Proctor cylinder and then compressed at a constant rate of strain during continuously measurement of the applied load. 4. Swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity. There is, as expected, a very clear influence of the dry density on the

  6. Electrochemistry of TiF{sub 4} in 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andriyko, Yuriy, E-mail: yuriy.andriyko@cest.a [Centre of Electrochemical Surface Technology (CEST), Viktor Kaplan-Strasse 2, A-2700 Wiener Neustadt (Austria); Andriiko, Alexander [National Technical University of Ukraine ' Kyiv Polytechnic Institute' , Prospect Peremogy 37, 03057 Kyiv (Ukraine); Babushkina, Olga B. [Centre of Electrochemical Surface Technology (CEST), Viktor Kaplan-Strasse 2, A-2700 Wiener Neustadt (Austria); Nauer, Gerhard E. [Centre of Electrochemical Surface Technology (CEST), Viktor Kaplan-Strasse 2, A-2700 Wiener Neustadt (Austria); Vienna University, Faculty of Chemistry, Waehringer Strasse 42, A-1090 Wien (Austria)

    2010-01-01

    Electrochemical behaviour of Ti(IV) species in the ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMMImBF{sub 4}) was studied by means of chronopotentiometry (CP) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in melts with different concentrations of TiF{sub 4} (2-35 mol%) within a temperature range of 65-180 deg. C. The electrochemical reduction of Ti(IV) was suggested to proceed via the sequence of one-electron steps with the formation of poorly soluble low valence intermediates (LVI). LVIs undergo further solid-state electrochemical reduction to Ti metal. Thin Ti coatings on a Pt substrate were thus obtained and characterized by ESEM method. FTIR spectroscopy was used for identification of the electrochemical active species of Ti(IV). The reaction 2BF{sub 4}{sup -} + TiF{sub 4} reversible TiF{sub 6}{sup 2-} + 2BF{sub 3}arrow up takes place in the concentrated solutions of TiF{sub 4} at elevated temperatures.

  7. A wideband large dynamic range and high linearity RF front-end for U-band mobile DTV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Rongjiang; Liu Shengyou; Guo Guiliang; Cheng Xu; Yan Yuepeng

    2013-01-01

    A wideband large dynamic range and high linearity U-band RF front-end for mobile DTV is introduced, and includes a noise-cancelling low-noise amplifier (LNA), an RF programmable gain amplifier (RFPGA) and a current communicating passive mixer. The noise/distortion cancelling structure and RC post-distortion compensation are employed to improve the linearity of the LNA. An RFPGA with five stages provides large dynamic range and fine gain resolution. A simple resistor voltage network in the passive mixer decreases the gate bias voltage of the mixing transistor, and optimum linearity and symmetrical mixing is obtained at the same time. The RF front-end is implemented in a 0.25 μm CMOS process. Tests show that it achieves an IIP3 (third-order intercept point) of −17 dBm, a conversion gain of 39 dB, and a noise figure of 5.8 dB. The RFPGA achieves a dynamic range of −36.2 to 23.5 dB with a resolution of 0.32 dB. (semiconductor integrated circuits)

  8. Low Power High Dynamic Range A/D Conversion Channel

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marker-Villumsen, Niels; Rombach, Pirmin

    in the conversion channel in order to avoid distortion for large input signals. In combination with a low resolution A/D converter (ADC) and a digital gain block, the adaptive A/D conversion channel achieves an extended dynamic range beyond that of the ADC. This in turn reduces the current consumption......This work concerns the analysis of an adaptive analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion channel for use with a micro electromechanical system (MEMS) microphone for audio applications. The adaptive A/D conversion channel uses an automatic gain control (AGC) for adjusting the analog preamplifier gain...... of the conversion channel in comparison to a static A/D conversion channel; this at the cost of a reduced peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The adaptive A/D conversion channel compensates for the change in analog gain by a digital gain, thus achieving a constant channel gain in the full dynamic range. However...

  9. Gamut mapping in a high-dynamic-range color space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preiss, Jens; Fairchild, Mark D.; Ferwerda, James A.; Urban, Philipp

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present a novel approach of tone mapping as gamut mapping in a high-dynamic-range (HDR) color space. High- and low-dynamic-range (LDR) images as well as device gamut boundaries can simultaneously be represented within such a color space. This enables a unified transformation of the HDR image into the gamut of an output device (in this paper called HDR gamut mapping). An additional aim of this paper is to investigate the suitability of a specific HDR color space to serve as a working color space for the proposed HDR gamut mapping. For the HDR gamut mapping, we use a recent approach that iteratively minimizes an image-difference metric subject to in-gamut images. A psychophysical experiment on an HDR display shows that the standard reproduction workflow of two subsequent transformations - tone mapping and then gamut mapping - may be improved by HDR gamut mapping.

  10. A large dynamic range radiation-tolerant analog memory in a quarter- micron CMOS technology

    CERN Document Server

    Anelli, G; Rivetti, A

    2001-01-01

    An analog memory prototype containing 8*128 cells has been designed in a commercial quarter-micron CMOS process. The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of designing large dynamic range mixed-mode switched capacitor circuits for high-energy physics (HEP) applications in deep submicron CMOS technologies. Special layout techniques have been used to make the circuit radiation tolerant. The memory cells employ gate-oxide capacitors for storage, permitting a very high density. A voltage write-voltage read architecture has been chosen to minimize the sensitivity to absolute capacitor values. The measured input voltage range is 2.3 V (the power supply voltage V/sub DD/ is equal to 2.5 V), with a linearity of almost 8 bits over 2 V. The dynamic range is more than 11 bits. The pedestal variation is +or-0.5 mV peak-to-peak. The noise measured, which is dominated by the noise of the measurement setup, is around 0.8 mV rms. The characteristics of the memory have been measured before irradiation and after 1...

  11. A large dynamic range radiation tolerant analog memory in a quarter micron CMOS technology

    CERN Document Server

    Anelli, G; Rivetti, A

    2000-01-01

    A 8*128 cell analog memory prototype has been designed in a commercial 0.25 jam CMOS process. The aim of this work was to investigate the possibility of designing large dynamic range mixed- mode switched capacitor circuits for High-Energy Physics (HEP) applications in deep submicron CMOS technologies. Special layout techniques have been used to make the circuit radiation tolerant left bracket 1 right bracket . The memory cells employ gate-oxide capacitors for storage, allowing for a very high density. A voltage write - voltage read architecture has been chosen to minimize the sensitivity to absolute capacitor values. The measured input voltage range is 2.3 V (V//D//D = 2.5 V), with a linearity of at least 7.5 bits over 2 V. The dynamic range is more than 11 bits. The pedestal variation is plus or minus 0.5 mV peak-to-peak. The noise measured, which is dominated by the noise of the measurement setup, is around 0.8 mV rms. The characteristics of the memory have been measured before irradiation and after lOMrd (...

  12. Magnetoelectric and electric measurements of the (1-x)BiFeO{sub 3}–(x)Pb(Fe{sub 1/2}Nb{sub 1/2})O{sub 3} solid solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bochenek, D., E-mail: dariusz.bochenek@us.edu.pl [University of Silesia, Faculty of Computer Science and Material Science, Institute of Technology and Mechatronics, 12, Żytnia St., 41–200, Sosnowiec (Poland); Niemiec, P. [University of Silesia, Faculty of Computer Science and Material Science, Institute of Technology and Mechatronics, 12, Żytnia St., 41–200, Sosnowiec (Poland); Guzdek, P. [Institute of Electron Technology Cracow Division, 39, Zabłocie St., Cracow, 30-701 (Poland); Wzorek, M. [Institute of Electron Technology, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668, Warsaw (Poland)

    2017-07-01

    In the paper ferro–electro–magnetic (1-x)BiFeO{sub 3}-(x)Pb(Fe{sub 1/2}Nb{sub 1/2})O{sub 3} (BF-PFN) solid solutions were obtained (containing the percentage BF/PFN: 60/40 and 70/30). Individual components of the solid solution were prepared by follows methods: synthesizing a powder BF was performed by calcining the simple oxides (Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3}, Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}), and synthesizing a powder PFN was carried out by calcining a mixture of complex oxides (FeNbO{sub 4}, PbO). Compaction of synthesized and mixed BiFeO{sub 3}, PbFe{sub 1/2}Nb{sub 1/2}O{sub 3} powders was carried out by free sintering methods. X–ray, microstructure, dielectric, magnetic and magnetoelectric studies, DC electrical conductivity and electrical hysteresis loop were carried out. Magnetoelectric effect measurements performed at room temperature showed coupling between electric and magnetic subsystem of the BF–PFN solid solutions. - Highlights: • BF-PFN samples have a densely packed microstructure, with well crystallized grains. • Bi atoms possibly migrate from BF toward PFN component during sintering. • BF-PFN have a diffuse character of the ferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition. • Magnetoelectric coefficient (α{sub ME}) for BF-PFN is higher, than for pure BF. • The α{sub ME} for BF-PFN is about three times higher than for 0.75BiFeO{sub 3}–0.25BaTiO{sub 3}.

  13. Priorities, activities and objectives of the BMU/BfS concept for ''Human Factor'' (HF) topics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hennig, R.; Kociok, B.

    1994-01-01

    Representation of the SR 2039/1-7 research project of the BMU/BfS, with a short definition of its objectives. The man-machine or man-organization-interface in nuclear power plant operation is dealt with. (DG) [de

  14. Extending the dynamic range of silicon photomultipliers without increasing pixel count

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, Kurtis F.

    2010-01-01

    A silicon photomultiplier, sometimes called 'multipixel photon counter', which we here refer to as a 'SiPM', is a photo-sensitive device built from an avalanche photodiode array of pixels on a common silicon substrate, such that it can detect single photon events. The dimensions of a pixel may vary from 20 to 100 μm and their density can be greater than 1000 per square millimeter. Each pixel in a SiPM operates in Geiger mode and is coupled to the output by a quenching resistor. Although each pixel operates in digital mode, the SiPM is an analog device because all the pixels are read in parallel, making it possible to generate signals within a dynamic range from a single photon to a large number of photons, ultimately limited by the number of pixels on the chip. In this note we describe a simple and general method of increasing the dynamic range of a SiPM beyond that one may naively assume from the shape of the cumulative distribution function of the SiPM response to the average number of photons per pixel. We show that by rendering the incoming flux of photons to be non-uniform in a prescribed manner, a significant increase in dynamic range is achievable. Such re-distribution of the incoming flux may be accomplished with simple, non-focusing lenses, prisms, interference films, mirrors or attenuating films. Almost any optically non-inert interceding device can increase the dynamic range of the SiPM.

  15. Atmospheric emissions modeling of energetic biomass alternatives using system dynamics approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szarka, N.; University of Concepcion; Kakucs, O.; Wolfbauer, J.; Bezama, A.

    2008-01-01

    To simulate the quantitative effects of regional biomass alternatives for energetic purpose (BfE) on air pollutant emissions, a system dynamics model was developed and applied for the EuRegion Austrian-Hungarian cross-border area. The dynamic simulation program Vensim R was used to build an overall regional model with economic, social and environmental sectors. Within this model, the here-introduced regional air pollution sub-model (RegAir) includes the important human-made emissions of 10 pollutants resulting from all relevant source sectors within the region investigated. Emissions from activities related to biomass production, transport, conversion and final energy consumption were built in detail. After building and calibrating the RegAir model, seven quantitative test scenarios were defined and implemented into the world. Through the scenarios simulation, effects on air emissions were followed and compared over time. The results of these simulations show a significant reduction of CO 2 emission, especially in cases where fossil fuel displacement in heating devices is achieved on the largest scale. On the contrary, traditional air pollutants increase by most BfE options. The results of the RegAir model simulations of BfE alternatives over two decades provide useful quantifications of various air emissions and identify the less pollutant BfE alternatives in the dynamic context of the relevant air pollution sources of the region. After minor structural modification and appropriate calibration, RegAir can be applied to other regions as well. However, it is stated that, to finally decide on the overall most-appropriate options at a regional level, other environmental as well as economic and social effects must be taken into consideration, being the latter the goal of the mentioned overall regional model which serves as a model frame to the RegAir tool. (author)

  16. Binaural model-based dynamic-range compression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ernst, Stephan M A; Kortlang, Steffen; Grimm, Giso; Bisitz, Thomas; Kollmeier, Birger; Ewert, Stephan D

    2018-01-26

    Binaural cues such as interaural level differences (ILDs) are used to organise auditory perception and to segregate sound sources in complex acoustical environments. In bilaterally fitted hearing aids, dynamic-range compression operating independently at each ear potentially alters these ILDs, thus distorting binaural perception and sound source segregation. A binaurally-linked model-based fast-acting dynamic compression algorithm designed to approximate the normal-hearing basilar membrane (BM) input-output function in hearing-impaired listeners is suggested. A multi-center evaluation in comparison with an alternative binaural and two bilateral fittings was performed to assess the effect of binaural synchronisation on (a) speech intelligibility and (b) perceived quality in realistic conditions. 30 and 12 hearing impaired (HI) listeners were aided individually with the algorithms for both experimental parts, respectively. A small preference towards the proposed model-based algorithm in the direct quality comparison was found. However, no benefit of binaural-synchronisation regarding speech intelligibility was found, suggesting a dominant role of the better ear in all experimental conditions. The suggested binaural synchronisation of compression algorithms showed a limited effect on the tested outcome measures, however, linking could be situationally beneficial to preserve a natural binaural perception of the acoustical environment.

  17. A high speed, wide dynamic range digitizer circuit for photomultiplier tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yarema, R.J.; Foster, G.W.; Knickerbocker, K.; Sarraj, M.; Tschirhart, R.; Whitmore, J.; Zimmerman, T.; Lindgren, M.

    1995-01-01

    A circuit has been designed for digitizing PMT signals over a wide dynamic range (17-18 bits) with 8 bits of resolution at rates up to 53 MHz. Output from the circuit is in a floating point format with a 4 bit exponent and an 8 bit mantissa. The heart of the circuit is a full custom integrated circuit called the QIE (Charge Integrator and Encoder). The design of the QIE and associated circuitry reported here permits operation over a 17 bit dynamic range. Test results of a multirange device are presented for the first time. (orig.)

  18. BF integrase genes of HIV-1 circulating in São Paulo, Brazil, with a recurrent recombination region.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atila Iamarino

    Full Text Available Although some studies have shown diversity in HIV integrase (IN genes, none has focused particularly on the gene evolving in epidemics in the context of recombination. The IN gene in 157 HIV-1 integrase inhibitor-naïve patients from the São Paulo State, Brazil, were sequenced tallying 128 of subtype B (23 of which were found in non-B genomes, 17 of subtype F (8 of which were found in recombinant genomes, 11 integrases were BF recombinants, and 1 from subtype C. Crucially, we found that 4 BF recombinant viruses shared a recurrent recombination breakpoint region between positions 4900 and 4924 (relative to the HXB2 that includes 2 gRNA loops, where the RT may stutter. Since these recombinants had independent phylogenetic origin, we argue that these results suggest a possible recombination hotspot not observed so far in BF CRF in particular, or in any other HIV-1 CRF in general. Additionally, 40% of the drug-naïve and 45% of the drug-treated patients had at least 1 raltegravir (RAL or elvitegravir (EVG resistance-associated amino acid change, but no major resistance mutations were found, in line with other studies. Importantly, V151I was the most common minor resistance mutation among B, F, and BF IN genes. Most codon sites of the IN genes had higher rates of synonymous substitutions (dS indicative of a strong negative selection. Nevertheless, several codon sites mainly in the subtype B were found under positive selection. Consequently, we observed a higher genetic diversity in the B portions of the mosaics, possibly due to the more recent introduction of subtype F on top of an ongoing subtype B epidemics and a fast spread of subtype F alleles among the B population.

  19. The dynamic range of ultra-high-resolution cryogenic gamma-ray spectrometers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ali, Shafinaz [Advanced Detector Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-270, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States); Terracol, Stephane F. [Advanced Detector Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-270, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States); Drury, Owen B. [Advanced Detector Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-270, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States); Friedrich, Stephan [Advanced Detector Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, L-270, Livermore, CA 94550 (United States)]. E-mail: friedrich1@llnl.gov

    2006-04-15

    We are developing high-resolution cryogenic gamma-ray spectrometers for nuclear science and non-proliferation applications. The gamma-ray detectors are composed of a bulk superconducting Sn foil absorber attached to a multilayer Mo/Cu transition-edge sensor (TES). The energy resolution of a detector with a 1x1x0.25 mm{sup 3} Sn absorber is 50-90 eV FWHM for {gamma}-rays up to 100 keV, and it decreases for larger absorbers. Here, we present the detector performance for different absorber volumes, and discuss the trade-offs between energy resolution and dynamic range.

  20. The Dynamic Range of Ultra-High Resolution Cryogenic Gamma-ray Spectrometers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali, S; Terracol, S F; Drury, O B; Friedrich, S

    2005-01-01

    We are developing high-resolution cryogenic gamma-ray spectrometers for nuclear science and non-proliferation applications. The gamma-ray detectors are composed of a bulk superconducting Sn foil absorber attached to multilayer Mo/Cu transition-edge sensors (TES). The energy resolution achieved with a 1 x 1 x 0.25 mm 3 Sn absorber is 50 -90eV for γ-rays up to 100 keV and it decreases for large absorber sizes. We discuss the trade-offs between energy resolution and dynamic range, as well as development of TES arrays for higher count rates and better sensitivity

  1. Thermal and dynamic range characterization of a photonics-based RF amplifier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noque, D. F.; Borges, R. M.; Muniz, A. L. M.; Bogoni, A.; Cerqueira S., Arismar, Jr.

    2018-05-01

    This work reports a thermal and dynamic range characterization of an ultra-wideband photonics-based RF amplifier for microwave and mm-waves future 5G optical-wireless networks. The proposed technology applies the four-wave mixing nonlinear effect to provide RF amplification in analog and digital radio-over-fiber systems. The experimental analysis from 300 kHz to 50 GHz takes into account different figures of merit, such as RF gain, spurious-free dynamic range and RF output power stability as a function of temperature. The thermal characterization from -10 to +70 °C demonstrates a 27 dB flat photonics-assisted RF gain over the entire frequency range under real operational conditions of a base station for illustrating the feasibility of the photonics-assisted RF amplifier for 5G networks.

  2. Quantitative kinetic analysis of PET amyloid imaging agents [11C]BF227 and [18F]FACT in human brain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shidahara, Miho; Watabe, Hiroshi; Tashiro, Manabu; Okamura, Nobuyuki; Furumoto, Shozo; Watanuki, Shoichi; Furukawa, Katsutoshi; Arakawa, Yuma; Funaki, Yoshihito; Iwata, Ren; Gonda, Kohsuke; Kudo, Yukitsuka; Arai, Hiroyuki; Ishiwata, Kiichi; Yanai, Kazuhiko

    2015-01-01

    Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare two amyloid imaging agents, [ 11 C]BF227 and [ 18 F]FACT (derivative from [ 11 C]BF227) through quantitative pharmacokinetics analysis in human brain. Methods: Positron emission tomography studies were performed on six elderly healthy control (HC) subjects and seven probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients with [ 11 C]BF227 and 10 HC subjects and 10 probable AD patients with [ 18 F]FACT. Data from nine regions of interest were analyzed by several approaches, namely non-linear least-squared fitting methods with arterial input functions (one-tissue compartment model(1TCM), two-tissue compartment model (2TCM)), Logan plot, and linearized methods with reference region (Reference Logan plot (RefLogan), MRTM0, MRTM2). We also evaluated SUV and SUVR for both tracers. The parameters estimated by several approaches were compared between two tracers for detectability of differences between HC and AD patients. Results: For [ 11 C]BF227, there were no significant difference of V T (2TCM, 1TCM) and SUV in all regions (Student t-test; p < 0.05) and significant differences in the DVRs (Logan, RefLogan, and MRTM2) and SUVRs in six neocortical regions (p < 0.05) between the HC and AD groups. For [ 18 F]FACT, significant differences in DVRs (RefLogan, MRTM0, and MRTM2) were observed in more than four neocortical regions between the HC and AD groups (p < 0.05), and the significant differences were found in SUVRs for two neocortical regions (inferior frontal coretex and lateral temporal coretex). Our results showed that both tracers can clearly distinguish between HC and AD groups although the pharmacokinetics and distribution patterns in brain for two tracers were substantially different. Conclusion: This study revealed that although the PET amyloid imaging agents [ 11 C]BF227 and [ 18 F]FACT have similar chemical and biological properties, they have different pharmacokinetics, and caution must be paid for usage of the

  3. Crystal structure and characterization of the novel NH+⋯N hydrogen bonded polar crystal [NH2(CH2)4NH][BF4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojtaś, M.; Gaģor, A.; Czupiński, O.; Medycki, W.; Jakubas, R.

    2012-03-01

    Dielectric properties and phase transitions of the piperazinium tetrafluoroborate ([NH2(CH2)4NH][BF4], abbreviated as PFB) crystal are related to the one-dimensional arrangement of the cations linked by the bistable NH+⋯N hydrogen bonds and molecular motions of the [BF4]- units. The crystal structure of [NH2(CH2)4NH][BF4] is monoclinic at room temperature with the polar space group Pn. The polar/acentric properties of the room temperature phase IV have been confirmed by the piezoelectric and pyroelectric measurements. DSC measurements show that the compound undergoes three first-order structural phase transitions: at 421/411 K (heating/cooling), at 386/372 K and at 364/349 K. 1H and 19F NMR measurements indicate the reorientational motions of [BF4]- anions and piperazinium(+) cations as well as the proton motion in the hydrogen-bonded chains of piperazine along the [001] direction. Over the phase I the isotropic reorientational motions or even self-diffusion of the cations and anions are expected. The conductivity measurements in the vicinity of the II-I PT indicate a superionic phase over the phase I.

  4. Potential for waist-to-height ratio to detect overfat adolescents from a Pacific Island, even those within the normal BMI range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frayon, Stéphane; Cavaloc, Yolande; Wattelez, Guillaume; Cherrier, Sophie; Lerrant, Yannick; Ashwell, Margaret; Galy, Olivier

    2017-12-15

    Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is a simple anthropometric proxy for central body fat; it is easy to use from a health education perspective. A WHtR value >0.5 has been proposed as a first level indicator of health risk. The first aim of this study was to compare WHtR with values based on body mass index (BMI) in their prediction of the percentage of body fat (%BF) in a multi-ethnic population of adolescents from New-Caledonia (age 11-16year). Secondly, to see whether WHtR >0.5 could be used to detect overfat subjects whose BMI was in the normal range. Body fat percentage (%BF, based on skinfold measurements), BMI and WHtR were calculated for New Caledonian adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. The relationship between %BF, BMI and WHtR was determined using quadratic models and from linear regression equations. The sensitivity and specificity of WHtR for detecting overfat adolescents (%BF >25% in boys and >30% in girls) were assessed and compared with those from the BMI-based classification. WHtR showed better correlation with %BF than BMI-based measurements. WHtR >0.5 was also more accurate than BMI in detecting overfat adolescents. Moreover, using this boundary value, 8% of adolescents in the normal BMI range were shown to be over-fat. WHtR is a good anthropometric proxy to detect overfat adolescents. Detecting overfat adolescents within the normal BMI range is particularly important for preventing non communicable diseases. We therefore recommend using WHtR for health education programs in the Pacific area and more generally. Copyright © 2017 Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. A high speed, wide dynamic range digitizer circuit for photomultiplier tubes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yarema, R.J.; Foster, G.W.; Knickerbocker, K.; Sarraj, M.; Tschirhart, R.; Whitmore, J.; Zimmerman, T. [Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States); Lindgren, M. [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Physics Dept.

    1994-06-01

    High energy physics experiments running at high interaction rates frequently require long record lengths for determining a level 1 trigger. The easiest way to provide a long event record is by digital means. In applications requiring wide dynamic range, however, digitization of an analog signal to obtain the digital record has been impossible due to lack of high speed, wide range FADCs. One such application is the readout of thousands of photomultiplier tubes in fixed target and colliding beam experiment calorimeters. A circuit has been designed for digitizing PMT signals over a wide dynamic range (17--18 bits) with 8 bits of resolution at rates up to 53 MHz. Output from the circuit is in a floating point format with a 4 bit exponent and an 8 bit mantissa. The heart of the circuit is a full custom integrated circuit called the QIE (Charge Integrator and Encoder). The design of the QIE and associated circuitry reported here permits operation over a 17 bit dynamic range. Tests of the circuit with a PMT input and a pulsed laser have provided respectable results with little off line correction. Performance of the circuit for demanding applications can be significantly enhanced with additional off line correction. Circuit design, packaging issues, and test results of a multirange device are presented for the first time.

  6. A high speed, wide dynamic range digitizer circuit for photomultiplier tubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yarema, R.J.; Foster, G.W.; Knickerbocker, K.; Sarraj, M.; Tschirhart, R.; Whitmore, J.; Zimmerman, T.; Lindgren, M.

    1994-06-01

    High energy physics experiments running at high interaction rates frequently require long record lengths for determining a level 1 trigger. The easiest way to provide a long event record is by digital means. In applications requiring wide dynamic range, however, digitization of an analog signal to obtain the digital record has been impossible due to lack of high speed, wide range FADCs. One such application is the readout of thousands of photomultiplier tubes in fixed target and colliding beam experiment calorimeters. A circuit has been designed for digitizing PMT signals over a wide dynamic range (17--18 bits) with 8 bits of resolution at rates up to 53 MHz. Output from the circuit is in a floating point format with a 4 bit exponent and an 8 bit mantissa. The heart of the circuit is a full custom integrated circuit called the QIE (Charge Integrator and Encoder). The design of the QIE and associated circuitry reported here permits operation over a 17 bit dynamic range. Tests of the circuit with a PMT input and a pulsed laser have provided respectable results with little off line correction. Performance of the circuit for demanding applications can be significantly enhanced with additional off line correction. Circuit design, packaging issues, and test results of a multirange device are presented for the first time

  7. High Dynamic Range Imaging at the Quantum Limit with Single Photon Avalanche Diode-Based Image Sensors †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattioli Della Rocca, Francescopaolo

    2018-01-01

    This paper examines methods to best exploit the High Dynamic Range (HDR) of the single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) in a high fill-factor HDR photon counting pixel that is scalable to megapixel arrays. The proposed method combines multi-exposure HDR with temporal oversampling in-pixel. We present a silicon demonstration IC with 96 × 40 array of 8.25 µm pitch 66% fill-factor SPAD-based pixels achieving >100 dB dynamic range with 3 back-to-back exposures (short, mid, long). Each pixel sums 15 bit-planes or binary field images internally to constitute one frame providing 3.75× data compression, hence the 1k frames per second (FPS) output off-chip represents 45,000 individual field images per second on chip. Two future projections of this work are described: scaling SPAD-based image sensors to HDR 1 MPixel formats and shrinking the pixel pitch to 1–3 µm. PMID:29641479

  8. Crystal structure and characterization of the novel NH+⋯N hydrogen bonded polar crystal [NH2(CH2)4NH][BF4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wojtaś, M.; Gagor, A.; Czupiński, O.; Medycki, W.; Jakubas, R.

    2012-01-01

    Dielectric properties and phase transitions of the piperazinium tetrafluoroborate ([NH 2 (CH 2 ) 4 NH][BF 4 ], abbreviated as PFB) crystal are related to the one-dimensional arrangement of the cations linked by the bistable NH + ⋯N hydrogen bonds and molecular motions of the [BF 4 ] − units. The crystal structure of [NH 2 (CH 2 ) 4 NH][BF 4 ] is monoclinic at room temperature with the polar space group Pn. The polar/acentric properties of the room temperature phase IV have been confirmed by the piezoelectric and pyroelectric measurements. DSC measurements show that the compound undergoes three first-order structural phase transitions: at 421/411 K (heating/cooling), at 386/372 K and at 364/349 K. 1 H and 19 F NMR measurements indicate the reorientational motions of [BF 4 ] − anions and piperazinium(+) cations as well as the proton motion in the hydrogen-bonded chains of piperazine along the [001] direction. Over the phase I the isotropic reorientational motions or even self-diffusion of the cations and anions are expected. The conductivity measurements in the vicinity of the II–I PT indicate a superionic phase over the phase I. - Graphical abstract: It must be emphasized that the titled compound represents the first organic–inorganic simple salt containing the single-protonated piperazinium cation which was studied by means of the wide variety of experimental techniques. A survey of Cambridge Structural Database (CSD version 5.32 (November 2010) and updates (May 2011)) for structure containing the piperazinium cations yields 248 compounds with the doubly protonated piperazinium(2+) cations and only eight compounds with the singly protonated piperazinium(+) cations. Among these structures only one is the hybrid organic–inorganic material. This is piperazinium nitrate characterized structurally. The crystal packing of [NH 2 (CH 2 ) 4 NH][BF 4 ], phase IV. The dashed lines stand for the hydrogen bonds. The hydrogen bonds to BF4 groups are not included for

  9. Water Phase Diagram Is Significantly Altered by Imidazolium Ionic Liquid

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chaban, V. V.; Prezhdo, O. V.

    2014-01-01

    We report unusually large changes in the boiling temperature, saturated vapor pressure, and structure of the liquid-vapor interface for a range of 1-butyl-3-methyl tetrafluoroborate, [C4C1IM][BF4]-water mixtures. Even modest molar fractions of [C4C1IM][BF4] significantly affect the phase behavior...... of water, as represented, for instance, by strong negative deviations from Raoult's law, extending far beyond the standard descriptions. The investigation was carried out using classical molecular dynamics employing a specifically refined force field. The changes in the liquid-vapor interface and saturated...

  10. The kinematical Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity from BF theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cianfrani, Francesco

    2011-01-01

    In this work, it is demonstrated how the kinematical Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity (LQG) can be inferred from the configuration space of BF theories via the imposition of the Hamiltonian constraints. In particular, it is outlined how the projection to the representations associated with Ashtekar-Barbero connections provides the correct procedure to implement second-class constraints and the corresponding nontrivial induced symplectic structure. Then, the reduction to SU(2) invariant intertwiners is analyzed and the properties of LQG states under Lorentz transformations are discussed.

  11. The effect of biofiltration on red blood cells 2.3-diphosphoglycerate and pH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umimoto, K; Hirai, Y; Hayashi, T; Tanaka, H

    2000-12-01

    To investigate the effect of biofiltration (BF) on the ability of blood to supply oxygen to the peripheral tissues, a 2 week crossover study was conducted with bicarbonate hemodialysis (BcHD) and BF using 5 male patients with diabetic renal failure as subjects. BcHD and BF were performed for 4 h and 3.5 h per session, respectively. Blood gases, the pH of red blood cells (RBC-pH), and 2. 3-diphosphoglycerate in RBC (RBC-2.3DPG) were measured during each treatment. After a 2 week BF treatment, the plasma HCO3- at the beginning of BF was significantly higher than that of BcHD (p level (p levels. The RBC-2.3DPG during BcHD remained unchanged, but during BF significantly increased (p level. The improved metabolic acidosis might occur as a result of the increase in RBC-2.3DPG during BF. This increase in RBC-2.3DPG has the effect of reducing the affinity of oxygen for hemoglobin and allows more oxygen to be delivered to the peripheral tissues although the increase in RBC-pH by dialysis restricts the dissociation of oxygen from hemoglobin.

  12. A dynamic range upgrade for neutron backscattering spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cook, J.C.; Petry, W.; Heidemann, A.; Barthelemy, J.F.

    1992-01-01

    We report on an instrumental development of the cold neutron backscattering spectrometer IN10 at the Institut Laue-Langevin which has led to a significant increase in its dynamic range. Thermal expansion of a variety of neutron monochromator crystals is used instead of a mechanical oscillation of the monochromator, yielding an increase in the energy transfer range by nearly two orders of magnitude in an elastic wave vector transfer range of 0.07≤Q (A -1 )≤2.0. Using this new configuration, first inelastic measurements have been performed using the (200) reflections from KCl and NaCl monochromators with crystal temperatures between 80 K and 700 K. The thermal expansion of these crystals in this temperature range gives rise to energy transfer ranges (neutron energy gain) of -16<ℎω(μeV)<+83 for KCl and -530<ℎω(μeV)<-420 for NaCl with energy resolution (FWHM) of around 0.6 and 1.4 μeV for KCl and NaCl respectively. These figures represent the highest energy resolution currently available at these energy and wave vector transfers. (orig.)

  13. Experimental investigation of dd reaction in range of ultralow energies using Z-pinch

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bystritskij, V.M.; Grebenyuk, V.M.; Parzhitskij, S.S.

    1998-01-01

    Results of the experiments to measure the dd reaction cross section in the range of deuteron collision energies from 0.1 keV to 1.5 keV using Z-pinch technique are presented. The experiment was performed at the Pulsed Ion Beam Accelerator of the High-Current Electronics Institute in Tomsk. The dd fusion neutrons were registered by scintillation detectors using time-of-flight method and BF 3 detectors of thermal neutrons. At 90% confidence level, the upper limits of the neutron producing dd reaction cross sections are obtained for average deuteron collision energies of 0.11, 0.34, 0.37 and 1.46 keV. The results demonstrate that high-intensity pulsed accelerators with a generator current of 2-3 MA allow the dd reaction cross sections to be measured in the range of deuteron collision energies from 0.8 keV to 3 keV

  14. Clinical evaluation of a medical high dynamic range display

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marchessoux, Cedric; Paepe, Lode de; Vanovermeire, Olivier; Albani, Luigi

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Recent new medical displays do have higher contrast and higher luminance but do not have a High Dynamic Range (HDR). HDR implies a minimum luminance value close to zero. A medical HDR display prototype based on two Liquid Crystal layers has been developed. The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential clinical benefit of such display in comparison with a low dynamic range (LDR) display. Methods: The study evaluated the clinical performance of the displays in a search and detection task. Eight radiologists read chest x-ray images some of which contained simulated lung nodules. The study used a JAFROC (Jacknife Free Receiver Operating Characteristic) approach for analyzing FROC data. The calculated figure of merit (FoM) is the probability that a lesion is rated higher than all rated nonlesions on all images. Time per case and accuracy for locating the center of the nodules were also compared. The nodules were simulated using Samei’s model. 214 CR and DR images [half were “healthy images” (chest nodule-free) and half “diseased images”] were used resulting in a total number of nodules equal to 199 with 25 images with 1 nodule, 51 images with 2 nodules, and 24 images with 3 nodules. A dedicated software interface was designed for visualizing the images for each session. For the JAFROC1 statistical analysis, the study is done per nodule category: all nodules, difficult nodules, and very difficult nodules. Results: For all nodules, the averaged FoM HDR is slightly higher than FoM LDR with 0.09% of difference. For the difficult nodules, the averaged FoM HDR is slightly higher than FoM LDR with 1.38% of difference. The averaged FoM HDR is slightly higher than FoM LDR with 0.71% of difference. For the true positive fraction (TPF), both displays (the HDR and the LDR ones) have similar TPF for all nodules, but looking at difficult and very difficult nodules, there are more TP for the HDR display. The true positive fraction has been also computed in

  15. Transmission dynamic range in chest radiology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lemmers, H.E.A.S.J.; Schultze Kool, L.J.; van Elburg, H.J.; Boelens, F.

    1989-01-01

    Due to the large difference in transmission between the lung area and the mediastinum, the human chest is a challenging object for radiographic imaging. This study is performed in order to define the dynamic range needed for a chest imaging chain. Eight hundred seventy-five consecutive outpatients were imaged with a prototype AMBER (advanced multiple beam equalization radiography) unit at 141 kVp. The equalization facility was disabled, allowing for the simultaneous capture of a film image and a digital dataset representing the local patient transmission in fields of approximately 2x2 cm. The datasets were analyzed to obtain the relation between the average transmission distribution in a subset of the population and physical parameters characterizing this subset, such as body weight or length

  16. Comparison of linear intrascan and interscan dynamic ranges of Orbitrap and ion-mobility time-of-flight mass spectrometers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaufmann, Anton; Walker, Stephan

    2017-11-30

    The linear intrascan and interscan dynamic ranges of mass spectrometers are important in metabolome and residue analysis. A large linear dynamic range is mandatory if both low- and high-abundance ions have to be detected and quantitated in heavy matrix samples. These performance criteria, as provided by modern high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), were systematically investigated. The comparison included two generations of Orbitraps, and an ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) system In addition, different scan modes, as provided by the utilized instruments, were investigated. Calibration curves of different compounds covering a concentration range of five orders of magnitude were measured to evaluate the linear interscan dynamic range. The linear intrascan dynamic range and the resulting mass accuracy were evaluated by repeating these measurements in the presence of a very intense background. Modern HRMS instruments can show linear dynamic ranges of five orders of magnitude. Often, however, the linear dynamic range is limited by the detection capability (sensitivity and selectivity) and by the electrospray ionization. Orbitraps, as opposed to TOF instruments, show a reduced intrascan dynamic range. This is due to the limited C-trap and Orbitrap capacity. The tested TOF instrument shows poorer mass accuracies than the Orbitraps. In contrast, hyphenation with an ion-mobility device seems not to affect the linear dynamic range. The linear dynamic range of modern HRMS instrumentation has been significantly improved. This also refers to the virtual absence of systematic mass shifts at high ion abundances. The intrascan dynamic range of the current Orbitrap technology may still be a limitation when analyzing complex matrix extracts. On the other hand, the linear dynamic range is not only limited by the detector technology, but can also be shortened by peripheral devices, where the ionization and transfer of ions take place. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley

  17. Fractional quantum mechanics on networks: Long-range dynamics and quantum transport.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riascos, A P; Mateos, José L

    2015-11-01

    In this paper we study the quantum transport on networks with a temporal evolution governed by the fractional Schrödinger equation. We generalize the dynamics based on continuous-time quantum walks, with transitions to nearest neighbors on the network, to the fractional case that allows long-range displacements. By using the fractional Laplacian matrix of a network, we establish a formalism that combines a long-range dynamics with the quantum superposition of states; this general approach applies to any type of connected undirected networks, including regular, random, and complex networks, and can be implemented from the spectral properties of the Laplacian matrix. We study the fractional dynamics and its capacity to explore the network by means of the transition probability, the average probability of return, and global quantities that characterize the efficiency of this quantum process. As a particular case, we explore analytically these quantities for circulant networks such as rings, interacting cycles, and complete graphs.

  18. Territorial dynamics and stable home range formation for central place foragers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan R Potts

    Full Text Available Uncovering the mechanisms behind territory formation is a fundamental problem in behavioural ecology. The broad nature of the underlying conspecific avoidance processes are well documented across a wide range of taxa. Scent marking in particular is common to a large range of terrestrial mammals and is known to be fundamental for communication. However, despite its importance, exact quantification of the time-scales over which scent cues and messages persist remains elusive. Recent work by the present authors has begun to shed light on this problem by modelling animals as random walkers with scent-mediated interaction processes. Territories emerge as dynamic objects that continually change shape and slowly move without settling to a fixed location. As a consequence, the utilisation distribution of such an animal results in a slowly increasing home range, as shown for urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes. For certain other species, however, home ranges reach a stable state. The present work shows that stable home ranges arise when, in addition to scent-mediated conspecific avoidance, each animal moves as a central place forager. That is, the animal's movement has a random aspect but is also biased towards a fixed location, such as a den or nest site. Dynamic territories emerge but the probability distribution of the territory border locations reaches a steady state, causing stable home ranges to emerge from the territorial dynamics. Approximate analytic expressions for the animal's probability density function are derived. A programme is given for using these expressions to quantify both the strength of the animal's movement bias towards the central place and the time-scale over which scent messages persist. Comparisons are made with previous theoretical work modelling central place foragers with conspecific avoidance. Some insights into the mechanisms behind allometric scaling laws of animal space use are also given.

  19. TRACE and TRAC-BF1 benchmark against Leibstadt plant data during the event inadvertent opening of relief valves

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sekhri, A.; Baumann, P. [KernkraftwerkLeibstadt AG, 5325 Leibstadt (Switzerland); Wicaksono, D. [Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology Zurich ETH, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Miro, R.; Barrachina, T.; Verdu, G. [Inst. for Industrial, Radiophysical and Environmental Safety ISIRYM, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia UPV, Cami de Vera s/n, 46021 Valencia (Spain)

    2012-07-01

    In framework of introducing TRACE code to transient analyses system codes for Leibstadt Power Plant (KKL), a conversion process of existing TRAC-BF1 model to TRACE has been started within KKL. In the first step, TRACE thermal-hydraulic model for KKL has been developed based on existing TRAC-BF1 model. In order to assess the code models a simulation of plant transient event is required. In this matter simulations of inadvertent opening of 8 relief valves event have been performed. The event occurs at KKL during normal operation, and it started when 8 relief valves open resulting in depressurization of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV). The reactor was shutdown safely by SCRAM at low level. The high pressure core spray (HPCS) and the reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) have been started manually in order to compensate the level drop. The remaining water in the feedwater (FW) lines flashes due to saturation conditions originated from RPV depressurization and refills the reactor downcomer. The plant boundary conditions have been used in the simulations and the FW flow rate has been adjusted for better prediction. The simulations reproduce the plant data with good agreement. It can be concluded that the TRAC-BF1 existing model has been used successfully to develop the TRACE model and the results of the calculations have shown good agreement with plant recorded data. Beside the modeling assessment, the TRACE and TRAC-BF1 capabilities to reproduce plant physical behavior during the transient have shown satisfactory results. The first step of developing KKL model for TRACE has been successfully achieved and this model is further developed in order to simulate more complex plant behavior such as Turbine Trip. (authors)

  20. TRACE and TRAC-BF1 benchmark against Leibstadt plant data during the event inadvertent opening of relief valves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sekhri, A.; Baumann, P.; Wicaksono, D.; Miro, R.; Barrachina, T.; Verdu, G.

