Eliciting extra prominence in read-speech tasks: The effects of different text-highlighting methods on acoustic cues to perceived prominence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berger, Stephanie; Niebuhr, Oliver; Fischer, Kerstin

2018-01-01

The research initiative Innovating Speech EliCitation Techniques (INSPECT) aims to describe and quantify how recording methods, situations and materials influence speech produc-tion in lab-speech experiments. On this basis, INSPECT aims to develop methods that reliably stimulate specific patterns...... and styles of speech, like expressive or conversational speech or different types emphatic accents. The present study investigates if and how different text highlighting methods (yellow background, bold, capital letter, italics, and underlining) make speakers reinforce the level of perceived prominence...

Giving good directions: order of mention reflects visual salience

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Alasdair Daniel Francis Clarke

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In complex stimuli, there are many different possible ways to refer to a specified target. Previousstudies have shown that when people are faced with such a task, the content of their referringexpression reflects visual properties such as size, salience and clutter. Here, we extend thesefindings and present evidence that (i the influence of visual perception on sentence constructiongoes beyond content selection and in part determines the order in which different objects arementioned and (ii order of mention influences comprehension. Study 1 (a corpus study ofreference productions shows that when a speaker uses a relational description to mention asalient object, that object is treated as being in the common ground and is more likely to bementioned first. Study 2 (a visual search study asks participants to listen to referring expressionsand find the specified target; in keeping with the above result, we find that search for easy-to-findtargets is faster when the target is mentioned first, while search for harder-to-find targets isfacilitated by mentioning the target later, after a landmark in a relational description. Our findingsshow that seemingly low-level and disparate mental modules like perception and sentenceplanning interact at a high level and in task-dependent ways.

TANGLED MAGNETIC FIELDS IN SOLAR PROMINENCES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Ballegooijen, A. A.; Cranmer, S. R.

2010-01-01

Solar prominences are an important tool for studying the structure and evolution of the coronal magnetic field. Here we consider so-called hedgerow prominences, which consist of thin vertical threads. We explore the possibility that such prominences are supported by tangled magnetic fields. A variety of different approaches are used. First, the dynamics of plasma within a tangled field is considered. We find that the contorted shape of the flux tubes significantly reduces the flow velocity compared to the supersonic free fall that would occur in a straight vertical tube. Second, linear force-free models of tangled fields are developed, and the elastic response of such fields to gravitational forces is considered. We demonstrate that the prominence plasma can be supported by the magnetic pressure of a tangled field that pervades not only the observed dense threads but also their local surroundings. Tangled fields with field strengths of about 10 G are able to support prominence threads with observed hydrogen density of the order of 10 11 cm -3 . Finally, we suggest that the observed vertical threads are the result of Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Simulations of the density distribution within a prominence thread indicate that the peak density is much larger than the average density. We conclude that tangled fields provide a viable mechanism for magnetic support of hedgerow prominences.

Referential first mention in narratives by mildly mentally retarded adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Kernan, K T; Sabsay, S

1987-01-01

Referential first mentions in narrative reports of a short film by 40 mildly mentally retarded adults and 20 nonretarded adults were compared. The mentally retarded sample included equal numbers of male and female, and black and white speakers. The mentally retarded speakers made significantly fewer first mentions and significantly more errors in the form of the first mentions than did nonretarded speakers. A pattern of better performance by black males than by other mentally retarded speakers was found. It is suggested that task difficulty and incomplete mastery of the use of definite and indefinite forms for encoding old and new information, rather than some global type of egocentrism, accounted for the poorer performance by mentally retarded speakers.

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of solar prominence formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bao, J.

1987-01-01

Formation of Kippenhahn-Schluter type solar prominences by chromospheric mass injection is studied via numerical simulation. The numerical model is based on a two-dimensional, time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory. In addition, an analysis of gravitational thermal MHD instabilities related to condensation is performed by using the small-perturbation method. The conclusions are: (1) Both quiescent and active-region prominences can be formed by chromospheric mass injection, provided certain optimum conditions are satisfied. (2) Quiescent prominences cannot be formed without condensation, though enough mass is supplied from chromosphere. The mass of a quiescent prominence is composed of both the mass injected from the chromosphere and the mass condensed from the corona. On the other hand, condensation is not important to active region prominence formation. (3) In addition to channeling and supporting effects, the magnetic field plays another important role, i.e. containing the prominence material. (4) In the model cases, prominences are supported by the Lorentz force, the gas-pressure gradient and the mass-injection momentum. (5) Due to gravity, more MHD condensation instability modes appear in addition to the basic condensation mode

Nonlinear MHD Waves in a Prominence Foot

Science.gov (United States)

Ofman, L.; Knizhnik, K.; Kucera, T.; Schmieder, B.

2015-11-01

We study nonlinear waves in a prominence foot using a 2.5D MHD model motivated by recent high-resolution observations with Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope in Ca ii emission of a prominence on 2012 October 10 showing highly dynamic small-scale motions in the prominence material. Observations of Hα intensities and of Doppler shifts show similar propagating fluctuations. However, the optically thick nature of the emission lines inhibits a unique quantitative interpretation in terms of density. Nevertheless, we find evidence of nonlinear wave activity in the prominence foot by examining the relative magnitude of the fluctuation intensity (δI/I ˜ δn/n). The waves are evident as significant density fluctuations that vary with height and apparently travel upward from the chromosphere into the prominence material with quasi-periodic fluctuations with a typical period in the range of 5-11 minutes and wavelengths <2000 km. Recent Doppler shift observations show the transverse displacement of the propagating waves. The magnetic field was measured with the THEMIS instrument and was found to be 5-14 G. For the typical prominence density the corresponding fast magnetosonic speed is ˜20 km s-1, in qualitative agreement with the propagation speed of the detected waves. The 2.5D MHD numerical model is constrained with the typical parameters of the prominence waves seen in observations. Our numerical results reproduce the nonlinear fast magnetosonic waves and provide strong support for the presence of these waves in the prominence foot. We also explore gravitational MHD oscillations of the heavy prominence foot material supported by dipped magnetic field structure.

NONLINEAR MHD WAVES IN A PROMINENCE FOOT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ofman, L. [Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064 (United States); Knizhnik, K.; Kucera, T. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Schmieder, B. [LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris-Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cit, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon (France)

2015-11-10

We study nonlinear waves in a prominence foot using a 2.5D MHD model motivated by recent high-resolution observations with Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope in Ca ii emission of a prominence on 2012 October 10 showing highly dynamic small-scale motions in the prominence material. Observations of Hα intensities and of Doppler shifts show similar propagating fluctuations. However, the optically thick nature of the emission lines inhibits a unique quantitative interpretation in terms of density. Nevertheless, we find evidence of nonlinear wave activity in the prominence foot by examining the relative magnitude of the fluctuation intensity (δI/I ∼ δn/n). The waves are evident as significant density fluctuations that vary with height and apparently travel upward from the chromosphere into the prominence material with quasi-periodic fluctuations with a typical period in the range of 5–11 minutes and wavelengths <2000 km. Recent Doppler shift observations show the transverse displacement of the propagating waves. The magnetic field was measured with the THEMIS instrument and was found to be 5–14 G. For the typical prominence density the corresponding fast magnetosonic speed is ∼20 km s{sup −1}, in qualitative agreement with the propagation speed of the detected waves. The 2.5D MHD numerical model is constrained with the typical parameters of the prominence waves seen in observations. Our numerical results reproduce the nonlinear fast magnetosonic waves and provide strong support for the presence of these waves in the prominence foot. We also explore gravitational MHD oscillations of the heavy prominence foot material supported by dipped magnetic field structure.

Two Categories of Apparent Tornado-like Prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Sara F.; Venkataramanasastry, Aparna

2014-06-01

Two categories of solar prominences have been described in the literature as having a pattern of mass motions and/or a shape similar to terrestrial tornados. We first identify the two categories associated with prominences in the historic literature and then show that counterparts do exist for both in recent literature but one has not been called a tornado prominence. One category described as being similar to tornados is associated with the barbs of quiescent filaments but barbs appear to have rotational motion only under special conditions. H alpha Doppler observations from Helio Research confirm that this category is an illusion in our mind’s eye resulting from counterstreaming in the large barbs of quiescent filaments. The second category is a special case of rotational motion occurring during the early stages of some erupting prominences, in recent years called the roll effect in erupting prominences. In these cases, the eruption begins with the sideways rolling of the top of a prominence. As the eruption proceeds the rolling motion propagates down one leg or both legs of an erupting prominence depending on whether the eruption is asymmetric or symmetric respectively. As an asymmetric eruption proceeds, the longer lasting leg becomes nearly vertical and has true rotational motion. If only this phase of the eruption was observed, as in the historic cases, it was called a tornado prominence and spectra recorded in these cases provide proof of the rotational motion. When one observes an entire eruption which exhibits the rolling motion, as accomplished at Helio Research, the similarity to a tornado is lost because the event as a whole has quite a different nature and the analogy to a terrestrial tornado not longer appears suitable or helpful in understanding the observed and deduced physical processes. Our conclusion is that there are no solar prominences with motions that are usefully described as tornado or tornado-like events aside from the fun of observing

Signs of helicity in solar prominences and related features

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, S.

This review illustrates several ways to identify the chirality (handedness) of solar prominences (filaments) from their structure and the structure of their surrounding magnetic fields in the chromosphere and corona. For prominences, these structural elements include the axial magnetic field direction, orientation of barbs, and direction of the prominence fine structure. The surrounding structures include the pattern of fibrils beneath the prominences and the pattern of coronal loops above the prominences. These ways of identifying chirality are then interpreted in terms of the formal definitions of helicity to yield a consistent set of one-to-one helicity relationships for all features. The helicity of some prominences can also be independently determined during their eruption by their fine structure, apparent crossings in the line-of-sight of different parts of the same prominence, and by large- scale twist of the prominence structure. Unlike observations of prominences (filaments) observed prior to eruption, in some cases evidence of both signs of helicity are found within the same erupting prominence. This indicates the continued application of forces on the prominences during the eruption process or the possible introduction of force(s) not present during earlier stages of their evolution.

Automated image based prominent nucleoli detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Yap, Choon K; Kalaw, Emarene M; Singh, Malay; Chong, Kian T; Giron, Danilo M; Huang, Chao-Hui; Cheng, Li; Law, Yan N; Lee, Hwee Kuan

2015-01-01

Nucleolar changes in cancer cells are one of the cytologic features important to the tumor pathologist in cancer assessments of tissue biopsies. However, inter-observer variability and the manual approach to this work hamper the accuracy of the assessment by pathologists. In this paper, we propose a computational method for prominent nucleoli pattern detection. Thirty-five hematoxylin and eosin stained images were acquired from prostate cancer, breast cancer, renal clear cell cancer and renal papillary cell cancer tissues. Prostate cancer images were used for the development of a computer-based automated prominent nucleoli pattern detector built on a cascade farm. An ensemble of approximately 1000 cascades was constructed by permuting different combinations of classifiers such as support vector machines, eXclusive component analysis, boosting, and logistic regression. The output of cascades was then combined using the RankBoost algorithm. The output of our prominent nucleoli pattern detector is a ranked set of detected image patches of patterns of prominent nucleoli. The mean number of detected prominent nucleoli patterns in the top 100 ranked detected objects was 58 in the prostate cancer dataset, 68 in the breast cancer dataset, 86 in the renal clear cell cancer dataset, and 76 in the renal papillary cell cancer dataset. The proposed cascade farm performs twice as good as the use of a single cascade proposed in the seminal paper by Viola and Jones. For comparison, a naive algorithm that randomly chooses a pixel as a nucleoli pattern would detect five correct patterns in the first 100 ranked objects. Detection of sparse nucleoli patterns in a large background of highly variable tissue patterns is a difficult challenge our method has overcome. This study developed an accurate prominent nucleoli pattern detector with the potential to be used in the clinical settings.

Automated image based prominent nucleoli detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Choon K Yap

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Nucleolar changes in cancer cells are one of the cytologic features important to the tumor pathologist in cancer assessments of tissue biopsies. However, inter-observer variability and the manual approach to this work hamper the accuracy of the assessment by pathologists. In this paper, we propose a computational method for prominent nucleoli pattern detection. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five hematoxylin and eosin stained images were acquired from prostate cancer, breast cancer, renal clear cell cancer and renal papillary cell cancer tissues. Prostate cancer images were used for the development of a computer-based automated prominent nucleoli pattern detector built on a cascade farm. An ensemble of approximately 1000 cascades was constructed by permuting different combinations of classifiers such as support vector machines, eXclusive component analysis, boosting, and logistic regression. The output of cascades was then combined using the RankBoost algorithm. The output of our prominent nucleoli pattern detector is a ranked set of detected image patches of patterns of prominent nucleoli. Results: The mean number of detected prominent nucleoli patterns in the top 100 ranked detected objects was 58 in the prostate cancer dataset, 68 in the breast cancer dataset, 86 in the renal clear cell cancer dataset, and 76 in the renal papillary cell cancer dataset. The proposed cascade farm performs twice as good as the use of a single cascade proposed in the seminal paper by Viola and Jones. For comparison, a naive algorithm that randomly chooses a pixel as a nucleoli pattern would detect five correct patterns in the first 100 ranked objects. Conclusions: Detection of sparse nucleoli patterns in a large background of highly variable tissue patterns is a difficult challenge our method has overcome. This study developed an accurate prominent nucleoli pattern detector with the potential to be used in the clinical settings.

Topic prominence in Chinese EFL learners’ interlanguage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaopeng Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topicprominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspective. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004. The research target are the topic chain, which is the main topic-prominent structure in Chinese discourse, and zero anaphora, which is the most common topic anaphora in the topic chain. Two important findings emerged from the present study. First, the characteristics of Chinese topic chains are transferrable to the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners, thus resulting in overgeneralization of the zero anaphora. Second, the interlanguage discourse of Chinese EFL learners reflects a change of the second language acquisition process from topic-prominence to subject-prominence, thus lending support to the discourse transfer hypothesis.

EUV observations of quiescent prominences from Skylab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moe, O.K.

1979-01-01

The authors report measurements of line intensities and line widths for three quiescent prominences observed with the Naval Research Laboratory slit spectrograph on ATM/Skylab. The wavelengths of the observed lines cover the range 1175 A to 1960 A. The measured intensities have been calibrated to within approximately a factor 2 and are average intensities over a 2 arc sec by 60 arc set slit. Nonthermal velocities are derived from the measured line widths. The nonthermal velocity is found to increase with temperature in the prominence transition zone. Electron densities and pressures are derived from density sensitive line ratios. Electron pressures for two of the prominences are found to lie in the range 0.04-0.08 dyn cm -2 , while values for the third and most intense and active of the three prominences are in the range 0.07-0.22 dyn cm -2 . (Auth.)

Multispacecraft observations of a prominence eruption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Bemporad

2009-10-01

Full Text Available On 9 May 2007 a prominence eruption occurred at the West limb. Remarkably, the event was observed by the STEREO/EUVI telescopes and by the HINODE/EIS and SOHO/UVCS spectrometers. We present results from all these instruments. High-cadence (~37 s data from STEREO/EUVI A and B in the He II λ304 line were used to study the 3-D shape and expansion of the prominence. The high spatial resolution EUVI images (~1.5"/pixel have been used to infer via triangulation the 3-D shape and orientation of the prominence 12 min after the eruption onset. At this time the prominence has mainly the shape of a "hook" highly inclined southward, has an average thickness of 0.068 R⊙, a length of 0.43 R⊙ and lies, in first approximation, on a plane. Hence, the prominence is mainly a 2-D structure and there is no evidence for a twisted flux rope configuration. HINODE/EIS was scanning with the 2" slit the region where the filament erupted. The EIS spectra show during the eruption remarkable non-thermal broadening (up to ~100 km s−1 in the region crossed by the filament in spectral lines emitted at different temperatures, possibly with differences among lines from higher Fe ionization stages. The CME was also observed by the SOHO/UVCS instrument: the spectrograph slit was centered at 1.7 R⊙, at a latitude of 5° SW and recorded a sudden increase in the O VI λλ1032–1037 and Si XII λ520 spectral line intensities, representative of the CME front transit.

Magnetic field re-arrangement after prominence eruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopp, R.A.; Poletto, G.

1986-01-01

It has long been known that magnetic reconnection plays a fundamental role in a variety of solar events. Although mainly invoked in flare problems, large-scale loops interconnecting active regions, evolving coronal hole boundaries, the solar magnetic cycle itself, provide different evidence of phenomena which involve magnetic reconnection. A further example might be given by the magnetic field rearrangement which occurs after the eruption of a prominence. Since most often a prominence reforms after its disappearance and may be observed at about the same position it occupied before erupting, the magnetic field has to undergo a temporary disruption to relax back, via reconnection, to a configuration similar to the previous one. The above sequence of events is best observable in the case of two-ribbon (2-R) flares but most probably is associated with all filament eruptions. Even if the explanation of the magnetic field rearrangement after 2-R flares in terms of reconnection is generally accepted, the lack of a three-dimensional model capable of describing the field reconfiguration, has prevented, up to now, a thorough analysis of its topology as traced by Hα/x-ray loops. The purpose of the present work is to present a numerical technique which enables one to predict and visualize the reconnected configuration, at any time t, and therefore allows one to make a significant comparison of observations and model predictions throughout the whole process. 5 refs., 3 figs

A Scalable Framework to Detect Personal Health Mentions on Twitter.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Zhijun; Fabbri, Daniel; Rosenbloom, S Trent; Malin, Bradley

2015-06-05

Biomedical research has traditionally been conducted via surveys and the analysis of medical records. However, these resources are limited in their content, such that non-traditional domains (eg, online forums and social media) have an opportunity to supplement the view of an individual's health. The objective of this study was to develop a scalable framework to detect personal health status mentions on Twitter and assess the extent to which such information is disclosed. We collected more than 250 million tweets via the Twitter streaming API over a 2-month period in 2014. The corpus was filtered down to approximately 250,000 tweets, stratified across 34 high-impact health issues, based on guidance from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We created a labeled corpus of several thousand tweets via a survey, administered over Amazon Mechanical Turk, that documents when terms correspond to mentions of personal health issues or an alternative (eg, a metaphor). We engineered a scalable classifier for personal health mentions via feature selection and assessed its potential over the health issues. We further investigated the utility of the tweets by determining the extent to which Twitter users disclose personal health status. Our investigation yielded several notable findings. First, we find that tweets from a small subset of the health issues can train a scalable classifier to detect health mentions. Specifically, training on 2000 tweets from four health issues (cancer, depression, hypertension, and leukemia) yielded a classifier with precision of 0.77 on all 34 health issues. Second, Twitter users disclosed personal health status for all health issues. Notably, personal health status was disclosed over 50% of the time for 11 out of 34 (33%) investigated health issues. Third, the disclosure rate was dependent on the health issue in a statistically significant manner (P<.001). For instance, more than 80% of the tweets about migraines (83/100) and allergies (85

Static current-sheet models of quiescent prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, F.; Low, B. C.

1986-12-01

A particular class of theoretical models idealize the prominence to be a discrete flat electric-current sheet suspended vertically in a potential magnetic field. The weight of the prominence is supported by the Lorentz force in the current sheet. These models can be extended to have curved electric-current sheets and to vary three-dimensionally. The equation for force balance is 1 over 4 pi (del times B) times Bdel p- p9 z=zero. Using Cartesian coordinates we take, for simplicity, a uniform gravity with constant acceleration g in the direction -z. If we are interested not in the detailed internal structure of the prominence, but in the global magnetic configuration around the prominence, we may take prominence plasma to be cold. Consideration is given to how such equilibrium states can be constructed. To simplify the mathematical problem, suppose there is no electric current in the atmosphere except for the discrete currents in the cold prominence sheet. Let us take the plane z =0 to be the base of the atmosphere and restrict our attention to the domain z greater than 0. The task we have is to solve for a magnetic field which is everywhere potential except on some free surface S, subject to suit able to boundary conditions. The surface S is determined by requiring that it possesses a discrete electric current density such that the Lorentz force on it is everywhere vertically upward to balance the weight of the material m(S). Since the magnetic field is potential in the external atmosphere, the latter is decoupled from the magnetic field and its plane parallel hydrostatic pressure and density can be prescribed.

Neutral Atom Diffusion in a Partially Ionized Prominence Plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Holly

2010-01-01

The support of solar prominences is normally described in terms of a magnetic force on the prominence plasma that balances the solar gravitational force. Because the prominence plasma is only partially ionized. it is necessary to consider in addition the support of the neutral component of the prominence plasma. This support is accomplished through a frictional interaction between the neutral and ionized components of the plasma, and its efficacy depends strongly on the degree of ionization of the plasma. More specifically, the frictional force is proportional to the relative flow of neutral and ion species, and for a sufficiently weakly ionized plasma, this flow must be relatively large to produce a frictional force that balances gravity. A large relative flow, of course, implies significant draining of neutral particles from the prominence. We evaluate the importance of this draining effect for a hydrogen-helium plasma, and consider the observational evidence for cross-field diffusion of neutral prominence material,

TORNADO-LIKE EVOLUTION OF A KINK-UNSTABLE SOLAR PROMINENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Wensi; Liu, Rui; Wang, Yuming, E-mail: rliu@ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)

2017-01-01

We report on the tornado-like evolution of a quiescent prominence on 2014 November 1. The eastern section of the prominence first rose slowly, transforming into an arch-shaped structure as high as ∼150 Mm above the limb; the arch then writhed moderately in a left-handed sense, while the original dark prominence material emitted in the Fe ix 171 Å passband, and a braided structure appeared at the eastern edge of the warped arch. The unraveling of the braided structure was associated with a transient brightening in the EUV and apparently contributed to the formation of a curtain-like structure (CLS). The CLS consisted of myriad thread-like loops rotating counterclockwise about the vertical if viewed from above. Heated prominence material was observed to slide along these loops and land outside the filament channel. The tornado eventually disintegrated and the remaining material flew along a left-handed helical path constituting approximately a full turn, as corroborated through stereoscopic reconstruction, into the cavity of the stable, western section of the prominence. We suggest that the tornado-like evolution of the prominence was governed by the helical kink instability, and that the CLS formed through magnetic reconnections between the prominence field and the overlying coronal field.

Solar Tornado Prominences: Plasma Motions Along Filament Barbs

Science.gov (United States)

Panasenco, Olga; Velli, Marco; Martin, Sara F.; Rappazzo, Franco

2013-03-01

Recent high-resolution observations from the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) have reawakened interest in the old and fascinating phenomenon of solar tornado prominences. This class of prominences was first introduced by E. Pettit in 1932, who studied them over many years up to 1950. High resolution and high cadence multi-wavelength data obtained by SDO reveal that the tornado-like properties of these prominences are mainly an illusion due to projection effects. We show that counterstreaming plasma motions with projected velocities up to +/- 45 km/sec along the prominence spine and barbs create a tornado-like impression when viewed at the limb. We demonstrate that barbs are often rooted at the intersection between 4-5 supergranular cells. We discuss the observed oscillations along the vertical parts of barbs and whether they may be related to vortex flows coming from the convection downdrafts at the intersection of supergranules (and possibly smaller convective cells) in the photosphere and their entrained magnetic field. The unwinding of magnetic threads near the photosphere via reconnection might be a source of the waves which are observed as oscillations in prominence barbs.

MAGNETIC FIELD IN ATYPICAL PROMINENCE STRUCTURES: BUBBLE, TORNADO, AND ERUPTION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levens, P. J.; Labrosse, N. [SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Schmieder, B. [LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon (France); López Ariste, A. [IRAP—CNRS UMR 5277, 14, Av. E. Belin, F-31400 Toulouse (France); Dalmasse, K. [CISL/HAO, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 (United States); Gelly, B., E-mail: p.levens.1@research.gla.ac.uk, E-mail: brigitte.schmieder@obspm.fr [CNRS UMR 3718 THEMIS, La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)

2016-08-01

Spectropolarimetric observations of prominences have been obtained with the THEMIS telescope during four years of coordinated campaigns. Our aim is now to understand the conditions of the cool plasma and magnetism in “atypical” prominences, namely when the measured inclination of the magnetic field departs, to some extent, from the predominantly horizontal field found in “typical” prominences. What is the role of the magnetic field in these prominence types? Are plasma dynamics more important in these cases than the magnetic support? We focus our study on three types of “atypical” prominences (tornadoes, bubbles, and jet-like prominence eruptions) that have all been observed by THEMIS in the He i D{sub 3} line, from which the Stokes parameters can be derived. The magnetic field strength, inclination, and azimuth in each pixel are obtained by using the inversion method of principal component analysis on a model of single scattering in the presence of the Hanle effect. The magnetic field in tornadoes is found to be more or less horizontal, whereas for the eruptive prominence it is mostly vertical. We estimate a tendency toward higher values of magnetic field strength inside the bubbles than outside in the surrounding prominence. In all of the models in our database, only one magnetic field orientation is considered for each pixel. While sufficient for most of the main prominence body, this assumption appears to be oversimplified in atypical prominence structures. We should consider these observations as the result of superposition of multiple magnetic fields, possibly even with a turbulent field component.

Prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways in patients with portal hypertension: demonstration by gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caldana, Rogerio Pedreschi; Bezerra, Alexandre Araujo Sergio; Cecin, Alexnadre Oliveira; Souza, Luis Ronan Marques Ferreira de; Goldman, Susan Menasce; D'Ippolito, Giuseppe; Szejnfeld, Jacob

2003-01-01

To demonstrate the usefulness of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in the evaluation of prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways. We reviewed the images from 40 patients with portal hypertension studied with gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography and selected illustrative cases of prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways. The scans were performed using high field equipment (1.5 Tesla) and a 3 D volume technique. Image were obtained after intravenous injection of paramagnetic contrast media using a power injector. Magnetic resonance angiography demonstrated with precision the porto-systemic collateral pathways, particularly when investigating extensive territories or large vessels. The cases presented show the potential of this method in the investigation of patients with portal hypertension. Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography is a useful method for the evaluation of patients with portal hypertension and prominent collateral pathways. (author)

The Computational Processing of Intonational Prominence: A Functional Prosody Perspective

OpenAIRE

Nakatani, Christine Hisayo

1997-01-01

Intonational prominence, or accent, is a fundamental prosodic feature that is said to contribute to discourse meaning. This thesis outlines a new, computational theory of the discourse interpretation of prominence, from a FUNCTIONAL PROSODY perspective. Functional prosody makes the following two important assumptions: first, there is an aspect of prominence interpretation that centrally concerns discourse processes, namely the discourse focusing nature of prominence; and second, the role of p...

Magnetic Field-Vector Measurements in Quiescent Prominences via the Hanle Effect: Analysis of Prominences Observed at Pic-Du-Midi and at Sacramento Peak

Science.gov (United States)

Bommier, V.; Leroy, J. L.; Sahal-Brechot, S.

1985-01-01

The Hanle effect method for magnetic field vector diagnostics has now provided results on the magnetic field strength and direction in quiescent prominences, from linear polarization measurements in the He I E sub 3 line, performed at the Pic-du-Midi and at Sacramento Peak. However, there is an inescapable ambiguity in the field vector determination: each polarization measurement provides two field vector solutions symmetrical with respect to the line-of-sight. A statistical analysis capable of solving this ambiguity was applied to the large sample of prominences observed at the Pic-du-Midi (Leroy, et al., 1984); the same method of analysis applied to the prominences observed at Sacramento Peak (Athay, et al., 1983) provides results in agreement on the most probable magnetic structure of prominences; these results are detailed. The statistical results were confirmed on favorable individual cases: for 15 prominences observed at Pic-du-Midi, the two-field vectors are pointing on the same side of the prominence, and the alpha angles are large enough with respect to the measurements and interpretation inaccuracies, so that the field polarity is derived without any ambiguity.

Contextualising Water Use in Residential Settings: A Survey of Non-Intrusive Techniques and Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davide Carboni

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Water monitoring in households is important to ensure the sustainability of fresh water reserves on our planet. It provides stakeholders with the statistics required to formulate optimal strategies in residential water management. However, this should not be prohibitive and appliance-level water monitoring cannot practically be achieved by deploying sensors on every faucet or water-consuming device of interest due to the higher hardware costs and complexity, not to mention the risk of accidental leakages that can derive from the extra plumbing needed. Machine learning and data mining techniques are promising techniques to analyse monitored data to obtain non-intrusive water usage disaggregation. This is because they can discern water usage from the aggregated data acquired from a single point of observation. This paper provides an overview of water usage disaggregation systems and related techniques adopted for water event classification. The state-of-the art of algorithms and testbeds used for fixture recognition are reviewed and a discussion on the prominent challenges and future research are also included.

PROMINENCE ACTIVATION BY CORONAL FAST MODE SHOCK

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takahashi, Takuya [Department of Astronomy, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan); Asai, Ayumi [Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471 (Japan); Shibata, Kazunari, E-mail: takahashi@kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471 (Japan)

2015-03-01

An X5.4 class flare occurred in active region NOAA11429 on 2012 March 7. The flare was associated with a very fast coronal mass ejection (CME) with a velocity of over 2500 km s{sup −1}. In the images taken with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-B/COR1, a dome-like disturbance was seen to detach from an expanding CME bubble and propagated further. A Type-II radio burst was also observed at the same time. On the other hand, in extreme ultraviolet images obtained by the Solar Dynamic Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), the expanding dome-like structure and its footprint propagating to the north were observed. The footprint propagated with an average speed of about 670 km s{sup −1} and hit a prominence located at the north pole and activated it. During the activation, the prominence was strongly brightened. On the basis of some observational evidence, we concluded that the footprint in AIA images and the ones in COR1 images are the same, that is, the MHD fast mode shock front. With the help of a linear theory, the fast mode Mach number of the coronal shock is estimated to be between 1.11 and 1.29 using the initial velocity of the activated prominence. Also, the plasma compression ratio of the shock is enhanced to be between 1.18 and 2.11 in the prominence material, which we consider to be the reason for the strong brightening of the activated prominence. The applicability of linear theory to the shock problem is tested with a nonlinear MHD simulation.

Comparing UV/EUV line parameters and magnetic field in a quiescent prominence with tornadoes

Science.gov (United States)

Levens, P. J.; Labrosse, N.; Schmieder, B.; López Ariste, A.; Fletcher, L.

2017-10-01

Context. Understanding the relationship between plasma and the magnetic field is important for describing and explaining the observed dynamics of solar prominences. Aims: We determine if a close relationship can be found between plasma and magnetic field parameters, measured at high resolution in a well-observed prominence. Methods: A prominence observed on 15 July 2014 by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires (THEMIS) is selected. We perform a robust co-alignment of data sets using a 2D cross-correlation technique. Magnetic field parameters are derived from spectropolarimetric measurements of the He I D3 line from THEMIS. Line ratios and line-of-sight velocities from the Mg II h and k lines observed by IRIS are compared with magnetic field strength, inclination, and azimuth. Electron densities are calculated using Fe xii line ratios from the Hinode Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer, which are compared to THEMIS and IRIS data. Results: We find Mg II k/h ratios of around 1.4 everywhere, similar to values found previously in prominences. Also, the magnetic field is strongest ( 30 G) and predominantly horizontal in the tornado-like legs of the prominence. The k3 Doppler shift is found to be between ±10 km s-1 everywhere. Electron densities at a temperature of 1.5 × 106 K are found to be around 109 cm-3. No significant correlations are found between the magnetic field parameters and any of the other plasma parameters inferred from spectroscopy, which may be explained by the large differences in the temperatures of the lines used in this study. Conclusions: This is the first time that a detailed statistical study of plasma and magnetic field parameters has been performed at high spatial resolution in a prominence. Our results provide important constraints on future models of the plasma and magnetic field in

Solar Magnetized Tornadoes: Rotational Motion in a Tornado-like Prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Yang; Gömöry, Peter; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Wang, Tongjiang; Vanninathan, Kamalam; Gan, Weiqun; Li, YouPing

2014-04-01

Su et al. proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called prominence-corona transition region. The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of ~5 km s-1.

Morphology and Dynamics of Solar Prominences from 3D MHD Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Terradas, J.; Soler, R.; Luna, M.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L.

2015-01-01

In this paper we present a numerical study of the time evolution of solar prominences embedded in sheared magnetic arcades. The prominence is represented by a density enhancement in a background-stratified atmosphere and is connected to the photosphere through the magnetic field. By solving the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations in three dimensions, we study the dynamics for a range of parameters representative of real prominences. Depending on the parameters considered, we find prominences that are suspended above the photosphere, i.e., detached prominences, but also configurations resembling curtain or hedgerow prominences whose material continuously connects to the photosphere. The plasma-β is an important parameter that determines the shape of the structure. In many cases magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities and oscillatory phenomena develop. Fingers and plumes are generated, affecting the whole prominence body and producing vertical structures in an essentially horizontal magnetic field. However, magnetic shear is able to reduce or even to suppress this instability.

MORPHOLOGY AND DYNAMICS OF SOLAR PROMINENCES FROM 3D MHD SIMULATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terradas, J.; Soler, R.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L. [Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca (Spain); Luna, M., E-mail: jaume.terradas@uib.es [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)

2015-01-20

In this paper we present a numerical study of the time evolution of solar prominences embedded in sheared magnetic arcades. The prominence is represented by a density enhancement in a background-stratified atmosphere and is connected to the photosphere through the magnetic field. By solving the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations in three dimensions, we study the dynamics for a range of parameters representative of real prominences. Depending on the parameters considered, we find prominences that are suspended above the photosphere, i.e., detached prominences, but also configurations resembling curtain or hedgerow prominences whose material continuously connects to the photosphere. The plasma-β is an important parameter that determines the shape of the structure. In many cases magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities and oscillatory phenomena develop. Fingers and plumes are generated, affecting the whole prominence body and producing vertical structures in an essentially horizontal magnetic field. However, magnetic shear is able to reduce or even to suppress this instability.

Reconnection–Condensation Model for Solar Prominence Formation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaneko, Takafumi [Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601 (Japan); Yokoyama, Takaaki, E-mail: kaneko@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)

2017-08-10

We propose a reconnection–condensation model in which topological change in a coronal magnetic field via reconnection triggers radiative condensation, thereby resulting in prominence formation. Previous observational studies have suggested that reconnection at a polarity inversion line of a coronal arcade field creates a flux rope that can sustain a prominence; however, they did not explain the origin of cool dense plasmas of prominences. Using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations, including anisotropic nonlinear thermal conduction and optically thin radiative cooling, we demonstrate that reconnection can lead not only to flux rope formation but also to radiative condensation under a certain condition. In our model, this condition is described by the Field length, which is defined as the scale length for thermal balance between radiative cooling and thermal conduction. This critical condition depends weakly on the artificial background heating. The extreme ultraviolet emissions synthesized with our simulation results have good agreement with observational signatures reported in previous studies.

Physics of solar prominences. Proceedings of the Colloquium, Oslo, Norway, August 14-18, 1978

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, E; Maltby, P

1979-01-01

These papers deal with recent theoretical and observational studies of the physics of solar prominences. Specific topics include reviews of prominence spectra and their interpretation, polarimetric observations and magnetic-field determination in prominences, observations of the prominence-corona interface, theories on the formation and stability of quiescent prominences, prominence classifications, observations of active prominences, observations and interpretations of coronal manifestations of eruptive prominences, and models of prominence structure and dynamics. Other contributions discuss simultaneous observations of Ca II and hydrogen Balmer lines in quiescent prominences, recent results in quiescent-prominence spectroscopy, the solar helium abundance obtained from optical spectra of quiescent prominences, and Stokes polarimetry of quiescent prominences in the He I D3 line. Magnetic-field determination based on the Hanle effect is also examined, along with the orientation of prominence microstructure relative to magnetic-field direction, radio observations of quiescent-prominence filaments at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths, EUV observations of filaments, and a magnetic-field reconnection model of quiescent prominences.

Study of a Large Helical Eruptive Prominence Associated with ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2001-04-21

Apr 21, 2001 ... morphology of the event, energy budget of the prominence and associated. CMEs. ... magnetically driven and internally powered. Key words. ... Solar prominences are ribbons of cool (∼8000 K) dense gas (∼10. −11 gcm. −3. ) ...

SOLAR MAGNETIZED TORNADOES: ROTATIONAL MOTION IN A TORNADO-LIKE PROMINENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Su, Yang; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Vanninathan, Kamalam [IGAM-Kanzelhöhe Observatory, Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, A-8010 Graz (Austria); Gömöry, Peter [Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, SK-05960 Tatranská Lomnica (Slovakia); Wang, Tongjiang [Department of Physics, the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064 (United States); Gan, Weiqun; Li, YouPing, E-mail: yang.su@uni-graz.at [Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)

2014-04-10

Su et al. proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called prominence-corona transition region. The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of ∼5 km s{sup –1}.

SOLAR MAGNETIZED TORNADOES: ROTATIONAL MOTION IN A TORNADO-LIKE PROMINENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Su, Yang; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Vanninathan, Kamalam; Gömöry, Peter; Wang, Tongjiang; Gan, Weiqun; Li, YouPing

2014-01-01

Su et al. proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called prominence-corona transition region. The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of ∼5 km s –1

Prominence-corona interface compared with the chromosphere-corona transition region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Orrall, F Q; Schmahl, E J [Harvard Coll. Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. (USA)

1976-11-01

The intensities of 52 EUV emission lines from each of 9 hedgerow prominences observed at the limb with the Harvard experiment on ATM-Skylab have been compared with intensities from the interior of network cells at the center of the disk, in order to compare the prominence-corona (P-C) interface with the chromosphere-corona (C-C) transition region. The intensity ratio Isub(cell)/Isub(prominence) for each line varies systematically (in all of the prominences observed), with the temperature of formation of the line as approximately Tsup(-0.6). The density sensitive C III (formed at T approximately 9x10/sup 4/ K) line ratio Isub(lambda1175)/Isub(lambda977) implies an average density 1.3x10/sup 9/ electrons cm/sup -3/ in the P-C interface and approximately 4 times this value in the C-C transition of the cells. The total optical thickness at the head of the Lyman continuum is < approximately 10 in most of the prominences studied; in two of the prominences, however, the possibility that tau/sub 0/ is large cannot be rejected. Methods of analysis of these EUV data are developed assuming both a resolved and an unresolved internal prominence structure. Although the systematic differences between the P-C interface and the C-C transition are stressed, the similarities are probably more remarkable and may be a result of fine structure in the C-C transition.

MULTI-LINE STOKES INVERSION FOR PROMINENCE MAGNETIC-FIELD DIAGNOSTICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casini, R.; Lopez Ariste, A.; Paletou, F.; Leger, L.

2009-01-01

We present test results on the simultaneous inversion of the Stokes profiles of the He I lines at 587.6 nm (D 3 ) and 1083.0 nm in prominences (90 deg. scattering). We created data sets of synthetic Stokes profiles for the case of quiescent prominences (B -3 of the peak intensity for the polarimetric sensitivity of the simulated observations. In this work, we focus on the error analysis for the inference of the magnetic field vector, under the usual assumption that the prominence can be assimilated to a slab of finite optical thickness with uniform magnetic and thermodynamic properties. We find that the simultaneous inversion of the two lines significantly reduces the errors on the inference of the magnetic field vector, with respect to the case of single-line inversion. These results provide a solid justification for current and future instrumental efforts with multi-line capabilities for the observations of solar prominences and filaments.

Solar Prominence Modelling and Plasma Diagnostics at ALMA Wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Rodger, Andrew; Labrosse, Nicolas

2017-09-01

Our aim is to test potential solar prominence plasma diagnostics as obtained with the new solar capability of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We investigate the thermal and plasma diagnostic potential of ALMA for solar prominences through the computation of brightness temperatures at ALMA wavelengths. The brightness temperature, for a chosen line of sight, is calculated using the densities of electrons, hydrogen, and helium obtained from a radiative transfer code under non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) conditions, as well as the input internal parameters of the prominence model in consideration. Two distinct sets of prominence models were used: isothermal-isobaric fine-structure threads, and large-scale structures with radially increasing temperature distributions representing the prominence-to-corona transition region. We compute brightness temperatures over the range of wavelengths in which ALMA is capable of observing (0.32 - 9.6 mm), however, we particularly focus on the bands available to solar observers in ALMA cycles 4 and 5, namely 2.6 - 3.6 mm (Band 3) and 1.1 - 1.4 mm (Band 6). We show how the computed brightness temperatures and optical thicknesses in our models vary with the plasma parameters (temperature and pressure) and the wavelength of observation. We then study how ALMA observables such as the ratio of brightness temperatures at two frequencies can be used to estimate the optical thickness and the emission measure for isothermal and non-isothermal prominences. From this study we conclude that for both sets of models, ALMA presents a strong thermal diagnostic capability, provided that the interpretation of observations is supported by the use of non-LTE simulation results.

ON THE MAGNETISM AND DYNAMICS OF PROMINENCE LEGS HOSTING TORNADOES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martínez González, M. J.; Ramos, A. Asensio; Arregui, I.; Collados, M.; Beck, C.; Rodríguez, J. de la Cruz

2016-01-01

Solar tornadoes are dark vertical filamentary structures observed in the extreme ultraviolet associated with prominence legs and filament barbs. Their true nature and relationship to prominences requires an understanding of their magnetic structure and dynamic properties. Recently, a controversy has arisen: is the magnetic field organized forming vertical, helical structures or is it dominantly horizontal? And concerning their dynamics, are tornadoes really rotating or is it just a visual illusion? Here we analyze four consecutive spectro-polarimetric scans of a prominence hosting tornadoes on its legs, which helps us shed some light on their magnetic and dynamical properties. We show that the magnetic field is very smooth in all the prominence, which is probably an intrinsic property of the coronal field. The prominence legs have vertical helical fields that show slow temporal variation that is probably related to the motion of the fibrils. Concerning the dynamics, we argue that (1) if rotation exists, it is intermittent, lasting no more than one hour, and (2) the observed velocity pattern is also consistent with an oscillatory velocity pattern (waves).

ON THE MAGNETISM AND DYNAMICS OF PROMINENCE LEGS HOSTING TORNADOES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martínez González, M. J.; Ramos, A. Asensio; Arregui, I.; Collados, M. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Vía Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Beck, C. [National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak P.O. Box 62, Sunspot, NM 88349 (United States); Rodríguez, J. de la Cruz [Institute for Solar Physics, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Albanova University Center, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)

2016-07-10

Solar tornadoes are dark vertical filamentary structures observed in the extreme ultraviolet associated with prominence legs and filament barbs. Their true nature and relationship to prominences requires an understanding of their magnetic structure and dynamic properties. Recently, a controversy has arisen: is the magnetic field organized forming vertical, helical structures or is it dominantly horizontal? And concerning their dynamics, are tornadoes really rotating or is it just a visual illusion? Here we analyze four consecutive spectro-polarimetric scans of a prominence hosting tornadoes on its legs, which helps us shed some light on their magnetic and dynamical properties. We show that the magnetic field is very smooth in all the prominence, which is probably an intrinsic property of the coronal field. The prominence legs have vertical helical fields that show slow temporal variation that is probably related to the motion of the fibrils. Concerning the dynamics, we argue that (1) if rotation exists, it is intermittent, lasting no more than one hour, and (2) the observed velocity pattern is also consistent with an oscillatory velocity pattern (waves).

CUILESS2016: a clinical corpus applying compositional normalization of text mentions.

Science.gov (United States)

Osborne, John D; Neu, Matthew B; Danila, Maria I; Solorio, Thamar; Bethard, Steven J

2018-01-10

Traditionally text mention normalization corpora have normalized concepts to single ontology identifiers ("pre-coordinated concepts"). Less frequently, normalization corpora have used concepts with multiple identifiers ("post-coordinated concepts") but the additional identifiers have been restricted to a defined set of relationships to the core concept. This approach limits the ability of the normalization process to express semantic meaning. We generated a freely available corpus using post-coordinated concepts without a defined set of relationships that we term "compositional concepts" to evaluate their use in clinical text. We annotated 5397 disorder mentions from the ShARe corpus to SNOMED CT that were previously normalized as "CUI-less" in the "SemEval-2015 Task 14" shared task because they lacked a pre-coordinated mapping. Unlike the previous normalization method, we do not restrict concept mappings to a particular set of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) semantic types and allow normalization to occur to multiple UMLS Concept Unique Identifiers (CUIs). We computed annotator agreement and assessed semantic coverage with this method. We generated the largest clinical text normalization corpus to date with mappings to multiple identifiers and made it freely available. All but 8 of the 5397 disorder mentions were normalized using this methodology. Annotator agreement ranged from 52.4% using the strictest metric (exact matching) to 78.2% using a hierarchical agreement that measures the overlap of shared ancestral nodes. Our results provide evidence that compositional concepts can increase semantic coverage in clinical text. To our knowledge we provide the first freely available corpus of compositional concept annotation in clinical text.

Brandburg Prominance, Namibia, Africa

Science.gov (United States)

1993-01-01

The Brandburg Prominance, Namibia (21.0S, 14.5E) is a round basaltic plug and is the highest feature (over 8,000 ft) in the country. Wind streaks on the surface of the coastal desert, aligned northeast to southwest, are the result of frequent sand storms. Coastal stratus clouds provide most of the life supporting moisture as fog droplets in this arid land where annual rainfall may be less than a quarter of an inch for decades at a time.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF TRANSVERSE OSCILLATIONS IN A QUIESCENT PROMINENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hillier, A. [Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University, Kyoto 607-8471 (Japan); Morton, R. J. [Mathematics and Information Science, Northumbria University, Pandon Building, Camden Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST (United Kingdom); Erdélyi, R., E-mail: andrew@kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC), University of Sheffield, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom)

2013-12-20

The launch of the Hinode satellite has allowed for seeing-free observations at high-resolution and high-cadence making it well suited to study the dynamics of quiescent prominences. In recent years it has become clear that quiescent prominences support small-amplitude transverse oscillations, however, sample sizes are usually too small for general conclusions to be drawn. We remedy this by providing a statistical study of transverse oscillations in vertical prominence threads. Over a 4 hr period of observations it was possible to measure the properties of 3436 waves, finding periods from 50 to 6000 s with typical velocity amplitudes ranging between 0.2 and 23 km s{sup –1}. The large number of observed waves allows the determination of the frequency dependence of the wave properties and derivation of the velocity power spectrum for the transverse waves. For frequencies less than 7 mHz, the frequency dependence of the velocity power is consistent with the velocity power spectra generated from observations of the horizontal motions of magnetic elements in the photosphere, suggesting that the prominence transverse waves are driven by photospheric motions. However, at higher frequencies the two distributions significantly diverge, with relatively more power found at higher frequencies in the prominence oscillations. These results highlight that waves over a large frequency range are ubiquitous in prominences, and that a significant amount of the wave energy is found at higher frequency.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF TRANSVERSE OSCILLATIONS IN A QUIESCENT PROMINENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hillier, A.; Morton, R. J.; Erdélyi, R.

2013-01-01

The launch of the Hinode satellite has allowed for seeing-free observations at high-resolution and high-cadence making it well suited to study the dynamics of quiescent prominences. In recent years it has become clear that quiescent prominences support small-amplitude transverse oscillations, however, sample sizes are usually too small for general conclusions to be drawn. We remedy this by providing a statistical study of transverse oscillations in vertical prominence threads. Over a 4 hr period of observations it was possible to measure the properties of 3436 waves, finding periods from 50 to 6000 s with typical velocity amplitudes ranging between 0.2 and 23 km s –1 . The large number of observed waves allows the determination of the frequency dependence of the wave properties and derivation of the velocity power spectrum for the transverse waves. For frequencies less than 7 mHz, the frequency dependence of the velocity power is consistent with the velocity power spectra generated from observations of the horizontal motions of magnetic elements in the photosphere, suggesting that the prominence transverse waves are driven by photospheric motions. However, at higher frequencies the two distributions significantly diverge, with relatively more power found at higher frequencies in the prominence oscillations. These results highlight that waves over a large frequency range are ubiquitous in prominences, and that a significant amount of the wave energy is found at higher frequency

Fabrication of micro-prominences on PTFE surface using proton beam writing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kitamura, Akane, E-mail: ogawa.akane@jaea.go.jp [Department of Advanced Radiation Technology, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 1233 Watanuki-Machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292 (Japan); Satoh, Takahiro; Koka, Masashi [Department of Advanced Radiation Technology, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 1233 Watanuki-Machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292 (Japan); Kobayashi, Tomohiro [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama 350-0198 (Japan); Kamiya, Tomihiro [Department of Advanced Radiation Technology, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 1233 Watanuki-Machi, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292 (Japan)

2013-07-01

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a typical fluoropolymer and it has several desirable technological properties such as electrical insulation, solid lubrication etc. However, the conventional microstructuring methods have not been well applied to PTFE due to its chemical inertness. Some effective micromachining using synchrotron radiation or ion beam irradiation has been reported. In this study, we create micro-prominences by raising the original surface using proton beam writing (PBW) without chemical etching. A conical prominence was formed by spiral drawing from the center with a 3 MeV proton beam. The body was porous, and the bulk PTFE below the prominence changed to fragmented structures. With decreasing writing speed, the prominence became taller but the height peaked. The prominence gradually reduced in size after the speed reached the optimum value. We expect that these porous projections with high aspect ratio will be versatile in medical fields and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

ARE TORNADO-LIKE MAGNETIC STRUCTURES ABLE TO SUPPORT SOLAR PROMINENCE PLASMA?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luna, M.; Moreno-Insertis, F. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Priest, E. [Mathematics Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9SS (United Kingdom)

2015-07-20

Recent high-resolution and high-cadence observations have surprisingly suggested that prominence barbs exhibit apparent rotating motions suggestive of a tornado-like structure. Additional evidence has been provided by Doppler measurements. The observations reveal opposite velocities for both hot and cool plasma on the two sides of a prominence barb. This motion is persistent for several hours and has been interpreted in terms of rotational motion of prominence feet. Several authors suggest that such barb motions are rotating helical structures around a vertical axis similar to tornadoes on Earth. One of the difficulties of such a proposal is how to support cool prominence plasma in almost-vertical structures against gravity. In this work we model analytically a tornado-like structure and try to determine possible mechanisms to support the prominence plasma. We have found that the Lorentz force can indeed support the barb plasma provided the magnetic structure is sufficiently twisted and/or significant poloidal flows are present.

ARE TORNADO-LIKE MAGNETIC STRUCTURES ABLE TO SUPPORT SOLAR PROMINENCE PLASMA?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luna, M.; Moreno-Insertis, F.; Priest, E.

2015-01-01

Recent high-resolution and high-cadence observations have surprisingly suggested that prominence barbs exhibit apparent rotating motions suggestive of a tornado-like structure. Additional evidence has been provided by Doppler measurements. The observations reveal opposite velocities for both hot and cool plasma on the two sides of a prominence barb. This motion is persistent for several hours and has been interpreted in terms of rotational motion of prominence feet. Several authors suggest that such barb motions are rotating helical structures around a vertical axis similar to tornadoes on Earth. One of the difficulties of such a proposal is how to support cool prominence plasma in almost-vertical structures against gravity. In this work we model analytically a tornado-like structure and try to determine possible mechanisms to support the prominence plasma. We have found that the Lorentz force can indeed support the barb plasma provided the magnetic structure is sufficiently twisted and/or significant poloidal flows are present

Are Tornado-Like Magnetic Structures Able to Support Solar Prominence Plasma?

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunjo, S. T.; Luna Bennasar, M.; Moreno-Insertis, F.; Priest, E. R.

2015-12-01

Recent high-resolution and high-cadence observations have surprisingly suggested that prominence barbs exhibit apparent rotating motions suggestive of a tornado-like structure. Additional evidence has been provided by Doppler measurements. The observations reveal opposite velocities for both hot and cool plasma on the two sides of a prominence barb. This motion is persistent for several hours and has been interpreted in terms of rotational motion of prominence feet. Several authors suggest that such barb motions are rotating helical structures around a vertical axis similar to tornadoes on Earth. One of the difficulties of such a proposal is how to support cool prominence plasma in almost-vertical structures against gravity. In this work we model analytically a tornado-like structure and try to determine possible mechanisms to support the prominence plasma. We have found that the Lorentz force can indeed support the barb plasma provided the magnetic structure is sufficiently twisted and/or significant poloidal flows are present.

Unintended exposure in radiotherapy: Identification of prominent causes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boadu, Mary; Rehani, Madan Mohan

2009-01-01

Background and purpose: Unintended exposures in radiotherapy are likely to occur when certain conditions that favour such exposures exist. Based on the frequency of occurrence of various causes of 100 events of unintended exposures in radiotherapy as derived from the analysis of published reports, a checklist for assessing the vulnerability of radiotherapy facilities for potential accidents has been prepared. The list presents items to be considered for safety critical assessments of a radiotherapy department for the improvement of patient safety and the entire radiotherapy processes. Materials and methods: The resources used for this paper consist of 100 unintended radiotherapy exposures and were derived from existing published reports. The analysis was performed by forming two templates: one consisting of 10 initiating events and another of 35 contributing factors. Results: Four most prominent initiating events were identified and together accounted for about 70% of all the unintended exposure events. Ten most prominent contributing factors were also identified and together accounted for about 70% of all the radiotherapy unintended exposure events covered under this study. Conclusion: With this knowledge of high frequency of occurrences, the identified four prominent initiating events and the 10 most prominent contributing factors must be checked and dealt with as a matter of priority when assessing the safety of a radiotherapy facility. A simple checklist for checking the quality assurance programmes of a radiotherapy department for every aspect of the design and delivery of radiation have been provided.

Piecewise mass flows within a solar prominence observed by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Hongbo; Liu, Yu; Tam, Kuan Vai; Zhao, Mingyu; Zhang, Xuefei

2018-06-01

The material of solar prominences is often observed in a state of flowing. These mass flows (MF) are important and useful for us to understand the internal structure and dynamics of prominences. In this paper, we present a high resolution Hα observation of MFs within a quiescent solar prominence. From the observation, we find that the plasma primarily has a circular motion and a downward motion separately in the middle section and legs of the prominence, which creates a piecewise mass flow along the observed prominence. Moreover, the observation also shows a clear displacement of MF's velocity peaks in the middle section of the prominence. All of these provide us with a detailed record of MFs within a solar prominence and show a new approach to detecting the physical properties of prominence.

Cylindrical prominences and the magnetic influence of the photospheric boundary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lerche, I.; Chicago Univ., IL; Low, B.C.

1980-01-01

We construct exact, non-linear, solutions for an horizontal, cylindrical, current-carrying, prominence supported against solar gravity by the action of a Lorentz force. The solutions incorporate the photosphere boundary condition, proposed by van Tend and Kuperus (1978), and analyzed by them for line filaments. Our solutions have finite radius for the prominence material and, as well as satisfying the equations of magnetostatic equilibrium, they allow for the continuity of gas pressure, and of the normal and tangential components of magnetic field across the circular prominence boundary. We show that an infinity of solutions is possible and we illustrate the basic behavior by investigation of a special case. We also give a prescription for constructing equilibrium fields for any horizontal prominence with arbitrary cross-section and with an arbitrary external magnetic field. The prescription is ideally suited for numerical codes and we suggest that both the equilibrium of such shapes can easily be accomplished numerically together with their evolutionary history. (orig.)

The most prominent safety guarantees

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucenet, G.

1978-01-01

The Creys-Malville Nuclear Centre has been designed using the safety analysis implemented since the beginning of the developments of breeder reactors in France and the Super Phenix follows almost the same safety regulations as its predecessor the Phenix reactor. These regulations are based on: 'Recommendations for the safety standards of the Super Phenix' drawn up by the French Safety Authorities in July 1973. The prominent points are summarised. (C.F.)

A Discourse Perspective of Topic-prominence in Chinese EFL Learners’ Interlanguage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaopeng Li

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topic-prominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from the discourse perspective. We have selected as the research target “topic chain” which is the main topic-prominent structure in Chinese discourse and “zero anaphora” which is the most common topic anaphor of topic chain. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of “topic chain” (Wang, 2002; 2004. Actually, in the event of a topic chain, research on topic structures should go into the typical range of discourse. Two important findings were yielded by the present study. First, the characteristics of Chinese topic chain are transferrable to the interlanguage of Chinese EFL learners, thus resulting in overgeneralization of zero anaphora; second, interlanguage discourse of Chinese EFL learners reflects the characteristics of a second language acquisition process from topic-prominence to subject-prominence, thus lending support to the discourse transfer hypothesis.

Prominence Bubbles and Plumes: Thermo-magnetic Buoyancy in Coronal Cavity Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Thomas; Hurlburt, N.