    2012-01-01

    In framework of introducing TRACE code to transient analyses system codes for Leibstadt Power Plant (KKL), a conversion process of existing TRAC-BF1 model to TRACE has been started within KKL. In the first step, TRACE thermal-hydraulic model for KKL has been developed based on existing TRAC-BF1 model. In order to assess the code models a simulation of plant transient event is required. In this matter simulations of inadvertent opening of 8 relief valves event have been performed. The event occurs at KKL during normal operation, and it started when 8 relief valves open resulting in depressurization of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV). The reactor was shutdown safely by SCRAM at low level. The high pressure core spray (HPCS) and the reactor core isolation cooling (RCIC) have been started manually in order to compensate the level drop. The remaining water in the feedwater (FW) lines flashes due to saturation conditions originated from RPV depressurization and refills the reactor downcomer. The plant boundary conditions have been used in the simulations and the FW flow rate has been adjusted for better prediction. The simulations reproduce the plant data with good agreement. It can be concluded that the TRAC-BF1 existing model has been used successfully to develop the TRACE model and the results of the calculations have shown good agreement with plant recorded data. Beside the modeling assessment, the TRACE and TRAC-BF1 capabilities to reproduce plant physical behavior during the transient have shown satisfactory results. The first step of developing KKL model for TRACE has been successfully achieved and this model is further developed in order to simulate more complex plant behavior such as Turbine Trip. (authors)

  1. Extraordinary tunable dynamic range of electrochemical aptasensor for accurate detection of ochratoxin A in food samples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Cheng

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available We report the design of a sensitive, electrochemical aptasensor for detection of ochratoxin A (OTA with an extraordinary tunable dynamic sensing range. This electrochemical aptasensor is constructed based on the target induced aptamer-folding detection mechanism and the recognition between OTA and its aptamers results in the conformational change of the aptamer probe and thus signal changes for measurement. The dynamic sensing range of the electrochemical aptasensor is successfully tuned by introduction of free assistant aptamer probes in the sensing system. Our electrochemical aptasensor shows an extraordinary dynamic sensing range of 11-order magnitude of OTA concentration from 10−8 to 102 ng/g. Of great significance, the signal response in all OTA concentration ranges is at the same current scale, demonstrating that our sensing protocol in this research could be applied for accurate detections of OTA in a broad range without using any complicated treatment of signal amplification. Finally, OTA spiked red wine and maize samples in different dynamic sensing ranges are determined with the electrochemical aptasensor under optimized sensing conditions. This tuning strategy of dynamic sensing range may offer a promising platform for electrochemical aptasensor optimizations in practical applications.

  2. Dynamic range in BOLD modulation: lifespan aging trajectories and association with performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennedy, Kristen M; Boylan, Maria A; Rieck, Jenny R; Foster, Chris M; Rodrigue, Karen M

    2017-12-01

    Alteration of dynamic range of modulation to cognitive difficulty has been proposed as a salient predictor of cognitive aging. Here, we examine in 171 adults (aged 20-94 years) the effects of age on dynamic modulation of blood oxygenation-level dependent activation to difficulty in parametrically increasing working memory (WM) load (0-, 2-, 3-, and 4-back conditions). First, we examined parametric increases and decreases in activation to increasing WM load (positive modulation effect and negative modulation effect). Second, we examined the effect of age on modulation to difficulty (WM load) to identify regions that differed with age as difficulty increased (age-related positive and negative modulation effects). Weakened modulation to difficulty with age was found in both the positive modulation (middle frontal, superior/inferior parietal) and negative modulation effect (deactivated) regions (insula, cingulate, medial superior frontal, fusiform, and parahippocampal gyri, hippocampus, and lateral occipital cortex). Age-related alterations to positive modulation emerged later in the lifespan than negative modulation. Furthermore, these effects were significantly coupled in that greater upmodulation was associated with lesser downmodulation. Importantly, greater fronto-parietal upmodulation to difficulty and greater downmodulation of deactivated regions were associated with better task accuracy and upmodulation with better WM span measured outside the scanner. These findings suggest that greater dynamic range of modulation of activation to cognitive challenge is in service of current task performance, as well as generalizing to cognitive ability beyond the scanner task, lending support to its utility as a marker of successful cognitive aging. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Seasonal source-sink dynamics at the edge of a species' range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanda, L.L.; Fuller, T.K.; Sievert, P.R.; Kellogg, R.L.

    2009-01-01

    The roles of dispersal and population dynamics in determining species' range boundaries recently have received theoretical attention but little empirical work. Here we provide data on survival, reproduction, and movement for a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) population at a local distributional edge in central Massachusetts (USA). Most juvenile females that apparently exploited anthropogenic resources survived their first winter, whereas those using adjacent natural resources died of starvation. In spring, adult females recolonized natural areas. A life-table model suggests that a population exploiting anthropogenic resources may grow, acting as source to a geographically interlaced sink of opossums using only natural resources, and also providing emigrants for further range expansion to new human-dominated landscapes. In a geographical model, this source-sink dynamic is consistent with the local distribution identified through road-kill surveys. The Virginia opossum's exploitation of human resources likely ameliorates energetically restrictive winters and may explain both their local distribution and their northward expansion in unsuitable natural climatic regimes. Landscape heterogeneity, such as created by urbanization, may result in source-sink dynamics at highly localized scales. Differential fitness and individual dispersal movements within local populations are key to generating regional distributions, and thus species ranges, that exceed expectations. ?? 2009 by the Ecological Society of America.

  4. Seasonal source-sink dynamics at the edge of a species' range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanda, L Leann; Fuller, Todd K; Sievert, Paul R; Kellogg, Robert L

    2009-06-01

    The roles of dispersal and population dynamics in determining species' range boundaries recently have received theoretical attention but little empirical work. Here we provide data on survival, reproduction, and movement for a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) population at a local distributional edge in central Massachusetts (USA). Most juvenile females that apparently exploited anthropogenic resources survived their first winter, whereas those using adjacent natural resources died of starvation. In spring, adult females recolonized natural areas. A life-table model suggests that a population exploiting anthropogenic resources may grow, acting as source to a geographically interlaced sink of opossums using only natural resources, and also providing emigrants for further range expansion to new human-dominated landscapes. In a geographical model, this source-sink dynamic is consistent with the local distribution identified through road-kill surveys. The Virginia opossum's exploitation of human resources likely ameliorates energetically restrictive winters and may explain both their local distribution and their northward expansion in unsuitable natural climatic regimes. Landscape heterogeneity, such as created by urbanization, may result in source-sink dynamics at highly localized scales. Differential fitness and individual dispersal movements within local populations are key to generating regional distributions, and thus species ranges, that exceed expectations.

  5. BfR removes anthraquinone from its list of recommendations for food packaging

    OpenAIRE

    German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

    2013-01-01

    The substance anthraquinone is used in the production of paper and cardboard, including food packaging. Anthraquinone contained in the packaging can contaminate food. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) took the publication of an expert opinion of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) published in 2012 as an opportunity to reassess the use of anthraquinone in the manufacture of paper intended for food contact. In its opinion on anthraquinone as an active pesticide ingredient,...

  6. Inversion of spin levels in Ni sup 2 sup + : Zn(BF sub 4) sub 2 centre dot 6H sub 2 O at all -round compression and effect of transition coincidence

    CERN Document Server

    Krygin, I M; Nejlo, G N; Prokhorov, A D

    2001-01-01

    The study of the EPR spectrum of the Ni sup 2 sup + ion, replacing Zn sup 2 sup + in the Zn(BF sub 4) centre dot 6H sub 2 O crystals in the wide temperature range by the all-round compression in the X- and Q-ranges is carried out. The basic changes by varying temperature and pressure occur with the D parameter, characterizing the initial splitting by practically unchanged g-factor. The increase in the temperature is accompanied by the D nonlinear growth. The all-round compression linearly changes the initial splitting and leads to the change in the D-sign, signifying the spin levels inversion by 3.5 kbar. Coincidence of EPR lines, relative to different transitions, leads to the crevasse appearance in the outline of this one, that is connected with cross-relaxation inside the spin system

  7. Residual tensile stresses and piezoelectric properties in BiFeO3-Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2O3-PbTiO3 ternary solid solution perovskite ceramics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weilin Zheng

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available For low dielectric loss perovskite-structured (1-x-yBiFeO3-xBi(Zn1/2Ti1/2O3-yPbTiO3 (BF-BZT-PT (x = 0.04-0.15 and y = 0.15-0.26 ceramics in rhombohedral/tetragonal coexistent phase, structural phase transitions were studied using differential thermal analyzer combined with temperature-dependent dielectric measurement. Two lattice structural phase transitions are disclosed in various BF-BZT-PT perovskites, which is different from its membership of BiFeO3 exhibiting just one lattice structural phase transition at Curie temperature TC= 830oC. Consequently, residual internal tensile stresses were revealed experimentally through XRD measurements on ceramic pellets and counterpart powders, which are reasonably attributed to special structural phase transition sequence of BF-BZT-PT solid solution perovskites. Low piezoresponse was observed and argued extrinsically resulting from residual tensile stresses pinning ferroelectric polarization switching. Post-annealing and subsequent quenching was found effective for eliminating residual internal stresses in those BZT-less ceramics, and good piezoelectric property of d33 ≥ 28 pC/N obtained for 0.70BF-0.08BZT-0.22PT and 0.05 wt% MnO2-doped 0.70BF-0.04BZT-0.26PT ceramics with TC ≥ 640oC, while it seemed no effective for those BZT-rich BF-BZT-PT ceramics with x = 0.14 and 0.15 studied here.

  8. Adaptive digital fringe projection technique for high dynamic range three-dimensional shape measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Hui; Gao, Jian; Mei, Qing; He, Yunbo; Liu, Junxiu; Wang, Xingjin

    2016-04-04

    It is a challenge for any optical method to measure objects with a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface. Image saturation results in incorrect intensities in captured fringe pattern images, leading to phase and measurement errors. This paper presents a new adaptive digital fringe projection technique which avoids image saturation and has a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the three-dimensional (3-D) shape measurement of objects that has a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface. Compared to previous high dynamic range 3-D scan methods using many exposures and fringe pattern projections, which consumes a lot of time, the proposed technique uses only two preliminary steps of fringe pattern projection and image capture to generate the adapted fringe patterns, by adaptively adjusting the pixel-wise intensity of the projected fringe patterns based on the saturated pixels in the captured images of the surface being measured. For the bright regions due to high surface reflectivity and high illumination by the ambient light and surfaces interreflections, the projected intensity is reduced just to be low enough to avoid image saturation. Simultaneously, the maximum intensity of 255 is used for those dark regions with low surface reflectivity to maintain high SNR. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed technique can achieve higher 3-D measurement accuracy across a surface with a large range of reflectivity variation.

  9. The high dynamic range pixel array detector (HDR-PAD): Concept and design

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shanks, Katherine S.; Philipp, Hugh T.; Weiss, Joel T.; Becker, Julian; Tate, Mark W. [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Gruner, Sol M., E-mail: smg26@cornell.edu [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

    2016-07-27

    Experiments at storage ring light sources as well as at next-generation light sources increasingly require detectors capable of high dynamic range operation, combining low-noise detection of single photons with large pixel well depth. XFEL sources in particular provide pulse intensities sufficiently high that a purely photon-counting approach is impractical. The High Dynamic Range Pixel Array Detector (HDR-PAD) project aims to provide a dynamic range extending from single-photon sensitivity to 10{sup 6} photons/pixel in a single XFEL pulse while maintaining the ability to tolerate a sustained flux of 10{sup 11} ph/s/pixel at a storage ring source. Achieving these goals involves the development of fast pixel front-end electronics as well as, in the XFEL case, leveraging the delayed charge collection due to plasma effects in the sensor. A first prototype of essential electronic components of the HDR-PAD readout ASIC, exploring different options for the pixel front-end, has been fabricated. Here, the HDR-PAD concept and preliminary design will be described.

  10. Transmitted wavefront testing with large dynamic range based on computer-aided deflectometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Daodang; Xu, Ping; Gong, Zhidong; Xie, Zhongmin; Liang, Rongguang; Xu, Xinke; Kong, Ming; Zhao, Jun

    2018-06-01

    The transmitted wavefront testing technique is demanded for the performance evaluation of transmission optics and transparent glass, in which the achievable dynamic range is a key issue. A computer-aided deflectometric testing method with fringe projection is proposed for the accurate testing of transmitted wavefronts with a large dynamic range. Ray tracing of the modeled testing system is carried out to achieve the virtual ‘null’ testing of transmitted wavefront aberrations. The ray aberration is obtained from the ray tracing result and measured slope, with which the test wavefront aberration can be reconstructed. To eliminate testing system modeling errors, a system geometry calibration based on computer-aided reverse optimization is applied to realize accurate testing. Both numerical simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and high accuracy of the proposed testing method. The proposed testing method can achieve a large dynamic range compared with the interferometric method, providing a simple, low-cost and accurate way for the testing of transmitted wavefronts from various kinds of optics and a large amount of industrial transmission elements.

  11. Perceptual Effects of Dynamic Range Compression in Popular Music Recordings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjortkjær, Jens; Walther-Hansen, Mads

    2014-01-01

    There is a widespread belief that the increasing use of dynamic range compression in music mastering (the loudnesswar) deteriorates sound quality but experimental evidence of perceptual effects is lacking. In this study, normal hearing listeners were asked to evaluate popular music recordings in ...

  12. Molecular dynamics simulations of short-range force systems on 1024-node hypercubes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Plimpton, S.J.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper, two parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor to a subset of particles; the second assigns each to a fixed region of 3d space. The algorithms are implemented on 1024-node hypercubes for problems characterized by short-range forces, diffusion (so that each particle's neighbors change in time), and problem size ranging from 250 to 10000 particles. Timings for the algorithms on the 1024-node NCUBE/ten and the newer NCUBE 2 hypercubes are given. The latter is found to be competitive with a CRAY-XMP, running an optimized serial algorithm. For smaller problems the NCUBE 2 and CRAY-XMP are roughly the same; for larger ones the NCUBE 2 is up to twice as fast. Parallel efficiencies of the algorithms and communication parameters for the two hypercubes are also examined

  13. Nuclear inelastic scattering and density functional theory studies of a one-dimensional spin crossover [Fe(1,2,4-triazole)2(1,2,4-triazolato)](BF4) molecular chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenni, Kevin; Scherthan, Lena; Faus, Isabelle; Marx, Jennifer; Strohm, Cornelius; Herlitschke, Marcus; Wille, Hans-Christian; Würtz, Peter; Schünemann, Volker; Wolny, Juliusz A

    2017-07-26

    Nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS) experiments have been performed in order to study the vibrational dynamics of the low- and high-spin states of the polynuclear 1D spin crossover compound [Fe(1,2,4-triazole) 2 (1,2,4-triazolato)](BF 4 ) (1). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the functional B3LYP* and the basis set CEP-31G for heptameric and nonameric models of the compound yielded the normal vibrations and electronic energies for high-spin and low-spin isomers of three models differing in the distribution of anionic trz - ligands and BF 4 - anions. On the basis of the obtained energies a structural model with a centrosymmetric Fe(trzH) 4 (trz - ) 2 coordination core of the mononuclear unit of the chain is proposed. The obtained distribution of the BF 4 - counteranions in the proposed structure is similar to that obtained on the basis of X-ray powder diffraction studies by Grossjean et al. (Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2013, 796). The NIS data of the system diluted to 10% Fe(ii) content in a 90% Zn(ii) matrix (compound (2)) show a characteristic change of the spectral pattern of the low-spin centres, compared to the low-spin phase of the parent Fe(ii) complex (1). DFT calculations reveal that this is caused by a change of the structure of the neighbours of the low-spin centres. The spectral pattern of the high-spin centres in (2) is within a good approximation identical to that of the high-spin Fe(ii) isomer of (1). The inspection of the molecular orbitals of the monomeric model systems of [Fe(trzH) 4 (trz - ) 2 ] and [Fe(trzH) 6 ], together with calculations of spin transition energies, point towards the importance of an electrostatic effect caused by the negatively charged ligands. This results in the stabilisation of the low-spin state of the complex containing the anionic ligand and shortening of the Fe-N(trz - ) compared to the Fe-N(trzH) bond in high-spin, but not in low-spin [Fe(trzH) 4 (trz - ) 2 ].

  14. Metastability and avalanche dynamics in strongly correlated gases with long-range interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hruby, Lorenz; Dogra, Nishant; Landini, Manuele; Donner, Tobias; Esslinger, Tilman

    2018-03-01

    We experimentally study the stability of a bosonic Mott insulator against the formation of a density wave induced by long-range interactions and characterize the intrinsic dynamics between these two states. The Mott insulator is created in a quantum degenerate gas of 87-Rubidium atoms, trapped in a 3D optical lattice. The gas is located inside and globally coupled to an optical cavity. This causes interactions of global range, mediated by photons dispersively scattered between a transverse lattice and the cavity. The scattering comes with an atomic density modulation, which is measured by the photon flux leaking from the cavity. We initialize the system in a Mott-insulating state and then rapidly increase the global coupling strength. We observe that the system falls into either of two distinct final states. One is characterized by a low photon flux, signaling a Mott insulator, and the other is characterized by a high photon flux, which we associate with a density wave. Ramping the global coupling slowly, we observe a hysteresis loop between the two states—a further signature of metastability. A comparison with a theoretical model confirms that the metastability originates in the competition between short- and global-range interactions. From the increasing photon flux monitored during the switching process, we find that several thousand atoms tunnel to a neighboring site on the timescale of the single-particle dynamics. We argue that a density modulation, initially forming in the compressible surface of the trapped gas, triggers an avalanche tunneling process in the Mott-insulating region.

  15. Multi-input wide dynamic range ADC system for use with nuclear detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Austin, R W [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Huntsville, Ala. (USA). George C. Marshall Space Flight Center

    1976-04-15

    A wide dynamic range, eight input analog-to-digital converter system has been developed for use in nuclear experiments. The system consists of eight dual-range sample and hold modules, an eight input multiplexer, a ten-bit analog-to-digital converter, and the associated control logic.

  16. Upconversion dynamics in Yb3+-Ho3+-doped fluoroindate glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, I.R.; Rodriguez, V.D.; Lavin, V.; Rodriguez-Mendoza, U.R.

    1998-01-01

    The mechanisms and dynamics of the upconversion emissions in Yb 3+ -Ho 3+ -doped fluoroindate glasses by exciting at 975 nm have been analysed. The upconversion efficiencies have been measured as a function of temperature in the range from 12 to 295 K. The temporal evolution of the 545- and 650-nm upconversion emissions obtained under flash excitation at 975 nm in codoped samples with 2.25 mol.% of Yb 3+ and 0.75 mol.% of Ho 3+ cannot be described using the energy migration model. This indicates that at this concentration of Yb 3+ the rapid migration regimen between these ions has not been reached. A model is proposed in order to explain the temporal evolution of these emissions taking into account energy migration between donors and backtransfer processes. (orig.)

  17. Multi-exposure high dynamic range image synthesis with camera shake correction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xudong; Chen, Yongfu; Jiang, Hongzhi; Zhao, Huijie

    2017-10-01

    Machine vision plays an important part in industrial online inspection. Owing to the nonuniform illuminance conditions and variable working distances, the captured image tends to be over-exposed or under-exposed. As a result, when processing the image such as crack inspection, the algorithm complexity and computing time increase. Multiexposure high dynamic range (HDR) image synthesis is used to improve the quality of the captured image, whose dynamic range is limited. Inevitably, camera shake will result in ghost effect, which blurs the synthesis image to some extent. However, existed exposure fusion algorithms assume that the input images are either perfectly aligned or captured in the same scene. These assumptions limit the application. At present, widely used registration based on Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is usually time consuming. In order to rapidly obtain a high quality HDR image without ghost effect, we come up with an efficient Low Dynamic Range (LDR) images capturing approach and propose a registration method based on ORiented Brief (ORB) and histogram equalization which can eliminate the illumination differences between the LDR images. The fusion is performed after alignment. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust to illumination changes and local geometric distortion. Comparing with other exposure fusion methods, our method is more efficient and can produce HDR images without ghost effect by registering and fusing four multi-exposure images.

  18. Comparison of three different concepts of high dynamic range and dependability optimised current measurement digitisers for beam loss systems

    CERN Document Server

    Viganò, W; Effinger, E; Venturini, G G; Zamantzas, C

    2012-01-01

    Three Different Concepts of High Dynamic Range and Dependability Optimised Current Measurement Digitisers for Beam Loss Systems will be compared on this paper. The first concept is based on Current to Frequency Conversion, enhanced with an ADC for extending the dynamic range and decreasing the response time. A summary of 3 years’ worth of operational experience with such a system for LHC beam loss monitoring will be given. The second principle is based on an Adaptive Current to Frequency Converter implemented in an ASIC. The basic parameters of the circuit are discussed and compared with measurements. Several measures are taken to harden both circuits against single event effects and to make them tolerant for operation in radioactive environments. The third circuit is based on a Fully Differential Integrator for enhanced dynamic range, where laboratory and test installation measurements will be presented. All circuits are designed to avoid any dead time in the acquisition and have reliability and fail safe...

  19. Highly efficient extraction and oxidative desulfurization system using Na7H2LaW10O36⋅32 H2O in [bmim]BF4 at room temperature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Junhua; Zhao, Shen; Chen, Wei; Wang, Miao; Song, Yu-Fei

    2012-04-10

    Highly efficient, deep desulfurization of model oil containing dibenzothiophene (DBT), benzothiophene (BT), or 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) has been achieved under mild conditions by using an extraction and catalytic oxidative desulfurization system (ECODS) in which a lanthanide-containing polyoxometalate Na(7)H(2)LnW(10)O(36)⋅32 H(2)O (LnW(10); Ln = Eu, La) acts as catalyst, [bmim]BF(4) (bmim = 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) as extractant, and H(2)O(2) as oxidant. Sulfur removal follows the order DBT>4,6-DMDBT>BT at 30 °C. DBT can be completely oxidized to the corresponding sulfone in 25 min under mild conditions, and the LaW(10)/[bmim]BF(4) system could be recycled for ten times with only slight decrease in activity. Thus, LaW(10) in [bmim]BF(4) is one of the most efficient systems for desulfurization using ionic liquids as extractant reported so far. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  20. Recrystallization of implanted amorphous silicon layers. I. Electrical properties of silicon implanted with BF+2 or Si++B+

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsai, M.Y.; Streetman, B.G.

    1979-01-01

    Electrical properties of recrystallized amorphous silicon layers, formed by BF + 2 implants or Si + +B + implants, have been studied by differential resistivity and Hall-effect measurements. Electrical carrier distribution profiles show that boron atoms inside the amorphized Si layers can be fully activated during recrystallization at 550 0 C. The mobility is also recovered. However, the tail of the B distribution, located inside a damaged region near the original amorphous-crystalline interface, remains inactive. This inactive tail has been observed for all samples implanted with BF + 2 . Only in a thicker amorphous layer, formed for example by Si + predamage implants, can the entire B profile be activated. The etch rate of amorphous silicon in HF and the effect of fluorine on the recrystallization rate are also reported

  1. Stereo Vision-Based High Dynamic Range Imaging Using Differently-Exposed Image Pair

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Won-Jae Park

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a high dynamic range (HDR imaging method based on the stereo vision system is presented. The proposed method uses differently exposed low dynamic range (LDR images captured from a stereo camera. The stereo LDR images are first converted to initial stereo HDR images using the inverse camera response function estimated from the LDR images. However, due to the limited dynamic range of the stereo LDR camera, the radiance values in under/over-exposed regions of the initial main-view (MV HDR image can be lost. To restore these radiance values, the proposed stereo matching and hole-filling algorithms are applied to the stereo HDR images. Specifically, the auxiliary-view (AV HDR image is warped by using the estimated disparity between initial the stereo HDR images and then effective hole-filling is applied to the warped AV HDR image. To reconstruct the final MV HDR, the warped and hole-filled AV HDR image is fused with the initial MV HDR image using the weight map. The experimental results demonstrate objectively and subjectively that the proposed stereo HDR imaging method provides better performance compared to the conventional method.

  2. On the nature of the symbiotic star BF Cygni

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mikolajewska, J.; Mikolajewski, M.; Kenyon, S.J.

    1989-01-01

    Optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy of the symbiotic binary BF Cyg obtained during 1979-1988 is discussed. This system consists of a low-mass M5 giant filling about 50 percent of its tidal volume and a hot, luminous compact object similar to the central star of a planetary nebula. The binary is embedded in an asymmetric nebula which includes a small, high-density region and an extended region of lower density. The larger nebula is formed by a slow wind ejected by the cool component and ionized by the hot star, while the more compact nebula is material expelled by the hot component in the form of a bipolar wind. The analysis indicates that disk accretion is essential to maintain the nuclear burning shell of the hot star. 84 refs

  3. Wavepacket dynamics in one-dimensional system with long-range correlated disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamada, Hiroaki S.

    2018-03-01

    We numerically investigate dynamical property in the one-dimensional tight-binding model with long-range correlated disorder having power spectrum 1 /fα (α: spectrum exponent) generated by Fourier filtering method. For relatively small α MSD) of the initially localized wavepacket shows ballistic spread and localizes as time elapses. It is shown that α-dependence of the dynamical localization length determined by the MSD exhibits a simple scaling law in the localization regime for the relatively weak disorder strength W. Furthermore, scaled MSD by the dynamical localization length almost obeys an universal function from the ballistic to the localization regime in the various combinations of the parameters α and W.

  4. Texture and acceptability of goat meat frankfurters processed with 3 different sources of fat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bratcher, C L; Dawkins, N L; Solaiman, S; Kerth, C R; Bartlett, J R

    2011-05-01

    The objective of this research was to evaluate the texture and consumer acceptability of goat meat frankfurter formulations with no added fat (NAF), beef fat (BF), or canola oil (CO). Consumer sensory evaluation, fat, and moisture and texture profile analyses were performed on goat meat frankfurters produced with the fat sources BF, CO, and NAF. For sensory evaluations, NAF was less tender (P = 0.007; 4.90 vs. 4.11 and 4.35 for BF and CO, respectively) and the flavor was liked less (P = 0.004; 4.59 vs. 3.83 and 4.30 for BF and CO, respectively); BF was scored as the juiciest (P = 0.003; 3.86 vs. 4.49 and 4.58 for CO and NAF, respectively); and CO had the least amount of flavor (P = 0.029; 3.65 vs. 3.12 and 3.10 for BF and NAF, respectively). Moisture was least (P goat meat products received acceptable sensory scores; therefore, continued research and development will greatly expand the knowledge of goat meat and increase the acceptance of value-added products.

  5. Detection and elimination of the electromagnetic interferences in the neutron flux measurement circuit, Source Range; Deteccion y eliminacion de interferencias electromagneticas en el circuito de medicion de flujo neutronico, rango de fuente

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Acosta, J. M.; Esguivillas, L.; Valle, J. L.

    2010-07-01

    This paper compiles an experience in Asco I Nuclear Power Plant about electromagnetic interferences associated to the neutron flux measurement system, Source Range Asco I NPP. The circuit affected is the proportional detector (BF3) located outside the reactor vessel to measure the neutron leakage in shutdown and in start-up.

  6. Sorting method to extend the dynamic range of the Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Junwon; Shack, Roland V.; Descour, Michael R.

    2005-01-01

    We propose a simple and powerful algorithm to extend the dynamic range of a Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor. In a conventional Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor the dynamic range is limited by the f-number of a lenslet, because the focal spot is required to remain in the area confined by the single lenslet. The sorting method proposed here eliminates such a limitation and extends the dynamic range by tagging each spot in a special sequence. Since the sorting method is a simple algorithm that does not change the measurement configuration, there is no requirement for extra hardware, multiple measurements, or complicated algorithms. We not only present the theory and a calculation example of the sorting method but also actually implement measurement of a highly aberrated wave front from nonrotational symmetric optics

  7. Hexaaquacopper(II bis(tetrafluoridoborate–pyrazine 1,4-dioxide (1/3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan L. Wikaira

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The crystal structure of the title compound, [Cu(H2O6](BF42·3C4H4N2O2, comprises discrete [Cu(H2O6]2+ cations and BF4− anions along with three equivalents of pyrazine 1,4-dioxide (pzdo. The hexaaquacopper(II ion and all three pzdo molecules lie about crystallographic inversion centers. The lattice is supported by an extensive hydrogen-bonding network. O—H...O hydrogen bonding between the [Cu(H2O6]2+ and pzdo units creates a pseudo-hexagonal lattice parallel to the bc plane. The BF4− anions lie in the voids of that lattice, held in place by O—H...F hydrogen bonds, and also generate BF4−–pzdo–BF4−–pzdo stacks via short F...N contacts [2.866 (33.283 (4 Å].

  8. Characterization of a backfill candidate material, IBECO-RWC-BF Baclo Project - Phase 3 Laboratory tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johannesson, Lars-Erik; Sanden, Torbjoern; Dueck, Ann; Ohlsson, Lars

    2010-01-01

    A backfill candidate material, IBECO-RWC-BF, which origin from Milos, Greece, has been investigated. The material was delivered both as granules and as pellets. The investigation described in this report aimed to characterize the material and evaluate if it can be used in a future repository. The following investigations have been done and are presented in this report: 1. Standard laboratory tests. Water content, liquid limit and swelling potential are examples on standard tests that have been performed. 2. Block manufacturing. The block compaction properties of the material have been determined. A first test was performed in laboratory but also tests in large scale have been performed. After finishing the test phase, 60 tons of blocks were manufactured at Hoeganaes Bjuf AB. The blocks will be used in large scale laboratory tests at Aespoe HRL. 3. Mechanical parameters. The compressibility of the material was investigated with oedometer tests (four tests) where the load was applied in steps after saturation. The evaluated oedometer modulus varied between 34.50 MPa. Tests were made to evaluate the elastic parameters of the material (E, ν). Altogether three tests were made on specimens with dry densities of about 1,710 kg/m 3 . The evaluated E-modulus and Poisson's ratio varied between 231-263 MPa and 0.16-0.19 respectively. The strength of the material, both the compressive strength and the tensile strength were measured on specimens compacted to different dry densities. The test results yielded a relation between density and the two types of strength. Furthermore, tests have been made in order to determine the compressibility of the unsaturated filling of pellets. Two tests were made where the pellets were loosely filled in a Proctor cylinder and then compressed at a constant rate of strain during continuously measurement of the applied load. 4. Swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity. There is, as expected, a very clear influence of the dry density on the

  9. Effect of Mn Substitution for Multiferroic BiFeO3 Probed by High-Resolution Soft-X-Ray Spectroscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Higuchi, Tohru; Higuchi, T.; Hattori, T.; Sakamoto, W.; Itoh, N.; Shimura, T.; Yogo, T.; Yao, P.; Liu, Y.; Glans, P.; Chang, C.; Wu, Z.; Guo, Jinghua

    2008-07-11

    The electronic structures of BiFeO{sub 3} (BF) and Mn-doped BiFeO{sub 3} (BF(Mn)) have been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and soft-X-ray emission spectroscopy (SXES). The BF and BF(Mn) have the mixed valence state of Fe{sup 2+} and Fe{sup 3+}. The valence band is mainly composed of O 2p state hybridized with the majority-spin t{sub 2g} and e{sub g} orbitals of Fe 3d state. The conduction band is composed of the minority-spin t{sub 2g} and e{sub g} orbitals of Fe 3d. The band gaps of BF and BF(Mn) are estimated to be 1.3 eV and 2.7 eV, respectively. The increase of band gap with Mn substitution contributes to the change of bandwidth of valence band.

  10. A NLTE line formation for neutral and singly-ionised calcium in model atmospheres of B-F stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sitnova, T. M.; Mashonkina, L. I.; Ryabchikova, T. A.

    2018-03-01

    We present non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) line formation calculations for Ca I and Ca II in B-F stars. The sign and the magnitude of NLTE abundance corrections depend on line and stellar parameters. We determine calcium abundances for nine stars with reliable stellar parameters. For all stars, where the lines of both species could be measured, the NLTE abundances are found to be consistent within the error bars. We obtain consistent NLTE abundances from Ca II lines in the visible and near infra-red (IR, 8912-27, 9890 Å) spectrum range, in contrast with LTE, where the discrepancy between the two groups of lines ranges from -0.5 dex to 0.6 dex for different stars. Our NLTE method reproduces the Ca II 8912-27, 9890 Å lines observed in emission in the late B-type star HD 160762 with the classical plane-parallel and LTE model atmosphere. NLTE abundance corrections for lines of Ca I and Ca II were calculated in a grid of model atmospheres with 7000 K ≤ Teff ≤ 13000 K, 3.2 ≤ log g ≤ 5.0, -0.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤0.5, ξt= 2.0 km s-1. Our NLTE results can be applied for calcium NLTE abundance determination from Gaia spectra, given that accurate continuum normalisation and proper treatment of the hydrogen Paschen lines are provided. The NLTE method can be useful to refine calcium underabundances in Am stars and to provide accurate observational constraints on the models of diffusion.

  11. A NLTE line formation for neutral and singly ionized calcium in model atmospheres of B-F stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sitnova, T. M.; Mashonkina, L. I.; Ryabchikova, T. A.

    2018-07-01

    We present non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) line formation calculations for Ca I and Ca II in B-F stars. The sign and the magnitude of NLTE abundance corrections depend on line and stellar parameters. We determine calcium abundances for nine stars with reliable stellar parameters. For all stars, where the lines of both species could be measured, the NLTE abundances are found to be consistent within the error bars. We obtain consistent NLTE abundances from Ca II lines in the visible and near infra-red (IR, 8912-27, 9890 Å) spectrum range, in contrast with LTE, where the discrepancy between the two groups of lines ranges from -0.5 to 0.6 dex for different stars. Our NLTE method reproduces the Ca II 8912-27, 9890 Å lines observed in emission in the late B-type star HD 160762 with the classical plane-parallel and LTE model atmosphere. NLTE abundance corrections for lines of Ca I and Ca II were calculated in a grid of model atmospheres with 7000 ≤ Teff ≤ 13 000 K, 3.2 ≤ log g ≤ 5.0, -0.5 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤0.5, ξt = 2.0 km s-1. Our NLTE results can be applied for calcium NLTE abundance determination from Gaia spectra, given that accurate continuum normalization and proper treatment of the hydrogen Paschen lines are provided. The NLTE method can be useful to refine calcium underabundances in Am stars and to provide accurate observational constraints on the models of diffusion.

  12. Automatic Generation of Wide Dynamic Range Image without Pseudo-Edge Using Integration of Multi-Steps Exposure Images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Migiyama, Go; Sugimura, Atsuhiko; Osa, Atsushi; Miike, Hidetoshi

    Recently, digital cameras are offering technical advantages rapidly. However, the shot image is different from the sight image generated when that scenery is seen with the naked eye. There are blown-out highlights and crushed blacks in the image that photographed the scenery of wide dynamic range. The problems are hardly generated in the sight image. These are contributory cause of difference between the shot image and the sight image. Blown-out highlights and crushed blacks are caused by the difference of dynamic range between the image sensor installed in a digital camera such as CCD and CMOS and the human visual system. Dynamic range of the shot image is narrower than dynamic range of the sight image. In order to solve the problem, we propose an automatic method to decide an effective exposure range in superposition of edges. We integrate multi-step exposure images using the method. In addition, we try to erase pseudo-edges using the process to blend exposure values. Afterwards, we get a pseudo wide dynamic range image automatically.

  13. A multicenter study demonstrating discordant results from electronic prostate-specific antigen biochemical failure calculation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, Scott G.; Pickles, Tom; Kestin, Larry; Potters, Louis; Fearn, Paul; Smith, Ryan; Pratt, Gary

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: To evaluate the interobserver variation of four electronic biochemical failure (bF) calculators using three bF definitions. Methods and Materials: The data of 1200 men were analyzed using the electronic bF calculators of four institutions. Three bF definitions were examined for their concordance of bF identification across the centers: the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology consensus definition (ACD), the lowest prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level to date plus 2 ng/mL (L2), and a threshold of 3 ng/mL (T3). Results: Unanimous agreement regarding bF status using the ACD, L2, and T3 definitions occurred in 87.3%, 96.4%, and 92.7% of cases, respectively. Using the ACD, 63% of the variation was from one institution, which allowed the bF status to be reversed if a PSA decline was seen after bF (PSA 'bounce'). A total of 270 men had an ACD bF time variation of >2 months across the calculators, and the 5-year freedom from bF rate was 49.8-60.9%. The L2 definition had a 20.5% rate of calculated bF times; which varied by >2 months (median, 6.4; range, 2.1-75.6) and a corresponding 5-year freedom from bF rate of 55.9-61.0%. The T3 definition had a 2.0% range in the 5-year freedom from bF. Fifteen definition interpretation variations were identified. Conclusion: Reported bF results vary not only because of bF definition differences, but because of variations in how those definitions are written into computer-based calculators, with multiple interpretations most prevalent for the ACD. An algorithm to avoid misinterpretations is proposed for the L2 definition. A verification system to guarantee consistent electronic bF results requires development

  14. Numerical analysis for finite-range multitype stochastic contact financial market dynamic systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Ge; Wang, Jun; Fang, Wen

    2015-01-01

    In an attempt to reproduce and study the dynamics of financial markets, a random agent-based financial price model is developed and investigated by the finite-range multitype contact dynamic system, in which the interaction and dispersal of different types of investment attitudes in a stock market are imitated by viruses spreading. With different parameters of birth rates and finite-range, the normalized return series are simulated by Monte Carlo simulation method and numerical studied by power-law distribution analysis and autocorrelation analysis. To better understand the nonlinear dynamics of the return series, a q-order autocorrelation function and a multi-autocorrelation function are also defined in this work. The comparisons of statistical behaviors of return series from the agent-based model and the daily historical market returns of Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index indicate that the proposed model is a reasonable qualitative explanation for the price formation process of stock market systems

  15. Numerical analysis for finite-range multitype stochastic contact financial market dynamic systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ge; Wang, Jun; Fang, Wen

    2015-04-01

    In an attempt to reproduce and study the dynamics of financial markets, a random agent-based financial price model is developed and investigated by the finite-range multitype contact dynamic system, in which the interaction and dispersal of different types of investment attitudes in a stock market are imitated by viruses spreading. With different parameters of birth rates and finite-range, the normalized return series are simulated by Monte Carlo simulation method and numerical studied by power-law distribution analysis and autocorrelation analysis. To better understand the nonlinear dynamics of the return series, a q-order autocorrelation function and a multi-autocorrelation function are also defined in this work. The comparisons of statistical behaviors of return series from the agent-based model and the daily historical market returns of Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index indicate that the proposed model is a reasonable qualitative explanation for the price formation process of stock market systems.

  16. Numerical analysis for finite-range multitype stochastic contact financial market dynamic systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Ge; Wang, Jun [School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China); Fang, Wen, E-mail: fangwen@bjtu.edu.cn [School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)

    2015-04-15

    In an attempt to reproduce and study the dynamics of financial markets, a random agent-based financial price model is developed and investigated by the finite-range multitype contact dynamic system, in which the interaction and dispersal of different types of investment attitudes in a stock market are imitated by viruses spreading. With different parameters of birth rates and finite-range, the normalized return series are simulated by Monte Carlo simulation method and numerical studied by power-law distribution analysis and autocorrelation analysis. To better understand the nonlinear dynamics of the return series, a q-order autocorrelation function and a multi-autocorrelation function are also defined in this work. The comparisons of statistical behaviors of return series from the agent-based model and the daily historical market returns of Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Component Index indicate that the proposed model is a reasonable qualitative explanation for the price formation process of stock market systems.

  17. Photonic limiters with enhanced dynamic range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kononchuk, Rodion; Limberopoulos, Nicholaos; Anisimov, Igor; Vitebskiy, Ilya; Chabanov, Andrey

    2018-02-01

    Optical limiters transmit low intensity input light while blocking input light with the intensity exceeding certain limiting threshold. Conventional passive limiters utilize nonlinear optical materials, which are transparent at low light intensity and turn absorptive at high intensity. Strong nonlinear absorption, though, can result in over- heating and destruction of the limiter. Another problem is that the limiting threshold provided by the available optical material with nonlinear absorption is too high for many applications. To address the above problems, the nonlinear material can be incorporated in a photonic structure with engineered dispersion. At low intensity, the photonic structure can display resonant transmission via localized mode(s), while at high intensity the resonant transmission can disappear, and the entire stack can become highly re ective (not absorptive) within a broad frequency range. In the proposed design, the transition from the resonant transmission at low intensity to nearly total re ectivity at high intensity does not rely on nonlinear absorption; instead, it requires only a modest change in the refractive index of the nonlinear material. The latter implies a dramatic increase in the dynamic range of the limiter. The main idea is to eliminate the high-intensity resonant transmission by decoupling the localized (resonant) modes from the input light, rather than suppressing those modes using nonlinear absorption. Similar approach can be used for light modulation and switching.

  18. Stanley Kubrick and B.F. Skinner : Is a Teaching Machine a Monolith ?

    OpenAIRE

    浜野, 保樹; ハマノ, ヤスキ; Yasuki, Hamano

    1990-01-01

    The teaching machine invented by B.F. Skinner was recog-nized as one of few clear achievements of scientific pedagogy and even appeared in SF. Arthur C. Clarke who wrote the script of the SF movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Stanley Kubrick wanted to scientifically define a monolith to be a God who had given intelligence to our ancestors. In other words, he wanted to describe a monolith as a teaching machine as well as a God. However Kubrick did not want to make clear about what a monolith i...