2009-05-01

The Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope continues to produce high spatial and temporal resolution images of solar prominences in both the Ca II 396.8 nm H-line and the H-alpha 656.3 nm line. Time series of these images show that many quiescent prominences produce large scale (50 Mm) dark "bubbles" that "inflate" into, and sometimes burst through, the prominence material. In addition, small-scale (2--5 Mm) dark plumes are seen rising into many quiescent prominences. We show typical examples of both phenomena and argue that they originate from the same mechanism: concentrated and heated magnetic flux that rises due to thermal and magnetic buoyancy to equilibrium heights in the prominence/coronal-cavity system. More generally, these bubbles and upflows offer a source of both magnetic flux and mass to the overlying coronal cavity, supporting B.C. Low's theory of CME initiation via steadily increasing magnetic buoyancy breaking through the overlying helmut streamer tension forces. Quiescent prominences are thus seen as the lowermost parts of the larger coronal cavity system, revealing through thermal effects both the cooled downflowing "drainage" from the cavity and the heated upflowing magnetic "plasmoids" supplying the cavity. We compare SOT movies to new 3D compressible MHD simulations that reproduce the dark turbulent plume dynamics to establish the magnetic and thermal character of these buoyancy-driven flows into the corona.

Health-Promoting Verses as mentioned in the Holy Quran.

Science.gov (United States)

Aboul-Enein, Basil H

2016-06-01

The Quran is regarded as both the spiritual and behavioral guidance for all Muslims. This narrative study was designed at examining relevant health-promoting verses in the Quran and to identify the chapters and verses where keywords and phrases are mentioned relevant to health promotion and behavior. Twenty-eight verses were identified, with a focus on diet and nutrition, personal hygiene, alcohol abstention, and the importance of a healthy lifestyle. These results suggest that the Quran could serve as an influential medium for culturally competent public health practitioners in diverse populations, particularly in Muslim communities, for improving and maintaining healthy behaviors.

Modeling of prominence threads in magnetic fields: Levitation by incompressible MHD waves

Science.gov (United States)

Pécseli, Hans; Engvold, OddbjØrn

2000-05-01

The nature of thin, highly inclined threads observed in quiescent prominences has puzzled solar physicists for a long time. When assuming that the threads represent truly inclined magnetic fields, the supporting mechanism of prominence plasma against gravity has remained an open issue. This paper examines the levitation of prominence plasma exerted by weakly damped MHD waves in nearly vertical magnetic flux tubes. It is shown that the wave damping, and resulting `radiation pressure', caused predominantly by ion-neutral collisions in the `cold' prominence plasma, may balance the acceleration of gravity provided the oscillation frequency is ω~ 2 rad s^-1 (f~0.5 Hz). Such short wave periods may be the result of small-scale magnetic reconnections in the highly fragmentary magnetic field of quiescent prominences. In the proposed model, the wave induced levitation acts predominantly on plasma - neutral gas mixtures.

Automatic detection of prominence (as defined by listeners' judgements) in read aloud Dutch sentences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Streefkerk, B.M.; Pols, L.C.W.; ten Bosch, L.F.M.

1998-01-01

This paper describes a first step towards the automatic classification of prominence (as defined by native listeners). As a result of a listening experiment each word in 500 sentences was marked with a rating scale between `0' (non-prominent) and `10' (very prominent). These prominence labels are

Industrial applications of radioisotopes: techniques and procedures of (NTIS) Nuclear Techniques Industrial Service

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.W.; Kruger, J.

1985-06-01

Radioisotope handling procedures followed by personnel of the Nuclear Techniques Industrial Service (NTIS) during the conduction of investigations in industry are described. Possible radiological implications as a result of the various measuring techniques and different types of plants are discussed. Conditions under which permanent authorization has been granted for the use of radioisotopes are mentioned

Motions in Prominence Barbs as observed by Hinode/SOT and IRIS

Science.gov (United States)

Kucera, Therese A.; Ofman, Leon; Tarbell, Theodore D.

2016-05-01

We discuss observations of prominence barb dynamics as observed by Hinode/SOT and IRIS. Prominence barbs extend outwards to the side of the main prominence spine and downwards towards the chromosphere. Their properties, including the structure of their magnetic field and the nature of the motions observed in them are a subject of current debate. We use a combination of high cadence, high resolution imaging, H-alpha Doppler, and Mg II line profile data to analyze and understand waves and flows in barbs and discuss their ramifications in terms of a model of the barb magnetic field as collection of dipped field lines.

CRITICAL HEIGHT FOR THE DESTABILIZATION OF SOLAR PROMINENCES: STATISTICAL RESULTS FROM STEREO OBSERVATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu Kai; Wang Yuming; Wang Shui; Shen Chenglong, E-mail: ymwang@ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

2012-01-10

At which height is a prominence inclined to be unstable, or where is the most probable critical height for the prominence destabilization? This question was statistically studied based on 362 solar limb prominences well recognized by Solar Limb Prominence Catcher and Tracker from 2007 April to the end of 2009. We found that there are about 71% disrupted prominences (DPs), among which about 42% of them did not erupt successfully and about 89% of them experienced a sudden destabilization process. After a comprehensive analysis of the DPs, we discovered the following: (1) Most DPs become unstable at a height of 0.06-0.14 R{sub Sun} from the solar surface, and there are two most probable critical heights at which a prominence is very likely to become unstable, the first one is 0.13 R{sub Sun} and the second one is 0.19 R{sub Sun }. (2) An upper limit for the erupting velocity of eruptive prominences (EPs) exists, which decreases following a power law with increasing height and mass; accordingly, the kinetic energy of EPs has an upper limit too, which decreases as the critical height increases. (3) Stable prominences are generally longer and heavier than DPs, and not higher than 0.4 R{sub Sun }. (4) About 62% of the EPs were associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs); but there is no difference in apparent properties between EPs associated with CMEs and those that are not.

CRITICAL HEIGHT FOR THE DESTABILIZATION OF SOLAR PROMINENCES: STATISTICAL RESULTS FROM STEREO OBSERVATIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Kai; Wang Yuming; Wang Shui; Shen Chenglong

2012-01-01

At which height is a prominence inclined to be unstable, or where is the most probable critical height for the prominence destabilization? This question was statistically studied based on 362 solar limb prominences well recognized by Solar Limb Prominence Catcher and Tracker from 2007 April to the end of 2009. We found that there are about 71% disrupted prominences (DPs), among which about 42% of them did not erupt successfully and about 89% of them experienced a sudden destabilization process. After a comprehensive analysis of the DPs, we discovered the following: (1) Most DPs become unstable at a height of 0.06-0.14 R ☉ from the solar surface, and there are two most probable critical heights at which a prominence is very likely to become unstable, the first one is 0.13 R ☉ and the second one is 0.19 R ☉ . (2) An upper limit for the erupting velocity of eruptive prominences (EPs) exists, which decreases following a power law with increasing height and mass; accordingly, the kinetic energy of EPs has an upper limit too, which decreases as the critical height increases. (3) Stable prominences are generally longer and heavier than DPs, and not higher than 0.4 R ☉ . (4) About 62% of the EPs were associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs); but there is no difference in apparent properties between EPs associated with CMEs and those that are not.

STRUCTURE OF PROMINENCE LEGS: PLASMA AND MAGNETIC FIELD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levens, P. J.; Labrosse, N. [SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Schmieder, B. [Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, F-92195 (France); Ariste, A. López, E-mail: p.levens.1@research.gla.ac.uk [Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse (France)

2016-02-10

We investigate the properties of a “solar tornado” observed on 2014 July 15, and aim to link the behavior of the plasma to the internal magnetic field structure of the associated prominence. We made multi-wavelength observations with high spatial resolution and high cadence using SDO/AIA, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spectrograph, and the Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) instrument. Along with spectropolarimetry provided by the Télescope Héliographique pour l’Etude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires telescope we have coverage of both optically thick emission lines and magnetic field information. AIA reveals that the two legs of the prominence are strongly absorbing structures which look like they are rotating, or oscillating in the plane of the sky. The two prominence legs, which are both very bright in Ca ii (SOT), are not visible in the IRIS Mg ii slit-jaw images. This is explained by the large optical thickness of the structures in Mg ii, which leads to reversed profiles, and hence to lower integrated intensities at these locations than in the surroundings. Using lines formed at temperatures lower than 1 MK, we measure relatively low Doppler shifts on the order of ±10 km s{sup −1} in the tornado-like structure. Between the two legs we see loops in Mg ii, with material flowing from one leg to the other, as well as counterstreaming. It is difficult to interpret our data as showing two rotating, vertical structures that are unrelated to the loops. This kind of “tornado” scenario does not fit with our observations. The magnetic field in the two legs of the prominence is found to be preferentially horizontal.

Non-LTE hydrogen-line formation in moving prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzel, P.; Rompolt, B.

1986-01-01

The behavior of hydrogen-line brightness variations, depending on the prominence-velocity changes were investigated. By solving the NON-Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) problem for hydrogen researchers determine quantitatively the effect of Doppler brightening and/or Doppler dimming (DBE, DDE) in the lines of Lyman and Balmer series. It is demonstrated that in low-density prominence plasmas, DBE in H alpha and H beta lines can reach a factor of three for velocities around 160 km/sec, while the L alpha line exhibits typical DDE. L beta brightness variations follow from a combined DBE in the H alpha and DDE in L alpha and L beta itself, providing that all relevant multilevel interlocking processes are taken into account.

PATTERNS OF FLOWS IN AN INTERMEDIATE PROMINENCE OBSERVED BY HINODE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Kwangsu; Chae, Jongchul; Cao Wenda; Goode, Philip R.

2010-01-01

The investigation of plasma flows in filaments/prominences gives us clues to understanding their magnetic structures. We studied the patterns of flows in an intermediate prominence observed by Hinode/SOT. By examining a time series of Hα images and Ca II H images, we have found horizontal flows in the spine and vertical flows in the barb. Both of these flows have a characteristic speed of 10-20 km s -1 . The horizontal flows displayed counterstreaming. Our detailed investigation revealed that most of the moving fragments in fact reversed direction at the end point of the spine near a footpoint close to the associated active region. These returning flows may be one possible explanation of the well-known counterstreaming flows in prominences. In contrast, we have found vertical flows-downward and upward-in the barb. Most of the horizontal flows in the spine seem to switch into vertical flows when they approach the barb, and vice versa. We propose that the net force resulting from a small deviation from magnetohydrostatic equilibrium, where magnetic fields are predominantly horizontal, may drive these patterns of flow. In the prominence studied here, the supposed magnetohydrostatic configuration is characterized by magnetic field lines sagging with angles of 13 0 and 39 0 in the spine and the barb, respectively.

Extreme-ultraviolet limb spectra of a prominence observed from SKYLAB

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mariska, J.T.; Doschek, G.A.; Feldman, U.

1979-01-01

Line profiles of extreme ultraviolet emission lines observed in a solar prominence at positions above the white-light limb with the NRL slit spectrograph on Skylab are discussed. Absolute line intensities and full widths at half-maximum are presented for lines formed over the temperature range approx.1 x 10 4 to 2.2 x 10 5 K. The volume emission measures calculated using resonance line intensities are greater than quiet-Sun emission measures at the same height above the limb and indicate a somewhat different distribution of material with temperature in the prominence compared to the quiet-Sun emission measure at +8''. Electron densities in the prominence determined using the calculated emission measures and the intensities of density-sensitive intersystem lines are between the quiet-Sun electron density and half the quiet-Sun electron density. Random mass-motion velocities calculated from the measured full widths at half-maximum show a range of velocities. For T/sub e/> or approx. =4 x 10 4 K, the nonthermal velocity decreases with increasing height in the prominence. For T/sub e/ 4 K, the calculated mass motions are near zero. From the He II 1640 A line profile we derive an average temperature of 27,000 K for the region in which He II is emitted

EVIDENCE FOR ROTATIONAL MOTIONS IN THE FEET OF A QUIESCENT SOLAR PROMINENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orozco Suárez, D.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Trujillo Bueno, J.

2012-01-01

We present observational evidence of apparent plasma rotational motions in the feet of a solar prominence. Our study is based on spectroscopic observations taken in the He I 1083.0 nm multiplet with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter attached to the German Vacuum Tower Telescope. We recorded a time sequence of spectra with 34 s cadence placing the slit of the spectrograph almost parallel to the solar limb and crossing two feet of an intermediate size, quiescent hedgerow prominence. The data show opposite Doppler shifts, ±6 km s –1 , at the edges of the prominence feet. We argue that these shifts may be interpreted as prominence plasma rotating counterclockwise around the vertical axis to the solar surface as viewed from above. The evolution of the prominence seen in EUV images taken with the Solar Dynamics Observatory provided us with clues to interpret the results as swirling motions. Moreover, time-distance images taken far from the central wavelength show plasma structures moving parallel to the solar limb with velocities of about 10-15 km s –1 . Finally, the shapes of the observed intensity profiles suggest the presence of, at least, two components at some locations at the edges of the prominence feet. One of them is typically Doppler shifted (up to ∼20 km s –1 ) with respect to the other, thus suggesting the existence of supersonic counter-streaming flows along the line of sight.

On Lyman-line asymmetries in quiescent prominences

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gunár, Stanislav; Heinzel, Petr; Anzer, U.; Schmieder, B.

2008-01-01

Roč. 490, č. 1 (2008), s. 307-313 ISSN 0004-6361 Grant - others:EU(XE) ESA-PECS project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : Sun prominences * radiative transfer * line profiles Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.153, year: 2008

Topic Prominence in Chinese EFL Learners' Interlanguage

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shaopeng; Yang, Lianrui

2014-01-01

The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topicprominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspective. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004). The…

Clinico-Epidemiological Comparison of Delusion-Prominent and Hallucination-Prominent Clinical Subgroups of Paranoid Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kreinin, Anatoly; Krishtul, Vladimir; Kirsh, Zvi; Menuchin, Michael

2015-01-01

Though hallucinations and delusions are prominent basic impairments in schizophrenia, reports of the relationship between hallucinatory and delusional symptoms among schizophrenia patients are scant. To examine the epidemiological and clinical differences between mainly hallucinatory and mainly delusional subgroups of paranoid schizophrenia patients. One hundred schizophrenia patients, paranoid type, were recruited. In a cross-sectional study, participants were divided into Mainly Hallucinatory (H) and Mainly Delusional (D) subgroups. Demographic variables were compared and clinical characteristics were evaluated using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. The Quality-of-Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-18 was used to assess quality of life. Clinically, the H group was more heterogeneous as expressed by the broader range of scores that described the clinical picture of patients in that subgroup (in 43 of 78 variables, 55.13%) and similar ranges of scores (31 of 78 variables, 39.74%) for patients in the D group. Duration of hospitalization was significantly longer in group H than in group D (p=0.047). There was no statistically significant difference between the H and D subgroups in demographic characteristics. There are distinct epidemiological and clinical differences between the H and D subgroups, with more severe positive and negative symptoms and greater functional impairment in the H group. Paranoid schizophrenia patients with prominent hallucinations have poorer prognosis and need intensive therapeutic rehabilitation beginning with onset-of-illness. Further genetic studies and comparisons of fMRI and/or PET findings are warranted to investigate additional distinctive characteristics of these subgroups.

Tokamak impurity-control techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, J.A.

1980-01-01

A brief review is given of the impurity-control functions in tokamaks, their relative merits and disadvantages and some prominent edge-interaction-control techniques, and there is a discussion of a new proposal, the particle scraper, and its potential advantages. (author)

Hybrid Semantic Analysis for Mapping Adverse Drug Reaction Mentions in Tweets to Medical Terminology.

Science.gov (United States)

Emadzadeh, Ehsan; Sarker, Abeed; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; Gonzalez, Graciela

2017-01-01

Social networks, such as Twitter, have become important sources for active monitoring of user-reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Automatic extraction of ADR information can be crucial for healthcare providers, drug manufacturers, and consumers. However, because of the non-standard nature of social media language, automatically extracted ADR mentions need to be mapped to standard forms before they can be used by operational pharmacovigilance systems. We propose a modular natural language processing pipeline for mapping (normalizing) colloquial mentions of ADRs to their corresponding standardized identifiers. We seek to accomplish this task and enable customization of the pipeline so that distinct unlabeled free text resources can be incorporated to use the system for other normalization tasks. Our approach, which we call Hybrid Semantic Analysis (HSA), sequentially employs rule-based and semantic matching algorithms for mapping user-generated mentions to concept IDs in the Unified Medical Language System vocabulary. The semantic matching component of HSA is adaptive in nature and uses a regression model to combine various measures of semantic relatedness and resources to optimize normalization performance on the selected data source. On a publicly available corpus, our normalization method achieves 0.502 recall and 0.823 precision (F-measure: 0.624). Our proposed method outperforms a baseline based on latent semantic analysis and another that uses MetaMap.

How many scientific papers are mentioned in policy-related documents? An empirical investigation using Web of Science and Altmetric data.

Science.gov (United States)

Haunschild, Robin; Bornmann, Lutz

2017-01-01

In this short communication, we provide an overview of a relatively newly provided source of altmetrics data which could possibly be used for societal impact measurements in scientometrics. Recently, Altmetric-a start-up providing publication level metrics-started to make data for publications available which have been mentioned in policy-related documents. Using data from Altmetric, we study how many papers indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) are mentioned in policy-related documents. We find that less than 0.5% of the papers published in different subject categories are mentioned at least once in policy-related documents. Based on our results, we recommend that the analysis of (WoS) publications with at least one policy-related mention is repeated regularly (annually) in order to check the usefulness of the data. Mentions in policy-related documents should not be used for impact measurement until new policy-related sites are tracked.

Schlenk Techniques for Anionic Polymerization

KAUST Repository

Ratkanthwar, Kedar; Zhao, Junpeng; Zhang, Hefeng; Hadjichristidis, Nikolaos; Mays, Jimmy

2015-01-01

Anionic polymerization-high vacuum techniques (HVTs) are doubtlessly the most prominent and reliable experimental tools to prepare polymer samples with well-defined and, in many cases, complex macromolecular architectures. Due to the high demands

Quiescent Prominence Dynamics Observed with the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope. I. Turbulent Upflow Plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Thomas E.; Slater, Gregory; Hurlburt, Neal; Shine, Richard; Tarbell, Theodore; Title, Alan; Lites, Bruce W.; Okamoto, Takenori J.; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi; Katsukawa, Yukio; Magara, Tetsuya; Suematsu, Yoshinori; Shimizu, Toshifumi

2010-06-01

Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) observations reveal two new dynamic modes in quiescent solar prominences: large-scale (20-50 Mm) "arches" or "bubbles" that "inflate" from below into prominences, and smaller-scale (2-6 Mm) dark turbulent upflows. These novel dynamics are related in that they are always dark in visible-light spectral bands, they rise through the bright prominence emission with approximately constant speeds, and the small-scale upflows are sometimes observed to emanate from the top of the larger bubbles. Here we present detailed kinematic measurements of the small-scale turbulent upflows seen in several prominences in the SOT database. The dark upflows typically initiate vertically from 5 to 10 Mm wide dark cavities between the bottom of the prominence and the top of the chromospheric spicule layer. Small perturbations on the order of 1 Mm or less in size grow on the upper boundaries of cavities to generate plumes up to 4-6 Mm across at their largest widths. All plumes develop highly turbulent profiles, including occasional Kelvin-Helmholtz vortex "roll-up" of the leading edge. The flows typically rise 10-15 Mm before decelerating to equilibrium. We measure the flowfield characteristics with a manual tracing method and with the Nonlinear Affine Velocity Estimator (NAVE) "optical flow" code to derive velocity, acceleration, lifetime, and height data for several representative plumes. Maximum initial speeds are in the range of 20-30 km s-1, which is supersonic for a ~10,000 K plasma. The plumes decelerate in the final few Mm of their trajectories resulting in mean ascent speeds of 13-17 km s-1. Typical lifetimes range from 300 to 1000 s (~5-15 minutes). The area growth rate of the plumes (observed as two-dimensional objects in the plane of the sky) is initially linear and ranges from 20,000 to 30,000 km2 s-1 reaching maximum projected areas from 2 to 15 Mm2. Maximum contrast of the dark flows relative to the bright prominence plasma in SOT images

QUIESCENT PROMINENCE DYNAMICS OBSERVED WITH THE HINODE SOLAR OPTICAL TELESCOPE. I. TURBULENT UPFLOW PLUMES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berger, Thomas E.; Slater, Gregory; Hurlburt, Neal; Shine, Richard; Tarbell, Theodore; Title, Alan; Lites, Bruce W.; Okamoto, Takenori J.; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi; Katsukawa, Yukio; Magara, Tetsuya; Suematsu, Yoshinori; Shimizu, Toshifumi

2010-01-01

Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) observations reveal two new dynamic modes in quiescent solar prominences: large-scale (20-50 Mm) 'arches' or 'bubbles' that 'inflate' from below into prominences, and smaller-scale (2-6 Mm) dark turbulent upflows. These novel dynamics are related in that they are always dark in visible-light spectral bands, they rise through the bright prominence emission with approximately constant speeds, and the small-scale upflows are sometimes observed to emanate from the top of the larger bubbles. Here we present detailed kinematic measurements of the small-scale turbulent upflows seen in several prominences in the SOT database. The dark upflows typically initiate vertically from 5 to 10 Mm wide dark cavities between the bottom of the prominence and the top of the chromospheric spicule layer. Small perturbations on the order of 1 Mm or less in size grow on the upper boundaries of cavities to generate plumes up to 4-6 Mm across at their largest widths. All plumes develop highly turbulent profiles, including occasional Kelvin-Helmholtz vortex 'roll-up' of the leading edge. The flows typically rise 10-15 Mm before decelerating to equilibrium. We measure the flowfield characteristics with a manual tracing method and with the Nonlinear Affine Velocity Estimator (NAVE) 'optical flow' code to derive velocity, acceleration, lifetime, and height data for several representative plumes. Maximum initial speeds are in the range of 20-30 km s -1 , which is supersonic for a ∼10,000 K plasma. The plumes decelerate in the final few Mm of their trajectories resulting in mean ascent speeds of 13-17 km s -1 . Typical lifetimes range from 300 to 1000 s (∼5-15 minutes). The area growth rate of the plumes (observed as two-dimensional objects in the plane of the sky) is initially linear and ranges from 20,000 to 30,000 km 2 s -1 reaching maximum projected areas from 2 to 15 Mm 2 . Maximum contrast of the dark flows relative to the bright prominence plasma in

Prominence Bubble Shear Flows and the Coupled Kelvin-Helmholtz — Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Thomas; Hillier, Andrew

2017-08-01

Prominence bubbles are large arched structures that rise from below into quiescent prominences, often growing to heights on the order of 10 Mm before going unstable and generating plume upflows. While there is general agreement that emerging flux below pre-existing prominences causes the structures, there is lack of agreement on the nature of the bubbles and the cause of the instability flows. One hypothesis is that the bubbles contain coronal temperature plasma and rise into the prominence above due to both magnetic and thermal buoyancy, eventually breaking down via a magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability to release hot plasma and magnetic flux and helicity into the overlying coronal flux rope. Another posits that the bubbles are actually just “arcades” in the prominence indicating a magnetic separator line between the bipole and the prominence fields with the observed upflows and downflows caused by reconnection along the separator. We analyze Hinode/SOT, SDO/AIA, and IRIS observations of prominence bubbles, focusing on characteristics of the bubble boundary layers that may discriminate between the two hypotheses. We find speeds on the order of 10 km/s in prominence plasma downflows and lateral shear flows along the bubble boundary. Inflows to the boundary gradually increase the thickness and brightness of the layer until plasma drains from there, apparently around the dome-like bubble domain. In one case, shear flow across the bubble boundary develops Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) vortices that we use to infer flow speeds in the low-density bubble on the order of 100 km/sec. IRIS spectra indicate that plasma flows on the bubble boundary at transition region temperatures achieve Doppler speeds on the order of 50 km/s, consistent with this inference. Combined magnetic KH-RT instability analysis leads to flux density estimates of 10 G with a field angle of 30° to the prominence, consistent with vector magnetic field measurements. In contrast, we find no evidence

Eruptive prominences and long-delay geomagnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, C.S.

1983-01-01

The relationship between disappearing solar fragments and geomagnetic disturbances was investigated. It is shown that long-delay storms are associated with filaments well removed from the disc centre, and particularly in the case of large filaments and prominences, the proportion of events that produce long-delay storms increases with angular distance from the centre

EUV lines observed with EIS/Hinode in a solar prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Labrosse, N.; Schmieder, B.; Heinzel, P.; Watanabe, T.

2011-07-01

Context. During a multi-wavelength observation campaign with Hinode and ground-based instruments, a solar prominence was observed for three consecutive days as it crossed the western limb of the Sun in April 2007. Aims: We report on observations obtained on 26 April 2007 using EIS (Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer) on Hinode. They are analysed to provide a qualitative diagnostic of the plasma in different parts of the prominence. Methods: After correcting for instrumental effects, the rasters at different wavelengths are presented. Several regions within the same prominence are identified for further analysis. Selected profiles for lines with formation temperatures between log (T) = 4.7 and log (T) = 6.3, as well as their integrated intensities, are given. The profiles of coronal, transition region, and He ii lines are discussed. We pay special attention to the He ii line, which is blended with coronal lines. Results: Some quantitative results are obtained by analysing the line profiles. They confirm that depression in EUV lines can be interpreted in terms of two mechanisms: absorption of coronal radiation by the hydrogen and neutral helium resonance continua, and emissivity blocking. We present estimates of the He ii line integrated intensity in different parts of the prominence according to different scenarios for the relative contribution of absorption and emissivity blocking to the coronal lines blended with the He ii line. We estimate the contribution of the He ii 256.32 Å line to the He ii raster image to vary between ~44% and 70% of the raster's total intensity in the prominence according to the different models used to take into account the blending coronal lines. The inferred integrated intensities of the He ii 256 Å line are consistent with the theoretical intensities obtained with previous 1D non-LTE radiative transfer calculations, yielding a preliminary estimate of the central temperature of 8700 K, a central pressure of 0.33 dyn cm-2, and a

Observation of the Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability in a Solar Prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Heesu; Xu, Zhi; Lim, Eun-Kyung; Kim, Sujin; Cho, Kyung-Suk; Kim, Yeon-Han; Chae, Jongchul; Cho, Kyuhyoun; Ji, Kaifan

2018-04-01

Many solar prominences end their lives in eruptions or abrupt disappearances that are associated with dynamical or thermal instabilities. Such instabilities are important because they may be responsible for energy transport and conversion. We present a clear observation of a streaming kink-mode Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability (KHI) taking place in a solar prominence using the Hα Lyot filter installed at the New Vacuum Solar Telescope, Fuxian-lake Solar Observatory in Yunnan, China. On one side of the prominence, a series of plasma blobs floated up from the chromosphere and streamed parallel to the limb. The plasma stream was accelerated to about 20–60 km s‑1 and then undulated. We found that 2″- and 5″-size vortices formed, floated along the stream, and then broke up. After the 5″-size vortex, a plasma ejection out of the stream was detected in the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly images. Just before the formation of the 5″-size vortex, the stream displayed an oscillatory transverse motion with a period of 255 s with the amplitude growing at the rate of 0.001 s‑1. We attribute this oscillation of the stream and the subsequent formation of the vortex to the KHI triggered by velocity shear between the stream, guided by the magnetic field and the surrounding media. The plasma ejection suggests the transport of prominence material into the upper layer by the KHI in its nonlinear stage.

Lines of MgI Detected in Solar Prominences

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Heinzel, Petr; Kupryakov, Yu. A.; Schwartz, P.

2016-01-01

Roč. 40, č. 1 (2016), s. 87-91 ISSN 1845-8319. [Hvar Astrophysical Colloquium /14./. Hvar, 26.09.2016-30.09.2016] Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : prominences * limb-flare * MgI emession Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

Prominence and tornado dynamics observed with IRIS and THEMIS

Science.gov (United States)

Schmieder, Brigitte; Levens, Peter; Labrosse, Nicolas; Mein, Pierre; Lopez Ariste, Arturo; Zapior, Maciek

2017-08-01

Several prominences were observed during campaigns in September 2013 and July 2014 with the IRIS spectrometer and the vector magnetograph THEMIS (Tenerife). SDO/AIA and IRIS provided images and spectra of prominences and tornadoes corresponding to different physical conditions of the transition region between the cool plasma and the corona. The vector magnetic field was derived from THEMIS observations by using the He D3 depolarisation due to the magnetic field. The inversion code (PCA) takes into account the Hanle and Zeeman effects and allows us to compute the strength and the inclination of the magnetic field which is shown to be mostly horizontal in prominences as well as in tornadoes. Movies from SDO/AIA in 304 A and Hinode/SOT in Ca II show the highly dynamic nature of the fine structures. From spectra in Mg II and Si IV lines provided by IRIS and H-alpha observed by the Multi-channel Subtractive Double Pass (MSDP) spectrograph in the Meudon Solar Tower we derived the Doppler shifts of the fine structures and reconstructed the 3D structure of tornadoes. We conclude that the apparent rotation of AIA tornadoes is due to large-scale quasi-periodic oscillations of the plasma along more or less horizontal magnetic structures.

Low current beam techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saint, A.; Laird, J.S.; Bardos, R.A.; Legge, G.J.F. [Melbourne Univ., Parkville, VIC (Australia). School of Physics; Nishijima, T.; Sekiguchi, H. [Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba (Japan).

1993-12-31

Since the development of Scanning Transmission Microscopy (STIM) imaging in 1983 many low current beam techniques have been developed for the scanning (ion) microprobe. These include STIM tomography, Ion Beam Induced Current, Ion Beam Micromachining and Microlithography and Ionoluminense. Most of these techniques utilise beam currents of 10{sup -15} A down to single ions controlled by beam switching techniques This paper will discuss some of the low beam current techniques mentioned above, and indicate, some of their recent applications at MARC. A new STIM technique will be introduced that can be used to obtain Z-contrast with STIM resolution. 4 refs., 3 figs.

Low current beam techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saint, A; Laird, J S; Bardos, R A; Legge, G J.F. [Melbourne Univ., Parkville, VIC (Australia). School of Physics; Nishijima, T; Sekiguchi, H [Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba (Japan).

1994-12-31

Since the development of Scanning Transmission Microscopy (STIM) imaging in 1983 many low current beam techniques have been developed for the scanning (ion) microprobe. These include STIM tomography, Ion Beam Induced Current, Ion Beam Micromachining and Microlithography and Ionoluminense. Most of these techniques utilise beam currents of 10{sup -15} A down to single ions controlled by beam switching techniques This paper will discuss some of the low beam current techniques mentioned above, and indicate, some of their recent applications at MARC. A new STIM technique will be introduced that can be used to obtain Z-contrast with STIM resolution. 4 refs., 3 figs.

Scintigraphic instruments and techniques in nuclear medicine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bornand, B.; Soussaline, F.

1977-03-01

The development of new radiopharmaceuticals, cyclotron-produced radionuclides and improvement of detector, scanner and gamma camera characteristics have enable a remarkable recent progress in scintigraphic techniques for organ visualization and functional studies. Using a variety of techniques, positron cameras, section scanners, gamma holography, tomographic imaging appear to be playing an increasing important role. Data processing techniques, for example image processing and three dimensional reconstruction have significantly increased their impact. The principal research work and advances in technique achieved up to 1972 are summarized and the subjects which have been further exploited are outlined. The main section comprises references and abstracts of articles from scientific journals and conference proceedings (191 articles and 221 papers mentioned) for the period 1972-1975 to illustrate advances in this domain: Excerpta Medica (Nuclear Medicine) Abstract Journals and Nuclear Science Abstracts (1972-1975) were used as abstracting publications. This survey is completed with an index of authors and subject-matters. Eleven thesis are mentionned in an appendix [fr

PROPAGATING WAVES TRANSVERSE TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD IN A SOLAR PROMINENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmieder, B. [Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, UMR 8109 (CNRS), F-92195 Meudon (France); Kucera, T. A.; Knizhnik, K. [Code 671, NASA' s GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Luna, M. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Lopez-Ariste, A. [THEMIS, CNRS-UPS853, E-38205 La Laguna (Spain); Toot, D. [Alfred University, Alfred, NY 14802 (United States)

2013-11-10

We report an unusual set of observations of waves in a large prominence pillar that consist of pulses propagating perpendicular to the prominence magnetic field. We observe a huge quiescent prominence with the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in EUV on 2012 October 10 and only a part of it, the pillar, which is a foot or barb of the prominence, with the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT; in Ca II and Hα lines), Sac Peak (in Hα, Hβ, and Na-D lines), and THEMIS ({sup T}élescope Héliographique pour l' Etude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires{sup )} with the MTR (MulTi-Raies) spectropolarimeter (in He D{sub 3} line). The THEMIS/MTR data indicates that the magnetic field in the pillar is essentially horizontal and the observations in the optical domain show a large number of horizontally aligned features on a much smaller scale than the pillar as a whole. The data are consistent with a model of cool prominence plasma trapped in the dips of horizontal field lines. The SOT and Sac Peak data over the four hour observing period show vertical oscillations appearing as wave pulses. These pulses, which include a Doppler signature, move vertically, perpendicular to the field direction, along thin quasi-vertical columns in the much broader pillar. The pulses have a velocity of propagation of about 10 km s{sup –1}, a period of about 300 s, and a wavelength around 2000 km. We interpret these waves in terms of fast magnetosonic waves and discuss possible wave drivers.

A twisted flux-tube model for solar prominences. I. General properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Priest, E.R.; Hood, A.W.; Anzer, U.

1989-01-01

It is proposed that a solar prominence consists of cool plasma supported in a large-scale curved and twisted magnetic flux tube. As long as the flux tube is untwisted, its curvature is concave toward the solar surface, and so it cannot support dense plasma against gravity. However, when it is twisted sufficiently, individual field lines may acquire a convex curvature near their summits and so provide support. Cool plasma then naturally tends to accumulate in such field line dips either by injection from below or by thermal condensation. As the tube is twisted up further or reconnection takes place below the prominence, one finds a transition from normal to inverse polarity. When the flux tube becomes too long or is twisted too much, it loses stability and its true magnetic geometry as an erupting prominence is revealed more clearly. 56 refs

Pharmacovigilance from social media: mining adverse drug reaction mentions using sequence labeling with word embedding cluster features.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikfarjam, Azadeh; Sarker, Abeed; O'Connor, Karen; Ginn, Rachel; Gonzalez, Graciela

2015-05-01

Social media is becoming increasingly popular as a platform for sharing personal health-related information. This information can be utilized for public health monitoring tasks, particularly for pharmacovigilance, via the use of natural language processing (NLP) techniques. However, the language in social media is highly informal, and user-expressed medical concepts are often nontechnical, descriptive, and challenging to extract. There has been limited progress in addressing these challenges, and thus far, advanced machine learning-based NLP techniques have been underutilized. Our objective is to design a machine learning-based approach to extract mentions of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) from highly informal text in social media. We introduce ADRMine, a machine learning-based concept extraction system that uses conditional random fields (CRFs). ADRMine utilizes a variety of features, including a novel feature for modeling words' semantic similarities. The similarities are modeled by clustering words based on unsupervised, pretrained word representation vectors (embeddings) generated from unlabeled user posts in social media using a deep learning technique. ADRMine outperforms several strong baseline systems in the ADR extraction task by achieving an F-measure of 0.82. Feature analysis demonstrates that the proposed word cluster features significantly improve extraction performance. It is possible to extract complex medical concepts, with relatively high performance, from informal, user-generated content. Our approach is particularly scalable, suitable for social media mining, as it relies on large volumes of unlabeled data, thus diminishing the need for large, annotated training data sets. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

DYNAMICS OF A PROMINENCE-HORN STRUCTURE DURING ITS EVAPORATION IN THE SOLAR CORONA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Bing; Chen, Yao; Fu, Jie; Li, Bo [Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, and Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai 264209 (China); Li, Xing [Department of Physics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BZ (United Kingdom); Liu, Wei, E-mail: yaochen@sdu.edu.cn [Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

2016-08-20

The physical connections among and formation mechanisms of various components of the prominence-horn cavity system remain elusive. Here we present observations of such a system, focusing on a section of the prominence that rises and separates gradually from the main body. This forms a configuration sufficiently simple to yield clues regarding the above issues. It is characterized by embedding horns, oscillations, and a gradual disappearance of the separated material. The prominence-horn structure exhibits a large-amplitude longitudinal oscillation with a period of ∼150 minutes and an amplitude of ∼30 Mm along the trajectory defined by the concave horn structure. The horns also experience a simultaneous transverse oscillation with a much smaller amplitude (∼3 Mm) and a shorter period (∼10–15 minutes), likely representative of a global mode of the large-scale magnetic structure. The gradual disappearance of the structure indicates that the horn, an observational manifestation of the field-aligned transition region separating the cool and dense prominence from the hot and tenuous corona, is formed due to the heating and diluting process of the central prominence mass; most previous studies suggested that it is the opposite process, i.e., the cooling and condensation of coronal plasmas, that formed the horn. This study also demonstrates how the prominence transports magnetic flux to the upper corona, a process essential for the gradual build-up of pre-eruption magnetic energy.

ARE GIANT TORNADOES THE LEGS OF SOLAR PROMINENCES?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wedemeyer, Sven; Scullion, Eamon; Rouppe van der Voort, Luc; Bosnjak, Antonija [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway); Antolin, Patrick, E-mail: sven.wedemeyer@astro.uio.no [Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Department of Mathematics, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, bus 2400, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

2013-09-10

Observations in the 171 A channel of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of the space-borne Solar Dynamics Observatory show tornado-like features in the atmosphere of the Sun. These giant tornadoes appear as dark, elongated, and apparently rotating structures in front of a brighter background. This phenomenon is thought to be produced by rotating magnetic field structures that extend throughout the atmosphere. We characterize giant tornadoes through a statistical analysis of properties such as spatial distribution, lifetimes, and sizes. A total number of 201 giant tornadoes are detected in a period of 25 days, suggesting that, on average, about 30 events are present across the whole Sun at a time close to solar maximum. Most tornadoes appear in groups and seem to form the legs of prominences, thus serving as plasma sources/sinks. Additional H{alpha} observations with the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope imply that giant tornadoes rotate as a structure, although they clearly exhibit a thread-like structure. We observe tornado groups that grow prior to the eruption of the connected prominence. The rotation of the tornadoes may progressively twist the magnetic structure of the prominence until it becomes unstable and erupts. Finally, we investigate the potential relation of giant tornadoes to other phenomena, which may also be produced by rotating magnetic field structures. A comparison to cyclones, magnetic tornadoes, and spicules implies that such events are more abundant and short-lived the smaller they are. This comparison might help to construct a power law for the effective atmospheric heating contribution as a function of spatial scale.

ARE GIANT TORNADOES THE LEGS OF SOLAR PROMINENCES?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wedemeyer, Sven; Scullion, Eamon; Rouppe van der Voort, Luc; Bosnjak, Antonija; Antolin, Patrick

2013-01-01

Observations in the 171 Å channel of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly of the space-borne Solar Dynamics Observatory show tornado-like features in the atmosphere of the Sun. These giant tornadoes appear as dark, elongated, and apparently rotating structures in front of a brighter background. This phenomenon is thought to be produced by rotating magnetic field structures that extend throughout the atmosphere. We characterize giant tornadoes through a statistical analysis of properties such as spatial distribution, lifetimes, and sizes. A total number of 201 giant tornadoes are detected in a period of 25 days, suggesting that, on average, about 30 events are present across the whole Sun at a time close to solar maximum. Most tornadoes appear in groups and seem to form the legs of prominences, thus serving as plasma sources/sinks. Additional Hα observations with the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope imply that giant tornadoes rotate as a structure, although they clearly exhibit a thread-like structure. We observe tornado groups that grow prior to the eruption of the connected prominence. The rotation of the tornadoes may progressively twist the magnetic structure of the prominence until it becomes unstable and erupts. Finally, we investigate the potential relation of giant tornadoes to other phenomena, which may also be produced by rotating magnetic field structures. A comparison to cyclones, magnetic tornadoes, and spicules implies that such events are more abundant and short-lived the smaller they are. This comparison might help to construct a power law for the effective atmospheric heating contribution as a function of spatial scale

Morphology Of A Hot Prominence Cavity Observed with Hinode/XRT and SDO/AIA

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Mark A.; Reeves, K. K.; Gibson, S. E.; Kucera, T. A.

2012-01-01

Prominence cavities appear as circularly shaped voids in coronal emission over polarity inversion lines where a prominence channel is straddling the solar limb. The presence of chromospheric material suspended at coronal altitudes is a common but not necessary feature within these cavities. These voids are observed to change shape as a prominence feature rotates around the limb. We use a morphological model projected in cross-sections to fit the cavity emission in Hinode/XRT passbands, and then apply temperature diagnostics to XRT and SDO/AIA data to investigate the thermal structure. We find significant evidence that the prominence cavity is hotter than the corona immediately outside the cavity boundary. This investigation follows upon "Thermal Properties of A Solar Coronal Cavity Observed with the X-ray Telescope on Hinode" by Reeves et al., 2012, ApJ, in press.

Leading causes of death among decedents with mention of schizophrenia on the death certificates in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jin-Jia; Liang, Fu-Weng; Li, Chung-Yi; Lu, Tsung-Hsueh

2018-01-30

Little is known about the changes in the ranking of leading cause of death (COD) among people died with schizophrenia across years in the United States (U.S.). This study aims to determine the ranking of leading COD among U.S. decedents with mention of schizophrenia by age from 2000 to 2015. The mortality multiple COD files maintained by the National Center for Health Statistics were used to identify decedents aged 15 years old and above with mention of schizophrenia anywhere on the death certificates to determine the number and proportion of deaths attributed to various underlying CODs. Of 13,289, 13,655, 14,135, and 15,033 people who died in 2000-2003, 2004-2007, 2008-2011and 2012-2015 with mention of schizophrenia, similar to all decedents, heart disease and cancer was the first and the second leading COD throughout the study years. Schizophrenia ranked the third in most years except in 2004-2007. The first leading COD for decedents with mention of schizophrenia aged 15-24, 25-44, 45-64, 65-74, and 75+ years old in 2012-2015 was suicide, accidents, heart disease, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, respectively. Nevertheless, it was accidents, accidents, cancer, cancer, and heart disease, respectively for all decedents. The ranking of leading CODs among U.S. decedents with mention of schizophrenia changed across years and differed from all decedents by age, which suggest that different interventions should be designed accordingly. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Multi-Wavelength Eclipse Observations of a Quiescent Prominence

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jejčič, S.; Heinzel, Petr; Zapiór, M.; Druckmüller, M.; Gunár, Stanislav; Kotrč, Pavel

2014-01-01

Roč. 289, č. 7 (2014), s. 2487-2501 ISSN 0038-0938 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/12/0906 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : eclipse observations * prominences * quiescent Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.039, year: 2014

2D radiative-magnetohydrostatic model of a prominence observed by Hinode, SoHO/SUMER and Meudon/MSDP

Science.gov (United States)

Berlicki, A.; Gunar, S.; Heinzel, P.; Schmieder, B.; Schwartz, P.

2011-06-01

Aims: Prominences observed by Hinode show very dynamical and intriguing structures. To understand the mechanisms that are responsible for these moving structures, it is important to know the physical conditions that prevail in fine-structure threads. In the present work we analyse a quiescent prominence with fine structures, which exhibits dynamic behaviour, which was observed in the hydrogen Hα line with Hinode/SOT, Meudon/MSDP and Ondřejov/HSFA2, and simultaneously in hydrogen Lyman lines with SoHO/SUMER during a coordinated campaign. We derive the fine-structure physical parameters of this prominence and also address the questions of the role of the magnetic dips and of the interpretation of the flows. Methods: We calibrate the SoHO/SUMER and Meudon/MSDP data and obtain the line profiles of the hydrogen Lyman series (Lβ to L6), the Ciii (977.03 Å) and Svi (933.40 Å), and Hα along the slit of SoHO/SUMER that crosses the Hinode/SOT prominence. We employ a complex 2D radiation-magnetohydrostatic (RMHS) modelling technique to properly interpret the observed spectral lines and derive the physical parameters of interest. The model was constrained not only with integrated intensities of the lines, but also with the hydrogen line profiles. Results: The slit of SoHO/SUMER is crossing different prominence structures: threads and dark bubbles. Comparing the observed integrated intensities, the depressions of Hα bubbles are clearly identified in the Lyman, Ciii, and Svi lines. To fit the observations, we propose a new 2D model with the following parameters: T = 8000 K, pcen = 0.035 dyn cm-2, B = 5 Gauss, ne = 1010 cm-3, 40 threads each 1000 km wide, plasma β is 3.5 × 10-2. Conclusions: The analysis of Ciii and Svi emission in dark Hα bubbles allows us to conclude that there is no excess of a hotter plasma in these bubbles. The new 2D model allows us to diagnose the orientation of the magnetic field versus the LOS. The 40 threads are integrated along the LOS. We

HELICAL MOTIONS OF FINE-STRUCTURE PROMINENCE THREADS OBSERVED BY HINODE AND IRIS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okamoto, Takenori J. [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan); Liu, Wei [Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, 625 2nd Street, Suite 209, Petaluma, CA 94952 (United States); Tsuneta, Saku, E-mail: joten.okamoto@nao.ac.jp [ISAS/JAXA, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan)

2016-11-10

Fine-structure dynamics in solar prominences holds critical clues to understanding their physical nature of significant space-weather implications. We report evidence of rotational motions of horizontal helical threads in two active-region prominences observed by the Hinode and/or Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph satellites at high resolution. In the first event, we found transverse motions of brightening threads at speeds up to 55 km s{sup -1} seen in the plane of the sky. Such motions appeared as sinusoidal space–time trajectories with a typical period of ∼390 s, which is consistent with plane-of-sky projections of rotational motions. Phase delays at different locations suggest the propagation of twists along the threads at phase speeds of 90–270 km s{sup -1}. At least 15 episodes of such motions occurred in two days, none associated with an eruption. For these episodes, the plane-of-sky speed is linearly correlated with the vertical travel distance, suggestive of a constant angular speed. In the second event, we found Doppler velocities of 30–40 km s{sup -1} in opposite directions in the top and bottom portions of the prominence, comparable to the plane-of-sky speed. The moving threads have about twice broader line widths than stationary threads. These observations, when taken together, provide strong evidence for rotations of helical prominence threads, which were likely driven by unwinding twists triggered by magnetic reconnection between twisted prominence magnetic fields and ambient coronal fields.

Liking goes with liking: An intuitive congruence between preference and prominence.

Science.gov (United States)

Morvinski, Coby; Amir, On

2018-03-26

In a series of 8 experiments, we demonstrate the existence of a "labeling effect" wherein people intuitively relate preferred choices to prominently labeled cues (such as heads as opposed to tails in a coin toss) and vice versa. Importantly, the observed congruence is asymmetric-it does not manifest for nonprominent cues and nonpreferred choices. This is because the congruence is driven by a process of evaluative matching: prominent cues are liked, but nonprominent cues are neutral or at most slightly negative in contrast. When we test prominent, yet truly negatively labeled cues, we indeed find a matching with less liked products. We discuss the theoretical contributions to the study of preferences and decision making, as well as demonstrate the practical implications to researchers and practitioners by using this process to assess intuitive preferences and reduce the compromise effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Topics and topic prominence in two sign languages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kimmelman, V.

2015-01-01

In this paper we describe topic marking in Russian Sign Language (RSL) and Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) and discuss whether these languages should be considered topic prominent. The formal markers of topics in RSL are sentence-initial position, a prosodic break following the topic, and

Stephen Hawking's Community-Bound Voice A Functional Investigation of Self-Mentions in Stephen Hawking's Scientific Prose

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davud Kuhi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Thanks to the development of the concept of metadiscourse, it is now widely acknowledged that academic/scientific writing is not only concerned with communicating purely propositional meanings: what is communicated through academic/scientific communication is seen to be intertwined with the negotiation of social and interpersonal meanings. While a large number of so called metadiscoursal resources contribute to the simultaneous negotiation of propositional and interpersonal meanings, the present study aimed at investigating the functions self-mention forms can fulfill in academic/scientific communication. Two of Stephen Hawking's scientific books were selected as the corpus of the research, and based on Tang and John's (1999 model, the constructed corpus was analyzed in terms of the functions self-mention forms can fulfill in academic/scientific writing. The findings revealed that from among the different roles identified by Tang and John, the representative role constituted the most frequent self-mention function in the corpus. The remarkably heavy presence of representative role in Hawking's scientific prose was interpreted as a further evidence for the claim that scientists are more likely to persuade readers of their ideas if they frame their messages in ways which appeal to appropriate community-recognized relationships.

Class of analytic solutions for the thermally balanced magnetostatic prominence sheet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Low, B.C.; Wu, S.T.

1981-01-01

This is a theoretical study of the nonlinear interplay between magnetostatic equilibrium and energy balance in a Kippenhahn-Schlueter type prominence sheet. The basic effects are illustrated explicitly with an analytic model in which a radiative loss proportional to rho 2 T balances against wave heating proportional to rho, with thermal conduction confined along magnetic field lines, where rho and T denote the plasma density and temperature, respectively. The particular choices of heat sink and source enable us to integrate the governing equations exactly while they are of the basic mathematical forms to simulate radiative loss in an optically thin plasma which is heated by wave dissipation. The steady solutions exhibit three different basic behaviors, characterized by the total wave heating in the prominence sheet being more than, equal to, or less than the total radiative loss. It is the compaction of the plasma along the field lines under its own weight combined with the effects of energy transport that determines which of the three basic behaviors obtains in a particular situation. The implications of the steady solutions for the formation of prominences are discussed. The exact solutions presented do not support the conclusion of Milne, Priest, and Roberts that there is an upper bound on the plasma beta for an equilibrium of the Kippenhahn-Schlueter prominence

Quiescent and Eruptive Prominences at Solar Minimum: A Statistical Study via an Automated Tracking System

Science.gov (United States)

Loboda, I. P.; Bogachev, S. A.

2015-07-01

We employ an automated detection algorithm to perform a global study of solar prominence characteristics. We process four months of TESIS observations in the He II 304Å line taken close to the solar minimum of 2008-2009 and mainly focus on quiescent and quiescent-eruptive prominences. We detect a total of 389 individual features ranging from 25×25 to 150×500 Mm2 in size and obtain distributions of many of their spatial characteristics, such as latitudinal position, height, size, and shape. To study their dynamics, we classify prominences as either stable or eruptive and calculate their average centroid velocities, which are found to rarely exceed 3 km/s. In addition, we give rough estimates of mass and gravitational energy for every detected prominence and use these values to estimate the total mass and gravitational energy of all simultaneously existing prominences (1012 - 1014 kg and 1029 - 1031 erg). Finally, we investigate the form of the gravitational energy spectrum of prominences and derive it to be a power-law of index -1.1 ± 0.2.

Heating of an Erupting Prominence Associated with a Solar Coronal Mass Ejection on 2012 January 27

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jin-Yi; Moon, Yong-Jae; Kim, Kap-Sung [Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, 17104 (Korea, Republic of); Raymond, John C.; Reeves, Katharine K. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2017-07-20

We investigate the heating of an erupting prominence and loops associated with a coronal mass ejection and X-class flare. The prominence is seen as absorption in EUV at the beginning of its eruption. Later, the prominence changes to emission, which indicates heating of the erupting plasma. We find the densities of the erupting prominence using the absorption properties of hydrogen and helium in different passbands. We estimate the temperatures and densities of the erupting prominence and loops seen as emission features using the differential emission measure method, which uses both EUV and X-ray observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the X-ray Telescope on board Hinode . We consider synthetic spectra using both photospheric and coronal abundances in these calculations. We verify the methods for the estimation of temperatures and densities for the erupting plasmas. Then, we estimate the thermal, kinetic, radiative loss, thermal conduction, and heating energies of the erupting prominence and loops. We find that the heating of the erupting prominence and loop occurs strongly at early times in the eruption. This event shows a writhing motion of the erupting prominence, which may indicate a hot flux rope heated by thermal energy release during magnetic reconnection.

Observations of apparent superslow wave propagation in solar prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Raes, J. O.; Van Doorsselaere, T.; Baes, M.; Wright, A. N.

2017-06-01

Context. Phase mixing of standing continuum Alfvén waves and/or continuum slow waves in atmospheric magnetic structures such as coronal arcades can create the apparent effect of a wave propagating across the magnetic field. Aims: We observe a prominence with SDO/AIA on 2015 March 15 and find the presence of oscillatory motion. We aim to demonstrate that interpreting this motion as a magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) wave is faulty. We also connect the decrease of the apparent velocity over time with the phase mixing process, which depends on the curvature of the magnetic field lines. Methods: By measuring the displacement of the prominence at different heights to calculate the apparent velocity, we show that the propagation slows down over time, in accordance with the theoretical work of Kaneko et al. We also show that this propagation speed drops below what is to be expected for even slow MHD waves for those circumstances. We use a modified Kippenhahn-Schlüter prominence model to calculate the curvature of the magnetic field and fit our observations accordingly. Results: Measuring three of the apparent waves, we get apparent velocities of 14, 8, and 4 km s-1. Fitting a simple model for the magnetic field configuration, we obtain that the filament is located 103 Mm below the magnetic centre. We also obtain that the scale of the magnetic field strength in the vertical direction plays no role in the concept of apparent superslow waves and that the moment of excitation of the waves happened roughly one oscillation period before the end of the eruption that excited the oscillation. Conclusions: Some of the observed phase velocities are lower than expected for slow modes for the circumstances, showing that they rather fit with the concept of apparent superslow propagation. A fit with our magnetic field model allows for inferring the magnetic geometry of the prominence. The movie attached to Fig. 1 is available at http://www.aanda.org

Synthetic differential emission measure curves of prominence fine structures. II. The SoHO/SUMER prominence of 8 June 2004

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gunár, Stanislav; Parenti, S.; Anzer, U.; Heinzel, Petr; Vial, J. C.

2011-01-01

Roč. 535, November (2011), A122/1-A122/11 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP205/09/P554; GA ČR GA205/09/1705; GA ČR GAP209/10/1706 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.587, year: 2011

LARGE-SCALE FLOWS IN PROMINENCE CAVITIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmit, D. J.; Gibson, S. E.; Tomczyk, S.; Reeves, K. K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Brooks, D. H.; Williams, D. R.; Tripathi, D.

2009-01-01

Regions of rarefied density often form cavities above quiescent prominences. We observed two different cavities with the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter on 2005 April 21 and with Hinode/EIS on 2008 November 8. Inside both of these cavities, we find coherent velocity structures based on spectral Doppler shifts. These flows have speeds of 5-10 km s -1 , occur over length scales of tens of megameters, and persist for at least 1 hr. Flows in cavities are an example of the nonstatic nature of quiescent structures in the solar atmosphere.

Prominent crista terminalis mimicking a right atrial mass: case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lange Peter

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract The crista terminalis is a normal anatomical structure within the right atrium that is not normally visualised in the standard views obtained while performing a transthoracic echocardiogram. In this case report, transthoracic echocardiography suggested the presence of a right atrial mass in a patient with end stage renal disease. However, subsequent transesophageal echocardiography revealed that the right atrial mass was actually a thick muscular bridge in the right atrium consistent with a prominent crista terminalis. An understanding of the anatomy and the echocardiographic appearance of a prominent crista terminalis will minimize the misdiagnosis of this structure avoiding unnecessary expensive additional tests.

ERRATUM: Propagating Waves Transverse to the Magnetic Field in a Solar Prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Schmieder, B.; Kucera, T. A.; Knizhnik, K.; Luna, M.; Lopez-Ariste, A.; Toot, D.

2014-01-01

We report an unusual set of observations of waves in a large prominence pillar that consist of pulses propagating perpendicular to the prominence magnetic field. We observe a huge quiescent prominence with the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in EUV on 2012 October 10 and only a part of it, the pillar, which is a foot or barb of the prominence, with the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT; in Ca II and Halpha lines), Sac Peak (in Ha, Hß, and Na-D lines), and THEMIS ("Télescope Héliographique pour l' Etude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires") with the MTR (MulTi-Raies) spectropolarimeter (in He D3 line). The THEMIS/MTR data indicates that the magnetic field in the pillar is essentially horizontal and the observations in the optical domain show a large number of horizontally aligned features on a much smaller scale than the pillar as a whole. The data are consistent with a model of cool prominence plasma trapped in the dips of horizontal field lines. The SOT and Sac Peak data over the four hour observing period show vertical oscillations appearing as wave pulses. These pulses, which include a Doppler signature, move vertically, perpendicular to the field direction, along thin quasi-vertical columns in the much broader pillar. The pulses have a velocity of propagation of about 10 km/s, a period of about 300 s, and a wavelength around 2000 km. We interpret these waves in terms of fast magnetosonic waves and discuss possible wave drivers.