  19. Mangrove microclimates alter seedling dynamics at the range edge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devaney, John L; Lehmann, Michael; Feller, Ilka C; Parker, John D

    2017-10-01

    Recent climate warming has led to asynchronous species migrations, with major consequences for ecosystems worldwide. In woody communities, localized microclimates have the potential to create feedback mechanisms that can alter the rate of species range shifts attributed to macroclimate drivers alone. Mangrove encroachment into saltmarsh in many areas is driven by a reduction in freeze events, and this encroachment can further modify local climate, but the subsequent impacts on mangrove seedling dynamics are unknown. We monitored microclimate conditions beneath mangrove canopies and adjacent open saltmarsh at a freeze-sensitive mangrove-saltmarsh ecotone and assessed survival of experimentally transplanted mangrove seedlings. Mangrove canopies buffered night time cooling during the winter, leading to interspecific differences in freeze damage on mangrove seedlings. However, mangrove canopies also altered biotic interactions. Herbivore damage was higher under canopies, leading to greater mangrove seedling mortality beneath canopies relative to saltmarsh. While warming-induced expansion of mangroves can lead to positive microclimate feedbacks, simultaneous fluctuations in biotic drivers can also alter seedling dynamics. Thus, climate change can drive divergent feedback mechanisms through both abiotic and biotic channels, highlighting the importance of vegetation-microclimate interactions as important moderators of climate driven range shifts. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

  20. Electronic and structural aspects of spin transitions observed by optical microscopy. The case of [Fe(ptz)6](BF4)2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, Christian; Mishra, Haritosh; Boukheddaden, Kamel; Denise, Stéphane; Bouchez, Guillaume; Collet, Eric; Ameline, Jean-Claude; Naik, Anil D; Garcia, Yann; Varret, François

    2010-02-11

    The colorimetric analysis of images recorded with an optical microscope during the onset of the spin crossover transformation allows monitoring separately the involved electronic and structural aspects, through the separation of resonant absorption and scattering effects. Complementary information can also be obtained by using the polarized modes of the microscope. These potentialities are illustrated by the observation of [Fe(ptz)(6)](BF(4))(2) single crystals during the onset of the thermal transitions in the 110-140 K range. We characterized the interplay between the electronic (HS LS) and structural (order disorder) transformations. Elastic stresses and mechanical effects (hopping, self-cleavage) generated by the volume change upon electronic transition are also illustrated, with their impact on the photoswitching properties of the crystals.

  1. PTF11mnb: First analog of supernova 2005bf. Long-rising, double-peaked supernova Ic from a massive progenitor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taddia, F.; Sollerman, J.; Fremling, C.; Karamehmetoglu, E.; Quimby, R. M.; Gal-Yam, A.; Yaron, O.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Nugent, P. E.; Smadja, G.; Tao, C.

    2018-01-01

    Aims: We study PTF11mnb, a He-poor supernova (SN) whose light curves resemble those of SN 2005bf, a peculiar double-peaked stripped-envelope (SE) SN, until the declining phase after the main peak. We investigate the mechanism powering its light curve and the nature of its progenitor star. Methods: Optical photometry and spectroscopy of PTF11mnb are presented. We compared light curves, colors and spectral properties to those of SN 2005bf and normal SE SNe. We built a bolometric light curve and modeled this light curve with the SuperNova Explosion Code (SNEC) hydrodynamical code explosion of a MESA progenitor star and semi-analytic models. Results: The light curve of PTF11mnb turns out to be similar to that of SN 2005bf until 50 d when the main (secondary) peaks occur at -18.5 mag. The early peak occurs at 20 d and is about 1.0 mag fainter. After the main peak, the decline rate of PTF11mnb is remarkably slower than what was observed in SN 2005bf, and it traces well the 56Co decay rate. The spectra of PTF11mnb reveal a SN Ic and have no traces of He unlike in the case of SN Ib 2005bf, although they have velocities comparable to those of SN 2005bf. The whole evolution of the bolometric light curve is well reproduced by the explosion of a massive (Mej = 7.8 M⊙), He-poor star characterized by a double-peaked 56Ni distribution, a total 56Ni mass of 0.59 M⊙, and an explosion energy of 2.2 × 1051 erg. Alternatively, a normal SN Ib/c explosion (M(56Ni) = 0.11 M⊙, EK = 0.2 × 1051 erg, Mej = 1 M⊙) can power the first peak while a magnetar, with a magnetic field characterized by B = 5.0 × 1014 G, and a rotation period of P = 18.1 ms, provides energy for the main peak. The early g-band light curve can be fit with a shock-breakout cooling tail or an extended envelope model from which a radius of at least 30 R⊙ is obtained. Conclusions: We presented a scenario where PTF11mnb was the explosion of a massive, He-poor star, characterized by a double-peaked 56Ni

  2. A wide-range model of two-group gross sections in the dynamics code HEXTRAN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaloinen, E.; Peltonen, J.

    2002-01-01

    In dynamic analyses the thermal hydraulic conditions within the reactor core may have a large variation, which sets a special requirement on the modeling of cross sections. The standard model in the dynamics code HEXTRAN is the same as in the static design code HEXBU-3D/MODS. It is based on a linear and second order fitting of two-group cross sections on fuel and moderator temperature, moderator density and boron density. A new, wide-range model of cross sections developed in Fortum Nuclear Services for HEXBU-3D/MOD6 has been included as an option into HEXTRAN. In this model the nodal cross sections are constructed from seven state variables in a polynomial of more than 40 terms. Coefficients of the polynomial are created by a least squares fitting to the results of a large number of fuel assembly calculations. Depending on the choice of state variables for the spectrum calculations, the new cross section model is capable to cover local conditions from cold zero power to boiling at full power. The 5. dynamic benchmark problem of AER is analyzed with the new option and results are compared to calculations with the standard model of cross sections in HEXTRAN (Authors)

  3. Study of thermal spin crossover in [Fe(II)(isoxazole)(6)](BF4)(2) with Mossbauer spectroscopy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bhattacharjee, A.; van Koningsbruggen, P. J.; Hibbs, W.; Miller, Joel S.; Guetlich, P.

    2007-01-01

    Fe-57 Mossbauer spectroscopy of the mononuclear [Fe( II)( isoxazole)(6)]( BF4)(2) compound has been studied to reveal the thermal spin crossover of Fe( II) between low- spin ( S = 0) and high- spin ( S = 2) states. A temperature-dependent spin transition curve has been constructed with the least-

  4. Separation of toluene from n-heptane by liquid–liquid extraction using binary mixtures of [bpy][BF4] and [4bmpy][Tf2N] ionic liquids as solvent

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    García, Silvia; Larriba, Marcos; García, Julián; Torrecilla, José S.; Rodríguez, Francisco

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Binary mixtures of ionic liquids as extraction solvents of aromatics. ► [4bmpy][Tf 2 N] shows higher capacity but lower selectivity than sulfolane. ► [bpy][BF 4 ] shows lower capacity but higher selectivity than sulfolane. ► Mixed {[4bmpy][Tf 2 N] + [bpy][BF 4 ]} improves both extractive properties. - Abstract: The use of binary mixture of ionic liquids N-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate ([bpy][BF 4 ]), and 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([4bmpy][Tf 2 N]) in the liquid–liquid extraction of toluene from n-heptane has been investigated at 313.2 K and atmospheric pressure. The experimental capacity of extraction and selectivity for this binary mixture has proved to be intermediate to those corresponding to the pure ionic liquids, and they can be predicted using a logarithmic–linear model of solubility. Furthermore, the results showed that the use of binary mixture of {[bpy][BF 4 ] + [4bmpy][Tf 2 N]} at a mole solvent composition around 0.7 for [bpy][BF 4 ] improves both the capacity of extraction of toluene and the selectivity with respect to those of sulfolane, the organic solvent taken as a benchmark. Thus, this mixed ionic liquid could be likely to be used in the extraction of aromatic from aliphatic in replacement to sulfolane.

  5. Image Alignment for Multiple Camera High Dynamic Range Microscopy

    OpenAIRE

    Eastwood, Brian S.; Childs, Elisabeth C.

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the problem of image alignment for multiple camera high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. HDR imaging combines information from images taken with different exposure settings. Combining information from multiple cameras requires an alignment process that is robust to the intensity differences in the images. HDR applications that use a limited number of component images require an alignment technique that is robust to large exposure differences. We evaluate the suitability fo...

  6. The effective action in (2+1)-dimensional gravity and generalized BF topological field theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Birmingham, D. (Theory Div., CERN, Geneva (Switzerland)); Gibbs, R.; Mokhtari, S. (Physics Dept., Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston, LA (United States))

    1991-07-11

    The one-loop off-shell effective action is studied for the case of generalized BF theories in three dimensions, including, for example, (2 + 1)-dimensional gravity with a cosmological constant. The phase contribution to the effective action, originating from the {eta}-function of a particular first order operator, is calculated using a momentum space technique. It is found that the {eta}-function is proportional to the classical action. (orig.).

  7. The effective action in (2+1)-dimensional gravity and generalized BF topological field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birmingham, D.; Gibbs, R.; Mokhtari, S.

    1991-01-01

    The one-loop off-shell effective action is studied for the case of generalized BF theories in three dimensions, including, for example, (2 + 1)-dimensional gravity with a cosmological constant. The phase contribution to the effective action, originating from the η-function of a particular first order operator, is calculated using a momentum space technique. It is found that the η-function is proportional to the classical action. (orig.)

  8. Quantitative high dynamic range beam profiling for fluorescence microscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitchell, T. J.; Saunter, C. D.; O’Nions, W.; Girkin, J. M.; Love, G. D.

    2014-01-01

    Modern developmental biology relies on optically sectioning fluorescence microscope techniques to produce non-destructive in vivo images of developing specimens at high resolution in three dimensions. As optimal performance of these techniques is reliant on the three-dimensional (3D) intensity profile of the illumination employed, the ability to directly record and analyze these profiles is of great use to the fluorescence microscopist or instrument builder. Though excitation beam profiles can be measured indirectly using a sample of fluorescent beads and recording the emission along the microscope detection path, we demonstrate an alternative approach where a miniature camera sensor is used directly within the illumination beam. Measurements taken using our approach are solely concerned with the illumination optics as the detection optics are not involved. We present a miniature beam profiling device and high dynamic range flux reconstruction algorithm that together are capable of accurately reproducing quantitative 3D flux maps over a large focal volume. Performance of this beam profiling system is verified within an optical test bench and demonstrated for fluorescence microscopy by profiling the low NA illumination beam of a single plane illumination microscope. The generality and success of this approach showcases a widely flexible beam amplitude diagnostic tool for use within the life sciences

  9. High dynamic range vision sensor for automotive applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grenet, Eric; Gyger, Steve; Heim, Pascal; Heitger, Friedrich; Kaess, Francois; Nussbaum, Pascal; Ruedi, Pierre-Francois

    2005-02-01

    A 128 x 128 pixels, 120 dB vision sensor extracting at the pixel level the contrast magnitude and direction of local image features is used to implement a lane tracking system. The contrast representation (relative change of illumination) delivered by the sensor is independent of the illumination level. Together with the high dynamic range of the sensor, it ensures a very stable image feature representation even with high spatial and temporal inhomogeneities of the illumination. Dispatching off chip image feature is done according to the contrast magnitude, prioritizing features with high contrast magnitude. This allows to reduce drastically the amount of data transmitted out of the chip, hence the processing power required for subsequent processing stages. To compensate for the low fill factor (9%) of the sensor, micro-lenses have been deposited which increase the sensitivity by a factor of 5, corresponding to an equivalent of 2000 ASA. An algorithm exploiting the contrast representation output by the vision sensor has been developed to estimate the position of a vehicle relative to the road markings. The algorithm first detects the road markings based on the contrast direction map. Then, it performs quadratic fits on selected kernel of 3 by 3 pixels to achieve sub-pixel accuracy on the estimation of the lane marking positions. The resulting precision on the estimation of the vehicle lateral position is 1 cm. The algorithm performs efficiently under a wide variety of environmental conditions, including night and rainy conditions.

  10. Expanding the dynamic measurement range for polymeric nanoparticle pH sensors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sun, Honghao; Almdal, Kristoffer; Andresen, Thomas Lars

    2011-01-01

    Conventional optical nanoparticle pH sensors that are designed for ratiometric measurements in cells have been based on utilizing one sensor fluorophore and one reference fluorophore in each nanoparticle, which results in a relatively narrow dynamic measurement range. This results in substantial...

  11. High Dynamic Range adaptive ΔΣ-based Focal Plane Array architecture

    KAUST Repository

    Yao, Shun; Kavusi, Sam; Salama, Khaled N.

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, an Adaptive Delta-Sigma based architecture for High Dynamic Range (HDR) Focal Plane Arrays is presented. The noise shaping effect of the Delta-Sigma modulation in the low end, and the distortion noise induced in the high end of Photo

  12. Phonon dynamics of the Sn/Ge(111)-(3 x 3) surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Farias, D.; Kaminski, W.; Lobo, J.; Ortega, J.; Hulpke, E.; Perez, R.; Flores, F.; Michel, E.G.

    2004-01-01

    We present a theoretical and experimental study on the phonon dynamics of the low-temperature Sn/Ge(111)-(3 x 3) structure. High-resolution helium atom scattering (HAS) data show that, besides the Rayleigh wave, there are three surface phonon branches with low dispersion related to the (3 x 3) surface phase. Their energies are approximately 6.5, 4, and 3meV at the Γ-bar point. In addition, we detect phonon peaks in the Q range 0.4-0.5A -1 at ∼2meV, which correspond to (3 x 3) folding of the Rayleigh wave. Ab initio DFT-GGA total energy calculations have been performed to determine the frequencies associated with the vertical displacements of the three Sn atoms in the unit cell. The values obtained are in good agreement with the experiment

  13. Lithium-ion battery dynamic model for wide range of operating conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stroe, Ana-Irina; Stroe, Daniel-Ioan; Swierczynski, Maciej Jozef

    2017-01-01

    In order to analyze the dynamic behavior of a Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery and to determine their suitability for various applications, battery models are needed. An equivalent electrical circuit model is the most common way of representing the behavior of a Li-ion battery. There are different...... characterization tests performed for a wide range of operating conditions (temperature, load current and state-of-charge) on a commercial available 13Ah high-power lithium titanate oxide battery cell. The obtained results were used to parametrize the proposed dynamic model of the battery cell. To assess...

  14. Phase formation, structure and dielectric properties of ceramics (Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3–(K0.5Na0.5NbO3–BiFeO3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. M. Kaleva

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Influence of BiFeO3 (BF on phase formation, unit cell parameters, microstructure, dielectric and ferroelectric properties of solid solutions close to the morphotropic phase boundary in the (Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3–(K0.5Na0.5NbO3 system additionally modified by the low-melting KCl additives has been studied. The formation of pure perovskite structure samples decrease in the unit cell parameters and increase in the TC value stimulated by the BF addition have been revealed. It was proved that modification of compositions by small amounts of the BF and KCl additives leads to improvement of dielectric parameters.

  15. A > 4 MGy radiation tolerant 8 THzOhm transimpedance amplifier with 50 dB dynamic range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verbeeck, J; Steyaert, M; Leroux, P

    2013-01-01

    A 130 nm Transimpedance Amplifier has been developed with a 255 MHz bandwidth, 90 dBΩ transimpedance gain and a dynamic input range of 1:325 or 50 dB for a photo-diode capacitance of 0.75 pF. The equivalent integrated input noise is 160 nA - 25°C. The gain of the voltage amplifier, used in the transimpedance amplifier (TIA), degrades less than 3% over a temperature range from -40 °C up to 125 °C. The TIA and attenuator exhibit a radiation tolerance larger than 4 MGy, as evidenced by radiation assessment.

  16. Exploring the dynamics of phase separation in colloid-polymer mixtures with long range attraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabin, Juan; Bailey, Arthur E; Frisken, Barbara J

    2016-06-28

    We have studied the kinetics of phase separation and gel formation in a low-dispersity colloid - non-adsorbing polymer system with long range attraction using small-angle light scattering. This system exhibits two-phase and three-phase coexistence of gas, liquid and crystal phases when the strength of attraction is between 2 and 4kBT and gel phases when the strength of attraction is increased. For those samples that undergo macroscopic phase separation, whether to gas-crystal, gas-liquid or gas-liquid-crystal coexistence, we observe dynamic scaling of the structure factor and growth of a characteristic length scale that behaves as expected for phase separation in fluids. In samples that gel, the power law associated with the growth of the dominant length scale is not equal to 1/3, but appears to depend mainly on the strength of attraction, decreasing from 1/3 for samples near the coexistence region to 1/27 at 8kBT, over a wide range of colloid and polymer concentrations.

  17. High dynamic range isotope ratio measurements using an analog electron multiplier

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Williams, P.; Lorinčík, Jan; Franzreb, K.; Herwig, R.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 45, č. 1 (2013), s. 549-552 ISSN 0142-2421 R&D Projects: GA MŠk ME 894 Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : Isotope ratios * electron multiplier * dynamic range Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering Impact factor: 1.393, year: 2013

  18. Implementation and assessment of improved models and options in TRAC-BF1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Analytis, G.Th.

    1996-07-01

    A summary of modifications and options introduced in TRAC-BF1 is presented and it is shown that the predicting capabilities of the modified version of the core are greatly improved. These changes include the introduction of a different heat transfer package during reflooding, the implementation of a simple single-phase limit procedure for forcing the two phases to acquire the same velocity if one phase disappears, a close assessment of the annular flow interfacial shear correlation, implementation of a simple radiation model which seems to alleviate some numerical-oscillations problems induced by the existing highly complex model. Furthermore, different options were introduced and tested like upwinding some terms of the momentum equations (which seems to solve a number of problems reported in the past), the second upwind scheme for the convective terms of the phasic momentum equations and the implementation and assessment of a completely different annular flow interfacial shear correlation. The modified TRAC-BF1 is assessed against some bottom-flooding separate-effect experiments, a 'benchmark' top flooding simulation as well as against the TLTA test Nr. 6423. In the process of this task, the different options are assessed and discussed and is shown that the predictions of the modified code are physically sound and close to the measurements, while almost all the predicted variables are free of unphysical spurious oscillations. The modifications introduced solve a number of problems associated with the frozen version of the code and result in a version which can be confidently used for LB-LOCA analyses. (author) 19 figs., 16 refs

  19. 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate Film as a Highly Selective Sensing Material for Non-Invasive Detection of Acetone Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenyan Tao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Breath acetone serves as a biomarker for diabetes. This article reports 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([bmim][BF4], a type of room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL, as a selective sensing material for acetone. The RTIL sensing layer was coated on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM for detection. The sensing mechanism is based on a decrease in viscosity and density of the [bmim][BF4] film due to the solubilization of acetone leading to a positive frequency shift in the QCM. Acetone was detected with a linear range from 7.05 to 750 ppmv. Sensitivity and limit of detection were found to be 3.49 Hz/ppmv and 5.0 ppmv, respectively. The [bmim][BF4]-modified QCM sensor demonstrated anti-interference ability to commonly found volatile organic compounds in breath, e.g., isoprene, 1,2-pentadiene, d-limonene, and dl-limonene. This technology is useful for applications in non-invasive early diabetic diagnosis.

  20. Enhancing the dynamic range of Ultrasound Imaging Velocimetry using interleaved imaging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poelma, C.; Fraser, K.H.

    2013-01-01

    In recent years, non-invasive velocity field measurement based on correlation of ultrasound images has been introduced as a promising technique for fundamental research into disease processes, as well as a diagnostic tool. A major drawback of the method is the relatively limited dynamic range when

  1. Robust image registration for multiple exposure high dynamic range image synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Susu

    2011-03-01

    Image registration is an important preprocessing technique in high dynamic range (HDR) image synthesis. This paper proposed a robust image registration method for aligning a group of low dynamic range images (LDR) that are captured with different exposure times. Illumination change and photometric distortion between two images would result in inaccurate registration. We propose to transform intensity image data into phase congruency to eliminate the effect of the changes in image brightness and use phase cross correlation in the Fourier transform domain to perform image registration. Considering the presence of non-overlapped regions due to photometric distortion, evolutionary programming is applied to search for the accurate translation parameters so that the accuracy of registration is able to be achieved at a hundredth of a pixel level. The proposed algorithm works well for under and over-exposed image registration. It has been applied to align LDR images for synthesizing high quality HDR images..

  2. Thermally Tunable Dual Emission of the d8–d8 Dimer [Pt2(μ-P2O5(BF2)2)4]4–

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hofbeck, T.; Lam, Y.; Ch.; Kalbáč, Martin; Záliš, Stanislav; Vlček, Antonín; Yersin, H.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 55, č. 5 (2016), s. 2441-2449 ISSN 0020-1669 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LH13015; GA MŠk LD14129; GA MŠk LL1301 Grant - others:COST(XE) cm1202 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : High-resolution fluorescence * phosphorescence spectra * [Pt2(μ-P2O5(BF2)2)4]4− (Pt(pop-BF2)) Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.857, year: 2016

  3. Multiline 3D beamforming using micro-beamformed datasets for pediatric transesophageal echocardiography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bera, D.; Raghunathan, S. B.; Chen, C.; Chen, Z.; Pertijs, M. A. P.; Verweij, M. D.; Daeichin, V.; Vos, H. J.; van der Steen, A. F. W.; de Jong, N.; Bosch, J. G.

    2018-04-01

    Until now, no matrix transducer has been realized for 3D transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in pediatric patients. In 3D TEE with a matrix transducer, the biggest challenges are to connect a large number of elements to a standard ultrasound system, and to achieve a high volume rate (>200 Hz). To address these issues, we have recently developed a prototype miniaturized matrix transducer for pediatric patients with micro-beamforming and a small central transmitter. In this paper we propose two multiline parallel 3D beamforming techniques (µBF25 and µBF169) using the micro-beamformed datasets from 25 and 169 transmit events to achieve volume rates of 300 Hz and 44 Hz, respectively. Both the realizations use angle-weighted combination of the neighboring overlapping sub-volumes to avoid artifacts due to sharp intensity changes introduced by parallel beamforming. In simulation, the image quality in terms of the width of the point spread function (PSF), lateral shift invariance and mean clutter level for volumes produced by µBF25 and µBF169 are similar to the idealized beamforming using a conventional single-line acquisition with a fully-sampled matrix transducer (FS4k, 4225 transmit events). For completeness, we also investigated a 9 transmit-scheme (3  ×  3) that allows even higher frame rates but found worse B-mode image quality with our probe. The simulations were experimentally verified by acquiring the µBF datasets from the prototype using a Verasonics V1 research ultrasound system. For both µBF169 and µBF25, the experimental PSFs were similar to the simulated PSFs, but in the experimental PSFs, the clutter level was ~10 dB higher. Results indicate that the proposed multiline 3D beamforming techniques with the prototype matrix transducer are promising candidates for real-time pediatric 3D TEE.

  4. A technique for extending by ∼10{sup 3} the dynamic range of compact proton spectrometers for diagnosing ICF implosions on the National Ignition Facility and OMEGA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sio, H., E-mail: hsio@mit.edu; Séguin, F. H.; Frenje, J. A.; Gatu Johnson, M.; Zylstra, A. B.; Rinderknecht, H. G.; Rosenberg, M. J.; Li, C. K.; Petrasso, R. D. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

    2014-11-15

    Wedge Range Filter (WRF) proton spectrometers are routinely used on OMEGA and the NIF for diagnosing ρR and ρR asymmetries in direct- and indirect-drive implosions of D{sup 3}He-, D{sub 2}-, and DT-gas-filled capsules. By measuring the optical opacity distribution in CR-39 due to proton tracks in high-yield applications, as opposed to counting individual tracks, WRF dynamic range can be extended by 10{sup 2} for obtaining the spectral shape, and by 10{sup 3} for mean energy (ρR) measurement, corresponding to proton fluences of 10{sup 8} and 10{sup 9} cm{sup −2}, respectively. Using this new technique, ρR asymmetries can be measured during both shock and compression burn (proton yield ∼10{sup 8} and ∼10{sup 12}, respectively) in 2-shock National Ignition Facility implosions with the standard WRF accuracy of ±∼10 mg/cm{sup 2}.

  5. Picosecond X-ray streak camera dynamic range measurement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zuber, C., E-mail: celine.zuber@cea.fr; Bazzoli, S.; Brunel, P.; Gontier, D.; Raimbourg, J.; Rubbelynck, C.; Trosseille, C. [CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon (France); Fronty, J.-P.; Goulmy, C. [Photonis SAS, Avenue Roger Roncier, BP 520, 19106 Brive Cedex (France)

    2016-09-15

    Streak cameras are widely used to record the spatio-temporal evolution of laser-induced plasma. A prototype of picosecond X-ray streak camera has been developed and tested by Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives to answer the Laser MegaJoule specific needs. The dynamic range of this instrument is measured with picosecond X-ray pulses generated by the interaction of a laser beam and a copper target. The required value of 100 is reached only in the configurations combining the slowest sweeping speed and optimization of the streak tube electron throughput by an appropriate choice of high voltages applied to its electrodes.

  6. Synthesis of [11C]-labelled methyl esters: transesterification of enol esters versus BF3 etherate catalysed esterification - a comparative study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ackermann, U.; Falzon, C.; Issa, W.; Tochon-Danguy, H.J.; Sachinidis, J.I.; Blanc, P.; White, J.; Scott, A.M.

    2005-01-01

    An important issue in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the development of labelling techniques to incorporate positron emitting radionuclides into biologically active compounds. When labelling with 11C, the short 20 minutes half-life of the radionuclide significantly limits the number of synthetic protocols available to the radiochemist. C-l synthons such as [HCJ-methyl iodide (1) or methyl triflate (2) are readily available and are frequently used as alkylating agents for the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals. However, the use of these alkylating agents often makes it necessary to introduce protecting groups in order to prevent labelling at unwanted sites on the molecule. Since the removal of protecting groups is a time-consuming process, a more direct synthesis strategy is desirable. This has prompted us to investigate the esterification of carboxylic acids using [1 lC]-mcthanol and BF3 etherate as Lewis acid catalyst. Our results have demonstrated that the reaction conditions necessary to promote the esterification can cleave functional groups such as ethers. We have therefore shifted our attention towards the irreversible transesterification of enol esters using [HCl-methanol and a tin catalyst as an alternative strategy to [HC]-methyl ester formation. We have prepared a series of 5 aromatic ethoxy vinyl esters bearing various functional groups. The transesterification (radiolabelling) was carried out in DMSO at 150 Degrees C for 7 minutes in the presence of [HQMeOH and 1.3-dichlo-rotetrabutyldistannoxane as catalyst. We have found that the transesterification of enol esters is a mild and efficient labelling method for the formation of [HCl-methyl esters. The reaction proceeds smoothly and leaves functional groups intact. It requires only one synthesis step compared to two steps for the conventional method, and gives a radiochemical yields of 25%

  7. Measurement of sigma(pp'bar' → W) x BF(W → eν) in the CDF experiment, and single photoelectron analysis of light signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fedorko, I.

    2004-01-01

    In this work, I present a measurement of the cross section of W production at collider Tevatron times branching fraction for W → eν (sigma(pp'bar' → W) x BF(W → eν)) with electron reconstructed in the forward region of the detector CDF, using combined calorimetric and tracking information. This is the first CDF measurement in the forward rapidity range and is the first step for study of W properties at large η. For the period Run II, started from autumn 2001, was made upgrade of CDF detector. The forward region (for pseudorapidity |η| > 1) was strongly affected by this upgrade. Mainly due to new silicon tracking system and new forward calorimeter. With combination of tracking detectors SVXII and ISL it is now possible to reconstruct '3D' tracks. The analysis starts from calorimeter-based selection criteria finished with sample of W candidates. This selection is followed by matching '3D' tracks (to remove remaining background) with reconstructed cluster in electromagnetic calorimeter, which is measuring not only energy, but also position of electromagnetic object by Preshower detector (part of calorimeter). Besides MET PEM trigger and tracking efficiencies were established as a helpful numbers for other analysis in forward region. The measured value of the σ x BF(W → eν) is 2.874 ± 0.034(stat) ± 0.167(sys) ± 0.172(lum)nb for data sample of integrated luminosity 64 pb -1 , taken from February 2002 until the January 2003 shutdown. Presented value is in agreement with measurements performed by CDF in the central region and with theoretical estimates. Analysis of the photomultiplier (PMT) pulse height spectra from faint light sources (usually called the single-photoelectron spectra) is of a great importance because it reveals many features and can be used to find relevant parameters of PMTs. A deconvolution method is based on a sophisticated photomultiplier response function, which takes into account also photoeffect on first dynode and non

  8. A high linearity current mode multiplier/divider with a wide dynamic range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liao Pengfei; Luo Ping; Zhang Bo; Li Zhaoji

    2012-01-01

    A high linearity current mode multiplier/divider (CMM/D) with a wide dynamic range is presented. The proposed CMM/D is based on the voltage—current characteristic of the diode, thus wide dynamic range is achieved. In addition, high linearity is achieved because high accuracy current mirrors are adopted and the output current is insensitive to the temperature and device parameters of the fabrication process. Furthermore, no extra bias current for all input signals is required and thus power saving is realized. With proper selection of establishing the input terminal, the proposed circuit can perform as a multifunction circuit to be operated as a multiplier/divider, without changing its topology. The proposed circuit is implemented in a 0.25 μm BCD process and the chip area is 0.26 × 0.24 mm 2 . The simulation and measurement results show that the maximum static linearity error is ±1.8% and the total harmonic distortion is 0.4% while the input current ranges from 0 to 200 μA. (semiconductor integrated circuits)

  9. Technique for increasing dynamic range of space-borne ion composition instruments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burch, J.L.; Miller, G.P.; Santos, A. de los; Pollock, C.J.; Pope, S.E.; Valek, P. W.; Young, D.T.

    2005-01-01

    The dynamic range of ion composition spectrometers is limited by several factors, including saturation of particle counters and spillover of signals from highly dominant species into channels tuned to minor species. Instruments designed for composition measurements of hot plasmas in space can suffer greatly from both of these problems because of the wide energy range required and the wide disparity in fluxes encountered in various regions of interest. In order to detect minor ions in regions of very weak fluxes, geometry factors need to be as large as possible within the mass and volume resources available. As a result, problems with saturation by the dominant fluxes and spillover to minor-ion channels in plasma regions with intense fluxes become especially acute. This article reports on a technique for solving the dynamic-range problem in the few eV to several keV energy/charge range that is of central importance for space physics research where the dominant ion is of low mass/charge (typically H + ), and the minor ions are of higher mass/charge (typically O + ). The technique involves employing a radio-frequency modulation of the deflection electric field in the back section of an electrostatic analyzer in a time-of-flight instrument. This technique is shown to reduce H + counts by a controllable amount of up to factors of 1000 while reducing O + counts by only a few percent that can be calibrated

  10. A parallel algorithm for 3D dislocation dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Zhiqiang; Ghoniem, Nasr; Swaminarayan, Sriram; LeSar, Richard

    2006-01-01

    Dislocation dynamics (DD), a discrete dynamic simulation method in which dislocations are the fundamental entities, is a powerful tool for investigation of plasticity, deformation and fracture of materials at the micron length scale. However, severe computational difficulties arising from complex, long-range interactions between these curvilinear line defects limit the application of DD in the study of large-scale plastic deformation. We present here the development of a parallel algorithm for accelerated computer simulations of DD. By representing dislocations as a 3D set of dislocation particles, we show here that the problem of an interacting ensemble of dislocations can be converted to a problem of a particle ensemble, interacting with a long-range force field. A grid using binary space partitioning is constructed to keep track of node connectivity across domains. We demonstrate the computational efficiency of the parallel micro-plasticity code and discuss how O(N) methods map naturally onto the parallel data structure. Finally, we present results from applications of the parallel code to deformation in single crystal fcc metals

  11. Microspatial ecotone dynamics at a shifting range limit: plant-soil variation across salt marsh-mangrove interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yando, E S; Osland, M J; Hester, M W

    2018-05-01

    Ecotone dynamics and shifting range limits can be used to advance our understanding of the ecological implications of future range expansions in response to climate change. In the northern Gulf of Mexico, the salt marsh-mangrove ecotone is an area where range limits and ecotone dynamics can be studied in tandem as recent decreases in winter temperature extremes have allowed for mangrove expansion at the expense of salt marsh. In this study, we assessed aboveground and belowground plant-soil dynamics across the salt marsh-mangrove ecotone quantifying micro-spatial patterns in horizontal extent. Specifically, we studied vegetation and rooting dynamics of large and small trees, the impact of salt marshes (e.g. species and structure) on mangroves, and the influence of vegetation on soil properties along transects from underneath the mangrove canopy into the surrounding salt marsh. Vegetation and rooting dynamics differed in horizontal reach, and there was a positive relationship between mangrove tree height and rooting extent. We found that the horizontal expansion of mangrove roots into salt marsh extended up to eight meters beyond the aboveground boundary. Variation in vegetation structure and local hydrology appear to control mangrove seedling dynamics. Finally, soil carbon density and organic matter did not differ within locations across the salt marsh-mangrove interface. By studying aboveground and belowground variation across the ecotone, we can better predict the ecological effects of continued range expansion in response to climate change.

  12. Microspatial ecotone dynamics at a shifting range limit: plant–soil variation across salt marsh–mangrove interfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yando, Erik S.; Osland, Michael J.; Hester, Mark H.

    2018-01-01

    Ecotone dynamics and shifting range limits can be used to advance our understanding of the ecological implications of future range expansions in response to climate change. In the northern Gulf of Mexico, the salt marsh–mangrove ecotone is an area where range limits and ecotone dynamics can be studied in tandem as recent decreases in winter temperature extremes have allowed for mangrove expansion at the expense of salt marsh. In this study, we assessed aboveground and belowground plant–soil dynamics across the salt marsh–mangrove ecotone quantifying micro-spatial patterns in horizontal extent. Specifically, we studied vegetation and rooting dynamics of large and small trees, the impact of salt marshes (e.g. species and structure) on mangroves, and the influence of vegetation on soil properties along transects from underneath the mangrove canopy into the surrounding salt marsh. Vegetation and rooting dynamics differed in horizontal reach, and there was a positive relationship between mangrove tree height and rooting extent. We found that the horizontal expansion of mangrove roots into salt marsh extended up to eight meters beyond the aboveground boundary. Variation in vegetation structure and local hydrology appear to control mangrove seedling dynamics. Finally, soil carbon density and organic matter did not differ within locations across the salt marsh-mangrove interface. By studying aboveground and belowground variation across the ecotone, we can better predict the ecological effects of continued range expansion in response to climate change.

  13. Infrared Lunar Laser Ranging at Calern : Impact on Lunar Dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanathan, Vishnu; Fienga, Agnes; Manche, Herve; Gastineau, Mickael; Courde, Clement; Torre, Jean Marie; Exertier, Pierre; Laskar, Jacques

    2017-04-01

    Introduction: Since 2015, in addition to the traditional green (532nm), infrared (1064nm) has been the preferred wavelength for lunar laser ranging at the Calern lunar laser ranging (LLR) site in France. Due to the better atmospheric transmission of IR with respect to Green, nearly 3 times the number of normal points have been obtained in IR than in Green [1]. Dataset: In our study, in addition to the historical data obtained from various other LLR sites, we include the recent IR normal points obtained from Calern over the 1 year time span (2015-2016), constituting about 4.2% of data spread over 46 years of LLR. Near even distribution of data provided by IR on both the spatial and temporal domain, helps us to improve constraints on the internal structure of the Moon modeled within the planetary ephemeris : INPOP [2]. Data reduction: IERS recommended models have been used in the data reduction software GINS (GRGS,CNES) [3]. Constraints provided by GRAIL [4], on the Lunar gravitational potential and Love numbers have been taken into account in the least-square fit procedure. Earth orientation parameters from KEOF series have been used as per a recent study [5]. Results: New estimates on the dynamical parameters of the lunar core will be presented. Acknowledgements: We thank the lunar laser ranging observers at Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France, McDonald Observatory, Texas, Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, and Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico for providing LLR observations that made this study possible. The research described in this abstract was carried out at Geoazur-CNRS, France, as a part of a PhD thesis funded by Observatoire de Paris and French Ministry of Education and Research. References: [1] Clement C. et al. (2016) submitted to A&A [2] Fienga A. et al. (2015) Celest Mech Dyn Astr, 123: 325. doi:10.1007/s10569-015-9639-y [3] Viswanathan V. et al. (2015) EGU, Abstract 18, 13995 [4] Konopliv A. S. et al. (2013) J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 118, 1415

  14. The manufacture of ZPR dynamic parameter analysis system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Huaide

    1992-01-01

    Under the guiding ideology of synthesize to blaze new trails. Utilizing the combination of various technologies, such as modern nuclear detective technology, electronic technology, computer technology, reactor physics experimental technology, and system technology etc., a new type ZPR dynamic parameter analysis system is manufactured. It consists of neutron detector sets, which including BF 3 proportional counter, 3 He proportional counter, fission chamber etc., detector bias supply, amplifier and discriminator, counter and multiplexer, micro-computer-based multifunction multichannel analyzer and system management software etc. The system has been checked and accepted by the group of experts in 1991. After the discussion, it is thought, that the specifications of the system are satisfactory and surpassed the requirement in advance, the overall design is thoughtful, the manufacture technology attains the advanced level of China

  15. The manufacture of ZPR dynamic parameter analysis system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huaide, Chen

    1993-12-31

    Under the guiding ideology of synthesize to blaze new trails. Utilizing the combination of various technologies, such as modern nuclear detective technology, electronic technology, computer technology, reactor physics experimental technology, and system technology etc., a new type ZPR dynamic parameter analysis system is manufactured. It consists of neutron detector sets, which including BF{sub 3} proportional counter, {sup 3}He proportional counter, fission chamber etc., detector bias supply, amplifier and discriminator, counter and multiplexer, micro-computer-based multifunction multichannel analyzer and system management software etc. The system has been checked and accepted by the group of experts in 1991. After the discussion, it is thought, that the specifications of the system are satisfactory and surpassed the requirement in advance, the overall design is thoughtful, the manufacture technology attains the advanced level of China

  16. UMER: An analog computer for dynamics of swarms interacting via long-range forces

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kishek, R.A.; Bai, G.; Bernal, S.; Feldman, D.; Godlove, T.F.; Haber, I.; O'Shea, P.G.; Quinn, B.; Papadopoulos, C.; Reiser, M.; Stratakis, D.; Tian, K.; Tobin, C.J.; Walter, M.