The Fate of Cool Material in the Hot Corona: Solar Prominences and Coronal Rain

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Antolin, Patrick; Sun, Xudong; Vial, Jean-Claude; Berger, Thomas

2017-08-01

As an important chain of the chromosphere-corona mass cycle, some of the million-degree hot coronal mass undergoes a radiative cooling instability and condenses into material at chromospheric or transition-region temperatures in two distinct forms - prominences and coronal rain (some of which eventually falls back to the chromosphere). A quiescent prominence usually consists of numerous long-lasting, filamentary downflow threads, while coronal rain consists of transient mass blobs falling at comparably higher speeds along well-defined paths. It remains puzzling why such material of similar temperatures exhibit contrasting morphologies and behaviors. We report recent SDO/AIA and IRIS observations that suggest different magnetic environments being responsible for such distinctions. Specifically, in a hybrid prominence-coronal rain complex structure, we found that the prominence material is formed and resides near magnetic null points that favor the radiative cooling process and provide possibly a high plasma-beta environment suitable for the existence of meandering prominence threads. As the cool material descends, it turns into coronal rain tied onto low-lying coronal loops in a likely low-beta environment. Such structures resemble to certain extent the so-called coronal spiders or cloud prominences, but the observations reported here provide critical new insights. We will discuss the broad physical implications of these observations for fundamental questions, such as coronal heating and beyond (e.g., in astrophysical and/or laboratory plasma environments).

Industrial level measurement techniques - a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaudel, D.E.

1984-01-01

The outlined methods of industrial level measurement technique are nowadays in current use. In correspondence with the technical evolution the mechanical techniques are mentioned first, followed by a description of the more modern electronic methods. These measurement methods comply especially to the requirements of computer aided process guiding systems, i.e. compatibility of signals, self-checking and reliability. (orig.) [de

Brand Mentions in Social Media as a Key Performance Indicator in the German Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry

OpenAIRE

Olga AZARKINA; Monyédodo KPOSSA; Erhard LICK

2014-01-01

This research aims to explore correlations between consumer-generated social media activity and the level of sales of German brands from the fast moving consumer goods industry. In particular, the objective was to examine whether there is a correlation between the number of brand mentions in social media and the sales of these products. The results indicate that the number of brand mentions and sales correlate positively in relation to products from the food and beverages category while this ...

Whole genome microarray analysis of chicken embryo facial prominences

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Buchtová, Marcela; Kuo, W. P.; Nimmagadda, S.; Benson, S. L.; Geetha-Loganathan, P.; Logan, C.; Au-Yeung, T.; Chiang, E.; Fu, K.; Richman, J. M.

2010-01-01

Roč. 239, - (2010), s. 574-591 ISSN 1058-8388 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50450515 Keywords : pharyngeal arch * mandibular arch * maxillary prominence Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.864, year: 2010

The Most Prominent Roles of an ESP Teacher

Science.gov (United States)

Ghafournia, Narjes; Sabet, Shokoofeh Ahmadian

2014-01-01

One prominent feature of many ESP (English for Specific Purposes) courses, which make them rather different from EGP (English for General Purposes) courses, is the presence of adult learners, who are primary workers and secondary learners. As ESP is a highly learner-cantered approach, paying close attention to the multidimensional needs of…

Further Validation of the Coach Identity Prominence Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Pope, J. Paige; Hall, Craig R.

2014-01-01

This study was designed to examine select psychometric properties of the Coach Identity Prominence Scale (CIPS), including the reliability, factorial validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and predictive validity. Coaches (N = 338) who averaged 37 (SD = 12.27) years of age, had a mean of 13 (SD = 9.90) years of coaching experience,…

SOLAR LIMB PROMINENCE CATCHER AND TRACKER (SLIPCAT): AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM AND ITS PRELIMINARY STATISTICAL RESULTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yuming; Cao Hao; Chen Junhong; Zhang Tengfei; Yu Sijie; Zheng Huinan; Shen Chenglong; Wang, S.; Zhang Jie

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present an automated system, which has the capability to catch and track solar limb prominences based on observations from the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) 304 A passband. The characteristic parameters and their evolution, including height, position angle, area, length, and brightness, are obtained without manual interventions. By applying the system to the STEREO-B/SECCHI/EUVI 304 A data during 2007 April-2009 October, we obtain a total of 9477 well-tracked prominences and a catalog of these events available online. A detailed analysis of these prominences suggests that the system has a rather good performance. We have obtained several interesting statistical results based on the catalog. Most prominences appear below the latitude of 60 0 and at the height of about 26 Mm above the solar surface. Most of them are quite stable during the period they are tracked. Nevertheless, some prominences have an upward speed of more than 100 km s -1 , and some others show significant downward and/or azimuthal speeds. There are strong correlations among the brightness, area, and height. The expansion of a prominence is probably one major cause of its fading during the rising or erupting process.

Hydrogen line formation in the quescent prominences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsovookhuu, Ch.

1980-01-01

Equations of transfer and statistical equilibrium for hydronen atom with eight bound levels and continuum are solved simultaneously. A plane-parallel layer located perpendicular to the Sun surface is taken as a geometrical model. Input parameters of the physical model are optical thickness in the center of Hsub(α) line, electron temperature and concentration in the layer center are well as temperature and density gradients. Functions of sources, line profiles, total energies and the Balmer decrements, which are compared with observations and theoretical calculations made by other authors, have been calculated. The comparison shows that the results are quite acceptable and can be used when analyzing the spectrum and determining physical parameters of solar prominences. Dependence of different performances of the line (equivalent width, central intensity, halfwidth, depth of central depression etc.) on values of initial model parameters is investigated. Line halfwidth is more sensitive to the temperatuu value in the layer center, while central intensity - to the value of temperature gradient and a depth of central depression - to electron concentration. Calculated were shares of primary sources responsible for different excitation mechanism depending on total optical thickness as well as mean probabilities of quantum yield out of a medium which can be used during parametric accountancy of radiation diffusion in solar prominences [ru

Microtask crowdsourcing for disease mention annotation in PubMed abstracts.

Science.gov (United States)

Good, Benjamin M; Nanis, Max; Wu, Chunlei; Su, Andrew I

2015-01-01

Identifying concepts and relationships in biomedical text enables knowledge to be applied in computational analyses. Many biological natural language processing (BioNLP) projects attempt to address this challenge, but the state of the art still leaves much room for improvement. Progress in BioNLP research depends on large, annotated corpora for evaluating information extraction systems and training machine learning models. Traditionally, such corpora are created by small numbers of expert annotators often working over extended periods of time. Recent studies have shown that workers on microtask crowdsourcing platforms such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) can, in aggregate, generate high-quality annotations of biomedical text. Here, we investigated the use of the AMT in capturing disease mentions in PubMed abstracts. We used the NCBI Disease corpus as a gold standard for refining and benchmarking our crowdsourcing protocol. After several iterations, we arrived at a protocol that reproduced the annotations of the 593 documents in the 'training set' of this gold standard with an overall F measure of 0.872 (precision 0.862, recall 0.883). The output can also be tuned to optimize for precision (max = 0.984 when recall = 0.269) or recall (max = 0.980 when precision = 0.436). Each document was completed by 15 workers, and their annotations were merged based on a simple voting method. In total 145 workers combined to complete all 593 documents in the span of 9 days at a cost of $.066 per abstract per worker. The quality of the annotations, as judged with the F measure, increases with the number of workers assigned to each task; however minimal performance gains were observed beyond 8 workers per task. These results add further evidence that microtask crowdsourcing can be a valuable tool for generating well-annotated corpora in BioNLP. Data produced for this analysis are available at http://figshare.com/articles/Disease_Mention_Annotation_with_Mechanical_Turk/1126402.

SYNTHETIC HYDROGEN SPECTRA OF OSCILLATING PROMINENCE SLABS IMMERSED IN THE SOLAR CORONA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zapiór, M.; Heinzel, P.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L.

2016-01-01

We study the behavior of H α and H β spectral lines and their spectral indicators in an oscillating solar prominence slab surrounded by the solar corona, using an MHD model combined with a 1D radiative transfer code taken in the line of sight perpendicular to the slab. We calculate the time variation of the Doppler shift, half-width, and maximum intensity of the H α and H β spectral lines for different modes of oscillation. We find a non-sinusoidal time dependence of some spectral parameters with time. Because H α and H β spectral indicators have different behavior for different modes, caused by differing optical depths of formation and different plasma parameter variations in time and along the slab, they may be used for prominence seismology, especially to derive the internal velocity field in prominences.

SYNTHETIC HYDROGEN SPECTRA OF OSCILLATING PROMINENCE SLABS IMMERSED IN THE SOLAR CORONA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zapiór, M.; Heinzel, P. [Astronomical Institute, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 25165 Ondřejov, The Czech Republic (Czech Republic); Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L. [Universitat de les Illes Balears. Cra. de Valldemossa, km 7.5. Palma (Illes Balears), E-07122 (Spain)

2016-08-20

We study the behavior of H α and H β spectral lines and their spectral indicators in an oscillating solar prominence slab surrounded by the solar corona, using an MHD model combined with a 1D radiative transfer code taken in the line of sight perpendicular to the slab. We calculate the time variation of the Doppler shift, half-width, and maximum intensity of the H α and H β spectral lines for different modes of oscillation. We find a non-sinusoidal time dependence of some spectral parameters with time. Because H α and H β spectral indicators have different behavior for different modes, caused by differing optical depths of formation and different plasma parameter variations in time and along the slab, they may be used for prominence seismology, especially to derive the internal velocity field in prominences.

Effects of Mentioning the Incentive Prize in the Email Subject Line on Survey Response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Janke

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Objective – This study examined the effects that mentioning the survey incentive prize in the subject line of a reminder email had on the response rate and data quality. To date, manipulation of the subject line, specifically in terms of mentioning the incentive prize, has received limited attention in the survey design literature. Methods – The delivery of the survey invitation is discussed in terms of the timing of the launch and reminder emails. Particular emphasis is given to the design of the email subject line and justification of the format. Weekly response rates from four LibQUAL+TM surveys were compared. In addition, weekly responses for one year were analyzed using SPSS to investigate if there were any between means differences in terms of three elements of data quality. The three elements were: length of time it took to complete the survey, the number of core questions with an N/A response, and the number of illogical responses where minimum scores were higher than desired. Results – The response rates for the second week were grouped together based on the presence or absence of the subject line manipulation. There was a significant difference between these means (4.75%, p 0.033. There was no statistical difference in regards to the measures of data quality as determined by a one-way ANOVA test. Conclusions – Reminding survey participants with an email that mentions the incentive prize in the subject line appears to increase response rates with no deleterious effects on data quality. The results of this investigation are encouraging, and those running the LibQUAL+TM survey in their universities should consider implementing this method to increase response rates. Further research to replicate these findings in other contexts and using an experimental design would be beneficial.

Using Nonexperts for Annotating Pharmacokinetic Drug-Drug Interaction Mentions in Product Labeling: A Feasibility Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hochheiser, Harry; Ning, Yifan; Hernandez, Andres; Horn, John R; Jacobson, Rebecca; Boyce, Richard D

2016-04-11

Because vital details of potential pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions are often described in free-text structured product labels, manual curation is a necessary but expensive step in the development of electronic drug-drug interaction information resources. The use of nonexperts to annotate potential drug-drug interaction (PDDI) mentions in drug product label annotation may be a means of lessening the burden of manual curation. Our goal was to explore the practicality of using nonexpert participants to annotate drug-drug interaction descriptions from structured product labels. By presenting annotation tasks to both pharmacy experts and relatively naïve participants, we hoped to demonstrate the feasibility of using nonexpert annotators for drug-drug information annotation. We were also interested in exploring whether and to what extent natural language processing (NLP) preannotation helped improve task completion time, accuracy, and subjective satisfaction. Two experts and 4 nonexperts were asked to annotate 208 structured product label sections under 4 conditions completed sequentially: (1) no NLP assistance, (2) preannotation of drug mentions, (3) preannotation of drug mentions and PDDIs, and (4) a repeat of the no-annotation condition. Results were evaluated within the 2 groups and relative to an existing gold standard. Participants were asked to provide reports on the time required to complete tasks and their perceptions of task difficulty. One of the experts and 3 of the nonexperts completed all tasks. Annotation results from the nonexpert group were relatively strong in every scenario and better than the performance of the NLP pipeline. The expert and 2 of the nonexperts were able to complete most tasks in less than 3 hours. Usability perceptions were generally positive (3.67 for expert, mean of 3.33 for nonexperts). The results suggest that nonexpert annotation might be a feasible option for comprehensive labeling of annotated PDDIs across a broader

Prominent extraaxial CSF space on cranial ultrasound in infants: correlation with neurodevelopmental outcome

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Bo Kyung; Lee, Mun Hyang; Yoon, Hye Kyung; Jung, Kyung Jae; Park, Won Soon; Chang, Yun Sil; Kim, Chan Gyo [Sungkyunkwan Univ. School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

1999-08-01

To determine the clinical significance of prominent extra-axial CSF space (EACSFS) in infants, as seen on cranial ultrasound. Between March 1996 and November 1997, all infants who had undergone head ultrasound at our institution and were found to have prominent EACSFS were evaluated. The width of the interhemispheric fissure was measured at three locations at the level of the frontal horn, body and atrium of the lateral ventricles. The depth of the CSF space over the convexity was also measured. The average of these measurements was calculated and each patient was assigned to one of three groups: mild, moderate, or marked. Ultrasound findings were evaluated for other associated abnormalities. Clinical neurodevelopment was evaluated by a pediatric neurologist, and ultrasound and neurodevelopmental findings were correlated. Prominent EACSFS was found in 153 patients, and neurodevelopmental evaluation up to a corrected age of 9 months was available in 133. One hundred and eight of 117 infants with normal neurodevelopment had no other associated abnormality(n=81), or abnormality associated only with grade I subependymal hemorrhage or cyst(n=27). Twelve of 16 infants with an abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome had major abnormalities including PVL, grade IV hemorrhage, and marked ventriculomegaly. Prominent EACSFS alone does not appear to be clinically significant. An abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome is associated with major abnormalities seen on ultrasound. Follow-up examination for prominent EACSFS is not indicated unless the associated abnormality requires further evaluations.

Prominent extraaxial CSF space on cranial ultrasound in infants: correlation with neurodevelopmental outcome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Bo Kyung; Lee, Mun Hyang; Yoon, Hye Kyung; Jung, Kyung Jae; Park, Won Soon; Chang, Yun Sil; Kim, Chan Gyo

1999-01-01

To determine the clinical significance of prominent extra-axial CSF space (EACSFS) in infants, as seen on cranial ultrasound. Between March 1996 and November 1997, all infants who had undergone head ultrasound at our institution and were found to have prominent EACSFS were evaluated. The width of the interhemispheric fissure was measured at three locations at the level of the frontal horn, body and atrium of the lateral ventricles. The depth of the CSF space over the convexity was also measured. The average of these measurements was calculated and each patient was assigned to one of three groups: mild, moderate, or marked. Ultrasound findings were evaluated for other associated abnormalities. Clinical neurodevelopment was evaluated by a pediatric neurologist, and ultrasound and neurodevelopmental findings were correlated. Prominent EACSFS was found in 153 patients, and neurodevelopmental evaluation up to a corrected age of 9 months was available in 133. One hundred and eight of 117 infants with normal neurodevelopment had no other associated abnormality(n=81), or abnormality associated only with grade I subependymal hemorrhage or cyst(n=27). Twelve of 16 infants with an abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome had major abnormalities including PVL, grade IV hemorrhage, and marked ventriculomegaly. Prominent EACSFS alone does not appear to be clinically significant. An abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome is associated with major abnormalities seen on ultrasound. Follow-up examination for prominent EACSFS is not indicated unless the associated abnormality requires further evaluations

Text-mining as a methodology to assess eating disorder-relevant factors: Comparing mentions of fitness tracking technology across online communities.

Science.gov (United States)

McCaig, Duncan; Bhatia, Sudeep; Elliott, Mark T; Walasek, Lukasz; Meyer, Caroline

2018-05-07

Text-mining offers a technique to identify and extract information from a large corpus of textual data. As an example, this study presents the application of text-mining to assess and compare interest in fitness tracking technology across eating disorder and health-related online communities. A list of fitness tracking technology terms was developed, and communities (i.e., 'subreddits') on a large online discussion platform (Reddit) were compared regarding the frequency with which these terms occurred. The corpus used in this study comprised all comments posted between May 2015 and January 2018 (inclusive) on six subreddits-three eating disorder-related, and three relating to either fitness, weight-management, or nutrition. All comments relating to the same 'thread' (i.e., conversation) were concatenated, and formed the cases used in this study (N = 377,276). Within the eating disorder-related subreddits, the findings indicated that a 'pro-eating disorder' subreddit, which is less recovery focused than the other eating disorder subreddits, had the highest frequency of fitness tracker terms. Across all subreddits, the weight-management subreddit had the highest frequency of the fitness tracker terms' occurrence, and MyFitnessPal was the most frequently mentioned fitness tracker. The technique exemplified here can potentially be used to assess group differences to identify at-risk populations, generate and explore clinically relevant research questions in populations who are difficult to recruit, and scope an area for which there is little extant literature. The technique also facilitates methodological triangulation of research findings obtained through more 'traditional' techniques, such as surveys or interviews. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Emerging Dynamic Design Techniques for Mechanical and ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Emerging Dynamic Design Techniques for Mechanical ... through this school to bring about an awareness of the state-of-art of the software and ... those mentioned above, cannot be ensured on the basis of approaches involving numerical.

Solar Prominences Embedded in Flux Ropes: Morphological Features and Dynamics from 3D MHD Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Terradas, J.; Soler, R.; Luna, M.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L.; Wright, A. N.

2016-04-01

The temporal evolution of a solar prominence inserted in a three-dimensional magnetic flux rope is investigated numerically. Using the model of Titov & Démoulin under the regime of weak twist, the cold and dense prominence counteracts gravity by modifying the initially force-free magnetic configuration. In some cases a quasi-stationary situation is achieved after the relaxation phase, characterized by the excitation of standing vertical oscillations. These oscillations show a strong attenuation with time produced by the mechanism of continuum damping due to the inhomogeneous transition between the prominence and solar corona. The characteristic period of the vertical oscillations does not depend strongly on the twist of the flux rope. Nonlinearity is responsible for triggering the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability associated with the vertical oscillations and that eventually produces horizontal structures. Contrary to other configurations in which the longitudinal axis of the prominence is permeated by a perpendicular magnetic field, like in unsheared arcades, the orientation of the prominence along the flux rope axis prevents the development of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities and therefore the appearance of vertical structuring along this axis.

Contribution of nuclear techniques towards a sustainable agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muniz Ugarte, O.

1997-01-01

The papers mentions the main nuclear techniques applied in order to achieve a sustainable agriculture, the technical support given to Cuba by the IAEA mainly in training and in the creation of a infrastructure (Laboratories) to enable the application of nuclear techniques to agricultural research related to soil fertility, plant nutrition and water usage

Prominence modelling: from observed emission measures to temperature profiles

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Anzer, U.; Heinzel, Petr

2008-01-01

Roč. 480, č. 2 (2008), s. 537-542 ISSN 0004-6361 Grant - others:EU(XE) ESA-PECS Project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : Sun * prominences * transition region Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.153, year: 2008

Fascioperichondrial Flap with a Proximal Base Combined with Prominent Ear Surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heval Selman Özkan

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Objective: In this article, we present a personalized surgical technique to relocate a fascioperichondrial flap with a proximal base as an additional measure to improve results and hide sharp edges which frequently occur following traditional otoplasty. Materials and Methods: Fascioperichondrial flap with a proximal base prepared from the dorsal side was transposed to the anterior helix and conchal excision side and secured with stitches to hide visible edges and reinforce Furnas sutures. Nine patients operated for prominent ear deformity using this modification were included in the study and follow-up period was at least 6 months. Conchal mastoid distances were calculated from the superior and middle third of the ears before and after the operation, also in follow-up controls to determine the efficiency of the method. Results: There were no suture extrusions, skin necrosis or infection. The mean difference for both the upper and middle third of the ears were considerably lower (p≤0.05 at the end of six month after the operation. There were no visible skin edges and discomfort described by the patients. Conclusion: Fascioperichondrial flap with a proximal base repositioning to conchal side is an easy procedure that can be applied simply as an adjunct to traditional techniques. Addition of this flap provides an additional tissue to reinforce suture repair and, the results seem to be more durable and strong. Another main advantage of this flap is eliminating the unnatural visible breakpoints in the conchal bowl.

Word-level prominence in Persian: An Experimental Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadeghi, Vahid

2017-12-01

Previous literature on the phonetics of stress in Persian has reported that fundamental frequency is the only reliable acoustic correlate of stress, and that stressed and unstressed syllables are not differentiated from each other in the absence of accentuation. In this study, the effects of lexical stress on duration, overall intensity and spectral tilt were examined in Persian both in the accented and unaccented conditions. Results showed that syllable duration is consistently affected by stress in Persian in both the accented and unaccented conditions across all vowel types. Unlike duration, the results for overall intensity and spectral tilt were significant only in the accented condition, suggesting that measures of intensity are not a correlate of stress in Persian but they are mainly caused by the presence of a pitch movement. The findings are phonologically interpreted as suggesting that word-level prominence in Persian is typologically similar to 'stress accent' languages, in which multiple phonetic cues are used to signal the prominence contrast in the accented condition, and stressed and unstressed syllables are different from each other even when the word is not pitch-accented.

Public hospital quality report awareness: evidence from National and Californian Internet searches and social media mentions, 2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Huesch, Marco D; Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth; Doctor, Jason N

2014-03-11

Publicly available hospital quality reports seek to inform consumers of important healthcare quality and affordability attributes, and may inform consumer decision-making. To understand how much consumers search for such information online on one Internet search engine, whether they mention such information in social media and how positively they view this information. A leading Internet search engine (Google) was the main focus of the study. Google Trends and Google Adwords keyword analyses were performed for national and Californian searches between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 for keywords related to 'top hospital', best hospital', and 'hospital quality', as well as for six specific hospital quality reports. Separately, a proprietary social media monitoring tool was used to investigate blog, forum, social media and traditional media mentions of, and sentiment towards, major public reports of hospital quality in California in 2012. (1) Counts of searches for keywords performed on Google; (2) counts of and (3) sentiment of mentions of public reports on social media. National Google search volume for 75 hospital quality-related terms averaged 610 700 searches per month with strong variation by keyword and by state. A commercial report (Healthgrades) was more commonly searched for nationally on Google than the federal government's Hospital Compare, which otherwise dominated quality-related search terms. Social media references in California to quality reports were generally few, and commercially produced hospital quality reports were more widely mentioned than state (Office of Statewide Healthcare Planning and Development (OSHPD)), or non-profit (CalHospitalCompare) reports. Consumers are somewhat aware of hospital quality based on Internet search activity and social media disclosures. Public stakeholders may be able to broaden their quality dissemination initiatives by advertising on Google or Twitter and using social media interactively with consumers looking

Public hospital quality report awareness: evidence from National and Californian Internet searches and social media mentions, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

Huesch, Marco D; Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth; Doctor, Jason N

2014-01-01

Objectives Publicly available hospital quality reports seek to inform consumers of important healthcare quality and affordability attributes, and may inform consumer decision-making. To understand how much consumers search for such information online on one Internet search engine, whether they mention such information in social media and how positively they view this information. Setting and design A leading Internet search engine (Google) was the main focus of the study. Google Trends and Google Adwords keyword analyses were performed for national and Californian searches between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 for keywords related to ‘top hospital’, best hospital’, and ‘hospital quality’, as well as for six specific hospital quality reports. Separately, a proprietary social media monitoring tool was used to investigate blog, forum, social media and traditional media mentions of, and sentiment towards, major public reports of hospital quality in California in 2012. Primary outcome measures (1) Counts of searches for keywords performed on Google; (2) counts of and (3) sentiment of mentions of public reports on social media. Results National Google search volume for 75 hospital quality-related terms averaged 610 700 searches per month with strong variation by keyword and by state. A commercial report (Healthgrades) was more commonly searched for nationally on Google than the federal government's Hospital Compare, which otherwise dominated quality-related search terms. Social media references in California to quality reports were generally few, and commercially produced hospital quality reports were more widely mentioned than state (Office of Statewide Healthcare Planning and Development (OSHPD)), or non-profit (CalHospitalCompare) reports. Conclusions Consumers are somewhat aware of hospital quality based on Internet search activity and social media disclosures. Public stakeholders may be able to broaden their quality dissemination initiatives by

Tic Tac TOE: Effects of Predictability and Importance on Acoustic Prominence in Language Production

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Duane G.; Arnold, Jennifer E.; Tanenhaus, Michael K.

2008-01-01

Importance and predictability each have been argued to contribute to acoustic prominence. To investigate whether these factors are independent or two aspects of the same phenomenon, naive participants played a verbal variant of Tic Tac Toe. Both importance and predictability contributed independently to the acoustic prominence of a word, but in…

Electron densities in quiescent prominences derived from eclipse observations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jejčič, S.; Heinzel, Petr

2009-01-01

Roč. 254, č. 1 (2009), s. 89-100 ISSN 0038-0938 Grant - others:EU(XE) ESA-PECS project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : prominences quiescent * eclipse observations * visible spectrum Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 3.628, year: 2009

SOLAR PROMINENCES EMBEDDED IN FLUX ROPES: MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND DYNAMICS FROM 3D MHD SIMULATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terradas, J.; Soler, R.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L. [Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca (Spain); Luna, M. [Instituto de Astrofsíca de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Wright, A. N., E-mail: jaume.terradas@uib.es [School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9SS (United Kingdom)

2016-04-01

The temporal evolution of a solar prominence inserted in a three-dimensional magnetic flux rope is investigated numerically. Using the model of Titov and Démoulin under the regime of weak twist, the cold and dense prominence counteracts gravity by modifying the initially force-free magnetic configuration. In some cases a quasi-stationary situation is achieved after the relaxation phase, characterized by the excitation of standing vertical oscillations. These oscillations show a strong attenuation with time produced by the mechanism of continuum damping due to the inhomogeneous transition between the prominence and solar corona. The characteristic period of the vertical oscillations does not depend strongly on the twist of the flux rope. Nonlinearity is responsible for triggering the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability associated with the vertical oscillations and that eventually produces horizontal structures. Contrary to other configurations in which the longitudinal axis of the prominence is permeated by a perpendicular magnetic field, like in unsheared arcades, the orientation of the prominence along the flux rope axis prevents the development of Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities and therefore the appearance of vertical structuring along this axis.

Vaginal orgasm is more prevalent among women with a prominent tubercle of the upper lip.

Science.gov (United States)

Brody, Stuart; Costa, Rui Miguel

2011-10-01

Recent studies have uncovered multiple markers of vaginal orgasm history (unblocked pelvic movement during walking, less use of immature psychological defense mechanisms, greater urethrovaginal space). Other markers (perhaps of prenatal origin) even without obvious mechanistic roles in vaginal orgasm might exist, and a clinical observation led to the novel hypothesis that a prominent tubercle of the upper lip is such a marker. To examine the hypothesis that a prominent tubercle of the upper lip is associated specifically with greater likelihood of experiencing vaginal orgasm (orgasm elicited by penile-vaginal intercourse [PVI] without concurrent masturbation). Women (N = 258, predominantly Scottish) completed an online survey reporting their frequencies of various sexual activities and corresponding orgasms, age, and the prominence of the tubercle of their upper lip. Social desirability response bias was also assessed. Multivariate associations of lip tubercle prominence with vaginal orgasm (ever and past month consistency) and with orgasm by other means. RESULTS.: A prominent and sharply raised lip tubercle was associated with greater odds (odds ratio = 12.3) of ever having a vaginal orgasm, and also with greater past month vaginal orgasm consistency (an effect driven by the women who never had a vaginal orgasm), than less prominent lip tubercle categories. Lip tubercle was not associated with social desirability responding, or with orgasm triggered by masturbation during PVI, solitary or partner clitoral or vaginal masturbation, vibrator, or cunnilingus. The results are discussed in light of the unique nature of vaginal orgasm and the possibility of prenatal developmental influences. © 2011 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Prominent cerebral veins on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in pulmonary embolism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oeztoprak, Bilge [Cumhuriyet University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Sivas (Turkey)

2017-07-15

Clinical applications of susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) are increasing steadily. The aim of this study is to investigate the appearance of cerebral veins on SWI, which is very sensitive to the deoxyhaemoglobin level in vessels, in pulmonary embolism (PE). The cranial SWI images of 19 patients with PE and 22 controls from September 2013 through March 2016 were retrospectively examined for the presence of prominent cerebral veins. MRI findings were correlated with blood oxygen levels. 12 of 19 patients with PE had hypoxemia and SWI images of 11 of these hypoxemic patients depicted prominent cerebral veins in the form of increased number, diameter, and elongation. The mean PaO{sub 2} and SaO{sub 2} in these patients were 48.5 ± 9.1 mmHg and 75.2 ± 8.0 %, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the presence of prominent veins on SWI and hypoxemia (p < 0.05). Of the 7 patients with normal blood oxygen pressure and saturation, 1 also showed an augmented appearance of cerebral veins on SWI. In the presence of neurological symptoms suggestive of an intracranial pathology in patients with PE, a SWI added to the conventional MRI sequences may predict hypoxemia and exclude other intracranial pathologies. (orig.)

Brand Mentions in Social Media as a Key Performance Indicator in the German Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga AZARKINA

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This research aims to explore correlations between consumer-generated social media activity and the level of sales of German brands from the fast moving consumer goods industry. In particular, the objective was to examine whether there is a correlation between the number of brand mentions in social media and the sales of these products. The results indicate that the number of brand mentions and sales correlate positively in relation to products from the food and beverages category while this is not the case with respect to the non-food product category. Hence, marketers need to promote consumer-generated social media activity particularly for food and beverages.

Perceptions of Social Responsibility of Prominent Animal Welfare Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Widmar, Nicole J Olynk; Morgan, Carissa J; Croney, Candace C

2018-01-01

Nonhuman animal welfare is an increasingly important component of consumer expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The extent to which prominent animal welfare or protection organizations may influence people's perceptions of food industry CSR may be related to an organization's perceived social responsibility. Data from an online survey of 300 U.S. residents were used to explore relationships between demographics/lifestyle choices and perceptions of prominent animal welfare organizations (using best-worst scaling methodology). Overall, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was perceived to be the most socially responsible organization analyzed, followed by the Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association (AHA). Results suggest that the perceived social responsibility of animal protection organizations in this study was not strongly linked to personally (financially) supporting them, with 2 exceptions: the perceptions of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and AHA. Improved understanding of the perception of animal welfare or protection organizations can inform decision making by organizations interested in furthering animal welfare causes.

Techniques in polarization physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clausnitzer, G.

1974-01-01

A review of the current status of the technical tools necessary to perform different kinds of polarization experiments is presented, and the absolute and relative accuracy with which data can be obtained is discussed. A description of polarized targets and sources of polarized fast neutrons is included. Applications of polarization techniques to other fields is mentioned briefly. (14 figures, 3 tables, 110 references) (U.S.)

The EU and Climate Change Policy: Law, Politics and Prominence at Different Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad David Damro

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The European Union (EU is a prominent player in the politics of climate change, operating as an authoritative regional actor that influences policy-making at the national and international levels. The EU’s climate change policies are thus subjected to multiple pressures that arise from the domestic politics of its twenty-seven individual member states and the international politics of non-EU states with which it negotiates. Facing these multiple pressures, how and why could such a non-traditional actor develop into a prominent player at different levels of climate change policy-making? This article argues that the EU’s rise to prominence can be understood by tracking a number of historical-legal institutional developments at the domestic and international levels. The article also provides a preliminary investigation of the EU emissions trading scheme, a new institutional mechanism that illustrates the policy pressures arising from different levels.

Point-of-Sale Tobacco Advertising Remains Prominent in Mumbai, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Khariwala, Samir S; Garg, Apurva; Stepanov, Irina; Gupta, Prakash C; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S; Gota, Vikram; Chaturvedi, Pankaj

2016-07-01

In India, a 2003 law ("COPTA") banned tobacco advertising with the exception of "point of sale" and "on-pack" advertising. Given substantial evidence regarding the impact of point of sale advertising (PoS), we analyzed the prevalence of encountering such advertising in Mumbai, India. A survey was conducted of 199 current and recent former tobacco users recruited at the Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai). Enrollees were queried regarding their exposure to tobacco advertising in the last 30 days through multiple media sources. Descriptive epidemiologic techniques were used to characterize the data. Overall, 95% of participants were men and 5% were women (mean age=49 years). All were current tobacco users or quit using all forms of tobacco in the last 60 days. Participants' responses revealed that PoS tobacco advertising had been encountered in the last 30 days for cigarettes (61%), bidis (54%), and smokeless tobacco (59%). Other forms of tobacco advertising were virtually non-existent. PoS tobacco advertising remains prominent and highly visible to consumers in Mumbai, India, indicating corporate exploitation of a loophole in the COPTA legislation. Given the observed compliance with the currently imposed bans, revisions of COPTA to include all forms of tobacco promotion and advertising would be impactful.

The relative cueing power of F0 and duration in German prominence perception

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niebuhr, Oliver; Winkler, Jana

2017-01-01

hierarchy further by putting numbers on the interplay of duration and F0. German listeners indirectly judged through lexical identification the relative prominence levels of two neighboring syllables. Results show that an increase in F0 of between 0.49 and 0.76 st is required to outweigh the prominence...... effect of a 30% increase in duration of a neighboring syllable. These numbers are fairly stable across a large range of absolute F0 and duration levels and hence useful in speech technology....

Beat gestures and prosodic prominence: impact on learning

OpenAIRE

Kushch, Olga

2018-01-01

Previous research has shown that gestures are beneficial for language learning. This doctoral thesis centers on the effects of beat gestures– i.e., hand and arm gestures that are typically associated with prosodically prominent positions in speech - on such processes. Little is known about how the two central properties of beat gestures, namely how they mark both information focus and rhythmic positions in speech, can be beneficial for learning either a first or a second language. The main go...

Collectors of botanical specimens from the flora area mentioned in the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Ib

2009-01-01

Information based on all available sources about full name, nationality, profession, area and period of collection, with whom they are known to have made joint collections, herbaria in which the collections have been deposited etc., for all collectors mentioned in vol. 1-7 of the Flora of Ethiopi...

A relevance vector machine technique for the automatic detection of clustered microcalcifications (Honorable Mention Poster Award)

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Liyang; Yang, Yongyi; Nishikawa, Robert M.

2005-04-01

Microcalcification (MC) clusters in mammograms can be important early signs of breast cancer in women. Accurate detection of MC clusters is an important but challenging problem. In this paper, we propose the use of a recently developed machine learning technique -- relevance vector machine (RVM) -- for automatic detection of MCs in digitized mammograms. RVM is based on Bayesian estimation theory, and as a feature it can yield a decision function that depends on only a very small number of so-called relevance vectors. We formulate MC detection as a supervised-learning problem, and use RVM to classify if an MC object is present or not at each location in a mammogram image. MC clusters are then identified by grouping the detected MC objects. The proposed method is tested using a database of 141 clinical mammograms, and compared with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier which we developed previously. The detection performance is evaluated using the free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) curves. It is demonstrated that the RVM classifier matches closely with the SVM classifier in detection performance, and does so with a much sparser kernel representation than the SVM classifier. Consequently, the RVM classifier greatly reduces the computational complexity, making it more suitable for real-time processing of MC clusters in mammograms.

Holdaway's analysis of the nose prominence of an adult Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The nose prominence was assessed using Holdaway's analysis. Twenty radiographs randomly selected, were retraced to assess for errors. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Student's t‑tests and analysis of variance using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results: The mean value recorded for the nose ...

Head turning as a prominent motor symptom in status epilepticus.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Gerhard; Broessner, Gregor; Unterberger, Iris; Walser, Gerald; Pfausler, Bettina; Trinka, Eugen

2008-06-01

Head and eye turning is frequently observed during seizures. Versions with tonic and/or clonic symptoms can be differentiated from smooth head deviations. Head turning as a prominent symptom of status epilepticus has not previously been reported. We present eight case reports, (7 women/1 man, mean age 41 years, median 41.5, range 10 to 74), of status epilepticus (SE), with head turning as a prominent motor symptom. Six were accompanied by continuous frontal, occipital and temporal ictal epileptiform discharges. Furthermore, two patients had absence status with rhythmic and clonic head versions. While the localizing significance of head turnings in SE is low, in our cases, the direction was away from the discharging hemisphere in all cases of focal SE regardless of whether the turning was classified as version (three cases) or deviation (three cases). In this small series of SE, the classical observation of a patient looking away from the discharging hemisphere is still valid.

77 FR 3779 - Guidance for Industry on Product Name Placement, Size, and Prominence in Advertising and...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-25

... Advertising and Promotional Labeling; Availability AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice... entitled ``Product Name Placement, Size, and Prominence in Advertising and Promotional Labeling.'' The..., prominence, and frequency in promotional labeling and advertising for prescription human and animal drugs and...

Children’s responses to online advergames: the role of persuasion knowledge, brand prominence and game involvement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Reijmersdal, E.; Rozendaal, E.; Buijzen, M.

2011-01-01

This study examined the effects of three factors typically associated with advergames: brand prominence, game involvement, and (limited) persuasion knowledge on cognitive and affective responses. An experiment (N = 104, 7-12 year olds) showed that game involvement and brand prominence influenced

Establishing the Thematic Structure and Investigating the most Prominent Theta Roles Used in Sindhi Language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahid Ali Veesar

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the thematic structure of the Sindhi verbs to find theta roles in the Sindhi language. The study tries to answer the research questions; “What are the thematic structures of Sindhi verbs?” and “What are the prominent theta roles in the Sindhi language?” It examines the argument/thematic structure of Sindhi verbs and also finds the theta roles assigned by the Sindhi verbs to their arguments along with the most prominent theta roles used in the Sindhi language. The data come from the two interviews taken from two young native Sindhi speakers, which consist of 2 hours conversation having 1,669 sentences in natural spoken version of the Sindhi language. Towards the end, it has been found that the Sindhi language has certain theta roles which are assigned by the verbs to their arguments in sentences. Each verb phrase in our data is thus examined and studied in detail in terms of Argument/Thematic structure in order to find theta roles in Sindhi language. Thus, in this regard, each verb phrase (in a sentence has been examined with the help of Carnie’s theoretical framework (Thematic Relation and Theta Roles: 2006 in order to find the prominent theta roles in the Sindhi language. The data have been examined and analysed on the basis of the Carnie’s theoretical framework. The study finds that the Sindhi language has all (09 theta roles which have been proposed by Carnie (2006. It has been found that six prominent theta roles out of nine are used prominently in Sindhi. The six prominent theta roles in Sindhi language are: agent, theme, beneficiary, recipient, locative and goal.

Energy release from a stream of infalling prominence debris on 2011 September 7-8

Science.gov (United States)

Inglis, A. R.; Gilbert, H. R.; Ofman, L.

2017-12-01

In recent years high-resolution and high-cadence EUV imaging has revealed a new phenomenon, impacting prominence debris, where prominence material from failed or partial eruptions can impact the lower atmosphere and release energy. We present a clear example of this phenomenon occurring on 2011 September 7-8. The initial eruption of prominence material was associated with an X1.8-class flare from AR11283, occurring at 22:30 UT on 2011 September 7, resulting in a semi-continuous stream of this material returning to the solar surface between 00:20 - 00:40 UT on 2011 September 8. A substantial area remote from the original active region experienced brightening in multiple EUV channels observed by SDO/AIA. Using the differential emission measure, we estimated the energetic properties of this event. We found that the radiated energy of the impacted plasma was of order 10^27 ergs, while the upper limit on the thermal energy peaked at 10^28 ergs. Based on these estimates we were able to determine the mass content of the debris to be in the range 2x10^14 energy release takes place during these events, and that such impacts may be used as a novel diagnostic tool for investigating prominence material properties.

EUV lines observed with EIS/Hinode in a solar prominence

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Labrosse, N.; Schmieder, B.; Heinzel, Petr; Watanabe, T.

2011-01-01

Roč. 531, July (2011), A69/1-A69/11 ISSN 0004-6361 Grant - others:EU(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.587, year: 2011

Effect of the prominent catalyst layer surface on reactant gas transport and cell performance at the cathodic side of a PEMFC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perng, Shiang-Wuu; Wu, Horng-Wen

2010-01-01

The cell performance enhancement of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been numerically investigated with the prominence-like form catalyst layer surface of the same composition at the cathodic half-cell of a PEMFC. The geometries of the prominence-like form catalyst layer surface are assigned as one prominence, three prominences, and five prominences catalyst layer surfaces with constant distance between two prominences in the same gas diffusion layer (GDL) for the purpose of investigating the cell performance. To confine the current investigation to two-dimensional incompressible flows, we assume that the fluid flow is laminar with a low Reynolds number 15. The results indicate that the prominence-like form catalyst layer surface can effectively enhance the local cell performance of a PEMFC.

Commercial Online Social Network Data and Statin Side-Effect Surveillance: A Pilot Observational Study of Aggregate Mentions on Facebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Huesch, Marco D

2017-12-01

Surveillance of the safety of prescribed drugs after marketing approval has been secured remains fraught with complications. Formal ascertainment by providers and reporting to adverse-event registries, formal surveys by manufacturers, and mining of electronic medical records are all well-known approaches with varying degrees of difficulty, cost, and success. Novel approaches may be a useful adjunct, especially approaches that mine or sample internet-based methods such as online social networks. A novel commercial software-as-a-service data-mining product supplied by Sysomos from Datasift/Facebook was used to mine all mentions on Facebook of statins and stain-related side effects in the US in the 1-month period 9 January 2017 through 8 February 2017. A total of 4.3% of all 25,700 mentions of statins also mentioned typical stain-related side effects. Multiple methodological weaknesses stymie interpretation of this percentage, which is however not inconsistent with estimates that 5-20% of patients taking statins will experience typical side effects at some time. Future work on pharmacovigilance may be informed by this novel commercial tool, but the inability to mine the full text of a posting poses serious challenges to content categorization.

Occupational Portrayal of Men and Women on the Most Frequently Mentioned Television Shows of Preschool Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Shechtman, Stephen A.

The purpose of this study was to assess the distribution of male vs. female occupational portrayals in terms of occupational prestige on the six television shows most frequently mentioned by preschool children. The following shows were viewed and analyzed six times: Sesame Street, Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Batman, Flintstones, and Happy Days.…

The role of prominence in determining the scope of boundary-related lengthening in Greek.

Science.gov (United States)

Katsika, Argyro

2016-03-01

This study aims at examining and accounting for the scope of the temporal effect of phrase boundaries. Previous research has indicated that there is an interaction between boundary-related lengthening and prominence such that the former extends towards the nearby prominent syllable. However, it is unclear whether this interaction is due to lexical stress and/or phrasal prominence (marked by pitch accent) and how far towards the prominent syllable the effect extends. Here, we use an electromagnetic articulography (EMA) study of Greek to examine the scope of boundary-related lengthening as a function of lexical stress and pitch accent separately. Boundaries are elicited by the means of a variety of syntactic constructions.. The results show an effect of lexical stress. Phrase-final lengthening affects the articulatory gestures of the phrase-final syllable that are immediately adjacent to the boundary in words with final stress, but is initiated earlier within phrase-final words with non-final stress. Similarly, the articulatory configurations during inter-phrasal pauses reach their point of achievement later in words with final stress than in words with non-final stress. These effects of stress hold regardless of whether the phrase-final word is accented or de-accented. Phrase-initial lengthening, on the other hand, is consistently detected on the phrase-initial constriction, independently of where the stress is within the preceding, phrase-final, word. These results indicate that the lexical aspect of prominence plays a role in determining the scope of boundary-related lengthening in Greek. Based on these results, a gestural account of prosodic boundaries in Greek is proposed in which lexical and phrasal prosody interact in a systematic and coordinated fashion. The cross-linguistic dimensions of this account and its implications for prosodic structure are discussed.

Relevance of the Mention of Antioxidant Properties in Yogurt Labels: In Vitro Evaluation and Chromatographic Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Eliana; Barros, Lillian; Ferreira, Isabel C F R

2013-06-18

The purpose of the inclusion of fruit (natural additives) in yogurt aims to increase its antioxidant activity and functionality. Herein, a comparative study of the antioxidant potential of yogurts with pieces of various fruits was performed, including yogurts with mention of antioxidant properties in the label. Free radicals scavenging activity, reducing power and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were evaluated by in vitro assays, as were the contents in antioxidants such as phenolics, flavonoids, sugars and tocopherols. After analyzing thirteen yogurts containing fruit pieces and a natural one (control), the most interesting were yogurts with pieces of berries (for phenolics, flavonoids and 2,2-dipheny-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity), pineapple (for reducing power), blackberry (for β-carotene bleaching inhibition), blackberry "antioxidant" (for tocopherols) and cherry (for sugars). The mention of "antioxidant" in the label was relevant for tocopherols, sugars, DPPH scavenging activity and reducing power. No synergisms were observed in yogurts prepared with pieces of different fruits. Nevertheless, the addition of fruit pieces to yogurt was favorable for antioxidant content, increasing the protection of the consumer against diseases related to oxidative stress.

Flotation process control optimisation at Prominent Hill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lombardi, Josephine; Muhamad, Nur; Weidenbach, M.

2012-01-01

OZ Minerals' Prominent Hill copper- gold concentrator is located 130 km south east of the town of Coober Pedy in the Gawler Craton of South Australia. The concentrator was built in 2008 and commenced commercial production in early 2009. The Prominent Hill concentrator is comprised of a conventional grinding and flotation processing plant with a 9.6 Mtpa ore throughput capacity. The flotation circuit includes six rougher cells, an IseMill for regrinding the rougher concentrate and a Jameson cell heading up the three stage conventional cell cleaner circuit. In total there are four level controllers in the rougher train and ten level controllers in the cleaning circuit for 18 cells. Generic proportional — integral and derivative (PID) control used on the level controllers alone propagated any disturbances downstream in the circuit that were generated from the grinding circuit, hoppers, between cells and interconnected banks of cells, having a negative impact on plant performance. To better control such disturbances, FloatStar level stabiliser was selected for installation on the flotation circuit to account for the interaction between the cells. Multivariable control was also installed on the five concentrate hoppers to maintain consistent feed to the cells and to the IsaMill. An additional area identified for optimisation in the flotation circuit was the mass pull rate from the rougher cells. FloatStar flow optimiser was selected to be installed subsequent to the FloatStar level stabiliser. This allowed for a unified, consistent and optimal approach to running the rougher circuit. This paper describes the improvement in the stabilisation of the circuit achieved by the FloatStar level stabiliser by using the interaction matrix between cell level controllers and the results and benefits of implementing the FloatStar flow optimiser on the rougher train.

Magnetohydrodynamic waves in two-dimensional prominences embedded in coronal arcades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terradas, J.; Soler, R.; Díaz, A. J.; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J. L.

2013-01-01

Solar prominence models used so far in the analysis of MHD waves in two-dimensional structures are quite elementary. In this work, we calculate numerically magnetohydrostatic models in two-dimensional configurations under the presence of gravity. Our interest is in models that connect the magnetic field to the photosphere and include an overlying arcade. The method used here is based on a relaxation process and requires solving the time-dependent nonlinear ideal MHD equations. Once a prominence model is obtained, we investigate the properties of MHD waves superimposed on the structure. We concentrate on motions purely two-dimensional, neglecting propagation in the ignorable direction. We demonstrate how, by using different numerical tools, we can determine the period of oscillation of stable waves. We find that vertical oscillations, linked to fast MHD waves, are always stable and have periods in the 4-10 minute range. Longitudinal oscillations, related to slow magnetoacoustic-gravity waves, have longer periods in the range of 28-40 minutes. These longitudinal oscillations are strongly influenced by the gravity force and become unstable for short magnetic arcades.

A model of 'disparitions brusques' (sudden disappearance of eruptive prominences) as an instability driven by MHD waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakai, J.; Nishikawa, K.-I.

1982-04-01

A mode of 'disparitions brusques' (sudden disappearance of eruptive prominences) is discussed based on the Kippenhahn and Schluter configuration. It is shown that Kippenhahn and Schluter's current sheet is very weakly unstable against magnetic reconnecting modes during the lifetime of quiescent prominences. Disturbances in the form of fast magnetosonic waves originating from nearby active regions or the changes of whole magnetic configuration due to newly emerged magnetic flux may trigger a rapid growing instability associated with magnetic field reconnection. This instability gives rise to disruptions of quiescent prominences and also generates high energy particles. (author)

78 FR 69691 - Draft Guidance for Industry on Product Name Placement, Size, and Prominence in Advertising and...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-20

...] Draft Guidance for Industry on Product Name Placement, Size, and Prominence in Advertising and... entitled ``Product Name Placement, Size, and Prominence in Advertising and Promotional Labeling.'' When... promotional labeling and advertising for prescription human drugs, including biological drug products, and...

Techniques for preparing isotopic targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Guoji; Guan Shouren; Luo Xinghua; Sun Shuhua

1987-12-01

The techniques of making isotopic targets for nuclear physics experiments are introduced. Vacuum evaporation, electroplating, centrifugal precipitation, rolling and focused heavy-ion beam sputtering used to prepare various isotopic targets at IAE are described. Reduction-distillation with active metals and electrolytic reduction for converting isotope oxides to metals are mentioned. The stripping processes of producing self-supporting isotopic targets are summarized. The store methods of metallic targets are given

Prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways in patients with portal hypertension: demonstration by gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography; Vias colaterais porto-sistemicas exuberantes em portadores de hipertensao portal: demonstracao pela angiografia por ressonancia magnetica com gadolinio

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caldana, Rogerio Pedreschi; Bezerra, Alexandre Araujo Sergio; Cecin, Alexnadre Oliveira; Souza, Luis Ronan Marques Ferreira de; Goldman, Susan Menasce; D' Ippolito, Giuseppe; Szejnfeld, Jacob [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP/EPM), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Diagnostico por Imagem]. E-mail: rogercal@uol.com.br

2003-03-01

To demonstrate the usefulness of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in the evaluation of prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways. We reviewed the images from 40 patients with portal hypertension studied with gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography and selected illustrative cases of prominent porto-systemic collateral pathways. The scans were performed using high field equipment (1.5 Tesla) and a 3 D volume technique. Image were obtained after intravenous injection of paramagnetic contrast media using a power injector. Magnetic resonance angiography demonstrated with precision the porto-systemic collateral pathways, particularly when investigating extensive territories or large vessels. The cases presented show the potential of this method in the investigation of patients with portal hypertension. Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography is a useful method for the evaluation of patients with portal hypertension and prominent collateral pathways. (author)

The Apparent Critical Decay Index at the Onset of Solar Prominence Eruptions

Science.gov (United States)

Zuccarello, F. P.; Aulanier, G.; Gilchrist, S. A.

2016-04-01

A magnetic flux rope (MFR) embedded in a line-tied external magnetic field that decreases with height as {z}-n is unstable to perturbations if the decay index of the field n is larger than a critical value. The onset of this instability, called torus instability, is one of the main mechanisms that can initiate coronal mass ejections. Since flux ropes often possess magnetic dips that can support prominence plasma, this is also a valuable mechanism to trigger prominence eruptions. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the formation and/or emergence of MFRs suggest a critical value for the onset of the instability in the range [1.4-2]. However, detailed observations of prominences suggest a value in the range [0.9-1.1]. In this Letter, by using a set of MHD simulations, we show why the large discrepancy between models and observations is only apparent. Our simulations indeed show that the critical decay index at the onset of the eruption is n=1.4+/- 0.1 when computed at the apex of the flux rope axis, while it is n=1.1+/- 0.1 when it is computed at the altitude of the topmost part of the distribution of magnetic dips. The discrepancy only arises because weakly twisted curved flux ropes do not have dips up to the altitude of their axis.

From Wilhelm von Humboldt to Hitler-are prominent people more prone to have Parkinson's disease?

Science.gov (United States)

Horowski; Horowski; Calne; Calne

2000-10-01

We describe Parkinsonism in prominent people, where Wilhelm von Humboldt and Adolf Hitler provide just two spectacular, opposing examples. In both of them, there is little if any evidence that the disease did influence their life ambitions, methods of achieving them or cognitive function in general. Thus, Hitler's Parkinsonism should remain a 'footnote' to history, and historians should acknowledge that in his last years, his trembling, his curbed posture, his slow walking, mask-like face and low voice did not indicate remorse, fear or depression as a consequence of his crimes, but were mere expressions of his disease which, until the end, had no impact on his intellectual skills and methods. The apparently higher incidence of Parkinsonism in prominent people may be just due to their higher visibility, or a consequence of disease-related personality traits (e.g. ambition, perfectionism, rigidity) which may contribute to becoming, e.g., a prominent authoritarian person. Perhaps even some early behaviour pattern (such as repressed emotions or acting in public-which could even increase the risk of some infection) contributes to a greater vulnerability for developing Parkinsonism. Further studying other prominent cases might lead us to better understanding of risk factors and the expression of early Parkinsonism.

Three-Dimensional Morphology of a Coronal Prominence Cavity

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, S. E.; Kucera, T. A.; Rastawicki, D.; Dove, J.; deToma, G.; Hao, J.; Hill, S.; Hudson, H. S.; Marque, C.; McIntosh, P. S.;

Relevance of the Mention of Antioxidant Properties in Yogurt Labels: In Vitro Evaluation and Chromatographic Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliana Pereira

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the inclusion of fruit (natural additives in yogurt aims to increase its antioxidant activity and functionality. Herein, a comparative study of the antioxidant potential of yogurts with pieces of various fruits was performed, including yogurts with mention of antioxidant properties in the label. Free radicals scavenging activity, reducing power and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were evaluated by in vitro assays, as were the contents in antioxidants such as phenolics, flavonoids, sugars and tocopherols. After analyzing thirteen yogurts containing fruit pieces and a natural one (control, the most interesting were yogurts with pieces of berries (for phenolics, flavonoids and 2,2-dipheny-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH scavenging activity, pineapple (for reducing power, blackberry (for β-carotene bleaching inhibition, blackberry “antioxidant” (for tocopherols and cherry (for sugars. The mention of “antioxidant” in the label was relevant for tocopherols, sugars, DPPH scavenging activity and reducing power. No synergisms were observed in yogurts prepared with pieces of different fruits. Nevertheless, the addition of fruit pieces to yogurt was favorable for antioxidant content, increasing the protection of the consumer against diseases related to oxidative stress.

MUC2 is the prominent colonic mucin expressed in ulcerative colitis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tytgat, K. M.; Opdam, F. J.; Einerhand, A. W.; Büller, H. A.; Dekker, J.

1996-01-01

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that MUC2 is the prominent mucin synthesised in healthy colon. AIM: To identify the predominant mucins in ulcerative colitis (UC) and to study their biosynthesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mucin was purified from UC resection specimens. This mucin on sodium dodecylsulphate

Orthodontic treatment for prominent lower front teeth (Class III malocclusion) in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Watkinson, Simon; Harrison, Jayne E; Furness, Susan; Worthington, Helen V

2013-09-30

Prominent lower front teeth (termed reverse bite; under bite; Class III malocclusion) may be due to a combination of the jaw or tooth positions or both. The upper jaw (maxilla) can be too far back or the lower jaw (mandible) too far forward, or both. Prominent lower front teeth can also occur if the upper front teeth (incisors) are tipped back or the lower front teeth are tipped forwards, or both. Various treatment approaches have been described to correct prominent lower front teeth in children and adolescents. To assess the effects of orthodontic treatment for prominent lower front teeth in children and adolescents. We searched the following databases: Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register (to 7 January 2013), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 12), MEDLINE via OVID (1946 to 7 January 2013), and EMBASE via OVID (1980 to 7 January 2013). Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) recruiting children or adolescents or both (aged 16 years or less) receiving any type of orthodontic treatment to correct prominent lower front teeth (Class III malocclusion). Orthodontic treatments were compared with control groups who received either no treatment, delayed treatment or a different active intervention. Screening of references, identification of included and excluded studies, data extraction and assessment of the risk of bias of the included studies was performed independently and in duplicate by two review authors. The mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for continuous data. Meta-analysis was only undertaken when studies of similar comparisons reported comparable outcome measures. A fixed-effect model was used. The I2 statistic was used as a measure of statistical heterogeneity. Seven RCTs with a total of 339 participants were included in this review. One study was assessed as at low risk of bias, three studies were at high risk of bias, and in the remaining three studies risk of bias

Exploring Traditional Glass Bead Making Techniques in Jewellery ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Exploring traditional glass bead making techniques in jewellery in some prominent areas in Ghana is a means to exposing the area for metal and ceramic artists and other related fields of discipline such as aesthetics and criticism to complement their form of ... Keywords: livelihood, vitreous, glass bottles, furnace, threading ...