    2006-01-01

    Some of the most challenging and interesting problems in nature involve large numbers of objects or particles mutually interacting through long-range forces. Examples range from galaxies and plasmas to flocks of birds and traffic flow on a highway. Even in cases where the form of the interacting force is precisely known, such as the 1/r 2 -dependent Coulomb and gravitational forces, such problems present a formidable theoretical and modeling challenge for large numbers of interacting bodies. This paper reports on a newly constructed, scaled particle accelerator that will serve as an experimental testbed for the dynamics of swarms interacting through long-range forces. Primarily designed for intense beam dynamics studies for advanced accelerators, the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) design is described in detail and an update on commissioning is provided. An example application to a system other than a charged particle beam is discussed

  17. ISSLS PRIZE IN BIOENGINEERING SCIENCE 2018: dynamic imaging of degenerative spondylolisthesis reveals mid-range dynamic lumbar instability not evident on static clinical radiographs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dombrowski, Malcolm E; Rynearson, Bryan; LeVasseur, Clarissa; Adgate, Zach; Donaldson, William F; Lee, Joon Y; Aiyangar, Ameet; Anderst, William J

    2018-04-01

    Degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) in the setting of symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis is commonly treated with spinal fusion in addition to decompression with laminectomy. However, recent studies have shown similar clinical outcomes after decompression alone, suggesting that a subset of DS patients may not require spinal fusion. Identification of dynamic instability could prove useful for predicting which patients are at higher risk of post-laminectomy destabilization necessitating fusion. The goal of this study was to determine if static clinical radiographs adequately characterize dynamic instability in patients with lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) and to compare the rotational and translational kinematics in vivo during continuous dynamic flexion activity in DS versus asymptomatic age-matched controls. Seven patients with symptomatic single level lumbar DS (6 M, 1 F; 66 ± 5.0 years) and seven age-matched asymptomatic controls (5 M, 2 F age 63.9 ± 6.4 years) underwent biplane radiographic imaging during continuous torso flexion. A volumetric model-based tracking system was used to track each vertebra in the radiographic images using subject-specific 3D bone models from high-resolution computed tomography (CT). In vivo continuous dynamic sagittal rotation (flexion/extension) and AP translation (slip) were calculated and compared to clinical measures of intervertebral flexion/extension and AP translation obtained from standard lateral flexion/extension radiographs. Static clinical radiographs underestimate the degree of AP translation seen on dynamic in vivo imaging (1.0 vs 3.1 mm; p = 0.03). DS patients demonstrated three primary motion patterns compared to a single kinematic pattern in asymptomatic controls when analyzing continuous dynamic in vivo imaging. 3/7 (42%) of patients with DS demonstrated aberrant mid-range motion. Continuous in vivo dynamic imaging in DS reveals a spectrum of aberrant motion with significantly greater

  18. Formation of oxygen-related defects enhanced by fluorine in BF{sub 2}{sup +}-implanted Si studied by a monoenergetic positron beam

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uedono, Akira; Moriya, Tsuyoshi; Tanigawa, Shoichiro [Tsukuba Univ., Ibaraki (Japan). Inst. of Materials Science; Kawano, Takao; Nagai, Ryo; Umeda, Kazunori

    1995-12-01

    Defects in 25-keV BF{sub 2}{sup +}- or As{sup +}-implanted Si specimens were probed by a monoenergetic positron beam. For the As{sup +}-implanted specimen, the depth profile of defects was obtained from measurements of Doppler broadening profiles as a function of incident positron energy. The major species of the defects was identified as divacancies. For ion-implanted specimens after annealing treatment, oxygen-related defects were found to be formed. For the BF{sub 2}{sup +}-implanted specimen before annealing treatment, such defects were formed in the subsurface region, where oxygen atoms were implanted by recoil from oxide films. This was attributed to enhanced formation of oxygen-related defects by the presence of F atoms. (author)

  19. Sensitivity of the Speech Intelligibility Index to the Assumed Dynamic Range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, In-Ki; Kates, James M.; Arehart, Kathryn H.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the sensitivity of the speech intelligibility index (SII) to the assumed speech dynamic range (DR) in different languages and with different types of stimuli. Method: Intelligibility prediction uses the absolute transfer function (ATF) to map the SII value to the predicted intelligibility for a given stimuli.…

  20. IL-12 and GM-CSF in DNA/MVA immunizations against HIV-1 CRF12_BF Nef induced T-cell responses with an enhanced magnitude, breadth and quality.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana María Rodríguez

    Full Text Available In Argentina, the HIV epidemic is characterized by the co-circulation of subtype B and BF recombinant viral variants. Nef is an HIV protein highly variable among subtypes, making it a good tool to study the impact of HIV variability in the vaccine design setting. We have previously reported a specific cellular response against NefBF with low cross-reactivity to NefB in mice. The aim of this work was to analyze whether the co-administration of IL-12 and GM-CSF, using DNA and MVA vaccine vectors, could improve the final cellular response induced. Mice received three DNA priming doses of a plasmid that express NefBF plus DNAs expressing IL-12 and/or GM-CSF. Afterwards, all the groups were boosted with a MVAnefBF dose. The highest increase in the magnitude of the NefBF response, compared to that induced in the control was found in the IL-12 group. Importantly, a response with higher breadth was detected in groups which received IL-12 or GM-CSF, evidenced as an increased frequency of recognition of homologous (BF and heterologous (B Nef peptides, as well as a higher number of other Nef peptide pools representing different viral subtypes. However, these improvements were lost when both DNA cytokines were simultaneously administered, as the response was focused against the immunodominant peptide with a detrimental response towards subdominant epitopes. The pattern of cytokines secreted and the specific-T-cell proliferative capacity were improved in IL-12 and IL-12+GM-CSF groups. Importantly IL-12 generated a significant higher T-cell avidity against a B heterologous peptide.This study indicates that the incorporation of DNA expressing IL-12 in DNA/MVA schemes produced the best results in terms of improvements of T-cell-response key properties such as breadth, cross-reactivity and quality (avidity and pattern of cytokines secreted. These relevant results contribute to the design of strategies aimed to induce T-cell responses against HIV antigens with

  1. Efficient approach to androstene-fused arylpyrazolines as potent antiproliferative agents. Experimental and theoretical studies of substituent effects on BF(3)-catalyzed intramolecular [3 + 2] cycloadditions of olefinic phenylhydrazones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frank, Eva; Mucsi, Zoltán; Zupkó, István; Réthy, Borbála; Falkay, George; Schneider, Gyula; Wölfling, János

    2009-03-25

    Highly diastereoselective Lewis acid induced intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of alkenyl phenylhydrazones (containing various substituents on the aromatic ring) obtained from a d-secopregnene aldehyde were carried out under fairly mild conditions to furnish androst-5-ene-fused arylpyrazolines in good to excellent yields. The ability of phenylhydrazones to undergo cyclization was found to be affected significantly by the electronic features of the substituents on the aromatic moiety. The rates of the ring-closure reactions were observed to be increased by electron-donating and decreased by electron-withdrawing groups. The experimental findings on the BF(3)-catalyzed transformations were supported by calculations of the proposed mechanism at the BLYP/6-31G(d) level of theory, indicating a noteworthy dependence, mainly of the initial complexation step, and hence of the whole process, on the character of the substituent. The cycloaddition was estimated to occur via a zwitterionic intermediate rather than involving a pure concerted mechanism. The antiproliferative activities of the structurally related pyrazoline derivatives were tested in vitro on three malignant human cell lines (HeLa, MCF7, and A431): the microculture tetrazolium assay revealed that several compounds exerted marked cell growth-inhibitory effects. The highest cytotoxic activities, displayed by the p-methoxyphenylpyrazoline derivative 7d (IC(50) values: 2.01, 2.16, and 1.41 microM on HeLa, MCF7, and A341 cells, respectively), were better than those of cisplatin (IC(50) values: 12.43, 9.63, and 2.84 microM, respectively).

  2. Impacts of land cover data selection and trait parameterisation on dynamic modelling of species' range expansion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Risto K Heikkinen

    Full Text Available Dynamic models for range expansion provide a promising tool for assessing species' capacity to respond to climate change by shifting their ranges to new areas. However, these models include a number of uncertainties which may affect how successfully they can be applied to climate change oriented conservation planning. We used RangeShifter, a novel dynamic and individual-based modelling platform, to study two potential sources of such uncertainties: the selection of land cover data and the parameterization of key life-history traits. As an example, we modelled the range expansion dynamics of two butterfly species, one habitat specialist (Maniola jurtina and one generalist (Issoria lathonia. Our results show that projections of total population size, number of occupied grid cells and the mean maximal latitudinal range shift were all clearly dependent on the choice made between using CORINE land cover data vs. using more detailed grassland data from three alternative national databases. Range expansion was also sensitive to the parameterization of the four considered life-history traits (magnitude and probability of long-distance dispersal events, population growth rate and carrying capacity, with carrying capacity and magnitude of long-distance dispersal showing the strongest effect. Our results highlight the sensitivity of dynamic species population models to the selection of existing land cover data and to uncertainty in the model parameters and indicate that these need to be carefully evaluated before the models are applied to conservation planning.

  3. SiGe HBT linear-in-dB high dynamic range RF envelope detectors and wideband high linearity amplifiers

    OpenAIRE

    Pan, Hsuan-yu

    2010-01-01

    This research work aims on exploiting SiGe HBT technologies in high dynamic range wideband RF linear-in- dB envelope detectors and linear amplifiers. First, an improved all-npn broadband highly linear SiGe HBT differential amplifier is presented based on a variation of Caprio's Quad. A broadband linear amplifier with 46dBm OIP₃ at 20MHz, 34dBm OIP₃ at 1GHz, 6dB noise figure and 10.3dBm P₁dB is demonstrated. Second, an improved exact dynamic model of a fast-settling linear-in-dB Automatic Gain...

  4. Enhancement tuning and control for high dynamic range images in multi-scale locally adaptive contrast enhancement algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cvetkovic, Sascha D.; Schirris, Johan; de With, Peter H. N.

    2009-01-01

    For real-time imaging in surveillance applications, visibility of details is of primary importance to ensure customer confidence. If we display High Dynamic-Range (HDR) scenes whose contrast spans four or more orders of magnitude on a conventional monitor without additional processing, results are unacceptable. Compression of the dynamic range is therefore a compulsory part of any high-end video processing chain because standard monitors are inherently Low- Dynamic Range (LDR) devices with maximally two orders of display dynamic range. In real-time camera processing, many complex scenes are improved with local contrast enhancements, bringing details to the best possible visibility. In this paper, we show how a multi-scale high-frequency enhancement scheme, in which gain is a non-linear function of the detail energy, can be used for the dynamic range compression of HDR real-time video camera signals. We also show the connection of our enhancement scheme to the processing way of the Human Visual System (HVS). Our algorithm simultaneously controls perceived sharpness, ringing ("halo") artifacts (contrast) and noise, resulting in a good balance between visibility of details and non-disturbance of artifacts. The overall quality enhancement, suitable for both HDR and LDR scenes, is based on a careful selection of the filter types for the multi-band decomposition and a detailed analysis of the signal per frequency band.

  5. Fast and robust wavelet-based dynamic range compression and contrast enhancement model with color restoration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unaldi, Numan; Asari, Vijayan K.; Rahman, Zia-ur

    2009-05-01

    Recently we proposed a wavelet-based dynamic range compression algorithm to improve the visual quality of digital images captured from high dynamic range scenes with non-uniform lighting conditions. The fast image enhancement algorithm that provides dynamic range compression, while preserving the local contrast and tonal rendition, is also a good candidate for real time video processing applications. Although the colors of the enhanced images produced by the proposed algorithm are consistent with the colors of the original image, the proposed algorithm fails to produce color constant results for some "pathological" scenes that have very strong spectral characteristics in a single band. The linear color restoration process is the main reason for this drawback. Hence, a different approach is required for the final color restoration process. In this paper the latest version of the proposed algorithm, which deals with this issue is presented. The results obtained by applying the algorithm to numerous natural images show strong robustness and high image quality.

  6. Dynamic range enhancement and amplitude regeneration in single pump fibre optic parametric amplifiers using DPSK modulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Peucheret, Christophe; Lorenzen, Michael Rodas; Seoane, Jorge

    2008-01-01

    Input power dynamic range enhancement and amplitude regeneration of highly distorted signals are demonstrated experimentally for 40 Gbit/s RZ-DPSK in a single-pump fibre parametric amplifier with 22 dB smallsignal gain.......Input power dynamic range enhancement and amplitude regeneration of highly distorted signals are demonstrated experimentally for 40 Gbit/s RZ-DPSK in a single-pump fibre parametric amplifier with 22 dB smallsignal gain....

  7. Negative charge induced degradation of PMOSFETs with BF2-implanted p+-poly gate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, C.Y.; Sung, J.M.

    1989-01-01

    A new degradation phenomenon on thin gate oxide PMOS-FETs with BF 2 implanted p + -poly gate has been demonstrated and investigated. The cause of this type of degradation is a combination of the boron penetration through the gate oxide and charge trap generation due to the presence of fluorine in the gate oxide and some other processing-induced effects. The negative charge-induced degradation other than enhanced boron diffusion has been studied in detail here. The impact of this process-sensitive p + -poly gate structure on deep submicron CMOS process integration has been discussed. (author)

  8. Intra- and interobserver reliability of gray scale/dynamic range evaluation of ultrasonography using a standardized phantom

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Song; Choi, Joon Il; Park, Michael Yong; Yeo, Dong Myung; Byun, Jae Young; Jung, Seung Eun; Rha, Sung Eun; Oh, Soon Nam; Lee, Young Joon

    2014-01-01

    To evaluate intra- and interobserver reliability of the gray scale/dynamic range of the phantom image evaluation of ultrasonography using a standardized phantom, and to assess the effect of interactive education on the reliability. Three radiologists (a resident, and two board-certified radiologists with 2 and 7 years of experience in evaluating ultrasound phantom images) performed the gray scale/dynamic range test for an ultrasound machine using a standardized phantom. They scored the number of visible cylindrical structures of varying degrees of brightness and made a pass or fail decision. First, they scored 49 phantom images twice from a 2010 survey with limited knowledge of phantom images. After this, the radiologists underwent two hours of interactive education for the phantom images and scored another 91 phantom images from a 2011 survey twice. Intra- and interobserver reliability before and after the interactive education session were analyzed using K analyses. Before education, the K-value for intraobserver reliability for the radiologist with 7 years of experience, 2 years of experience, and the resident was 0.386, 0.469, and 0.465, respectively. After education, the K-values were improved (0.823, 0.611, and 0.711, respectively). For interobserver reliability, the K-value was also better after the education for the 3 participants (0.067, 0.002, and 0.547 before education; 0.635, 0.667, and 0.616 after education, respectively). The intra- and interobserver reliability of the gray scale/dynamic range was fair to substantial. Interactive education can improve reliability. For more reliable results, double- checking of phantom images by multiple reviewers is recommended.

  9. Density matrix renormalization group with efficient dynamical electron correlation through range separation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hedegård, Erik D.; Knecht, Stefan; Kielberg, Jesper Skau

    2015-01-01

    We present a new hybrid multiconfigurational method based on the concept of range-separation that combines the density matrix renormalization group approach with density functional theory. This new method is designed for the simultaneous description of dynamical and static electroncorrelation...... effects in multiconfigurational electronic structure problems....

  10. A STEP TOWARDS DYNAMIC SCENE ANALYSIS WITH ACTIVE MULTI-VIEW RANGE IMAGING SYSTEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Weinmann

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Obtaining an appropriate 3D description of the local environment remains a challenging task in photogrammetric research. As terrestrial laser scanners (TLSs perform a highly accurate, but time-dependent spatial scanning of the local environment, they are only suited for capturing static scenes. In contrast, new types of active sensors provide the possibility of simultaneously capturing range and intensity information by images with a single measurement, and the high frame rate also allows for capturing dynamic scenes. However, due to the limited field of view, one observation is not sufficient to obtain a full scene coverage and therefore, typically, multiple observations are collected from different locations. This can be achieved by either placing several fixed sensors at different known locations or by using a moving sensor. In the latter case, the relation between different observations has to be estimated by using information extracted from the captured data and then, a limited field of view may lead to problems if there are too many moving objects within it. Hence, a moving sensor platform with multiple and coupled sensor devices offers the advantages of an extended field of view which results in a stabilized pose estimation, an improved registration of the recorded point clouds and an improved reconstruction of the scene. In this paper, a new experimental setup for investigating the potentials of such multi-view range imaging systems is presented which consists of a moving cable car equipped with two synchronized range imaging devices. The presented setup allows for monitoring in low altitudes and it is suitable for getting dynamic observations which might arise from moving cars or from moving pedestrians. Relying on both 3D geometry and 2D imagery, a reliable and fully automatic approach for co-registration of captured point cloud data is presented which is essential for a high quality of all subsequent tasks. The approach involves using

  11. Observations of zodiacal light of the isolated Herbig BF Ori Ae star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grinin, V.P.; Kiselev, N.N.; Minikulov, N.Kh.; AN Tadzhikskoj SSR, Dushanbe

    1989-01-01

    The isolated Herbig BF Ori Ae-star belongs to the subclass of young irreguLar variables with non-periodic Algol-type brightness variations. In the course of polarization and photometrical patrol observations carried out in 1987-88 in the Crimea and Sanglock, high linear polarization has been observed in deep minima. The analysis of the observations show, that the most probably a source of polarization is the scattered light from the circumstellar dust disklike envelope that is the analogue of the solar zodiacal light. It is concluded that the bimodal distribution oF positional angles of linear polarization in L 1641 reflects a complex structure of the magnetic field in this giant cloud

  12. First full dynamic range calibration of the JUNGFRAU photon detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redford, S.; Andrä, M.; Barten, R.; Bergamaschi, A.; Brückner, M.; Dinapoli, R.; Fröjdh, E.; Greiffenberg, D.; Lopez-Cuenca, C.; Mezza, D.; Mozzanica, A.; Ramilli, M.; Ruat, M.; Ruder, C.; Schmitt, B.; Shi, X.; Thattil, D.; Tinti, G.; Vetter, S.; Zhang, J.

    2018-01-01

    The JUNGFRAU detector is a charge integrating hybrid silicon pixel detector developed at the Paul Scherrer Institut for photon science applications, in particular for the upcoming free electron laser SwissFEL. With a high dynamic range, analogue readout, low noise and three automatically switching gains, JUNGFRAU promises excellent performance not only at XFELs but also at synchrotrons in areas such as protein crystallography, ptychography, pump-probe and time resolved measurements. To achieve its full potential, the detector must be calibrated on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This contribution presents the current status of the JUNGFRAU calibration project, in which a variety of input charge sources are used to parametrise the energy response of the detector across four orders of magnitude of dynamic range. Building on preliminary studies, the first full calibration procedure of a JUNGFRAU 0.5 Mpixel module is described. The calibration is validated using alternative sources of charge deposition, including laboratory experiments and measurements at ESRF and LCLS. The findings from these measurements are presented. Calibrated modules have already been used in proof-of-principle style protein crystallography experiments at the SLS. A first look at selected results is shown. Aspects such as the conversion of charge to number of photons, treatment of multi-size pixels and the origin of non-linear response are also discussed.

  13. Interaction of copper with dinitrogen tetroxide in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morozov, I V; Deeva, E B; Glazunova, T Yu; Troyanov, S I; Guseinov, F I; Kustov, L M

    2017-03-27

    Ionic liquids that are stable toward oxidation and nitration and are based on the 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation (BMIm + ) can be used as solvents and reaction media for copper dissolution in liquid dinitrogen tetraoxide N 2 O 4 . The ionic liquid not only favors the dissociation of N 2 O 4 into NO + and NO 3 - , but also takes part in the formation of different crystalline products. Thus, NO[BF 4 ], NO[Cu(NO 3 ) 3 ] and (BMIm) 2 [Cu 2 (CF 3 COO) 6 ] were prepared using (BMIm)A, A - = [BF 4 ] - , (CF 3 SO 2 ) 2 N - , CF 3 COO - , respectively. The formation of a certain product is determined by the nature of the anion A - and the relative solubility of the reaction products in the ionic liquid. Crystals of NO[BF 4 ] were also prepared directly from a mixture of N 2 O 4 and BMImBF 4 . According to XRD single-crystal structure analysis, the structure of NO[BF 4 ] consists of tetrahedral [BF 4 ] - anions and nitrosonium NO + cations; the formation of these ions prove the heterolytic dissociation of N 2 O 4 dissolved in the ionic liquid. The crystal structure of the earlier unknown binuclear copper trifluoroacetate (BMIm) 2 [Cu 2 (CF 3 COO) 6 ] were determined by X-ray diffraction. The peculiarity of this dimer compared to the majority of known dimeric copper(ii) carboxylates is the unusually long CuCu distance (3.15 Å), with Cu(ii) ions demonstrating an atypical coordination of a distorted trigonal bipyramid formed by five O atoms of five trifluoroacetate groups.

  14. Effect of temperature on the physical properties of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium based ionic liquids with thiocyanate and tetrafluoroborate anions, and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium with tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate anions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vakili-Nezhaad, Gholamreza; Vatani, Mostafa; Asghari, Morteza; Ashour, Ibrahim

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Four ionic liquids named: [BMIM][SCN], [BMIM][BF 4 ], [HMIM][BF 4 ], and [HMIM][PF 6 ] are investigated. ► Density, refractive index, surface tension, dynamic viscosity, and kinematic viscosity of the ionic liquids are measured. ► The measured data was correlated with temperature finding their decrease with rising temperature. ► The volumetric properties of the ionic liquids are calculated from the experimental values of density at T = 298.15 K. ► Correlation between the properties was carried out by the least square method using several empirical equations. - Abstract: The effect of temperature on the physical properties of some ionic liquids was investigated. Density, refractive index, surface tension, dynamic and kinematic viscosities of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium based ionic liquids with thiocyanate and tetrafluoroborate, and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium with tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate anions were measured at various temperatures (density from T = (278.15 to 363.15) K, refractive index from (293.15 to 343.15) K, surface tension from (283.15 to 333.15) K, dynamic viscosity from (283.15 to 368.15) K, and kinematic viscosity from (298.15 to 363.15) K). The volumetric properties for the ionic liquids were also calculated from the experimental values of the density at T = 298.15 K. The Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann (VFT) equation was applied to correlate experimental values of dynamic and kinematic viscosities as a function of temperature. As well, the relation between density and refractive index was correlated satisfactorily with several empirical equations such as Lorentz–Lorenz, Dale–Gladstone, Eykman, Oster, Arago–Biot, Newton and Modified–Eykman. Finally, the relation between surface tension and viscosity was investigated and the parachor method was used to predict density, refractive index and surface tension of the ionic liquids.

  15. Detectable perfusion changes in MAG3 studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shuter, B.; Bernar, A.; Roach, P.

    1998-01-01

    Full text: The use of 120 MBq 99m Tc-MAG 3 instead of 600 MBq 99m Tc-DTPA in renal imaging has degraded the images obtained during the perfusion phase. An increase of the minimum detectable change (MDC) in blood flow (BF) would also be expected. In transplant patients, renal BF is an important factor in patient management and the MDC should be small to allow early detection of reduced perfusion. We determined the mean and coefficient of variation (CoV: standard deviation/mean) of three renal perfusion indices as a function of counts in the time-activity curves (TACs). Transplant patients were given a dose of about 300 MBq of 99m Tc-MAG3 and images acquired at 8 fps for 60s. TACs made up from 8, 4, 2 or I images per second allowed calculation of renal perfusion indices as if doses of 300, 150, 75 and 38 MBq had been administered. Perfusion indices based on area under the TACs up to the arterial peak (API), the maximum slopes of the TACs (SPI) and the maximum slope of renal TAC and height of arterial TAC (BPI) were calculated by our routine renal software package. As the administered dose decreased, the CoV rose for all indices, least for BPI and most for API. BPI CoV increased from ∼10% at 300 MBq to 20% at 75 MBq, but API CoV rose from 6% to 46%. Mean BPI was stable over the dose range, but mean API showed a systematic increase of about 50% over the 300 MBq result. We conclude that at 120 MBq the MDC (expressed as 2*CoV) in BF is 30-60%, whereas at 600 MBq it may be as low as 10%, allowing earlier confident detection of a change in BF. The BPI was the preferred perfusion index as its mean value changed little and it had the least CoV at lower activities. The data also imply that relative kidney perfusion in the one individual will be much less accurate with 120 MBq of MAG 3

  16. Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomography-Derived Blood Volume and Blood Flow Correlate With Patient Outcome in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mains, Jill Rachel; Donskov, Frede; Pedersen, Erik Morre; Madsen, Hans Henrik Torp; Rasmussen, Finn

    2017-02-01

    The aim was to explore the potential for using dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography as a noninvasive functional imaging biomarker before and during the early treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography scans were performed at baseline and after 5 and 10 weeks' treatment in 69 prospectively included mRCC patients receiving treatment with interferon alpha and interleukin 2 (n = 26); interferon alpha, interleukin 2, and bevacizumab (n = 24); sunitinib (n = 7); pazopanib (n = 5); or temsirolimus (n = 7). Using a prototype software program (Advanced Perfusion and Permeability Application, Philips Healthcare, Best, the Netherlands), blood volume (BV), blood flow (BF), and permeability surface area product (PS) were calculated for each tumor at baseline, week 5, and week 10. These parameters as well as relative changes between baseline and weeks 5 and 10 were tested for associations with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. Using the 25th percentile as the cutoff, baseline BV for all patients independent of subsequent treatment was statistically significantly associated with PFS (10.8 vs 5.3 months, P = 0.007) and OS (35.2 vs 13.3 months, P = 0.001), and baseline BF was significantly associated with OS (31.7 vs 14.6 months, P = 0.024) with high values for both parameters being associated with significantly longer PFS and OS. Baseline PS was not associated with PFS or OS.In patients treated with angiogenesis inhibitors (bevacizumab, sunitinib, pazopanib, or temsirolimus), the relative change in BV from baseline to week 5 using 25th percentile as the cutoff was associated with PFS (5.6 vs 24.8 months, P = 0.001) and OS (19.1 months vs not reached, P = 0.008) and from baseline to week 10 with PFS (8.1 vs 16.4 months, P = 0.014) and OS (15.5 months vs not reached, P = 0.002). The relative change in BF from baseline to week 5 using medians as the

  17. An operating principle of the turtle utricle to detect wide dynamic range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nam, Jong-Hoon

    2018-03-01

    The utricle encodes both static information such as head orientation, and dynamic information such as vibrations. It is not well understood how the utricle can encode both static and dynamic information for a wide dynamic range (from 2 times the gravitational acceleration; from DC to > 1000 Hz vibrations). Using computational models of the hair cells in the turtle utricle, this study presents an explanation on how the turtle utricle encodes stimulations over such a wide dynamic range. Two hair bundles were modeled using the finite element method-one representing the striolar hair cell (Cell S), and the other representing the medial extrastriolar hair cell (Cell E). A mechano-transduction (MET) channel model was incorporated to compute MET current (i MET ) due to hair bundle deflection. A macro-mechanical model of the utricle was used to compute otoconial motions from head accelerations (a Head ). According to known anatomical data, Cell E has a long kinocilium that is embedded into the stiff otoconial layer. Unlike Cell E, the hair bundle of Cell S falls short of the otoconial layer. Considering such difference in the mechanical connectivity between the hair cell bundle and the otoconial layer, three cases were simulated: Cell E displacement-clamped, Cell S viscously-coupled, and Cell S displacement-clamped. Head accelerations at different amplitude levels and different frequencies were simulated for the three cases. When a realistic head motion was simulated, Cell E was responsive to head orientation, while the viscously-coupled Cell S was responsive to fast head motion imitating the feeding strike of a turtle. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Increasing the Dynamic Range of Synthetic Aperture Vector Flow Imaging

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Villagómez Hoyos, Carlos Armando; Stuart, Matthias Bo; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt

    2014-01-01

    images. The emissions for the two imaging modes are interleaved 1-to-1 ratio, providing a high frame rate equal to the effective pulse repetition frequency of each imaging mode. The direction of the flow is estimated, and the velocity is then determined in that direction. This method Works for all angles...... standard deviations are 1.59% and 6.12%, respectively. The presented method can improve the estimates by synthesizing a lower pulse repetition frequency, thereby increasing the dynamic range of the vector velocity imaging....

  19. Abstract of Dynamic Range: When Game Design and Narratives Unite

    OpenAIRE

    Arsenault, Dominic

    2005-01-01

    This paper proposes a tool and methodology for measuring the degree of freedom given to a player in any resource-driven game (that is, any game in which managing resources is an integral part of the gameplay). This concept, which I call the Dynamic Range, can be used namely to evaluate a given game system’s potential for developing emergent narratives, as defined by Henry Jenkins in his publication Game Design as Narrative Architecture. While Jenkins places at the heart of the creation of nar...

  20. Long range personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating evolutionary dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeang, Chen-Hsiang; Beckman, Robert A

    2016-10-22

    Current cancer precision medicine strategies match therapies to static consensus molecular properties of an individual's cancer, thus determining the next therapeutic maneuver. These strategies typically maintain a constant treatment while the cancer is not worsening. However, cancers feature complicated sub-clonal structure and dynamic evolution. We have recently shown, in a comprehensive simulation of two non-cross resistant therapies across a broad parameter space representing realistic tumors, that substantial improvement in cure rates and median survival can be obtained utilizing dynamic precision medicine strategies. These dynamic strategies explicitly consider intratumoral heterogeneity and evolutionary dynamics, including predicted future drug resistance states, and reevaluate optimal therapy every 45 days. However, the optimization is performed in single 45 day steps ("single-step optimization"). Herein we evaluate analogous strategies that think multiple therapeutic maneuvers ahead, considering potential outcomes at 5 steps ahead ("multi-step optimization") or 40 steps ahead ("adaptive long term optimization (ALTO)") when recommending the optimal therapy in each 45 day block, in simulations involving both 2 and 3 non-cross resistant therapies. We also evaluate an ALTO approach for situations where simultaneous combination therapy is not feasible ("Adaptive long term optimization: serial monotherapy only (ALTO-SMO)"). Simulations utilize populations of 764,000 and 1,700,000 virtual patients for 2 and 3 drug cases, respectively. Each virtual patient represents a unique clinical presentation including sizes of major and minor tumor subclones, growth rates, evolution rates, and drug sensitivities. While multi-step optimization and ALTO provide no significant average survival benefit, cure rates are significantly increased by ALTO. Furthermore, in the subset of individual virtual patients demonstrating clinically significant difference in outcome between

  1. Synthesis of the water soluble ligands dmPTA and dmoPTA and the complex [RuClCp(HdmoPTA)(PPh(3))](OSO(2)CF(3)) (dmPTA = N,N'-Dimethyl-1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane, dmoPTA = 3,7-Dimethyl-1,3,7-triaza-5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane, HdmoPTA = 3,7-H-3,7-Dimethyl-1,3,7-triaza-5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mena-Cruz, Adrian; Lorenzo-Luis, Pablo; Romerosa, Antonio; Saoud, Mustapha; Serrano-Ruiz, Manuel

    2007-07-23

    The new water-soluble ligand dmPTA(OSO(2)CF(3))(2) (1) (dmPTA = N,N'-dimethyl-1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane) has been synthesized by reaction of PTA with MeOSO(2)CF(3) in acetone (PTA = 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphatricycle[3.3.1.1(3,7)]decane). The reaction of 1 with KOH gave rise to the new water-soluble ligand dmoPTA (3) (dmoPTA = 3,7-dimethyl-1,3,7-triaza-5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane) by elimination of the -CH(2)- group located between both NCH(3) units. Compound dmPTA(BF(4))(2) (2) and complex [RuClCp(HdmoPTA)(PPh(3))](OSO(2)CF(3)) (4) have also been synthesized, while compounds HdmoPTA(BF(4)) (3a) and [RuClCp(dmPTA)(PPh(3))](OSO(2)CF(3)) (5) were characterized but not isolated. The new ligands and the complex have been fully characterized by NMR, IR, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystal structure determination (ligand 1 and complex 4). The synthetic processes for 3 and 4 were studied.

  2. Dynamic Gesture Recognition with a Terahertz Radar Based on Range Profile Sequences and Doppler Signatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhi; Cao, Zongjie; Pi, Yiming

    2017-12-21

    The frequency of terahertz radar ranges from 0.1 THz to 10 THz, which is higher than that of microwaves. Multi-modal signals, including high-resolution range profile (HRRP) and Doppler signatures, can be acquired by the terahertz radar system. These two kinds of information are commonly used in automatic target recognition; however, dynamic gesture recognition is rarely discussed in the terahertz regime. In this paper, a dynamic gesture recognition system using a terahertz radar is proposed, based on multi-modal signals. The HRRP sequences and Doppler signatures were first achieved from the radar echoes. Considering the electromagnetic scattering characteristics, a feature extraction model is designed using location parameter estimation of scattering centers. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) extended to multi-modal signals is used to accomplish the classifications. Ten types of gesture signals, collected from a terahertz radar, are applied to validate the analysis and the recognition system. The results of the experiment indicate that the recognition rate reaches more than 91%. This research verifies the potential applications of dynamic gesture recognition using a terahertz radar.

  3. Comments on the feasibility studies concerning the decommissioning options LAW retrieval, relocation and backfilling for the Asse facility with respect to the applicability of the BfS evaluation criteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alt, Stefan; Kallenbach-Herbert, Beate; Neles, Julia

    2009-01-01

    The comments on the feasibility studies cover the decommissioning options LAW retrieval, relocation and backfilling for the Asse facility with respect to the applicability of the BfS evaluation criteria. The respective BfS criteria include the evaluation with respect to the safety during the operational phase, the environmental impacts in case of an uncontrollable brine intrusion; the preliminary long-term safety assessment; the feasibility; and the time required.

  4. Multifractal analysis of the long-range correlations in the cardiac dynamics of Drosophila melanogaster

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vitanov, Nikolay K.; Yankulova, Elka D.

    2006-01-01

    By means of the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA) we investigate long-range correlations in the interbeat time series of heart activity of Drosophila melanogaster-the classical object of research in genetics. Our main investigation tool are the fractal spectra f(α) and h(q) by means of which we trace the correlation properties of Drosophila heartbeat dynamics for three consequent generations of species. We observe that opposite to the case of humans the time series of the heartbeat activity of healthy Drosophila do not have scaling properties. Time series from species with genetic defects can be long-range correlated. Different kinds of genetic heart defects lead to different shape of the fractal spectra. The fractal heartbeat dynamics of Drosophila is transferred from generation to generation

  5. Local contrast-enhanced MR images via high dynamic range processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandra, Shekhar S; Engstrom, Craig; Fripp, Jurgen; Neubert, Ales; Jin, Jin; Walker, Duncan; Salvado, Olivier; Ho, Charles; Crozier, Stuart

    2018-09-01

    To develop a local contrast-enhancing and feature-preserving high dynamic range (HDR) image processing algorithm for multichannel and multisequence MR images of multiple body regions and tissues, and to evaluate its performance for structure visualization, bias field (correction) mitigation, and automated tissue segmentation. A multiscale-shape and detail-enhancement HDR-MRI algorithm is applied to data sets of multichannel and multisequence MR images of the brain, knee, breast, and hip. In multisequence 3T hip images, agreement between automatic cartilage segmentations and corresponding synthesized HDR-MRI series were computed for mean voxel overlap established from manual segmentations for a series of cases. Qualitative comparisons between the developed HDR-MRI and standard synthesis methods were performed on multichannel 7T brain and knee data, and multisequence 3T breast and knee data. The synthesized HDR-MRI series provided excellent enhancement of fine-scale structure from multiple scales and contrasts, while substantially reducing bias field effects in 7T brain gradient echo, T 1 and T 2 breast images and 7T knee multichannel images. Evaluation of the HDR-MRI approach on 3T hip multisequence images showed superior outcomes for automatic cartilage segmentations with respect to manual segmentation, particularly around regions with hyperintense synovial fluid, across a set of 3D sequences. The successful combination of multichannel/sequence MR images into a single-fused HDR-MR image format provided consolidated visualization of tissues within 1 omnibus image, enhanced definition of thin, complex anatomical structures in the presence of variable or hyperintense signals, and improved tissue (cartilage) segmentation outcomes. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  6. Field safety notices released by manufacturers in cases of failure of products for infection testing: analysis of cases reported to the BfArM between 2005 and 2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siekmeier, R; Lisson, K; Wetzel, D

    2010-11-04

    The European Directive 98/79/EC for in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVD) regulates marketing and post marketing surveillance of IVD in the European Economic Area. Manufacturers have to inform the responsible Competent Authorities (CA) about incidents and field safety corrective actions (FSCA) related to IVD. In Germany, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) is the responsible CA for most IVD, only few IVD as specified in Annex II of the Directive are under the responsibility of the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI). In case of a FSCA manufacturers have to inform customers by means of a Field Safety Notice (FSN) which should be sent to BfArM prior to release and is published on the BfArM homepage. Between beginning of 2005 and end of 2007 the BfArM received a total of 1025 reports regarding IVD. From these, 38 related to tests, reagents, calibrators, and control materials for infection testing, 13 related to analysers and general consumables (n = 8 and n = 5, respectively) based on culture techniques, and 7 related to analysers and general consumables (n = 5 and n = 2, respectively) based on molecular biological methods. FSCA were performed in Germany in 32 (84.2%) of all notifications related to tests reagents, calibrators, and control materials as well as in 13 (100%) and 7 (100%) of notifications related to analysers and consumables based on culture techniques and molecular biological methods, respectively. A number of relevant deficiencies regarding the quality of the FSN were separately demonstrated for FSN in German and English language. In brief, manufacturers often sent their FSN to the BfArM with delay. Additionally, a subset of FSN provided insufficient information on the product related risks or the measures to be performed by the customer to mitigate product related risks. Furthermore, customer confirmation forms often were missing in the FSN sent to the BfArM. Our data suggest that for IVD for infection testing FSCA and FSN are

  7. Context-dependent JPEG backward-compatible high-dynamic range image compression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korshunov, Pavel; Ebrahimi, Touradj

    2013-10-01

    High-dynamic range (HDR) imaging is expected, together with ultrahigh definition and high-frame rate video, to become a technology that may change photo, TV, and film industries. Many cameras and displays capable of capturing and rendering both HDR images and video are already available in the market. The popularity and full-public adoption of HDR content is, however, hindered by the lack of standards in evaluation of quality, file formats, and compression, as well as large legacy base of low-dynamic range (LDR) displays that are unable to render HDR. To facilitate the wide spread of HDR usage, the backward compatibility of HDR with commonly used legacy technologies for storage, rendering, and compression of video and images are necessary. Although many tone-mapping algorithms are developed for generating viewable LDR content from HDR, there is no consensus of which algorithm to use and under which conditions. We, via a series of subjective evaluations, demonstrate the dependency of the perceptual quality of the tone-mapped LDR images on the context: environmental factors, display parameters, and image content itself. Based on the results of subjective tests, it proposes to extend JPEG file format, the most popular image format, in a backward compatible manner to deal with HDR images also. An architecture to achieve such backward compatibility with JPEG is proposed. A simple implementation of lossy compression demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed architecture compared with the state-of-the-art HDR image compression.

  8. Large dynamic range pressure sensor based on two semicircle-holes microstructured fiber.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhengyong; Htein, Lin; Lee, Kang-Kuen; Lau, Kin-Tak; Tam, Hwa-Yaw

    2018-01-08

    This paper presents a sensitive and large dynamic range pressure sensor based on a novel birefringence microstructured optical fiber (MOF) deployed in a Sagnac interferometer configuration. The MOF has two large semicircle holes in the cladding and a rectangular strut with germanium-doped core in the center. The fiber structure permits surrounding pressure to induce large effective index difference between the two polarized modes. The calculated and measured group birefringence of the fiber are 1.49 × 10 -4 , 1.23 × 10 -4 , respectively, at the wavelength of 1550 nm. Experimental results shown that the pressure sensitivity of the sensor varied from 45,000 pm/MPa to 50,000 pm/MPa, and minimum detectable pressure of 80 Pa and dynamic range of better than 116 dB could be achieved with the novel fiber sensor. The proposed sensor could be used in harsh environment and is an ideal candidate for downhole applications where high pressure measurement at elevated temperature up to 250 °C is needed.

  9. A highly sensitive RF-to-DC power converter with an extended dynamic range

    KAUST Repository

    Almansouri, Abdullah Saud Mohammed; Ouda, Mahmoud H.; Salama, Khaled N.

    2017-01-01

    This paper proposes a highly sensitive RF-to-DC power converter with an extended dynamic range that is designed to operate at the medical band 433 MHz and simulated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology. Compared to the conventional fully cross

  10. Dynamic CFD Simulations of the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) Ballistic Range Tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, Joseph M; Stern, Eric

    2016-01-01

    Dynamic CFD simulations of the SIAD ballistic test model were performed using US3D flow solver. Motivation for performing these simulations is for the purpose of validation and verification of the US3D flow solver as a viable computational tool for predicting dynamic coefficients.

  11. [Current cases of falsified medicinal products within the competence of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) : Case studies and extent].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittstock, Marcus; Paeschke, Norbert

    2017-11-01

    The nature of a falsification of a medicinal product can vary a lot. Therefore the means to detect them and the potential risk to patient safety can also be very different. The whole range of falsification will be described using observed cases from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).Based on the relatively low number of detected cases of falsified medicines, the legal supply chain can still be regarded as safe. It has to be assumed that in the illegal supply chain, e. g. illegal internet trade, the majority of the offered medicinal products are not only falsifications due to illegal trade but because they are completely falsified. Therefore there is an especially high risk for the consumer to be harmed by medicinal products that do not fulfil the required specifications.The trend indicates that increased efforts will be necessary to keep the legal supply chain safe and to contain illegal trade with falsifications. The higher federal authorities BfArM, PEI and BVL are involved in this task by coordinating and ensuring the flow of information to the concerned authorities and stakeholders as well as informing the public. Increased efforts are also necessary due to the rising involvement of organised crime in the falsification of medicinal products. A package of measures was enacted with the Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU to protect the legal supply chain from falsified medicinal products.

  12. OTDM Networking for Short Range High-Capacity Highly Dynamic Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Medhin, Ashenafi Kiros

    This PhD thesis aims at investigating the possibility of designing energy-efficient high-capacity (up to Tbit/s) optical network scenarios, leveraging on the effect of collective switching of many bits simultaneously, as is inherent in high bit rate serial optical data signals. The focus...... is on short range highly dynamic networks, catering to data center needs. The investigation concerns optical network scenarios, and experimental implementations of high bit rate serial data packet generation and reception, scalable optical packet labeling, simple optical label extraction and stable ultra...

  13. An objective method for High Dynamic Range source content selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Narwaria, Manish; Mantel, Claire; Da Silva, Matthieu Perreira

    2014-01-01

    With the aim of improving the immersive experience of the end user, High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging has been gaining popularity. Therefore, proper validation and performance benchmarking of HDR processing algorithms is a key step towards standardization and commercial deployment. A crucial...... component of such validation studies is the selection of a challenging and balanced set of source (reference) HDR content. In order to facilitate this, we present an objective method based on the premise that a more challenging HDR scene encapsulates higher contrast, and as a result will show up more...

  14. Static, dynamic and electronic properties of expanded fluid mercury in the metal-nonmetal transition range. An ab initio study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    CalderIn, L; Gonzalez, L E; Gonzalez, D J

    2011-01-01

    Fluid Hg undergoes a metal-nonmetal (M-NM) transition when expanded toward a density of around 9 g cm -3 . We have performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations for several thermodynamic states around the M-NM transition range and the associated static, dynamic and electronic properties have been analyzed. The calculated static structure shows a good agreement with the available experimental data. It is found that the volume expansion decreases the number of nearest neighbors from 10 (near the triple point) to around 8 at the M-NM transition region. Moreover, these neighbors are arranged into two subshells and the decrease in the number of neighbors occurs in the inner subshell. The calculated dynamic structure factors agree fairly well with their experimental counterparts obtained by inelastic x-ray scattering experiments, which display inelastic side peaks. The derived dispersion relation exhibits some positive dispersion for all the states, although its value around the M-NM transition region is not as marked as suggested by the experiment. We have also calculated the electronic density of states, which shows the appearance of a gap at a density of around 8.3 g cm -3 . (paper)

  15. A Hybrid Shared-Memory Parallel Max-Tree Algorithm for Extreme Dynamic-Range Images

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moschini, Ugo; Meijster, Arnold; Wilkinson, Michael

    Max-trees, or component trees, are graph structures that represent the connected components of an image in a hierarchical way. Nowadays, many application fields rely on images with high-dynamic range or floating point values. Efficient sequential algorithms exist to build trees and compute

  16. Effects of dynamic-range compression on temporal acuity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wiinberg, Alan; Jepsen, Morten Løve; Epp, Bastian

    2016-01-01

    Some of the challenges that hearing-aid listeners experience with speech perception in complex acoustic environments may originate from limitations in the temporal processing of sounds. To systematically investigate the influence of hearing impairment and hearing-aid signal processing on temporal...... processing, temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) and “supra-threshold” modulation-depth discrimination (MDD) thresholds were obtained in normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners with and without wide-dynamic range compression (WDRC). The TMTFs were obtained using tonal carriers of 1...... with the physical compression of the modulation depth due to the WDRC. Indications of reduced temporal resolution in the HI listeners were observed in the TMTF patterns for the 5 kHz carrier. Significantly higher MDD thresholds were found for the HI group relative to the NH group. No relationship was found between...