The explicit mentioning of reporting guidelines in urogynecology journals in 2013: A bibliometric study.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Marianne; Riss, Paul; Umek, Wolfgang; Hanzal, Engelbert

2016-03-01

Poor reporting of research may limit critical appraisal and reproducibility, whereas adherence to reporting guidelines (RG) can guarantee completeness and transparency. We aimed to determine the explicit citing of RGs (CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE) in urogynecology articles in 2013, the requirements of relevant journals and a potential difference between urogynecology and general gynecology journals. All urogynecologic articles published between January and December 2013 in the journals NAU, IUJ, FPMRS, GREEN, AJOG, and BJOG were included. Issues were searched for systematic reviews, RCTs, cohort studies, case-control studies and cross-sectional studies. Each electronic article was searched for the term PRISMA, CONSORT, or STROBE according to the study design. Instructions to Authors of the six journals were screened for requirement of using RGs. We included 296 articles (243 observational studies, 40 RCTs, and 13 systematic reviews). The use of PRISMA guidelines was explicitly declared in 54% of systematic reviews, CONSORT guidelines were referenced in 25% of RCTs and STROBE in 1.2% of observational studies. The use of CONSORT is required by all journals except FPMRS. PRISMA and STROBE are only compulsory in the journals GREEN, AJOG, and BJOG. The overall rate of explicit mentioning of RGs comparing urogynecology and general gynecology journals was 6.7% versus 7.1%, respectively. The explicit mentioning of RGs was on a relatively low level. A slightly higher adherence was recognized among general gynecology journals compared to urogynecology journals. Stronger efforts should be taken to further promote the use of RGs in urogynecology. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Open questions on prominences from coordinated observations by IRIS, Hinode, SDO/AIA, THEMIS, and the Meudon/MSDP

Science.gov (United States)

Schmieder, B.; Tian, H.; Kucera, T.; López Ariste, A.; Mein, N.; Mein, P.; Dalmasse, K.; Golub, L.

2014-09-01

Context. A large prominence was observed by multiple instruments on the ground and in space during an international campaign on September 24, 2013, for three hours (12:12 UT -15:12 UT). Instruments used in the campaign included the newly launched (June 2013) Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), THEMIS (Tenerife), the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), the Solar Dynamic Observatory's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA), and the Multichannel Subtractive Double Pass spectrograph (MSDP) in the Meudon Solar Tower. The movies obtained in 304 Å with the EUV imager SDO/AIA, and in Ca II line by SOT show the dynamic nature of the prominence. Aims: The aim of this work is to study the dynamics of the prominence fine structures in multiple wavelengths to understand their formation. Methods: The spectrographs IRIS and MSDP provided line profiles with a high cadence in Mg II h (2803.5 Å) and k (2796.4 Å) lines along four slit positions (IRIS), and in Hα in a 2D field of view (MSDP). The spectropolarimetry of THEMIS (Tenerife) allowed us to derive the magnetic field of the prominence using the He D3 line depolarization (Hanle effect combined with the Zeeman effect). Results: The magnetic field is found to be globally horizontal with a relatively weak field strength (8-15 Gauss). On the other hand, the Ca II movie reveals turbulent-like motion that is not organized in specific parts of the prominence. We tested the addition of a turbulent magnetic component. This model is compatible with the polarimetric observations at those places where the plasma turbulence peaks. On the other hand, the Mg II line profiles show multiple peaks well separated in wavelength. This is interpreted by the existence of small threads along the line of sight with a large dispersion of discrete values of Doppler shifts, from 5 km s-1 (a quasi-steady component) to 60-80 km s-1. Each peak corresponds to a Gaussian profile, and not to a reversed profile as was expected by the present non

Management of science technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bae, Byeong Han; Lee, Gap Du

2002-08-01

This book mentions change of environment and management of technique, business environment in information age technology and management such as classification of technology, innovation of technology and meaning of technology management, item innovation and technology about meaning of item development, innovation and item development, creation of item concept and item development, process of product innovation, product activity, product innovation product innovation and technology, development of product innovation, technology and marketing innovation, innovation of skill of marketing information system and globalization.

Nuclear techniques in groundwater hydrology and their application in the country

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raju, K.C.B.

1982-01-01

Two main branches of isotope hydrology, namely, environmental isotope hydrology and artificial isotope hydrology are briefly described. At present these techniques are used in a limited way in India. Some of the applications of these techniques in India are mentioned. They include: (1) dating of groundwater, (2) determining recharge values of formations, and (3) studying flow characteristics of acquifers. (M.G.B.)

Magnetic field vector and electron density diagnostics from linear polarization measurements in 14 solar prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Bommier, V.

1986-01-01

The Hanle effect is the modification of the linear polarization parameters of a spectral line due to the effect of the magnetic field. It has been successfully applied to the magnetic field vector diagnostic in solar prominences. The magnetic field vector is determined by comparing the measured polarization to the polarization computed, taking into account all the polarizing and depolarizing processes in line formation and the depolarizing effect of the magnetic field. The method was applied to simultaneous polarization measurements in the Helium D3 line and in the hydrogen beta line in 14 prominences. Four polarization parameters are measured, which lead to the determination of the three coordinates of the magnetic field vector and the electron density, owing to the sensitivity of the hydrogen beta line to the non-negligible effect of depolarizing collisions with electrons and protons of the medium. A mean value of 1.3 x 10 to the 10th power cu. cm. is derived in 14 prominences.

Estimate-Merge-Technique-based algorithms to track an underwater ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

D V A N Ravi Kumar

2017-07-04

Jul 4, 2017 ... In this paper, two novel methods based on the Estimate Merge Technique ... mentioned advantages of the proposed novel methods is shown by carrying out Monte Carlo simulation in .... equations are converted to sequential equations to make ... estimation error and low convergence time) at feasibly high.

Self-presentation in Online Professional Networks: Men's Higher and Women's Lower Facial Prominence in Self-created Profile Images.

Science.gov (United States)

Sczesny, Sabine; Kaufmann, Michèle C

2017-01-01

Men are presented with higher facial prominence than women in the media, a phenomenon that is called face-ism . In naturalistic settings, face-ism effects could be driven by gender biases of photographers and/or by gender differences in self-presentation. The present research is the first to investigate whether women and men themselves create this different facial prominence. In a controlled laboratory study, 61 participants prepared a picture of themselves from a half-body photograph, allegedly to be uploaded to their profile for an online professional network. As expected, men cropped their photos with higher facial prominence than women did. However, women and men did not differ in the self-presentational motivations, goals, strategies, and personality variables under investigation, so that the observed face-ism effect could not be explained with these variables. Generally, the higher participants' physical appearance self-esteem, the higher was their self-created facial prominence.

Industrial radiography techniques and their applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wamorkar, R.R.

1981-01-01

Various aspects of industrial radiography are discussed. These include: radiation sources, geometrical unsharpness of image, radiation attenuation in the specimen, radiation effect of film, types of film, intensifying screens, exposure time calculations, source to film distance and sensivitity. Radiography techniques for examination of welded joints on flat plate and pipes or cylindrical objects, and castings are indicated. Applications of radiography in various industries are mentioned. (M.G.B.)

Relevance of the Mention of Antioxidant Properties in Yogurt Labels: In Vitro Evaluation and Chromatographic Analysis

OpenAIRE

Pereira, Eliana; Barros, Lillian; Ferreira, Isabel C. F. R.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the inclusion of fruit (natural additives) in yogurt aims to increase its antioxidant activity and functionality. Herein, a comparative study of the antioxidant potential of yogurts with pieces of various fruits was performed, including yogurts with mention of antioxidant properties in the label. Free radicals scavenging activity, reducing power and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were evaluated by in vitro assays, as were the contents in antioxidants such as phenolics, flavon...

DYNAMICS OF A SOLAR PROMINENCE TORNADO OBSERVED BY SDO/AIA ON 2012 NOVEMBER 7–8

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mghebrishvili, Irakli; Zaqarashvili, Teimuraz V.; Kukhianidze, Vasil; Ramishvili, Giorgi [Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory at Ilia State University, University St. 2, Tbilisi, Georgia (United States); Shergelashvili, Bidzina [Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstrasse 6, A-8042 Graz (Austria); Veronig, Astrid [IGAM-Kanzelhöhe Observatory, Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, A-8010 Graz (Austria); Poedts, Stefaan, E-mail: teimuraz.zaqarashvili@oeaw.ac.at [Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, Celestijnenlaan 200B, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

2015-09-10

We study the detailed dynamics of a solar prominence tornado using time series of 171, 304, 193, and 211 Å spectral lines obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly during 2012 November 7–8. The tornado first appeared at 08:00 UT, November 07, near the surface, gradually rose upwards with the mean speed of ∼1.5 km s{sup −1} and persisted over 30 hr. Time–distance plots show two patterns of quasi-periodic transverse displacements of the tornado axis with periods of 40 and 50 minutes at different phases of the tornado evolution. The first pattern occurred during the rising phase and can be explained by the upward motion of the twisted tornado. The second pattern occurred during the later stage of evolution when the tornado already stopped rising and could be caused either by MHD kink waves in the tornado or by the rotation of two tornado threads around a common axis. The later hypothesis is supported by the fact that the tornado sometimes showed a double structure during the quasi-periodic phase. 211 and 193 Å spectral lines show a coronal cavity above the prominence/tornado, which started expansion at ∼13:00 UT and continuously rose above the solar limb. The tornado finally became unstable and erupted together with the corresponding prominence as coronal mass ejection (CME) at 15:00 UT, November 08. The final stage of the evolution of the cavity and the tornado-related prominence resembles the magnetic breakout model. On the other hand, the kink instability may destabilize the twisted tornado, and consequently prominence tornadoes can be used as precursors for CMEs.

Prominent papilla of vater at CT: differentiation between benign and malignant lesion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Sun Won; Han, Joon Koo; Choi, Byung Ihn and others

1998-01-01

To establish the criteria for differential diagnosis between malignant tumor and benign prominence of papilla of Vater, as seen on CT. Sixteen consecutive patients with prominent patilla of Vater, as seen on CT during a ten-month period were included in this study. Final diagnosis was papilla of Vater cancer (n=3D5), chronic inflammation (n=3D3), benign tumor (n=3D3), or and normal (n=3D5), and this was confirmed by surgery in 11 cases, and endoscopy in five. Papilla size and attenuation, the presence of accompanied dilatation of the bile or pancreatic duct, and lymph node enlargement were analyzed by two experienced radiologists, who reached a concensus. A past history of stone disease, laboratory findings such as serum bilirubin, serum alkaline phosphatase, or endoscopic findings of duodenal diverticulum were additionally analyzed. Papilla size was the only significantly different CT finding between malignant and benign lesions, and serum alkaline phosphatase levels were also significantly different between the two groups. The smallest malignant tumor was 18 mm and the largest benign lesion was 15 mm. The presence of bile or pancreatic duct dilatation, serum bilirubin level, attenuation of the mass, a history of stone disease, and lymph node enlargement were not significantly different between the two groups. In patients with prominent papilla of Vater, as seen on CT, a mass larger than 18 mm is the only reliable radiologic finding to indicate malignant tumor of papilla of Vater. Serum alkaline phosphatase levels can, in addition, be helpful for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions.=20

Physics of Solar Prominences: I-Spectral Diagnostics and Non-LTE Modelling

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Labrosse, N.; Heinzel, Petr; Vial, J. C.; Kucera, T.; Parenti, S.; Gunár, Stanislav; Schmieder, B.; Kilper, G.

2010-01-01

Roč. 151, č. 4 (2010), s. 243-332 ISSN 0038-6308 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/07/1100 Grant - others:ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : solar prominences * spectroscopy * radiative transfer Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 4.433, year: 2010

On the Visibility of Prominence Fine Structures at Radio Millimeter Wavelengths

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Heinzel, Petr; Berlicki, Arkadiusz; Bárta, Miroslav; Karlický, Marian; Rudawy, P.

2015-01-01

Roč. 290, č. 7 (2015), s. 1981-2000 ISSN 0038-0938 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/12/0906; GA ČR GAP209/12/0103; GA ČR GA13-24782S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : prominences * quiescent * radio emission Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 2.862, year: 2015

Self-presentation in Online Professional Networks: Men's Higher and Women's Lower Facial Prominence in Self-created Profile Images

Science.gov (United States)

Sczesny, Sabine; Kaufmann, Michèle C.

2018-01-01

Men are presented with higher facial prominence than women in the media, a phenomenon that is called face-ism. In naturalistic settings, face-ism effects could be driven by gender biases of photographers and/or by gender differences in self-presentation. The present research is the first to investigate whether women and men themselves create this different facial prominence. In a controlled laboratory study, 61 participants prepared a picture of themselves from a half-body photograph, allegedly to be uploaded to their profile for an online professional network. As expected, men cropped their photos with higher facial prominence than women did. However, women and men did not differ in the self-presentational motivations, goals, strategies, and personality variables under investigation, so that the observed face-ism effect could not be explained with these variables. Generally, the higher participants' physical appearance self-esteem, the higher was their self-created facial prominence. PMID:29387029

Self-presentation in Online Professional Networks: Men's Higher and Women's Lower Facial Prominence in Self-created Profile Images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabine Sczesny

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Men are presented with higher facial prominence than women in the media, a phenomenon that is called face-ism. In naturalistic settings, face-ism effects could be driven by gender biases of photographers and/or by gender differences in self-presentation. The present research is the first to investigate whether women and men themselves create this different facial prominence. In a controlled laboratory study, 61 participants prepared a picture of themselves from a half-body photograph, allegedly to be uploaded to their profile for an online professional network. As expected, men cropped their photos with higher facial prominence than women did. However, women and men did not differ in the self-presentational motivations, goals, strategies, and personality variables under investigation, so that the observed face-ism effect could not be explained with these variables. Generally, the higher participants' physical appearance self-esteem, the higher was their self-created facial prominence.

Total mass of six quiescent prominences estimated from their multi-spectral observations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Schwartz, Pavol; Heinzel, Petr; Kotrč, Pavel; Fárník, František; Kupryakov, Yu. A.; DeLuca, E. E.; Golub, L.

2015-01-01

Roč. 574, February (2015), A62/1-A62/18 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/12/0906 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

Clinical Mass Spectrometry: Achieving Prominence in Laboratory Medicine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Annesley, Thomas M.; Cooks, Robert G.; Herold, David A.; Hoofnagle, Andrew N.

2016-01-04

Each year the journal Clinical Chemistry publishes a January special issue on a topic that is relevant to the laboratory medicine community. In January 2016 the topic is mass spectrometry, and the issue is entitled “Clinical Mass Spectrometry: Achieving Prominence in Laboratory Medicine”. One popular feature in our issues is a Q&A on a topic, clearly in this case mass spectrometry. The journal is assembling a panel of 5-6 experts from various areas of mass spectrometry ranging from instrument manufacturing to practicing clinical chemists. Dick Smith is one of the scientist requested to participate in this special issue Q&A on Mass Spectrometry. The Q&A Transcript is attached

Synthetic Hydrogen Spectra of Oscillating Prominence Slabs Immersed in the Solar Corona

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Zapiór, Maciej; Oliver, R.; Ballester, J.L.; Heinzel, Petr

2016-01-01

Roč. 827, č. 2 (2016), 131/1-131/7 ISSN 0004-637X R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-18495S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 5.533, year: 2016

Policy and process of innovation in techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, In Su; Lee, Jin Ju

1982-09-01

This book mentions policy and process of innovation in techniques, which deals with introduction, macroscopic analysis of development of science and technology including analysis of existing research about system of development on science and technology and new development system of science and technology, macroscopic analysis of development of science and technology of Korea. It also indicates innovation of technology in Korean industry with various access.

The lattice dynamics of six prominent B.C.C. transition metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brescansin, L.M.; Padial, N.T.; Shukla, M.M.

1975-01-01

The frequency versus wave vector dispersion relations along the three principal symmetry directions, [xi00], [xixi0] and [xixixi], of six prominent body centered cubic transition metals, namely that of molybdenum, α-iron, tungsten, tantalum, niobium and that of chromium, have been computed on the basis of a phenomenological model. The calculated results are in very good agreements to the experimental findings

Perceptual evaluation of corpus-based speech synthesis techniques in under-resourced environments

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Niekerk, DR

2009-11-01

Full Text Available With the increasing prominence and maturity of corpus-based techniques for speech synthesis, the process of system development has in some ways been simplified considerably. However, the dependence on sufficient amounts of relevant speech data...

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A HOT-CHANNEL-LIKE SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX ROPE AND ITS EMBEDDED PROMINENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheng, X.; Ding, M. D.; Zhang, J.; Guo, Y.; Chen, P. F.; Sun, J. Q.; Srivastava, A. K.

2014-01-01

A magnetic flux rope (MFR) is a coherent and helical magnetic field structure that has recently been found likely to appear as an elongated hot channel prior to a solar eruption. In this Letter, we investigate the relationship between the hot channel and the associated prominence through analysis of a limb event on 2011 September 12. In the early rise phase, the hot channel was initially cospatial with the prominence. It then quickly expanded, resulting in a separation of the top of the hot channel from that of the prominence. Meanwhile, they both experienced an instantaneous morphology transformation from a Λ shape to a reversed-Y shape and the top of these two structures showed an exponential increase in height. These features are a good indication of the occurrence of kink instability. Moreover, the onset of kink instability is found to coincide in time with the impulsive enhancement of flare emission underneath the hot channel, suggesting that ideal kink instability likely also plays an important role in triggering fast flare reconnection besides initiating the impulsive acceleration of the hot channel and distorting its morphology. We conclude that the hot channel is most likely the MFR system and the prominence only corresponds to the cool materials that are collected in the bottom of the helical field lines of the MFR against gravity

Infertility and surrogacy first mentioned on a 4000-year-old Assyrian clay tablet of marriage contract in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Turp, Ahmet Berkiz; Guler, Ismail; Bozkurt, Nuray; Uysal, Aysel; Yilmaz, Bulent; Demir, Mustafa; Karabacak, Onur

2018-01-01

Mankind has been expressing the breeding topic for thousands of years. Reproduction is the primary instinct of human beings and it is a social, cultural, medical issue. Demographic infertility is one of them, which is defined infertility as the inability to become pregnant with a live birth, within five years of regular sexual contact based upon a consistent union status in marriage maintaining a desire for a child with the lack of contraceptive use and non-lactating. A first mentions about infertility and surrogacy is discovered on a 4000-year-old clay tablet of marriage contract belonging to the Assyrian period exhibited at Istanbul Archeology Museum in Turkey. In conclusion, there are many different ways to solve infertility problems like surrogacy as mentioned even 4000 years ago in this Assyrian clay tablet of marriage contract as the first time in the literature. Medical treatments in relation to human infertility will continue to be the focus of social and cultural debates. Hence, more legislation and regulation will come in many countries to control the unauthorized exploitation of the patient.

Effects of risk disclosure prominence in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs: An integrative cognitive process model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Ilwoo; Park, Jin Seong

2018-01-01

The literature shows that the prominence of risk disclosure influences consumer responses to direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. However, little is known about the psychological process whereby disclosure prominence exerts its influences on health beliefs and behavior. Based on a review of the literature on health cognition and behavior, the current study proposed and tested a model to show that risk disclosure prominence affects consumers' drug choice intention through the mediating roles of awareness of drug adverse reactions (ARs), perceived control over ARs, and perceived risk of ARs. The findings were discussed in terms of their theoretical and managerial implications.

A SOLAR TORNADO OBSERVED BY AIA/SDO: ROTATIONAL FLOW AND EVOLUTION OF MAGNETIC HELICITY IN A PROMINENCE AND CAVITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Xing; Morgan, Huw; Leonard, Drew; Jeska, Lauren, E-mail: xxl@aber.ac.uk [Sefydliad Mathemateg a Ffiseg, Prifysgol Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru SY23 3BZ (United Kingdom)

2012-06-20

During 2011 September 24, as observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument of the Solar Dynamic Observatory and ground-based H{alpha} telescopes, a prominence and associated cavity appeared above the southwest limb. On 2011 September 25 8:00 UT, material flows upward from the prominence core along a narrow loop-like structure, accompanied by a rise ({>=}50,000 km) of the prominence core and the loop. As the loop fades by 10:00, small blobs and streaks of varying brightness rotate around the top part of the prominence and cavity, mimicking a cyclone. The most intense and coherent rotation lasts for over three hours, with emission in both hot ({approx}1 MK) and cold (hydrogen and helium) lines. We suggest that the cyclonic appearance and overall evolution of the structure can be interpreted in terms of the expansion of helical structures into the cavity, and the movement of plasma along helical structures which appears as a rotation when viewed along the helix axis. The coordinated movement of material between prominence and cavity suggests that they are structurally linked. Complexity is great due to the combined effect of these actions and the line-of-sight integration through the structure which contains tangled fields.

Privacy-aware knowledge discovery novel applications and new techniques

CERN Document Server

Bonchi, Francesco

2010-01-01

Covering research at the frontier of this field, Privacy-Aware Knowledge Discovery: Novel Applications and New Techniques presents state-of-the-art privacy-preserving data mining techniques for application domains, such as medicine and social networks, that face the increasing heterogeneity and complexity of new forms of data. Renowned authorities from prominent organizations not only cover well-established results-they also explore complex domains where privacy issues are generally clear and well defined, but the solutions are still preliminary and in continuous development. Divided into seve

A self-consistent model of a thermally balanced quiescent prominence in magnetostatic equilibrium in a uniform gravitational field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lerche, I.; Low, B.C.

1977-01-01

A theoretical model of quiescent prominences in the form of an infinite vertical sheet is presented. Self-consistent solutions are obtained by integrating simultaneously the set of nonlinear equations of magnetostatic equilibrium and thermal balance. The basic features of the models are: (1) The prominence matter is confined to a sheet and supported against gravity by a bowed magnetic field. (2) The thermal flux is channelled along magnetic field lines. (3) The thermal flux is everywhere balanced by Low's (1975) hypothetical heat sink which is proportional to the local density. (4) A constant component of the magnetic field along the length of the prominence shields the cool plasma from the hot surrounding. It is assumed that the prominence plasma emits more radiation than it absorbes from the radiation fields of the photosphere, chromosphere and corona, and the above hypothetical heat sink is interpreted to represent the amount of radiative loss that must be balanced by a nonradiative energy input. Using a central density and temperature of 10 11 particles cm -3 and 5000 K respectively, a magnetic field strength between 2 to 10 gauss and a thermal conductivity that varies linearly with temperature, the physical properties implied by the model are discussed. The analytic treatment can also be carried out for a class of more complex thermal conductivities. These models provide a useful starting point for investigating the combined requirements of magnetostatic equilibrium and thermal balance in the quiescent prominence. (Auth.)

Non-LTE modelling of prominence fine structures using hydrogen Lyman-line profiles

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Schwartz, Pavol; Gunár, S.; Curdt, W.

2015-01-01

Roč. 577, May (2015), A92/1-A92/10 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/12/0906 Grant - others:SAV(SK) VEGA 2/0108/12 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

Physical and technical performances are not associated with tactical prominence in U14 soccer matches.

Science.gov (United States)

Clemente, Filipe Manuel; Figueiredo, António José; Martins, Fernando Manuel Lourenço; Mendes, Rui Sousa; Wong, Del P

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyse the association between physical/technical variables and the tactical prominence variables in U14 soccer matches. Twenty-two young amateur soccer players (13.5 [Formula: see text] 0.5 years old, 5.4 [Formula: see text] 0.5 years of practice, 163.3 [Formula: see text] 9.8 cm in body height) from two teams of the Portuguese regional league volunteered for the study. Our results showed positive and moderate correlation between dribbling test and betweenness centrality (r = 0.324; p = 0.142), and negative moderate correlation between %fatigue index and betweenness centrality (r = -0.390; p = 0.073). Physical and technical variables had no statistical differences among tactical positions. Nevertheless, when tactical prominence of players from four tactical positions were compared, significant differences were found in terms of degree prestige (p = 0.001) and degree centrality (p = 0.002). This pilot study did not find strong correlations between physical/technical levels and tactical prominence in soccer matches.

Use of partial dissolution techniques in geochemical exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Chao, T.T.

1984-01-01

Application of partial dissolution techniques to geochemical exploration has advanced from an early empirical approach to an approach based on sound geochemical principles. This advance assures a prominent future position for the use of these techniques in geochemical exploration for concealed mineral deposits. Partial dissolution techniques are classified as single dissolution or sequential multiple dissolution depending on the number of steps taken in the procedure, or as "nonselective" extraction and as "selective" extraction in terms of the relative specificity of the extraction. The choice of dissolution techniques for use in geochemical exploration is dictated by the geology of the area, the type and degree of weathering, and the expected chemical forms of the ore and of the pathfinding elements. Case histories have illustrated many instances where partial dissolution techniques exhibit advantages over conventional methods of chemical analysis used in geochemical exploration. ?? 1984.

Reconstruction of a helical prominence in 3D from IRIS spectra and images

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Schmieder, B.; Zapiór, Maciej; Ariste, A.L.; Levens, P.; Labrosse, N.; Gravet, R.

2017-01-01

Roč. 606, October (2017), A30/1-A30/13 E-ISSN 1432-0746 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy , Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 5.014, year: 2016

Gamma, X-ray and neutron techniques for the coal industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-01-01

Nuclear techniques play a prominent role in all aspects of the coal industry, from exploration through mine development to testing of coal quality during production. The advent of on-line nuclear techniques allows continuous, near real time appraisal of coal quality free from the errors inherent in conventional techniques based on discrete samples. The Advisory Group Meeting reviews the latest developments in this area and makes recommendations on the most promising areas and priorities for future research and development activities. This report records the proceedings of the Advisory Group Meeting. Separate abstracts were prepared for each of the 13 papers in this report

The Effect of Mnemonic and Mapping Techniques on L2 Vocabulary Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Ali Zarei

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study investigated the effects of selected presentation techniques including the keyword method, the peg word method, the loci method, argument mapping, concept mapping and mind mapping on L2 vocabulary comprehension and production. To this end, a sample of 151 Iranian female students from a public pre-university school in Islam Shahr was selected. They were assigned to six groups. Each group was randomly assigned to one of the afore-mentioned treatment conditions. After the experimental period, two post-tests in multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks formats were administered to assess the participants’ vocabulary comprehension and production. Two independent One-Way ANOVA procedures were used to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that the differences among the effects of the above-mentioned techniques were statistically significant in both vocabulary comprehension and production. These findings can have implications for learners, teachers, and materials’ developers.

Speech Impact Realization via Manipulative Argumentation Techniques in Modern American Political Discourse

OpenAIRE

Zarine Avetisyan

2015-01-01

The present paper presents the discussion of scholars concerning speech impact, peculiarities of its realization, speech strategies and techniques in particular. Departing from the viewpoints of many prominent linguists, the paper suggests that manipulative argumentation be viewed as a most pervasive speech strategy with a certain set of techniques which are to be found in modern American political discourse. The precedence of their occurrence allows us to regard them as ...

Development of Measurement Techniques For Strengthening Nuclear Safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Badawy, I.

2007-01-01

The strategy of nuclear safeguards is based on the accounting and control of nuclear materials, nuclear technologies and activities in a State in order to attain its ''Legal'' goals of the application of atomic energy. The present paper investigates the development in the measurement techniques used in the verification and control of NMs for the purpose of strengthening safeguards. Its focus is to review the recent nuclear measurement techniques used for the identification and verification of nuclear materials.The different levels of verification and the accuracy of these techniques are discussed. The implementation of stregthened safeguards; and nuclear materials verification and control in the world are mentioned. Also, the recently proposed measures to enhance the ability to detect undeclared nuclear materials, nuclear activities and facilities that would need advanced measurement techniques are indicated.

Development and Parameters of a Non-Self-Similar CME Caused by the Eruption of a Quiescent Prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Kuzmenko, I. V.; Grechnev, V. V.

2017-10-01

The eruption of a large quiescent prominence on 17 August 2013 and an associated coronal mass ejection (CME) were observed from different vantage points by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Screening of the quiet Sun by the prominence produced an isolated negative microwave burst. We estimated the parameters of the erupting prominence from a radio absorption model and measured them from 304 Å images. The variations of the parameters as obtained by these two methods are similar and agree within a factor of two. The CME development was studied from the kinematics of the front and different components of the core and their structural changes. The results were verified using movies in which the CME expansion was compensated for according to the measured kinematics. We found that the CME mass (3.6 × 10^{15} g) was mainly supplied by the prominence (≈ 6 × 10^{15} g), while a considerable part drained back. The mass of the coronal-temperature component did not exceed 10^{15} g. The CME was initiated by the erupting prominence, which constituted its core and remained active. The structural and kinematical changes started in the core and propagated outward. The CME structures continued to form during expansion, which did not become self-similar up to 25 R_{⊙}. The aerodynamic drag was insignificant. The core formed during the CME rise to 4 R_{⊙} and possibly beyond. Some of its components were observed to straighten and stretch outward, indicating the transformation of tangled structures of the core into a simpler flux rope, which grew and filled the cavity as the CME expanded.

Simple technique to treat pupillary capture after transscleral fixation of intraocular lens.

Science.gov (United States)

Jürgens, Ignasi; Rey, Amanda

2015-01-01

We describe a simple surgical technique to manage pupillary capture after previous transscleral fixation of an intraocular lens. Neither author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PRE-FLARE CORONAL JET AND EVOLUTIONARY PHASES OF A SOLAR ERUPTIVE PROMINENCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE M1.8 FLARE: SDO AND RHESSI OBSERVATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joshi, Bhuwan; Kushwaha, Upendra [Udaipur Solar Observatory, Physical Research Laboratory, Udaipur 313001 (India); Veronig, Astrid M. [Kanzelhöhe Observatory/Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, A-8010 Graz (Austria); Cho, K.-S., E-mail: bhuwan@prl.res.in [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-01

We investigate the triggering, activation, and ejection of a solar eruptive prominence that occurred in a multi-polar flux system of active region NOAA 11548 on 2012 August 18 by analyzing data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory , the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager , and the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager/Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation on board the Solar Terrestrial Relation Observatory . Prior to the prominence activation, we observed striking coronal activities in the form of a blowout jet, which is associated with the rapid eruption of a cool flux rope. Furthermore, the jet-associated flux rope eruption underwent splitting and rotation during its outward expansion. These coronal activities are followed by the prominence activation during which it slowly rises with a speed of ∼12 km s{sup −1} while the region below the prominence emits gradually varying EUV and thermal X-ray emissions. From these observations, we propose that the prominence eruption is a complex, multi-step phenomenon in which a combination of internal (tether-cutting reconnection) and external (i.e., pre-eruption coronal activities) processes are involved. The prominence underwent catastrophic loss of equilibrium with the onset of the impulsive phase of an M1.8 flare, suggesting large-scale energy release by coronal magnetic reconnection. We obtained signatures of particle acceleration in the form of power-law spectra with hard electron spectral index ( δ  ∼ 3) and strong HXR footpoint sources. During the impulsive phase, a hot EUV plasmoid was observed below the apex of the erupting prominence that ejected in the direction of the prominence with a speed of ∼177 km s{sup −1}. The temporal, spatial, and kinematic correlations between the erupting prominence and the plasmoid imply that the magnetic reconnection supported the fast ejection of prominence in the lower corona.

Direct Detection of the Helical Magnetic Field Geometry from 3D Reconstruction of Prominence Knot Trajectories

Science.gov (United States)

Zapiór, Maciej; Martínez-Gómez, David

2016-02-01

Based on the data collected by the Vacuum Tower Telescope located in the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, we analyzed the three-dimensional (3D) motion of so-called knots in a solar prominence of 2014 June 9. Trajectories of seven knots were reconstructed, giving information of the 3D geometry of the magnetic field. Helical motion was detected. From the equipartition principle, we estimated the lower limit of the magnetic field in the prominence to ≈1-3 G and from the Ampère’s law the lower limit of the electric current to ≈1.2 × 109 A.

Phonetic spelling filter for keyword selection in drug mention mining from social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Pimpalkhute, Pranoti; Patki, Apurv; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; Gonzalez, Graciela

2014-01-01

Social media postings are rich in information that often remain hidden and inaccessible for automatic extraction due to inherent limitations of the site's APIs, which mostly limit access via specific keyword-based searches (and limit both the number of keywords and the number of postings that are returned). When mining social media for drug mentions, one of the first problems to solve is how to derive a list of variants of the drug name (common misspellings) that can capture a sufficient number of postings. We present here an approach that filters the potential variants based on the intuition that, faced with the task of writing an unfamiliar, complex word (the drug name), users will tend to revert to phonetic spelling, and we thus give preference to variants that reflect the phonemes of the correct spelling. The algorithm allowed us to capture 50.4 - 56.0 % of the user comments using only about 18% of the variants.

Determination of catecholamines and their metabolites by radioisotopic techniques, value in pharmacology and physiopathology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comoy, E.; Bohuon, C.

1980-01-01

At present the only way to estimate catecholamines and similar compounds at concentrations between 10 and 100 femtomoles is by the use of radioenzymatic techniques. Such methods are all based in practice on the enzymatic transformation of these substrates, in the presence of labelled S-adenosylmethionine, under the action of catechol-O-methyltrans-ferase (COMT) or phenylethanol-amine-N-methyltransferase (PNMT), which means that molecules suitable for such determinations must possess either a catechol group (catecholamines, dihydroxyphenylalanine, dihydroxyphenylacetic acid) or a phenylethanolamine group (noradrenaline, methoxynoradrenaline). At present the largest number of molecules may be estimated by methods based on the principle of O-methylation by COMT. The main processes described in the literature are examined, with special reference to the proposed means of solving problems which arise at various stages of the determination, mention is made of the many difficulties inherent in this kind of manipulation and of the limits to be expected of these tests. The immunological aspect of quantitative research on catecholamines and their derivatives is mentioned, work in this direction at present being based on radioimmunology. As a practical illustration of the many methodological studies mentioned, the application of radioisotopic techniques to in vitro exploration of the catecholamine metabolism is discussed; the contribution of these new techniques is shown particularly in the physiopathological study of certain metabolic disorders observed in man, in the pharmacodynamic study of certain molecules and in experimental studies on the central nervous system [fr

Prominent deep medullary veins: a predictive biomarker for stroke risk from transient ischemic attack?

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Yang; Xu, Zhihua; Li, Hongyi; Cai, Xiaonan; Chang, Cancan; Yang, Benqiang

2018-05-01

Background Deep medullary veins (DMVs) are a biomarker of severity and prognosis in patients with acute cerebral infarction. However, their clinical significance remains unclear in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA). Purpose To determine whether prominent deep medullary veins (PDMVs) are a predictive biomarker for stroke risk after TIA. Material and Methods Clinical and imaging data of 49 patients with TIA and 49 sex- and age-matched controls were studied. PDMVs were defined as DMVs with a score of 3 (TDMVs) or asymmetric DMVs (ADMVs), and the relationship between PDMVs and clinical features was analyzed. The DMV score based on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) ranged from 0 (not visible) to 3 (very prominent) and was calculated for both hemispheres separately. A different score in each hemisphere was defined as ADMVs and an equal score was defined as symmetric DMVs. The asymmetry and score of DMVs were compared between the two groups and with respect to the time from TIA onset to imaging analysis. Results Agreement between neuroradiologists for the DMV asymmetry/score on SWI was excellent. The frequency of ADMVs and TDMVs was significantly higher in patients with TIA than controls ( P  0.05); PDMVs were not correlated with age, blood pressure, or diabetes. However, PDMVs were associated with the ABCD2 score (≥4), clinical symptoms, and duration of TIA (≥10 min). Conclusion Prominent deep medullary veins is a predictive biomarker for the risk of stroke in many patients having suffered from TIA.

Enhancement of Edge-based Image Quality Measures Using Entropy for Histogram Equalization-based Contrast Enhancement Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. T. R. Kurmasha

2017-12-01

Full Text Available An Edge-based image quality measure (IQM technique for the assessment of histogram equalization (HE-based contrast enhancement techniques has been proposed that outperforms the Absolute Mean Brightness Error (AMBE and Entropy which are the most commonly used IQMs to evaluate Histogram Equalization based techniques, and also the two prominent fidelity-based IQMs which are Multi-Scale Structural Similarity (MSSIM and Information Fidelity Criterion-based (IFC measures. The statistical evaluation results show that the Edge-based IQM, which was designed for detecting noise artifacts distortion, has a Person Correlation Coefficient (PCC > 0.86 while the others have poor or fair correlation to human opinion, considering the Human Visual Perception (HVP. Based on HVP, this paper propose an enhancement to classic Edge-based IQM by taking into account the brightness saturation distortion which is the most prominent distortion in HE-based contrast enhancement techniques. It is tested and found to have significantly well correlation (PCC > 0.87, Spearman rank order correlation coefficient (SROCC > 0.92, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE < 0.1054, and Outlier Ratio (OR = 0%.

Prominent Determinants of Consumer-Based Brand Equity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elisa Battistoni

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we investigate the most prominent drivers of brand equity, from a consumerbased point of view. We present a new approach for measuring brand equity, which can be applied regardless of the brand sector and is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. This approach has the main advantage of allowing for comparisons to be made between non‐directly measurable elements and also has the advantage of enabling the ranking of intangible criteria, such as consumers’ feelings or purchase intentions. We focus on the fashion industry, since we believe in the higher value of our approach when applied to brands which offer products with less tangible characteristics. Thanks to a case study – which involved about 250 interviewees – we succeed in finding and prioritizing the elements which can have an impact on the brand value. We also provide a global ranking for three apparel brands: Gap, H&M and Zara. The results from our model are consistent with other popular ratings and can be extremely useful for brand managers.

Different parts of the same elephant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagner, Petra; Origlia, Antonio; Avesani, Cinzia

2015-01-01

Prosodic prominence is an umbrella term encompassing various related but conceptually and functionally different phenomena such as phonological stress, paralinguistic emphasis, lexical, syntactic, semantic or pragmatic salience, to mention a few. Due to the high interest prominence has received f...

Applications of neutron activation analysis technique in the IPR-R1 research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabino, C.V.S.; Mansur, N.

1986-01-01

A review is made of the neutron activation analysis technique used in the IPR-R1 reactor of the Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear - NUCLEBRAS. Some characteristics of the method are described, types of samples and elements analyzed are also mentioned. (Author) [pt

Study of the ultrasonic technique of elapsed time of notch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomes, L.C.F.L.; Rebello, J.M.A.

1989-01-01

The study of the ultrasonic technique of elapsed time in the dimensionment of notch inclined of 15 and 30 degree and of depth of 5 and 10 mm using the superficial Rayleigh wave and the mode conversion, with a headstock transmitter and other receiver. The dimensionment of notch and of the binding of the piece were made with headstock in different positions. Between the various results obtained can be mentioned the increase of the dimensionment, by two techniques, with the increase of the angle and/or of the depth. (V.R.B.)

DIRECT DETECTION OF THE HELICAL MAGNETIC FIELD GEOMETRY FROM 3D RECONSTRUCTION OF PROMINENCE KNOT TRAJECTORIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zapiór, Maciej; Martinez-Gómez, David, E-mail: zapior.maciek@gmail.com [Physics Department, University of the Balearic Islands, Cra. de Valldemossa, km 7.5. Palma (Illes Balears), E-07122 (Spain)

2016-02-01

Based on the data collected by the Vacuum Tower Telescope located in the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, we analyzed the three-dimensional (3D) motion of so-called knots in a solar prominence of 2014 June 9. Trajectories of seven knots were reconstructed, giving information of the 3D geometry of the magnetic field. Helical motion was detected. From the equipartition principle, we estimated the lower limit of the magnetic field in the prominence to ≈1–3 G and from the Ampère’s law the lower limit of the electric current to ≈1.2 × 10{sup 9} A.

Investigation of the prominent barriers to lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian food and beverages industry using Rasch Model

Science.gov (United States)

Khusaini, N. S.; Ismail, A.; Rashid, A. A.

2016-02-01

This paper presents a preliminary study on the prominent barriers to lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian Food and Beverages Industry. A survey was carried out to determine the most prominent barriers of lean manufacturing implementation that are currently being faced in this industry. The amount of barriers identified for this study is twenty seven. Out of 1309 available organizations, a total of 300 organizations have been randomly selected as respondents, and 53 organizations responded. From the variable map, the analysis shows that, the negative perception towards lean manufacturing top the list as the most agreeable barrier, while the technical barriers came after it. It can also be seen from the variable map that averagely, lack of vision and direction is the barrier that is being faced. Finally, this is perhaps the first attempt in investigating the prominent barriers to Lean Manufacturing implementation in Malaysian food and beverages industry using Rasch Model.

Quantifying Methane Flux from a Prominent Seafloor Crater with Water Column Imagery Filtering and Bubble Quantification Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, G. A.; Gharib, J. J.; Doolittle, D. F.

2015-12-01

Methane gas flux from the seafloor to atmosphere is an important variable for global carbon cycle and climate models, yet is poorly constrained. Methodologies used to estimate seafloor gas flux commonly employ a combination of acoustic and optical techniques. These techniques often use hull-mounted multibeam echosounders (MBES) to quickly ensonify large volumes of the water column for acoustic backscatter anomalies indicative of gas bubble plumes. Detection of these water column anomalies with a MBES provides information on the lateral distribution of the plumes, the midwater dimensions of the plumes, and their positions on the seafloor. Seafloor plume locations are targeted for visual investigations using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to determine bubble emission rates, venting behaviors, bubble sizes, and ascent velocities. Once these variables are measured in-situ, an extrapolation of gas flux is made over the survey area using the number of remotely-mapped flares. This methodology was applied to a geophysical survey conducted in 2013 over a large seafloor crater that developed in response to an oil well blowout in 1983 offshore Papua New Guinea. The site was investigated by multibeam and sidescan mapping, sub-bottom profiling, 2-D high-resolution multi-channel seismic reflection, and ROV video and coring operations. Numerous water column plumes were detected in the data suggesting vigorously active vents within and near the seafloor crater (Figure 1). This study uses dual-frequency MBES datasets (Reson 7125, 200/400 kHz) and ROV video imagery of the active hydrocarbon seeps to estimate total gas flux from the crater. Plumes of bubbles were extracted from the water column data using threshold filtering techniques. Analysis of video images of the seep emission sites within the crater provided estimates on bubble size, expulsion frequency, and ascent velocity. The average gas flux characteristics made from ROV video observations is extrapolated over the number

Is R. S. Peters' Way of Mentioning Women in His Texts Detrimental to Philosophy of Education? Some Considerations and Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, Helen E.

2012-01-01

Discussion in this article considers the unfortunate way R.S. Peters made mention of women when it was pertinent to his argumentation: portraying them, directly or indirectly, as abuse-able (murderable), deficient, aberrant, clueless and inconstant. It is argued that the high profile and esteem within which Peter's texts are held within philosophy…

Differences between Doppler velocities of ions and neutral atoms in a solar prominence

Science.gov (United States)

Anan, T.; Ichimoto, K.; Hillier, A.

2017-05-01

Context. In astrophysical systems with partially ionized plasma, the motion of ions is governed by the magnetic field while the neutral particles can only feel the magnetic field's Lorentz force indirectly through collisions with ions. The drift in the velocity between ionized and neutral species plays a key role in modifying important physical processes such as magnetic reconnection, damping of magnetohydrodynamic waves, transport of angular momentum in plasma through the magnetic field, and heating. Aims: This paper aims to investigate the differences between Doppler velocities of calcium ions and neutral hydrogen in a solar prominence to look for velocity differences between the neutral and ionized species. Methods: We simultaneously observed spectra of a prominence over an active region in H I 397 nm, H I 434 nm, Ca II 397 nm, and Ca II 854 nm using a high dispersion spectrograph of the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida observatory. We compared the Doppler velocities, derived from the shift of the peak of the spectral lines presumably emitted from optically-thin plasma. Results: There are instances when the difference in velocities between neutral atoms and ions is significant, for example 1433 events ( 3% of sets of compared profiles) with a difference in velocity between neutral hydrogen atoms and calcium ions greater than 3σ of the measurement error. However, we also found significant differences between the Doppler velocities of two spectral lines emitted from the same species, and the probability density functions of velocity difference between the same species is not significantly different from those between neutral atoms and ions. Conclusions: We interpreted the difference of Doppler velocities as being a result of the motions of different components in the prominence along the line of sight, rather than the decoupling of neutral atoms from plasma. The movie attached to Fig. 1 is available at http://www.aanda.org

OBSERVATIONAL DETECTION OF DRIFT VELOCITY BETWEEN IONIZED AND NEUTRAL SPECIES IN SOLAR PROMINENCES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khomenko, Elena; Collados, Manuel [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain); Díaz, Antonio J., E-mail: khomenko@iac.es, E-mail: mcv@iac.es, E-mail: aj.diaz@uib.es [Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122, Crta Valldemossa, km 7.5, Palma de Mallorca (Spain)

2016-06-01

We report the detection of differences in the ion and neutral velocities in prominences using high-resolution spectral data obtained in 2012 September at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife). A time series of scans of a small portion of a solar prominence was obtained simultaneously with high cadence using the lines of two elements with different ionization states, namely, Ca ii 8542 Å and He i 10830 Å. The displacements, widths, and amplitudes of both lines were carefully compared to extract dynamical information about the plasma. Many dynamical features are detected, such as counterstreaming flows, jets, and propagating waves. In all of the cases, we find a very strong correlation between the parameters extracted from the lines of both elements, confirming that both lines trace the same plasma. Nevertheless, we also find short-lived transients where this correlation is lost. These transients are associated with ion-neutral drift velocities of the order of several hundred m s{sup −1}. The patches of non-zero drift velocity show coherence in time–distance diagrams.

Dose measurement techniques for high-energy photon and electron radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hohlfeld, K.; Roos, M.

1992-08-01

By law the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology (PTB) has been assigned the tasks of representing, preserving and passing on dose units. The analogous continuation of these tasks consists in improving, at the user level, dosimetry techniques in radiation therapy for the benefit of patients. The PTB had an essential share in working out the scientific foundations of dosimetry for high-energy radiation, and the corresponding DIN standards were established with the PTB playing a prominent part. The seminar aimed at presenting the measuring techniques fixed in the new DIN standard 6800 part 2 'Dose measurement techniques according to the probe method - ionization dosimetry', to discuss their physical background and practical implications resulting from them. (orig.) [de

Myoelectrical manifestation of fatigue less prominent in patients with cancer related fatigue.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Kisiel-Sajewicz

Full Text Available PURPOSE: A lack of fatigue-related muscle contractile property changes at time of perceived physical exhaustion and greater central than peripheral fatigue detected by twitch interpolation technique have recently been reported in cancer survivors with fatigue symptoms. Based on these observations, it was hypothesized that compared to healthy people, myoelectrical manifestation of fatigue in the performing muscles would be less significant in these individuals while sustaining a prolonged motor task to self-perceived exhaustion (SPE since their central fatigue was more prominent. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis by examining electromyographic (EMG signal changes during fatiguing muscle performance. METHODS: Twelve individuals who had advanced solid cancer and cancer-related fatigue (CRF, and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls performed a sustained elbow flexion at 30% maximal voluntary contraction till SPE. Amplitude and mean power frequency (MPF of EMG signals of the biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and triceps brachii muscles were evaluated when the individuals experienced minimal, moderate, and severe fatigue. RESULTS: CRF patients perceived physical "exhaustion" significantly sooner than the controls. The myoelectrical manifestation of muscular fatigue assessed by EMG amplitude and MPF was less significant in CRF than controls. The lower MPF even at minimal fatigue stage in CRF may indicate pathophysiologic condition of the muscle. CONCLUSIONS: CRF patients experience less myoelectrical manifestation of muscle fatigue than healthy individuals near the time of SPE. The data suggest that central nervous system fatigue plays a more important role in limiting endurance-type of motor performance in patients with CRF.

Nuclear techniques in food production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merlin, J.P.C.

1975-01-01

This study is divided into three parts. The first, devoted to the use of radiations in food production, deals especially with artificial mutagenesis, selectors taking advantage of altered hereditary features in plants from irradiated seed; sterilization of animals to eliminate harmful insects (male sterilization technique); the lethal power of radiations used for the production of animal vaccins, attenuated by irradiation, against organisms which infest or degrade food products. Part two shows that radioactive atoms used as tracers to reveal migrations and chemical transformations of products such as fertilizers and pesticides can speed up all kinds of agronomical research. Their possibilities in research on animal feeding and to detect poisonous substances in foodstuffs are also mentioned. The last part is devoted to the use of nuclear techniques in irrigation and more precisely in the study of underground water flows soil moisture and lastly the future of nuclear desalination [fr

The magnetic field configuration of a solar prominence inferred from spectropolarimetric observations in the He i 10 830 Å triplet

Science.gov (United States)

Orozco Suárez, D.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Trujillo Bueno, J.

2014-06-01

Context. Determining the magnetic field vector in quiescent solar prominences is possible by interpreting the Hanle and Zeeman effects in spectral lines. However, observational measurements are scarce and lack high spatial resolution. Aims: We determine the magnetic field vector configuration along a quiescent solar prominence by interpreting spectropolarimetric measurements in the He i 1083.0 nm triplet obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter installed at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope of the Observatorio del Teide. Methods: The He i 1083.0 nm triplet Stokes profiles were analyzed with an inversion code that takes the physics responsible for the polarization signals in this triplet into account. The results are put into a solar context with the help of extreme ultraviolet observations taken with the Solar Dynamic Observatory and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory satellites. Results: For the most probable magnetic field vector configuration, the analysis depicts a mean field strength of 7 gauss. We do not find local variations in the field strength except that the field is, on average, lower in the prominence body than in the prominence feet, where the field strength reaches ~25 gauss. The averaged magnetic field inclination with respect to the local vertical is ~77°. The acute angle of the magnetic field vector with the prominence main axis is 24° for the sinistral chirality case and 58° for the dextral chirality. These inferences are in rough agreement with previous results obtained from the analysis of data acquired with lower spatial resolutions. A movie is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Important points not mentioned in 'interim report' of nuclear regulation authority

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Satoshi

2014-01-01

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) published the investigation and examination report on the unexplained issues raised by the National Diet Investigation Commission; 'Analysis of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi NPS Accident-Interim Report' in October 2014. The NRA had analyzed seven unexplained issues raised in the National Diet Investigation Commission report, and compiled the results. The author insisted the report should include related views and lessons learned and not just explain investigated and examined phenomena in order to contribute to ensuring nuclear safety in the world. As an example, the author selected the fifth of seven issues; 'operating status of the Isolation Condenser of Unit 1 (IC)'. The report concluded 'the AC-driven valve was closed since the AC power supply kept working even after DC power supply for the IC rupture detection circuit was lost. The isolation valves (2A and 2B) outside the PCV were closed, but isolation valves (1B and 4B) of the IC (system 'B') in the PCV remained open. However, the operating status (open/close) of isolation valves (1A and 4A) of the IC (system 'A') in the PCV is not clear. It is therefore necessary to continue analyses of this issue.' As related important points not mentioned in the report, the author described five points; (1) timing of functional losses of IC system, (2) obsolete aspect of equipment arrangement design (system separation), (3) single failure vulnerability, (4) rolling out issue of IC system to RCIC system (horizontal deployment) and (5) lessons learned from risk-informed 'black swan event'. (T. Tanaka)

Gender parity trends for invited speakers at four prominent virology conference series.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalejta, Robert F; Palmenberg, Ann C

2017-06-07

Scientific conferences are most beneficial to participants when they showcase significant new experimental developments, accurately summarize the current state of the field, and provide strong opportunities for collaborative networking. A top-notch slate of invited speakers, assembled by conference organizers or committees, is key to achieving these goals. The perceived underrepresentation of female speakers at prominent scientific meetings is currently a popular topic for discussion, but one that often lacks supportive data. We compiled the full rosters of invited speakers over the last 35 years for four prominent international virology conferences, the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting (ASV), the International Herpesvirus Workshop (IHW), the Positive-Strand RNA Virus Symposium (PSR), and the Gordon Research Conference on Viruses & Cells (GRC). The rosters were cross-indexed by unique names, gender, year, and repeat invitations. When plotted as gender-dependent trends over time, all four conferences showed a clear proclivity for male-dominated invited speaker lists. Encouragingly, shifts toward parity are emerging within all units, but at different rates. Not surprisingly, both selection of a larger percentage of first time participants and the presence of a woman on the speaker selection committee correlated with improved parity. Session chair information was also collected for the IHW and GRC. These visible positions also displayed a strong male dominance over time that is eroding slowly. We offer our personal interpretation of these data to aid future organizers achieve improved equity among the limited number of available positions for session moderators and invited speakers. IMPORTANCE Politicians and media members have a tendency to cite anecdotes as conclusions without any supporting data. This happens so frequently now, that a name for it has emerged: fake news. Good science proceeds otherwise. The under representation of women as invited

The temporal behaviour of MHD waves in a partially ionized prominence-like plasma: Effect of heating and cooling

Science.gov (United States)

Ballester, J. L.; Carbonell, M.; Soler, R.; Terradas, J.

2018-01-01

Context. During heating or cooling processes in prominences, the plasma microscopic parameters are modified due to the change of temperature and ionization degree. Furthermore, if waves are excited on this non-stationary plasma, the changing physical conditions of the plasma also affect wave dynamics. Aims: Our aim is to study how temporal variation of temperature and microscopic plasma parameters modify the behaviour of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves excited in a prominence-like hydrogen plasma. Methods: Assuming optically thin radiation, a constant external heating, the full expression of specific internal energy, and a suitable energy equation, we have derived the profiles for the temporal variation of the background temperature. We have computed the variation of the ionization degree using a Saha equation, and have linearized the single-fluid MHD equations to study the temporal behaviour of MHD waves. Results: For all the MHD waves considered, the period and damping time become time dependent. In the case of Alfvén waves, the cut-off wavenumbers also become time dependent and the attenuation rate is completely different in a cooling or heating process. In the case of slow waves, while it is difficult to distinguish the slow wave properties in a cooling partially ionized plasma from those in an almost fully ionized plasma, the period and damping time of these waves in both plasmas are completely different when the plasma is heated. The temporal behaviour of the Alfvén and fast wave is very similar in the cooling case, but in the heating case, an important difference appears that is related with the time damping. Conclusions: Our results point out important differences in the behaviour of MHD waves when the plasma is heated or cooled, and show that a correct interpretation of the observed prominence oscillations is very important in order to put accurate constraints on the physical situation of the prominence plasma under study, that is, to perform prominence

Neutron radiography, techniques and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Domanus, J.C.

1987-10-01

After describing the principles of the ''in pool'' and ''dry'' installations, techniques used in neutron radiography are reviewed. Use of converter foils with silver halide films for the direct and transfer methods is described. Advantages of the use of nitrocellulose film for radiographying radioactive objects are discussed. Dynamic imaging is shortly reviewed. Standardization in the field of neutron radiography (ASTM and Euratom Neutron Radiography Working Group) is described. The paper reviews main fields of use of neutron radiography. Possibilities of use of neutron radiography at research reactors in various scientific, industrial and other fields are mentioned. Examples are given of application of neutron radiography in industry and the nuclear field. (author)

F₀-based rhythm effects on the perception of local syllable prominence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niebuhr, Oliver

2009-01-01

of the global rhythmic context with regard to both the prominence and the F(0) patterns. Two conclusions were drawn on this basis. First, listeners use speech rhythm to predict the perceptual properties of syllables, which is in line with the guide function that speech rhythm is assumed to have in German...

On the formation of Mg II h and k lines in solar prominences

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Heinzel, Petr; Vial, J. C.; Anzer, U.

2014-01-01

Roč. 564, April (2014), A132/1-A132/10 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP209/12/0906; GA ČR(CZ) GAP209/11/2463; GA ČR GA205/09/1705 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : line: profiles * line: formation * Sun: filaments, prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

Relating a Prominence Observed from the Solar Optical Telescope on the Hinode Satellite to Known 3-D Structures of Filaments

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, S. F.; Panasenco, O.; Agah, Y.; Engvold, O.; Lin, Y.

2009-12-01

We address only a first step in relating limb and disk observations by illustrating and comparing the spines and barbs of three different quiescent prominences and filaments observed in Hα by three different telescopes. Although the appearance of the three quiescent prominences is quite different, we show that each consists of a spine, barbs extending from the spine, and arcs at the base of some of the curtains of barb threads.