  17. A High Dynamic-Range Beam Position Measurement System for ELSA-2

    CERN Document Server

    Balleyguier, P; Guimbal, P; Borrion, H

    2003-01-01

    New beamlines are presently under construction for ELSA, a 20 MeV electron linac located at Bruyères-le-Châtel. These lines need a beam position measurement system filling the following requirements: small footprint, wide dynamic range, single-bunch/multi-bunch capability, simple design. We designed a compact 4-stripline sensor and an electronic treatment chain based on logarithmic amplifiers. This paper presents the design, cold and hot test results.

  18. In-medium short-range dynamics of nucleons: Recent theoretical and experimental advances

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Atti, Claudio Ciofi degli, E-mail: ciofi@pg.infn.it

    2015-08-14

    The investigation of in-medium short-range dynamics of nucleons, usually referred to as the study of short-range correlations (SRCs), is a key issue in nuclear and hadronic physics. As a matter of fact, even in the simplified assumption that the nucleus could be described as a system of protons and neutrons interacting via effective nucleon–nucleon (NN) interactions, several non trivial problems arise concerning the description of in-medium (NN short-range dynamics, namely: (i) the behavior of the NN interaction at short inter-nucleon distances in medium cannot be uniquely constrained by the experimental NN scattering phase shifts due to off-shell effects; (ii) by rigorous renormalization group (RG) techniques entire families of phase equivalent interactions differing in the short-range part can be derived; (iii) the in-medium NN interaction may be, in principle, different from the free one; (iv) when the short inter-nucleon separation is of the order of the nucleon size, the question arises of possible effects from quark and gluon degrees of freedom. For more than fifty years, experimental evidence of SRCs has been searched by means of various kinds of nuclear reactions, without however convincing results, mainly because the effects of SRCs arise from non observable quantities, like, e.g., the momentum distributions, and have been extracted from observable cross sections where short- and long-range effects, effects from nucleonic and non nucleonic degrees of freedom, and effects from final state interaction, could not be unambiguously separated out. Recent years, however, were witness of new progress in the field: from one side, theoretical and computational progress has allowed one to solve ab initio the many-nucleon non relativistic Schrödinger equation in terms of realistic NN interactions, obtaining realistic microscopic wave functions, unless the case of parametrized wave functions used frequently in the past, moreover the development of advanced

  19. Long-range-corrected Rung 3.5 density functional approximations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janesko, Benjamin G.; Proynov, Emil; Scalmani, Giovanni; Frisch, Michael J.

    2018-03-01

    Rung 3.5 functionals are a new class of approximations for density functional theory. They provide a flexible intermediate between exact (Hartree-Fock, HF) exchange and semilocal approximations for exchange. Existing Rung 3.5 functionals inherit semilocal functionals' limitations in atomic cores and density tails. Here we address those limitations using range-separated admixture of HF exchange. We present three new functionals. LRC-ωΠLDA combines long-range HF exchange with short-range Rung 3.5 ΠLDA exchange. SLC-ΠLDA combines short- and long-range HF exchange with middle-range ΠLDA exchange. LRC-ωΠLDA-AC incorporates a combination of HF, semilocal, and Rung 3.5 exchange in the short range, based on an adiabatic connection. We test these in a new Rung 3.5 implementation including up to analytic fourth derivatives. LRC-ωΠLDA and SLC-ΠLDA improve atomization energies and reaction barriers by a factor of 8 compared to the full-range ΠLDA. LRC-ωΠLDA-AC brings further improvement approaching the accuracy of standard long-range corrected schemes LC-ωPBE and SLC-PBE. The new functionals yield highest occupied orbital energies closer to experimental ionization potentials and describe correctly the weak charge-transfer complex of ethylene and dichlorine and the hole-spin distribution created by an Al defect in quartz. This study provides a framework for more flexible range-separated Rung 3.5 approximations.

  20. On the determination of the dynamic properties of a transformer oil based ferrofluid in the frequency range 0.1–20 GHz

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fannin, P.C.; Vekas, L.; Marin, C.N.; Malaescu, I.

    2017-01-01

    Complex susceptibility measurements provide a unique and efficient means for the investigation and determination of the dynamic properties of magnetic fluids. In particular, measurement of the frequency, f(Hz), and field, H(kA/m), dependent, complex susceptibility, χ(ω, Η)= χ′(ω, Η)−iχ″(ω, Η), of magnetic fluids has proven to be a valuable and reliable technique for investigating such properties. The experimental data presented here was obtained from measurements of a transformer oil based ferrofluid, with measurements being performed over the frequency range 0.1–20 GHz and polarising fields 0–168 kA/m. In the case of transformer oil magnetic fluids, the normal measurement emphasis has been on the investigation of their dielectric properties, including the effects which lightning may have on these properties. Little has been reported on the measurement of the corresponding magnetic susceptibility, χ(ω), of such fluids and in this paper we address this fact. Thus we consider it worthwhile, in the case of a transformer with magnetic fluid transformer oil, being affected as a result of a lightening occurrence, to have knowledge of the fluids dynamic properties, at the microwave frequencies. In the process of determining the sample susceptibility profiles, it was found that the peak value of the χ″(ω) component, was approximately constant over the frequency range 2.4–6.3 GHz. From this it was determined that the fluid was effectively operating as a wideband absorber over a bandwidth of 3.9 GHz. - Highlights: • Complex magnetic susceptibility measurements in the frequency range 0.1–20 GHz. • Determination of the dynamic properties of a transformer oil based ferrofluid. • Wideband attenuator ( Absorber) in the frequency range 2.4–6.3 GHz.

  1. Pressure-induced change in the Raman spectra of ionic liquid [DEME][BF4]-H2O mixtures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imai, Y; Abe, H; Goto, T; Miyashita, T; Yoshimura, Y

    2010-01-01

    We have measured Raman spectral changes of N,N,diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium tetrafluoroborate, [DEME][BF 4 ]-H 2 O mixtures under high pressure. All the Raman spectra of mixtures of water concentrations below 50.0 mol% H 2 O changed at around 1 GPa at room temperature. The spectrum at high pressure is completely different from that obtained by cooling the sample at a normal pressure.

  2. Validation of the BPUMP BF1112 upper-arm blood pressure monitor for home blood pressure monitoring according to the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol revision 2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Qi; Kang, Yuan-Yuan; Li, Yan; Wang, Ji-Guang

    2017-04-01

    The present study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the automated oscillometric upper-arm blood pressure (BP) monitor BPUMP BF1112 for home BP monitoring according to the International Protocol of the European Society of Hypertension revision 2010 (ESH-IP2010). Systolic and diastolic BPs were sequentially measured in 33 adult Chinese (13 women, mean age 46.7 years) using a mercury sphygmomanometer (two observers) and the BF1112 device (one supervisor). A total of 99 pairs of comparisons were obtained from 33 participants for judgments in two parts with three grading phases. The BPUMP BF1112 device achieved the targets in part 1 of the validation study. The number of absolute differences between device and observers within 5, 10, and 15 mmHg was 85/99, 96/99, and 97/99, respectively, for systolic BP, and 83/99, 97/99, and 99/99, respectively, for diastolic BP. The device also fulfilled the criteria in part 2 of the validation study. A total of 31 and 30 participants for systolic and diastolic BP, respectively, had at least two of the three device-observer differences within 5 mmHg (required≥24mmHg). No participant for systolic or diastolic BP had all the three device-observer comparisons greater than 5 mmHg. The BPUMP BP monitor BF1112 has passed the requirements of the ESH-IP2010, and hence can be recommended for home use in adults.

  3. Browns Ferry Unit 3 cavity neutron spectral analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, G.C.; Till, H.A.

    1982-01-01

    The General Electric Company at the Vallecitos Nuclear Center (GE-VNC) has performed neutron dosimetry measurements in the Browns Ferry Unit 3 reactor (BF3) cavity using multiple dosimeter and spectrum unfolding techniques. These measurements are the first in a BWR cavity and comprise an important part in a general program related to verification of pressure vessel integrity and to validation of calculations. Determinations of BF3 cavity neutron flux densities at five key locations at full power (1098 MWe) during core cycle 2 (November 1978 to August 1979) are presented

  4. Ion pair and solvation dynamics of [Bmim][BF4 ] + water system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cascão, João; Silva, Wagner; Ferreira, Ana S D; Cabrita, Eurico J

    2018-02-01

    In this work, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/water mixtures were analysed over the whole water composition (x w ) in order to study the rotational and translational behaviour of the ions. We employed a multinuclear NMR approach to determine anion/cation/water diffusion coefficients and longitudinal relaxation rates at different water content. In neat ionic liquids (IL), the cation diffuses faster than the anion, and at low x w , anions and cations share almost the same diffusion coefficient, but above a critical water concentration, the anion begins to diffuse faster than the cation. We identified this composition as approximately 10% x w where the ions share the same diffusion coefficient. We found that the water at this composition seems to have a much more dramatic effect in the rotational diffusion of the anion that decreases substantially and approaches that of the anion in the diluted IL. Translational and rotational dynamics of the ions suggest that water is first incorporated in pockets in the nanostructure of the IL allowing the ions to maintain most of the cation/anion interactions present in neat IL but already disrupting some anion/cation interactions due to preferential interaction with the anion. HOESY and NOESY data show that water displays contacts both with the cation and the anion in a positive NOE regime in contrary to the negative regime found for the cation/anion and cation/cation cross-relaxation. This is in accordance with the high relative diffusion coefficient of water and suggests that water molecules can exchange between preferential location sites that allow water to maintain contacts both with the anion and cation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Synthesis, characterization, structure and properties of heterobimetallic complexes [CuNi(μ-OAc) (μ-OH) (μ-OH2) (bpy)2] (BF4)2 and [CuNi(bz)3(bpy)2] ClO4 from 2,2‧ bipyridine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurbah, Sunshine D.; Kumar, A.; Syiemlieh, I.; Dey, A. K.; Lal, R. A.

    2018-02-01

    Heterobimetallic complexes of the composition [CuNi(bpy)2 (μ-OAc) (μ-OH) (μ-OH2)](BF4)2 (1) and [CuNi(bz)3 (bpy)2]ClO4 (2) were synthesized in moderate yield through solid state reaction and have been characterized by elemental analyses, molar conductance, mass spectra, magnetic moment, EPR, UV-Vis, IR spectroscopies and cyclic voltammetry. The ground state in complex (1) is doublet while that in complex (2), the ground state is a mixture of doublet and quartet, respectively. The structure of the complexes has been established by X-ray crystallography. The electron transfer reactions of the complexes have been investigated by cyclic voltammetry.

  6. Crystal structure and characterization of the novel NH{sup +} Midline-Horizontal-Ellipsis N hydrogen bonded polar crystal [NH{sub 2}(CH{sub 2}){sub 4}NH][BF{sub 4}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wojtas, M., E-mail: maciej.wojtas@chem.uni.wroc.pl [Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wroclaw, Joliot-Curie 14, 50-383 Wroclaw (Poland); Gagor, A. [W. Trzebiatowski Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Science, PO Box 1410, 50-950 Wroclaw (Poland); Czupinski, O. [Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wroclaw, Joliot-Curie 14, 50-383 Wroclaw (Poland); Medycki, W. [Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Science, Smoluchowskiego 17, 60-179 Poznan (Poland); Jakubas, R. [Faculty of Chemistry, University of Wroclaw, Joliot-Curie 14, 50-383 Wroclaw (Poland)

    2012-03-15

    Dielectric properties and phase transitions of the piperazinium tetrafluoroborate ([NH{sub 2}(CH{sub 2}){sub 4}NH][BF{sub 4}], abbreviated as PFB) crystal are related to the one-dimensional arrangement of the cations linked by the bistable NH{sup +} Midline-Horizontal-Ellipsis N hydrogen bonds and molecular motions of the [BF{sub 4}]{sup -} units. The crystal structure of [NH{sub 2}(CH{sub 2}){sub 4}NH][BF{sub 4}] is monoclinic at room temperature with the polar space group Pn. The polar/acentric properties of the room temperature phase IV have been confirmed by the piezoelectric and pyroelectric measurements. DSC measurements show that the compound undergoes three first-order structural phase transitions: at 421/411 K (heating/cooling), at 386/372 K and at 364/349 K. {sup 1}H and {sup 19}F NMR measurements indicate the reorientational motions of [BF{sub 4}]{sup -} anions and piperazinium(+) cations as well as the proton motion in the hydrogen-bonded chains of piperazine along the [001] direction. Over the phase I the isotropic reorientational motions or even self-diffusion of the cations and anions are expected. The conductivity measurements in the vicinity of the II-I PT indicate a superionic phase over the phase I. - Graphical abstract: It must be emphasized that the titled compound represents the first organic-inorganic simple salt containing the single-protonated piperazinium cation which was studied by means of the wide variety of experimental techniques. A survey of Cambridge Structural Database (CSD version 5.32 (November 2010) and updates (May 2011)) for structure containing the piperazinium cations yields 248 compounds with the doubly protonated piperazinium(2+) cations and only eight compounds with the singly protonated piperazinium(+) cations. Among these structures only one is the hybrid organic-inorganic material. This is piperazinium nitrate characterized structurally. The crystal packing of [NH{sub 2}(CH{sub 2}){sub 4}NH][BF{sub 4}], phase IV. The

  7. Quantitative Analysis of the Molecular Dynamics of P3HT:PCBM Bulk Heterojunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guilbert, Anne A Y; Zbiri, Mohamed; Dunbar, Alan D F; Nelson, Jenny

    2017-09-28

    The optoelectronic properties of blends of conjugated polymers and small molecules are likely to be affected by the molecular dynamics of the active layer components. We study the dynamics of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blends using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation on time scales up to 50 ns and in a temperature range of 250-360 K. First, we compare the MD results with quasi-elastic neutron-scattering (QENS) measurements. Experiment and simulation give evidence of the vitrification of P3HT upon blending and the plasticization of PCBM by P3HT. Second, we reconstruct the QENS signal based on the independent simulations of the three phases constituting the complex microstructure of such blends. Finally, we found that P3HT chains tend to wrap around PCBM molecules in the amorphous mixture of P3HT and PCBM; this molecular interaction between P3HT and PCBM is likely to be responsible for the observed frustration of P3HT, the plasticization of PCBM, and the partial miscibility of P3HT and PCBM.

  8. Low-temperature elastic anomalies in CaTiO3: dynamical characterization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Placeres-Jiménez, R.; Gonçalves, L. G. V.; Rino, J. P.; Fraygola, B.; Nascimento, W. J.; Eiras, J. A.

    2012-11-01

    Pulse-echo ultrasonic measurements of elastic coefficients of CaTiO3 show anomalous behavior around 200 K, with a notable rise in the attenuation coefficient. Molecular dynamics simulation is used to simulate the elastic response of a mono-domain (MDm) and a poly-domain (PDm) configuration of CaTiO3 using the Vashishta-Raman interatomic potential. The PDm is obtained by cooling the melt from 3600 to 300 K at a rate of 0.5 K ps-1, so that it recrystallizes to the PDm orthorhombic configuration. The elastic behavior is simulated in the temperature range from 300 to 20 K. In the MDm, it is observed that the bulk modulus varies linearly with temperature, while in the PDm an anomalous hardening is seen around 210 K. The bulk modulus of the PDm fluctuates strongly and is lower than that of the MDm. Neither the pair correlation function nor the Ti-Ti-O bonding angle indicate a true structural phase transition in this range of temperatures. Given the absence of any apparent change in the structure, a possible explanation for this phenomenon is the emergence of a certain class of dynamical instability associated with domain wall motion. Curiously, the pressure fluctuations in both the MDm and PDm configurations follow a power law distribution f ˜ P-α, with the exponent independent of applied strain and temperature. Time series for pressure are used to analyze the dynamics by time-delay reconstruction techniques. The calculus of embedding and correlation dimension indicates that in the polycrystalline configuration, low-dimension dynamics (<26) appears, which tend to disappear at higher temperatures.

  9. Boron diffusion in Ge+ premorphized and BF2 implanted Si(001)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zou, L.F.; Acosta-Ortiz, S.E.; Zou, L.X.; Regalado, L.E.; Sun, D.Z.; Wang, Z.G.

    1998-01-01

    The annealing behavior of Si implanted with Ge and then BF 2 has been characterized by double crystal X-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The results show that annealing at 600 Centigrade for 60 minutes can only remove a little damage induced by implantation and nearly no redistribution of Ge and B atoms has occurred during the annealing. The initial crystallinity of Si is fully recovered after annealing at 950 Centigrade for 60 minutes and accompanied by Ge diffusion. Very shallow boron junction depth has been formed. When annealing temperature rises to 1050 Centigrade, B diffusion enhances, which leads to a deep diffusion and good distribution of B atoms into the Si substrate. The X-ray diffraction (004) rocking curves from the samples annealed at 1050 Centigrade for 60 minutes display two Si Ge peaks, which may be related to the B concentration profiles. (Author)

  10. Heat transfer measurements in a forced convection loop with two molten-fluoride salts: LiF--BeF2--ThF2--UF4 and eutectic NaBF4--NaF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silverman, M.D.; Huntley, W.R.; Robertson, H.E.

    1976-10-01

    Heat transfer coefficients were determined experimentally for two molten-fluoride salts [LiF-BeF 2 -ThF 2 -UF 4 (72-16-12-0.3 mole %) and NaBF 4 -NaF (92-8 mole %] proposed as the fuel salt and coolant salt, respectively, for molten-salt breeder reactors. Information was obtained over a wide range of variables, with salt flowing through 12.7-mm-OD (0.5-in.) Hastelloy N tubing in a forced convection loop (FCL-2b). Satisfactory agreement with the empirical Sieder-Tate correlation was obtained in the fully developed turbulent region at Reynolds moduli above 15,000 and with a modified Hausen equation in the extended transition region (Re approx.2100-15,000). Insufficient data were obtained in the laminar region to allow any conclusions to be drawn. These results indicate that the proposed salts behave as normal heat transfer fluids with an extended transition region

  11. Simultaneous broadband laser ranging and photonic Doppler velocimetry for dynamic compression experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    La Lone, B. M., E-mail: lalonebm@nv.doe.gov; Marshall, B. R.; Miller, E. K.; Stevens, G. D.; Turley, W. D. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Special Technologies Laboratory, Santa Barbara, California 93111 (United States); Veeser, L. R. [National Security Technologies, LLC, Los Alamos Operations, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 (United States)

    2015-02-15

    A diagnostic was developed to simultaneously measure both the distance and velocity of rapidly moving surfaces in dynamic compression experiments, specifically non-planar experiments where integrating the velocity in one direction does not always give the material position accurately. The diagnostic is constructed mainly from fiber-optic telecommunications components. The distance measurement is based on a technique described by Xia and Zhang [Opt. Express 18, 4118 (2010)], which determines the target distance every 20 ns and is independent of the target speed. We have extended the full range of the diagnostic to several centimeters to allow its use in dynamic experiments, and we multiplexed it with a photonic Doppler velocimetry (PDV) system so that distance and velocity histories can be measured simultaneously using one fiber-optic probe. The diagnostic was demonstrated on a spinning square cylinder to show how integrating a PDV record can give an incorrect surface position and how the ranging diagnostic described here obtains it directly. The diagnostic was also tested on an explosive experiment where copper fragments and surface ejecta were identified in both the distance and velocity signals. We show how the distance measurements complement the velocity data. Potential applications are discussed.

  12. A Novel Realization of Low-Power and Low-Distortion Multiplier Circuit with Improved Dynamic Range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Naderi Saatlo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A novel topology of four-quadrant analog multiplier circuit is presented in this paper. The voltage mode technique is employed to design the circuit in CMOS technology. The dynamic input and output ranges of the circuit are improved owing to the fact that the circuit works in the saturation region not in weak inversion. Also the proposed multiplier is suitable for low voltage operation and its power consumption is relatively low. In order to verify the performance of the proposed circuit, performance of the circuit affected by second order effects including transistor mismatch and mobility reduction is analyzed in detail. It will be shown that any conceivable mismatch in the transistor parameters leads to second harmonic distortion. Additionally, the effect of mobility reduction in the third harmonic distortion will be computed. In order to simulate the circuit, Cadence and HSPICE software are used with TSMC level 49 (BSIM3v3 parameters for 0.18 μm CMOS technology, where under supply voltage of 1.5 V, total power consumption is 44 µW, the corresponding average nonlinearity remains as low as 1 %, and the input range of the circuit is ± 400 mV.

  13. Deeply trapped electrons in imaging plates and their utilization for extending the dynamic range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohuchi, Hiroko; Kondo, Yasuhiro

    2010-01-01

    The absorption spectra of deep centers in an imaging plate (IP) made of BaFBr 0:85 I 0:15 :Eu 2+ have been studied in the ultraviolet region. Electrons trapped in deep centers are considered to be the cause of unerasable and reappearing latent images in IPs over-irradiated with X-rays. Deep centers showed a dominant peak at around 320 nm, followed by two small peaks at around 345 and 380 nm. By utilizing deeply trapped electrons, we have attempted to extend the dynamic range of an IP. The IP was irradiated by 150-kV X-rays with doses from 8.07 mGy to 80.7 Gy. Reading out the latent image by the stimulation of Eu 2+ luminescence with a 633-nm He-Ne laser light from a conventional Fuji reader showed a linear relationship with irradiated dose up to 0.8 Gy, but then becoming non-linear. After fully erasing with visible light, unerasable latent images were read out using 635-nm semi-conductor laser light combined with a photon-counting detection system. The dose-response curve so obtained gave a further two orders of magnitude extending the dynamic range up to 80.7 Gy. Comprehensive results indicate that electrons supplied from deep centers to the F centers provided the extended dynamic range after the F centers became saturated. Based on these facts, a model of the excitation of deeply trapped electrons and PSL processes is proposed.

  14. How interactions between animal movement and landscape processes modify range dynamics and extinction risk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Range dynamics models now incorporate many of the mechanisms and interactions that drive species distributions. However, connectivity continues to be studied using overly simple distance-based dispersal models with little consideration of how the individual behavior of dispersin...

  15. Absence of morphotropic phase boundary effects in BiFeO3-PbTiO3 thin films grown via a chemical multilayer deposition method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Shashaank; Bhattacharjee, Shuvrajyoti; Pandey, Dhananjai; Bansal, Vipul; Bhargava, Suresh K.; Peng, Ju Lin; Garg, Ashish

    2011-07-01

    We report an unusual behavior observed in (BiFeO3)1- x -(PbTiO3) x (BF- xPT) thin films prepared using a multilayer chemical solution deposition method. Films of different compositions were grown by depositing several bilayers of BF and PT precursors of varying BF and PT layer thicknesses followed by heat treatment in air. X-ray diffraction showed that samples of all compositions show mixing of two compounds resulting in a single-phase mixture, also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. In contrast to bulk compositions, samples show a monoclinic (MA-type) structure suggesting disappearance of the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) at x=0.30 as observed in the bulk. This is accompanied by the lack of any enhancement of the remanent polarization at the MPB, as shown by the ferroelectric measurements. Magnetic measurements showed an increase in the magnetization of the samples with increasing BF content. Significant magnetization in the samples indicates melting of spin spirals in the BF- xPT films, arising from a random distribution of iron atoms. Absence of Fe2+ ions was corroborated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The results illustrate that thin film processing methodology significantly changes the structural evolution, in contrast to predictions from the equilibrium phase diagram, besides modifying the functional characteristics of the BP- xPT system dramatically.

  16. Expanding the linear dynamic range for quantitative liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry utilizing natural isotopologue signals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Hanghui; Lam, Lily; Yan, Lin; Chi, Bert; Dasgupta, Purnendu K.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Less abundant isotopologue ions were utilized to decrease detector saturation. • A 25–50 fold increase in the upper limit of dynamic range was demonstrated. • Linear dynamic range was expanded without compromising mass resolution. - Abstract: The linear dynamic range (LDR) for quantitative liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry can be extended until ionization saturation is reached by using a number of target isotopologue ions in addition to the normally used target ion that provides the highest sensitivity. Less abundant isotopologue ions extend the LDR: the lower ion abundance decreases the probability of ion detector saturation. Effectively the sensitivity decreases and the upper limit of the LDR increases. We show in this paper that the technique is particularly powerful with a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer because the data for all ions are automatically acquired, and we demonstrated this for four small organic molecules; the upper limits of LDRs increased by 25–50 times

  17. pVT-Second Virial Coefficients B(T ), Viscosity η(T ), and Self-Diffusion ρD(T) of the Gases: BF3, CF4, SiF4, CCl4, SiCl4, SF6, MoF6, WF6, UF6, C(CH3)4, and Si(CH3)4 Determined by Means of an Isotropic Temperature-Dependent Potential

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarkova, L.; Hohm, U.

    2002-03-01

    We present results on self-consistent calculations of second pVT-virial coefficients B(T), viscosity data η(T), and diffusion coefficients ρD(T) for eleven heavy globular gases: boron trifluoride (BF3), carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), molybdenum hexafluoride (MoF6), tungsten hexafluoride (WF6), uranium hexafluoride (UF6), tetramethyl methane (C(CH3)4, TMM), and tetramethyl silane (Si(CH3)4, TMS). The calculations are performed mainly in the temperature range between 200 and 900 K by means of isotropic n-6 potentials with temperature-dependent separation rm(T) and potential well depth ɛ(T). The potential parameters at T=0 K (ɛ, rm, n) and the enlargement of the first level radii δ are obtained solving an ill-posed problem of minimizing the squared deviations between experimental and calculated values normalized to their relative experimental error. The temperature dependence of the potential is obtained as a result of the influence of vibrational excitation on binary interactions. This concept of the isotropic temperature-dependent potential (ITDP) is presented in detail where gaseous SF6 will serve as an example. The ITDP is subsequently applied to all other gases. This approach and the main part of the results presented here have already been published during 1996-2000. However, in some cases the data are upgraded due to the recently improved software (CF4, SF6) and newly found experimental data (CF4, SiF4, CCl4, SF6).

  18. Cochlear function tests in estimation of speech dynamic range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Jung Ju; Park, So Young; Park, Shi Nae; Na, Mi Sun; Lee, Philip; Han, Jae Sang

    2016-10-01

    The loss of active cochlear mechanics causes elevated thresholds, loudness recruitment, and reduced frequency selectivity. The problems faced by hearing-impaired listeners are largely related with reduced dynamic range (DR). The aim of this study was to determine which index of the cochlear function tests correlates best with the DR to speech stimuli. Audiological data on 516 ears with pure tone average (PTA) of ≤55 dB and word recognition score of ≥70% were analyzed. PTA, speech recognition threshold (SRT), uncomfortable loudness (UCL), and distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) were explored as the indices of cochlear function. Audiometric configurations were classified. Correlation between each index and the DR was assessed and multiple regression analysis was done. PTA and SRT demonstrated strong negative correlations with the DR (r = -0.788 and -0.860, respectively), while DPOAE sum was moderately correlated (r = 0.587). UCLs remained quite constant for the total range of the DR. The regression equation was Y (DR) = 75.238 - 0.719 × SRT (R(2 )=( )0.721, p equation.

  19. Development of a High Dynamic Range Pixel Array Detector for Synchrotrons and XFELs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Joel Todd

    Advances in synchrotron radiation light source technology have opened new lines of inquiry in material science, biology, and everything in between. However, x-ray detector capabilities must advance in concert with light source technology to fully realize experimental possibilities. X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) place particularly large demands on the capabilities of detectors, and developments towards diffraction-limited storage ring sources also necessitate detectors capable of measuring very high flux [1-3]. The detector described herein builds on the Mixed Mode Pixel Array Detector (MM-PAD) framework, developed previously by our group to perform high dynamic range imaging, and the Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD) developed for the European XFEL by a collaboration between Deustsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), the Paul-Scherrer-Institute (PSI), the University of Hamburg, and the University of Bonn, led by Heinz Graafsma [4, 5]. The feasibility of combining adaptive gain with charge removal techniques to increase dynamic range in XFEL experiments is assessed by simulating XFEL scatter with a pulsed infrared laser. The strategy is incorporated into pixel prototypes which are evaluated with direct current injection to simulate very high incident x-ray flux. A fully functional 16x16 pixel hybrid integrating x-ray detector featuring several different pixel architectures based on the prototypes was developed. This dissertation describes its operation and characterization. To extend dynamic range, charge is removed from the integration node of the front-end amplifier without interrupting integration. The number of times this process occurs is recorded by a digital counter in the pixel. The parameter limiting full well is thereby shifted from the size of an integration capacitor to the depth of a digital counter. The result is similar to that achieved by counting pixel array detectors, but the integrators presented here are designed to tolerate a

  20. The Impact of Feet Callosities, Arm Posture, and Usage of Electrolyte Wipes on Body Composition by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis in Morbidly Obese Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roekenes, Jessica; Strømmen, Magnus; Kulseng, Bård; Martins, Catia

    2015-01-01

    This study evaluated the impact of feet callosities, arm posture, and use of electrolyte wipes on body composition measurements by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in morbidly obese adults. 36 morbidly obese patients (13 males, aged 28-70 years, BMI 41.6 ± 4.3 kg/m2) with moderate/severe feet callosities participated in this study. Body composition (percent body fat (%BF)) was measured while fasting using multi-frequency BIA (InBody 720®), before and after removal of callosities, with and without InBody® electrolyte wipes and custom-built auxiliary pads (to assess arm posture impact). Results from BIA were compared to air displacement plethysmography (ADP, BodPod®). Median %BF was significantly higher with auxiliary pads than without (50.1 (interquartile range 8.2) vs. 49.3 (interquartile range 9.1); p interquartile range 9.1) vs. 50.0 (interquartile range 7.9); NS) or use of wipes (49.6 (interquartile range 8.5) vs. 49.3 (interquartile range 9.1); NS). No differences in %BF were found between BIA and ADP (49.1 (IQR: 8.9) vs. 49.3 (IQR: 9.1); NS). Arm posture has a significant impact on %BF assessed by BIA, contrary to the presence of feet callosities and use of electrolyte wipes. Arm posture standardization during BIA for body composition assessment is, therefore, recommended. © 2015 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg.

  1. Synthesis and Characterization of Pyridino(1,4-Η-cyclohexa-1,3-dieneDerivatives of Iron Tricarbonyl Complexes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. I. Odiaka

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available In this synthesis, we have been able to show that, the addition of x- substituted pyridines, (X = H, 2- Me, 3- Me 4- Me, 4-NH2 and 4-N(CH32 to the dienyl ring of the organometallic cation, [(Fe(CO3 (1-5- η-2-Me0C3H6]BF4 and [(Fe(CO3(1-5-η-C6H7]BF4 gives ionic substituted diene products, (X C5H4-C6H6Y (Fe(CO3] BF4,Y=H or 2-MeO. The reaction takes place at ordinary room temperature. The resulting products were isolated and characterized.

  2. Li + solvation and kinetics of Li+BF4-/PF 6 - ion pairs in ethylene carbonate. A molecular dynamics study with classical rate theories

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Tsun-Mei [Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin–Parkside, Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141, USA; Dang, Liem X. [Physical Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 93352, USA

    2017-10-28

    Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ethylene carbonate (EC) exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li+ and the dissociation kinetics of ion pairs Li+-[BF4] and Li+-[PF6] in this solvent. We calculate the exchange rates using transition state theory and correct them with transmission coefficients computed by the reactive flux; Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches; and Grote-Hynes theory. We found the residence times of EC around Li+ ions varied from 70 to 450 ps, depending on the correction method used. We found the relaxation times changed significantly from Li+-[BF4] to Li+-[PF6] ion pairs in EC. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of dissociation in EC, the anion type also significantly influence the dissociation kinetics of ion pairing. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences. The calculations were carried out using computer resources provided by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

  3. The dynamical mechanical properties of tungsten under compression at working temperature range of divertors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, C.C.; Song, Y.T.; Peng, X.B.; Wei, Y.P.; Mao, X.; Li, W.X.; Qian, X.Y.

    2016-01-01

    In the divertor structure of ITER and EAST with mono-block module, tungsten plays not only a role of armor material but also a role of structural material, because electromagnetic (EM) impact will be exerted on tungsten components in VDEs or CQ. The EM loads can reach to 100 MN, which would cause high strain rates. In addition, directly exposed to high-temperature plasma, the temperature regime of divertor components is complex. Aiming at studying dynamical response of tungsten divertors under EM loads, an experiment on tungsten employed in EAST divertors was performed using a Kolsky bar system. The testing strain rates and temperatures is derived from actual working conditions, which makes the constitutive equation concluded by using John-Cook model and testing data very accurate and practical. The work would give a guidance to estimate the dynamical response, fatigue life and damage evolution of tungsten divertor components under EM impact loads. - Graphical abstract: From the comparison between the experimental curves and the predicted curves calculated by adopting the corrected m, it is very clear that the new model is of great capability to explain the deformation behavior of the tungsten material under dynamic compression at high temperatures. (EC, PC and PCM refers to experimental curve, predicted curve and predicted curve with a corrected m. Different colors represent different scenarios.). - Highlights: • Test research on dynamic properties of tungsten at working temperature range and strain rate range of divertors. • Constitutive equation descrbing strain hardening, strain rate hardening and temperature softening. • A guidance to estimate dynamical response and damage evolution of tungsten divertor components under impact.

  4. Low-power low-noise mixed-mode VLSI ASIC for infinite dynamic range imaging applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turchetta, Renato; Hu, Y.; Zinzius, Y.; Colledani, C.; Loge, A.

    1998-11-01

    Solid state solutions for imaging are mainly represented by CCDs and, more recently, by CMOS imagers. Both devices are based on the integration of the total charge generated by the impinging radiation, with no processing of the single photon information. The dynamic range of these devices is intrinsically limited by the finite value of noise. Here we present the design of an architecture which allows efficient, in-pixel, noise reduction to a practically zero level, thus allowing infinite dynamic range imaging. A detailed calculation of the dynamic range is worked out, showing that noise is efficiently suppressed. This architecture is based on the concept of single-photon counting. In each pixel, we integrate both the front-end, low-noise, low-power analog part and the digital part. The former consists of a charge preamplifier, an active filter for optimal noise bandwidth reduction, a buffer and a threshold comparator, and the latter is simply a counter, which can be programmed to act as a normal shift register for the readout of the counters' contents. Two different ASIC's based on this concept have been designed for different applications. The first one has been optimized for silicon edge-on microstrips detectors, used in a digital mammography R and D project. It is a 32-channel circuit, with a 16-bit binary static counter.It has been optimized for a relatively large detector capacitance of 5 pF. Noise has been measured to be equal to 100 + 7*Cd (pF) electron rms with the digital part, showing no degradation of the noise performances with respect to the design values. The power consumption is 3.8mW/channel for a peaking time of about 1 microsecond(s) . The second circuit is a prototype for pixel imaging. The total active area is about (250 micrometers )**2. The main differences of the electronic architecture with respect to the first prototype are: i) different optimization of the analog front-end part for low-capacitance detectors, ii) in- pixel 4-bit comparator

  5. Diversity and Multiplexing Technologies by 3D Beams in Polarized Massive MIMO Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Su

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Massive multiple input, multiple output (M-MIMO technologies have been proposed to scale up data rates reaching gigabits per second in the forthcoming 5G mobile communications systems. However, one of crucial constraints is a dimension in space to implement the M-MIMO. To cope with the space constraint and to utilize more flexibility in 3D beamforming (3D-BF, we propose antenna polarization in M-MIMO systems. In this paper, we design a polarized M-MIMO (PM-MIMO system associated with 3D-BF applications, where the system architectures for diversity and multiplexing technologies achieved by polarized 3D beams are provided. Different from the conventional 3D-BF achieved by planar M-MIMO technology to control the downtilted beam in a vertical domain, the proposed PM-MIMO realizes 3D-BF via the linear combination of polarized beams. In addition, an effective array selection scheme is proposed to optimize the beam-width and to enhance system performance by the exploration of diversity and multiplexing gains; and a blind channel estimation (BCE approach is also proposed to avoid pilot contamination in PM-MIMO. Based on the Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A specification, the simulation results finally confirm the validity of our proposals.

  6. Smartphone-based accelerometry is a valid tool for measuring dynamic changes in knee extension range of motion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Støve, Morten Pallisgaard; Palsson, Thorvaldur Skuli; Hirata, Rogerio Pessoto

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: Measurement of static joint range of motion is used extensively in orthopaedic and rehabilitative communities to benchmark treatment efficacy. Static measures are, however, insufficient in providing detailed information about patient impairments. Dynamic range of motion measures cou...

  7. When and where to move: Dynamic occupancy models explain the range dynamics of a food nomadic bird under climate and land cover change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalle, Riddhika; Ramesh, Tharmalingam; Downs, Colleen T

    2018-01-01

    Globally, long-term research is critical to monitor the responses of tropical species to climate and land cover change at the range scale. Citizen science surveys can reveal the long-term persistence of poorly known nomadic tropical birds occupying fragmented forest patches. We applied dynamic occupancy models to 13 years (2002-2014) of citizen science-driven presence/absence data on Cape parrot (Poicephalus robustus), a food nomadic bird endemic to South Africa. We modeled its underlying range dynamics as a function of resource distribution, and change in climate and land cover through the estimation of colonization and extinction patterns. The range occupancy of Cape parrot changed little over time (ψ = 0.75-0.83) because extinction was balanced by recolonization. Yet, there was considerable regional variability in occupancy and detection probability increased over the years. Colonizations increased with warmer temperature and area of orchards, thus explaining their range shifts southeastwards in recent years. Although colonizations were higher in the presence of nests and yellowwood trees (Afrocarpus and Podocarpus spp.), the extinctions in small forest patches (≤227 ha) and during low precipitation (≤41 mm) are attributed to resource constraints and unsuitable climatic conditions. Loss of indigenous forest cover and artificial lake/water bodies increased extinction probabilities of Cape parrot. The land use matrix (fruit farms, gardens, and cultivations) surrounding forest patches provides alternative food sources, thereby facilitating spatiotemporal colonization and extinction in the human-modified matrix. Our models show that Cape parrots are vulnerable to extreme climatic conditions such as drought which is predicted to increase under climate change. Therefore, management of optimum sized high-quality forest patches is essential for long-term survival of Cape parrot populations. Our novel application of dynamic occupancy models to long-term citizen

  8. A design of an on-orbit radiometric calibration device for high dynamic range infrared remote sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheng, Yicheng; Jin, Weiqi; Dun, Xiong; Zhou, Feng; Xiao, Si

    2017-10-01

    With the demand of quantitative remote sensing technology growing, high reliability as well as high accuracy radiometric calibration technology, especially the on-orbit radiometric calibration device has become an essential orientation in term of quantitative remote sensing technology. In recent years, global launches of remote sensing satellites are equipped with innovative on-orbit radiometric calibration devices. In order to meet the requirements of covering a very wide dynamic range and no-shielding radiometric calibration system, we designed a projection-type radiometric calibration device for high dynamic range sensors based on the Schmidt telescope system. In this internal radiometric calibration device, we select the EF-8530 light source as the calibration blackbody. EF-8530 is a high emittance Nichrome (Ni-Cr) reference source. It can operate in steady or pulsed state mode at a peak temperature of 973K. The irradiance from the source was projected to the IRFPA. The irradiance needs to ensure that the IRFPA can obtain different amplitude of the uniform irradiance through the narrow IR passbands and cover the very wide dynamic range. Combining the internal on-orbit radiometric calibration device with the specially designed adaptive radiometric calibration algorithms, an on-orbit dynamic non-uniformity correction can be accomplished without blocking the optical beam from outside the telescope. The design optimizes optics, source design, and power supply electronics for irradiance accuracy and uniformity. The internal on-orbit radiometric calibration device not only satisfies a series of indexes such as stability, accuracy, large dynamic range and uniformity of irradiance, but also has the advantages of short heating and cooling time, small volume, lightweight, low power consumption and many other features. It can realize the fast and efficient relative radiometric calibration without shielding the field of view. The device can applied to the design and

  9. ClC-3 Promotes Osteogenic Differentiation in MC3T3-E1 Cell After Dynamic Compression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Dawei; Wang, Hao; Gao, Feng; Wang, Kun; Dong, Fusheng

    2017-06-01

    ClC-3 chloride channel has been proved to have a relationship with the expression of osteogenic markers during osteogenesis, persistent static compression can upregulate the expression of ClC-3 and regulate osteodifferentiation in osteoblasts. However, there was no study about the relationship between the expression of ClC-3 and osteodifferentiation after dynamic compression. In this study, we applied dynamic compression on MC3T3-E1 cells to detect the expression of ClC-3, runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2), osteopontin (OPN), nuclear-associated antigen Ki67 (Ki67), and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in biopress system, then we investigated the expression of these genes after dynamic compression with Chlorotoxin (specific ClC-3 chloride channel inhibitor) added. Under transmission electron microscopy, there were more cell surface protrusions, rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, abundant glycogen, and lysosomes scattered in the cytoplasm in MC3T3-E1 cells after dynamic compression. The nucleolus was more obvious. We found that ClC-3 was significantly up-regulated after dynamic compression. The compressive force also up-regulated Runx2, BMP-2, and OPN after dynamic compression for 2, 4 and 8 h. The proliferation gene Ki67 and PCNA did not show significantly change after dynamic compression for 8 h. Chlorotoxin did not change the expression of ClC-3 but reduced the expression of Runx2, BMP-2, and OPN after dynamic compression compared with the group without Cltx added. The data from the current study suggested that ClC-3 may promotes osteogenic differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cell after dynamic compression. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1606-1613, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. High-dynamic-range coherent diffractive imaging: ptychography using the mixed-mode pixel array detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Giewekemeyer, Klaus, E-mail: klaus.giewekemeyer@xfel.eu [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Philipp, Hugh T. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Wilke, Robin N. [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Aquila, Andrew [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Osterhoff, Markus [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Tate, Mark W.; Shanks, Katherine S. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Zozulya, Alexey V. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg (Germany); Salditt, Tim [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Gruner, Sol M. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Kavli Institute of Cornell for Nanoscience, Ithaca, NY (United States); Mancuso, Adrian P. [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany)

    2014-08-07

    The advantages of a novel wide dynamic range hard X-ray detector are demonstrated for (ptychographic) coherent X-ray diffractive imaging. Coherent (X-ray) diffractive imaging (CDI) is an increasingly popular form of X-ray microscopy, mainly due to its potential to produce high-resolution images and the lack of an objective lens between the sample and its corresponding imaging detector. One challenge, however, is that very high dynamic range diffraction data must be collected to produce both quantitative and high-resolution images. In this work, hard X-ray ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging has been performed at the P10 beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron to demonstrate the potential of a very wide dynamic range imaging X-ray detector (the Mixed-Mode Pixel Array Detector, or MM-PAD). The detector is capable of single photon detection, detecting fluxes exceeding 1 × 10{sup 8} 8-keV photons pixel{sup −1} s{sup −1}, and framing at 1 kHz. A ptychographic reconstruction was performed using a peak focal intensity on the order of 1 × 10{sup 10} photons µm{sup −2} s{sup −1} within an area of approximately 325 nm × 603 nm. This was done without need of a beam stop and with a very modest attenuation, while ‘still’ images of the empty beam far-field intensity were recorded without any attenuation. The treatment of the detector frames and CDI methodology for reconstruction of non-sensitive detector regions, partially also extending the active detector area, are described.

  11. 3D Protein Dynamics in the Cell Nucleus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Anand P; Galland, Rémi; Finch-Edmondson, Megan L; Grenci, Gianluca; Sibarita, Jean-Baptiste; Studer, Vincent; Viasnoff, Virgile; Saunders, Timothy E

    2017-01-10

    The three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the cell nucleus plays an important role in protein dynamics and in regulating gene expression. However, protein dynamics within the 3D nucleus are poorly understood. Here, we present, to our knowledge, a novel combination of 1) single-objective based light-sheet microscopy, 2) photoconvertible proteins, and 3) fluorescence correlation microscopy, to quantitatively measure 3D protein dynamics in the nucleus. We are able to acquire >3400 autocorrelation functions at multiple spatial positions within a nucleus, without significant photobleaching, allowing us to make reliable estimates of diffusion dynamics. Using this tool, we demonstrate spatial heterogeneity in Polymerase II dynamics in live U2OS cells. Further, we provide detailed measurements of human-Yes-associated protein diffusion dynamics in a human gastric cancer epithelial cell line. Copyright © 2017 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Measurements of short-range ordering in Ni3Al

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okamoto, J.K.; Ahn, C.C.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports on extended electron energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS) that has been used to measure short-range ordering in Ni 3 Al. Films of fcc Ni 3 Al with suppressed short-range order synthesized by vacuum evaporation of Ni 3 Al onto room temperature substrates. EXELFS data were taken from both Al K and Ni L 23 edges. The development of short-range order was observed after the samples were annealed for various times at temperatures below 350 degrees C. Upon comparison with ab initio planewave EXELFS calculations, it was found that the Warren-Cowley short-range order parameter a(1nn) changed by about -0.1 after 210 minutes of annealing at 150 degrees C

  13. Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of a Brief Self-Report Questionnaire for the Assessment of the DSM-5 level of Personality Functioning Scale: The LPFS Brief Form (LPFS-BF).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutsebaut, Joost; Feenstra, Dine J; Kamphuis, Jan H

    2016-04-01

    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) alternative model for personality disorders (PDs) introduced a new paradigm for the assessment of PDs that includes levels of personality functioning indexing the severity of personality pathology irrespective of diagnosis. In this study, we describe the development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of a newly developed brief self-report questionnaire to assess levels of personality functioning, the Level of Personality Functioning Scale-Brief Form (LPFS-BF; Bender, Morey, & Skodol, 2011). Patients (N = 240) referred to a specialized setting for the assessment and treatment of PDs completed the LPFS-BF, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis, 1975), the Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118; Verheul et al., 2008), and were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Personality Disorders (SCID-I; APA, 1994; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1997) and the SCID Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, Williams, & Benjamin, 1996). When constrained to a 2-factor oblique solution, the LPFS-BF yielded a structure that corresponded well to an interpretation of Self- and Interpersonal Functioning scales. The instrument demonstrated fair to satisfactory internal consistency and promising construct validity. The LPFS-BF constitutes a short, user-friendly instrument that provides a quick impression of the severity of personality pathology, specifically oriented to the DSM-5 model. Clearly, more research is needed to test its validity and clinical utility. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. Analysis of BF Hearth Reasonable Cooling System Based on the Water Dynamic Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuo, Haibin; Jiao, Kexin; Zhang, Jianliang; Li, Qian; Wang, Cui

    A rational cooling water system is the assurance for long campaign life of blast furnace. In the paper, the heat transfer of different furnace period and different furnace condition based on the water quality characteristics were analysed, and the reason of the heat flux over the normal from the hydrodynamics was analysed. The results showed that, the vapour-film and scale existence significantly influenced the hearth heat transfer, which accelerated the brick lining erosion. The water dynamic characteristics of the parallel inner pipe or among the pipes were the main reason for the abnormal heat flux and film boiling. As to the reasonable cooling water flow, the gas film and the scale should be controlled and the energy saving should be considered.

  15. Short-Range Electron Transfer in Reduced Flavodoxin: Ultrafast Nonequilibrium Dynamics Coupled with Protein Fluctuations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kundu, Mainak; He, Ting-Fang; Lu, Yangyi; Wang, Lijuan; Zhong, Dongping

    2018-05-03

    Short-range electron transfer (ET) in proteins is an ultrafast process on the similar timescales as local protein-solvent fluctuations thus the two dynamics are coupled. Here, we use semiquinone flavodoxin and systematically characterized the photoinduced redox cycle with eleven mutations of different aromatic electron donors (tryptophan and tyrosine) and local residues to change redox properties. We observed the forward and backward ET dynamics in a few picoseconds, strongly following a stretched behavior resulting from a coupling between local environment relaxations and these ET processes. We further observed the hot vibrational-state formation through charge recombination and the subsequent cooling dynamics also in a few picoseconds. Combined with the ET studies in oxidized flavodoxin, these results coherently reveal the evolution of the ET dynamics from single to stretched exponential behaviors and thus elucidate critical timescales for the coupling. The observed hot vibration-state formation is robust and should be considered in all photoinduced back ET processes in flavoproteins.

  16. An annular BF3 counter of large sensitive volume

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janardhanan, S.; Swaminathan, N.

    1975-01-01

    An annular neutron counter having a large sensitive volume with inner and outer diameter 31 cms with multiple electrode system fabricated especially to measure the neutron output from fissile region of standard fast reactor fuel of length nearly equivalent to 500 cms is described. The counter efficiency is nearly 0.3% for neutron and sensitivity 0.0018 counts/neutron for (alpha, neutron) and spontaneous fission source. Its other potential applications which are indicated are : (1) quality control of fast reactor fuel pins (2) fuel inventory (3) assessing radioactivity of solid waste packets containing PuO 2 (4) uniformity of fuel loading of a reactor and (5) neutron monitoring in a fuel plant. (M.G.B.)

  17. Low Parametric Sensitivity Realizations with relaxed L2-dynamic-range-scaling constraints

    OpenAIRE

    Hilaire , Thibault

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a new dynamic-range scaling for the implementation of filters/controllers in state-space form. Relaxing the classical L2-scaling constraints by specific fixed-point considerations allows for a higher degree of freedom for the optimal L2-parametric sensitivity problem. However, overflows in the implementation are still prevented. The underlying constrained problem is converted into an unconstrained problem for which a solution can be provided. This leads to realizations whi...

  18. Dynamics of r.f. production of Stellarator plasmas in the ion cyclotron range of frequency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moiseenko, V.E.; Lysoivan, A.I.; Kasilov, S.V.; Plyusnin, V.V.

    1995-01-01

    The present study investigated numerically the process of r.f. production of plasma in the URAGAN-3M torsatron in the frequency range below the ion cyclotron frequency (ω ci ). The dynamics of r.f. plasma build-up at the stages of neutral gas burnout and plasma heating were studied using a zero-dimensional transport code, in which the plasma confinement law was determined by large helical device scaling. Two models for input r.f. power were used. In the first case, the r.f. power absorbed by the electrons was computed by a one-dimensional r.f. code solving Maxwell's boundary problem equations. The mechanisms of electron heating through direct excitation of the slow wave (SW) by antennae as well as the conversion of fast wave (FW) into SW in the vicinity of Alfven resonance (scenario of Alfven heating) were taken into account in the computations. In the second case, an 'ideal' model of r.f. power deposition onto the electrons as a linear function of plasma density was employed. A noticeable difference in plasma production dynamics computed for these two cases was found. Better agreement with experimental data obtained from the URAGAN-3M torsatron was found for the first case resulting from combination of the one-dimensional r.f. and zero-dimensional transport codes. ((orig.))

  19. Observation of long-range elliptic azimuthal anisotropies in √s = 13 and 2.76 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; Chudoba, Jiří; Havránek, Miroslav; Hejbal, Jiří; Jakoubek, Tomáš; Kepka, Oldřich; Kupčo, Alexander; Kůs, Vlastimil; Lokajíček, Miloš; Lysák, Roman; Marčišovský, Michal; Mikeštíková, Marcela; Němeček, Stanislav; Penc, Ondřej; Šícho, Petr; Staroba, Pavel; Svatoš, Michal; Taševský, Marek; Vrba, Václav

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 116, č. 17 (2016), 1-20, č. článku 172301. ISSN 0031-9007 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : CERN LHC Coll * factorization * enhancement * correlation * long-range * elliptic flow * modulation * anisotropy * tracks: multi plicity Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 8.462, year: 2016

  20. Configurable Electronics with Low Noise and 14-bit Dynamic Range for Photodiode-based Photon Detectors

    CERN Document Server

    Müller, H; Yin, Z; Zhou, D; Cao, X; Li, Q; Liu, Y; Zou, F; Skaali, B; Awes, T C

    2006-01-01

    We describe the principles and measured performance characteristics of custom configurable 32-channel shaper/digitizer Front End Electronics (FEE) cards with 14-bit dynamic range for use with gain-adjustable photon detectors. The electronics has been designed for the PHOS calorimeter of ALICE with avalanche photodiode (APD) readout operated at -25 C ambient temperature and a signal shaping time of $1 {\\mu}s$. The electronics has also been adopted by the EMCal detector of ALICE with the same APD readout, but operated at an ambient temperature of +20 C and with a shaping time of 100ns. The CR-RC2 signal shapers on the FEE cards are implemented in discrete logic on a 10-layer board with two shaper sections for each input channel. The two shaper sections with gain ratio of 16:1 are digitized by 10-bit ADCs and provide an effective dynamic range of 14 bits. Gain adjustment for each individual APD is available through 32 bias voltage control registers of 10-bit range. The fixed gains and shaping times of the pole-z...

  1. Improvement of Lambert-Beer law dynamic range by the use of temporal gates on transmitted light pulse through a scattering medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshino, Hironori; Wada, Kenji; Horinaka, Hiromichi; Cho, Yoshio; Umeda, Tokuo; Osawa, Masahiko.

    1995-01-01

    The Lambert-Beer law holding for pulsed lights transmitted through a scattering medium was examined using a streak camera. The Lambert-Beer law dynamic range is found to be limited by floor levels that are caused by scattered photons and are controllable by the use of a temporal gate on the transmitted pulse. The dynamic range improvement obtained for a scattering medium of 2.8 cm -1 scattering coefficient of a thickness of 80 mm by a temporal gate of 60 ps was as much as 50 dB and the Lambert-Beer law dynamic rang reached to 140 dB. (author)

  2. Dynamic 3D MR-defecography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ratz, V.; Wech, T.; Schindele, A.; Dierks, A.; Sauer, A.; Reibetanz, J.; Borzi, A.; Bley, T.; Koestler, H.

    2016-09-15

    Epidemiological studies have estimated the incidence of chronic constipation to be up to 27% of the general population. The gold standard to evaluate affected patients is the dynamic entero-colpo-cysto-defecography. In the clinical routine 2 D MR-defecography is also performed, but only one to three 2 D slices at a temporal footprint of about one second are acquired. To improve the detection of lateral localized pathologies, we developed and implemented dynamic 3 D MR-defecography. Each 3 D block consisted of seven slices with an in-plane spatial resolution of 1.3 x 1.3 mm{sup 2} to 2.3 x 2.3 mm{sup 2} and an image update rate between 0.8 s and 1.3 s. We used a fast bSSFP sequence with a modified stack-of-stars sampling scheme for data acquisition and a modified FISTA compressed sensing algorithm to reconstruct the undersampled datasets. We performed a study including 6 patients to optimize the acquisition parameters with respect to image quality.

  3. Dynamic 3D MR-defecography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratz, V.; Wech, T.; Schindele, A.; Dierks, A.; Sauer, A.; Reibetanz, J.; Borzi, A.; Bley, T.; Koestler, H.

    2016-01-01

    Epidemiological studies have estimated the incidence of chronic constipation to be up to 27% of the general population. The gold standard to evaluate affected patients is the dynamic entero-colpo-cysto-defecography. In the clinical routine 2 D MR-defecography is also performed, but only one to three 2 D slices at a temporal footprint of about one second are acquired. To improve the detection of lateral localized pathologies, we developed and implemented dynamic 3 D MR-defecography. Each 3 D block consisted of seven slices with an in-plane spatial resolution of 1.3 x 1.3 mm 2 to 2.3 x 2.3 mm 2 and an image update rate between 0.8 s and 1.3 s. We used a fast bSSFP sequence with a modified stack-of-stars sampling scheme for data acquisition and a modified FISTA compressed sensing algorithm to reconstruct the undersampled datasets. We performed a study including 6 patients to optimize the acquisition parameters with respect to image quality.

  4. Gibb's energy and intermolecular free length of 'Borassus Flabellifier' (BF) and Adansonia digitata (AnD) aqueous binary mixture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phadke, Sushil; Shrivastava, Bhakt Darshan; Ujle, S K; Mishra, Ashutosh; Dagaonkar, N

    2014-01-01

    One of the potential driving forces behind a chemical reaction is favourable a new quantity known as the Gibbs free energy (G) of the system, which reflects the balance between these forces. Ultrasonic velocity and absorption measurements in liquids and liquid mixtures find extensive application to study the nature of intermolecular forces. Ultrasonic velocity measurements have been successfully employed to detect weak and strong molecular interactions present in binary and ternary liquid mixtures. After measuring the density and ultrasonic velocity of aqueous solution of 'Borassus Flabellifier' BF and Adansonia digitata And, we calculated Gibb's energy and intermolecular free length. The velocity of ultrasonic waves was measured, using a multi-frequency ultrasonic interferometer with a high degree of accuracy operating Model M-84 by M/s Mittal Enterprises, New Delhi, at a fixed frequency of 2 MHz. Natural sample 'Borassus Flabellifier' BF fruit pulp and Adansonia digitata AnD powder was collected from Dhar, District of MP, India for this study.

  5. An Integrated Tone Mapping for High Dynamic Range Image Visualization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Lei; Pan, Jeng-Shyang; Zhuang, Yongjun

    2018-01-01

    There are two type tone mapping operators for high dynamic range (HDR) image visualization. HDR image mapped by perceptual operators have strong sense of reality, but will lose local details. Empirical operators can maximize local detail information of HDR image, but realism is not strong. A common tone mapping operator suitable for all applications is not available. This paper proposes a novel integrated tone mapping framework which can achieve conversion between empirical operators and perceptual operators. In this framework, the empirical operator is rendered based on improved saliency map, which simulates the visual attention mechanism of the human eye to the natural scene. The results of objective evaluation prove the effectiveness of the proposed solution.

  6. Second expert discussion on the BMU/BfS concept of man-machine interaction in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gersinska, R.; Hennig, R.; Kociok, B.

    1992-04-01

    The purpose of this meeting was to assess the need for further research on the impact of human factors. As a result, the following topics were defined as future research projects: Technical requirements on the interface man-machine during the operation of nuclear power plants; technical, organizational and personal requirements during service, maintenance and repair in nuclear power plants; technical, organizational and personel requirements for accident management. For the examination of these key subjects detailled performance criteria were set up by the BfS. (orig./DG) [de

  7. Dynamic range majority data structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elmasry, Amr Ahmed Abd Elmoneim; He, Meng; Munro, J. Ian

    2011-01-01

    Given a set P of n coloured points on the real line, we study the problem of answering range α-majority (or "heavy hitter") queries on P. More specifically, for a query range Q, we want to return each colour that is assigned to more than an α-fraction of the points contained in Q. We present a ne...

  8. The Energy Variation of the Sensitivity of a Polyethylene Moderated BF{sub 3} Proportional Counter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fraeki, R; Leimdoerfer, M; Malmskog, S

    1962-11-15

    The variation with neutron energy of the sensitivity of a polyethylene moderated boron counter has been investigated experimentally at 2.3 MeV, 550 keV, 210 keV, 110 keV, 340 eV and 5 eV, and theoretically by the multigroup diffusion method in the same range. Different moderator thicknesses up to 10 cm were considered Results show good agreement between experimental and theoretical sensitivities for the keV and MeV energies, while a discrepancy of the order of a factor 2 at the most is obtained in the eV region.

  9. Dynamic Range Enhancement of High-Speed Electrical Signal Data via Non-Linear Compression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laun, Matthew C. (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    Systems and methods for high-speed compression of dynamic electrical signal waveforms to extend the measuring capabilities of conventional measuring devices such as oscilloscopes and high-speed data acquisition systems are discussed. Transfer function components and algorithmic transfer functions can be used to accurately measure signals that are within the frequency bandwidth but beyond the voltage range and voltage resolution capabilities of the measuring device.

  10. Effects of Royal Jelly and Bee Pollen on the Growth of Selected Probiotic Bacteria (Bf. animalis Spp. Lactis, L. acidophilus and L. casei

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guldas Metin

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In this research article, the effects of bee pollen and royal jelly on the selected probiotic bacteria, as growth factors, were investigated. The probiotic cultures were activated in MRS broth at 37°C. Then, bee pollen and royal jelly (10 mg/100 μL, 25 mg/250 μL, 50 mg/500 μL, 75 mg/750 μL, and 100 mg/1000 μL were added on the probiotic cultures in MRS broth and sampled at 0, 24, and 48 hours of incubation. The medias used for enumeration of the probiotic cultures were RCA (Reinforced Clostridial Agar for Bf. animalis spp. lactis, MRS (deMann, Rogosa and Sharpe Agar with D-sorbitol for Lb. acidophilus and MRS-Vancomycine Agar for Lb. casei. The lactic acid production by Lb. acidophilus, Lb. casei, and Bf. animalis spp. lactis, and acetic acid production by Bf. animalis spp. lactis, were determined to compare the bacterial proliferation. The probiotic cultures were mainly affected by the bee pollen and royal jelly during the first 24 hours. The changes observed in the number of probiotic counts between 24 and 48 hours were not significant, statistically (P<0.05. Generally, the probiotic bacterial counts increased parallel to the concentration of bee pollen or royal jelly up to 75mg, and remained unchanged above this concentration. In terms of lactic acid production and bacterial growth, the most significant growth was observed on Lb. acidophilus when bee pollen or royal jelly was added.

  11. 3rd Dynamics Days

    CERN Document Server

    Clerc, Marcel

    2016-01-01

    This book presents recent advances, new ideas and novel techniques related to the field of nonlinear dynamics, including localized pattern formation, self-organization and chaos. Various natural systems ranging from nonlinear optics to mechanics, fluids and magnetic are considered. The aim of this book is to gather specialists from these various fields of research to promote cross-fertilization and transfer of knowledge between these active research areas. In particular, nonlinear optics and laser physics constitute an important part in this issue due to the potential applications for all-optical control of light, optical storage, and information processing. Other possible applications include the generation of ultra-short pulses using all-fiber cavities.

  12. Adsorption of reactive blue BF-5G dye by soybean hulls: kinetics, equilibrium and influencing factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honorio, Jacqueline Ferandin; Veit, Márcia Teresinha; Gonçalves, Gilberto da Cunha; de Campos, Élvio Antonio; Fagundes-Klen, Márcia Regina

    2016-01-01

    The textile industry is known for the high use of chemicals, such as dyes, and large volumes of effluent that contaminate waters, a fact that has encouraged research and improved treatment techniques. In this study, we used unprocessed soybean hulls for the removal of reactive blue BF-5G dye. The point of zero charge of soybean hulls was 6.76. Regarding the speed of agitation in the adsorption process, the resistance to mass transfer that occurs in the boundary layer was eliminated at 100 rpm. Kinetics showed an experimental amount of dye adsorbed at equilibrium of 57.473 mg g(-1) obtained under the following conditions: dye initial concentration = 400 mg L(-1); diameter of particle = 0.725 mm; dosage = 6 g L(-1); pH 2; 100 rpm; temperature = 30 °C; and duration of 24 hours. The pseudo-second order best showed the dye removal kinetics. The adsorption isotherms performed at different temperatures (20, 30, 40 and 50 °C) showed little variation in the concentration range assessed, being properly adjusted by the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum capacity of dye adsorption was 72.427 mg g(-1) at 30 °C. Since soybean hull is a low-cost industrial byproduct, it proved to be a potential adsorbent for the removal of the textile dye assessed.

  13. High Dynamic Range adaptive ΔΣ-based Focal Plane Array architecture

    KAUST Repository

    Yao, Shun

    2012-10-16

    In this paper, an Adaptive Delta-Sigma based architecture for High Dynamic Range (HDR) Focal Plane Arrays is presented. The noise shaping effect of the Delta-Sigma modulation in the low end, and the distortion noise induced in the high end of Photo-diode current were analyzed in detail. The proposed architecture can extend the DR for about 20N log2 dB at the high end of Photo-diode current with an N bit Up-Down counter. At the low end, it can compensate for the larger readout noise by employing Extended Counting. The Adaptive Delta-Sigma architecture employing a 4-bit Up-Down counter achieved about 160dB in the DR, with a Peak SNR (PSNR) of 80dB at the high end. Compared to the other HDR architectures, the Adaptive Delta-Sigma based architecture provides the widest DR with the best SNR performance in the extended range.

  14. Chiral SU(3) dynamics and antikaon-nuclear quasibound states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weise, W.; Haertle, R.

    2008-01-01

    Recent developments are summarised concerning low-energy K-bar N interactions as they relate to the possible existence of antikaon-nuclear quasibound states. An exploratory study of antikaons bound to finite nuclei is performed, with emphasis on the evolution of such states from light to heavy nuclei (A = 16-208). The energy dependent, driving attractive K-bar N interactions are constructed using the s-wave coupled-channel amplitudes involving the Λ(1405) and resulting from chiral SU(3) dynamics, plus p-wave amplitudes dominated by the Σ(1385). Effects of Pauli and short-range correlations are discussed. The decay width induced by K - NN two-body absorption is estimated and found to be substantial. It is concluded that K-bar-nuclear quasibound states can possibly exist with binding energies ranging from 60 to 100 MeV, but with short life times corresponding to decay widths of similar magnitudes

  15. Heat stress redistributes blood flow in arteries of the brain during dynamic exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Kohei; Oue, Anna; Yoneya, Marina; Sadamoto, Tomoko; Ogoh, Shigehiko

    2016-04-01

    We hypothesized that heat stress would decrease anterior and posterior cerebral blood flow (CBF) during exercise, and the reduction in anterior CBF would be partly associated with large increase in extracranial blood flow (BF). Nine subjects performed 40 min of semirecumbent cycling at 60% of the peak oxygen uptake in hot (35°C; Heat) and thermoneutral environments (25°C; Control). We evaluated BF and conductance (COND) in the external carotid artery (ECA), internal carotid artery (ICA), and vertebral artery (VA) using ultrasonography. During the Heat condition, ICA and VA BF were significantly increased 10 min after the start of exercise (P Heat. Compared with the Control, either BF or COND of ICA and VA at the end of Heat tended to be lower, but not significantly. In contrast, ECA BF and COND at the end of Heat were both higher than levels in the Control condition (P Heat, a reduction in ICA BF appears to be associated with a decline in end-tidal CO2 tension (r = 0.84), whereas VA BF appears to be affected by a change in cardiac output (r = 0.87). In addition, a change in ECA BF during Heat was negatively correlated with a change in ICA BF (r = -0.75). Heat stress resulted in modification of the vascular response of head and brain arteries to exercise, which resulted in an alteration in the distribution of cardiac output. Moreover, a hyperthermia-induced increase in extracranial BF might compromise anterior CBF during exercise with heat stress. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  16. Emergence of recombinant forms in geographic regions with co-circulating HIV subtypes in the dynamic HIV-1 epidemic

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Ming [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Letiner, Thomas K [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Korber, Bette T [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Foley, Brian [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2009-01-01

    We have reexamined the subtype designations of {approx}10,000 subtype A, B, C, G, and AG, BC, BF recombinant sequences, and compared the results of the new analysis with their published designations. Intersubtype recombinants dominate HIV epidemics in three different geographical regions. The circulating recombinant from (CRF) CRF02-AG, common in West Central Africa, appears to result from a recombination event that occurred early in the divergence between subtypes A and G, although additional more recent recombination events may have contributed to the breakpoint pattern in this recombinant lineage as well. The Chinese recombinant epidemic strains CRF07 and CRF08, in contrast, result from recent recombinations between more contemporary strains. Nevertheless, CRF07 and CRF08 contributed to many subsequent recombination events. The BF recombinant epidemics in two HIV-1 epicenters in South America are not independent and BF epidemics in South America have an unusually high fraction of unique recombinant forms (URFs) that have each been found only once and carry distinctive breakpoints. Taken together, these analyses reveal a complex and dynamic picture of the current HIV-1 epidemic, and suggest a means of grouping and tracking relationships between viruses through preservation of shared breakpints.

  17. Untangling Slab Dynamics Using 3-D Numerical and Analytical Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holt, A. F.; Royden, L.; Becker, T. W.

    2016-12-01

    Increasingly sophisticated numerical models have enabled us to make significant strides in identifying the key controls on how subducting slabs deform. For example, 3-D models have demonstrated that subducting plate width, and the related strength of toroidal flow around the plate edge, exerts a strong control on both the curvature and the rate of migration of the trench. However, the results of numerical subduction models can be difficult to interpret, and many first order dynamics issues remain at least partially unresolved. Such issues include the dominant controls on trench migration, the interdependence of asthenospheric pressure and slab dynamics, and how nearby slabs influence each other's dynamics. We augment 3-D, dynamically evolving finite element models with simple, analytical force-balance models to distill the physics associated with subduction into more manageable parts. We demonstrate that for single, isolated subducting slabs much of the complexity of our fully numerical models can be encapsulated by simple analytical expressions. Rates of subduction and slab dip correlate strongly with the asthenospheric pressure difference across the subducting slab. For double subduction, an additional slab gives rise to more complex mantle pressure and flow fields, and significantly extends the range of plate kinematics (e.g., convergence rate, trench migration rate) beyond those present in single slab models. Despite these additional complexities, we show that much of the dynamics of such multi-slab systems can be understood using the physics illuminated by our single slab study, and that a force-balance method can be used to relate intra-plate stress to viscous pressure in the asthenosphere and coupling forces at plate boundaries. This method has promise for rapid modeling of large systems of subduction zones on a global scale.

  18. Main areas of work of the German Radiation Protection Office (BfS). Final disposal of radioactive wastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kleemann, U.

    2006-01-01

    The Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety (BMU) formulated twelve questions which are in principle relevant to all host rock formations and require clarification in any case. The task of the BfS was to compile a comparison of different host rock formations on the basis of the answers given to these twelve questions for the individual projects. The main focus was on whether these safety-related questions merit different answers for different host rock formations and whether this has an impact on the requirements to be placed on final disposal concepts

  19. Short-time dynamics of lysozyme solutions with competing short-range attraction and long-range repulsion: Experiment and theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riest, Jonas; Nägele, Gerhard; Liu, Yun; Wagner, Norman J.; Godfrin, P. Douglas

    2018-02-01

    Recently, atypical static features of microstructural ordering in low-salinity lysozyme protein solutions have been extensively explored experimentally and explained theoretically based on a short-range attractive plus long-range repulsive (SALR) interaction potential. However, the protein dynamics and the relationship to the atypical SALR structure remain to be demonstrated. Here, the applicability of semi-analytic theoretical methods predicting diffusion properties and viscosity in isotropic particle suspensions to low-salinity lysozyme protein solutions is tested. Using the interaction potential parameters previously obtained from static structure factor measurements, our results of Monte Carlo simulations representing seven experimental lysoyzme samples indicate that they exist either in dispersed fluid or random percolated states. The self-consistent Zerah-Hansen scheme is used to describe the static structure factor, S(q), which is the input to our calculation schemes for the short-time hydrodynamic function, H(q), and the zero-frequency viscosity η. The schemes account for hydrodynamic interactions included on an approximate level. Theoretical predictions for H(q) as a function of the wavenumber q quantitatively agree with experimental results at small protein concentrations obtained using neutron spin echo measurements. At higher concentrations, qualitative agreement is preserved although the calculated hydrodynamic functions are overestimated. We attribute the differences for higher concentrations and lower temperatures to translational-rotational diffusion coupling induced by the shape and interaction anisotropy of particles and clusters, patchiness of the lysozyme particle surfaces, and the intra-cluster dynamics, features not included in our simple globular particle model. The theoretical results for the solution viscosity, η, are in qualitative agreement with our experimental data even at higher concentrations. We demonstrate that semi

  20. Signature of biased range in the non-dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity and its measurements with satellite-satellite tracking missions: theoretical studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiang, Li-E.; Xu, Peng

    2015-08-01

    Having great accuracy in the range and range rate measurements, the GRACE mission and the planed GRACE follow on mission can in principle be employed to place strong constraints on certain relativistic gravitational theories. In this paper, we work out the range observable of the non-dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity for the satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) measurements. We find out that a characteristic time accumulating range signal appears in non-dynamical Chern-Simons gravity, which has no analogue found in the standard parity-preserving metric theories of gravity. The magnitude of this Chern-Simons range signal will reach a few times of cm for each free flight of these SST missions, here is the dimensionless post-Newtonian parameter of the non-dynamical Chern-Simons theory. Therefore, with the 12 years data of the GRACE mission, one expects that the mass scale of the non-dynamical Chern-Simons gravity could be constrained to be larger than eV. For the GRACE FO mission that scheduled to be launched in 2017, the much stronger bound that eV is expected.

  1. Higher Energy Intake Variability as Predisposition to Obesity: Novel Approach Using Interquartile Range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forejt, Martin; Brázdová, Zuzana Derflerová; Novák, Jan; Zlámal, Filip; Forbelská, Marie; Bienert, Petr; Mořkovská, Petra; Zavřelová, Miroslava; Pohořalá, Aneta; Jurášková, Miluše; Salah, Nabil; Bienertová-Vašků, Julie

    2017-12-01

    It is known that total energy intake and its distribution during the day influences human anthropometric characteristics. However, possible association between variability in total energy intake and obesity has thus far remained unexamined. This study was designed to establish the influence of energy intake variability of each daily meal on the anthropometric characteristics of obesity. A total of 521 individuals of Czech Caucasian origin aged 16–73 years (390 women and 131 men) were included in the study, 7-day food records were completed by all study subjects and selected anthropometric characteristics were measured. The interquartile range (IQR) of energy intake was assessed individually for each meal of the day (as a marker of energy intake variability) and subsequently correlated with body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (%BF), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and waist circumference (cW). Four distinct models were created using multiple logistic regression analysis and backward stepwise logistic regression. The most precise results, based on the area under the curve (AUC), were observed in case of the %BF model (AUC=0.895) and cW model (AUC=0.839). According to the %BF model, age (p<0.001) and IQR-lunch (p<0.05) seem to play an important prediction role for obesity. Likewise, according to the cW model, age (p<0.001), IQR-breakfast (p<0.05) and IQR-dinner (p <0.05) predispose patients to the development of obesity. The results of our study show that higher variability in the energy intake of key daily meals may increase the likelihood of obesity development. Based on the obtained results, it is necessary to emphasize the regularity in meals intake for maintaining proper body composition. Copyright© by the National Institute of Public Health, Prague 2017

  2. Dynamical systems on 2- and 3-manifolds

    CERN Document Server

    Grines, Viacheslav Z; Pochinka, Olga V

    2016-01-01

    This book provides an introduction to the topological classification of smooth structurally stable diffeomorphisms on closed orientable 2- and 3-manifolds.The topological classification is one of the main problems of the theory of dynamical systems and the results presented in this book are mostly for dynamical systems satisfying Smale's Axiom A. The main results on the topological classification of discrete dynamical systems are widely scattered among many papers and surveys. This book presents these results fluidly, systematically, and for the first time in one publication. Additionally, this book discusses the recent results on the topological classification of Axiom A diffeomorphisms focusing on the nontrivial effects of the dynamical systems on 2- and 3-manifolds. The classical methods and approaches which are considered to be promising for the further research are also discussed. < The reader needs to be familiar with the basic concepts of the qualitative theory of dynamical systems which are present...

  3. 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.

  4. Twisting Anderson pseudospins with light: Quench dynamics in THz-pumped BCS superconductors

    OpenAIRE

    Chou, Yang-Zhi; Liao, Yunxiang; Foster, Matthew S.

    2016-01-01

    We study the preparation (pump) and the detection (probe) of far-from-equilibrium BCS superconductor dynamics in THz pump-probe experiments. In a recent experiment [R. Matsunaga, Y. I. Hamada, K. Makise, Y. Uzawa, H. Terai, Z. Wang, and R. Shimano, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\\bf 111}, 057002 (2013)], an intense monocycle THz pulse with center frequency $\\omega \\simeq \\Delta$ was injected into a superconductor with BCS gap $\\Delta$; the subsequent post-pump evolution was detected via the optical conduc...

  5. What controls the population dynamics of the invasive thistle Carduus nutans in its native range?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongejans, E.; Sheppard, A.W.; Shea, K.

    2006-01-01

    1. The invasive thistle Carduus nutans causes major economic losses in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. For the first time, we have modelled its population dynamics in its native range, Eurasia, where it rarely reaches problematic densities, in order to identify ways to improve management

  6. An improved method to estimate reflectance parameters for high dynamic range imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Shiying; Deguchi, Koichiro; Li, Renfa; Manabe, Yoshitsugu; Chihara, Kunihiro

    2008-01-01

    Two methods are described to accurately estimate diffuse and specular reflectance parameters for colors, gloss intensity and surface roughness, over the dynamic range of the camera used to capture input images. Neither method needs to segment color areas on an image, or to reconstruct a high dynamic range (HDR) image. The second method improves on the first, bypassing the requirement for specific separation of diffuse and specular reflection components. For the latter method, diffuse and specular reflectance parameters are estimated separately, using the least squares method. Reflection values are initially assumed to be diffuse-only reflection components, and are subjected to the least squares method to estimate diffuse reflectance parameters. Specular reflection components, obtained by subtracting the computed diffuse reflection components from reflection values, are then subjected to a logarithmically transformed equation of the Torrance-Sparrow reflection model, and specular reflectance parameters for gloss intensity and surface roughness are finally estimated using the least squares method. Experiments were carried out using both methods, with simulation data at different saturation levels, generated according to the Lambert and Torrance-Sparrow reflection models, and the second method, with spectral images captured by an imaging spectrograph and a moving light source. Our results show that the second method can estimate the diffuse and specular reflectance parameters for colors, gloss intensity and surface roughness more accurately and faster than the first one, so that colors and gloss can be reproduced more efficiently for HDR imaging.

  7. Patterns of failure after iodine-125 seed implantation for prostate cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lamb, David S.; Greig, Lynne; Russell, Grant L.; Nacey, John N.; Broome, Kim; Studd, Rod; Delahunt, Brett; Iupati, Douglas; Jain, Mohua; Rooney, Colin; Murray, Judy; Lamb, Peter J.; Bethwaite, Peter B.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: To determine the site of relapse when biochemical failure (BF) occurs after iodine-125 seed implantation for prostate cancer. Materials and methods: From 2001–2009, 500 men underwent implantation in Wellington, New Zealand. Men who sustained BF were placed on relapse guidelines that delayed restaging and intervention until the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was ⩾20 ng/mL. Results: Most implants (86%) had a prostate D90 of ⩾90%, and multivariate analysis showed that this parameter was not a variable that affected the risk of BF. Of 21 BFs that occurred, the site of failure was discovered to be local in one case and distant in nine cases. Restaging failed to identify the site of relapse in two cases. In nine cases the trigger for restaging had not been reached. Conclusions: If post-implant dosimetry is generally within the optimal range, distant rather than local failure appears to be the main cause of BF. Hormone treatment is therefore the most commonly indicated secondary treatment intervention (STI). Delaying the start of STI prevents the unnecessary treatment of men who undergo PSA ‘bounce’ and have PSA dynamics initially mimicking those of BF

  8. Different strain relaxation mechanisms in strained Si/Si sub 1 sub - sub x Ge sub x /Si heterostructures by high dose B sup + and BF sub 2 sup + doping

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, C C; Zhang, S L; Zhu, D Z; Vantomme, A

    2002-01-01

    Strained Si/Si sub 0 sub . sub 8 Ge sub 0 sub . sub 2 /Si heterostructures are implanted at room temperature with 7.5 keV B sup + and 33 keV BF sub 2 sup + ions to a high dose of 2x10 sup 1 sup 5 ions/cm sup 2 , respectively. The samples are subsequently subjected to three-step anneals (spacer anneal, oxidation anneal and rapid thermal anneal), which are used to simulate a real fabrication process of SiGe-based MOSFET devices. The damage induced by implantation and its recovery are characterized by 2 MeV sup 4 He sup + RBS/channeling spectrometry. A damage layer on the surface is induced by B sup + implantation, but BF sup + sub 2 ion implantation amorphizes the surface of Si/Si sub 0 sub . sub 8 Ge sub 0 sub . sub 2 /Si heterostructure. Channeling angular scans along the axial direction demonstrate that the strain stored in the SiGe layer could be nearly completely retained for the B sup + implanted and subsequently annealed sample. However, the strain in the BF sub 2 sup + implanted/annealed SiGe layer has...

  9. Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomography-Derived Blood Volume and Blood Flow Correlate With Patient Outcome in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mains, Jill Rachel; Donskov, Frede; Pedersen, Erik Morre

    2017-01-01

    = 7). Using a prototype software program (Advanced Perfusion and Permeability Application, Philips Healthcare, Best, the Netherlands), blood volume (BV), blood flow (BF), and permeability surface area product (PS) were calculated for each tumor at baseline, week 5, and week 10. These parameters......OBJECTIVES: The aim was to explore the potential for using dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography as a noninvasive functional imaging biomarker before and during the early treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dynamic contrast-enhanced computed...

  10. Molecular dynamics simulations of ion range profiles for heavy ions in light targets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lan, C. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, 100871 (China); Xue, J.M. [State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, 100871 (China); Zhang, Y., E-mail: Zhangy1@ornl.gov [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Morris, J.R. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States); Zhu, Z. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Gao, Y.; Wang, Y.G.; Yan, S. [State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, 100871 (China); Weber, W.J. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States); Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)

    2012-09-01

    The determination of stopping powers for slow heavy ions in targets containing light elements is important to accurately describe ion-solid interactions, evaluate ion irradiation effects and predict ion ranges for device fabrication and nuclear applications. Recently, discrepancies of up to 40% between the experimental results and SRIM (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter) predictions of ion ranges for heavy ions with medium and low energies (<{approx}25 keV/nucleon) in light elemental targets have been reported. The longer experimental ion ranges indicate that the stopping powers used in the SRIM code are overestimated. Here, a molecular dynamics simulation scheme is developed to calculate the ion ranges of heavy ions in light elemental targets. Electronic stopping powers generated from both a reciprocity approach and the SRIM code are used to investigate the influence of electronic stopping on ion range profiles. The ion range profiles for Au and Pb ions in SiC and Er ions in Si, with energies between 20 and 5250 keV, are simulated. The simulation results show that the depth profiles of implanted ions are deeper and in better agreement with the experiments when using the electronic stopping power values derived from the reciprocity approach. These results indicate that the origin of the discrepancy in ion ranges between experimental results and SRIM predictions in the low energy region may be an overestimation of the electronic stopping powers used in SRIM.