Anxiety and Antisocial Behavior: The Moderating Role of Perceptions of Social Prominence among Incarcerated Females

Science.gov (United States)

Monahan, Kathryn C.; Goldweber, Aska; Meyer, Kristen; Cauffman, Elizabeth

2012-01-01

The present study examines how perceptions of social prominence and attitudes toward antisocial behavior among peers moderate the association between anxiety and antisocial behavior among incarcerated females. Latent profile analysis identified two classes of females distinguished by their perceptions and attitudes. Individuals in both classes…

Schlenk Techniques for Anionic Polymerization

KAUST Repository

Ratkanthwar, Kedar

2015-09-01

Anionic polymerization-high vacuum techniques (HVTs) are doubtlessly the most prominent and reliable experimental tools to prepare polymer samples with well-defined and, in many cases, complex macromolecular architectures. Due to the high demands for time and skilled technical personnel, HVTs are currently used in only a few research laboratories worldwide. Instead, most researchers in this filed are attracted to more facile Schlenk techniques. The basic principle of this technique followed in all laboratories is substantially the same, i.e. the use of alternate vacuum and inert gas atmosphere in glass apparatus for the purification/charging of monomer, solvents, additives, and for the manipulation of air-sensitive compounds such as alkyl metal initiators, organometallic or organic catalysts. However, it is executed quite differently in each research group in terms of the structure of Schlenk apparatus (manifolds, connections, purification/storage flasks, reactors, etc.), the use of small supplementary devices (soft tubing, cannulas, stopcocks, etc.) and experimental procedures. The operational methods are partly purpose-oriented while also featured by a high flexibility, which makes it impossible to describe in detail each specific one. In this chapter we will briefly exemplify the application of Schlenk techniques for anionic polymerization by describing the performance of a few experiments from our own work.

Application of physical separation techniques for waste utilization and management - case studies from Indian uranium deposits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anand Rao, K.; Sreenivas, T.

2013-01-01

The importance of physical beneficiation techniques in metallurgical industry showed gradual decline due to decreasing ore grades and very-fine size dissemination of valuable minerals in the host matrix. However, this technology regained prominence in recent past due to their utility in resource recycle, waste utilization, waste treatment and environmental remediation. Hybrid processes combined with physical, chemical and biological technology is now developing such that the idea of sustainable development is implemented. The uranium ore processing industry has always been under intense public scanner for some of the apprehensions, chiefly radioactivity, inspite of its immense energy delivering potential. Besides this, the chemical compounds formed due to gangue mineral reactivity and their carry-over to tailings pond added further owes. However, conscious scientific efforts are being made to contain these hazards to permissible levels by application of various remedial methods of which the physical separation techniques too are quite prominent

Old World frog and bird vocalizations contain prominent ultrasonic harmonics

Science.gov (United States)

Narins, Peter M.; Feng, Albert S.; Lin, Wenyu; Schnitzler, Hans-Ulrich; Denzinger, Annette; Suthers, Roderick A.; Xu, Chunhe

2004-02-01

Several groups of mammals such as bats, dolphins and whales are known to produce ultrasonic signals which are used for navigation and hunting by means of echolocation, as well as for communication. In contrast, frogs and birds produce sounds during night- and day-time hours that are audible to humans; their sounds are so pervasive that together with those of insects, they are considered the primary sounds of nature. Here we show that an Old World frog (Amolops tormotus) and an oscine songbird (Abroscopus albogularis) living near noisy streams reliably produce acoustic signals that contain prominent ultrasonic harmonics. Our findings provide the first evidence that anurans and passerines are capable of generating tonal ultrasonic call components and should stimulate the quest for additional ultrasonic species.

Development of Radiotracer Techniques in Industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wardono

2000-01-01

Contribution of radiotracer techniques to solve problems in industrial process plants have been recognized since a long time. Radiotracer application was governed by three main components, namely radioisotopes, radiation detection and data interpretation of an experiment. The three main components mentioned above have been continually developed to overcome problems relating to the operation of industrial process plants. The availability of isotope generator is one of the development aspect in radiotracer technique. Radiation hazard in radiotracer experiment may be reduced by applying isotope generator and on the other hand the delivery of radiotracer to the plant site from the radioisotopes producer was made easier. The development of microprocessor in computer system has facilitated data recording, storing and retrieving. Development in mathematical model supported by radiotracer experiment enhance data interpretation and shed light on various phenomena of flow process. Generally a flow dynamic in a process plant in all kind of industries can be studied using radiotracer technique. However the main challenge coming from petroleum, petrochemical and mineral processing industries

Exaggerated heart rate oscillations during two meditation techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, C K; Mietus, J E; Liu, Y; Khalsa, G; Douglas, P S; Benson, H; Goldberger, A L

1999-07-31

We report extremely prominent heart rate oscillations associated with slow breathing during specific traditional forms of Chinese Chi and Kundalini Yoga meditation techniques in healthy young adults. We applied both spectral analysis and a novel analytic technique based on the Hilbert transform to quantify these heart rate dynamics. The amplitude of these oscillations during meditation was significantly greater than in the pre-meditation control state and also in three non-meditation control groups: i) elite athletes during sleep, ii) healthy young adults during metronomic breathing, and iii) healthy young adults during spontaneous nocturnal breathing. This finding, along with the marked variability of the beat-to-beat heart rate dynamics during such profound meditative states, challenges the notion of meditation as only an autonomically quiescent state.

Vaccination elicits a prominent acute phase response in horses.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersen, Susanne A; Petersen, Henrik H; Ersbøll, Annette K; Falk-Rønne, Jørgen; Jacobsen, Stine

2012-02-01

European and American guidelines for vaccination against tetanus and influenza in horses recommend annual and annual/semi-annual vaccinations, respectively, against the two pathogens. Too-frequent vaccination may, however, have adverse effects, among other things because an inflammatory response is elicited with subsequent alterations in homeostasis. The objective of the study was to compare the acute phase response (APR) in 10 horses following administration of two different types of vaccines, namely, an inactivated Immune Stimulating COMplex (ISCOM) vaccine and a live recombinant vector vaccine. Blood was sampled before and after vaccination to measure levels of serum amyloid A (SAA), fibrinogen, white blood cell counts (WBC) and iron. Vaccination induced a prominent APR with increased WBC, elevated blood levels of SAA and fibrinogen, and decreased serum iron concentrations. The ISCOM vaccine caused significantly (Phorse owners about convalescence after vaccination. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prominent hypointense veins on susceptibility weighted image in the cat brain with acute infarction: DWI, SWI, and PWI.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yong-Woo; Kim, Hak Jin; Choi, Seon Hee; Kim, Dong Chan

2014-10-01

The multiple prominent hypointense veins on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) have been found in the ischemic territory of patients with acute ischemic stroke. Venous side is the unknown area in the hemodynamics of brain infarction. To evaluate the venous aspect in acute brain infarction through an animal study. The acute infarction in cat brains was induced with a bolus infusion of 0.25 mL of triolein through one side of the common carotid artery. The magnetic resonance (MR) images, including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map, SW, and perfusion-weighted (PWI) images, were obtained serially at 2 h (n = 17), 1 day (n = 11), and 4 days (n = 4) after triolein infusion. The obtained MR images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. For qualitative assessment, the signal intensity of the serial MR images was evaluated. The presence or absence and the location with serial changes of infarction were identified on DWI and ADC map images. The presence or absence of prominent hypointense veins and the serial changes of cortical veins were also evaluated on SWI. Quantitative assessment was performed by comparing the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and mean transit times (MTT) of the lesions with those of the contralateral normal side calculated on PWI. The serial changes of rCBV, rCBF, and MTT ratio were also evaluated. Acute infarction in the first and second medial gyrus of lesion hemisphere was found by qualitative evaluation of DWI and ADC map images. On the serial evaluation of SWI, the cortical veins of cat brain with infarction were obscured at 2 h and then re-appeared at 1 day. The hemorrhage transformation and prominent hypointense veins were seen at 4 days on SWI. The quantitative evaluation revealed increased MTT ratios and decreased rCBV and rCBF ratios on PWIs in the acute infarction of cat brain. The prominent hypointense veins on SWI were seen in the half of the acute

Concerning the application of the nuclear and related techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desdin Garcia, Luis Felipe

1997-01-01

The present work intends to describe briefly, some of the nuclear and connected techniques of greater application in the conditions of developing countries, which are employed in the Center of Studies Applied to the Nuclear Development, and that can be of interest for the Latin-American countries. Within those techniques we have: radiobiology, that consists of the employment of ionizing radiations to induce mutations oriented to the improvement of the cultivations. It mentions the atmospheric contamination generated by the industry of the exposition to metals and toxic waste, and of mortiferous parasites that adapt quickly to the unhealthy environmental conditions. It also enumerates some advantages of the utilization of instruments based on radioisotopic fountains. (S. Grainger) [es

Examination of irradiated fuel elements using gamma scanning technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichim, O.; Mincu, M.; Man, I.; Stanica, M.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to validate the gamma scanning technique used to calculate the activity of gamma fission products from CANDU/TRIGA irradiated fuel elements. After a short presentation of the equipments used and their characteristics, the paper describes the calibration technique for the devices and how computed tomography reconstruction is done. Following the previously mentioned steps is possible to obtain the axial and radial profiles and the computed tomography reconstruction for calibration sources and for the irradiated fuel elements. The results are used to validate the gamma scanning techniques as a non-destructive examination method. The gamma scanning techniques will be used to: identify the fission products in the irradiated CANDU/TRIGA fuel elements, construct the axial and radial distributions of fission products, get the distribution in cross section through computed tomography reconstruction, and determine the nuclei number and the fission products activity of the irradiated CANDU/TRIGA fuel elements. (authors)

Advanced analytical techniques for boiling water reactor chemistry control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alder, H P; Schenker, E [Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)

1997-02-01

The analytical techniques applied can be divided into 5 classes: OFF-LINE (discontinuous, central lab), AT-LINE (discontinuous, analysis near loop), ON-LINE (continuous, analysis in bypass). In all cases pressure and temperature of the water sample are reduced. In a strict sense only IN-LINE (continuous, flow disturbance) and NON-INVASIVE (continuous, no flow disturbance) techniques are suitable for direct process control; - the ultimate goal. An overview of the analytical techniques tested in the pilot loop is given. Apart from process and overall water quality control, standard for BWR operation, the main emphasis is on water impurity characterization (crud particles, hot filtration, organic carbon); on stress corrosion crackling control for materials (corrosion potential, oxygen concentration) and on the characterization of the oxide layer on austenites (impedance spectroscopy, IR-reflection). The above mentioned examples of advanced analytical techniques have the potential of in-line or non-invasive application. They are different stages of development and are described in more detail. 28 refs, 1 fig., 5 tabs.

Nodular hidradenocarcinoma with prominent squamous differentiation: case report and immunohistochemical study.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, H J; Kim, Y C; Cinn, Y W

2000-09-01

We report the case of a 24-year-old woman with nodular hidradenocarcinoma on the scalp. While histopathology of the tumor showed a circumscribed, lobulated intradermal mass with prominent squamous differentiation, the immunohistochemical study with antibodies to cytokeratins, CAM 5.2 and 19, epithelial membrane antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen, S-100 protein and p53 all demonstrated positivity. These findings confirmed that the tumor was of eccrine sweat gland origin and it was thought to be a nodular hidradenocarcinoma differentiating toward the eccrine duct and/or secretory portions. She was treated with a wide local excision and no recurrence was observed 18 months after excision.

Technique of sample preparation for analysis of gasoline and lubricating oils by X-ray fluorescence analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avila P, P.

1990-03-01

The X-ray fluorescence laboratory of the National Institute of Nuclear Research when not having a technique for the analysis of oils it has intended, with this work, to develop a preparation technique for the analysis of the metals of Pb, Cr, Ni, V and Mo in gasolines and oils, by means of the spectrometry by X-ray fluorescence analysis. The obtained results, its will be of great utility for the one mentioned laboratory. (Author)

X-ray fluorescence beamline at LNLS: components and some associated techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez, CArlos A.; Radtke, Martin; Perez, Carlos; Tolentino, Helio; Vicentin, Flavio; Sanchez, Hector Jorge; Perez, Roberto D.

1997-01-01

Full text. In this work a general description of the Total Reflection X-Ray Fluorescence (TXRF) and the X-Ray Fluorescence Microprobe (XRFM) is presented. Components, equipment and experimental stations for the x-ray fluorescence beamline are described, regarding to the techniques mentioned above. Results from the simulations of a pair bended mirrors in a Kirkpatrick-Baez configuration, are shown. The simulations were performed with Shadow program. (author)

The perspectives of development of radiometric techniques for welded joints testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Troitskij, V.A.; Dovzhenko, V.N.

1987-01-01

The perspectives of development of radiometric techniques in non-destructive testing are presented. The problems of computer tomography, radiometric introscopy, electrorentgenography (xeroradiography) are reviewed. The aspects of application of low-silver detectors are also analysed. The studies on the problems mentioned above will be continued in order to eliminate expensive radiographic films and having in mind making the testing process faster. The design of individual dosemeters is also demonstrated. (author)

Combined surgical management of mandibular angle prominence and microgenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Portelles Masso, Ayelen Maria; Berger Kohn, Carlos

2010-01-01

Chin play a very important role in facial aesthetics. Different deformities of volume and of position may occur at this level and it is the microgenia one of the more frequent. Treatment options include the use of silicone, alloplasty materials and autologous bone graft. Authors report the use of the bone removed from mandibular angle to increase the chin. This is the case of a white female patient aged 18 seen by the Orthognathics Multidisciplinary Staff of 'V. I. Lenin' Hospital due to its uncommon face width. The corresponding physical examination as well as the complementary ones diagnosed a bilateral prominence of mandibular angle associated with a microgenia. Surgery carried out was of remodeling type of both mandibular angles and genioplasty of height increase and a discrete advancement using the bone removed from the gonion. There were satisfactory aesthetic results without evidence of bone reabsorption. We conclude that use of autologous graft of mandibular angle is an effective treatment alternative for correction of microgenia. (author)

Manipulation of biological samples using micro and nano techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Castillo, Jaime; Dimaki, Maria; Svendsen, Winnie Edith

2009-01-01

The constant interest in handling, integrating and understanding biological systems of interest for the biomedical field, the pharmaceutical industry and the biomaterial researchers demand the use of techniques that allow the manipulation of biological samples causing minimal or no damage to their natural structure. Thanks to the advances in micro- and nanofabrication during the last decades several manipulation techniques offer us the possibility to image, characterize and manipulate biological material in a controlled way. Using these techniques the integration of biomaterials with remarkable properties with physical transducers has been possible, giving rise to new and highly sensitive biosensing devices. This article reviews the different techniques available to manipulate and integrate biological materials in a controlled manner either by sliding them along a surface (2-D manipulation), by grapping them and moving them to a new position (3-D manipulation), or by manipulating and relocating them applying external forces. The advantages and drawbacks are mentioned together with examples that reflect the state of the art of manipulation techniques for biological samples (171 references).

The challenges to the consolidation of Brazil’s international prominence: education and culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabete Sanches Rocha

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Over the last years, Brazil has gained international visibility especially due to the capacity of its economical development and the progress of its public policies on fighting poverty. Though there reason for celebration exists with respect to the country’s recent achievements, Brazil still has a lot to do if it wants to gain international prominence. In this paper, we address two issues that are fundamental for Brazil to achieve real leadership: education and culture.

Repair and tissue engineering techniques for articular cartilage.

Science.gov (United States)

Makris, Eleftherios A; Gomoll, Andreas H; Malizos, Konstantinos N; Hu, Jerry C; Athanasiou, Kyriacos A

2015-01-01

Chondral and osteochondral lesions due to injury or other pathology commonly result in the development of osteoarthritis, eventually leading to progressive total joint destruction. Although current progress suggests that biologic agents can delay the advancement of deterioration, such drugs are incapable of promoting tissue restoration. The limited ability of articular cartilage to regenerate renders joint arthroplasty an unavoidable surgical intervention. This Review describes current, widely used clinical repair techniques for resurfacing articular cartilage defects; short-term and long-term clinical outcomes of these techniques are discussed. Also reviewed is a developmental pipeline of acellular and cellular regenerative products and techniques that could revolutionize joint care over the next decade by promoting the development of functional articular cartilage. Acellular products typically consist of collagen or hyaluronic-acid-based materials, whereas cellular techniques use either primary cells or stem cells, with or without scaffolds. Central to these efforts is the prominent role that tissue engineering has in translating biological technology into clinical products; therefore, concomitant regulatory processes are also discussed.

Non-destructive radiometry inspection technique for locating reinforcements and void/porosity in bridge bearings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yahaya bin Jafar; Jaafar bin Abdullah; Mohamad Azmi bin Ismail.

1989-01-01

Defects detection in bridge bearings is very important in controlling quality and safety. Typical manufacturing defects include misalligned or bent steel plates and the presence of voids/porosity within the rubber. A non-destructive radiometry inspection technique was used to locate steel plates position and the presence of voids/porosity in bridge bearing samples provided by the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM). Preliminary studies show that the mentioned defects can readily be determined by this technique. Some of the results are also presented. (author)

Novel large-range mitochondrial DNA deletions and fatal multisystemic disorder with prominent hepatopathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bianchi, Marzia; Rizza, Teresa; Verrigni, Daniela; Martinelli, Diego; Tozzi, Giulia; Torraco, Alessandra; Piemonte, Fiorella; Dionisi-Vici, Carlo; Nobili, Valerio; Francalanci, Paola; Boldrini, Renata; Callea, Francesco; Santorelli, Filippo Maria; Bertini, Enrico

2011-01-01

Highlights: ► Expanded array of mtDNA deletions. ► Pearson syndrome with prominent hepatopathy associated with single mtDNA deletions. ► Detection of deletions in fibroblasts and blood avoids muscle and liver biopsy. ► Look for mtDNA deletions before to study nuclear genes related to mtDNA depletion. -- Abstract: Hepatic involvement in mitochondrial cytopathies rarely manifests in adulthood, but is a common feature in children. Multiple OXPHOS enzyme defects in children with liver involvement are often associated with dramatically reduced amounts of mtDNA. We investigated two novel large scale deletions in two infants with a multisystem disorder and prominent hepatopathy. Amount of mtDNA deletions and protein content were measured in different post-mortem tissues. The highest levels of deleted mtDNA were in liver, kidney, pancreas of both patients. Moreover, mtDNA deletions were detected in cultured skin fibroblasts in both patients and in blood of one during life. Biochemical analysis showed impairment of mainly complex I enzyme activity. Patients manifesting multisystem disorders in childhood may harbour rare mtDNA deletions in multiple tissues. For these patients, less invasive blood specimens or cultured fibroblasts can be used for molecular diagnosis. Our data further expand the array of deletions in the mitochondrial genomes in association with liver failure. Thus analysis of mtDNA should be considered in the diagnosis of childhood-onset hepatopathies.

Machine learning and statistical techniques : an application to the prediction of insolvency in Spanish non-life insurance companies

OpenAIRE

Díaz, Zuleyka; Segovia, María Jesús; Fernández, José

2005-01-01

Prediction of insurance companies insolvency has arisen as an important problem in the field of financial research. Most methods applied in the past to tackle this issue are traditional statistical techniques which use financial ratios as explicative variables. However, these variables often do not satisfy statistical assumptions, which complicates the application of the mentioned methods. In this paper, a comparative study of the performance of two non-parametric machine learning techniques ...

Recent applications of nuclear medicine techniques and results in Vietnam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phan Sy An

2008-01-01

The author presented recent applications of nuclear medicine techniques and results in Vietnam. The author concentrated some valuable and helpful studies such as functional tests, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, bone, thyroid, lung, kidney and gastrointestinal tract scintigraphy for diagnosis. The results of RIA and IRMA concerning with thyroid diseases, cancer, microalbuminuria and TSH in blood spot on paper for screening of congenital hypothyroidism in new born babies were also given. The report also mentioned results of liver cancer and palliative bone metastasis treatments in Vietnam. A new technique using gamma probe in surgery for breast cancer was presented. The author introduced some modern teleradiotherapeutic modalities such as cyberknif, gamma knife, gamma rotating systeme and linac recently installed in Vietnam. (author)

Communicative dynamism and prosodic prominence in presentation sentences with initial rhematic subjects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Adam

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Within the framework of the theory of functional sentence perspective (Firbas 1992, the distinction between presentation and quality scale sentences plays a vital role. The present paper proposes to shed light on one of the most common configurations of presentation sentences, viz. structures with initial rhematic subject (e.g. an uninvited dwarf came, examining the way native speakers place the intonation centre in such structures, i.e. to map the correspondence between the degrees of communicative dynamism and prosodic prominence. For the purpose of the investigation selected chapters from Tolkien’s The Hobbit are used.

The Effects of Magnetic-Field Geometry on Longitudinal Oscillations of Solar Prominences: Cross-Sectional Area Variation for Thin Tubes

Science.gov (United States)

Luna, M.; Diaz, A. J.; Oliver, R.; Terradas, J.; Karpen, J.

2016-01-01

Solar prominences are subject to both field-aligned (longitudinal) and transverse oscillatory motions, as evidenced by an increasing number of observations. Large-amplitude longitudinal motions provide valuable information on the geometry of the filament channel magnetic structure that supports the cool prominence plasma against gravity. Our pendulum model, in which the restoring force is the gravity projected along the dipped field lines of the magnetic structure, best explains these oscillations. However, several factors can influence the longitudinal oscillations, potentially invalidating the pendulum model. Aims. The aim of this work is to study the influence of large-scale variations in the magnetic field strength along the field lines, i.e., variations of the cross-sectional area along the flux tubes supporting prominence threads. Methods. We studied the normal modes of several flux tube configurations, using linear perturbation analysis, to assess the influence of different geometrical parameters on the oscillation properties. Results. We found that the influence of the symmetric and asymmetric expansion factors on longitudinal oscillations is small.Conclusions. We conclude that the longitudinal oscillations are not significantly influenced by variations of the cross-section of the flux tubes, validating the pendulum model in this context.

A model on CME/Flare initiation: Loss of Equilibrium caused by mass loss of quiescent prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Miley, George; Chon Nam, Sok; Kim, Mun Song; Kim, Jik Su

2015-08-01

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) model should give an answer to enough energy storage for giant bulk plasma into interplanetary space to escape against the sun’s gravitation and its explosive eruption. Advocates of ‘Mass Loading’ model (e.g. Low, B. 1996, SP, 167, 217) suggested a simple mechanism of CME initiation, the loss of mass from a prominence anchoring magnetic flux rope, but they did not associate the mass loss with the loss of equilibrium. The catastrophic loss of equilibrium model is considered as to be a prospective CME/Flare model to explain sudden eruption of magnetic flux systems. Isenberg, P. A., et al (1993, ApJ, 417, 368)developed ideal magnetohydrodynamic theory of the magnetic flux rope to show occurrence of catastrophic loss of equilibrium according to increasing magnetic flux transported into corona.We begin with extending their study including gravity on prominence’s material to obtain equilibrium curves in case of given mass parameters, which are the strengths of the gravitational force compared with the characteristic magnetic force. Furthermore, we study quasi-static evolution of the system including massive prominence flux rope and current sheet below it to obtain equilibrium curves of prominence’s height according to decreasing mass parameter in a properly fixed magnetic environment. The curves show equilibrium loss behaviors to imply that mass loss result in equilibrium loss. Released fractions of magnetic energy are greater than corresponding zero-mass case. This eruption mechanism is expected to be able to apply to the eruptions of quiescent prominences, which is located in relatively weak magnetic environment with 105 km of scale length and 10G of photospheric magnetic field.

Satellite and terrestrial radio positioning techniques a signal processing perspective

CERN Document Server

Dardari, Davide; Falletti, Emanuela

2014-01-01

* The first book to combine satellite and terrestrial positioning techniques - vital for the understanding and development of new technologies * Written and edited by leading experts in the field, with contributors belonging to the European Commission's FP7 Network of Excellence NEWCOM++ Applications to a wide range of fields, including sensor networks, emergency services, military use, location-based billing, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and leisure Location-aware personal devices and location-based services have become ever more prominent in the past few years

Statistical comparison of the observed and synthetic hydrogen Lyman line profiles in solar prominences

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gunár, Stanislav; Schwartz, Pavol; Schmieder, B.; Heinzel, Petr; Anzer, U.

2010-01-01

Roč. 514, May (2010), A43/1-A43/11 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP205/09/P554; GA ČR GA205/07/1100; GA AV ČR 1QS300120506 Grant - others:ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98030 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : Sun filaments * prominences * radiative transfer Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.410, year: 2010

Comparative study between the PIXE technique and neutron activation analysis for Zinc determination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cruvinel, Paulo Estevao; Crestana, Silvio; Artaxo Netto, Paulo Eduardo

1997-01-01

This work presents a comparative study between the PIXE, proton beams and neutron activation analysis (NAA) techniques, for determination of total zinc concentration. Particularly, soil samples from the Pindorama, Instituto Agronomico de Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, experimental station have been analysed and measuring the zinc contents in μg/g. The results presented good correlation between the mentioned techniques. The PIXE and NAA analyses have been carried out by using the series S, 2.4 MeV proton beams Pelletron accelerator and the IPEN/CNEN-IEA-R1 reactor, both installed at the Sao Paulo - Brazil university

Analytical detection techniques for droplet microfluidics—A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Ying; Fang, Qun

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: -- Highlights: •This is the first review paper focused on the analytical techniques for droplet-based microfluidics. •We summarized the analytical methods used in droplet-based microfluidic systems. •We discussed the advantage and disadvantage of each method through its application. •We also discuss the future development direction of analytical methods for droplet-based microfluidic systems. -- Abstract: In the last decade, droplet-based microfluidics has undergone rapid progress in the fields of single-cell analysis, digital PCR, protein crystallization and high throughput screening. It has been proved to be a promising platform for performing chemical and biological experiments with ultra-small volumes (picoliter to nanoliter) and ultra-high throughput. The ability to analyze the content in droplet qualitatively and quantitatively is playing an increasing role in the development and application of droplet-based microfluidic systems. In this review, we summarized the analytical detection techniques used in droplet systems and discussed the advantage and disadvantage of each technique through its application. The analytical techniques mentioned in this paper include bright-field microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, laser induced fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, electrochemistry, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, absorption detection, chemiluminescence, and sample pretreatment techniques. The importance of analytical detection techniques in enabling new applications is highlighted. We also discuss the future development direction of analytical detection techniques for droplet-based microfluidic systems

Novel large-range mitochondrial DNA deletions and fatal multisystemic disorder with prominent hepatopathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bianchi, Marzia; Rizza, Teresa; Verrigni, Daniela [Unit of Molecular Medicine for Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Martinelli, Diego [Division of Metabolism, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Tozzi, Giulia; Torraco, Alessandra; Piemonte, Fiorella [Unit of Molecular Medicine for Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Dionisi-Vici, Carlo [Division of Metabolism, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Nobili, Valerio [Gastroenterology and Liver Unit, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Francalanci, Paola; Boldrini, Renata; Callea, Francesco [Dept. Pathology, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); Santorelli, Filippo Maria [UOC Neurogenetica e Malattie Neuromuscolari, Fondazione Stella Maris, Pisa (Italy); Bertini, Enrico [Unit of Molecular Medicine for Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases, ' Bambino Gesu' Children' s Hospital, Rome (Italy); and others

2011-11-18

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Expanded array of mtDNA deletions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Pearson syndrome with prominent hepatopathy associated with single mtDNA deletions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Detection of deletions in fibroblasts and blood avoids muscle and liver biopsy. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Look for mtDNA deletions before to study nuclear genes related to mtDNA depletion. -- Abstract: Hepatic involvement in mitochondrial cytopathies rarely manifests in adulthood, but is a common feature in children. Multiple OXPHOS enzyme defects in children with liver involvement are often associated with dramatically reduced amounts of mtDNA. We investigated two novel large scale deletions in two infants with a multisystem disorder and prominent hepatopathy. Amount of mtDNA deletions and protein content were measured in different post-mortem tissues. The highest levels of deleted mtDNA were in liver, kidney, pancreas of both patients. Moreover, mtDNA deletions were detected in cultured skin fibroblasts in both patients and in blood of one during life. Biochemical analysis showed impairment of mainly complex I enzyme activity. Patients manifesting multisystem disorders in childhood may harbour rare mtDNA deletions in multiple tissues. For these patients, less invasive blood specimens or cultured fibroblasts can be used for molecular diagnosis. Our data further expand the array of deletions in the mitochondrial genomes in association with liver failure. Thus analysis of mtDNA should be considered in the diagnosis of childhood-onset hepatopathies.

Field theoretic extensions of TDHF techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, D.K.

1979-01-01

A possible extension of time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) techniques to relativistic quantum field theories is discussed. A set of extended TDHF equations which incorporates naturally relativistic kinematics and treats the mesons, the effects of which are in ordinary TDHF represented by a nonindependent mean field, as independent dynamical degrees of freedom. In a simple model field theory in one space and one time dimension the extended TDHF equations are solved analytically for certain static field configurations and numerically for the time-dependent scattering configuration. Qualitative features of the scattering solutions as observed in preliminary numerical studies are discussed, and the conclusion is reached by mentioning a number of problems for further research. 22 references

NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF THE MAGNETIC RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY IN THE KIPPENHAHN-SCHLÜTER PROMINENCE MODEL. I. FORMATION OF UPFLOWS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hillier, Andrew; Isobe, Hiroaki; Shibata, Kazunari; Berger, Thomas

2012-01-01

The launch of the Hinode satellite led to the discovery of rising plumes, dark in chromospheric lines, that propagate from large (∼10 Mm) bubbles that form at the base of quiescent prominences. The plumes move through a height of approximately 10 Mm while developing highly turbulent profiles. The magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability was hypothesized to be the mechanism that drives these flows. In this study, using three-dimensional (3D) MHD simulations, we investigate the nonlinear stability of the Kippenhahn-Schlüter prominence model for the interchange mode of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The model simulates the rise of a buoyant tube inside the quiescent prominence model, where the interchange of magnetic field lines becomes possible at the boundary between the buoyant tube and the prominence. Hillier et al. presented the initial results of this study, where upflows of constant velocity (maximum found 6 km s –1 ) and a maximum plume width ≈1.5 Mm which propagate through a height of approximately 6 Mm were found. Nonlinear interaction between plumes was found to be important for determining the plume dynamics. In this paper, using the results of ideal MHD simulations, we determine how the initial parameters for the model and buoyant tube affect the evolution of instability. We find that the 3D mode of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability grows, creating upflows aligned with the magnetic field of constant velocity (maximum found 7.3 km s –1 ). The width of the upflows is dependent on the initial conditions, with a range of 0.5-4 Mm which propagate through heights of 3-6 Mm. These results are in general agreement with the observations of the rising plumes.

Hot prominence detected in the core of a coronal mass ejection. II. Analysis of the C III line detected by SOHO/UVCS

Science.gov (United States)

Jejčič, S.; Susino, R.; Heinzel, P.; Dzifčáková, E.; Bemporad, A.; Anzer, U.

2017-11-01

Context. We study the physics of erupting prominences in the core of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and present a continuation of a previous analysis. Aims: We determine the kinetic temperature and microturbulent velocity of an erupting prominence embedded in the core of a CME that occurred on August 2, 2000 using the Ultraviolet Coronagraph and Spectrometer observations (UVCS) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) simultaneously in the hydrogen Lα and C III lines. We develop the non-LTE (departures from the local thermodynamic equilibrium - LTE) spectral diagnostics based on Lα and Lβ measured integrated intensities to derive other physical quantities of the hot erupting prominence. Based on this, we synthesize the C III line intensity to compare it with observations. Methods: Our method is based on non-LTE modeling of eruptive prominences. We used a general non-LTE radiative-transfer code only for optically thin prominence points because optically thick points do not allow the direct determination of the kinetic temperature and microturbulence from the line profiles. The input parameters of the code were the kinetic temperature and microturbulent velocity derived from the Lα and C III line widths, as well as the integrated intensity of the Lα and Lβ lines. The code runs in three loops to compute the radial flow velocity, electron density, and effective thickness as the best fit to the Lα and Lβ integrated intensities within the accuracy defined by the absolute radiometric calibration of UVCS data. Results: We analyzed 39 observational points along the whole erupting prominence because for these points we found a solution for the kinetic temperature and microturbulent velocity. For these points we ran the non-LTE code to determine best-fit models. All models with τ0(Lα) ≤ 0.3 and τ0(C III) ≤ 0.3 were analyzed further, for which we computed the integrated intensity of the C III line using a two-level atom. The best agreement between

Assessment of three mitigation techniques for permafrost protection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anders Stuhr

The presence of permafrost is an important aspect in civil engineering in arctic regions. The construction of engineering structures, such as road and airfield embankments, will change the thermal regime of the ground, and may lead to permafrost degradation under or adjacent to such structures....... This problem, has in the last decades, been amplified by the climate warming, which has been most evident in the arctic regions. The construction of a road embankment usually results in an increased mean annual surface temperature, which will increase the thawing of permafrost and expose the road embankment...... objective has been to study the three above-mentioned techniques and evaluate their potential for minimizing the problems with thaw settlements in permafrost areas. The air convection embankment and heat drain techniques have been tested for the implementation in the shoulders of road and airfield...

Cognitive techniques and language: A return to behavioral origins.

Science.gov (United States)

Froján Parga, María X; Núñez de Prado Gordillo, Miguel; de Pascual Verdú, Ricardo

2017-08-01

the main purpose of this study is to offer an alternative explanatory account of the functioning of cognitive techniques that is based on the principles of associative learning and highlights their verbal nature. The traditional accounts are questioned and analyzed in the light of the situation of psychology in the 1970s. conceptual analysis is employed to revise the concepts of language, cognition and behavior. Several operant- and Pavlovian-based approaches to these phenomena are presented, while particular emphasis is given to Mowrer’s (1954) approach and Ryle (1949) and Wittgenstein’s (1953) philosophical contributions to the field. several logical problems are found in regard to the theoretical foundations of cognitive techniques. A combination of both operant and Pavlovian paradigms based on the above-mentioned approaches is offered as an alternative explanatory account of cognitive techniques. This new approach could overcome the conceptual fragilities of the cognitive standpoint and its dependence upon constructs of dubious logical and scientific validity.

Discourse over a contested technology on Twitter: A case study of hydraulic fracturing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopke, Jill E; Simis, Molly

2015-10-04

High-volume hydraulic fracturing, a drilling simulation technique commonly referred to as "fracking," is a contested technology. In this article, we explore discourse over hydraulic fracturing and the shale industry on the social media platform Twitter during a period of heightened public contention regarding the application of the technology. We study the relative prominence of negative messaging about shale development in relation to pro-shale messaging on Twitter across five hashtags (#fracking, #globalfrackdown, #natgas, #shale, and #shalegas). We analyze the top actors tweeting using the #fracking hashtag and receiving @mentions with the hashtag. Results show statistically significant differences in the sentiment about hydraulic fracturing and shale development across the five hashtags. In addition, results show that the discourse on the main contested hashtag #fracking is dominated by activists, both individual activists and organizations. The highest proportion of tweeters, those posting messages using the hashtag #fracking, were individual activists, while the highest proportion of @mention references went to activist organizations. © The Author(s) 2015.

Direct magnification technique of radiographs of the hand in children with chronic renal insufficiency

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ponhold, W.; Balzar, E.

1984-04-01

The characteristic changes of renal osteopathy in the hand are shown by the X-rays of seven children with end stage renal disease using the direct magnification technique. All children had pathologic conditions in the hands. Most frequently tunnelation, spiculae in the phalanges and metaphyseal translucent bands in the forearm were seen. Less constantly acroosteolyses and generalized osteoporosis could be observed. The X-rays of the hands using the direct magnification technique with rare earth film-screen system and a microfocus X-ray tube are sufficient to determine renal osteopathy. If clinical symptoms are present, X-rays of other parts of the skeleton are necessary. By using the above mentioned radiologic technique the radiographic diagnostic effort could be minimized.

A basic review on the inferior alveolar nerve block techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Khalil, Hesham

2014-01-01

The inferior alveolar nerve block is the most common injection technique used in dentistry and many modifications of the conventional nerve block have been recently described in the literature. Selecting the best technique by the dentist or surgeon depends on many factors including the success rate and complications related to the selected technique. Dentists should be aware of the available current modifications of the inferior alveolar nerve block techniques in order to effectively choose between these modifications. Some operators may encounter difficulty in identifying the anatomical landmarks which are useful in applying the inferior alveolar nerve block and rely instead on assumptions as to where the needle should be positioned. Such assumptions can lead to failure and the failure rate of inferior alveolar nerve block has been reported to be 20-25% which is considered very high. In this basic review, the anatomical details of the inferior alveolar nerve will be given together with a description of its both conventional and modified blocking techniques; in addition, an overview of the complications which may result from the application of this important technique will be mentioned.

Analysis and analytical techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Batuecas Rodriguez, T [Department of Chemistry and Isotopes, Junta de Energia Nuclear, Madrid (Spain)

1967-01-01

). For any analytical technique to be efficient two pre-requisites must be met: The sample must be truly representative; and the results must be available at the time when required. The papers mentioned here are PL-194/3, PL-194/4, PL-194/6, PL-194/7, PL-194/8 and PL-194/11, of which abstracts are given in Section III.

Developing Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as a tool Mosquito Control Districts can use for integrated Aedes aegypti control

Science.gov (United States)

New tools are clearly needed for integrated mosquito management of Ae. aegypti. We describe the sterile insect technique (SIT) that we are developing as a method to control Ae. aegypti by partnering with two prominent Florida mosquito control districts (MCD) and the FAO/IAEA Insect Pest Control Sub...

An improved technique for fission track dating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Yunlong; Wu Zhaohui; Xia Yuliang

1996-01-01

The necessity of improving the fission track dating (FTD) technique both at home and abroad is illustrated. The ways of making such improvement are also proposed. It is suggested to calibrate the constant b value of the uranium standard glass by using the method of fission products activity. The 3 kinds of uranium standard glass which have been calibrated are NBS SRM962a, UB 1 and UB 2 . An established new method σ·Φ ρ d /b, to measure neutron fluence, avoids the influence of the varying neutron spectrum on measuring neutron fluence. The improved etching technique for fission tracks in zircon adopted a two-step method which includes the molten alkali system etching using NaOH + KOH and the mixed acid system etching using HNO 3 + HF; this technique results in adequate track etching, increased track clarity and less interference. In this way the intensity of tracks is authentically reflected. Dividing angular zone in accordance with the angular distribution of spontaneous fission track on the crystal surface of minerals to count the tracks and using the improved etching technique to remove the non-uniform angular distribution of spontaneous fission tracks in zircon, ensure the accuracy of tracks count. The improved FTD techniques were used to finish Laboratory Standardized Calibration. The tests using international FTD age standards samples have proved that above mentioned techniques are reliable and practical in obtaining the accurate FTD data. (8 tabs.; 3 figs.)

Exploring H2O Prominence in Reflection Spectra of Cool Giant Planets

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonald, Ryan J.; Marley, Mark S.; Fortney, Jonathan J.; Lewis, Nikole K.

2018-05-01

The H2O abundance of a planetary atmosphere is a powerful indicator of formation conditions. Inferring H2O in the solar system giant planets is challenging, due to condensation depleting the upper atmosphere of water vapor. Substantially warmer hot Jupiter exoplanets readily allow detections of H2O via transmission spectroscopy, but such signatures are often diminished by the presence of clouds composed of other species. In contrast, highly scattering water clouds can brighten planets in reflected light, enhancing molecular signatures. Here, we present an extensive parameter space survey of the prominence of H2O absorption features in reflection spectra of cool (T eff clouds brighten the planet: T eff ∼ 150 K, g ≳ 20 ms‑2, f sed ≳ 3, m ≲ 10× solar. In contrast, planets with g ≲ 20 ms‑2 and T eff ≳ 180 K display substantially prominent H2O features embedded in the Rayleigh scattering slope from 0.4 to 0.73 μm over a wide parameter space. High f sed enhances H2O features around 0.94 μm, and enables these features to be detected at lower temperatures. High m results in dampened H2O absorption features, due to water vapor condensing to form bright, optically thick clouds that dominate the continuum. We verify these trends via self-consistent modeling of the low-gravity exoplanet HD 192310c, revealing that its reflection spectrum is expected to be dominated by H2O absorption from 0.4 to 0.73 μm for m ≲ 10× solar. Our results demonstrate that H2O is manifestly detectable in reflected light spectra of cool giant planets only marginally warmer than Jupiter, providing an avenue to directly constrain the C/O and O/H ratios of a hitherto unexplored population of exoplanetary atmospheres.

Techniques for measurement of heat flux in furnace waterwalls of boilers and prediction of heat flux – A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sankar, G.; Chandrasekhara Rao, A.; Seshadri, P.S.; Balasubramanian, K.R.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Heat flux measurement techniques applicable to boiler water wall are elaborated. • Applications involving heat flux measurement in boiler water wall are discussed. • Appropriate technique for usage in high ash Indian coal fired boilers is required. • Usage of chordal thermocouple is suggested for large scale heat flux measurements. - Abstract: Computation of metal temperatures in a furnace waterwall of a boiler is necessary for the proper selection of tube material and thickness. An adequate knowledge of the heat flux distribution in the furnace walls is a prerequisite for the computation of metal temperatures. Hence, the measurement of heat flux in a boiler waterwall is necessary to arrive at an optimum furnace design, especially for high ash Indian coal fired boilers. Also, a thoroughly validated furnace model will result in a considerable reduction of the quantum of experimentation to be carried out. In view of the above mentioned scenario, this paper reviews the research work carried out by various researchers by experimentation and numerical simulation in the below mentioned areas: (i) furnace modeling and heat flux prediction, (ii) heat flux measurement techniques and (iii) applications of heat flux measurements.

Porcine CD38 exhibits prominent secondary NAD(+) cyclase activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ting, Kai Yiu; Leung, Christina F P; Graeff, Richard M; Lee, Hon Cheung; Hao, Quan; Kotaka, Masayo

2016-03-01

Cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) mobilizes intracellular Ca(2+) stores and activates Ca(2+) influx to regulate a wide range of physiological processes. It is one of the products produced from the catalysis of NAD(+) by the multifunctional CD38/ADP-ribosyl cyclase superfamily. After elimination of the nicotinamide ring by the enzyme, the reaction intermediate of NAD(+) can either be hydrolyzed to form linear ADPR or cyclized to form cADPR. We have previously shown that human CD38 exhibits a higher preference towards the hydrolysis of NAD(+) to form linear ADPR while Aplysia ADP-ribosyl cyclase prefers cyclizing NAD(+) to form cADPR. In this study, we characterized the enzymatic properties of porcine CD38 and revealed that it has a prominent secondary NAD(+) cyclase activity producing cADPR. We also determined the X-ray crystallographic structures of porcine CD38 and were able to observe conformational flexibility at the base of the active site of the enzyme which allow the NAD(+) reaction intermediate to adopt conformations resulting in both hydrolysis and cyclization forming linear ADPR and cADPR respectively. © 2016 The Protein Society.

The role of nuclear techniques in the long-term prediction of radionuclide transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Airey, P.L.; Duerden, P.

1985-01-01

Problems associated with the long-term prediction of the migration of radionuclides, and the role of natural analogues in reducing the inherent uncertainties are discussed. Particular reference is made to the evaluation of uranium ore bodies in the Alligator Rivers region, Northern Territory, as analogues of high-level radioactive waste repositories. A range of nuclear techniques has been used to identify the role of colloids, of alpha recoil and of mineralogy in transport. Specific mention is made of a method being developed which enables models of the migration of solute through fractured rock to be assessed via a combination of alpha track, fission track and PIXE/PIGME techniques

Competing risk bias was common in Kaplan-Meier risk estimates published in prominent medical journals.

Science.gov (United States)

van Walraven, Carl; McAlister, Finlay A

2016-01-01

Risk estimates from Kaplan-Meier curves are well known to medical researchers, reviewers, and editors. In this study, we determined the proportion of Kaplan-Meier analyses published in prominent medical journals that are potentially biased because of competing events ("competing risk bias"). We randomly selected 100 studies that had at least one Kaplan-Meier analysis and were recently published in prominent medical journals. Susceptibility to competing risk bias was determined by examining the outcome and potential competing events. In susceptible studies, bias was quantified using a previously validated prediction model when the number of outcomes and competing events were given. Forty-six studies (46%) contained Kaplan-Meier analyses susceptible to competing risk bias. Sixteen studies (34.8%) susceptible to competing risk cited the number of outcomes and competing events; in six of these studies (6/16, 37.5%), the outcome risk from the Kaplan-Meier estimate (relative to the true risk) was biased upward by 10% or more. Almost half of Kaplan-Meier analyses published in medical journals are susceptible to competing risk bias and may overestimate event risk. This bias was found to be quantitatively important in a third of such studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of polarized radiative transfer on the Hanle magnetic field determination in prominences: Analysis of hydrogen H alpha line observations at Pic-du-Midi

Science.gov (United States)

Bommier, V.; Deglinnocenti, E. L.; Leroy, J. L.; Sahal-Brechot, S.

1985-01-01

The linear polarization of the Hydrogen H alpha line of prominences has been computed, taking into account the effect of a magnetic field (Hanle effect), of the radiative transfer in the prominence, and of the depolarization due to collisions with the surrounding electrons and protons. The corresponding formalisms are developed in a forthcoming series of papers. In this paper, the main features of the computation method are summarized. The results of computation have been used for interpretation in terms of magnetic field vector measurements from H alpha polarimetric observations in prominences performed at Pic-du-Midi coronagraph-polarimeter. Simultaneous observations in one optically thin line (He I D(3)) and one optically thick line (H alpha) give an opportunity for solving the ambiguity on the field vector determination.

Safe Removal of an Encrusted Nephrostomy Tube Using a Vascular Sheath: A Technique Revisited

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farooq, Ammad, E-mail: faroamm@aol.com; Agarwal, Sanjay; Jones, Vaughan [Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Department of Radiology (United Kingdom)

2013-06-15

With the advent of interventional radiology and the decrease in mortality from chronic ailments, especially malignancy, percutaneous nephrostomy has become a commonly used safe technique for temporary relief of renal tract obstruction or for urinary diversion. However, these are associated with risks of infection, particularly septicaemia, colonisation, and blockage. Another significant complication is difficulty in removal due to encrustation. We describe a useful technique used in our department for the past few years and cite four cases of variable presentation and complexity for removal of an encrusted nephrostomy tube. No mention of this technique was found recent literature. An almost similar technique was described in the 1980s ''Pollack and Banner (Radiology 145:203-205, 1982), Baron and McClennan (Radiology 141:824, 1981)''. It is possible that experienced operators may have used this technique. We revisit it with pictographic representation, describing its use with currently available equipment, for benefit of operators who are not aware of this technique.

Behavior change techniques in popular alcohol reduction apps: content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Crane, David; Garnett, Claire; Brown, James; West, Robert; Michie, Susan

2015-05-14

Mobile phone apps have the potential to reduce excessive alcohol consumption cost-effectively. Although hundreds of alcohol-related apps are available, there is little information about the behavior change techniques (BCTs) they contain, or the extent to which they are based on evidence or theory and how this relates to their popularity and user ratings. Our aim was to assess the proportion of popular alcohol-related apps available in the United Kingdom that focus on alcohol reduction, identify the BCTs they contain, and explore whether BCTs or the mention of theory or evidence is associated with app popularity and user ratings. We searched the iTunes and Google Play stores with the terms "alcohol" and "drink", and the first 800 results were classified into alcohol reduction, entertainment, or blood alcohol content measurement. Of those classified as alcohol reduction, all free apps and the top 10 paid apps were coded for BCTs and for reference to evidence or theory. Measures of popularity and user ratings were extracted. Of the 800 apps identified, 662 were unique. Of these, 13.7% (91/662) were classified as alcohol reduction (95% CI 11.3-16.6), 53.9% (357/662) entertainment (95% CI 50.1-57.7), 18.9% (125/662) blood alcohol content measurement (95% CI 16.1-22.0) and 13.4% (89/662) other (95% CI 11.1-16.3). The 51 free alcohol reduction apps and the top 10 paid apps contained a mean of 3.6 BCTs (SD 3.4), with approximately 12% (7/61) not including any BCTs. The BCTs used most often were "facilitate self-recording" (54%, 33/61), "provide information on consequences of excessive alcohol use and drinking cessation" (43%, 26/61), "provide feedback on performance" (41%, 25/61), "give options for additional and later support" (25%, 15/61) and "offer/direct towards appropriate written materials" (23%, 14/61). These apps also rarely included any of the 22 BCTs frequently used in other health behavior change interventions (mean 2.46, SD 2.06). Evidence was mentioned by 16

"Ode Ori": a culture-bound disorder with prominent somatic features in Yoruba Nigerian patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Makanjuola, R O

1987-03-01

Thirty patients diagnosed by Nigerian Yoruba traditional healers as suffering from a condition termed "Ode Ori" are described. The chief complaints were of a crawling sensation in the head and body, noises in the ears, palpitations and various other somatic complaints. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were prominent in all the patients and indeed the most common DSM-III diagnoses were of depressive and anxiety disorders. The significance of the disorder and its features is discussed in the context of the socio-cultural background of the patients.

Direct magnification technique of radiographs of the hand in children with chronic renal insufficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ponhold, W.; Balzar, E.

1984-01-01

The characteristic changes of renal osteopathy in the hand are shown by the X-rays of seven children with end stage renal disease using the direct magnification technique. All children had pathologic conditions in the hands. Most frequently tunnelation, spiculae in the phalanges and metaphyseal translucent bands in the forearm were seen. Less constantly acroosteolyses and generalized osteoporosis could be observed. The X-rays of the hands using the direct magnification technique with rare earth film-screen system and a microfocus X-ray tube are sufficient to determine renal osteopathy. If clinical symptoms are present, X-rays of other parts of the skeleton are necessary. By using the above mentioned radiologic technique the radiographic diagnostic effort could be minimized. (orig.) [de

Isotope techniques in non-destructive testing of dynamic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Gursharan; Pant, H.J.

1996-01-01

A few applications of gamma scanning and radiotracer techniques for Non-destructive Testing (NDT) of dynamic systems in chemical and petrochemical industries are briefly discussed in this paper. Examples of gamma scanning inspections carried out for troubleshooting of various types of columns such as vacuum, extraction, separator and rectifier, with trays and packed beds and having diameters from 1 meter to 8.4 meters are given. Radiotracer applications for Residence Time Distribution (RTD) studies on different systems like an aniline production reactor in a chemical industry and a laboratory scale solid-liquid fluidized bed column are mentioned. (author)

Direction of Arrival Estimation Accuracy Enhancement via Using Displacement Invariance Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Youssef Fayad

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A new algorithm for improving Direction of Arrival Estimation (DOAE accuracy has been carried out. Two contributions are introduced. First, Doppler frequency shift that resulted from the target movement is estimated using the displacement invariance technique (DIT. Second, the effect of Doppler frequency is modeled and incorporated into ESPRIT algorithm in order to increase the estimation accuracy. It is worth mentioning that the subspace approach has been employed into ESPRIT and DIT methods to reduce the computational complexity and the model’s nonlinearity effect. The DOAE accuracy has been verified by closed-form Cramér-Rao bound (CRB. The simulation results of the proposed algorithm are better than those of the previous estimation techniques leading to the estimator performance enhancement.

Comments on “Techniques and Architectures for Hazard-Free Semi-Parallel Decoding of LDPC Codes”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark B. Yeary

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This is a comment article on the publication “Techniques and Architectures for Hazard-Free Semi-Parallel Decoding of LDPC Codes” Rovini et al. (2009. We mention that there has been similar work reported in the literature before, and the previous work has not been cited correctly, for example Gunnam et al. (2006, 2007. This brief note serves to clarify these issues.

Dynamics of quiescent prominence fine structures analyzed by 2D non-LTE modelling of the Hα line

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gunár, Stanislav; Mein, P.; Schmieder, B.; Heinzel, Petr; Mein, N.

2012-01-01

Roč. 543, July (2012), A93/1-A93/15 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP205/09/P554; GA ČR GAP209/12/0906 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 5.084, year: 2012

Application of expert elicitation techniques in human reliability, assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanyasi Rao, V.V.S.; Saraf, R.K.; Ghosh, A.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.

2006-01-01

Expert elicitation techniques are being used, in the area of technological forecasting, in estimating data needed for analysis when it is either difficult to arrive at the data by experimental means or when it is quite involved to plan and conduct the experiment. In this study, expert elicitation techniques are applied to the evaluation of the frequencies of the various accident sequences that can result from the initiating event (IE) 'High Pressure Process Water (HPPW) system failure' in typical Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (IPHWR) of the older generation. The Operating Procedure under Emergency Conditions (OPEC) for this IE involves human actions according to a pre-defined procedure. The Human Error Probabilities for all these human actions are obtained using expert elicitation techniques. These techniques aim at eliciting the opinion of the experts in the area of interest with regard to the issue in question. The uncertainty is analysed by employing the measure of dissonance and the most probable range of human error probabilities are arrived at by maximizing this measure. These values are combined using the same procedures mentioned above to yield a distribution representing the uncertainty associated with the predictions. (author)

Comparison among the scintillation and electrets techniques for emission of alpha radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moreno y Moreno, A.; Gammage, R.B.

2005-01-01

A comparison of the scintillation and of electret techniques for measurement of Uranium, Plutonium and transuranic elements in low level radioactivity is presented in this work. The samples of material to measure were obtained by the Research Department of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of contaminated soils by radioactive material of plutonium and other transuranic elements. The samples in both techniques were measured to infinite thickness. The electret E - PERM of Rad Elec. Inc.; it was the available selected detector in 1993 and the measures with this technique were carried out by the Dr. R. B. Gammage and the Dr. K. E. Meyer of the Health and Safety Research Division of ORNL. The scintillation technique for measurement of the samples up mentioned it was carried out by the Dr. Augusto Moreno y Moreno in the facilities of DOSAR of ORNL. The comparative results of the two techniques agree just as it is shown in this work; but the scintillation technique offers the advantage of a considerable reduction of the exposure time and reading of the samples - electret, if it is compared with the immediate measurement of the scintillation technique that is described in this work. (Author)

[Productivity of doctoral programs in Psychology with Quality Mention in journal articles included in Journal Citation Reports].

Science.gov (United States)

Musi-Lechuga, Bertha; Olivas-Ávila, José; Castro, Angel

2011-08-01

The main objective of the present study was to classify doctoral programs with Quality Mention in Psychology based on their scientific productivity. For this purpose, articles in the Web of Science published by professors teaching in these doctoral programs were analyzed. In addition, we analyzed scientific journals in which these professors tend to publish more papers and the evolution in the number of papers published until 2009. Results showed that the most productive doctoral program was the Neurosciences program at the University of Oviedo. This program showed a ratio of 40 articles--published in journals included in Journal Citation Reports--by each professor. In contrast, other programs did not reach a ratio of 10 articles per professor. Regarding journals, results showed that 9 out of the 20 most popular journals are Hispanic and a gradual increase in the number of published papers was also observed. Lastly, results and implications for quality assessment are discussed.

Quantifying the cepstral peak prominence, a measure of dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Heman-Ackah, Yolanda D; Sataloff, Robert T; Laureyns, Griet; Lurie, Deborah; Michael, Deirdre D; Heuer, Reinhardt; Rubin, Adam; Eller, Robert; Chandran, Swapna; Abaza, Mona; Lyons, Karen; Divi, Venu; Lott, Joanna; Johnson, Jennifer; Hillenbrand, James

2014-11-01

The purpose of this study is to establish normative values for the smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS) and its sensitivity and specificity as a measure of dysphonia. Prospective cohort study. Voice samples of running speech were obtained from 835 patients and 50 volunteers. Eight laryngologists and four speech-language pathologists performed perceptual ratings of the voice samples on the degree of dysphonia/normality using an analog scale. The mean of their perceptual ratings was used as the gold standard for the detection of the presence or absence of dysphonia. CPPS was measured using the CPPS algorithm of Hillenbrand, and the cut-off value for positivity that has the highest sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between normal and severely dysphonia voices was determined based on ROC-curve analysis. The cut-off value for normal for CPPS was set at 4.0 or higher, which gave a sensitivity of 92.4%, a specificity of 79%, a positive predictive value of 82.5%, and a negative predictive value of 90.8%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.937 (P dysphonia, with the normal value of CPPS (Hillenbrand algorithm) of a running speech sample being defined as a value of 4.0 or higher. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

tagtog: interactive and text-mining-assisted annotation of gene mentions in PLOS full-text articles.

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Cejuela, Juan Miguel; McQuilton, Peter; Ponting, Laura; Marygold, Steven J; Stefancsik, Raymund; Millburn, Gillian H; Rost, Burkhard

2014-01-01

The breadth and depth of biomedical literature are increasing year upon year. To keep abreast of these increases, FlyBase, a database for Drosophila genomic and genetic information, is constantly exploring new ways to mine the published literature to increase the efficiency and accuracy of manual curation and to automate some aspects, such as triaging and entity extraction. Toward this end, we present the 'tagtog' system, a web-based annotation framework that can be used to mark up biological entities (such as genes) and concepts (such as Gene Ontology terms) in full-text articles. tagtog leverages manual user annotation in combination with automatic machine-learned annotation to provide accurate identification of gene symbols and gene names. As part of the BioCreative IV Interactive Annotation Task, FlyBase has used tagtog to identify and extract mentions of Drosophila melanogaster gene symbols and names in full-text biomedical articles from the PLOS stable of journals. We show here the results of three experiments with different sized corpora and assess gene recognition performance and curation speed. We conclude that tagtog-named entity recognition improves with a larger corpus and that tagtog-assisted curation is quicker than manual curation. DATABASE URL: www.tagtog.net, www.flybase.org.