  11. Effects of sample injection amount and time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection dynamic range on metabolome analysis by high-performance chemical isotope labeling LC-MS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Ruokun; Li, Liang

    2015-04-06

    The effect of sample injection amount on metabolome analysis in a chemical isotope labeling (CIL) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) platform was investigated. The performance of time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers with and without a high-dynamic-range (HD) detection system was compared in the analysis of (12)C2/(13)C2-dansyl labeled human urine samples. An average of 1635 ± 21 (n = 3) peak pairs or putative metabolites was detected using the HD-TOF-MS, compared to 1429 ± 37 peak pairs from a conventional or non-HD TOF-MS. In both instruments, signal saturation was observed. However, in the HD-TOF-MS, signal saturation was mainly caused by the ionization process, while in the non-HD TOF-MS, it was caused by the detection process. To extend the MS detection range in the non-HD TOF-MS, an automated switching from using (12)C to (13)C-natural abundance peaks for peak ratio calculation when the (12)C peaks are saturated has been implemented in IsoMS, a software tool for processing CIL LC-MS data. This work illustrates that injecting an optimal sample amount is important to maximize the metabolome coverage while avoiding the sample carryover problem often associated with over-injection. A TOF mass spectrometer with an enhanced detection dynamic range can also significantly increase the number of peak pairs detected. In chemical isotope labeling (CIL) LC-MS, relative metabolite quantification is done by measuring the peak ratio of a (13)C2-/(12)C2-labeled peak pair for a given metabolite present in two comparative samples. The dynamic range of peak ratio measurement does not need to be very large, as only subtle changes of metabolite concentrations are encountered in most metabolomic studies where relative metabolome quantification of different groups of samples is performed. However, the absolute concentrations of different metabolites can be very different, requiring a technique to provide a wide detection dynamic range to allow the detection of as

  12. Range use and dynamics in the agropastoral system of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Occurrence of equilibrium and non equilibrium system dynamics in semiarid environments present serious management challenges. In these areas, resource management strategies are increasingly based on equilibrium rather than non equilibrium dynamics that assume simple system dynamics and strong coupling of ...

  13. A Hybrid Shared-Memory Parallel Max-Tree Algorithm for Extreme Dynamic-Range Images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moschini, Ugo; Meijster, Arnold; Wilkinson, Michael H F

    2018-03-01

    Max-trees, or component trees, are graph structures that represent the connected components of an image in a hierarchical way. Nowadays, many application fields rely on images with high-dynamic range or floating point values. Efficient sequential algorithms exist to build trees and compute attributes for images of any bit depth. However, we show that the current parallel algorithms perform poorly already with integers at bit depths higher than 16 bits per pixel. We propose a parallel method combining the two worlds of flooding and merging max-tree algorithms. First, a pilot max-tree of a quantized version of the image is built in parallel using a flooding method. Later, this structure is used in a parallel leaf-to-root approach to compute efficiently the final max-tree and to drive the merging of the sub-trees computed by the threads. We present an analysis of the performance both on simulated and actual 2D images and 3D volumes. Execution times are about better than the fastest sequential algorithm and speed-up goes up to on 64 threads.

  14. Long Range Polymer Chain Dynamics of Highly Flexible Polysiloxane in Solution Probed by Pyrene Excimer Fluorescence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janine L. Thoma

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available A poly(dimethylsiloxane-co-(3-aminopropylmethylsiloxane polymer (PDMS with 20.3 mol % of (3-aminopropylmethyl siloxane monomer has been labeled randomly with 1-pyreneacetyl groups to generate a series of polysiloxanes (Py-PDMS with pyrenyl contents ranging from 0.7 mol % to 5.2 mol % of the total number of structural units. The remainder of the amino groups were acetylated to avoid intra-chain quenching of the excited singlet states of pyrene via exciplex formation with free amino groups while allowing the formation of excimers to proceed. The fluorescence spectra and temporal decays of the Py-PDMS samples were acquired in tetrahydrofuran (THF, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF, and dioxane. blob, the average rate constant for intra-chain pyrene excimer formation, was determined from the analysis of the fluorescence decays. blob was found to equal 1.16 (±0.13 × 109, 1.14 (±0.12 × 109, and 0.99 (±0.10 × 109 s−1 in THF, DMF, and dioxane, respectively, at room temperature. They are the largest values found to date for any polymeric backbone in these solvents. The qualitative relationship found here between blob and the chemical structures of the polymers indicates that the luminescence characteristics of randomly labeled polymers is a very useful method to probe the long range dynamics of chains of almost any polymer that is amenable to substitution by a lumophore.

  15. Optimal design of a vehicle magnetorheological damper considering the damping force and dynamic range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, Quoc-Hung; Choi, Seung-Bok

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents an optimal design of a passenger vehicle magnetorheological (MR) damper based on finite element analysis. The MR damper is constrained in a specific volume and the optimization problem identifies the geometric dimensions of the damper that minimize an objective function. The objective function consists of the damping force, the dynamic range, and the inductive time constant of the damper. After describing the configuration of the MR damper, the damping force and dynamic range are obtained on the basis of the Bingham model of an MR fluid. Then, the control energy (power consumption of the damper coil) and the inductive time constant are derived. The objective function for the optimization problem is determined based on the solution of the magnetic circuit of the initial damper. Subsequently, the optimization procedure, using a golden-section algorithm and a local quadratic fitting technique, is constructed via commercial finite element method parametric design language. Using the developed optimization tool, optimal solutions of the MR damper, which are constrained in a specific cylindrical volume defined by its radius and height, are determined and a comparative work on damping force and inductive time constant between the initial and optimal design is undertaken

  16. Wide-spectral/dynamic-range skin-compatible phototransistors enabled by floated heterojunction structures with surface functionalized SWCNTs and amorphous oxide semiconductors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Insik; Kim, Jaehyun; Lee, Minkyung; Lee, Min-Wook; Kim, Hee-Joong; Kwon, Hyuck-In; Hwang, Do Kyung; Kim, Myunggil; Yoon, Haeyoung; Kim, Yong-Hoon; Park, Sung Kyu

    2017-11-09

    Purified semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sc-SWCNTs) have been researched for optoelectronic applications due to their high absorption coefficient from the visible to even the near-infrared (NIR) region. Nevertheless, the insufficient electrical characteristics and incompatibility with conventional CMOS processing have limited their wide utilization in this emerging field. Here, we demonstrate highly detective and wide spectral/dynamic range phototransistors incorporating floated heterojunction active layers which are composed of low-temperature sol-gel processed n-type amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) stacked with a purified p-type sc-SWCNT layer. To achieve a high and broad spectral/dynamic range photo-response of the heterogeneous transistors, photochemically functionalized sc-SWCNT layers were carefully implemented onto the a-IGZO channel area with a floating p-n heterojunction active layer, resulting in the suppression of parasitic charge leakage and good bias driven opto-electrical properties. The highest photosensitivity (R) of 9.6 × 10 2 A W -1 and a photodetectivity (D*) of 4 × 10 14 Jones along with a dynamic range of 100-180 dB were achieved for our phototransistor in the spectral range of 400-780 nm including continuous and minimal frequency independent behaviors. More importantly, to demonstrate the diverse application of the ultra-flexible hybrid photosensor platform as skin compatible electronics, the sc-SWCNT/a-IGZO phototransistors were fabricated on an ultra-thin (∼1 μm) polyimide film along with a severe static and dynamic electro-mechanical test. The skin-like phototransistors showed excellent mechanical stability such as sustainable good electrical performance and high photosensitivity in a wide dynamic range without any visible cracks or damage and little noise interference after being rolled-up on the 150 μm-thick optical fiber as well as more than 1000 times cycling.

  17. Semiconductor resistance thermometer for the temperature range 300-0.3 K

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zinov'eva, K.N.; Zarubin, L.I.; Nemish, I.Yu.; Vorobkalo, F.M.; Boldarev, S.T.; AN Ukrainskoj SSR, Kiev. Inst. Poluprovodnikov)

    1979-01-01

    Thermometric characteristics of semiconductor resistor thermometers for the temperature range from 300 to 0.3 K and from 77 to 0.3 K are given. Temperature dependence of thermometer resistances in the 300-1.3 K range was measured in cryostats with pumping-out of N 2 , H 2 and 4 He. For measurements below 1.3 K use was made of a 3 H- 4 He dissolving cryostat. The accuracy of measuring temperatures in the 1.3-0.3 K range is not below +-0.003 K, the error in determining thermometer resistances does not exceed 1%. The analysis of obtained thermometric characteristics of several series of semiconductor resistance thermometers showed that observed insignificant spread of resistances of thermometers in one series and identity of characteristics allows them to be used without preliminary calibration for relatively coarse measurements in the range from 3O0 to 0.3 K. Besides, it has been found that in the 4.2-0.3 K range the thermometric characteristics represent a straight line in the lgR-Tsup(-n) coordinates, where R is the thermometer resistance, T is the temperature and n=0.5. Thus, the thermometers of the same series can be calibrated only in 2 or 3 reference point measurements

  18. Tissue oximetry: a comparison of mean values of regional tissue saturation, reproducibility and dynamic range of four NIRS-instruments on the human forearm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hyttel-Sørensen, Simon; Sorensen, Line C; Riera, Joan

    2011-01-01

    We compared absolute values of regional tissue hemoglobin saturation (StO(2)), reproducibility, and dynamic range of four different instruments on the forearm of adults. The sensors were repositioned 10 times on each subject. Dynamic range was estimated by exercise with subsequent arterial occlus...

  19. Wide Dynamic Range Multiband Infrared Radiometer for In-Fire Measurements of Wildland Fire Radiant Flux Density

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kremens, R.; Dickinson, M. B.; Hardy, C.; Skowronski, N.; Ellicott, E. A.; Schroeder, W.

    2016-12-01

    We have developed a wide dynamic range (24-bit) data acquisition system for collection of radiant flux density (FRFD) data from wildland fires. The data collection subsystem was designed as an Arduino `shield' and incorporates a 24-bit analog-to-digital converter, precision voltage reference, real time clock, microSD card interface, audible annuciator and interface for various digital communication interfaces (RS232, I2C, SPI, etc.). The complete radiometer system consists of our custom-designed `shield', a commercially available Arduino MEGA computer circuit board and a thermopile sensor -amplifier daughter board. Software design and development is greatly assisted by the availability of a library of public-domain, user-implemented software. The daughter board houses a 5-band radiometer using thermopiles designed for this experiment (Dexter Research Corp., Dexter, MI) to allow determination of the total FRFD from the fire (using a wide band thermopile with a KRS-5 window, 0.1 - 30 um), the FRFD as would be received by an orbital asset like MODIS (3.95 um center wavelength (CWL) and 10.95 CWL, corresponding to MODIS bands 21/22 and 31, respectively) and wider bandpass (0.1-5.5 um and 8-14 um) corresponding to the FRFD recorded by `MWIR' and `LWIR' imaging systems. We required a very wide dynamic range system in order to be able to record the flux density from `cold' ground before the fire, through the `hot' flaming combustion stage, to the `cool' phase after passage of the fire front. The recording dynamic range required (with reasonable resolution at the lowest temperatures) is on the order of 106, which is not currently available in commercial instrumentation at a price point, size or feature set that is suitable for wildland fire investigations. The entire unit, along with rechargeable battery power supply is housed in a fireproof aluminum chassis box, which is then mounted on a mast at a height of 5 - 7 m above the fireground floor. We will report initial

  20. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANETS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL AND ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaspi, Yohai [Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl st., 76100, Rehovot (Israel); Showman, Adam P., E-mail: yohai.kaspi@weizmann.ac.il [Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, 1629 University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2015-05-01

    The recent discoveries of terrestrial exoplanets and super-Earths extending over a broad range of orbital and physical parameters suggest that these planets will span a wide range of climatic regimes. Characterization of the atmospheres of warm super-Earths has already begun and will be extended to smaller and more distant planets over the coming decade. The habitability of these worlds may be strongly affected by their three-dimensional atmospheric circulation regimes, since the global climate feedbacks that control the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone—including transitions to Snowball-like states and runaway-greenhouse feedbacks—depend on the equator-to-pole temperature differences, patterns of relative humidity, and other aspects of the dynamics. Here, using an idealized moist atmospheric general circulation model including a hydrological cycle, we study the dynamical principles governing the atmospheric dynamics on such planets. We show how the planetary rotation rate, stellar flux, atmospheric mass, surface gravity, optical thickness, and planetary radius affect the atmospheric circulation and temperature distribution on such planets. Our simulations demonstrate that equator-to-pole temperature differences, meridional heat transport rates, structure and strength of the winds, and the hydrological cycle vary strongly with these parameters, implying that the sensitivity of the planet to global climate feedbacks will depend significantly on the atmospheric circulation. We elucidate the possible climatic regimes and diagnose the mechanisms controlling the formation of atmospheric jet streams, Hadley and Ferrel cells, and latitudinal temperature differences. Finally, we discuss the implications for understanding how the atmospheric circulation influences the global climate.

  1. ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS OF TERRESTRIAL EXOPLANETS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF ORBITAL AND ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaspi, Yohai; Showman, Adam P.

    2015-01-01

    The recent discoveries of terrestrial exoplanets and super-Earths extending over a broad range of orbital and physical parameters suggest that these planets will span a wide range of climatic regimes. Characterization of the atmospheres of warm super-Earths has already begun and will be extended to smaller and more distant planets over the coming decade. The habitability of these worlds may be strongly affected by their three-dimensional atmospheric circulation regimes, since the global climate feedbacks that control the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone—including transitions to Snowball-like states and runaway-greenhouse feedbacks—depend on the equator-to-pole temperature differences, patterns of relative humidity, and other aspects of the dynamics. Here, using an idealized moist atmospheric general circulation model including a hydrological cycle, we study the dynamical principles governing the atmospheric dynamics on such planets. We show how the planetary rotation rate, stellar flux, atmospheric mass, surface gravity, optical thickness, and planetary radius affect the atmospheric circulation and temperature distribution on such planets. Our simulations demonstrate that equator-to-pole temperature differences, meridional heat transport rates, structure and strength of the winds, and the hydrological cycle vary strongly with these parameters, implying that the sensitivity of the planet to global climate feedbacks will depend significantly on the atmospheric circulation. We elucidate the possible climatic regimes and diagnose the mechanisms controlling the formation of atmospheric jet streams, Hadley and Ferrel cells, and latitudinal temperature differences. Finally, we discuss the implications for understanding how the atmospheric circulation influences the global climate

  2. Rabbit System. Low cost, high reliability front end electronics featuring 16 bit dynamic range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drake, G.; Droege, T.F.; Nelson, C.A. Jr.; Turner, K.J.; Ohska, T.K.

    1985-10-01

    A new crate-based front end system has been built which features low cost, compact packaging, command capability, 16 bit dynamic range digitization, and a high degree of redundancy. The crate can contain a variety of instrumentation modules, and is designed to be situated close to the detector. The system is suitable for readout of a large number of channels via parallel multiprocessor data acquisition

  3. A High-Dynamic-Range Optical Remote Sensing Imaging Method for Digital TDI CMOS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taiji Lan

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The digital time delay integration (digital TDI technology of the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS image sensor has been widely adopted and developed in the optical remote sensing field. However, the details of targets that have low illumination or low contrast in scenarios of high contrast are often drowned out because of the superposition of multi-stage images in digital domain multiplies the read noise and the dark noise, thus limiting the imaging dynamic range. Through an in-depth analysis of the information transfer model of digital TDI, this paper attempts to explore effective ways to overcome this issue. Based on the evaluation and analysis of multi-stage images, the entropy-maximized adaptive histogram equalization (EMAHE algorithm is proposed to improve the ability of images to express the details of dark or low-contrast targets. Furthermore, in this paper, an image fusion method is utilized based on gradient pyramid decomposition and entropy weighting of different TDI stage images, which can improve the detection ability of the digital TDI CMOS for complex scenes with high contrast, and obtain images that are suitable for recognition by the human eye. The experimental results show that the proposed methods can effectively improve the high-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI capability of the digital TDI CMOS. The obtained images have greater entropy and average gradients.

  4. Observation of plasma-facing-wall via high dynamic range imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villamayor, Michelle Marie S.; Rosario, Leo Mendel D.; Viloan, Rommel Paulo B.

    2013-01-01

    Pictures of plasmas and deposits in a discharge chamber taken by varying shutter speeds have been integrated into high dynamic range (HDR) images. The HDR images of a graphite target surface of a compact planar magnetron (CPM) discharge device have clearly indicated the erosion pattern of the target, which are correlated to the light intensity distribution of plasma during operation. Based upon the HDR image technique coupled to colorimetry, a formation history of dust-like deposits inside of the CPM chamber has been recorded. The obtained HDR images have shown how the patterns of deposits changed in accordance with discharge duration. Results show that deposition takes place near the evacuation ports during the early stage of the plasma discharge. Discoloration of the plasma-facing-walls indicating erosion and redeposition eventually spreads at the periphery after several hours of operation. (author)

  5. A support-operator method for 3-D rupture dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ely, Geoffrey P.; Day, Steven M.; Minster, Jean-Bernard

    2009-06-01

    We present a numerical method to simulate spontaneous shear crack propagation within a heterogeneous, 3-D, viscoelastic medium. Wave motions are computed on a logically rectangular hexahedral mesh, using the generalized finite-difference method of Support Operators (SOM). This approach enables modelling of non-planar surfaces and non-planar fault ruptures. Our implementation, the Support Operator Rupture Dynamics (SORD) code, is highly scalable, enabling large-scale, multiprocessors calculations. The fault surface is modelled by coupled double nodes, where rupture occurs as dictated by the local stress conditions and a frictional failure law. The method successfully performs test problems developed for the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC)/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) dynamic earthquake rupture code validation exercise, showing good agreement with semi-analytical boundary integral method results. We undertake further dynamic rupture tests to quantify numerical errors introduced by shear deformations to the hexahedral mesh. We generate a family of meshes distorted by simple shearing, in the along-strike direction, up to a maximum of 73°. For SCEC/USGS validation problem number 3, grid-induced errors increase with mesh shear angle, with the logarithm of error approximately proportional to angle over the range tested. At 73°, rms misfits are about 10 per cent for peak slip rate, and 0.5 per cent for both rupture time and total slip, indicating that the method (which, up to now, we have applied mainly to near-vertical strike-slip faulting) is also capable of handling geometries appropriate to low-angle surface-rupturing thrust earthquakes. Additionally, we demonstrate non-planar rupture effects, by modifying the test geometry to include, respectively, cylindrical curvature and sharp kinks.

  6. Abatement of styrene waste gas emission by biofilter and biotrickling filter: comparison of packing materials and inoculation procedures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez, M C; Álvarez-Hornos, F J; Portune, K; Gabaldón, C

    2015-01-01

    The removal of styrene was studied using two biofilters packed with peat and coconut fibre (BF1-P and BF2-C, respectively) and one biotrickling filter (BTF) packed with plastic rings. Two inoculation procedures were applied: an enriched culture with strain Pseudomonas putida CECT 324 for BFs and activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant for the BTF. Inlet loads (ILs) between 10 and 45 g m(-3) h(-1) and empty bed residence times (EBRTs) from 30 to 120 s were applied. At inlet concentrations ranging between 200 and 400 mg Nm(-3), removal efficiencies between 70 % and 95 % were obtained in the three bioreactors. Maximum elimination capacities (ECs) of 81 and 39 g m(-3) h(-1) were obtained for the BF1-P and BF2-C, respectively (IL of 173 g m(-3) h(-1) and EBRT of 60 s in BF1-P; IL of 89 g m(-3) h(-1) and EBRT of 90 s in BF2-C). A maximum EC of 52 g m(-3) h(-1) was obtained for the BTF (IL of 116 g m(-3) h(-1), EBRT of 45 s). Problems regarding high pressure drop appeared in the peat BF, whereas drying episodes occurred in the coconut fibre BF. DGGE revealed that the pure culture used for BF inoculation was not detected by day 105. Although two different inoculation procedures were applied, similar styrene removal at the end of the experiments was observed. The use as inoculum of activated sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant appears a more feasible option.

  7. Photomagnetic studies on spin-crossover solid solutions containing two different metal complexes, [Fe(1-bpp)(2)](x)[M(terpy)2](1-x)[BF4]2 (M = Ru or Co).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chastanet, Guillaume; Tovee, Clare A; Hyett, Geoffrey; Halcrow, Malcolm A; Létard, Jean-François

    2012-04-28

    The photomagnetic properties of two series of spin-crossover solid solutions, [Fe(1-bpp)(2)](x)[Ru(terpy)(2)](1-x)(BF(4))(2) and [Fe(1-bpp)(2)](x)[Co(terpy)(2)](1-x)(BF(4))(2) (1-bpp = 2,6-bis[pyrazol-1-yl]pyridine), have been investigated. For all the materials, the evolution of the T(LIESST) value, the high-spin → low-spin relaxation parameters and the LITH loops were thoroughly studied. Interestingly in the Fe:Co series, along the photo-excitation, cobalt ions are concomitantly converted from low-spin to high-spin states with the iron centres, and also fully relax after light excitation. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012

  8. The KMOS Deep Survey: Dynamical Measurements of Star-Forming Galaxies at z 3.5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Owen; Cirasuolo, Michele; Harrison, Chris; McLure, Ross; Dunlop, James; Swinbank, Mark; Johnson, Helen; Sobral, David; Matthee, Jorryt; Sharples, Ray

    2017-07-01

    This poster present dynamical measurements from the KMOS (K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph) Deep Survey (KDS), which is comprised of 78 typical star-forming galaxies at z = 3.5 in the mass range 9.0 isolated. The results suggest that the rotation-dominated galaxies in the sample are offset to lower velocities at fixed stellar mass and have higher velocity dispersions than star-forming galaxies in the local and intermediate redshift universe. Only 1/3 of the galaxies in the sample are dominated by rotation, which hints that random motions are playing an increasingly significant role in supporting the dynamical mass in the systems. When searching for evolution in scaling relations, such as the stellar mass Tully-Fisher relation, it is important to take these random motions into account.

  9. Modeling Parkinson's disease falls associated with brainstem cholinergic systems decline.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucinski, Aaron; Sarter, Martin

    2015-04-01

    In addition to the primary disease-defining symptoms, approximately half of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) suffer from postural instability, impairments in gait control and a propensity for falls. Consistent with evidence from patients, we previously demonstrated that combined striatal dopamine (DA) and basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic cell loss causes falls in rats traversing dynamic surfaces. Because evidence suggests that degeneration of brainstem cholinergic neurons arising from the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) also contributes to impaired gait and falls, here we assessed the effects of selective cholinergic PPN lesions in combination with striatal DA loss or BF cholinergic cells loss as well as losses in all 3 regions. Results indicate that all combination losses that included the BF cholinergic system slowed traversal and increased slips and falls. However, the performance of rats with losses in all 3 regions (PPN, BF, and DA) was not more severely impaired than following combined BF cholinergic and striatal DA lesions. These results confirm the hypothesis that BF cholinergic-striatal disruption of attentional-motor interactions is a primary source of falls. Additional losses of PPN cholinergic neurons may worsen posture and gait control in situations not captured by the current testing conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. 1,2,3,3-Tetramethyl-7-nitro-3,4-dihydroisoquinolinium tetrafluoroborate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mouna Bouzid

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The title salt, C13H17N2O2+·BF4−, was prepared by the methylation of the imine with Meerwein salt in dichloromethane. The asymmetric unit comprises a 1,3,3-trimethyl-7-nitro-3,4-dihydroisoquinolinium cation and a tetrafluoroborate anion. The coordination around the boron atom in the tetrafluoroborate anion is tetrahedral. The heterocyclic ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The crystal packing is governed by means of C—H...F contacts, which lead to the formation of a three-dimensional network.

  11. Spectroscopic, structural and computational analysis of [Re(CO)3(dippM)Br](n+) (dippM = 1,1'-bis(diiso-propylphosphino)metallocene, M = Fe, n = 0 or 1; M = Co, n = 1).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furneaux, Aliza G; Piro, Nicholas A; Hernández Sánchez, Raúl; Gramigna, Kathryn M; Fey, Natalie; Robinson, Michael J; Kassel, W Scott; Nataro, Chip

    2016-03-21

    While the redox active backbone of bis(phosphino)ferrocene ligands is often cited as an important feature of these ligands in catalytic studies, the structural parameters of oxidized bis(phosphino)ferrocene ligands have not been thoroughly studied. The reaction of [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br] (dippf = 1,1'-bis(diiso-propylphosphino)ferrocene) and [NO][BF4] in methylene chloride yields the oxidized compound, [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br][BF4]. The oxidized species, [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br][BF4], and the neutral species, [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br], are compared using X-ray crystallography, cyclic voltammetry, visible spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy and zero-field (57)Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. In addition, the magnetic moment of the paramagnetic [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br][BF4] was measured in the solid state using SQUID magnetometry and in solution by the Evans method. The electron transfer reaction of [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br][BF4] with acetylferrocene was also examined. For additional comparison, the cationic compound, [Re(CO)3(dippc)Br][PF6] (dippc = 1,1'-bis(diiso-propylphosphino)cobaltocenium), was prepared and characterized by cyclic voltammetry, X-ray crystallography, and NMR, IR and visible spectroscopies. Finally, DFT was employed to examine the oxidized dippf ligand and the oxidized rhenium complex, [Re(CO)3(dippf)Br](+).

  12. Extension of photomultiplier tube dynamic range for the LHAASO-KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lv, Hongkui, E-mail: lvhk@ihep.ac.cn [Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Sheng, Xiangdong; He, Huihai; Liu, Jia [Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Zhang, Zhongquan [Shandong University, Jinan 250100 (China); Hou, Chao; Zhao, Jing [Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)

    2015-05-01

    In the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), the 1 km{sup 2} array (KM2A) requires linear measurement of optical intensity with a wide dynamic range. Over 5000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are employed in this experiment and developed as “two outputs” device (anode and dynode) to meet the relevant requirements. In this study, the linearity of the anode and the eighth dynode (DY8), which is limited by space charge effects and mainly related to the relative dynode voltage ratios of the PMT divider, is examined. A voltage divider for the Hamamatsu R11102 PMT is designed and a dramatically enhanced linearity is demonstrated. Test results show that this design can cover a wide dynamic range from 20 to 2×10{sup 5} photoelectrons and achieve a peak anode current of 380 mA at a PMT gain of 10{sup 5}, which satisfies the requirements of KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors. The circuit design has been successfully simulated using the simulation software Multisim. The details of PMT performance tests and simulations are described.

  13. Extension of photomultiplier tube dynamic range for the LHAASO-KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Hongkui; Sheng, Xiangdong; He, Huihai; Liu, Jia; Zhang, Zhongquan; Hou, Chao; Zhao, Jing

    2015-05-01

    In the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), the 1 km2 array (KM2A) requires linear measurement of optical intensity with a wide dynamic range. Over 5000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are employed in this experiment and developed as "two outputs" device (anode and dynode) to meet the relevant requirements. In this study, the linearity of the anode and the eighth dynode (DY8), which is limited by space charge effects and mainly related to the relative dynode voltage ratios of the PMT divider, is examined. A voltage divider for the Hamamatsu R11102 PMT is designed and a dramatically enhanced linearity is demonstrated. Test results show that this design can cover a wide dynamic range from 20 to 2×105 photoelectrons and achieve a peak anode current of 380 mA at a PMT gain of 105, which satisfies the requirements of KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors. The circuit design has been successfully simulated using the simulation software Multisim. The details of PMT performance tests and simulations are described.

  14. Extension of photomultiplier tube dynamic range for the LHAASO-KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lv, Hongkui; Sheng, Xiangdong; He, Huihai; Liu, Jia; Zhang, Zhongquan; Hou, Chao; Zhao, Jing

    2015-01-01

    In the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), the 1 km 2 array (KM2A) requires linear measurement of optical intensity with a wide dynamic range. Over 5000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are employed in this experiment and developed as “two outputs” device (anode and dynode) to meet the relevant requirements. In this study, the linearity of the anode and the eighth dynode (DY8), which is limited by space charge effects and mainly related to the relative dynode voltage ratios of the PMT divider, is examined. A voltage divider for the Hamamatsu R11102 PMT is designed and a dramatically enhanced linearity is demonstrated. Test results show that this design can cover a wide dynamic range from 20 to 2×10 5 photoelectrons and achieve a peak anode current of 380 mA at a PMT gain of 10 5 , which satisfies the requirements of KM2A electromagnetic particle detectors. The circuit design has been successfully simulated using the simulation software Multisim. The details of PMT performance tests and simulations are described

  15. A research on radiation calibration of high dynamic range based on the dual channel CMOS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Kai; Shi, Zhan; Pan, Xiaodong; Wang, Yongsheng; Wang, Jianghua

    2017-10-01

    The dual channel complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) can get high dynamic range (HDR) image through extending the gray level of the image by using image fusion with high gain channel image and low gain channel image in a same frame. In the process of image fusion with dual channel, it adopts the coefficients of radiation response of a pixel from dual channel in a same frame, and then calculates the gray level of the pixel in the HDR image. For the coefficients of radiation response play a crucial role in image fusion, it has to find an effective method to acquire these parameters. In this article, it makes a research on radiation calibration of high dynamic range based on the dual channel CMOS, and designs an experiment to calibrate the coefficients of radiation response for the sensor it used. In the end, it applies these response parameters in the dual channel CMOS which calibrates, and verifies the correctness and feasibility of the method mentioned in this paper.

  16. Duality in non-linear B and F models: equivalence between self-dual and topologically massive Born-Infeld B and F models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menezes, R.; Nascimento, J.R.S.; Ribeiro, R.F.; Wotzasek, C.

    2002-01-01

    We study the dual equivalence between the non-linear generalization of the self-dual (NSD BF ) and the topologically massive B and F models with particular emphasis on the non-linear electrodynamics proposed by Born and Infeld. This is done through a dynamical gauge embedding of the non-linear self-dual model yielding to a gauge invariant and dynamically equivalent theory. We clearly show that non-polinomial NSD BF models can be map, through a properly defined duality transformation into TM BF actions. The general result obtained is then particularized for a number of examples, including the Born-Infeld-BF (BIBF) model that has experienced a revival in the recent literature

  17. Dynamic perfusion CT: Optimizing the temporal resolution for the calculation of perfusion CT parameters in stroke patients

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaemena, Andreas [Department of Radiology, Charite-Medical University Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin (Germany)], E-mail: andreas.kaemena@charite.de; Streitparth, Florian; Grieser, Christian; Lehmkuhl, Lukas [Department of Radiology, Charite-Medical University Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin (Germany); Jamil, Basil [Department of Radiotherapy, Charite-Medical University Berlin, Schumannstr. 20/21, D-10117 Berlin (Germany); Wojtal, Katarzyna; Ricke, Jens; Pech, Maciej [Department of Radiology, Charite-Medical University Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin (Germany)

    2007-10-15

    Purpose: To assess the influence of different temporal sampling rates on the accuracy of the results from cerebral perfusion CTs in patients with an acute ischemic stroke. Material and methods: Thirty consecutive patients with acute stroke symptoms received a dynamic perfusion CT (LightSpeed 16, GE). Forty millilitres of iomeprol (Imeron 400) were administered at an injection rate of 4 ml/s. After a scan delay of 7 s, two adjacent 10 mm slices at 80 kV and 190 mA were acquired in a cine mode technique with a cine duration of 49 s. Parametric maps for the blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV) and mean transit time (MTT) were calculated for temporal sampling intervals of 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 4 s using GE's Perfusion 3 software package. In addition to the quantitative ROI data analysis, a visual perfusion map analysis was performed. Results: The perfusion analysis proved to be technically feasible with all patients. The calculated perfusion values revealed significant differences with regard to the BF, BV and MTT, depending on the employed temporal resolution. The perfusion contrast between ischemic lesions and healthy brain tissue decreased continuously at the lower temporal resolutions. The visual analysis revealed that ischemic lesions were best depicted with sampling intervals of 0.5 and 1 s. Conclusion: We recommend a temporal scan resolution of two images per second for the best detection and depiction of ischemic areas.

  18. Dynamical 3-Space: Black Holes in an Expanding Universe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rothall D. P.

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Black holes are usually studied without including effects of the expanding universe. However in some recent studies black holes have been embedded in an expanding universe, in order to determine the interplay, if any, of these two dynamical processes. Dynamical 3-space theory contains time independent solutions for black holes, which are spatial in-flows, and separately the time dependent Hubble expansion. This theory has explained numerous puzzles in observational astrophysics and contains 3 constants; G, - which from experimental data turns out to be the fine structure constant, and - which is a small but nonzero distance, possibly a Planck-type length. The Hubble expansion in the dynamical 3-space theory cannot be “switched o”, forcing the study, first, of isolated black holes coexisting with the expanding universe. It is shown that a time dependent black hole and expanding universe solution exists. The nature and implications of these solutions are discussed as they evolve over time. A dynamical network of black holes and induced linking cosmic filaments forming bubble structures is discussed, as a consequence of dynamical 3-space undergoing a dynamical breakdown of homogeneity and isotropy, even in the absence of baryonic matter.

  19. C-H Bond Functionalization via Hydride Transfer: Formation of α-Arylated Piperidines and 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroisoquinolines via Stereoselective Intramolecular Amination of Benzylic C-H Bonds

    OpenAIRE

    Vadola, Paul A.; Carrera, Ignacio; Sames, Dalibor

    2012-01-01

    We here report a study of the intramolecular amination of sp3 C-H bonds via the hydride transfer cyclization of N-tosylimines (HT-amination). In this transformation, 5-aryl-aldehydes are subjected to N-toluenesulfonamide in the presence of BF3•OEt2 to effect imine formation and HT-cyclization, leading to 2-aryl-piperidines and 3-aryl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines in a one-pot procedure. We examined the reactivity of a range of aldehyde substrates as a function of their conformational flexib...

  20. A Dynamic Range Enhanced Readout Technique with a Two-Step TDC for High Speed Linear CMOS Image Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiyuan Gao

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a dynamic range (DR enhanced readout technique with a two-step time-to-digital converter (TDC for high speed linear CMOS image sensors. A multi-capacitor and self-regulated capacitive trans-impedance amplifier (CTIA structure is employed to extend the dynamic range. The gain of the CTIA is auto adjusted by switching different capacitors to the integration node asynchronously according to the output voltage. A column-parallel ADC based on a two-step TDC is utilized to improve the conversion rate. The conversion is divided into coarse phase and fine phase. An error calibration scheme is also proposed to correct quantization errors caused by propagation delay skew within −Tclk~+Tclk. A linear CMOS image sensor pixel array is designed in the 0.13 μm CMOS process to verify this DR-enhanced high speed readout technique. The post simulation results indicate that the dynamic range of readout circuit is 99.02 dB and the ADC achieves 60.22 dB SNDR and 9.71 bit ENOB at a conversion rate of 2 MS/s after calibration, with 14.04 dB and 2.4 bit improvement, compared with SNDR and ENOB of that without calibration.

  1. Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of CYP6BF1 from the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Hongshan; Dai, Huaguo; Wei, Hui

    2005-01-01

    A novel cDNA clong encoding a cytochrome P450 was screened from the insecticide-susceptible strain of Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera:Yponomeutidae). The nucleotide sequence of the clone, designated CYP6BF1, was determined. This is the first full-length sequence of the CYP6 family from Plutella xylostella (L.). The cDNA is 1661bp in length and contains an open reading frame from base pairs 26 to 1570, encoding a protein of 514 amino acid residues. It is similar to the other insect P450s in gene family 6, including CYP6AE1 from Depressaria pastinacella, (46%). The GenBank accession number is AY971374. PMID:17119627

  2. Investigating the Partial Relationships Between Testability and the Dynamic Range-to-Domain Ratio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuhoor Al-Khanjari

    2003-11-01

    Full Text Available The word ‘testability’ has been used variously in the software community to represent a number of different concepts such as how easy it is to test a program or how easy it is to achieve execution coverage of certain program components. Voas and colleagues have used the word to capture a slightly different notion, namely the ease with which faults, if present in a program, can be revealed by the testing process. The significance of this concept is twofold. First, if it is possible to measure or estimate testability, it can guide the tester in deciding where to focus the testing effort. Secondly, knowledge about what makes some programs more testable than others can guide the developer so that design-for-test features are built in to the software. The propagation, infection and execution (PIE analysis technique has been proposed as a way of estimating the Voas notion of testability. Unfortunately, estimating testability via the PIE technique is a difficult and costly process. However, Voas has suggested a link with the metric, domain-to-range ratio (DRR. This paper reviews the various testability concepts and summarises the PIE technique. A prototype tool developed by the authors to automate part of the PIE analysis is described and a method is proposed for dynamically determining the inverse of the domain-to-range ratio. This inverse ratio can be considered more natural in some sense and the idea of calculating its value from program execution leads to the possibility of automating its determination. Some experiments have been performed to investigate empirically whether there is a partial link between testability and this dynamic range-to-domain ratio (DRDR. Statistical tests have shown that for some programs and computational functions there is a strong relationship, but for others the relationship is weak.

  3. High-dynamic-range microscope imaging based on exposure bracketing in full-field optical coherence tomography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong-Hoi, Audrey; Montgomery, Paul C; Serio, Bruno; Twardowski, Patrice; Uhring, Wilfried

    2016-04-01

    By applying the proposed high-dynamic-range (HDR) technique based on exposure bracketing, we demonstrate a meaningful reduction in the spatial noise in image frames acquired with a CCD camera so as to improve the fringe contrast in full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT). This new signal processing method thus allows improved probing within transparent or semitransparent samples. The proposed method is demonstrated on 3 μm thick transparent polymer films of Mylar, which, due to their transparency, produce low contrast fringe patterns in white-light interference microscopy. High-resolution tomographic analysis is performed using the technique. After performing appropriate signal processing, resulting XZ sections are observed. Submicrometer-sized defects can be lost in the noise that is present in the CCD images. With the proposed method, we show that by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the images, submicrometer-sized defect structures can thus be detected.

  4. Time-Dependent Behavior of Microvascular Blood Flow and Oxygenation: A Predictor of Functional Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuliga, Katarzyna Z; Gush, Rodney; Clough, Geraldine F; Chipperfield, Andrew John

    2018-05-01

    This study investigates the time-dependent behaviour and algorithmic complexity of low-frequency periodic oscillations in blood flux (BF) and oxygenation signals from the microvasculature. Microvascular BF and oxygenation (OXY: oxyHb, deoxyHb, totalHb, and SO 2 %) was recorded from 15 healthy young adult males using combined laser Doppler fluximetry and white light spectroscopy with local skin temperature clamped to 33  °C and during local thermal hyperaemia (LTH) at 43 °C. Power spectral density of the BF and OXY signals was evaluated within the frequency range (0.0095-1.6 Hz). Signal complexity was determined using the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) algorithm. Fold increase in BF during LTH was 15.6 (10.3, 22.8) and in OxyHb 4.8 (3.5, 5.9) (median, range). All BF and OXY signals exhibited multiple oscillatory components with clear differences in signal power distribution across frequency bands at 33 and 43 °C. Significant reduction in the intrinsic variability and complexity of the microvascular signals during LTH was found, with mean LZ complexity of BF and OxyHb falling by 25% and 49%, respectively ( ). These results provide corroboration that in human skin microvascular blood flow and oxygenation are influenced by multiple time-varying oscillators that adapt to local influences and become more predictable during increased haemodynamic flow. Recent evidence strongly suggests that the inability of microvascular networks to adapt to an imposed stressor is symptomatic of disease risk which might be assessed via BF and OXY via the combination signal analysis techniques described here.

  5. Dynamic Aperture Studies for SPEAR 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corbett, William

    1998-01-01

    The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory is investigating an accelerator upgrade project that would replace the present 130 nm rad FODO lattice with an 18 nm rad double bend achromat (DBA) lattice: SPEAR 3. The low emittance design yields a high brightness beam, but the stronger focusing in the DBA lattice increases chromaticity and beam sensitivity to machine errors. To ensure efficient injection and long Touschek lifetime, an optimization of the design lattice and dynamic aperture has been performed. In this paper, we review the methods used to maximize the SPEAR 3 dynamic aperture including necessary optics modifications, choice of tune and phase advance, optimization of sextupole and coupling correction, and modeling effects of machine errors, wigglers and lattice periodicity

  6. Estimating indices of range shifts in birds using dynamic models when detection is imperfect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Matthew J.; Hines, James E.; Nichols, James D.; Pardieck, Keith L.; Ziolkowski, David J.

    2016-01-01

    There is intense interest in basic and applied ecology about the effect of global change on current and future species distributions. Projections based on widely used static modeling methods implicitly assume that species are in equilibrium with the environment and that detection during surveys is perfect. We used multiseason correlated detection occupancy models, which avoid these assumptions, to relate climate data to distributional shifts of Louisiana Waterthrush in the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data. We summarized these shifts with indices of range size and position and compared them to the same indices obtained using more basic modeling approaches. Detection rates during point counts in BBS surveys were low, and models that ignored imperfect detection severely underestimated the proportion of area occupied and slightly overestimated mean latitude. Static models indicated Louisiana Waterthrush distribution was most closely associated with moderate temperatures, while dynamic occupancy models indicated that initial occupancy was associated with diurnal temperature ranges and colonization of sites was associated with moderate precipitation. Overall, the proportion of area occupied and mean latitude changed little during the 1997–2013 study period. Near-term forecasts of species distribution generated by dynamic models were more similar to subsequently observed distributions than forecasts from static models. Occupancy models incorporating a finite mixture model on detection – a new extension to correlated detection occupancy models – were better supported and may reduce bias associated with detection heterogeneity. We argue that replacing phenomenological static models with more mechanistic dynamic models can improve projections of future species distributions. In turn, better projections can improve biodiversity forecasts, management decisions, and understanding of global change biology.

  7. Exponential Convergence of Cellular Dynamical Mean Field Theory: Reply to the comment by K. Aryanpour, Th. Maier and M. Jarrell (cond-mat/0301460)

    OpenAIRE

    Biroli, G.; Kotliar, G.

    2004-01-01

    We reply to the comment by K. Aryanpour, Th. Maier and M. Jarrell (cond-mat/0301460) on our paper (Phys. Rev. B {\\bf 65} 155112 (2002)). We demonstrate using general arguments and explicit examples that whenever the correlation length is finite, local observables converge exponentially fast in the cluster size, $L_{c}$, within Cellular Dynamical Mean Field Theory (CDMFT). This is a faster rate of convergence than the $1/L_{c}^{2}$ behavior of the Dynamical Cluster approximation (DCA) thus ref...