Multigrid techniques for nonlinear eigenvalue probems: Solutions of a nonlinear Schroedinger eigenvalue problem in 2D and 3D

Science.gov (United States)

Costiner, Sorin; Taasan, Shlomo

1994-01-01

This paper presents multigrid (MG) techniques for nonlinear eigenvalue problems (EP) and emphasizes an MG algorithm for a nonlinear Schrodinger EP. The algorithm overcomes the mentioned difficulties combining the following techniques: an MG projection coupled with backrotations for separation of solutions and treatment of difficulties related to clusters of close and equal eigenvalues; MG subspace continuation techniques for treatment of the nonlinearity; an MG simultaneous treatment of the eigenvectors at the same time with the nonlinearity and with the global constraints. The simultaneous MG techniques reduce the large number of self consistent iterations to only a few or one MG simultaneous iteration and keep the solutions in a right neighborhood where the algorithm converges fast.

Analysis of value added services on GDP Growth Rate using Data Mining Techniques

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Douglas KUNDA

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The growth of Information Technology has spawned large amount of databases and huge data in numerous areas. The research in databases and information technology has given rise to an approach to store and manipulate this data for further decision making. In this paper certain data mining techniques were adopted to analyze the data that shows relevance with desired attributes. Regression technique was adopted to help us find out the influence of Agriculture, Service and Manufacturing on the performance of gross domestic product (GDP. Trend and time series technique was applied to the data to help us find out what trend of GDP with respect to service, agriculture and manufacturing sector for the past decade has been. Finally Correlation was also used to help us analyze the relationship among the variables (service, agriculture and manufacturing sector. From the three techniques analyzed, service value added variable was the most prominent variable which showed the strong influence on GDP growth rate.

Application of stereo photogrammetric techniques for measuring African Elephants

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A. J Hall-Martin

1979-12-01

Full Text Available Measurements of shoulder height and back length of African elephants were obtained by means of stereo photogrammetric techniques. A pair of Zeiss UMK 10/1318 cameras, mounted on a steel frame on the back of a vehicle, were used to photograph the elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park, Republic of South Africa. Several modifications of normal photogrammetry procedure applicable to the field situation (eg. control points and the computation of results (eg. relative orientation are briefly mentioned. Six elephants were immobilised after being photographed and the measurements obtained from them agreed within a range of 1 cm-10 cm with the photogrammetric measurements.

Prominent soft x-ray lines of Sr-like Au41+ in low-energy EBIT spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vilkas, Marius Jonas; Ishikawa, Yasuyuki; Traebert, Elmar

2007-01-01

Relativistic multireference Moeller-Plesset perturbation theory has been employed to calculate with high accuracy the energy levels and transition probabilities of Cu- to Sr-like gold ions. The many-body calculations were carried out to identify the unassigned blended lines in the 35-40 A region of the low-energy EBIT spectrum of the gold ions [Traebert et al 2001 Can. J. Phys.79153]. Most of the prominent lines in the 35-40 A region were identified as the emission lines in Sr-like gold

The application of machine learning techniques in the clinical drug therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Huan-Yu; Jin, Wan-Lin; Yan, Cheng-Kai; Yang, Huan

2018-05-25

The development of a novel drug is an extremely complicated process that includes the target identification, design and manufacture, and proper therapy of the novel drug, as well as drug dose selection, drug efficacy evaluation, and adverse drug reaction control. Due to the limited resources, high costs, long duration, and low hit-to-lead ratio in the development of pharmacogenetics and computer technology, machine learning techniques have assisted novel drug development and have gradually received more attention by researchers. According to current research, machine learning techniques are widely applied in the process of the discovery of new drugs and novel drug targets, the decision surrounding proper therapy and drug dose, and the prediction of drug efficacy and adverse drug reactions. In this article, we discussed the history, workflow, and advantages and disadvantages of machine learning techniques in the processes mentioned above. Although the advantages of machine learning techniques are fairly obvious, the application of machine learning techniques is currently limited. With further research, the application of machine techniques in drug development could be much more widespread and could potentially be one of the major methods used in drug development. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Detection of Glaucoma Using Image Processing Techniques: A Critique.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, B Naveen; Chauhan, R P; Dahiya, Nidhi

2018-01-01

The primary objective of this article is to present a summary of different types of image processing methods employed for the detection of glaucoma, a serious eye disease. Glaucoma affects the optic nerve in which retinal ganglion cells become dead, and this leads to loss of vision. The principal cause is the increase in intraocular pressure, which occurs in open-angle and angle-closure glaucoma, the two major types affecting the optic nerve. In the early stages of glaucoma, no perceptible symptoms appear. As the disease progresses, vision starts to become hazy, leading to blindness. Therefore, early detection of glaucoma is needed for prevention. Manual analysis of ophthalmic images is fairly time-consuming and accuracy depends on the expertise of the professionals. Automatic analysis of retinal images is an important tool. Automation aids in the detection, diagnosis, and prevention of risks associated with the disease. Fundus images obtained from a fundus camera have been used for the analysis. Requisite pre-processing techniques have been applied to the image and, depending upon the technique, various classifiers have been used to detect glaucoma. The techniques mentioned in the present review have certain advantages and disadvantages. Based on this study, one can determine which technique provides an optimum result.

Development of process diagnostic techniques for piping and equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yotsutsuji, Mitoshi

1987-01-01

The thing required for using the facilities composing a plant for a long period without anxiety is to quantitatively grasp the quantities of the present condition of the facilities and to take the necessary measures beforehand. For this purpose, the diagnostic techniques for quickly and accurately detect the quantities of the condition of facilities are necessary, and the development of process diagnostic techniques has been desired. The process diagnostic techniques mentioned here mean those for diagnosing the contamination, clogging and performance of towers, tanks, heat exchangers and others. Idemitsu Engineering Co. had developed a simplified diagnostic equipment for detecting the state of fouling in piping in 1982, which is the gamma ray transmission diagnosis named Scale Checker. By further improving it, the process diagnostic techniques for piping and equipment were developed. In this report, the course of development and examination, the principle of detection, the constitution and the examination of remodeling of the Scale Checker are reported. As the cases of process diagnosis in plant facilities, the diagnosis of the clogging in process piping and the diagnosis of the performance of a distillation tower were carried out. The contents of the diagnosis and the results of those cases are explained. (Kako, I.)

A Survey of 2D Face Recognition Techniques

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Mejda Chihaoui

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Despite the existence of various biometric techniques, like fingerprints, iris scan, as well as hand geometry, the most efficient and more widely-used one is face recognition. This is because it is inexpensive, non-intrusive and natural. Therefore, researchers have developed dozens of face recognition techniques over the last few years. These techniques can generally be divided into three categories, based on the face data processing methodology. There are methods that use the entire face as input data for the proposed recognition system, methods that do not consider the whole face, but only some features or areas of the face and methods that use global and local face characteristics simultaneously. In this paper, we present an overview of some well-known methods in each of these categories. First, we expose the benefits of, as well as the challenges to the use of face recognition as a biometric tool. Then, we present a detailed survey of the well-known methods by expressing each method’s principle. After that, a comparison between the three categories of face recognition techniques is provided. Furthermore, the databases used in face recognition are mentioned, and some results of the applications of these methods on face recognition databases are presented. Finally, we highlight some new promising research directions that have recently appeared.

Prominent Optic Disc Featured in Inherited Retinopathy.

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Todorova, M G; Bojinova, R I; Valmaggia, C; Schorderet, D F

2017-04-01

Background We investigated the relationship between prominent optic disc (POD) and inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD). Patients and Methods A cross-sectional consecutive study was performed in 10 children and 11 adults of 7 non-related families. We performed clinical phenotyping, including a detailed examination, fundus autofluorescence, and colour fundus and OCT imaging. Genetic testing was subsequently performed for all family members presenting retinal pathology. Results In 4 members of a 3-generation family, hyperfluorescent deposits on the surface of POD were related to a p.(L224M) heterozygous mutation in BEST1 . In the second family, one member presented deposits located on the surface on hyperaemic OD and a compound p.(R141H);(A195V) mutation in BEST1 . In the third family, POD was observed in father and child with early onset cone-rod dystrophy and a novel autosomal recessive p.(W31*) homozygous mutation in ABCA4 . In the fourth family, POD with "mulberry-like" deposits and attenuated vessels were observed in a 7-year old girl, with a mutation in USH1A , and with early onset rod-cone dystrophy, associated with hearing loss. In the fifth family, blurry OD with tortuous vessels was observed in 4 consanguineous female carriers and a hemizygous boy with a p.(R200H) mutation in the X-linked retinoschisis RS1 . In the sixth family, a mother and her son were both affected with POD and attenuated peripapillary vessels, and presented with a p.(Y836C) heterozygous mutation in TOPORS , thus confirming autosomal dominant RP. In the seventh family, in 3 family members with POD, compound p.(L541P;A1038 V);(G1961E) mutations in ABCA4 confirmed the diagnosis of Stargardt disease. Conclusions A variety of OD findings are found in a genetically heterogeneous group of IRDs. In the presence of POD, an inherited progressive photoreceptor disease should be ruled out. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Sustainable Competitiveness of the SME Sector Formed by Collaboration: The Prominent Role of HR

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Tamás Molnár

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Human resources play a prominent role in the analysis of the development and competitiveness of the SME sector, therefore the discussion of the human resources is inevitable during the general characterisation of the sector. The development of and application of the appropriate organisational culture, motivation, competence are fundamental competitiveness factors of the success of SMEs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be adapted to the SMEs. The role of the state is necessary for the success of SMEs. The European Union continues to give special emphasis to the SME sector in the future, as one of the key business sectors influencing the economic success of a nation.

Prominent ears: the effect of reconstructive surgery on self-esteem and social interaction in children with a minor defect compared to children with a major orthopedic defect.

Science.gov (United States)

Niemelä, Birgitta Johansson; Hedlund, Anders; Andersson, Gerhard; Wahlsten, Viveka Sundelin

2008-11-01

In a prospective study of patients with prominent ears, the effect of reconstructive surgery on self-esteem and social interaction was examined 1 year after surgery. Of 42 patients with prominent ears aged 7 to 15 years, 21 were matched with a comparison group of orthopedic patients (leg lengthening) and a control group of schoolchildren. Psychological measures evaluated self-esteem, depression, anxiety, cognition, parents' ratings of child behavior and symptoms, and parent anxiety. Semistructured interviews with the child and parents were also conducted. The motivation to be operated on was pain, teasing, and feelings of being different. The satisfaction rate with the result of reconstructive surgery was high. The psychological measures of the prominent ears group had results close to those of the control group, although the leg lengthening group had lower self-esteem and higher depression and anxiety scores. With few exceptions, all patients had scores within the normal range on self-rating scales. Parents reported less activity at leisure time in both patient groups than in the control group. After surgery, parents reported improved behavior on the Child Behavior Checklist total problem score. Patients with minor defects had fewer self-reported psychological and behavior problems than the major defect group. Interestingly, prominent ears patients also had low activity levels. Reconstructive surgery had no adverse effect on the prominent ears patients in this interim study but rather resulted in improved well-being. It is important to investigate further the effect of reconstructive surgery on children's self-esteem and social interaction.

Prominent reflector beneath around the segmentation boundary between Tonankai-Nankai earthquake area

Science.gov (United States)

Nakanishi, A.; Shimomura, N.; Fujie, G.; Kodaira, S.; Obana, K.; Takahashi, T.; Yamamoto, Y.; Yamashita, M.; Takahashi, N.; Kaneda, Y.; Mochizuki, K.; Kato, A.; Iidaka, T.; Kurashimo, E.; Shinohara, M.; Takeda, T.; Shiomi, K.

2013-12-01

In the Nankai Trough subduction seismogenic zone, the Nankai and Tonankai earthquakes had often occurred simultaneously, and caused a great event. In most cases, first break of such large events of Nankai Trough usually begins from southwest off the Kii Peninsula so far. The idea of split Philippine Sea plate between the Kii Peninsula and the Shikoku Island, which explains seismicity, tectonic background, receiver function image and historical plate motion, was previously suggested. Moreover, between the Kii Peninsula and the Shikoku Island, there is a gap of deep low-frequency events observed in the belt-like zone along the strike of the subducting Philippine Sea plate. In 2010 and 2011, we conducted the large-scale high-resolution wide-angle and reflection (MCS) seismic study, and long-term observation from off Shikoku and Kii Peninsula. Marine active source seismic data have been acquired along grid two-dimensional profiles having the total length of ~800km/year. A three-dimensional seismic tomography using active and passive seismic data observed both land and ocean bottom stations have been also performed. From those data, we found a possible prominent reflector imaged in the offshore side in the Kii channel at the depth of ~18km. The velocity just beneath the reflector cannot be determined due to the lack of ray paths. Based of the amplitude information, we interpret the reflector as the forearc Moho based on the velocity gap (from ~6.4km/s to ~7.4km/s). However, the reflector is shallower than the forearc Moho of other area along the Nankai Trough. Similar reflectors are recognized along other seismic profiles around the Kii channel. In this presentation, we will show the result of structure analysis to understand the peculiar structure including the prominent reflector around the Kii channel. Relation between the structure and the existence of the segmentation of the Nankai megathrust earthquake or seismic gap of the deep low-frequency events will be also

A new technique in constructing closed-form solutions for nonlinear PDEs appearing in fluid mechanics and gas dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panayotounakos D. E.

1996-01-01

Full Text Available We develop a new unique technique in constructing closed-form solutions for several nonlinear partial differential systems appearing in fluid mechanics and gas dynamics. The obtained solutions include fewer arbitrary functions than needed for general solutions, fact that permits us to specify them according to the initial state, or the geometry, of each specific problem under consideration. In order to apply the before mentioned technique we construct closed-form solutions concerning the gas-dynamic equations with constant pressure, the dynamic equations of an ideal gas in isentropic flow, and the two-dimensional incompressible boundary layer flow.

Uranium exploration and evaluation techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowie, S.H.U.

1977-01-01

Ground, carborne and airborne surveys for uranium commenced with GM-counters and developed to total-count scintillation counters which have subsequently been replaced to some extent by gamma spectrometers. Stabilisation of the last mentioned is important and has only been achieved recently. Hydrogeochemistry has been revitalised by the introduction of neutron activation analysis and has considerable promise of success in the discovery of surface and near-surface uranium deposits. Soil, stream sediment and lake sediment analyses also have potential particularly in follow-up surveys. One of the most encouraging methods of detecting relatively deeply buried uranium ore bodies is by measuring the radon content of air retained in soil or sub-soil; also that dissolved in stream or lake water. Helium, particularly 4 He, which is also a decay product of uranium but which has an infinite half-life could be measured along with radon. Theoretically this could not only give additional information on buried ore bodies, but on the depth of burial. Another possible technique for use in the detection of buried ore bodies is that of measuring the increased heat flow at surface which, in favourable circumstatnces, should be associated with significant uranium occurrences. Measurement of heat flow could either be by surface thermal sensors or by thermal infra-red scanning techniques from aircraft. For the purposes of preliminary surveys of large areas, airborne geochemical techniques offer considerable scope. Possibilities include the measurement of 222 Rn in the atmosphere. Alternatively, one or more of the decay products of radon could be measured. These are 210 Pb, 210 Bi and 210 Po. It is concluded that there is ample evidence to suggest that the more widespread application of known exploration methods, together with new techniques that can already be envisaged, will result in important new discoveries of uranium reserves

Microrheometric upconversion-based techniques for intracellular viscosity measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Sevilla, Paloma; Zhang, Yuhai; de Sousa, Nuno; Marqués, Manuel I.; Sanz-Rodríguez, Francisco; Jaque, Daniel; Liu, Xiaogang; Haro-González, Patricia

2017-08-01

Rheological parameters (viscosity, creep compliance and elasticity) play an important role in cell function and viability. For this reason different strategies have been developed for their study. In this work, two new microrheometric techniques are presented. Both methods take advantage of the analysis of the polarized emission of an upconverting particle to determine its orientation inside the optical trap. Upconverting particles are optical materials that are able to convert infrared radiation into visible light. Their usefulness has been further boosted by the recent demonstration of their three-dimensional control and tracking by single beam infrared optical traps. In this work it is demonstrated that optical torques are responsible of the stable orientation of the upconverting particle inside the trap. Moreover, numerical calculations and experimental data allowed to use the rotation dynamics of the optically trapped upconverting particle for environmental sensing. In particular, the cytoplasm viscosity could be measured by using the rotation time and thermal fluctuations of an intracellular optically trapped upconverting particle, by means of the two previously mentioned microrheometric techniques.

Channel equalization techniques for non-volatile memristor memories

KAUST Repository

Naous, Rawan

2016-03-16

Channel coding and information theoretic approaches have been utilized in conventional non-volatile memories to overcome their inherent design limitations of leakage, coupling and refresh rates. However, the continuous scaling and integration constraints set on the current devices directed the attention towards emerging memory technologies as suitable alternatives. Memristive devices are prominent candidates to replace the conventional electronics due to its non-volatility and small feature size. Nonetheless, memristor-based memories still encounter an accuracy limitation throughout the read operation addressed as the sneak path phenomenon. The readout data is corrupted with added distortion that increases significantly the bit error rate and jeopardizes the reliability of the read operation. A novel technique is applied to alleviate this distorting effect where the communication channel model is proposed for the memory array. Noise cancellation principles are applied with the aid of preset pilots to extract channel information and adjust the readout values accordingly. The proposed technique has the virtue of high speed, energy efficiency, and low complexity design while achieving high reliability and error-free decoding.

Channel equalization techniques for non-volatile memristor memories

KAUST Repository

Naous, Rawan; Zidan, Mohammed A.; Salem, Ahmed Sultan; Salama, Khaled N.

2016-01-01

Channel coding and information theoretic approaches have been utilized in conventional non-volatile memories to overcome their inherent design limitations of leakage, coupling and refresh rates. However, the continuous scaling and integration constraints set on the current devices directed the attention towards emerging memory technologies as suitable alternatives. Memristive devices are prominent candidates to replace the conventional electronics due to its non-volatility and small feature size. Nonetheless, memristor-based memories still encounter an accuracy limitation throughout the read operation addressed as the sneak path phenomenon. The readout data is corrupted with added distortion that increases significantly the bit error rate and jeopardizes the reliability of the read operation. A novel technique is applied to alleviate this distorting effect where the communication channel model is proposed for the memory array. Noise cancellation principles are applied with the aid of preset pilots to extract channel information and adjust the readout values accordingly. The proposed technique has the virtue of high speed, energy efficiency, and low complexity design while achieving high reliability and error-free decoding.

DESTABILIZATION OF A SOLAR PROMINENCE/FILAMENT FIELD SYSTEM BY A SERIES OF EIGHT HOMOLOGOUS ERUPTIVE FLARES LEADING TO A CME

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Panesar, Navdeep K.; Moore, Ronald L. [Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), UAH, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Sterling, Alphonse C. [Heliophysics and Planetary Science Office, ZP13, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States); Innes, Davina E., E-mail: navdeep.k.panesar@nasa.gov [Max Planck Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany)

2015-09-20

Homologous flares are flares that occur repetitively in the same active region, with similar structure and morphology. A series of at least eight homologous flares occurred in active region NOAA 11237 over 2011 June 16–17. A nearby prominence/filament was rooted in the active region, and situated near the bottom of a coronal cavity. The active region was on the southeast solar limb as seen from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, and on the disk as viewed from the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory/EUVI-B. The dual perspective allows us to study in detail behavior of the prominence/filament material entrained in the magnetic field of the repeatedly erupting system. Each of the eruptions were mainly confined, but expelled hot material into the prominence/filament cavity system (PFCS). The field carrying and containing the ejected hot material interacted with the PFCS and caused it to inflate, resulting in a step-wise rise of the PFCS approximately in step with the homologous eruptions. The eighth eruption triggered the PFCS to move outward slowly, accompanied by a weak coronal dimming. As this slow PFCS eruption was underway, a final “ejective” flare occurred in the core of the active region, resulting in strong dimming in the EUVI-B images and expulsion of a coronal mass ejection (CME). A plausible scenario is that the repeated homologous flares could have gradually destabilized the PFCS, and its subsequent eruption removed field above the acitive region and in turn led to the ejective flare, strong dimming, and CME.

New approaches in intelligent control techniques, methodologies and applications

CERN Document Server

Kountchev, Roumen

2016-01-01

This volume introduces new approaches in intelligent control area from both the viewpoints of theory and application. It consists of eleven contributions by prominent authors from all over the world and an introductory chapter. This volume is strongly connected to another volume entitled "New Approaches in Intelligent Image Analysis" (Eds. Roumen Kountchev and Kazumi Nakamatsu). The chapters of this volume are self-contained and include summary, conclusion and future works. Some of the chapters introduce specific case studies of various intelligent control systems and others focus on intelligent theory based control techniques with applications. A remarkable specificity of this volume is that three chapters are dealing with intelligent control based on paraconsistent logics.

FINE MAGNETIC STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF COUNTER-STREAMING MASS FLOWS IN A QUIESCENT SOLAR PROMINENCE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Yuandeng; Liu, Yu; Xu, Zhi; Liu, Zhong; Liu, Ying D.; Chen, P. F.; Su, Jiangtao

2015-01-01

We present high-resolution observations of a quiescent solar prominence that consists of a vertical and a horizontal foot encircled by an overlying spine and has ubiquitous counter-streaming mass flows. While the horizontal foot and the spine were connected to the solar surface, the vertical foot was suspended above the solar surface and was supported by a semicircular bubble structure. The bubble first collapsed, then reformed at a similar height, and finally started to oscillate for a long time. We find that the collapse and oscillation of the bubble boundary were tightly associated with a flare-like feature located at the bottom of the bubble. Based on the observational results, we propose that the prominence should be composed of an overlying horizontal spine encircling a low-lying horizontal and vertical foot, in which the horizontal foot consists of shorter field lines running partially along the spine and has ends connected to the solar surface, while the vertical foot consists of piling-up dips due to the sagging of the spine fields and is supported by a bipolar magnetic system formed by parasitic polarities (i.e., the bubble). The upflows in the vertical foot were possibly caused by the magnetic reconnection at the separator between the bubble and the overlying dips, which intruded into the persistent downflow field and formed the picture of counter-streaming mass flows. In addition, the counter-streaming flows in the horizontal foot were possibly caused by the imbalanced pressure at the both ends

An interpretation of hydrogen and helium line spectra of the loop prominence observed on November 3, 1973

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kureizumi, Takeshi; Kubota, Jun; Kawaguchi, Ichiro; Tamenaga, Tatsuo; Maeda, Koichiro.

1977-01-01

The H sub(I), He sub(I), and He sub(II) emission lines of the loop prominence observed on November 3, 1973 in the rapidly developing phase are analyzed. The difference in widths of these lines suggests they do not originate in the same volume. The estimated T sub(e) (8000-9000 K) and n sub(e) (-- 2 x 10 12 cm -3 ) in the loop from the Balmer lines do not change appreciably with time everywhere in the loop during our observation (00 sup(h)40 sup(m)-01 sup(h)10 sup(m)UT). The degree of ionization of hydrogen is estimated to be in the range of 0.8 to 1.0. The ionizing mechanisms may be attributed to the UV radiation (lambda<=912A) from the underlying flare region. Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) is approximately established in the excited levels of He sub(I), but the singlet levels are somewhat overpopulated. The UV radiation field (lambda<=504A) from the surrounding coronal condensation is estimated from microwave and X-ray flux measurements of S sub(OLRAD)9. The ionization of He sub(I) (ionization degree 0.1-0.2) is mainly controlled by UV radiation from the coronal condensation. An adequate thread structure model of the loop prominence is suggested. (auth.)

Radiologic comparison of erosive polyarthritis with prominent interphalangeal involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gold, R.H.; Bassett, L.W.; Theros, E.G.

1982-01-01

Psoriatic arthritis, Reiter's disease, and multicentric reticulohistiocytosis may manifest prominent interphalangeal joint and cutaneous involvement. All three disorders may also affect the sacroiliac joints and spine. Despite these similarities, there are basic radiologic differences enabling distinction between the three disorders. Erosive osteoarthritis must also be considered in the differential diagnosis of interphalangeal erosive arthritis. Psoriatic erosions are characteristically ill defined, often bilaterally asymmetrical, usually unaccompanied by significant osteoporosis, and frequently associated with florid proliferation of subperiosteal new bone. An unilateral polyarticular pattern, which often occurs in a single ray, is the most prevalent of several patterns of involvement. Reiter's disease exhibits many clinical and radiologic similarities to psoriatic arthritis, but in the former there tends to be selective involvement of the joints of the lower limbs and particularly the feet, with relative sparing of the hands and wrists, while in the latter the joints of the upper and lower limbs tend to be involved to an equal extent. Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (MR). Lesions predominate in skin and synovium and result in sharply circumscribed, rapidly progressive, strikingly bilaterally symmetrical erosions spreading from joint margins to articular surfaces. Most or all of the diarthrodial joints may be affected, but interphalangeal joint predominance and early and severe atlanto-axial involvement are characteristic. Erosive osteoarthritis is characterized by interphalangeal subchondral erosions, accompanying periosteal new bone that is more subtle than that of psoriatic arthritis, and interphalangeal bony ankylosis that occurs with the same frequency as that of psoriatic arthritis. (orig.)

Prominent feature extraction for review analysis: an empirical study

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Basant; Mittal, Namita

2016-05-01

Sentiment analysis (SA) research has increased tremendously in recent times. SA aims to determine the sentiment orientation of a given text into positive or negative polarity. Motivation for SA research is the need for the industry to know the opinion of the users about their product from online portals, blogs, discussion boards and reviews and so on. Efficient features need to be extracted for machine-learning algorithm for better sentiment classification. In this paper, initially various features are extracted such as unigrams, bi-grams and dependency features from the text. In addition, new bi-tagged features are also extracted that conform to predefined part-of-speech patterns. Furthermore, various composite features are created using these features. Information gain (IG) and minimum redundancy maximum relevancy (mRMR) feature selection methods are used to eliminate the noisy and irrelevant features from the feature vector. Finally, machine-learning algorithms are used for classifying the review document into positive or negative class. Effects of different categories of features are investigated on four standard data-sets, namely, movie review and product (book, DVD and electronics) review data-sets. Experimental results show that composite features created from prominent features of unigram and bi-tagged features perform better than other features for sentiment classification. mRMR is a better feature selection method as compared with IG for sentiment classification. Boolean Multinomial Naïve Bayes) algorithm performs better than support vector machine classifier for SA in terms of accuracy and execution time.

Development of the FISH technique for biological dosimetry applications in the Gregorio Maranon General University Hospital

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moreno, M.; Jesus Prieto, M.; Olivares, P.; Gomez, M.; Herranz, R.

1997-01-01

Since 1989 cytogenetic analysis for dose estimation has been regularly used In the Gregorio Maranon General University Hospital (HGUGM) of Madrid on individuals suspected of having accidentally been exposed to ionizing radiation. The method used is the study of chromosomal aberrations found in lymphocytes of peripheral blood. The technique recommended by the IAEA in 1986 permits to establish a dicentrics/dose ratio through an effective dose calibration curve prepared in-vitro. This methodology of dose estimation presents serious limitations which can partially be eliminated by means of new molecular cytogenetic techniques, such as chromosomal painting through in-situ hybridization with fluorescence (FISH). At HGUGM, research work has been finished for standardization of the above mentioned technique including effective dose calibration curves, the utilization of adequate aberrations and the intercomparision of the results with other centres

Action in Perception: Prominent Visuo-Motor Functional Symmetry in Musicians during Music Listening.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iballa Burunat

Full Text Available Musical training leads to sensory and motor neuroplastic changes in the human brain. Motivated by findings on enlarged corpus callosum in musicians and asymmetric somatomotor representation in string players, we investigated the relationship between musical training, callosal anatomy, and interhemispheric functional symmetry during music listening. Functional symmetry was increased in musicians compared to nonmusicians, and in keyboardists compared to string players. This increased functional symmetry was prominent in visual and motor brain networks. Callosal size did not significantly differ between groups except for the posterior callosum in musicians compared to nonmusicians. We conclude that the distinctive postural and kinematic symmetry in instrument playing cross-modally shapes information processing in sensory-motor cortical areas during music listening. This cross-modal plasticity suggests that motor training affects music perception.

Observed IRIS Profiles of the h and k Doublet of Mg II and Comparison with Profiles from Quiescent Prominence NLTE Models

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vial, J. C.; Pelouze, G.; Heinzel, Petr; Kleint, L.; Anzer, U.

2016-01-01

Roč. 291, č. 1 (2016), s. 67-87 ISSN 0038-0938 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Mg II lines * non-LTE diagnostic * Sun prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 2.682, year: 2016

Topicality and Text Pragmatic Prominence Five Hierarchies Regarding the Topic Suitability of Nominal Constituents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korzen, Iørn

2015-01-01

This paper presents and discusses a description of topicality and text pragmatic prominence of nominal discourse referents based on four hierarchies. These hierarchies concern the referent with respect to (a) its identifiability (± identifiable), (b) its referentiality (e.g. deictic, specific...... incorporation of the NP designating the referent, (2) the linguistic material of anaphors linked to the NP, and (3) various phenomena linked to the possible clefting of the NP. The paper also demonstrates that the proposed model and taxonomy is very well suited as tertium comparationis in a cross......-linguistic approach, not least in typological comparisons between for instance Romance and Germanic languages. The correlations described are viewed cross-linguistically with evidence from Italian, Danish, and English....

Radiotherapy in prostate cancer. Innovative techniques and current controversies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geinitz, Hans

2015-01-01

Examines in detail the role of innovative radiation techniques in the management of prostate cancer, including IMRT, IGRT, BART, and modern brachytherapy. Explores a range of current controversies in patient treatment. Intended for both radiation oncologists and urologists. Radiation treatment is rapidly evolving owing to the coordinated research of physicists, engineers, computer and imaging specialists, and physicians. Today, the arsenal of ''high-precision'' or ''targeted'' radiotherapy includes multimodal imaging, in vivo dosimetry, Monte Carlo techniques for dose planning, patient immobilization techniques, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), biologically adapted radiotherapy (BART), quality assurance methods, novel methods of brachytherapy, and, at the far end of the scale, particle beam radiotherapy using protons and carbon ions. These approaches are like pieces of a puzzle that need to be put together to provide the prostate cancer patient with high-level optimized radiation treatment. This book examines in detail the role of the above-mentioned innovative radiation techniques in the management of prostate cancer. In addition, a variety of current controversies regarding treatment are carefully explored, including whether prophylactic treatment of the pelvic lymphatics is essential, the magnitude of the effect of dose escalation, whether a benefit accrues from hypofractionation, and what evidence exists for the superiority of protons or heavy ions. Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer: Innovative Techniques and Current Controversies is intended for both radiation oncologists and urologists with an interest in the up-to-date capabilities of modern radiation oncology for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The role of histological techniques for preparation of bone in studies of pl

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alati, T.

1982-01-01

Techniques and methodologies for histological preparation of bone samples from plutonium-contaminated laboratory mice are described in the present report. These techniques have been set up within a research program on Pu-239 toxicity at low and very low activities. Pu-239 is a well-known alpha emitter with high relative biological effectiveness; when incorporated in mammalian organism it is also taken up by bone surfaces where osteosarcomas may be induced. This effect is very probably associated to the particular spatial relationships between the incorporated radionuclide and the target cells at risk. The research program actually in progress includes both the studies of late pathological effects, mainly in terms of bone tumor incidence and rate, and the quantitative description of the spatial relationships mentioned above. Whithin this framework, the techniques to described refer to the preparation of histological samples of demineralized bones for traditional histopathological analyses and of mineralized bones for studies of Pu-239 microdistributions by means of fission track analyses

Radioactive diffusion gaseous probe technique for study adsorbent structure inhomogeneity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zyuzin, A.Yu.; Korobkov, V.I.; Bekman, I.N.

1990-01-01

One of the versions of the method of diffusion gaseous probe - method of longitudinal shear in combination with autoradiography (ARG) - was used for characterising sorbents and catalysts, which are considered to be promising for reprocessing of sulfur-containing natural gases. Hydrogen sulfide, labelled with 35 S was used as diffusion radioactive probe. Zeolite granules of 4A type and granulated adsorbents on the basis of CR and AM aluminium oxides, which are industrial catalysts of Clauss reaction developed at SNEA company, were used as objects under investigation. It is shown that technique for fabrication of 4A zeolite granules leads to asymmetrical pore distribution over the granule diameter. Technique for AM granule fabrication leads to occuRrence of local inhomogeneities of the structure in the form of narrow coaxial rings with decreased or increased local adsorption ability. Granules of adsorbent of CR type are characterized by rather homogeneous structure. It is recommended to use the mentioned method for industrial adsorbent diagnosis

"The comparison between effects of two general anesthesia techniques; Intermittent apenic technique and continuous controlled ventilation in upper airway Laser therapy "

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khagavy MR "

2002-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Laser beam due to finest of incision and reduction of postoperative complication, facilitates airway surgery, but at the same time it increases the danger or firing and the airway management and protection becomes difficult during anesthesia. In this study, two general anesthesia methods; (Intermittent Apneic Technique And Continuous Controlled Ventilation With Enveloped Endotracheal Tube have been compared with each other mater. Materials and methods: two groups, each consist of 25 patients 10 to 60 years old, and ASA I-II class and below 100kg weight who have been candidate for laser therapy, were given two mentioned methods of anesthesia. All patients were suffering from subglotic stenosis, vocal cord nodules, papillomatosis and oropharyngeal obstruction. Induction and maintenance of anesthesia, and monitoring during surgery (EGG, PETCO2, SaPo2, BP, PR in both groups were the same. Results: Homodynamic stability in the both groups were the same and there was no hypoxia and dysrhythmia. In apneic technique group, most of the surgeries needed 2-3 time of apnea, and each apnea duration was 2-4 minutes, without any hypercaphic (Peteco 2>47 mmHg and hypoxic (Spo2<90 percent state and duration of laser surgery was about 9-10 minutes. More satisfaction was gained with apneic technique because of having a better surgery filed. All the patients had no recall at the end of anesthesia and patietn's expenses were much lower with no danger of firing. Conclusion: It has been concluded that intermittent apneic technique in upper airway laser therapy is a better technique of anesthesia.

Balloon-Assisted Chemoembolization Using a Micro-Balloon Catheter Alongside a Microcatheter for a Hepatocellular Carcinoma with a Prominent Arterioportal Shunt: A Case Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoshiai, Sodai, E-mail: hoshiai@sb4.so-net.ne.jp; Mori, Kensaku; Ishiguro, Toshitaka; Konishi, Takahiro; Uchikawa, Yoko [University of Tsukuba Hospital, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (Japan); Fukuda, Kuniaki [University of Tsukuba Hospital, Department of Gastroenterology (Japan); Minami, Manabu [University of Tsukuba Hospital, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (Japan)

2017-04-15

Although transcatheter arterial chemoembolization is one of the established treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it is difficult to treat HCCs with prominent arterioportal (AP) shunts because anticancer drugs and embolic materials migrate into the non-tumorous liver through the AP shunts and may cause liver infarction. We developed a novel method of balloon-assisted chemoembolization using a micro-balloon catheter alongside a microcatheter simultaneously inserted through a single 4.5-Fr guiding sheath, comprising proximal chemoembolization with distal arterial balloon occlusion. We applied this method to treat an HCC with a prominent distal AP shunt induced by previous proton beam therapy and achieved successful chemoembolization without non-tumorous liver infarction under temporal balloon occlusion of a distal AP shunt.

The formation of solar prominences by thermal instability in a current sheet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, E.A.; Priest, E.R.

1977-01-01

The energy balance equation for the upper chromosphere or lower corona contains a radiative loss term which is destabilizing, because of slight decrease in temperature from the equilibrium value causes more radiation and hence a cooling of the plasma; also a slight increase in temperature has the effect of heating the plasma. In spite of this tendency towards thermal instability, most of the solar atmosphere is remarkably stable, since thermal conduction is very efficient at equalizing any temperature irregularity which may arise. However, the effectiveness of thermal conduction in transporting heat is decreased considerably in a current sheet or a magnetic flux tube, since heat can be conducted quickly only along the magnetic field lines. This paper presents a simple model for the thermal equilibrium and stability of a current sheet. It is found that, when its length exceeds a certain maximum value, no equilibrium is possible and the plasma in the sheet cools. The results may be relevant for the formation of a quiescent prominence. (Auth.)

Prominent blue emission through Tb3+ doped La2O3 nano-phosphors for white LEDs

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Neha; Singh, Rajan Kr; Srivastava, Amit; Mishra, S. K.; Singh, Jai

2018-06-01

In this article, we report the tunable luminescence emission of Tb3+ doped La2O3 nanophosphors synthesized by a facile and effective Polyol method. The structural and surface morphological studies have been carried out by employing X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The XRD studies elucidate the proper phase formation and the results emanate from Raman spectroscopy of the as synthesized nanophosphor affirms it. The optical properties of the as fabricated nanoparticles have been investigated by Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The PL spectroscopy shows the occurrence of excitation peaks at 305, 350 and 375 nm for 543 nm emissions, correspond to transition 5D4 →7F5. Emission spectra with 305 nm excitation exhibits characteristic emission peaks of Tb3+ion at 472, 487, 543 and 580 nm. The intensity of emission increases with Tb3+ concentration and is most prominent for 7 at% Tb3+ ion. The characteristic emissions of Tb3+ ion owes to the transition in which intensities of blue and green emission are prominent. The dominant intensity has been found for 472 nm (for blue emission). Commission international d 'Eclairage (CIE) co-ordinates have found in the light blue to green region. The research work provides a new interesting insight dealing with tunable properties with Tb3+ doping in La2O3 nanophosphors, to be useful for display devices, solar cells, LEDs and optoelectronic devices.

Concept of Sukha (comfort) mentioned in Dhatusarata (tissue excellence) w.s.r. to vocational guidance

Science.gov (United States)

Waghulade, Hemangini; Harit, Mahesh Kumar

2014-01-01

Agni (digestive fire), Prakruti (constitution), Dhatusarata (tissue excellence), Dosha (bio–energies) are the specialties of Ayurveda on which diagnosis, treatment and research are based. The description of Dhatusarata (tissue excellence) has been given under Dashavidha Pariksha (tenfold examination) in Charak Samhita, Viman Sthana, 8th chapter. Some qualities, which are mentioned in Dhatusarata are difficult to assess, e.g. Sukha, Aishwarya, Upabhoga, Bala, etc., There is a need to develop some quantitative parameters to measure these qualities according to tissue excellence i.e. Dhatusarata. By assessing Dhatu Sarata, one can judge the true strength of a particular Dhatu but only the ability or strength is not enough to get success; the liking or interest is also essential to achieve success. The purpose of this study is to elaborate the concept of Dhatusarata and reveal different aspects of Sukha according to the quality of that particular Dhatu in context of vocational guidance. It will help to establish interrelationship between Dhatusarata and vocational guidance. It will be assessed whether this Sukha quality is merely happiness or having different shades according to the excellence of Dhatus and whether this study is useful in guiding the person to choose appropriate profession, which will be according to his liking and ability. It has been concluded that shades of Sukha quality varies with particular Dhatusaras, which may be helpful in guiding a suitable profession to an individual which will be according to his ability and liking i.e. Sukha for intimate success. PMID:26195895

Working Environment and Software Configuration Management Assimiliation using Traceability Enhancement Technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, H.; Javed, A.; Majeed, M. N.

2015-01-01

Software Configuration Management (SCM) Systems are very useful in coordinating group effort in large and complex software systems. As a result of change in user requirement, market needs, tools, technology or new business goals emanate out, changes are continuously induced while developing the software product. For change management, Traceability technique and SCM are two prominent practices in the software development process. SCM helps in managing configuration items while traceability helps in tracing the knowledge about the configuration items. In this paper we propose a model of the SCM system with the working environment when changes are introduced in multiple artifacts and by which high quality products are developed. (author)

Application of the partitive analytical forecasting (PAF) technique to the United States controlled thermonuclear research effort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nichols, S.P.

1975-01-01

The Partitive Analytical Forecasting (PAF) technique is applied to the overall long-term program plans for the Division of Controlled Thermonuclear Research (DCTR) of the United States Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). As part of the PAF technique, the Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERTS) IIIZ computer code is used to perform simulations on a logic network describing the DCTR long-term program plan. Logic networks describing the tokamak, mirror, and theta-pinch developments are simulated individually and then together to form an overall DCTR program network. The results of the simulation of the overall network using various funding schemes and strategies are presented. An economic sensitivity analysis is provided for the tokamak logic networks. An analysis is also performed of the fusion-fission hybrid concept in the context of the present DCTR goals. The results mentioned above as well as the PAF technique itself are evaluated, and recommendations for further research are discussed

The electron transport problem sampling by Monte Carlo individual collision technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Androsenko, P.A.; Belousov, V.I.

2005-01-01

The problem of electron transport is of most interest in all fields of the modern science. To solve this problem the Monte Carlo sampling has to be used. The electron transport is characterized by a large number of individual interactions. To simulate electron transport the 'condensed history' technique may be used where a large number of collisions are grouped into a single step to be sampled randomly. Another kind of Monte Carlo sampling is the individual collision technique. In comparison with condensed history technique researcher has the incontestable advantages. For example one does not need to give parameters altered by condensed history technique like upper limit for electron energy, resolution, number of sub-steps etc. Also the condensed history technique may lose some very important tracks of electrons because of its limited nature by step parameters of particle movement and due to weakness of algorithms for example energy indexing algorithm. There are no these disadvantages in the individual collision technique. This report presents some sampling algorithms of new version BRAND code where above mentioned technique is used. All information on electrons was taken from Endf-6 files. They are the important part of BRAND. These files have not been processed but directly taken from electron information source. Four kinds of interaction like the elastic interaction, the Bremsstrahlung, the atomic excitation and the atomic electro-ionization were considered. In this report some results of sampling are presented after comparison with analogs. For example the endovascular radiotherapy problem (P2) of QUADOS2002 was presented in comparison with another techniques that are usually used. (authors)

Prominent Midlatitude Circulation Signature in High Asia's Surface Climate During Monsoon

Science.gov (United States)

Mölg, Thomas; Maussion, Fabien; Collier, Emily; Chiang, John C. H.; Scherer, Dieter

2017-12-01

High Asia has experienced strong environmental changes in recent decades, as evident in records of glaciers, lakes, tree rings, and vegetation. The multiscale understanding of the climatic drivers, however, is still incomplete. In particular, few systematic assessments have evaluated to what degree, if at all, the midlatitude westerly circulation modifies local surface climates in the reach of the Indian Summer Monsoon. This paper shows that a southward shift of the upper-tropospheric westerlies contributes significantly to climate variability in the core monsoon season (July-September) by two prominent dipole patterns at the surface: cooling in the west of High Asia contrasts with warming in the east, while moist anomalies in the east and northwest occur with drying along the southwestern margins. Circulation anomalies help to understand the dipoles and coincide with shifts in both the westerly wave train and the South Asian High, which imprint on air mass advection and local energy budgets. The relation of the variabilities to a well-established index of midlatitude climate dynamics allows future research on climate proxies to include a fresh hypothesis for the interpretation of environmental changes.

The coordination of boundary tones and its interaction with prominence.

Science.gov (United States)

Katsika, Argyro; Krivokapić, Jelena; Mooshammer, Christine; Tiede, Mark; Goldstein, Louis

2014-05-01

This study investigates the coordination of boundary tones as a function of stress and pitch accent. Boundary tone coordination has not been experimentally investigated previously, and the effect of prominence on this coordination, and whether it is lexical (stress-driven) or phrasal (pitch accent-driven) in nature is unclear. We assess these issues using a variety of syntactic constructions to elicit different boundary tones in an Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) study of Greek. The results indicate that the onset of boundary tones co-occurs with the articulatory target of the final vowel. This timing is further modified by stress, but not by pitch accent: boundary tones are initiated earlier in words with non-final stress than in words with final stress regardless of accentual status. Visual data inspection reveals that phrase-final words are followed by acoustic pauses during which specific articulatory postures occur. Additional analyses show that these postures reach their achievement point at a stable temporal distance from boundary tone onsets regardless of stress position. Based on these results and parallel findings on boundary lengthening reported elsewhere, a novel approach to prosody is proposed within the context of Articulatory Phonology: rather than seeing prosodic (lexical and phrasal) events as independent entities, a set of coordination relations between them is suggested. The implications of this account for prosodic architecture are discussed.

Safety management: a few techniques and their application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soundararajan, S.

2016-01-01

Industrial safety practice has grown in its stature tremendously since the age of industrial revolution. A number of modern techniques are available to strengthen design safety features, to review operational safety, and to critically appraise and upgrade practices of occupational safety and health management. This talk focuses on three prominent yet simple techniques and their usefulness in the overall safety management of a workplace. Any industrial set-up undergoes different stages in its life cycle-conceptual design, actual design, construction, fabrication and installation, commissioning, operation, shutdown/re-start up and decommissioning. Checklist procedure is a safety tool that can be applied at any of these stages. Thus it is a quite useful technique in safety management and accident prevention. It can serve as a form of approval from one step to another in the course of any routine or specific task. Safety Audit or Safety Review is a critical safety management appraisal tool. It gives a reasonable indication of how well a company's safety programme works, how hazards are recognised, how well employees are motivated and so on. It gives a clear picture about where a company stands as far as framing and implementation of its SHE policy is concerned. Each of the above tools is complementing each other and required to be applied at appropriate juncture in sustaining good safety management system at the workplace

Accelerator based techniques for contraband detection

Science.gov (United States)

Vourvopoulos, George

1994-05-01

It has been shown that narcotics, explosives, and other contraband materials, contain various chemical elements such as H, C, N, O, P, S, and Cl in quantities and ratios that differentiate them from each other and from other innocuous substances. Neutrons and γ-rays have the ability to penetrate through various materials at large depths. They are thus able, in a non-intrusive way, to interrogate volumes ranging from suitcases to Sea-Land containers, and have the ability to image the object with an appreciable degree of reliability. Neutron induced reactions such as (n, γ), (n, n') (n, p) or proton induced γ-resonance absorption are some of the reactions currently investigated for the identification of the chemical elements mentioned above. Various DC and pulsed techniques are discussed and their advantages, characteristics, and current progress are shown. Areas where use of these methods is currently under evaluation are detection of hidden explosives, illicit drug interdiction, chemical war agents identification, nuclear waste assay, nuclear weapons destruction and others.

Development and characterization of HIP joining techniques for Si3N4 materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun Woo, J.

1991-09-01

The report deals with the development and optimization of reproducible techniques for joining Si 3 N 4 with Si 3 N 4 without interlayers consisting of other materials, applying hot isostatic pressing and vacuum plasma spraying. Furthermore, experiments are reported that have been performed in addition to the above-mentioned, for preparing Si 3 N 4 sintered specimens without sintering additives, applying the HIP technique. The resulting specimens have been tested for their joining characteristics, which are reported. All reported experiments have been performed varying essential parameters such as HIP temperature, pressure, holding time, surface roughness, and heat treatment. Every parameter has been examined individually for its effect on the bonding strength of the prepared Si 3 N 4 -Si 3 N 4 joint, applying 4P bending tests at room temperature and at 1200deg C. (orig./MM) [de

Radiotherapy in prostate cancer. Innovative techniques and current controversies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geinitz, Hans [Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Schwestern, Linz (Austria). Dept. of Radiation Oncology; Linz Univ. (Austria). Medical Faculty; Roach, Mack III [California Univ., San Francisco, CA (United States). Dept. of Radiation Oncology; Van As, Nicholas (ed.) [The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton Surrey (United Kingdom)

2015-04-01

Examines in detail the role of innovative radiation techniques in the management of prostate cancer, including IMRT, IGRT, BART, and modern brachytherapy. Explores a range of current controversies in patient treatment. Intended for both radiation oncologists and urologists. Radiation treatment is rapidly evolving owing to the coordinated research of physicists, engineers, computer and imaging specialists, and physicians. Today, the arsenal of ''high-precision'' or ''targeted'' radiotherapy includes multimodal imaging, in vivo dosimetry, Monte Carlo techniques for dose planning, patient immobilization techniques, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), biologically adapted radiotherapy (BART), quality assurance methods, novel methods of brachytherapy, and, at the far end of the scale, particle beam radiotherapy using protons and carbon ions. These approaches are like pieces of a puzzle that need to be put together to provide the prostate cancer patient with high-level optimized radiation treatment. This book examines in detail the role of the above-mentioned innovative radiation techniques in the management of prostate cancer. In addition, a variety of current controversies regarding treatment are carefully explored, including whether prophylactic treatment of the pelvic lymphatics is essential, the magnitude of the effect of dose escalation, whether a benefit accrues from hypofractionation, and what evidence exists for the superiority of protons or heavy ions. Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer: Innovative Techniques and Current Controversies is intended for both radiation oncologists and urologists with an interest in the up-to-date capabilities of modern radiation oncology for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Comprehensive metabolomics identified lipid peroxidation as a prominent feature in human plasma of patients with coronary heart diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianhong Lu

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Coronary heart disease (CHD is a complex human disease associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. The underlying mechanisms and diagnostic biomarkers for the different types of CHD remain poorly defined. Metabolomics has been increasingly recognized as an enabling technique with the potential to identify key metabolomic features in an attempt to understand the pathophysiology and differentiate different stages of CHD. We performed comprehensive metabolomic analysis in human plasma from 28 human subjects with stable angina (SA, myocardial infarction (MI, and healthy control (HC. Subsequent analysis demonstrated a uniquely altered metabolic profile in these CHD: a total of 18, 37 and 36 differential metabolites were identified to distinguish SA from HC, MI from SA, and MI from HC groups respectively. Among these metabolites, glycerophospholipid (GPL metabolism emerged as the most significantly disturbed pathway. Next, we used a targeted metabolomic approach to systematically analyze GPL, oxidized phospholipid (oxPL, and downstream metabolites derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, such as arachidonic acid and linoleic acid. Surprisingly, lipids associated with lipid peroxidation (LPO pathways including oxidized PL and isoprostanes, isomers of prostaglandins, were significantly elevated in plasma of MI patients comparing to HC and SA, consistent with the notion that oxidative stress-induced LPO is a prominent feature in CHD. Our studies using the state-of-the-art metabolomics help to understand the underlying biological mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of CHD; LPO metabolites may serve as potential biomarkers to differentiation MI from SA and HC. Keywords: Metabolomics, Lipid peroxidation, Lipidomics, Myocardial infarction, Isoprostanes, Coronary heart disease (CHD

Natural isotope technique for the exploration and exploitation of ground water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zainal Abidin; Hudi Hastowo; Aang Hanafiah

2007-01-01

In line with the condition of climate and hydrology, Indonesia has a fast amount of aquifers which are sources of ground water. In several areas large number of springs occurred with small to large debits which is a sign of ground water potential. Ground water is a potential reservoir to be use at maximum for several purposes such as drinking water, industry and tourism. Large cities such as Jakarta, Bandung and others depend on ground water for their industries and hotels. The exploitation of ground water use has to be controlled and monitoring of a management system have to be done. Research carried out only on the exploitation of geophysics and hydrology showed that the amount of ground water reservoirs is not enough to be used when it comes to justification to explore it. Other parameters are still be needed which are the origins and dating of the ground water, these last two factors mentioned have to be taken into consideration in the system of conversion and balance of water. An alternative technology to determine the two factors mentioned in a short time is the natural isotope technique of 18 O, 2 H and 14 C. This technique is used to determine the origin of water, and isotope 14 C is carried out to determine the age of ground water. Isotopes 18 H and 2 H are stable isotopes in the form of water and is integrated in the hydrological cycle. Their specific concentrations in rain water at several elevations are used as fingerprints to locate the area of ground water supplement and its origin. Isotope 14 C is a natural radioactive isotope with a half-life of 5.730 years and is found in the hydrology cycle and enters the ground water system through CO 2 gas which is dissolved in water. 14 C isotope could determine the age of ground water and is also able to indicate the potential/amount of ground water. Studies of exploration and exploration monitoring of ground water should be an integrated study by geohydrology, geophysics and isotope and could be a solution of

Orthodontic treatment for prominent upper front teeth (Class II malocclusion) in children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Batista, Klaus Bsl; Thiruvenkatachari, Badri; Harrison, Jayne E; O'Brien, Kevin D

2018-03-13

Prominent upper front teeth are a common problem affecting about a quarter of 12-year-old children in the UK. The condition develops when permanent teeth erupt. These teeth are more likely to be injured and their appearance can cause significant distress. Children are often referred to an orthodontist for treatment with dental braces to reduce the prominence of their teeth. If a child is referred at a young age, the orthodontist is faced with the dilemma of whether to treat the patient early or to wait and provide treatment in adolescence. To assess the effects of orthodontic treatment for prominent upper front teeth initiated when children are seven to 11 years old ('early treatment' in two phases) compared to in adolescence at around 12 to 16 years old ('late treatment' in one phase); to assess the effects of late treatment compared to no treatment; and to assess the effects of different types of orthodontic braces. Cochrane Oral Health's Information Specialist searched the following databases: Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register (to 27 September 2017), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library, 2017, Issue 8), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 27 September 2017), and Embase Ovid (1980 to 27 September 2017). The US National Institutes of Health Ongoing Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were searched for ongoing trials. No restrictions were placed on the language or date of publication when searching the electronic databases. Randomised controlled trials of orthodontic treatments to correct prominent upper front teeth (Class II malocclusion) in children and adolescents. We included trials that compared early treatment in children (two-phase) with any type of orthodontic braces (removable, fixed, functional) or head-braces versus late treatment in adolescents (one-phase) with any type of orthodontic braces or head-braces, and trials that compared any

Improving neuromodulation technique for refractory voiding dysfunctions: two-stage implant.

Science.gov (United States)

Janknegt, R A; Weil, E H; Eerdmans, P H

1997-03-01

Neuromodulation is a new technique that uses electrical stimulation of the sacral nerves for patients with refractory urinary urge/frequency or urge-incontinence, and some forms of urinary retention. The limiting factor for receiving an implant is often a failure of the percutaneous nerve evaluation (PNE) test. Present publications mention only about a 50% success score for PNE of all patients, although the micturition diaries and urodynamic parameters are similar. We wanted to investigate whether PNE results improved by using a permanent electrode as a PNE test. This would show that improvement of the PNE technique is feasible. In 10 patients where the original PNE had failed to improve the micturition diary parameters more than 50%, a permanent electrode was implanted by operation. It was connected to an external stimulator. In those cases where the patients improved according to their micturition diary by more than 50% during a period of 4 days, the external stimulator was replaced by a permanent subcutaneous neurostimulator. Eight of the 10 patients had a good to very good result (60% to 90% improvement) during the testing period and received their implant 5 to 14 days after the first stage. The good results of the two-stage implant technique we used indicate that the development of better PNE electrodes may lead to an improvement of the testing technique and better selection between nonresponders and technical failures.

MO-FG-BRD-00: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-00: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

THE EFFECTS OF MAGNETIC-FIELD GEOMETRY ON LONGITUDINAL OSCILLATIONS OF SOLAR PROMINENCES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luna, M.; Díaz, A. J.; Karpen, J.

2012-01-01

We investigate the influence of the geometry of the solar filament magnetic structure on the large-amplitude longitudinal oscillations. A representative filament flux tube is modeled as composed of a cool thread centered in a dipped part with hot coronal regions on either side. We have found the normal modes of the system and establish that the observed longitudinal oscillations are well described with the fundamental mode. For small and intermediate curvature radii and moderate to large density contrast between the prominence and the corona, the main restoring force is the solar gravity. In this full wave description of the oscillation a simple expression for the oscillation frequencies is derived in which the pressure-driven term introduces a small correction. We have also found that the normal modes are almost independent of the geometry of the hot regions of the tube. We conclude that observed large-amplitude longitudinal oscillations are driven by the projected gravity along the flux tubes and are strongly influenced by the curvature of the dips of the magnetic field in which the threads reside.

The Effects of Magnetic-field Geometry on Longitudinal Oscillaitons of Solar Prominences

Science.gov (United States)

Luna, M.; Diaz, A. J.; Karpen, J.

2013-01-01

We investigate the influence of the geometry of the solar filament magnetic structure on the large-amplitude longitudinal oscillations. A representative filament flux tube is modeled as composed of a cool thread centered in a dipped part with hot coronal regions on either side.We have found the normal modes of the system and establish that the observed longitudinal oscillations are well described with the fundamental mode. For small and intermediate curvature radii and moderate to large density contrast between the prominence and the corona, the main restoring force is the solar gravity. In this full wave description of the oscillation a simple expression for the oscillation frequencies is derived in which the pressure-driven term introduces a small correction. We have also found that the normal modes are almost independent of the geometry of the hot regions of the tube. We conclude that observed large-amplitude longitudinal oscillations are driven by the projected gravity along the flux tubes and are strongly influenced by the curvature of the dips of the magnetic field in which the threads reside.

An analysis of concert saxophone vibrato through the examination of recordings by eight prominent soloists

Science.gov (United States)

Zinninger, Thomas

This study examines concert saxophone vibrato through the analysis of several recordings of standard repertoire by prominent soloists. The vibrato of Vincent Abato, Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle, Jean-Marie Londeix, Marcel Mule, Otis Murphy, Sigurd Rascher, and Eugene Rousseau is analyzed with regards to rate, extent, shape, and discretionary use. Examination of these parameters was conducted through both general observation and precise measurements with the aid of a spectrogram. Statistical analyses of the results provide tendencies for overall vibrato use, as well as the effects of certain musical attributes (note length, tempo, dynamic, range) on vibrato. The results of this analysis are also compared among each soloist and against pre-existing theories or findings in vibrato research.

A new combined technique for automatic contrast enhancement of digital images

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail A. Humied

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Some low contrast images have certain characteristics makes it difficult to use traditional methods to improve it. An example of these characteristics, that the amplitudes of images histogram components are very high at one location on the gray scale and very small in the rest of the gray scale. In the present paper, a new method is described. It can deal with such cases. The proposed method is a combination of Histogram Equalization (HE and Fast Gray-Level Grouping (FGLG. The basic procedure of this method is segments the original histogram of a low contrast image into two sub-histograms according to the location of the highest amplitude of the histogram components, and achieving contrast enhancement by equalizing the left segment of the histogram components using (HE technique and using (FGLG technique to equalize the right segment of this histogram components. The results have shown that the proposed method does not only produce better results than each individual contrast enhancement technique, but it is also fully automated. Moreover, it is applicable to a broad variety of images that satisfy the properties mentioned above and suffer from low contrast.

Discrete PID Tuning Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr DOLEŽEL

2009-06-01

Full Text Available PID controllers are widely used in industry these days due to their useful properties such as simple tuning or robustness. While they are applicable to many control problems, they can perform poorly in some applications. Highly nonlinear system control with constrained manipulated variable can be mentioned as an example. The point of the paper is to string together convenient qualities of conventional PID control and progressive techniques based on Artificial Intelligence. Proposed control method should deal with even highly nonlinear systems. To be more specific, there is described new method of discrete PID controller tuning in this paper. This method tunes discrete PID controller parameters online through the use of genetic algorithm and neural model of controlled system in order to control successfully even highly nonlinear systems. After method description and some discussion, there is performed control simulation and comparison to one chosen conventional control method.

In vivo transcriptional profile analysis reveals RNA splicing and chromatin remodeling as prominent processes for adult neurogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Daniel A; Suárez-Fariñas, Mayte; Naef, Felix; Hacker, Coleen R; Menn, Benedicte; Takebayashi, Hirohide; Magnasco, Marcelo; Patil, Nila; Alvarez-Buylla, Arturo

2006-01-01

Neural stem cells and neurogenesis persist in the adult mammalian brain subventricular zone (SVZ). Cells born in the rodent SVZ migrate to the olfactory bulb (Ob) where they differentiate into interneurons. To determine the gene expression and functional profile of SVZ neurogenesis, we performed three complementary sets of transcriptional analysis experiments using Affymetrix GeneChips: (1) comparison of adult mouse SVZ and Ob gene expression profiles with those of the striatum, cerebral cortex, and hippocampus; (2) profiling of SVZ stem cells and ependyma isolated by fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS); and (3) analysis of gene expression changes during in vivo SVZ regeneration after anti-mitotic treatment. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of data from these three separate approaches showed that in adult SVZ neurogenesis, RNA splicing and chromatin remodeling are biological processes as statistically significant as cell proliferation, transcription, and neurogenesis. In non-neurogenic brain regions, RNA splicing and chromatin remodeling were not prominent processes. Fourteen mRNA splicing factors including Sf3b1, Sfrs2, Lsm4, and Khdrbs1/Sam68 were detected along with 9 chromatin remodeling genes including Mll, Bmi1, Smarcad1, Baf53a, and Hat1. We validated the transcriptional profile data with Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization. The data greatly expand the catalogue of cell cycle components, transcription factors, and migration genes for adult SVZ neurogenesis and reveal RNA splicing and chromatin remodeling as prominent biological processes for these germinal cells.

The tracer technique, an extensive field of application for research and industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frevert, E.

1980-10-01

First the principle of the tracer technique is described. Then the most important applications are reported as there are measurements of velocities of flow and of running through, of charges of amount, of durations and of volumes, investigations of intermixtures, distributions and of corrosion, wear and lubricant phenomenous, locatings of leakages, checkings of tightnesses and determinations of the efficiencies of destilling and purifying plants. For each field of application examples are given, most of them investigations of the DEPARTMENT FOR ISOTOPE APPLICATION of the AUSTRIAN RESEARCH CENTRE SEIBERSDORF Ges.m.b.H. Further applications in chemistry, metallurgy, medicine, biology and agriculture are mentioned. (author)

The electron transport problem sampling by Monte Carlo individual collision technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Androsenko, P.A.; Belousov, V.I. [Obninsk State Technical Univ. of Nuclear Power Engineering, Kaluga region (Russian Federation)

2005-07-01

The problem of electron transport is of most interest in all fields of the modern science. To solve this problem the Monte Carlo sampling has to be used. The electron transport is characterized by a large number of individual interactions. To simulate electron transport the 'condensed history' technique may be used where a large number of collisions are grouped into a single step to be sampled randomly. Another kind of Monte Carlo sampling is the individual collision technique. In comparison with condensed history technique researcher has the incontestable advantages. For example one does not need to give parameters altered by condensed history technique like upper limit for electron energy, resolution, number of sub-steps etc. Also the condensed history technique may lose some very important tracks of electrons because of its limited nature by step parameters of particle movement and due to weakness of algorithms for example energy indexing algorithm. There are no these disadvantages in the individual collision technique. This report presents some sampling algorithms of new version BRAND code where above mentioned technique is used. All information on electrons was taken from Endf-6 files. They are the important part of BRAND. These files have not been processed but directly taken from electron information source. Four kinds of interaction like the elastic interaction, the Bremsstrahlung, the atomic excitation and the atomic electro-ionization were considered. In this report some results of sampling are presented after comparison with analogs. For example the endovascular radiotherapy problem (P2) of QUADOS2002 was presented in comparison with another techniques that are usually used. (authors)

High Resolution, High-Speed Photography, an Increasingly Prominent Diagnostic in Ballistic Research Experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaw, L.; Muelder, S.

1999-01-01

High resolution, high-speed photography is becoming a prominent diagnostic in ballistic experimentation. The development of high speed cameras utilizing electro-optics and the use of lasers for illumination now provide the capability to routinely obtain high quality photographic records of ballistic style experiments. The purpose of this presentation is to review in a visual manner the progress of this technology and how it has impacted ballistic experimentation. Within the framework of development at LLNL, we look at the recent history of large format high-speed photography, and present a number of photographic records that represent the state of the art at the time they were made. These records are primarily from experiments involving shaped charges. We also present some examples of current photographic technology, developed within the ballistic community, that has application to hydro diagnostic experimentation at large. This paper is designed primarily as an oral-visual presentation. This written portion is to provide general background, a few examples, and a bibliography

Evaluation of new techniques of acidizing in western Canada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cruikshank, C G

1968-01-01

During the period 1960 to 1968, stimulation with acid has gained prominence throught the development and introduction of new acidizing techniques in W. Canada. Many new products and ideas have been tried but only a limited number have gained a permanent place in the stimulation field. Acidizing with mixtures of acid and alcohol has been accepted because of better post treatment cleanup of the formation. Uses of the gases, nitrogen and carbon dioxide in conjunction with acid treatments to give deep penetration and fast cleanup with savings in rig costs have proved successful. Treatments with high strength Hydrochloric acid provides a very economical means to get deep acid penetration. Combining treatment technology, laboratory evaluations, well and reservoir information with past history when available is an essential ingredient for good treatment design.

Brand prominence in advergames: Effects on children's explicit and implicit memory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reijmersdal, E.A. van; Rozendaal, E.; Buijzen, M.A.; Eisend, M.; Langner, T.; Okazaki, S.

2012-01-01

Increasingly, advertisers use techniques that integrate persuasive messages into editorial content, resulting in blurred boundaries between advertising, entertainment, and information (Raney et al., 2003). Many of these techniques aim to reach children: Advergames, branded websites, and brand

Field implementation of geological steering techniques optimizes drilling in highly-deviated and horizontal wells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jackson, C. E.; Illfelder, H. M. J.; Pineda, G.

1998-12-31

Field implementation of an integrated wellsite geological steering service is described. The service provides timely, useful feedback from real-time logging-while-drilling (LWD) measurements for making immediate course corrections. Interactive multi-dimensional displays of both the geological and petrophysical properties of the formation being penetrated by the wellbore are a prominent feature of the service; the optimization of the drilling is the result of the visualization afforded by the displays. The paper reviews forward modelling techniques, provides a detailed explanation of the principles underlying this new application, and illustrates the application by examples from the field. 5 refs., 1 tab., 8 figs.

Study of phosphorus implanted and annealed silicon by electrical measurements and ion channeling technique

CERN Document Server

Hadjersi, T; Zilabdi, M; Benazzouz, C

2002-01-01

We investigated the effect of annealing temperature on the electrical activation of phosphorus implanted into silicon. The measurements performed using spreading resistance, four-point probe and ion channeling techniques have allowed us to establish the existence of two domains of variation of the electrical activation (350-700 deg. C) and (800-1100 deg. C). The presence of reverse annealing and the annihilation of defects have been put in a prominent position in the first temperature range. It has been shown that in order to achieve a complete electrical activation, the annealing temperature must belong to the second domain (800-1100 deg. C).

Augmentation of the Nasal Dorsum Using the Multistrip Autologous Cartilage Technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Liqiang; Bu, Zhaoyun; Fan, Jincai; Tian, Jia; Gan, Cheng; Yang, Zengjie; Jiao, Hu

2017-12-01

Nasal augmentation is a popular modern technique requested by many Asian people. There are two kinds of autologous cartilage used to augment the nose at present: carved as a monobloc or diced into pieces. Each approach has its pros and cons. The authors performed their surgical technique on a group of 28 patients. Twenty of these patients had undergone rhinoplasties performed before referral to our hospital; eight of these patients had undergone a primary rhinoplasty. Bilateral conchal, nasal septum, or rib cartilage was harvested; deep temporal fascia or abdominal muscle fascia to be prepared for packing stripped cartilage was also removed at this time. The cartilage was placed on a plastic cutting board and cut into strips with a transverse section of 1 × 1 mm. Then, these strips were packed and covered by fascia to form the grafts. The median follow-up was 23 months (range, 12 to 48 months). Twenty-two patients were satisfied with their augmented noses. Through examinations, biopsies, and magnetic resonance imaging scans, less resorption was observed with the multistrip autologous cartilage technique. Junctional stepoffs, excessive prominence, and slanting grafts occurred in three patients, two of whom had revisions. Using multistrip autologous cartilage grafts is an easier method to perform and could be another alternative technique for augmentative and reconstructive rhinoplasties.

Bleeding diathesis in Noonan syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Staudt, Joost M.; van der Horst, Chantal M. A. M.; Peters, Marjolijn; Melis, Paris

2005-01-01

An 18-year-old girl with Noonan syndrome was operated on for prominent ears. Subcutaneous haematomas developed on both sides, and coagulation tests reported a bleeding diathesis. This is seldom mentioned in descriptions of the syndrome, but it has been shown that one-third of all patients with the

Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains

Science.gov (United States)

Roider, Clemens; Ritsch-Marte, Monika; Pemberger, Nadin; Cemper-Kiesslich, Jan; Hatzer-Grubwieser, Petra; Parson, Walther; Pallua, Johannes Dominikus

2017-01-01

Due to the influence of many environmental processes, a precise determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is known to be very complicated. Although methods for the investigation of the PMI exist, there still remains much room for improvement. In this study the applicability of infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques such as reflection-, ATR- and Raman- microscopic imaging for the estimation of the PMI of human skeletal remains was tested. PMI specific features were identified and visualized by overlaying IR imaging data with morphological tissue structures obtained using light microscopy to differentiate between forensic and archaeological bone samples. ATR and reflection spectra revealed that a more prominent peak at 1042 cm-1 (an indicator for bone mineralization) was observable in archeological bone material when compared with forensic samples. Moreover, in the case of the archaeological bone material, a reduction in the levels of phospholipids, proteins, nucleic acid sugars, complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars was detectable at (reciprocal wavelengths/energies) between 3000 cm-1 to 2800 cm-1. Raman spectra illustrated a similar picture with less ν2PO43−at 450 cm-1 and ν4PO43− from 590 cm-1 to 584 cm-1, amide III at 1272 cm-1 and protein CH2 deformation at 1446 cm-1 in archeological bone material/samples/sources. A semi-quantitative determination of various distributions of biomolecules by chemi-maps of reflection- and ATR- methods revealed that there were less carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars in archaeological samples compared with forensic bone samples. Raman- microscopic imaging data showed a reduction in B-type carbonate and protein α-helices after a PMI of 3 years. The calculated mineral content ratio and the organic to mineral ratio displayed that the mineral content ratio increases, while the organic to mineral ratio decreases with

Assessing various Infrared (IR microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Woess

Full Text Available Due to the influence of many environmental processes, a precise determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI of skeletal remains is known to be very complicated. Although methods for the investigation of the PMI exist, there still remains much room for improvement. In this study the applicability of infrared (IR microscopic imaging techniques such as reflection-, ATR- and Raman- microscopic imaging for the estimation of the PMI of human skeletal remains was tested. PMI specific features were identified and visualized by overlaying IR imaging data with morphological tissue structures obtained using light microscopy to differentiate between forensic and archaeological bone samples. ATR and reflection spectra revealed that a more prominent peak at 1042 cm-1 (an indicator for bone mineralization was observable in archeological bone material when compared with forensic samples. Moreover, in the case of the archaeological bone material, a reduction in the levels of phospholipids, proteins, nucleic acid sugars, complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars was detectable at (reciprocal wavelengths/energies between 3000 cm-1 to 2800 cm-1. Raman spectra illustrated a similar picture with less ν2PO43-at 450 cm-1 and ν4PO43- from 590 cm-1 to 584 cm-1, amide III at 1272 cm-1 and protein CH2 deformation at 1446 cm-1 in archeological bone material/samples/sources. A semi-quantitative determination of various distributions of biomolecules by chemi-maps of reflection- and ATR- methods revealed that there were less carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars in archaeological samples compared with forensic bone samples. Raman- microscopic imaging data showed a reduction in B-type carbonate and protein α-helices after a PMI of 3 years. The calculated mineral content ratio and the organic to mineral ratio displayed that the mineral content ratio increases, while the organic to mineral ratio

Assessing various Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques for post-mortem interval evaluation of human skeletal remains.

Science.gov (United States)

Woess, Claudia; Unterberger, Seraphin Hubert; Roider, Clemens; Ritsch-Marte, Monika; Pemberger, Nadin; Cemper-Kiesslich, Jan; Hatzer-Grubwieser, Petra; Parson, Walther; Pallua, Johannes Dominikus

2017-01-01

Due to the influence of many environmental processes, a precise determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is known to be very complicated. Although methods for the investigation of the PMI exist, there still remains much room for improvement. In this study the applicability of infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques such as reflection-, ATR- and Raman- microscopic imaging for the estimation of the PMI of human skeletal remains was tested. PMI specific features were identified and visualized by overlaying IR imaging data with morphological tissue structures obtained using light microscopy to differentiate between forensic and archaeological bone samples. ATR and reflection spectra revealed that a more prominent peak at 1042 cm-1 (an indicator for bone mineralization) was observable in archeological bone material when compared with forensic samples. Moreover, in the case of the archaeological bone material, a reduction in the levels of phospholipids, proteins, nucleic acid sugars, complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars was detectable at (reciprocal wavelengths/energies) between 3000 cm-1 to 2800 cm-1. Raman spectra illustrated a similar picture with less ν2PO43-at 450 cm-1 and ν4PO43- from 590 cm-1 to 584 cm-1, amide III at 1272 cm-1 and protein CH2 deformation at 1446 cm-1 in archeological bone material/samples/sources. A semi-quantitative determination of various distributions of biomolecules by chemi-maps of reflection- and ATR- methods revealed that there were less carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates as well as amorphous or fully hydrated sugars in archaeological samples compared with forensic bone samples. Raman- microscopic imaging data showed a reduction in B-type carbonate and protein α-helices after a PMI of 3 years. The calculated mineral content ratio and the organic to mineral ratio displayed that the mineral content ratio increases, while the organic to mineral ratio decreases with time

NMR (1H and 13C) based signatures of abnormal choline metabolism in oral squamous cell carcinoma with no prominent Warburg effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bag, Swarnendu; Banerjee, Deb Ranjan; Basak, Amit; Das, Amit Kumar; Pal, Mousumi; Banerjee, Rita; Paul, Ranjan Rashmi; Chatterjee, Jyotirmoy

2015-01-01

At functional levels, besides genes and proteins, changes in metabolome profiles are instructive for a biological system in health and disease including malignancy. It is understood that metabolomic alterations in association with proteomic and transcriptomic aberrations are very fundamental to unravel malignant micro-ambient criticality and oral cancer is no exception. Hence deciphering intricate dimensions of oral cancer metabolism may be contributory both for integrated appreciation of its pathogenesis and to identify any critical but yet unexplored dimension of this malignancy with high mortality rate. Although several methods do exist, NMR provides higher analytical precision in identification of cancer metabolomic signature. Present study explored abnormal signatures in choline metabolism in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using 1 H and 13 C NMR analysis of serum. It has demonstrated down-regulation of choline with concomitant up-regulation of its break-down product in the form of trimethylamine N-oxide in OSCC compared to normal counterpart. Further, no significant change in lactate profile in OSCC possibly indicated that well-known Warburg effect was not a prominent phenomenon in such malignancy. Amongst other important metabolites, malonate has shown up-regulation but D-glucose, saturated fatty acids, acetate and threonine did not show any significant change. Analyzing these metabolomic findings present study proposed trimethyl amine N-oxide and malonate as important metabolic signature for oral cancer with no prominent Warburg effect. - Highlights: • NMR ( 1 H and 13 C) study of Oral Squamous cell Carcinoma Serum. • Abnormal Choline metabolomic signatures. • Up-regulation of Trimethylamine N-oxide. • Unchanged lactate profile indicates no prominent Warburg effect. • Proposed alternative glucose metabolism path through up-regulation of malonate

Identification of metal elements by time-resolved LIBS technique in sediments lake the “Cisne”

Science.gov (United States)

Pacheco, P.; Arregui, E.; Álvarez, J.; Rangel, N.; Sarmiento, R.

2017-01-01

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), is a kind of spectral method of atomic emission that uses pulses of radiation high energy laser as excitation source. One of the advantages of technical LIBS lies in the possibility of analyse the substances in any State of aggregation, already is solid, liquid or gaseous, even in colloids as aerosols, gels and others. Another advantage over other conventional techniques is the simultaneous analysis of elements present in a sample of multielement. This work is made in the use of this technique for the identification of metal pollutants in the Swan Lake sediment samples, collected by drilling cores. Plasmas were generated by focusing the radiation of Nd: YAG laser with an energy per pulse 13mJ and 4ns duration, wavelength of 532nm. The spectra of radiation from the plasmas of sediment were recorded with an Echelle spectrograph type coupled to an ICCD camera. The delay times were between 0.5μs and 7μs, while the gate width was of 2μs. To ensure the homogeneity of the plasmas, the sediment sample was placed in a positioning system of linear and rotary adjustment of smooth step synchronized with the trigger of the laser pulse. The registration of the spectra of the sediment to different times of delay, allowed to identify the lines prominent of the different elements present in the sample. The analysis of the Spectra allowed the identification of some elements in the sample as if, Ca, Na, Mg, and Al through the measurement of wavelengths of the prominent peaks.

Identification of metal elements by time-resolved LIBS technique in sediments lake the “Cisne”

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pacheco, P; Arregui, E; Álvarez, J; Rangel, N; Sarmiento, R

2017-01-01

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), is a kind of spectral method of atomic emission that uses pulses of radiation high energy laser as excitation source. One of the advantages of technical LIBS lies in the possibility of analyse the substances in any State of aggregation, already is solid, liquid or gaseous, even in colloids as aerosols, gels and others. Another advantage over other conventional techniques is the simultaneous analysis of elements present in a sample of multielement. This work is made in the use of this technique for the identification of metal pollutants in the Swan Lake sediment samples, collected by drilling cores. Plasmas were generated by focusing the radiation of Nd: YAG laser with an energy per pulse 13mJ and 4ns duration, wavelength of 532nm. The spectra of radiation from the plasmas of sediment were recorded with an Echelle spectrograph type coupled to an ICCD camera. The delay times were between 0.5μs and 7μs, while the gate width was of 2μs. To ensure the homogeneity of the plasmas, the sediment sample was placed in a positioning system of linear and rotary adjustment of smooth step synchronized with the trigger of the laser pulse. The registration of the spectra of the sediment to different times of delay, allowed to identify the lines prominent of the different elements present in the sample. The analysis of the Spectra allowed the identification of some elements in the sample as if, Ca, Na, Mg, and Al through the measurement of wavelengths of the prominent peaks. (paper)

Muscle diseases with prominent joint contractures: Main entities and diagnostic strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Eymard, B; Ferreiro, A; Ben Yaou, R; Stojkovic, T

2013-01-01

Muscle diseases may have various clinical manifestations including muscle weakness, atrophy or hypertrophy and joint contractures. A spectrum of non-muscular manifestations (cardiac, respiratory, cutaneous, central and peripheral nervous system) may be associated. Few of these features are specific. Limb joint contractures or spine rigidity, when prevailing over muscle weakness in ambulant patients, are of high diagnostic value for diagnosis orientation. Within this context, among several disorders, four groups of diseases should systematically come to mind including the collagen VI-related myopathies, the Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophies, the SEPN1 and FHL1 related myopathies. More rarely other genetic or acquired myopathies may present with marked contractures. Diagnostic work-up should include a comprehensive assessment including family history, neurological, cardiologic and respiratory evaluations. Paraclinical investigations should minimally include muscle imaging and electromyography. Muscle and skin biopsies as well as protein and molecular analyses usually help to reach a precise diagnosis. We will first describe the main muscle and neuromuscular junction diseases where contractures are typically a prominent symptom of high diagnostic value for diagnosis orientation. In the following chapters, we will present clues for the diagnostic strategy and the main measures to be taken when, at the end of the diagnostic work-up, no definite muscular disease has been identified. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The coordination of boundary tones and its interaction with prominence1

Science.gov (United States)

Katsika, Argyro; Krivokapić, Jelena; Mooshammer, Christine; Tiede, Mark; Goldstein, Louis

2014-01-01

This study investigates the coordination of boundary tones as a function of stress and pitch accent. Boundary tone coordination has not been experimentally investigated previously, and the effect of prominence on this coordination, and whether it is lexical (stress-driven) or phrasal (pitch accent-driven) in nature is unclear. We assess these issues using a variety of syntactic constructions to elicit different boundary tones in an Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) study of Greek. The results indicate that the onset of boundary tones co-occurs with the articulatory target of the final vowel. This timing is further modified by stress, but not by pitch accent: boundary tones are initiated earlier in words with non-final stress than in words with final stress regardless of accentual status. Visual data inspection reveals that phrase-final words are followed by acoustic pauses during which specific articulatory postures occur. Additional analyses show that these postures reach their achievement point at a stable temporal distance from boundary tone onsets regardless of stress position. Based on these results and parallel findings on boundary lengthening reported elsewhere, a novel approach to prosody is proposed within the context of Articulatory Phonology: rather than seeing prosodic (lexical and phrasal) events as independent entities, a set of coordination relations between them is suggested. The implications of this account for prosodic architecture are discussed. PMID:25300341

Hidradenocarcinoma showing prominent mucinous and squamous differentiation and associated pagetoid cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Honda, Yumi; Tanigawa, Hiroki; Harada, Miho; Fukushima, Satoshi; Masuguchi, Shinichi; Ishihara, Tsuyoshi; Ihn, Hironobu; Iyama, Ken-ichi

2013-05-01

Herein, we report a 63-year-old man presenting with hidradenocarcinoma showing prominent mucinous and squamous differentiation on his back. The tumor was dermal-based, solid and cystic. Tumor cells with squamous differentiation and with keratin pearl formation were identified predominantly in the superficial dermis, and mucinous cells were identified principally in the cystic lesion in the deep dermis. Interestingly, the additional feature of pagetoid cells was identified in the overlying epidermis. Both the mucinous cells in hidradenocarcinoma and pagetoid cells had intracytoplasmic mucin; however, they had different histopathologic findings and immunophenotypes. Mucinous cells in hidradenocarcinoma had small nuclei and abundant intracytoplasmic mucin presenting goblet cells with low rate of positive immunostaining for p53 and Ki67. In contrast, pagetoid cells had larger nuclei with less intracytoplasmic mucin. Both p53- and Ki67-positive cells were increased in pagetoid cells. Additionally, mucinous cells in hidradenocarcinoma were MUC1(+)/MUC2(-)/MUC5AC(+)/MUC6(+), but pagetoid cells were MUC1(+; focal)/MUC2(-)/MUC5AC(-)/MUC6(+; focal). The derivation of pagetoid cells is unclear; however, the localized small region of pagetoid cells over the hidradenocarcinoma in the present case may suggest a common histogenesis of these two malignant neoplasms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The prominent absence of Alfred Russel Wallace at the Darwin anniversaries in Germany in 1909, 1959 and 2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Hossfeld, Uwe; Olsson, Lennart

2013-12-01

It is well known that the contribution of Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913) to the development of the "Darwinian" principle of natural selection has often been neglected. Here we focus on how the three anniversaries to celebrate the origin of the Darwin-Wallace theory in Germany in 1909, in 1959 in the divided country, as well as in 2009, have represented Charles Robert Darwin's and Alfred Russell Wallace's contributions. We have analyzed books and proceedings volumes related to these anniversaries, and the main result is that Wallace was almost always ignored, or only mentioned in passing. In 1909, Ernst Haeckel gave a talk in Jena, later published under the title The worldview of Darwin and Lamarck (Das Weltbild von Darwin und Lamarck), but not as the Darwin-Wallace concept. Haeckel mentions Wallace only once. In two important proceedings volumes from the 1959 anniversaries, Wallace was ignored. The only fair treatment of Wallace is given in another book, a collection of documents edited by Gerhard Heberer, for which the author selected nine key documents and reprinted excerpts (1959). Three of them were articles by Wallace, including the Sarawak- and Ternate-papers of 1855 and 1858, respectively. An analysis of the dominant themes during the celebrations of 2009 shows that none of the six topics had much to do with Wallace and his work. Thus, the tendency to exclude Alfred Russell Wallace is an international phenomenon, and largely attributable to the "Darwin industry".

A brief history of ciliate studies (late XVII the first third of the XX century)

OpenAIRE

Fokin, Sergei

2004-01-01

The most prominent protistologists who worked with ciliates from the Leeuwenhoek time up to the beginning of the XX century are mentioned. Their achievements in ciliatology and especially in taxonomy of ciliates are briefly discussed on the basis of the original literature and reviews, published during the last 150 years.

MO-FG-BRD-02: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MV Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berbeco, R. [Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-04: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Low, D. [University of California Los Angeles: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-03: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: EM Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keall, P. [University of Sydney (Australia)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

MO-FG-BRD-04: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MR Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Low, D.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-03: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: EM Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keall, P.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-02: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: MV Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berbeco, R.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

"Split Cast Mounting: Review and New Technique".

Science.gov (United States)

Gundawar, S M; Pande, Neelam A; Jaiswal, Priti; Radke, U M

2014-12-01

For the fabrication of a prosthesis, the Prosthodontist meticulously performs all the steps. The laboratory technician then make every effort/strives to perform the remaining lab procedures. However when the processed dentures are remounted on the articulator, some changes are seen. These changes may be divided into two categories: Pre-insertion and post-insertion changes, which deal with the physical properties of the materials involved (Parker, J Prosthet Dent 31:335-342, 1974). Split cast mounting is the method of mounting casts on the articulator. It is essentially a maxillary cast constructed in two parts with a horizontal division. The procedure allows for the verification of the accuracy of the initial mounting and the ease of removal and replacement of the cast. This provides a precise means of correcting the changes in occlusion occurring as a result of the processing technique (Nogueira et al., J Prosthet Dent 91:386-388, 2004). Instability of the split mounting has always been a problem to the Prosthodontist thereby limiting its use. There are various materials mentioned in the literature. The new technique by using Dowel pins and twill thread is very easy, cheaper and simple way to stabilize the split mounting. It is useful and easy in day to day laboratory procedures. The article presents different methods of split cast mounting and the new procedure using easily available materials in prosthetic laboratory.

Art of persuasion: an analysis of techniques used to market foods to children.

Science.gov (United States)

Hebden, Lana; King, Lesley; Kelly, Bridget

2011-11-01

Persuasive marketing techniques, such as promotional characters, influence children's food preferences and requests for foods. The aim of this research was to describe the techniques used to market unhealthy foods and beverages to children on Sydney free-to-air television. Marketing techniques designed to appeal to children were identified from international literature and summarised into a systematic coding tool. Using this tool, the marketing techniques used in a random sample of 100 unique food advertisements, broadcasted on Sydney free-to-air television, were coded. Frequency of marketing techniques was analysed overall and for use in advertisements marketing unhealthy foods, emotionally or verbally appealing to parents, or featuring child actors. Advertisers' use of persuasive techniques generally did not differ by type of food advertised. Marketing techniques with greater prominence in unhealthy food advertising were palatability (54% of unhealthy food advertisements), convenience (52%), fantasy/imagination (28%), fun/happiness (17%) and cartoon characters (9%). Advertisements emotionally appealing to parents (24%) were significantly more likely to make general health or nutrition statements (38% vs. 17%), and appealed to children concurrently through fun/happiness and fantasy/imagination appeals. Children were depicted in advertisements as eating with friends or family, situated within the home and frequently snacking on less healthy foods. Food and beverage advertisers use a range of visual, audio and emotive techniques to appeal to children and their parents that do not discriminate by the type of food advertised. The range and complexity of these techniques complicate the restriction of their use in food advertising to children. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2011 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Prediction of drug synergy in cancer using ensemble-based machine learning techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Harpreet; Rana, Prashant Singh; Singh, Urvinder

2018-04-01

Drug synergy prediction plays a significant role in the medical field for inhibiting specific cancer agents. It can be developed as a pre-processing tool for therapeutic successes. Examination of different drug-drug interaction can be done by drug synergy score. It needs efficient regression-based machine learning approaches to minimize the prediction errors. Numerous machine learning techniques such as neural networks, support vector machines, random forests, LASSO, Elastic Nets, etc., have been used in the past to realize requirement as mentioned above. However, these techniques individually do not provide significant accuracy in drug synergy score. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to design a neuro-fuzzy-based ensembling approach. To achieve this, nine well-known machine learning techniques have been implemented by considering the drug synergy data. Based on the accuracy of each model, four techniques with high accuracy are selected to develop ensemble-based machine learning model. These models are Random forest, Fuzzy Rules Using Genetic Cooperative-Competitive Learning method (GFS.GCCL), Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Dynamic Evolving Neural-Fuzzy Inference System method (DENFIS). Ensembling is achieved by evaluating the biased weighted aggregation (i.e. adding more weights to the model with a higher prediction score) of predicted data by selected models. The proposed and existing machine learning techniques have been evaluated on drug synergy score data. The comparative analysis reveals that the proposed method outperforms others in terms of accuracy, root mean square error and coefficient of correlation.

Hot prominence detected in the core of a coronal mass ejection: Analysis of SOHO/UVCS L alpha and SOHO/LASCO visible-light observations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Heinzel, Petr; Susino, R.; Jejčič, S.; Bemporad, A.; Anzer, U.

2016-01-01

Roč. 589, May (2016), A128/1-A128/11 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-18495S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : Sun * filaments * prominences Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

What Should Be Taught in Secondary Schools’ Nutrition and Food Systems Education? Views from Prominent Food-Related Professionals in Australia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanaz Sadegholvad

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Education can help young people to attain the knowledge and the skills that they need to make proper food choices and develop lifelong healthy eating patterns. This study explored the perspectives of prominent food-related professionals in Australia regarding essential nutrition and food systems (N&FS education programs for adolescents during formal education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 prominent food-related professionals in Australia. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Four essential areas for N&FS education programs were identified. (1 Key nutrition messages to a healthy lifestyle; (2 Skill development programs to enhance health and wellbeing; (3 Ethical food-related lessons to support environmental sustainability, farm animal welfare, local producers, and food security; and, (4 Introductory lessons about foods from farm to plate to facilitate more informed food choices. Findings of this study may provide new insights for curriculum developers in Australia for further assessment of the current gaps in N&FS components of secondary school curriculum. Integration of these four areas into secondary school curricula has the potential to enhance adolescents’ knowledge of important scientific and ethical issues in a range of N&FS fields, and enable them to develop fundamental food-related life skills that are supportive of health and wellbeing.

What Should Be Taught in Secondary Schools' Nutrition and Food Systems Education? Views from Prominent Food-Related Professionals in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadegholvad, Sanaz; Yeatman, Heather; Parrish, Anne-Maree; Worsley, Anthony

2017-11-02

Education can help young people to attain the knowledge and the skills that they need to make proper food choices and develop lifelong healthy eating patterns. This study explored the perspectives of prominent food-related professionals in Australia regarding essential nutrition and food systems (N&FS) education programs for adolescents during formal education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 prominent food-related professionals in Australia. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Four essential areas for N&FS education programs were identified. (1) Key nutrition messages to a healthy lifestyle; (2) Skill development programs to enhance health and wellbeing; (3) Ethical food-related lessons to support environmental sustainability, farm animal welfare, local producers, and food security; and, (4) Introductory lessons about foods from farm to plate to facilitate more informed food choices. Findings of this study may provide new insights for curriculum developers in Australia for further assessment of the current gaps in N&FS components of secondary school curriculum. Integration of these four areas into secondary school curricula has the potential to enhance adolescents' knowledge of important scientific and ethical issues in a range of N&FS fields, and enable them to develop fundamental food-related life skills that are supportive of health and wellbeing.

Preparation and comparison of a-C:H coatings using reactive sputter techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keunecke, M., E-mail: martin.keunecke@ist.fraunhofer.d [Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films (IST), Braunschweig (Germany); Weigel, K.; Bewilogua, K. [Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films (IST), Braunschweig (Germany); Cremer, R.; Fuss, H.-G. [CemeCon AG, Wuerselen (Germany)

2009-12-31

Amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) coatings are widely used in several industrial applications. These coatings commonly will be prepared by plasma activated chemical vapor deposition (PACVD). The main method used to prepare a-C:H coating in industrial scale is based on a glow discharge in a hydrocarbon gas like acetylene or methane using a substrate electrode powered with medium frequency (m.f. - some 10 to 300 kHz). Some aims of further development are adhesion improvement, increase of hardness and high coating quality on complex geometries. A relatively new and promising technique to fulfil these requirements is the deposition of a-C:H coatings by a reactive d.c. magnetron sputter deposition from a graphite target with acetylene as reactive gas. An advancement of this technique is the deposition in a pulsed magnetron sputter process. Using these three mentioned techniques a-C:H coatings were prepared in the same deposition machine. For adhesion improvement different interlayer systems were applied. The effect of different substrate bias voltages (d.c. and d.c. pulse) was investigated. By applying the magnetron sputter technique in the d.c. pulse mode, plastic hardness values up to 40 GPa could be reached. Besides hardness other mechanical properties like resistance against abrasive wear were measured and compared. Cross sectional SEM images showed the growth structure of the coatings.

Creativity: A Blind Spot in Quality Teacher Education in Anambra ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Creativity has been mentioned prominently in Nigeria's objectives for teacher education in the National Policy on Education for over 30 years. Still, one is worried that teacher education institutions appear to inadequately foster the spirit of creativity in the students. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to ...

Use of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser Dermastat in the treatment of recurrent anterior epistaxis - a new technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, A; Frampton, S J; Sachidananda, R; Jain, P K

2016-09-01

To evaluate the short- to medium-term effectiveness of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser Dermastat in patients with recurrent anterior epistaxis. Fifty-eight patients presenting with recurrent anterior epistaxis were treated using potassium titanyl phosphate laser Dermastat. Those with recurrent epistaxis arising from prominent vessels in Little's area, and/or those for whom treatment with silver nitrate cautery failed, were included. The main outcome measure was resolution of epistaxis at two months. Fifty-eight patients were treated; 27 were under 18 years old. Thirty patients had prominent vessels. Thirty-one patients had undergone previous cautery treatment. Thirty-eight patients had treatment to the left side, 19 to the right and 1 to both. At two months, 74 per cent reported resolution of epistaxis with no complications. This increased to 78 per cent at further follow up. Our technique is a successful, safe treatment for recurrent anterior epistaxis in an otherwise treatment-resistant group. A single procedure is effective. The handpiece and tip are reusable and sterilisable, resulting in cost-effectiveness.

Hybrid Clustering-GWO-NARX neural network technique in predicting stock price

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Debashish; Safa Sadiq, Ali; Mirjalili, Seyedali; Noraziah, A.

2017-09-01

Prediction of stock price is one of the most challenging tasks due to nonlinear nature of the stock data. Though numerous attempts have been made to predict the stock price by applying various techniques, yet the predicted price is not always accurate and even the error rate is high to some extent. Consequently, this paper endeavours to determine an efficient stock prediction strategy by implementing a combinatorial method of Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Clustering and Non Linear Autoregressive Exogenous (NARX) Technique. The study uses stock data from prominent stock market i.e. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ and emerging stock market i.e. Malaysian Stock Market (Bursa Malaysia), Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). It applies K-means clustering algorithm to determine the most promising cluster, then MGWO is used to determine the classification rate and finally the stock price is predicted by applying NARX neural network algorithm. The prediction performance gained through experimentation is compared and assessed to guide the investors in making investment decision. The result through this technique is indeed promising as it has shown almost precise prediction and improved error rate. We have applied the hybrid Clustering-GWO-NARX neural network technique in predicting stock price. We intend to work with the effect of various factors in stock price movement and selection of parameters. We will further investigate the influence of company news either positive or negative in stock price movement. We would be also interested to predict the Stock indices.

Structure of personality psychology based on cocitation analysis of prominent authors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jevremov Tanja

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Traditional Author Cocitation Analysis was applied in order to map the personality psychology as a research field. A group of 25 authors were selected from the Haggbloom (1999, 2002 lists of the most cited and prominent psychologists, judged to be the main contributors to the field. All of their cocitations identified in the three year volumes of SSCI were downloaded to be analyzed by cluster analysis and MDS. The analysis resulted in four clusters comprising (1 theorists of individual differences amalgamated with authors of biological orientation with R. Cattell positioned centrally, (2 behaviorists joined by socio-cognitive theorists led by M.E.P. Seligman and A. Bandura, and (3 the group of psychoanalytic (dynamic theorists with A. Adler in the middle. In fourth cluster G. Allport, H. Murray, K. Lewin, W. Mischel, and D. Buss were found mixed together to make a rather heterogeneous group. In two-axes representation one of the dimensions was understood as reflecting methodological and the other one content-specific differences among the authors, although this interpretation is not univocal. The same procedure was repeated on citations given to the same authors in SocioFakt - the Serbian Citation Index for Social Sciences, revealing a reduced picture of the domain. At this portrait, some important authors are missing as a result of their low citation rate, suggesting that in the Serbian personality psychology entire research fields don’t exist. .

Territories typification technique with use of statistical models

Science.gov (United States)

Galkin, V. I.; Rastegaev, A. V.; Seredin, V. V.; Andrianov, A. V.

2018-05-01

Territories typification is required for solution of many problems. The results of geological zoning received by means of various methods do not always agree. That is why the main goal of the research given is to develop a technique of obtaining a multidimensional standard classified indicator for geological zoning. In the course of the research, the probabilistic approach was used. In order to increase the reliability of geological information classification, the authors suggest using complex multidimensional probabilistic indicator P K as a criterion of the classification. The second criterion chosen is multidimensional standard classified indicator Z. These can serve as characteristics of classification in geological-engineering zoning. Above mentioned indicators P K and Z are in good correlation. Correlation coefficient values for the entire territory regardless of structural solidity equal r = 0.95 so each indicator can be used in geological-engineering zoning. The method suggested has been tested and the schematic map of zoning has been drawn.

Brand prominence in advergames: effects on children’s explicit and implicit memory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Reijmersdal, E.A.; Rozendaal, E.; Buijzen, M.

2012-01-01

Increasingly, advertisers use techniques that integrate persuasive messages into editorial content, resulting in blurred boundaries between advertising, entertainment, and information (Raney et al., 2003). Many of these techniques aim to reach children: Advergames, branded websites, and brand

Dermal fillers for the treatment of tear trough deformity: A review of anatomy, treatment techniques, and their outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaishree Sharad

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Tear trough deformity is a major concern in a lot of individuals seeking periorbital rejuvenation. A prominent tear trough deformity is characterised by a sunken appearance of the eye that results in the casting of a dark shadow over the lower eyelid, giving the patient a fatigued appearance despite adequate rest, and is refractory to attempts at cosmetic concealment. The tear trough deformity is a natural consequence of the anatomic attachments of the periorbital tissues. A variety of techniques have evolved to address this cosmetic issue. Traditional techniques relied on surgical excision of skin, muscle, and fat as well as chemical peels. Treatment is now tailored towards specific anatomic abnormalities and often employs multiple modalities including surgery, botulinum toxin, and replacement of volume. Various original research articles, text book publications and review articles were studied. Data specific to the historical aspect and anatomy of tear trough have been enumerated. Techniques of different authors were analysed and their results and complications have been summarised. The technique of the author has also been described here.

An analysis of prominent prospect of in-situ sandstone type uranium deposits in Yanji basins group, Jilin province

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Zhidong; Zhang Shuyi

2003-01-01

In Mesozoic-Cenozoic era, many medium-small-sized sedimentary basins had been formed in Yanbian draped-faulted region of Jilin Province. The basement of these basins is constituted of U-riched granite body produced during late Hercynian-early Yanshan period. Uranium-mineralization has been found in coal-bearing formation, oil-bearing formation and in tint layer of red formation. On the bases of analyzing of uranium source, geologic tectonic, paleoclimatology, paleogeography, hydrogeology and reconstruction, it is concluded that there is a prominent prospect to discover large in-situ sandstone-type uranium deposits in Yanji basins. (authors)

Tissue printing technique in nitrocelullose membranes: a rapid detection technique for estimating incidence of PVX, PVY, PVS and PLRV viruses infecting potato (Solanum spp.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mónica Guzmán

2002-07-01

Full Text Available The ELISA serological technique has been used since the 1970s as a quantative technique for the detection of many groups of virus which infect plants. The immune-impression (IMI in nitrocelullose membrane qualitative technique has been implemented more recently for the detection of different viral groups. In this work, the IMI technique has been adapted for the detection of PVX, PVY PVS and PLRV viruses which attack different species and varieties of potato crop (Solanum spp., such as Egg yolk, Capiro, Morita, Pastusa, Monserrate, Tuquerreña, ICA Puracé and ICA Nariño, all from the Nariño department. The four viruses mentioned above can cause 30% and 60% losses in production, be they acting alone or synergistically. This means that they can easily reduce the economic benefits of a country like Colombia, characterised as being a great potato producer (i.e. more than 2.8 million tons per year. The IMI technique was compared with the ELISA technique (Enzymne Linked Immunosorbent Assay using the same samples, leading to confirmation of the test's sensitivity for detecting the virus. From a total of 800 samples analyzed by IMI from different areas in the Nariño department, 72% incidence for PVY, 38.7% for PVX, 85.6% for PVS and 91.1% for PLRV was found; these estimates were similar or greater than those obtained using ELISA. These results are new for Colombia in terms of imple-menting the easy and sensitive IMI technique for detecting these four viral groups infecting the potato as well as estimating their incidence in Nariño, one of Colombia's most important potato-producing departments. The opportune and flexible detection of virus leads to an effective response to eradicating contaminated material, both material in the field as well as that from in vitro culture. Results lead to it being suggested that implementing IMI could bringing wide benefits for potato seed certification programmes, as they maintain sensitivity and specificity, they

Development of Wireless Techniques in Data and Power Transmission - Application for Particle Physics Detectors

CERN Document Server

Locci, E.; Dehos, C.; De Lurgio, P.; Djurcic, Z.; Drake, G.; Gimenez, J. L. Gonzalez; Gustafsson, L.; Kim, D.W.; Roehrich, D.; Schoening, A.; Siligaris, A.; Soltveit, H.K.; Ullaland, K.; Vincent, P.; Wiednert, D.; Yang, S.; Brenner, R.

2015-01-01

Wireless techniques have developed extremely fast over the last decade and using them for data and power transmission in particle physics detectors is not science- fiction any more. During the last years several research groups have independently thought of making it a reality. Wireless techniques became a mature field for research and new developments might have impact on future particle physics experiments. The Instrumentation Frontier was set up as a part of the SnowMass 2013 Community Summer Study [1] to examine the instrumentation R&D for the particle physics research over the coming decades: {\\guillemotleft} To succeed we need to make technical and scientific innovation a priority in the field {\\guillemotright}. Wireless data transmission was identified as one of the innovations that could revolutionize the transmission of data out of the detector. Power delivery was another challenge mentioned in the same report. We propose a collaboration to identify the specific needs of different projects that m...

Size determinations, by ultrasonic techniques, of cracks in hydride blisters formed in Zr-2.5 % Nb pressure tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trujillo Badillo, Giovanna; Desimone, Carlos; Domizzi, Gladys

1999-01-01

Non destructive techniques (NDT) are very useful in the detection of flaws produced in structural components in service. During the service of CANDU nuclear power reactors, it is possible that pressure tubes (PT) may contact calandria tubes (CT). After the PT/CT contact, zirconium hydride blisters may form at the point of contact depending on the concentration of hydrogen/deuterium. Zirconium hydride is brittle and is therefore prone to cracking under stress. Ultrasonic NDT is routinely use during PT in service inspection. In order to be able of detecting cracked blisters, it is of great importance the development of standards to calibrate the employed equipment. On this purpose, hydride blisters were grown, in laboratory, on sections of pressure tube. The cracks in the blisters were detected and measured by ultrasonic techniques. The obtained results were compared with measurements carried out in optic microscope, on successive sections of the samples. The crack tip diffraction technique was found to be the more effective for the mentioned ends. (author)

Rapid detection of defects in fuel-cell electrodes using infrared reactive-flow-through technique

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Prodip K.; Weber, Adam Z.; Bender, Guido; Manak, Austin; Bittinat, Daniel; Herring, Andrew M.; Ulsh, Michael

2014-09-01

As fuel cells become more prominent, new manufacturing and production methods will need to be developed to deal efficiently and effectively with increased demand. One necessary component of this industrial growth is the accurate measurement of the variability in the manufacturing process. In this study, we present a diagnostic system that combines infrared thermography with a reactive-flow-through technique to detect catalyst-loading defects in fuel-cell gas-diffusion electrodes accurately with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Experimental results are compared with model predictions of thermal response with good agreement. Data analysis, operating-condition impacts, and detection limits are explored using both experiments and simulation. Overall, the results demonstrate the potential of this technique to measure defects on the millimeter length scale with temporal resolutions appropriate for use on a web-line. Thus we present the first development stage of a next-generation non-destructive diagnostic tool, which may be amenable to eventual use on roll-to-roll manufacturing lines.

Genetic factors may play a prominent role in the development of coronary heart disease dependent on important environmental factors

Science.gov (United States)

Song, C; Chang, Z; Magnusson, P K E; Ingelsson, E; Pedersen, N L

2014-01-01

Astract Song C, Chang Z, Magnusson PKE, Ingelsson E, Pedersen NL (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; Uppsala University, Uppsala; Sweden). Genetic factors may play a prominent role in the developmentofcoronary heart diseasedependenton important environmental factors. J InternMed2014; 275: 631–639. Objective The aim of the study was to examine whether various lifestyle factors modify genetic influences on coronary heart disease (CHD). Design The effect of lifestyle factors [including smoking, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol intake and body mass index (BMI)] on risk of CHD was evaluated via Cox regression models in a twin study of gene–environment interaction. Using structure equation modelling, we estimated genetic variance of CHD dependent on lifestyle factors. Subjects In total, 51 065 same-sex twins from 25 715 twin pairs born before 1958 and registered in the Swedish Twin Registry were eligible for this study. During the 40-year follow-up, 7264 incident CHD events were recorded. Results Smoking, sedentary lifestyle and above average BMI were significantly associated with increased CHD incidence. The heritability of CHD decreased with increasing age, as well as with increasing levels of BMI, in both men and women. Conclusions The difference in the genetic component of CHD as a function of BMI suggests that genetic factors may play a more prominent role for disease development in the absence of important environmental factors. Increased knowledge of gene–environment interactions will be important for a full understanding of the aetiology of CHD. PMID:24330166

Teaching Reflections about the Architectural Design of the Vocational Training Centers in Granada

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez, Luis; Gallego, José L.; Rodríguez, Antonio V.

2016-01-01

If the specificity of the architectural space is considered as a measuring element in the education scope to value the prominence of teaching throughout history, it is worth mentioning that the configuration of the vocational training center as a first-rate education scenario that arrives half century of delay with respect to schools, has few…

Gender in Schools and Culture: Taking Stock of Education in Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Biemmi, Irene

2015-01-01

When politicians discuss Italy's position in terms of achieving equality between men and women, the school environment is rarely called into question or mentioned. This is despite the fact that gender inequality remains a prominent feature of the Italian education system. The reason for this failure to perceive the problem, and the consequent lack…

Automatically quantifying the scientific quality and sensationalism of news records mentioning pandemics: validating a maximum entropy machine-learning model.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Steven J; Justicz, Victoria

2016-07-01

To develop and validate a method for automatically quantifying the scientific quality and sensationalism of individual news records. After retrieving 163,433 news records mentioning the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and H1N1 pandemics, a maximum entropy model for inductive machine learning was used to identify relationships among 500 randomly sampled news records that correlated with systematic human assessments of their scientific quality and sensationalism. These relationships were then computationally applied to automatically classify 10,000 additional randomly sampled news records. The model was validated by randomly sampling 200 records and comparing human assessments of them to the computer assessments. The computer model correctly assessed the relevance of 86% of news records, the quality of 65% of records, and the sensationalism of 73% of records, as compared to human assessments. Overall, the scientific quality of SARS and H1N1 news media coverage had potentially important shortcomings, but coverage was not too sensationalizing. Coverage slightly improved between the two pandemics. Automated methods can evaluate news records faster, cheaper, and possibly better than humans. The specific procedure implemented in this study can at the very least identify subsets of news records that are far more likely to have particular scientific and discursive qualities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prominent central spinal canal on MRI - normal variant or pathology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dugal, T.P.; Brazier, D.; Roche, J.

2002-01-01

Full text: The sensitivity of MRI can make differentiation of normal from abnormal challenging.The study investigates whether a visible central spinal canal is pathological or a normal variant. We review eight MRI (mostly on a 1.5 Tesla unit) cases where there is a visible central cavity in keeping with a central canal and review the literature. The central canal is a space in the medial part of the grey-matter commissure between the anterior and posterior horns. Histopathological studies show that the canal is present at birth with the majority showing subsequent involution but is uncommonly imaged on MRI. The main differential diagnosis is syringomyelia which usually presents with deficits in pain and sensation corresponding to the appropriate level often with a demonstrable aetiology. Two thirds of our patients were female with an average age of thirty-six years (range 26-45). The patients were largely asymptomatic or their symptoms appeared unrelated to the imaging findings. Three patients had minor previous trauma and two others had non-bacterial meningitis up to twenty years earlier. No patient had known spinal surgery or trauma.The cavity corresponded tomographically to the expected site of the central canal. The canal was in the thoracic location. The canal diameter ranged from one to five millimetres and its length varied from one half a vertebral body height to extending over the entire thoracic region. Its configuration was either filiform or fusiform, with smooth contours. No predisposing features to suggest syringomyelia or other structural abnormalities were noted. Where Gadolinium was given no abnormal enhancement was observed. These cases add to the literature and suggest that these prominent canals are largely asymptomatic and should be viewed as normal variants. Copyright (2002) Blackwell Science Pty Ltd

Incidentally diagnosed Takayasu arteritis on thyroid ultrasonography showing prominent collateral vessels of thyroidal arteries and common carotid artery occlusion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nam, Se Jin; Kim, Eun Kyung [Dept. of Radiology, Research Institute of Radiological Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

We report a case of middle-aged woman incidentally diagnosed with Takayasu arteritis during the ultrasonography of a thyroid gland nodule. Prominent collaterals of the thyroidal arteries and a thin common carotid artery with mural thickening and deficient intraluminal flow signals were initially depicted on the ultrasonography with color Doppler. Subsequent magnetic resonance angiography and computed tomography aortography confirmed the diagnosis with the imaging features of a bilateral long segment common carotid artery occlusion and segmental stenosis of the left subclavian artery in addition to the suggestive physical findings.

Exploitation of geospatial techniques for monitoring metropolitan population growth and classification of landcover features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Almas, A.S.; Rahim, C.A.

2006-01-01

The present research relates to the exploitation of Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for studying the metropolitan expansion and land use/ landcover classification of Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan where urbanization is taking place at a striking rate with inadequate development of the requisite infrastructure. Such sprawl gives rise to the congestion, pollution and commuting time issues. The metropolitan expansion, based on growth direction and distance from the city centre, was observed for a period of about thirty years. The classification of the complex spatial assemblage of urban environment and its expanding precincts was done using the temporally spaced satellite images geo-referenced to a common coordinate system and census data. Spatial categorization of urban landscape involving densely populated residential areas, sparsely inhibited regions, bare soil patches, water bodies, vegetation, Parks, and mixed features was done with the help of satellite images. Resultantly, remote sensing and GIS techniques were found very efficient and effective for studying the metropolitan growth patterns along with the classification of urban features into prominent categories. In addition, census data augments the usefulness of spatial techniques for carrying out such studies. (author)

Melatonin receptors: Current status, facts, and hypothesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stankov, B.; Reiter, R.J.

1990-01-01

Great progress has been made in the identification of melatonin binding sites, commonly identified as melatonin receptors by many authors, in recent years. The bulk of these studies have investigated the sites using either autoradiographic and biochemical techniques with the majority of the experiments being done on the rat, Djungarian and Syrian hamster, and sheep, although human tissue has also been employed. Many of the studies have identified melatonin binding in the central nervous system with either tritium- or iodine-labelled ligands. The latter ligand seems to provide the most reproducible and consistent data. Of the central neural tissues examined, the suprachiasmatic nuclei are most frequently mentioned as a location for melatonin binding sites although binding seems to be widespread in the brain. The other tissue that has been prominently mentioned as a site for melatonin binding is the pars tuberalis of the anterior pituitary gland. There may be time-dependent variations in melatonin binding densities in both neural and pituitary gland tissue. Very few attempts have been made to identify melatonin binding outside of the central nervous system despite the widespread actions of melatonin. Preliminary experiments have been carried out on the intracellular second messengers which mediate the actions of melatonin

Radiotelemetry; techniques and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Sybill K. Amelon; David C. Dalton; Joshua J. Millspaugh; Sandy A. Wolf

2009-01-01

Radiotelemetry has become and important tool in studies of animal behavior, ecology, management, and conservation. From the first decades following the introduction of radio transmitters, radiotelemetry emerged as a prominent and critically important tool in wildlife science for the study of physiology, animal movements (migration, dispersal, and home range), survival...

MO-FG-BRD-01: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: Introduction and KV Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fahimian, B.

2015-01-01

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow

MO-FG-BRD-01: Real-Time Imaging and Tracking Techniques for Intrafractional Motion Management: Introduction and KV Tracking

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fahimian, B. [Stanford University (United States)

2015-06-15

Intrafraction target motion is a prominent complicating factor in the accurate targeting of radiation within the body. Methods compensating for target motion during treatment, such as gating and dynamic tumor tracking, depend on the delineation of target location as a function of time during delivery. A variety of techniques for target localization have been explored and are under active development; these include beam-level imaging of radio-opaque fiducials, fiducial-less tracking of anatomical landmarks, tracking of electromagnetic transponders, optical imaging of correlated surrogates, and volumetric imaging within treatment delivery. The Joint Imaging and Therapy Symposium will provide an overview of the techniques for real-time imaging and tracking, with special focus on emerging modes of implementation across different modalities. In particular, the symposium will explore developments in 1) Beam-level kilovoltage X-ray imaging techniques, 2) EPID-based megavoltage X-ray tracking, 3) Dynamic tracking using electromagnetic transponders, and 4) MRI-based soft-tissue tracking during radiation delivery. Learning Objectives: Understand the fundamentals of real-time imaging and tracking techniques Learn about emerging techniques in the field of real-time tracking Distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of different tracking modalities Understand the role of real-time tracking techniques within the clinical delivery work-flow.