  8. 3D video-based deformation measurement of the pelvis bone under dynamic cyclic loading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Freslier Marie

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Dynamic three-dimensional (3D deformation of the pelvic bones is a crucial factor in the successful design and longevity of complex orthopaedic oncological implants. The current solutions are often not very promising for the patient; thus it would be interesting to measure the dynamic 3D-deformation of the whole pelvic bone in order to get a more realistic dataset for a better implant design. Therefore we hypothesis if it would be possible to combine a material testing machine with a 3D video motion capturing system, used in clinical gait analysis, to measure the sub millimetre deformation of a whole pelvis specimen. Method A pelvis specimen was placed in a standing position on a material testing machine. Passive reflective markers, traceable by the 3D video motion capturing system, were fixed to the bony surface of the pelvis specimen. While applying a dynamic sinusoidal load the 3D-movement of the markers was recorded by the cameras and afterwards the 3D-deformation of the pelvis specimen was computed. The accuracy of the 3D-movement of the markers was verified with 3D-displacement curve with a step function using a manual driven 3D micro-motion-stage. Results The resulting accuracy of the measurement system depended on the number of cameras tracking a marker. The noise level for a marker seen by two cameras was during the stationary phase of the calibration procedure ± 0.036 mm, and ± 0.022 mm if tracked by 6 cameras. The detectable 3D-movement performed by the 3D-micro-motion-stage was smaller than the noise level of the 3D-video motion capturing system. Therefore the limiting factor of the setup was the noise level, which resulted in a measurement accuracy for the dynamic test setup of ± 0.036 mm. Conclusion This 3D test setup opens new possibilities in dynamic testing of wide range materials, like anatomical specimens, biomaterials, and its combinations. The resulting 3D-deformation dataset can be used for a better

  9. The TSH dynamics in upperand low-normal range in patients with primary hypothyroidism: clinical presentation, well-being and quality of life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A V Podzolkov

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In our study we try to determine whether small changes in thyroxine treatment is effective in patients with symptoms of hypothyroidism but with thyroid function tests within the reference range, and to investigate the effect of thyroxine treatment on psychological and physical wellbeing in healthy participants. Sixty ambulatory patients with primary hypothyroidism receiving levothyroxine (L-T4 participated in the study. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to their TSH level. The first group was in TSH low-normal range (0.4–2.0 mU/l, the second in upper-normal (2.1–4.0 mU/l range. We analyzed the results of several tests: “12 classical hypothyroidism symp- toms”, SF36, HARS, HDRS, Zung scale at baseline and in 3 months. With a small-dose changes we cross the groups to compare the results. Results: At baseline analyze there was a small differ-ence between two groups. Women with in the upper-normal TSH range had more expressed symptoms of hypothyroidism. After small changes in thyroxine treatment we could not say that the clinical picture of a hypothyroidism has changed cardinally, however, it is necessary to notice that there was dynamics of separate symptoms. The same picture was noticed with the depression and anxiety levels. The meanings were rather close and small dose changes in L-T4 treatment were more expressed in group with upper-normal range. The positive dynamics of well-being after dose changing were registered in both groups. Conclusion: Small changes in T4 dosage do not produce measurable changes in hypothyroid symptoms, well-being, or quality of life.

  10. Phylogenetic fields through time: temporal dynamics of geographical co-occurrence and phylogenetic structure within species ranges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villalobos, Fabricio; Carotenuto, Francesco; Raia, Pasquale; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre F

    2016-04-05

    Species co-occur with different sets of other species across their geographical distribution, which can be either closely or distantly related. Such co-occurrence patterns and their phylogenetic structure within individual species ranges represent what we call the species phylogenetic fields (PFs). These PFs allow investigation of the role of historical processes--speciation, extinction and dispersal--in shaping species co-occurrence patterns, in both extinct and extant species. Here, we investigate PFs of large mammalian species during the last 3 Myr, and how these correlate with trends in diversification rates. Using the fossil record, we evaluate species' distributional and co-occurrence patterns along with their phylogenetic structure. We apply a novel Bayesian framework on fossil occurrences to estimate diversification rates through time. Our findings highlight the effect of evolutionary processes and past climatic changes on species' distributions and co-occurrences. From the Late Pliocene to the Recent, mammal species seem to have responded in an individualistic manner to climate changes and diversification dynamics, co-occurring with different sets of species from different lineages across their geographical ranges. These findings stress the difficulty of forecasting potential effects of future climate changes on biodiversity. © 2016 The Author(s).

  11. MRD-CI potential surfaces using balanced basis sets. IV. The H2 molecule and the H3 surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wright, J.S.; Kruus, E.

    1986-01-01

    The utility of midbond functions in molecular calculations was tested in two cases where the correct results are known: the H 2 potential curve and the collinear H 3 potential surface. For H 2 , a variety of basis sets both with and without bond functions was compared to the exact nonrelativistic potential curve of Kolos and Wolniewicz [J. Chem. Phys. 43, 2429 (1965)]. It was found that optimally balanced basis sets at two levels of quality were the double zeta single polarization plus sp bond function basis (BF1) and the triple zeta double polarization plus two sets of sp bond function basis (BF2). These gave bond dissociation energies D/sub e/ = 4.7341 and 4.7368 eV, respectively (expt. 4.7477 eV). Four basis sets were tested for basis set superposition errors, which were found to be small relative to basis set incompleteness and therefore did not affect any conclusions regarding basis set balance. Basis sets BF1 and BF2 were used to construct potential surfaces for collinear H 3 , along with the corresponding basis sets DZ*P and TZ*PP which contain no bond functions. Barrier heights of 12.52, 10.37, 10.06, and 9.96 kcal/mol were obtained for basis sets DZ*P, TZ*PP, BF1, and BF2, respectively, compared to an estimated limiting value of 9.60 kcal/mol. Difference maps, force constants, and relative rms deviations show that the bond functions improve the surface shape as well as the barrier height

  12. Measurement of high-dynamic range x-ray Thomson scattering spectra for the characterization of nano-plasmas at LCLS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    MacDonald, M. J., E-mail: macdonm@umich.edu [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Gorkhover, T. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Technische Universität, 10623 Berlin (Germany); Bachmann, B.; Hau-Riege, S. P.; Pardini, T.; Döppner, T. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States); Bucher, M. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Argonne National Lab, Lemont, Illinois 60439 (United States); Carron, S. [California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California 91360 (United States); Coffee, R. N.; Fletcher, L. B.; Gamboa, E. J.; Glenzer, S. H.; Göde, S.; Krzywinski, J.; O’Grady, C. P.; Osipov, T.; Swiggers, M. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Drake, R. P. [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States); Ferguson, K. R. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Kraus, D. [University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); and others

    2016-11-15

    Atomic clusters can serve as ideal model systems for exploring ultrafast (∼100 fs) laser-driven ionization dynamics of dense matter on the nanometer scale. Resonant absorption of optical laser pulses enables heating to temperatures on the order of 1 keV at near solid density conditions. To date, direct probing of transient states of such nano-plasmas was limited to coherent x-ray imaging. Here we present the first measurement of spectrally resolved incoherent x-ray scattering from clusters, enabling measurements of transient temperature, densities, and ionization. Single shot x-ray Thomson scattering signals were recorded at 120 Hz using a crystal spectrometer in combination with a single-photon counting and energy-dispersive pnCCD. A precise pump laser collimation scheme enabled recording near background-free scattering spectra from Ar clusters with an unprecedented dynamic range of more than 3 orders of magnitude. Such measurements are important for understanding collective effects in laser-matter interactions on femtosecond time scales, opening new routes for the development of schemes for their ultrafast control.

  13. Effect of γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid on the thermal performance of shell and coil heat exchanger with different coil torsions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elshazly, K. M.; Sakr, R. Y.; Ali, R. K.; Salem, M. R.

    2017-06-01

    This work investigated experimentally the thermal performance of shell and coil heat exchanger with different coil torsions (λ) for γ-Al2O3/water nanofluid flow. Five helically coiled tube (HCT) with 0.0442 ≤ λ ≤ 0.1348 were tested within turbulent flow regime. The average size of γ-Al2O3 particles is 40 nm and volume concentration (φ) is varied from 0 to 2%. Results showed that reducing coil torsion enhances the heat transfer rate and increases HCT-friction factor (fc). Also, it is noticed that HCT average Nusselt number (Nut) and fc of nanofluids increase with increasing γ-Al2O3 volume concentration. The thermal performance index, TPI = (ht,nf/ht,bf)/(ΔPc,nf/ΔPc,bf). increases with increasing nanoparticles concentration, coil torsion, HCT-side inlet temperature and nanofluid flow rate. Over the studied range of HCT-Reynolds number, the average value of TPI is of 1.34 and 2.24 at φ = 0.5% and φ = 2%, respectively. The average value of TPI is of 1.64 at λ = 0.0442 while its average value at λ = 0.1348 is of 2.01. One of the main contributions is to provide heat equipments designers with Nut and fc correlations for practical configurations shell and coil heat exchangers with a wide range of nanofluid concentration.

  14. Coupled quantum-classical method for long range charge transfer: relevance of the nuclear motion to the quantum electron dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Da Silva, Robson; Hoff, Diego A; Rego, Luis G C

    2015-01-01

    Charge and excitonic-energy transfer phenomena are fundamental for energy conversion in solar cells as well as artificial photosynthesis. Currently, much interest is being paid to light-harvesting and energy transduction processes in supramolecular structures, where nuclear dynamics has a major influence on electronic quantum dynamics. For this reason, the simulation of long range electron transfer in supramolecular structures, under environmental conditions described within an atomistic framework, has been a difficult problem to study. This work describes a coupled quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method that aims at describing long range charge transfer processes in supramolecular systems, taking into account the atomistic details of large molecular structures, the underlying nuclear motion, and environmental effects. The method is applied to investigate the relevance of electron–nuclei interaction on the mechanisms for photo-induced electron–hole pair separation in dye-sensitized interfaces as well as electronic dynamics in molecular structures. (paper)

  15. An Evaluative Review of Simulated Dynamic Smart 3d Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romeijn, H.; Sheth, F.; Pettit, C. J.

    2012-07-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) modelling of plants can be an asset for creating agricultural based visualisation products. The continuum of 3D plants models ranges from static to dynamic objects, also known as smart 3D objects. There is an increasing requirement for smarter simulated 3D objects that are attributed mathematically and/or from biological inputs. A systematic approach to plant simulation offers significant advantages to applications in agricultural research, particularly in simulating plant behaviour and the influences of external environmental factors. This approach of 3D plant object visualisation is primarily evident from the visualisation of plants using photographed billboarded images, to more advanced procedural models that come closer to simulating realistic virtual plants. However, few programs model physical reactions of plants to external factors and even fewer are able to grow plants based on mathematical and/or biological parameters. In this paper, we undertake an evaluation of plant-based object simulation programs currently available, with a focus upon the components and techniques involved in producing these objects. Through an analytical review process we consider the strengths and weaknesses of several program packages, the features and use of these programs and the possible opportunities in deploying these for creating smart 3D plant-based objects to support agricultural research and natural resource management. In creating smart 3D objects the model needs to be informed by both plant physiology and phenology. Expert knowledge will frame the parameters and procedures that will attribute the object and allow the simulation of dynamic virtual plants. Ultimately, biologically smart 3D virtual plants that react to changes within an environment could be an effective medium to visually represent landscapes and communicate land management scenarios and practices to planners and decision-makers.

  16. 3D dynamic pituitary MR imaging with CAIPIRINHA: Initial experience and comparison with 2D dynamic MR imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fushimi, Yasutaka, E-mail: yfushimi@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Okada, Tomohisa; Kanagaki, Mitsunori; Yamamoto, Akira; Kanda, Yumiko; Sakamoto, Ryo [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Hojo, Masato; Takahashi, Jun C.; Miyamoto, Susumu [Department of Neurosurgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan); Togashi, Kaori [Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8507 (Japan)

    2014-10-15

    Objectives: To evaluate the validity of 3D dynamic pituitary MR imaging with controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA), with special emphasis on demarcation of pituitary posterior lobe and stalk. Methods: Participants comprised 32 patients who underwent dynamic pituitary MR imaging due to pituitary or parasellar lesions. 3D dynamic MR with CAIPIRINHA was performed at 3 T with 20-s-interval, precontrast, 1st to 5th dynamic images. Normalized values and enhanced ratios (dynamic postcontrast image values divided by precontrast ones) were compared between 3D and 2D dynamic MR imaging for patients with visual identification of posterior lobe and stalk. Results: In 3D, stalk was identified in 29 patients and unidentified in 3, and posterior lobe was identified in 28 and unidentified in 4. In 2D, stalk was identified in 26 patients and unidentified in 6 patients, and posterior lobe was identified in 15 and unidentified in 17. Normalized values of pituitary posterior lobe and stalk were higher in 3D than 2D (P < 0.001). No significant difference in enhancement ratio was seen between 3D and 2D. Conclusions: 3D dynamic pituitary MR provided better identification and higher normalized values of pituitary posterior lobe and stalk than 2D.

  17. Injection of natural gas in the blast furnace tuyeres three of the Usiminas, Ipatinga Plant; Injecao de gas natural nas ventaneiras do alto-forno 3 da Usiminas, Usina de Ipatinga

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, Murilo Alves Tito de; Rosa, Ericson Rimen Ribeiro; Oliveira, Claudiney Freitas de; Hostt, Helton [USIMINAS, Ipatinga, MG (Brazil). Gerencia Geral de Reducao

    2011-12-21

    The reduction in production costs is a major strategic objectives of Usiminas and the use of natural gas in the Blast Furnace 3 (BF 3) contribute to achieve this goal. The use of natural gas as fuel in the BF 3 to reduce the use of metallurgical coke (main fuel) and reduces production losses during periods of maintenance in the pulverized coal injection system and improving operational control of the Blast Furnace. The work presents the deployment of the natural gas injection and the performance obtained by the BF 3 from the start of injection, with a focus on reducing consumption of metallurgical coke and stable operation of blast furnace (author)

  18. Dynamic aperture studies for SPEAR 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nosochkov, Y.; Corbett, J.

    1999-01-01

    The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory is investigating an accelerator upgrade project that would replace the present 130 nm·rad FODO lattice with an 18 nm·rad double bend achromat (DBA) lattice: SPEAR 3. The low emittance design yields a high brightness beam, but the stronger focusing in the DBA lattice increases chromaticity and beam sensitivity to machine errors. To ensure efficient injection and long Touschek lifetime, an optimization of the design lattice and dynamic aperture has been performed. In this paper, we review the methods used to maximize the SPEAR 3 dynamic aperture including necessary optics modifications, choice of tune and phase advance, optimization of sextupole and coupling correction, and modeling effects of machine errors, wigglers and lattice periodicity

  19. Modeling a color-rendering operator for high dynamic range images using a cone-response function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Ho-Hyoung; Kim, Gi-Seok; Yun, Byoung-Ju

    2015-09-01

    Tone-mapping operators are the typical algorithms designed to produce visibility and the overall impression of brightness, contrast, and color of high dynamic range (HDR) images on low dynamic range (LDR) display devices. Although several new tone-mapping operators have been proposed in recent years, the results of these operators have not matched those of the psychophysical experiments based on the human visual system. A color-rendering model that is a combination of tone-mapping and cone-response functions using an XYZ tristimulus color space is presented. In the proposed method, the tone-mapping operator produces visibility and the overall impression of brightness, contrast, and color in HDR images when mapped onto relatively LDR devices. The tone-mapping resultant image is obtained using chromatic and achromatic colors to avoid well-known color distortions shown in the conventional methods. The resulting image is then processed with a cone-response function wherein emphasis is placed on human visual perception (HVP). The proposed method covers the mismatch between the actual scene and the rendered image based on HVP. The experimental results show that the proposed method yields an improved color-rendering performance compared to conventional methods.

  20. Computational model of lightness perception in high dynamic range imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krawczyk, Grzegorz; Myszkowski, Karol; Seidel, Hans-Peter

    2006-02-01

    An anchoring theory of lightness perception by Gilchrist et al. [1999] explains many characteristics of human visual system such as lightness constancy and its spectacular failures which are important in the perception of images. The principal concept of this theory is the perception of complex scenes in terms of groups of consistent areas (frameworks). Such areas, following the gestalt theorists, are defined by the regions of common illumination. The key aspect of the image perception is the estimation of lightness within each framework through the anchoring to the luminance perceived as white, followed by the computation of the global lightness. In this paper we provide a computational model for automatic decomposition of HDR images into frameworks. We derive a tone mapping operator which predicts lightness perception of the real world scenes and aims at its accurate reproduction on low dynamic range displays. Furthermore, such a decomposition into frameworks opens new grounds for local image analysis in view of human perception.

  1. New segmentation-based tone mapping algorithm for high dynamic range image

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Weiwei; Guo, Huinan; Zhou, Zuofeng; Huang, Huimin; Cao, Jianzhong

    2017-07-01

    The traditional tone mapping algorithm for the display of high dynamic range (HDR) image has the drawback of losing the impression of brightness, contrast and color information. To overcome this phenomenon, we propose a new tone mapping algorithm based on dividing the image into different exposure regions in this paper. Firstly, the over-exposure region is determined using the Local Binary Pattern information of HDR image. Then, based on the peak and average gray of the histogram, the under-exposure and normal-exposure region of HDR image are selected separately. Finally, the different exposure regions are mapped by differentiated tone mapping methods to get the final result. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm achieve the better performance both in visual quality and objective contrast criterion than other algorithms.

  2. Mediator facilitates transcriptional activation and dynamic long-range contacts at the IgH locus during class switch recombination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas-Claudepierre, Anne-Sophie; Robert, Isabelle; Rocha, Pedro P; Raviram, Ramya; Schiavo, Ebe; Heyer, Vincent; Bonneau, Richard; Luo, Vincent M; Reddy, Janardan K; Borggrefe, Tilman; Skok, Jane A; Reina-San-Martin, Bernardo

    2016-03-07

    Immunoglobulin (Ig) class switch recombination (CSR) is initiated by the transcription-coupled recruitment of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) to Ig switch regions (S regions). During CSR, the IgH locus undergoes dynamic three-dimensional structural changes in which promoters, enhancers, and S regions are brought to close proximity. Nevertheless, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we show that Med1 and Med12, two subunits of the mediator complex implicated in transcription initiation and long-range enhancer/promoter loop formation, are dynamically recruited to the IgH locus enhancers and the acceptor regions during CSR and that their knockdown in CH12 cells results in impaired CSR. Furthermore, we show that conditional inactivation of Med1 in B cells results in defective CSR and reduced acceptor S region transcription. Finally, we show that in B cells undergoing CSR, the dynamic long-range contacts between the IgH enhancers and the acceptor regions correlate with Med1 and Med12 binding and that they happen at a reduced frequency in Med1-deficient B cells. Our results implicate the mediator complex in the mechanism of CSR and are consistent with a model in which mediator facilitates the long-range contacts between S regions and the IgH locus enhancers during CSR and their transcriptional activation. © 2016 Thomas-Claudepierre et al.

  3. The Contribution of Matched Envelope Dynamic Range to the Binaural Benefits in Simulated Bilateral Electric Hearing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Fei; Wong, Lena L. N.; Qiu, Jianxin; Liu, Yehai; Azimi, Behnam; Hu, Yi

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the effects of envelope dynamic-range mismatch on the intelligibility of Mandarin speech in noise by simulated bilateral electric hearing. Method: Noise-vocoded Mandarin speech, corrupted by speech-shaped noise at 5 and 0 dB signal-to-noise ratios, was presented unilaterally or bilaterally to 10 normal-hearing…

  4. Dynamic changes in GABAA receptors on basal forebrain cholinergic neurons following sleep deprivation and recovery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jones Barbara E

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The basal forebrain (BF cholinergic neurons play an important role in cortical activation and arousal and are active in association with cortical activation of waking and inactive in association with cortical slow wave activity of sleep. In view of findings that GABAA receptors (Rs and inhibitory transmission undergo dynamic changes as a function of prior activity, we investigated whether the GABAARs on cholinergic cells might undergo such changes as a function of their prior activity during waking vs. sleep. Results In the brains of rats under sleep control (SC, sleep deprivation (SD or sleep recovery (SR conditions in the 3 hours prior to sacrifice, we examined immunofluorescent staining for β2–3 subunit GABAARs on choline acetyltransferase (ChAT immunopositive (+ cells in the magnocellular BF. In sections also stained for c-Fos, β2–3 GABAARs were present on ChAT+ neurons which expressed c-Fos in the SD group alone and were variable or undetectable on other ChAT+ cells across groups. In dual-immunostained sections, the luminance of β2–3 GABAARs over the membrane of ChAT+ cells was found to vary significantly across conditions and to be significantly higher in SD than SC or SR groups. Conclusion We conclude that membrane GABAARs increase on cholinergic cells as a result of activity during sustained waking and reciprocally decrease as a result of inactivity during sleep. These changes in membrane GABAARs would be associated with increased GABA-mediated inhibition of cholinergic cells following prolonged waking and diminished inhibition following sleep and could thus reflect a homeostatic process regulating cholinergic cell activity and thereby indirectly cortical activity across the sleep-waking cycle.

  5. Structure and bonding of transition metal-boryl compounds. Theoretical study of [(PH3)2(CO)ClOs-BR2] and [(PH3)2(CO)2ClOs-BR2] (BR2 = BH2, BF2, B(OH)2, B(OCH=CHO), Bcat).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giju, K T; Bickelhaupt, F M; Frenking, G

    2000-10-16

    Quantum chemical DFT calculations using the B3LYP functionals have been carried out for the electronically unsaturated 16 VE five-coordinate osmium boryl-complexes [(PH3)2(CO)ClOs-BR2] and the 18 VE six-coordinate complexes [(PH3)2(CO)2ClOs-BR2] with BR2 = BH2, BF2, B(OH)2, B(OHC=CHO), and Bcat (cat = catecholate O2C6H4). The bonding situation of the Os-BR2 bond was analyzed with the help of the NBO partitioning scheme. The Os-B bond dissociation energies of the 16 VE complexes are very high, and they do not change very much for the different boryl ligands. The 18 VE complexes have only slightly lower bond energies than the 16 VE species. The Os-B bond in both classes of compounds is provided by a covalent sigma-bond which is polarized toward osmium and by strong charge attraction. Os-->B pi-donation is not important for the Os-B binding interactions, except for the Os-BH2 complexes. The stability of the boryl complexes [Os]-BR2 comes mainly from BB pi-donation. The intraligand charge distribution of the BR2 group changes little when the Os-B bond is formed, except for BH2. The CO ligand in [(PH3)2(CO)2ClOs-BR2] which is trans to BR2 has a relatively weak bond to the osmium atom.

  6. Obliteration dynamics in cerebral arteriovenous malformations after cyberknife radiosurgery: quantification with sequential nidus volumetry and 3-tesla 3-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wowra, Berndt; Muacevic, Alexander; Tonn, Jörg-Christian; Schoenberg, Stefan O; Reiser, Maximilian; Herrmann, Karin A

    2009-02-01

    To investigate the time-dependent obliteration of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (cAVM) after CyberKnife radiosurgery (CKRS) (Accuray, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA) by means of sequential 3-T, 3-dimensional (3D), time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and volumetry of the arteriovenous malformation (AVM) nidus. In this prospective study, 3D TOF MRA was performed on 20 patients with cAVMs treated by single-fraction CKRS. Three-dimensional TOF MRA was performed on a 3-T, 32-channel magnetic resonance scanner (Magnetom TIM Trio; Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany) with isotropic voxel size at a spatial resolution of 0.6 x 0.6 x 0.6 mm3. The time-dependent relative decay of the transnidal blood flow evidenced by 3D TOF MRA was referred to as "obliteration dynamics." Volumetry of the nidus size was performed with OsiriX imaging software (OsiriX Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland). All patients had 3 to 4 follow-up examinations at 3- to 6-month intervals over a minimum follow-up period of 9 months. Subtotal obliteration was determined if the residual nidus volume was 5% or less of the initial nidus volume. Stata/IC software (Version 10.0; Stata Corp., College Station, TX) was used for statistical analysis and to identify potential factors of AVM obliteration. Regarding their clinical status, case history, and pretreatments, the participants of this study represent difficult-to-treat cAVM patients. The median nidus volume was 1.8 mL (range, 0.4-12.5 mL); the median minimum dose prescribed to the nidus was 22 Gy (range, 16-24 Gy) delivered to the 67% isodose line (range, 55-80%). CKRS was well tolerated, with complications in 2 patients. No further hemorrhages occurred after RS, except 1 small and clinically inapparent incident. The median follow-up period after RS was 25.0 months (range, 11.7-36.8 months). After RS, a statistically significant obliteration was observed in all patients. However, the obliteration dynamics of the cAVMs showed a

  7. Enhancement tuning and control for high dynamic range images in multi-scale locally adaptive contrast enhancement algorithms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cvetkovic, S.D.; Schirris, J.; With, de P.H.N.

    2009-01-01

    For real-time imaging in surveillance applications, visibility of details is of primary importance to ensure customer confidence. If we display High Dynamic-Range (HDR) scenes whose contrast spans four or more orders of magnitude on a conventional monitor without additional processing, results are

  8. Development and testing of a fast Fourier transform high dynamic-range spectral diagnostics for millimeter wave characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thoen, D. J.; Bongers, W. A.; Westerhof, E.; Baar, M. R. de; Berg, M. A. van den; Beveren, V. van; Goede, A. P. H.; Graswinckel, M. F.; Schueller, F. C.; Oosterbeek, J. W.; Buerger, A.; Hennen, B. A.

    2009-01-01

    A fast Fourier transform (FFT) based wide range millimeter wave diagnostics for spectral characterization of scattered millimeter waves in plasmas has been successfully brought into operation. The scattered millimeter waves are heterodyne downconverted and directly digitized using a fast analog-digital converter and a compact peripheral component interconnect computer. Frequency spectra are obtained by FFT in the time domain of the intermediate frequency signal. The scattered millimeter waves are generated during high power electron cyclotron resonance heating experiments on the TEXTOR tokamak and demonstrate the performance of the diagnostics and, in particular, the usability of direct digitizing and Fourier transformation of millimeter wave signals. The diagnostics is able to acquire 4 GHz wide spectra of signals in the range of 136-140 GHz. The rate of spectra is tunable and has been tested between 200 000 spectra/s with a frequency resolution of 100 MHz and 120 spectra/s with a frequency resolution of 25 kHz. The respective dynamic ranges are 52 and 88 dB. Major benefits of the new diagnostics are a tunable time and frequency resolution due to postdetection, near-real time processing of the acquired data. This diagnostics has a wider application in astrophysics, earth observation, plasma physics, and molecular spectroscopy for the detection and analysis of millimeter wave radiation, providing high-resolution spectra at high temporal resolution and large dynamic range.

  9. Spectral counting assessment of protein dynamic range in cerebrospinal fluid following depletion with plasma-designed immunoaffinity columns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borg Jacques

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In cerebrospinal fluid (CSF, which is a rich source of biomarkers for neurological diseases, identification of biomarkers requires methods that allow reproducible detection of low abundance proteins. It is therefore crucial to decrease dynamic range and improve assessment of protein abundance. Results We applied LC-MS/MS to compare the performance of two CSF enrichment techniques that immunodeplete either albumin alone (IgYHSA or 14 high-abundance proteins (IgY14. In order to estimate dynamic range of proteins identified, we measured protein abundance with APEX spectral counting method. Both immunodepletion methods improved the number of low-abundance proteins detected (3-fold for IgYHSA, 4-fold for IgY14. The 10 most abundant proteins following immunodepletion accounted for 41% (IgY14 and 46% (IgYHSA of CSF protein content, whereas they accounted for 64% in non-depleted samples, thus demonstrating significant enrichment of low-abundance proteins. Defined proteomics experiment metrics showed overall good reproducibility of the two immunodepletion methods and MS analysis. Moreover, offline peptide fractionation in IgYHSA sample allowed a 4-fold increase of proteins identified (520 vs. 131 without fractionation, without hindering reproducibility. Conclusions The novelty of this study was to show the advantages and drawbacks of these methods side-to-side. Taking into account the improved detection and potential loss of non-target proteins following extensive immunodepletion, it is concluded that both depletion methods combined with spectral counting may be of interest before further fractionation, when searching for CSF biomarkers. According to the reliable identification and quantitation obtained with APEX algorithm, it may be considered as a cheap and quick alternative to study sample proteomic content.

  10. Radiation resistivity of quartz core fiber, 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gozen, Toshikazu; Suzuki, Toshiya; Hayashi, Tokuji; Tanaka, Hiroyuki; Okamoto, Shinichi.

    1985-01-01

    Radiation resistance characteristics were evaluated for a multi-mode quartz core fiber in low temperature region together with photobleaching effect depending on the incident light power and dependency on the wavelength of measuring rays. This report describes the results of the abovementioned items and the next step study of trial manufacturing of a pure-quartz single-mode fiber for the employment of longer wavelength rays and greater capacity in light transmission communication system. Quartz core fiber specimens were irradiated by 60 Co γ-ray source at -55 deg C to 80 deg C in a constant temperature bath and light transmission loss was determined under irradiation conditions. Low temperature characteristics were superior in an MRT (modified rod-in tube) pure quartz fiber prepared by the plasma method as compared to VAD quartz and Ge-GI fibers. The MRT fiber showed better quality than the Ge-GI fiber also in the photobleaching effect examination. As for the wavelength dependency, light transmission loss of the MRT fiber was less than that of the Ge-GI fiber. The MRT fiber also showed a superior quality in the wide range of irradiation temperatures. Based on the above-mentioned understandings, a pure-quartz single-mode fiber of both BF 3 -doped and F-doped cladding types were developed for longer wavelengths uses. The fibers could attain low light transmission loss of less than 1.0 dB/km at 1.30 μm of wavelength. At the standpoint of radiation resistivity, the BF 3 -doped fiber was found superior. (Takagi, S.)

  11. Charge-leveling and proper treatment of long-range electrostatics in all-atom molecular dynamics at constant pH.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Jason A; Shen, Jana K

    2012-11-14

    Recent development of constant pH molecular dynamics (CpHMD) methods has offered promise for adding pH-stat in molecular dynamics simulations. However, until now the working pH molecular dynamics (pHMD) implementations are dependent in part or whole on implicit-solvent models. Here we show that proper treatment of long-range electrostatics and maintaining charge neutrality of the system are critical for extending the continuous pHMD framework to the all-atom representation. The former is achieved here by adding forces to titration coordinates due to long-range electrostatics based on the generalized reaction field method, while the latter is made possible by a charge-leveling technique that couples proton titration with simultaneous ionization or neutralization of a co-ion in solution. We test the new method using the pH-replica-exchange CpHMD simulations of a series of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids with varying carbon chain length. The average absolute deviation from the experimental pK(a) values is merely 0.18 units. The results show that accounting for the forces due to extended electrostatics removes the large random noise in propagating titration coordinates, while maintaining charge neutrality of the system improves the accuracy in the calculated electrostatic interaction between ionizable sites. Thus, we believe that the way is paved for realizing pH-controlled all-atom molecular dynamics in the near future.

  12. Distinct Temporal Coordination of Spontaneous Population Activity between Basal Forebrain and Auditory Cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josue G. Yague

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The basal forebrain (BF has long been implicated in attention, learning and memory, and recent studies have established a causal relationship between artificial BF activation and arousal. However, neural ensemble dynamics in the BF still remains unclear. Here, recording neural population activity in the BF and comparing it with simultaneously recorded cortical population under both anesthetized and unanesthetized conditions, we investigate the difference in the structure of spontaneous population activity between the BF and the auditory cortex (AC in mice. The AC neuronal population show a skewed spike rate distribution, a higher proportion of short (≤80 ms inter-spike intervals (ISIs and a rich repertoire of rhythmic firing across frequencies. Although the distribution of spontaneous firing rate in the BF is also skewed, a proportion of short ISIs can be explained by a Poisson model at short time scales (≤20 ms and spike count correlations are lower compared to AC cells, with optogenetically identified cholinergic cell pairs showing exceptionally higher correlations. Furthermore, a smaller fraction of BF neurons shows spike-field entrainment across frequencies: a subset of BF neurons fire rhythmically at slow (≤6 Hz frequencies, with varied phase preferences to ongoing field potentials, in contrast to a consistent phase preference of AC populations. Firing of these slow rhythmic BF cells is correlated to a greater degree than other rhythmic BF cell pairs. Overall, the fundamental difference in the structure of population activity between the AC and BF is their temporal coordination, in particular their operational timescales. These results suggest that BF neurons slowly modulate downstream populations whereas cortical circuits transmit signals on multiple timescales. Thus, the characterization of the neural ensemble dynamics in the BF provides further insight into the neural mechanisms, by which brain states are regulated.

  13. Combining short- and long-range fluorescence reporters with simulations to explore the intramolecular dynamics of an intrinsically disordered protein

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zosel, Franziska; Haenni, Dominik; Soranno, Andrea; Nettels, Daniel; Schuler, Benjamin

    2017-10-01

    Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are increasingly recognized as a class of molecules that can exert essential biological functions even in the absence of a well-defined three-dimensional structure. Understanding the conformational distributions and dynamics of these highly flexible proteins is thus essential for explaining the molecular mechanisms underlying their function. Single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy in combination with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a powerful tool for probing intramolecular distances and the rapid long-range distance dynamics in IDPs. To complement the information from FRET, we combine it with photoinduced electron transfer (PET) quenching to monitor local loop-closure kinetics at the same time and in the same molecule. Here we employed this combination to investigate the intrinsically disordered N-terminal domain of HIV-1 integrase. The results show that both long-range dynamics and loop closure kinetics on the sub-microsecond time scale can be obtained reliably from a single set of measurements by the analysis with a comprehensive model of the underlying photon statistics including both FRET and PET. A more detailed molecular interpretation of the results is enabled by direct comparison with a recent extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulation of integrase. The simulations are in good agreement with experiment and can explain the deviation from simple models of chain dynamics by the formation of persistent local secondary structure. The results illustrate the power of a close combination of single-molecule spectroscopy and simulations for advancing our understanding of the dynamics and detailed mechanisms in unfolded and intrinsically disordered proteins.

  14. Synthesis, spectroscopic and catalytic properties of some new boron hybrid molecule derivatives by BF2 and BPh2 chelation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kilic, Ahmet; Alcay, Ferhat; Aydemir, Murat; Durgun, Mustafa; Keles, Armagan; Baysal, Akın

    2015-05-01

    A new series of Schiff base ligands (L1-L3) and their corresponding fluorine/phenyl boron hybrid complexes [LnBF2] and [LnBPh2] (n = 1, 2 or 3) have been synthesized and well characterized by both analytical and spectroscopic methods. The Schiff base ligands and their corresponding fluorine/phenyl boron hybrid complexes have been characterized by NMR (1H, 13C and 19F), FT-IR, UV-Vis, LC-MS, and fluorescence spectroscopy as well as melting point and elemental analysis. The fluorescence efficiencies of phenyl chelate complexes are greatly red-shifted compared to those of the fluorine chelate analogs based on the same ligands, presumably due to the large steric hindrance and hard π → π∗ transition of the diphenyl boron chelation, which can effectively prevent molecular aggregation. The boron hybrid complexes were applied to the transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone derivatives to 1-phenylethanol derivatives in the presence of 2-propanol as the hydrogen source. The catalytic studies showed that boron hybrid complexes are good catalytic precursors for transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones in 0.1 M iso-PrOH solution. Also, we have found that both steric and electronic factors have a significant impact on the catalytic properties of this class of molecules.

  15. Dynamic Aperture Studies for SPEAR 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nosochkov, Yuri

    1999-01-01

    The SSRL is investigating an accelerator upgrade project to replace the present 130 nm.rad FODO lattice with an 18 nm.rad double bend achromat lattice: SPEAR 3. In this paper, we review the methods used to maximize the SPEAR 3 dynamic aperture including optimization of linear optics, betatron tune, chromaticity and coupling correction, and effects of machine errors and insertion devices

  16. Hydrogen dynamics in Na3AlH6: A combined density functional theory and quasielastic neutron scattering study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Voss, Johannes; Shi, Qing; Jacobsen, Hjalte Sylvest

    2007-01-01

    alanate with TiCl3, and here we study hydrogen dynamics in doped and undoped Na3AlH6 using a combination of density functional theory calculations and quasielastic neutron scattering. The hydrogen dynamics is found to be vacancy mediated and dominated by localized jump events, whereas long-range bulk......Understanding the elusive catalytic role of titanium-based additives on the reversible hydrogenation of complex hydrides is an essential step toward developing hydrogen storage materials for the transport sector. Improved bulk diffusion of hydrogen is one of the proposed effects of doping sodium...... defect motion in sodium alanate could result from vacancy-mediated sodium diffusion....

  17. Characterization of a gamma spectrometry monitor LaBr{sub 3} automatic stations for environmental monitoring; Caracterizacion de un monitor de espectrometria gamma de LaBr{sub 3} para las estaciones automaticas de vigilancia ambiental

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vargas, A.; Salvador-Castineria, P.; Roig, M.; Fernandez-Varea, J. M.; Padro, A.

    2011-07-01

    The Institut de Techniques Energetiques (INTE) of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) is collaborating with the German Radiation Protection (BfS) in order to characterize LaBr{sub 3} detector developed by the BfS for future installation of monitoring networks automatic. This paper presents the results obtained with the monitor installed on the roof of the premises of INTE South Campus located in Barcelona and Monte Carlo simulations that complement its characterization.

  18. Young age under 60 years is not a contraindication to treatment with definitive dose escalated radiotherapy for prostate cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klayton, Tracy L.; Ruth, Karen; Horwitz, Eric M.; Uzzo, Robert G.; Kutikov, Alexander; Chen, David Y.T.; Sobczak, Mark; Buyyounouski, Mark K.

    2011-01-01

    Background: It is widely believed that younger prostate cancer patients are at greater risk of recurrence following radiotherapy (RT). Methods: From 1992 to 2007, 2168 (395 age ⩽60) men received conformal RT alone for prostate cancer at our institution (median dose = 76 Gy, range: 72–80). Multivariable analysis (MVA) was used to identify significant predictors for BF and PCSM. Cumulative incidence was estimated using the competing risk method (Fine and Gray) for BF (Phoenix definition) and PCSM to account for the competing risk of death. Results: With a median follow-up of 72.2 months (range: 24.0–205.1), 8-year BF was 27.1% for age ⩽60 vs. 23.7% for age >60 (p = 0.29). Eight-year PCSM was 3.0% for age ⩽60 vs. 2.0% for age >60 (p = 0.52). MVA for BF identified initial PSA [adjusted HR = 1.7 (PSA 10–20), 2.6 (PSA >20), p 12 months), p < 0.01] as significant, but not age or ADT <12 months. MVA for PCSM identified Gleason score [adjusted HR = 3.0 (G8–10), p = 0.01] and T-stage [adjusted HR = 8.7 (T3-4), p < 0.01] as significant, but not age, PSA, or ADT. Conclusion: This is the largest, most mature study of younger men treated with RT for prostate cancer that confirms young age is not prognostic for BF.

  19. Higher order moments of the matter distribution in scale-free cosmological simulations with large dynamic range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucchin, Francesco; Matarrese, Sabino; Melott, Adrian L.; Moscardini, Lauro

    1994-01-01

    We calculate reduced moments (xi bar)(sub q) of the matter density fluctuations, up to order q = 5, from counts in cells produced by particle-mesh numerical simulations with scale-free Gaussian initial conditions. We use power-law spectra P(k) proportional to k(exp n) with indices n = -3, -2, -1, 0, 1. Due to the supposed absence of characteristic times or scales in our models, all quantities are expected to depend on a single scaling variable. For each model, the moments at all times can be expressed in terms of the variance (xi bar)(sub 2), alone. We look for agreement with the hierarchical scaling ansatz, according to which ((xi bar)(sub q)) proportional to ((xi bar)(sub 2))(exp (q - 1)). For n less than or equal to -2 models, we find strong deviations from the hierarchy, which are mostly due to the presence of boundary problems in the simulations. A small, residual signal of deviation from the hierarchical scaling is however also found in n greater than or equal to -1 models. The wide range of spectra considered and the large dynamic range, with careful checks of scaling and shot-noise effects, allows us to reliably detect evolution away from the perturbation theory result.

  20. Dynamic Confinement of ITER Plasma by O-Mode Driver at Electron Cyclotron Frequency Range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefan, V. Alexander

    2009-05-01

    A low B-field side launched electron cyclotron O-Mode driver leads to the dynamic rf confinement, in addition to rf turbulent heating, of ITER plasma. The scaling law for the local energy confinement time τE is evaluated (τE ˜ 3neTe/2Q, where (3/2) neTe is the local plasma thermal energy density and Q is the local rf turbulent heating rate). The dynamics of unstable dissipative trapped particle modes (DTPM) strongly coupled to Trivelpiece-Gould (T-G) modes is studied for gyrotron frequency 170GHz; power˜24 MW CW; and on-axis B-field ˜ 10T. In the case of dynamic stabilization of DTPM turbulence and for the heavily damped T-G modes, the energy confinement time scales as τE˜(I0)-2, whereby I0(W/m^2) is the O-Mode driver irradiance. R. Prater et. al., Nucl. Fusion 48, No 3 (March 2008). E. P. Velikhov, History of the Russian Tokamak and the Tokamak Thermonuclear Fusion Research Worldwide That Led to ITER (Documentary movie; Stefan Studios Int'l, La Jolla, CA, 2008; E. P. Velikhov, V. Stefan.) M N Rosenbluth, Phys. Scr. T2A 104-109 1982 B. B. Kadomtsev and O. P. Pogutse, Nucl. Fusion 11, 67 (1971).