NMR ({sup 1}H and {sup 13}C) based signatures of abnormal choline metabolism in oral squamous cell carcinoma with no prominent Warburg effect

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bag, Swarnendu, E-mail: Swarna.bag@gmail.com [School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, 721302 West Bengal (India); Banerjee, Deb Ranjan, E-mail: debranjan2@gmail.com [Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, 721302 West Bengal (India); Basak, Amit, E-mail: absk@chem.iitkgp.ernet.in [Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, 721302 West Bengal (India); Das, Amit Kumar, E-mail: amitk@hijli.iitkgp.ernet.in [Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, 721302 West Bengal (India); Pal, Mousumi, E-mail: drmpal62@gmail.com [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Guru Nanak Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal (India); Banerjee, Rita, E-mail: ritabanerjee@outlook.com [Department of Science and Technology, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi 110016 (India); Paul, Ranjan Rashmi, E-mail: dr_rsspaul@yahoo.co.in [Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Guru Nanak Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal (India); Chatterjee, Jyotirmoy, E-mail: jchatterjee.iitkgp@gmail.com [School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur, 721302 West Bengal (India)

2015-04-17

At functional levels, besides genes and proteins, changes in metabolome profiles are instructive for a biological system in health and disease including malignancy. It is understood that metabolomic alterations in association with proteomic and transcriptomic aberrations are very fundamental to unravel malignant micro-ambient criticality and oral cancer is no exception. Hence deciphering intricate dimensions of oral cancer metabolism may be contributory both for integrated appreciation of its pathogenesis and to identify any critical but yet unexplored dimension of this malignancy with high mortality rate. Although several methods do exist, NMR provides higher analytical precision in identification of cancer metabolomic signature. Present study explored abnormal signatures in choline metabolism in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using {sup 1}H and {sup 13}C NMR analysis of serum. It has demonstrated down-regulation of choline with concomitant up-regulation of its break-down product in the form of trimethylamine N-oxide in OSCC compared to normal counterpart. Further, no significant change in lactate profile in OSCC possibly indicated that well-known Warburg effect was not a prominent phenomenon in such malignancy. Amongst other important metabolites, malonate has shown up-regulation but D-glucose, saturated fatty acids, acetate and threonine did not show any significant change. Analyzing these metabolomic findings present study proposed trimethyl amine N-oxide and malonate as important metabolic signature for oral cancer with no prominent Warburg effect. - Highlights: • NMR ({sup 1}H and {sup 13}C) study of Oral Squamous cell Carcinoma Serum. • Abnormal Choline metabolomic signatures. • Up-regulation of Trimethylamine N-oxide. • Unchanged lactate profile indicates no prominent Warburg effect. • Proposed alternative glucose metabolism path through up-regulation of malonate.

Temperature and EUV Intensity in a Coronal Prominence Cavity and Streamer

Science.gov (United States)

Kucera, T. A.; Gibson, S.E.; Schmit, D. J.; Landi, E.; Tripathi, D.

2012-01-01

We analyze the temperature and EUV line emission of a coronal cavity and surrounding streamer in terms of a morphological forward model. We use a series of iron line ratios observed with the Hinode Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (EIS) on 2007 Aug. 9 to constrain temperature as a function of altitude in a morphological forward model of the streamer and cavity. We also compare model prediction of the EIS EUV line intensities and polarized brightness (pB) data from the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) MK4. This work builds on earlier analysis using the same model to determine geometry of and density in the same cavity and streamer. The fit to the data with altitude dependent temperature profiles indicates that both the streamer and cavity have temperatures in the range 1.4-1.7 MK. However, the cavity exhibits substantial substructure such that the altitude dependent temperature profile is not sufficient to completely model conditions in the cavity. Coronal prominence cavities are structured by magnetism so clues to this structure are to be found in their plasma properties. These temperature substructures are likely related to structures in the cavity magnetic field. Furthermore, we find that the model overestimates the line intensities by a factor of 4-10, while overestimating pB data by no more than a factor of 1.4. One possible explanation for this is that there may be a significant amount of material at temperatures outside of the range log T(K) approximately equals 5.8 - 6.7 in both the cavity and the streamer.

A tale of two tools: Reliability and feasibility of social media measurement tools examining e-cigarette twitter mentions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amelia Burke-Garcia

Full Text Available Given 70% of Americans are seeking health information online, social media are becoming main sources of health-related information and discussions. Specifically, compounding rising trends in use of e-cigarettes in the US, there has been a rapid rise in e-cigarette marketing – much of which is happening on social media. Public health professionals seeking to understand consumer knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about e-cigarettes should consider analyzing social media data and to do so, there are numerous free and paid tools available. However, each uses different sources and processes, which makes data validation challenging. This exploratory study sought to understand the reliability and feasibility of two social media data tools analyzing e-cigarette tweets. Twitter mentions were pulled from two different industry standard tools (GNIP and Radian6 and data were evaluated on six measures, e.g. Cost, Feasibility, Ease of Use, Poster Type (individual/organization, Context (tweet content analysis, and Valence (positive/negative. Findings included similarities amongst the data sets in terms of the content themes but differences in cost and ease of use of the tools themselves. These findings align with prior research, notably that e-cigarette marketing tweets are most common and public health-related content is noticeably absent. Findings from this exploratory study can inform future social media studies as well as communication campaigns seeking to address the emerging issue of e-cigarette use. Keywords: E-cigarettes, Vaping, Twitter, Tweets, Social media

An integrated approach for solving a MCDM problem, Combination of Entropy Fuzzy and F-PROMETHEE techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amin Shahmardan

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The intention of this paper is the presentation of a new integrated approach for solving a multi attribute decision making problem by the use of Entropy Fuzzy and F- PROMETHEE (fuzzy preference ranking method for enrichment evaluation techniques. Design/methodology/approach: In these sorts of multi attribute decision making problem, a number of criteria and alternatives are put forward as input data. Ranking of these alternatives according to mentioned criteria is regarded as the outcome of solving these kinds of problems. Initially, weights of criteria are determined by implementation of Entropy Fuzzy method. According to determined weights, F-PROMETHEE method is exerted to rank these alternatives in terms of desirability of DM (decision maker. Findings: Being in an uncertain environment and vagueness of DM’s judgments, lead us to implement an algorithm which can deal with these constraints properly. This technique namely called Entropy Fuzzy as a weighting method and F-PROMETHEE is performed to fulfill this approach more precisely according to tangible and intangible aspects. The main finding of applied approach is the final ranking of alternatives helping DM to have a more reliable decision. Originality/Value: The main contribution of this approach is the giving real significance to DM’s attitudes about mentioned criteria in determined alternatives which is not elucidate in former approaches like Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP. Furthermore, previous methods like Shanon Entropy do not pay attention sufficiently to satisfaction degree of each criterion in proposed alternatives, regarding to DM’s statements. Comprehensive explanations about these procedures have been made in miscellaneous sections of this article.

OBSERVATIONS OF LINEAR POLARIZATION IN A SOLAR CORONAL LOOP PROMINENCE SYSTEM OBSERVED NEAR 6173 Å

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saint-Hilaire, Pascal; Martínez Oliveros, Juan-Carlos; Hudson, Hugh S.; Krucker, Säm; Bain, Hazel [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Schou, Jesper [Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Göttingen (Germany); Couvidat, Sébastien, E-mail: shilaire@ssl.berkeley.edu [W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

2014-05-10

White-light observations by the Solar Dynamics Observatory's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager of a loop-prominence system occurring in the aftermath of an X-class flare on 2013 May 13 near the eastern solar limb show a linearly polarized component, reaching up to ∼20% at an altitude of ∼33 Mm, about the maximum amount expected if the emission were due solely to Thomson scattering of photospheric light by the coronal material. The mass associated with the polarized component was 8.2 × 10{sup 14} g. At 15 Mm altitude, the brightest part of the loop was 3(±0.5)% linearly polarized, only about 20% of that expected from pure Thomson scattering, indicating the presence of an additional unpolarized component at wavelengths near Fe I (617.33 nm). We estimate the free electron density of the white-light loop system to possibly be as high as 1.8 × 10{sup 12} cm{sup –3}.

Sample preparation technique for transmission electron microscopy anodized Al-Li-SiC metal matrix composite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shahid, M.; Thomson, G.E.

1997-01-01

Along with improved mechanical properties, metal matrix composites (MMC) have a disadvantage of enhanced corrosion susceptibility in aggressive environments. Recent studies on corrosion behaviour of an Al-alloy 8090/SiC MMC, revealed considerably high corrosion rates of the MMC in near neutral solutions containing chloride ions. Anodizing is one of the potential surface treatment for the MMC to provide protective coating against corrosion. The surface and cross section of the anodized MMC can easily be observed using scanning electron microscope. The anodizing behaviour of the MMC can be understood further if the anodized cross section in examined under transmission electron microscope (TEM). However, it is relatively difficult to prepare small (3 mm diameter) electron transparent specimens of the MMC supporting an anodic film. In the present study a technique has been developed for preparing thin electron transparent specimens of the anodized MMC. This technique employed conventional ion beam thinning process but the preparation of small discs was a problem. A MMMC consisting of Al-alloy 8090 with 20 % (by weight) SiC particulate with an average size of 5 Mu m, was anodized and observed in TEM after preparing the samples using the above mentioned techniques. (author)

Is an Ideal Sense of Humor Gendered? A Cross-National Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tosun, Sümeyra; Faghihi, Nafiseh; Vaid, Jyotsna

2018-01-01

To explore lay conceptions of characteristics of an ideal sense of humor as embodied in a known individual, our study examined elicited written narratives by male and female participants from three different countries of origin: United States, Iran, and Turkey. As reported in an earlier previous study with United States-based participants (Crawford and Gressley, 1991), our study also found that the embodiment of an ideal sense of humor was predominantly a male figure. This effect was more pronounced for male than for female participants but did not differ by country. Relative mention of specific humor characteristics differed by participant gender and by country of origin. Whereas all groups mentioned creativity most often as a component of an ideal sense of humor, this attribute was mentioned significantly more often by Americans than by the other two groups; hostility/sarcasm was also mentioned significantly more often by Americans than Turkish participants who mentioned it more often than Iranian participants. Caring was mentioned significantly more often by Americans and Iranians than by Turkish participants. These findings show a shared pattern of humor characteristics by gender but group differences in the relative prominence given to specific humor characteristics. Further work is needed to corroborate the group differences observed and to pinpoint their source.

Does the Implant Surgical Technique Affect the Primary and/or Secondary Stability of Dental Implants? A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Shadid, Rola Muhammed; Sadaqah, Nasrin Rushdi; Othman, Sahar Abdo

2014-01-01

Background. A number of surgical techniques for implant site preparation have been advocated to enhance the implant of primary and secondary stability. However, there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the association between the surgical technique and implant stability. Purpose. This review aimed to investigate the influence of different surgical techniques including the undersized drilling, the osteotome, the piezosurgery, the flapless procedure, and the bone stimulation by low-level laser therapy on the primary and/or secondary stability of dental implants. Materials and methods. A search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, and grey literature was performed. The inclusion criteria comprised observational clinical studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in patients who received dental implants for rehabilitation, studies that evaluated the association between the surgical technique and the implant primary and/or secondary stability. The articles selected were carefully read and classified as low, moderate, and high methodological quality and data of interest were tabulated. Results. Eight clinical studies were included then they were classified as moderate or high methodological quality and control of bias. Conclusions. There is a weak evidence suggesting that any of previously mentioned surgical techniques could influence the primary and/or secondary implant stability. PMID:25126094

Does the Implant Surgical Technique Affect the Primary and/or Secondary Stability of Dental Implants? A Systematic Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rola Muhammed Shadid

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. A number of surgical techniques for implant site preparation have been advocated to enhance the implant of primary and secondary stability. However, there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the association between the surgical technique and implant stability. Purpose. This review aimed to investigate the influence of different surgical techniques including the undersized drilling, the osteotome, the piezosurgery, the flapless procedure, and the bone stimulation by low-level laser therapy on the primary and/or secondary stability of dental implants. Materials and methods. A search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, and grey literature was performed. The inclusion criteria comprised observational clinical studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs conducted in patients who received dental implants for rehabilitation, studies that evaluated the association between the surgical technique and the implant primary and/or secondary stability. The articles selected were carefully read and classified as low, moderate, and high methodological quality and data of interest were tabulated. Results. Eight clinical studies were included then they were classified as moderate or high methodological quality and control of bias. Conclusions. There is a weak evidence suggesting that any of previously mentioned surgical techniques could influence the primary and/or secondary implant stability.

Syntax mentioned seven times in the CEFR – and how many times at school, in foreign language classrooms?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darja Mertelj

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In the teaching of foreign languages, complex-clause syntax does not seem to have had an established role over the last 20 years, especially within the communicative approach and, of course, the CEFR. It was previously part of methods which stressed formal approaches to foreign languages and their being taught, but not of natural, acquisition-based methods. With the communicative approach, two important premises were introduced: authentic texts and grammar as a tool when necessary. This is one probable reason why explicit, complex-clause syntax is hardly mentioned in the CEFR, even though it is implicitly present in descriptors, even though it is particularly recognisable in those for writing skills, and even though we know that it can be used for all four skills, as well as to guide learners towards some self-directed learning about language features. To date, in the era of the communicative approach, not much is known about the role of complex-clause syntax in foreign/second language classrooms, in particular from the learners’ viewpoint. In order to bridge this research gap, the paper analyses a questionnaire among learners in secondary schools that looked at their perspectives regarding the (possible role of syntax. The examined aspects consider its role for the four skills, and the benefits of knowing syntax; implicitly, the paper touches on some affective factors and related methodological approaches, along with problems concerning the teaching of syntax. The findings are based on quantitative data; an evaluation of the need for complex-clause syntax is included, and some pedagogical implications are presented.

Sustainable Modular Adaptive Redundancy Technique Emphasizing Partial Reconfiguration for Reduced Power Consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Al-Haddad

2011-01-01

Full Text Available As reconfigurable devices' capacities and the complexity of applications that use them increase, the need for self-reliance of deployed systems becomes increasingly prominent. Organic computing paradigms have been proposed for fault-tolerant systems because they promote behaviors that allow complex digital systems to adapt and survive in demanding environments. In this paper, we develop a sustainable modular adaptive redundancy technique (SMART composed of a two-layered organic system. The hardware layer is implemented on a Xilinx Virtex-4 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA to provide self-repair using a novel approach called reconfigurable adaptive redundancy system (RARS. The software layer supervises the organic activities on the FPGA and extends the self-healing capabilities through application-independent, intrinsic, and evolutionary repair techniques that leverage the benefits of dynamic partial reconfiguration (PR. SMART was evaluated using a Sobel edge-detection application and was shown to tolerate stressful sequences of injected transient and permanent faults while reducing dynamic power consumption by 30% compared to conventional triple modular redundancy (TMR techniques, with nominal impact on the fault-tolerance capabilities. Moreover, PR is employed to keep the system on line while under repair and also to reduce repair time. Experiments have shown a 27.48% decrease in repair time when PR is employed compared to the full bitstream configuration case.

TEMPERATURE AND EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET INTENSITY IN A CORONAL PROMINENCE CAVITY AND STREAMER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kucera, T. A. [NASA/GSFC, Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Gibson, S. E.; Schmit, D. J. [HAO/NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000 (United States); Landi, E. [Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Science, Space Research Building, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143 (United States); Tripathi, D. [Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag-4, Ganeshkhind, Pune University Campus, Pune 411 007 (India)

2012-09-20

We analyze the temperature and EUV line emission of a coronal cavity and surrounding streamer in terms of a morphological forward model. We use a series of iron line ratios observed with the Hinode Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (EIS) on 2007 August 9 to constrain temperature as a function of altitude in a morphological forward model of the streamer and cavity. We also compare model predictions to the EIS EUV line intensities and polarized brightness (pB) data from the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) Mark 4 K-coronameter. This work builds on earlier analysis using the same model to determine geometry of and density in the same cavity and streamer. The fit to the data with altitude-dependent temperature profiles indicates that both the streamer and cavity have temperatures in the range 1.4-1.7 MK. However, the cavity exhibits substantial substructure such that the altitude-dependent temperature profile is not sufficient to completely model conditions in the cavity. Coronal prominence cavities are structured by magnetism so clues to this structure are to be found in their plasma properties. These temperature substructures are likely related to structures in the cavity magnetic field. Furthermore, we find that the model overestimates the EUV line intensities by a factor of 4-10, without overestimating pB. We discuss this difference in terms of filling factors and uncertainties in density diagnostics and elemental abundances.

Review of various liver retraction techniques in single incision laparoscopic surgery for the exposure of hiatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Palanivelu, Praveenraj; Patil, Kedar Pratap; Parthasarathi, Ramakrishnan; Viswambharan, Jaiganesh K; Senthilnathan, Palanisami; Palanivelu, Chinnusamy

2015-01-01

The main aspect of concern for upper GI procedures has been the retraction of the liver especially large left lobes as commonly encountered in Bariatric surgery. Not doing so would compromise the view of the hiatus, hence theoretically reducing the quality of the surgery and increasing the possibility of complications. The aim of this study was to review the various liver retraction techniques in single incision surgery being done at our institute and analyze them. A retrospective study of the various techniques and a subsequent analysis was made based on advantages and disadvantages of each method. Objectively a quantitative measure of hiatal exposure was done using a scoring system based on the grade of exposure after reviewing the surgical videos. From January 2011 to January 2013 total 104 patients underwent single incision surgery with the various liver retraction techniques with following grades of exposure -liver suspension tube technique with naso gastric tubing (2.11) and with corrugated drain (2.09) needlescopic method (1.2), Umbilical tape sling (1.95), crural stitch method (2.5). Needeloscopic method has the best grade of exposure and is the easiest to start with. The average time to create the liver retraction was 2.8 to 8.6 min.There was no procedure related morbidity or mortality. The mentioned liver retraction techniques are cost effective and easy to learn. We recommend using these techniques to have a good exposure of hiatus, without compromising the safety of surgery in single incision surgery.

Analysis of Formal Methods for Specification of E-Commerce Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sadiq Ali Khan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available E-commerce based application characteristics portray elevated dynamics while incorporating decentralized nature. Extreme emphasis influencing structural design plus implementation, positions such applications highly appreciated. Significant research articles reveal that, applying formal methods addressing challenges incumbent with E-commerce based applications, contribute towards reliability and robustness obliging the system. Anticipating and designing sturdy e-process and concurrent implementation, allows application behavior extra strength against errors, frauds and hacking, minimizing program faults during application operations. Programmers find extreme difficulty guaranteeing correct processing under all circumstances, however, not impossible. Concealed flaws and errors, triggered only under unexpected and unanticipated scenarios, pilot subtle mistakes and appalling failures. Code authors utilize various formal methods for reducing these flaws. Mentioning prominent methods would include, ASM (Abstract State Machines, B-Method, z-Language, UML (Unified Modelling Language etc. This paper primarily focuses different formal methods applied while deliberating specification and verification techniques for cost effective.

Water percolation conditions in Ilha Solteira dam (Parana River), using tracer techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez, W.; Guidicini, G.; Silva, R.F. da.

1975-01-01

Radioisotopic techniques used in the study of water perconlation at the exact place of the construction of the canal lock of Ilha Solteira Dam, in its left side is presented. At the time of the drilling operations, it was discovered, by water leakage tests, total lost at 275,00 level. This water lost occurred at the vicinities of basalt lava-flows. The water leakage tests showed that the total absorption of pumping flow was about 80 liters per minute. To determine the velocity of water percolation in the probable cracks or fractures of the basalt a test of radioactive tracer 131 I was used. For the study of the radioactive tracer behaviour two techniques were tried: measurement of its dilution in the original of the well and the measurement of residence time. Results from the tests showed the existence of a crack or a set of cracks oriented from the radcoisotopic injection well to the artesian wells located at the left shore of Parana river, below Ilha Solteira Dam. The mentioned cracks are localized at the 272,00 level, close tr the contact between the basalt lava-flows

Air quality impacted by local pollution sources and beyond - Using a prominent petro-industrial complex as a study case.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Sheng-Po; Wang, Chieh-Heng; Lin, Wen-Dian; Tong, Yu-Huei; Chen, Yu-Chun; Chiu, Ching-Jui; Chiang, Hung-Chi; Fan, Chen-Lun; Wang, Jia-Lin; Chang, Julius S

2018-05-01

The present study combines high-resolution measurements at various distances from a world-class gigantic petrochemical complex with model simulations to test a method to assess industrial emissions and their effect on local air quality. Due to the complexity in wind conditions which were highly seasonal, the dominant wind flow patterns in the coastal region of interest were classified into three types, namely northeast monsoonal (NEM) flows, southwest monsoonal (SEM) flows and local circulation (LC) based on six years of monitoring data. Sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) was chosen as an indicative pollutant for prominent industrial emissions. A high-density monitoring network of 12 air-quality stations distributed within a 20-km radius surrounding the petrochemical complex provided hourly measurements of SO 2 and wind parameters. The SO 2 emissions from major industrial sources registered by the monitoring network were then used to validate model simulations and to illustrate the transport of the SO 2 plumes under the three typical wind patterns. It was found that the coupling of observations and modeling was able to successfully explain the transport of the industrial plumes. Although the petrochemical complex was seemingly the only major source to affect local air quality, multiple prominent sources from afar also played a significant role in local air quality. As a result, we found that a more complete and balanced assessment of the local air quality can be achieved only after taking into account the wind characteristics and emission factors of a much larger spatial scale than the initial (20 km by 20 km) study domain. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reporting of various methodological and statistical parameters in negative studies published in prominent Indian Medical Journals: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Charan, J; Saxena, D

2014-01-01

Biased negative studies not only reflect poor research effort but also have an impact on 'patient care' as they prevent further research with similar objectives, leading to potential research areas remaining unexplored. Hence, published 'negative studies' should be methodologically strong. All parameters that may help a reader to judge validity of results and conclusions should be reported in published negative studies. There is a paucity of data on reporting of statistical and methodological parameters in negative studies published in Indian Medical Journals. The present systematic review was designed with an aim to critically evaluate negative studies published in prominent Indian Medical Journals for reporting of statistical and methodological parameters. Systematic review. All negative studies published in 15 Science Citation Indexed (SCI) medical journals published from India were included in present study. Investigators involved in the study evaluated all negative studies for the reporting of various parameters. Primary endpoints were reporting of "power" and "confidence interval." Power was reported in 11.8% studies. Confidence interval was reported in 15.7% studies. Majority of parameters like sample size calculation (13.2%), type of sampling method (50.8%), name of statistical tests (49.1%), adjustment of multiple endpoints (1%), post hoc power calculation (2.1%) were reported poorly. Frequency of reporting was more in clinical trials as compared to other study designs and in journals having impact factor more than 1 as compared to journals having impact factor less than 1. Negative studies published in prominent Indian medical journals do not report statistical and methodological parameters adequately and this may create problems in the critical appraisal of findings reported in these journals by its readers.

Prominent Role of Spin-Orbit Coupling in FeSe Revealed by Inelastic Neutron Scattering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingwei Ma

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In most existing theories for iron-based superconductors, spin-orbit coupling (SOC has been assumed to be insignificant. Here, we use spin-polarized inelastic neutron scattering to show that collective low-energy spin excitations in the orthorhombic (or “nematic” phase of FeSe possess nearly no in-plane component. Such spin-space anisotropy is present over an energy range greater than the superconducting gap 2Δ_{sc} and gets fully inherited in the superconducting state, resulting in a c-axis polarized “spin resonance” without any noticeable isotropic spectral-weight rearrangement related to the superconductivity, which is distinct from observations in the superconducting iron pnictides. The contrast between the strong suppression of long-range magnetic order in FeSe and the persisting large spin-space anisotropy, which cannot be explained microscopically by introducing single-ion anisotropy into local-moment spin models, demonstrates the importance of SOC in an itinerant-electron description of the low-energy spin excitations. Our result helps to elucidate the nearby magnetic instabilities and the debated interplay between spin and orbital degrees of freedom in FeSe. The prominent role of SOC also implies a possible unusual nature of the superconducting state.

Advantages of the technique with segmented fields for tangential breast irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanovski, Zoran; Smichkoska, Snezhana; Petrova, Deva; Lazarova, Emilija

2013-01-01

In the case of breast cancer, the prominent role of radiation therapy is an established fact. Depending on the stage of the disease, the breast is most often irradiated with two tangential fields and a direct supraclavicular field. Planning target volume is defined through the recommendations in ICRU Reports 50 and 62. The basic ‘dogma’ of radiotherapy requires the dose in the target volume to be homogenous. The favorable situation would be if the dose width was between 95% and 107%; this, however, is often not possible to be fulfilled. A technique for enhancement of homogeneity of isodose distribution would be using one or more additional fields, which will increase the dose in the volume where it is too low. These fields are called segmented fields (a technique also known as ‘field in field’) because they occupy only part of the primary fields. In this study we will show the influence of this technique on the dose homogeneity improvement in the PTV region. The mean dose in the target volume was increased from 49.51 Gy to 50.79 Gy in favor of the plans with segmented fields; and the dose homogeneity (measured in standard deviations) was also improved - 1.69 vs. 1.30. The increase in the target volume, encompassed by 95% isodose, was chosen as a parameter to characterize overall planning improvement. Thus, in our case, the improvement of dose coverage was from 93.19% to 97.06%. (Author)

Dramatics and education: Different directions and approaches to the application of drama/theatre techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stamenković Ivana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes, from the perspective of drama pedagogy, two basic directions in the application of drama and/or theatre techniques in the educational context which mainly differ primarily according to who applies them in practice with children and the young - teachers or professional actors.. Then the most prominent approaches of individual authors are singled out from each agent. Although there are certain similarities among them, we wanted also to show their differences, evident in theoretical, pedagogical and practical orientations. In this context the opinions about the importance of dramatics for education, and about the effects of the use of different approaches, levels and the ways of the application of drama/theatre techniques are singled out, showing at the same time different roles, levels and ways of participating students. This theme is important for promoting dramatics pedagogy, which is not at a high level of development in our country, in spite of the fact that many authors are engaged in theoretical and/or practical work in this area.

Material saving by means of CWR technology using optimization techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Iñaki; Ambrosio, Cristina

2017-10-01

Material saving is currently a must for the forging companies, as material costs sum up to 50% for parts made of steel and up to 90% in other materials like titanium. For long products, cross wedge rolling (CWR) technology can be used to obtain forging preforms with a suitable distribution of the material along its own axis. However, defining the correct preform dimensions is not an easy task and it could need an intensive trial-and-error campaign. To speed up the preform definition, it is necessary to apply optimization techniques on Finite Element Models (FEM) able to reproduce the material behaviour when being rolled. Meta-models Assisted Evolution Strategies (MAES), that combine evolutionary algorithms with Kriging meta-models, are implemented in FORGE® software and they allow reducing optimization computation costs in a relevant way. The paper shows the application of these optimization techniques to the definition of the right preform for a shaft from a vehicle of the agricultural sector. First, the current forging process, based on obtaining the forging preform by means of an open die forging operation, is showed. Then, the CWR preform optimization is developed by using the above mentioned optimization techniques. The objective is to reduce, as much as possible, the initial billet weight, so that a calculation of flash weight reduction due to the use of the proposed preform is stated. Finally, a simulation of CWR process for the defined preform is carried out to check that most common failures (necking, spirals,..) in CWR do not appear in this case.

Cesarean sections, perfecting the technique and standardizing the practice: an analysis of the book Obstetrícia, by Jorge de Rezende.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakano, Andreza Rodrigues; Bonan, Claudia; Teixeira, Luiz Antônio

2016-01-01

This article discusses the development of techniques for cesarean sections by doctors in Brazil, during the 20th century, by analyzing the title "Operação Cesárea" (Cesarean Section), of three editions of the textbookObstetrícia, by Jorge de Rezende. His prominence as an author in obstetrics and his particular style of working, created the groundwork for the normalization of the practice of cesarean sections. The networks of meaning practiced within this scientific community included a "provision for feeling and for action" (Fleck) which established the C-section as a "normal" delivery: showing standards that exclude unpredictability, chaos, and dangers associated with the physiology of childbirth, meeting the demand for control, discipline and safety, qualities associated with practices, techniques and technologies of biomedicine.

Scar modification. Techniques for revision and camouflage.

Science.gov (United States)

Horswell, B B

1998-09-01

The surgery and management of scars is a protracted and staged process that includes preparation of the skin through hygienic measures, scar softening (if indicated) with steroids, massage and pressure dressings, skilled execution of the surgical plan, and thorough postoperative wound care. This process generally covers a 1-year period for the various stages mentioned. Many general host and local skin factors will directly affect the final revision result. The two most important indirect factors that the surgeon must endeavor to control are optimal patient preparation and cutaneous health, and patient compliance with, and an ability to carry out, those wound care measures that the surgeon prescribes. Keloid and burn contracture scars represent two entities that are complicated and challenging to treat owing to their abnormal morphophysiologic features. Management of these scars is prolonged, and the patient must understand that the ultimate result will usually be a compromise. New grafting techniques, such as cultured autodermal grafts, offer improved initial management of burn wounds that may subsequently optimize scar revision in these patients. Keloids, and to a lesser extent hypertrophic scars, require steroid injections, pressure treatment, careful surgery, and protracted wound support and pressure treatment (exceeding 6 months) after surgery.

Brown seaweed Padina gymnospora is a prominent natural wound-care product

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alegna P. Baliano

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Seaweeds are related to anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-noceptive effects. This work aimed to verify the potential of seaweed Padina gymnospora (Kützing Sonder 1871 to improve wound healing in vitro. P. gymnospora was collected at a bethonic area in Espirito Santo. Methanolic extract of P. gymnospora was obtained by percolation. To determine cytotoxicity, colorimetric MTT tests were performed against normal fibroblasts (L929, macrophages (RAW 264.7 and human ovarian carcinoma (OVCAR-3 cell lines using concentration range of 12–110 µg ml-1. To evaluate in vitro wound healing, monolayer of fibroblasts L929 was seeded and artificial wounded. Cell proliferation was blocked by 5 µg ml-1 Mytomycin C. Nitric oxide inhibition was quantified with Raw 264.7 by Griess reaction. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC against Staphylococcus aureus was determined. Eletrospray ionization with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FT-ICR MS was applied to detail composition of P. gymnospora methanolic extract. No cytotoxic effect in all cell lines was detected until the maximum concentration of 110 µg ml-1. P. gymnospora promoted significantly migration at the concentration of 25 µg ml-1 (p < 0.05. A prominent inhibition of nitric oxide formation was achieved in a concentration of 20 µg ml-1 of methanolic extract of P. gymnospora (62.06 ± 1.20%. Antibacterial activity against S. aureus could be demonstrated with MIC of 500 µg ml-1. ESI-FT-ICR MS analysis indicated eleven molecules between then, linolenic, oleic and linoleic acid. P. gymnospora favored wound repair in vitro what could be related to its fatty acid composition. In addition, its antimicrobial effect, and NO inhibition activity contribute for a new approach of P. gymnospora as a promise natural product for treatment of cutaneous wound.

Patented Techniques for Acrylamide Mitigation in High-Temperature Processed Foods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mariotti, Salome; Pedreschi, Franco; Antonio Carrasco, José

2011-01-01

Heating foods has many advantages since it adds taste, color, texture and minimizes harmful germs, among others. Flavor and aroma compounds are produced via the Maillard reaction, where various hazardous com-pounds may form as well, such as acrylamide. Maillard reaction is believed to be the main...... for acrylamide reduction in foods processed at high temperatures are mentioned and briefly analyzed in order to develop new mitigation techniques for acrylamide in different food matrixes.......Heating foods has many advantages since it adds taste, color, texture and minimizes harmful germs, among others. Flavor and aroma compounds are produced via the Maillard reaction, where various hazardous com-pounds may form as well, such as acrylamide. Maillard reaction is believed to be the main...... route for acrylamide for-mation between reducing sugars (glucose and fructose), sucrose, and the amino acid asparagine, and, consequently, a variety of technologies have been developed to reduce acrylamide concentration in thermally processed foods based ei-ther on: (i) Changing process parameters (e...

Nuclear techniques in the development of advanced ceramic technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Axe, J.D.; Hewat, A.W.; Maier, J.; Margaca, F.M.A.; Rauch, H.

1999-01-01

The importance of research, development and application of advanced materials is well understood by all developed and most developing countries. Amongst advanced materials, ceramics play a prominent role due to their specific chemical and physical properties. According to performance and importance, advanced ceramics can be classified as structural ceramics (mechanical function) and the so-called functional ceramics. In the latter class of materials, special electrical, chemical, thermal, magnetic and optical properties are of interest. The most valuable materials are multifunctional, for example, when structural ceramics combine beneficial mechanical properties with thermal and chemical sensitivity. Multifunctionality is characteristic of many composite materials (organic/inorganic composite). Additionally, properties of material can be changed by reducing its dimension (thin films, nanocrystalline ceramics). Nuclear techniques, found important applications in research and development of advanced ceramics. The use of neutron techniques has increased dramatically in recent years due to the development of advanced neutron sources, instrumentation and improved data analysis. Typical neutron techniques are neutron diffraction, neutron radiography, small angle neutron scattering and very small angle neutron scattering. Neutrons can penetrate deeply into most materials thus sampling their bulk properties. In determination of the crystal structure of HTSC, YBa 2 Cu 2 O 7 , XRD located the heavy metal atoms, but failed in finding many of the oxygen atoms, while the neutron diffraction located all atoms equally well in the crystal structure. Neutron diffraction is also unique for the determination of the magnetic structure of materials since the neutrons themselves have a magnetic moment. Application of small angle neutron scattering for the determination of the size of hydrocarbon aggregates within the zeolite channels is illustrated. (author)

Classification of Phishing Email Using Random Forest Machine Learning Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andronicus A. Akinyelu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Phishing is one of the major challenges faced by the world of e-commerce today. Thanks to phishing attacks, billions of dollars have been lost by many companies and individuals. In 2012, an online report put the loss due to phishing attack at about $1.5 billion. This global impact of phishing attacks will continue to be on the increase and thus requires more efficient phishing detection techniques to curb the menace. This paper investigates and reports the use of random forest machine learning algorithm in classification of phishing attacks, with the major objective of developing an improved phishing email classifier with better prediction accuracy and fewer numbers of features. From a dataset consisting of 2000 phishing and ham emails, a set of prominent phishing email features (identified from the literature were extracted and used by the machine learning algorithm with a resulting classification accuracy of 99.7% and low false negative (FN and false positive (FP rates.

Advances in surgical techniques in non-small cell lung cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Anthony W; Detterbeck, Frank C

2013-12-01

Thoracic surgery is a dynamic field, and many scientific, technological, technical, and organizational changes are occurring. A prominent example is the use of less invasive approaches to major resection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), both thoracoscopic and robotic. Sophisticated technology corroborated by clinical data has led to these approaches becoming accepted additions to the armamentarium. Additionally, improvements in perioperative pain management have also contributed to dramatically changing the experience of patients who undergo modern thoracic surgery. Lung cancer is being detected more often at an early stage. At the same time, advances in techniques, patient care, clinical science, and multidisciplinary treatment support an increased role for aggressive resection in the face of larger locally advanced tumors or for those with limited metastatic disease. These advances, conducted in the setting of multidisciplinary decision making, have resulted in real and palpable advancements for patients with lung cancer. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Structural analysis of nanocrystalline ZnTe alloys synthesized by melt quenching technique

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Harinder; Singh, Tejbir; Thakur, Anup; Sharma, Jeewan

2018-05-01

Nanocrystalline ZnxTe100-x (x=0, 5, 20, 30, 40, 50) alloys have been synthesized using melt quenching technique. Energy-dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDS) has been used to verify the elemental composition of samples. Various absorption modes are recorded from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirming the formation of ZnTe. The structural study has been performed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) method. All synthesized samples have been found to be nanocrystalline in nature with average crystallite size in the range from 49.3 nm to 77.1 nm. Results have shown that Zn0Te100 exhibits hexagonal phase that transforms into a cubic ZnTe phase as the amount of zinc is increased. Pure ZnTe phase has been obtained for x = 50. The texture coefficient (Tc) has been calculated to find the prominent orientations of different planes.

3D visualization and stereographic techniques for medical research and education.

Science.gov (United States)

Rydmark, M; Kling-Petersen, T; Pascher, R; Philip, F

2001-01-01

flickering effect, which is strenuous for prolonged use. However, all of the above have one or more drawbacks such as high costs, poor quality and localized use. A fifth system, recently released by Barco Systems, modifies the CrystalEyes system by projecting two superimposed images, using polarized light, with the wave plane of the left image at right angle to that of the right image. By using polarized glasses, each eye will see the appropriate image and true stereographic vision is achieved. While the system requires very expensive hardware, it solves some of the more important problems mentioned above, such as the capacity to use higher frame rates and the ability to display images to a large audience. Mednet has instigated a research project which uses reconstructed models from the central nervous system (human brain and basal ganglia, cortex, dendrites and dendritic spines) and peripheral nervous system (nodes of Ranvier and axoplasmic areas). The aim is to modify the models to fit the different visualization techniques mentioned above and compare a group of users perceived degree of 3D for each technique.

Starch Catabolism by a Prominent Human Gut Symbiont Is Directed by the Recognition of Amylose Helices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koropatkin, Nicole M.; Martens, Eric C.; Gordon, Jeffrey I.; Smith, Thomas J. (WU); (Danforth)

2009-01-12

The human gut microbiota performs functions that are not encoded in our Homo sapiens genome, including the processing of otherwise undigestible dietary polysaccharides. Defining the structures of proteins involved in the import and degradation of specific glycans by saccharolytic bacteria complements genomic analysis of the nutrient-processing capabilities of gut communities. Here, we describe the atomic structure of one such protein, SusD, required for starch binding and utilization by Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a prominent adaptive forager of glycans in the distal human gut microbiota. The binding pocket of this unique {alpha}-helical protein contains an arc of aromatic residues that complements the natural helical structure of starch and imposes this conformation on bound maltoheptaose. Furthermore, SusD binds cyclic oligosaccharides with higher affinity than linear forms. The structures of several SusD/oligosaccharide complexes reveal an inherent ligand recognition plasticity dominated by the three-dimensional conformation of the oligosaccharides rather than specific interactions with the composite sugars.

All-inside arthroscopic lateral collateral ligament repair for ankle instability with a knotless suture anchor technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Vega, Jordi; Golanó, Pau; Pellegrino, Alexandro; Rabat, Eduard; Peña, Fernando

2013-12-01

Recently, arthroscopic-assisted techniques have been described to treat lateral ankle instability with excellent results. However, complications including neuritis of the superficial peroneal or sural nerve, and pain or discomfort due to a prominent anchor or suture knot have been reported. The aim of this study was to describe a novel technique, the "all-inside arthroscopic lateral collateral ankle ligament repair," and its results for treating patients with ankle instability. Sixteen patients (10 men and 6 women, mean age 29.3 years, 17-46) with lateral ankle instability were treated with an arthroscopic procedure. Using a suture passer and a knotless anchor, the ligaments were repaired with an all-inside technique. The right ankle was affected in 10 cases. Mean follow-up was 22.3 (12-35) months. On arthroscopic examination, 13 patients had an isolated anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) injury, and in 3 patients, both the ATFL and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) were affected. All-inside arthroscopic anatomic repair of the lateral collateral ligament complex was performed in all cases. All patients reported subjective improvement of their ankle instability. The mean AOFAS score increased from 67 preoperatively to 97 at final follow-up. No major complications were reported. The all-inside arthroscopic ligament repair was a safe, reliable, and reproducible technique that both provided an anatomic repair of the lateral collateral ligament complex and restored ankle stability while preserving all the advantages of an arthroscopic technique. Level IV, retrospective case series.

Review of various liver retraction techniques in single incision laparoscopic surgery for the exposure of hiatus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Praveenraj Palanivelu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The main aspect of concern for upper GI procedures has been the retraction of the liver especially large left lobes as commonly encountered in Bariatric surgery. Not doing so would compromise the view of the hiatus, hence theoretically reducing the quality of the surgery and increasing the possibility of complications. The aim of this study was to review the various liver retraction techniques in single incision surgery being done at our institute and analyze them. Material and Methods: A retrospective study of the various techniques and a subsequent analysis was made based on advantages and disadvantages of each method. Objectively a quantitative measure of hiatal exposure was done using a scoring system based on the grade of exposure after reviewing the surgical videos. From January 2011 to January 2013 total 104 patients underwent single incision surgery with the various liver retraction techniques with following grades of exposure -liver suspension tube technique with naso gastric tubing (2.11 and with corrugated drain (2.09 needlescopic method (1.2, Umbilical tape sling (1.95, crural stitch method (2.5. Needeloscopic method has the best grade of exposure and is the easiest to start with. The average time to create the liver retraction was 2.8 to 8.6 min.There was no procedure related morbidity or mortality. Conclusions: The mentioned liver retraction techniques are cost effective and easy to learn. We recommend using these techniques to have a good exposure of hiatus, without compromising the safety of surgery in single incision surgery.

Contribution to the study of solar prominences from observations performed on the LPSP instrument aboard the OSO-8 satellite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vial, Jean-Claude

1981-01-01

Notably by reprinting various documents and articles, this research reports works undertaken from the design of an experiment performed with the LPSP instrument aboard the OSO-8 satellite, to its data processing and interpretation. This experiment aimed at the study of the chromosphere fine structure by means of simultaneous high resolution observations of the L α, L β, Mg II, Ca II, H and K lines. The first part presents the on-board LPSP instrument. The second part reports observations of active and quiescent solar prominences. The third part reports the transfer calculation for five resonance lines (H Lα, Mg II H and K, Ca II H and K), and the comparison with observations performed on OSO-8

Setting a date

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, Glenis.

1987-01-01

Dating techniques are discussed and explained. The age range and sensitivity of different techniques are given. Potassium/argon dating, amino-acid dating, radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, thermoluminescence and geomagnetic field dating are all mentioned. Each technique is explained and a brief history given. The techniques and equipment used by the British Museum, and some examples of archaeological articles dated are mentioned. (UK)

Reversible Pulmonary Hypertension and Isolated Right-sided Heart Failure Associated with Hyperthyroidism

OpenAIRE

Ismail, Hassan M.

2007-01-01

Hyperthyroidism may present with signs and symptoms related to dysfunction of a variety of organs. Cardiovascular pathology in hyperthyroidism is common. A few case reports describe isolated right heart failure, tricuspid regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension as the prominent cardiovascular manifestations of hyperthyroidism. Although most textbooks do not mention hyperthyroidism as a cause of pulmonary hypertension and isolated right heart failure, the literature suggests that some hypert...

Teledection techniques to find contaminated soils: study of a thru case: Quinto del Hierro, Almaden, Ciudad Real (Spain); Aplicaciones de la teledeteccion para la localizacion y cartografia de suelos contaminados: estudio de un caso real: el area con mineria romana de Quinto de Hierro (Almaden, Ciudad Real)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ortega, E.; Lacamara, R.; Almagro, J.

1995-04-01

The teledetection techniques have two main advantages: on the one hand they give us the possibility to watch at big earth surfaces; on the other and at the same time we can see some objects (such as the infrared field in the electromagnetic radiation), that are not evidence to the human eye. With these techniques we can solve every mentioned problems, e.g., the finding and delimitation of areas with contaminated soils. (Author)

Pelvic Fixation in Adult and Pediatric Spine Surgery: Historical Perspective, Indications, and Techniques: AAOS Exhibit Selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Amit; Hassanzadeh, Hamid; Strike, Sophia A; Menga, Emmanuel N; Sponseller, Paul D; Kebaish, Khaled M

2015-09-16

Achieving solid osseous fusion across the lumbosacral junction has historically been, and continues to be, a challenge in spine surgery. Robust pelvic fixation plays an integral role in achieving this goal. The goals of this review are to describe the history of and indications for spinopelvic fixation, examine conventional spinopelvic fixation techniques, and review the newer S2-alar-iliac technique and its outcomes in adult and pediatric patients with spinal deformity. Since the introduction of Harrington rods in the 1960s, spinal instrumentation has evolved substantially. Indications for spinopelvic fixation as a means to achieve lumbosacral arthrodesis include a long arthrodesis (five or more vertebral levels) or use of three-column osteotomies in the lower thoracic or lumbar spine, surgical treatment of high-grade spondylolisthesis, and correction of lumbar deformity and pelvic obliquity. A variety of techniques have been described over the years, including Galveston iliac rods, Jackson intrasacral rods, the Kostuik transiliac bar, iliac screws, and S2-alar-iliac screws. Modern iliac screws and S2-alar-iliac screws are associated with relatively low rates of pseudarthrosis. S2-alar-iliac screws have the advantages of less implant prominence and inline placement with proximal spinal anchors. Collectively, these techniques provide powerful methods for obtaining control of the pelvis in facilitating lumbosacral arthrodesis. Copyright © 2015 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated.

Assessment and Comparison of Electrokinetic and Electrokinetic-bioremediation Techniques for Mercury Contaminated Soil

Science.gov (United States)

Azhar, A. T. S.; Nabila, A. T. A.; Nurshuhaila, M. S.; Zaidi, E.; Azim, M. A. M.; Farhana, S. M. S.

2016-11-01

Landfills are major sources of contamination due to the presence of harmful bacteria and heavy metals. Electrokinetic-Bioremediation (Ek-Bio) is one of the techniques that can be conducted to remediate contaminated soil. Therefore, the most prominent bacteria from landfill soil will be isolated to determine their optimal conditions for culture and growth. The degradation rate and the effectiveness of selected local bacteria were used to reduce soil contamination. Hence, this enhances microbiological activities to degrade contaminants in soil and reduce the content of heavy metals. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of isolated bacteria (Lysinibacillus fusiformis) to remove mercury in landfill soil. 5 kg of landfill soil was mixed with deionized water to make it into slurry condition for the purpose of electrokinetic and bioremediation. This remediation technique was conducted for 7 days by using 50 V/m of electrical gradient and Lysinibacillus fusiformis bacteria was applied at the anode reservoir. The slurry landfill soil was located at the middle of the reservoir while distilled water was placed at the cathode of reservoir. After undergoing treatment for 7 days, the mercury analyzer showed that there was a significant reduction of approximately up to 78 % of mercury concentration for the landfill soil. From the results, it is proven that electrokinetic bioremediation technique is able to remove mercury within in a short period of time. Thus, a combination of Lysinibacillus fusiformis and electrokinetic technique has the potential to remove mercury from contaminated soil in Malaysia.

Prominent attractive qualities of nurses' work in operating room departments: A questionnaire study.

Science.gov (United States)

Björn, Catrine; Josephson, Malin; Wadensten, Barbro; Rissén, Dag

2015-01-01

The shortage of nurses in operating room departments (ORs) in Sweden and other countries can lead to reduced capacity and quality in healthcare, as well as more intense work for those on the job. Little is known about what nurses in ORs perceive as crucial for their workplace to be attractive. To capture attractive qualities of nurses' work in Swedish ORs and take a first step in the process of adapting the Attractive Work Questionnaire for use in a health care context. The Attractive Work Questionnaire was completed by 147 (67% ) nurses in four Swedish ORs. Principal Component Analyses (PCA) were performed to determine the underlying structure of the data. Factors contributing to job attractiveness identified in the area "work conditions" were: relations, leadership, equipment, salary, organisation, physical work environment, location, and working hours; in the area "work content": mental work, autonomy and work rate; and in the area "job satisfaction": status and acknowledgement. The PCA showed consistency with the original Attractive Work Questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha varied between 0.57-0.90. Prominent attractive qualities for nurses' work in Swedish ORs were possible to identify through the Attractive Work Questionnaire and the results suggest that the questionnaire can be useful in a health care context.

Statistics and error considerations at the application of SSND T-technique in radon measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jonsson, G.

1993-01-01

Plastic films are used for the detection of alpha particles from disintegrating radon and radon daughter nuclei. After etching there are tracks (cones) or holes in the film as a result of the exposure. The step from a counted number of tracks/holes per surface unit of the film to a reliable value of the radon and radon daughter level is surrounded by statistical considerations of different nature. Some of them are the number of counted tracks, the length of the time of exposure, the season of the time of exposure, the etching technique and the method of counting the tracks or holes. The number of background tracks of an unexposed film increases the error of the measured radon level. Some of the mentioned effects of statistical nature will be discussed in the report. (Author)

New partially parallel acquisition technique in cerebral imaging: preliminary findings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tintera, Jaroslav; Gawehn, Joachim; Bauermann, Thomas; Vucurevic, Goran; Stoeter, Peter

2004-01-01

In MRI applications where short acquisition time is necessary, the increase of acquisition speed is often at the expense of image resolution and SNR. In such cases, the newly developed parallel acquisition techniques could provide images without mentioned limitations and in reasonably shortened measurement time. A newly designed eight-channel head coil array (i-PAT coil) allowing for parallel acquisition of independently reconstructed images (GRAPPA mode) has been tested for its applicability in neuroradiology. Image homogeneity was tested in standard phantom and healthy volunteers. BOLD signal changes were studied in a group of six volunteers using finger tapping stimulation. Phantom studies revealed an important drop of signal even after the use of a normalization filter in the center of the image and an important increase of artifact power with reduction of measurement time strongly depending on the combination of acceleration parameters. The additional application of a parallel acquisition technique such as GRAPPA decreases measurement time in the range of about 30%, but further reduction is often possible only at the expense of SNR. This technique performs best in conditions in which imaging speed is important, such as CE MRA, but time resolution still does not allow the acquisition of angiograms separating the arterial and venous phase. Significantly larger areas of BOLD activation were found using the i-PAT coil compared to the standard head coil. Being an eight-channel surface coil array, peripheral cortical structures profit from high SNR as high-resolution imaging of small cortical dysplasias and functional activation of cortical areas imaged by BOLD contrast. In BOLD contrast imaging, susceptibility artifacts are reduced, but only if an appropriate combination of acceleration parameters is used. (orig.)

Task-specific singing dystonia: vocal instability that technique cannot fix.

Science.gov (United States)

Halstead, Lucinda A; McBroom, Deanna M; Bonilha, Heather Shaw

2015-01-01

Singer's dystonia is a rare variation of focal laryngeal dystonia presenting only during specific tasks in the singing voice. It is underdiagnosed since it is commonly attributed to technique problems including increased muscle tension, register transition, or wobble. Singer's dystonia differs from technique-related issues in that it is task- and/or pitch-specific, reproducible and occurs independently from the previously mentioned technical issues.This case series compares and contrasts profiles of four patients with singer's dystonia to increase our knowledge of this disorder. This retrospective case series includes a detailed case history, results of singing evaluations from individual voice teachers, review of singing voice samples by a singing voice specialist, evaluation by a laryngologist with endoscopy and laryngeal electromyography (LEMG), and spectral analysis of the voice samples by a speech-language pathologist. Results demonstrate the similarities and unique differences of individuals with singer's dystonia. Response to treatment and singing status varied from nearly complete relief of symptoms with botulinum toxin injections to minor relief of symptoms and discontinuation of singing. The following are the conclusions from this case series: (1) singer's dystonia exists as a separate entity from technique issues, (2) singer's dystonia is consistent with other focal task-specific dystonias found in musicians, (3) correctly diagnosing singer's dystonia allows singer's access to medical treatment of dystonia and an opportunity to modify their singing repertoire to continue singing with the voice they have, and (4) diagnosis of singer's dystonia requires careful sequential multidisciplinary evaluation to isolate the instability and confirm dystonia by LEMG and spectral voice analysis. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

New partially parallel acquisition technique in cerebral imaging: preliminary findings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tintera, Jaroslav [Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague (Czech Republic); Gawehn, Joachim; Bauermann, Thomas; Vucurevic, Goran; Stoeter, Peter [University Clinic Mainz, Institute of Neuroradiology, Mainz (Germany)

2004-12-01

In MRI applications where short acquisition time is necessary, the increase of acquisition speed is often at the expense of image resolution and SNR. In such cases, the newly developed parallel acquisition techniques could provide images without mentioned limitations and in reasonably shortened measurement time. A newly designed eight-channel head coil array (i-PAT coil) allowing for parallel acquisition of independently reconstructed images (GRAPPA mode) has been tested for its applicability in neuroradiology. Image homogeneity was tested in standard phantom and healthy volunteers. BOLD signal changes were studied in a group of six volunteers using finger tapping stimulation. Phantom studies revealed an important drop of signal even after the use of a normalization filter in the center of the image and an important increase of artifact power with reduction of measurement time strongly depending on the combination of acceleration parameters. The additional application of a parallel acquisition technique such as GRAPPA decreases measurement time in the range of about 30%, but further reduction is often possible only at the expense of SNR. This technique performs best in conditions in which imaging speed is important, such as CE MRA, but time resolution still does not allow the acquisition of angiograms separating the arterial and venous phase. Significantly larger areas of BOLD activation were found using the i-PAT coil compared to the standard head coil. Being an eight-channel surface coil array, peripheral cortical structures profit from high SNR as high-resolution imaging of small cortical dysplasias and functional activation of cortical areas imaged by BOLD contrast. In BOLD contrast imaging, susceptibility artifacts are reduced, but only if an appropriate combination of acceleration parameters is used. (orig.)

A Fourier-based compressed sensing technique for accelerated CT image reconstruction using first-order methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Kihwan; Li, Ruijiang; Nam, Haewon; Xing, Lei

2014-01-01

As a solution to iterative CT image reconstruction, first-order methods are prominent for the large-scale capability and the fast convergence rate O(1/k 2 ). In practice, the CT system matrix with a large condition number may lead to slow convergence speed despite the theoretically promising upper bound. The aim of this study is to develop a Fourier-based scaling technique to enhance the convergence speed of first-order methods applied to CT image reconstruction. Instead of working in the projection domain, we transform the projection data and construct a data fidelity model in Fourier space. Inspired by the filtered backprojection formalism, the data are appropriately weighted in Fourier space. We formulate an optimization problem based on weighted least-squares in the Fourier space and total-variation (TV) regularization in image space for parallel-beam, fan-beam and cone-beam CT geometry. To achieve the maximum computational speed, the optimization problem is solved using a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with backtracking line search and GPU implementation of projection/backprojection. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through a series of digital simulation and experimental phantom studies. The results are compared with the existing TV regularized techniques based on statistics-based weighted least-squares as well as basic algebraic reconstruction technique. The proposed Fourier-based compressed sensing (CS) method significantly improves both the image quality and the convergence rate compared to the existing CS techniques. (paper)

A Fourier-based compressed sensing technique for accelerated CT image reconstruction using first-order methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Kihwan; Li, Ruijiang; Nam, Haewon; Xing, Lei

2014-06-21

As a solution to iterative CT image reconstruction, first-order methods are prominent for the large-scale capability and the fast convergence rate [Formula: see text]. In practice, the CT system matrix with a large condition number may lead to slow convergence speed despite the theoretically promising upper bound. The aim of this study is to develop a Fourier-based scaling technique to enhance the convergence speed of first-order methods applied to CT image reconstruction. Instead of working in the projection domain, we transform the projection data and construct a data fidelity model in Fourier space. Inspired by the filtered backprojection formalism, the data are appropriately weighted in Fourier space. We formulate an optimization problem based on weighted least-squares in the Fourier space and total-variation (TV) regularization in image space for parallel-beam, fan-beam and cone-beam CT geometry. To achieve the maximum computational speed, the optimization problem is solved using a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with backtracking line search and GPU implementation of projection/backprojection. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through a series of digital simulation and experimental phantom studies. The results are compared with the existing TV regularized techniques based on statistics-based weighted least-squares as well as basic algebraic reconstruction technique. The proposed Fourier-based compressed sensing (CS) method significantly improves both the image quality and the convergence rate compared to the existing CS techniques.

[Psychopharmaceutical drugs in the mass media. Results of a systematic analysis of text contents and images].

Science.gov (United States)

Hillert, A; Sandmann, J; Ehmig, S C; Weisbecker, H; Sobota, K; Kepplinger, H M; Benkert, O

1995-11-01

Mental diseases and psychopharmacological drugs are frequently discussed in newspapers and popular magazines. The representations are supposed to have a great impact on people's opinions on the subject. From 1 August 1991 to 31 July 1992 all articles about psychopharmacological drugs and cardiac drugs in 19 German newspapers were collected. All statements, effects and side effects, the reason for prescription, individual details about the patient and, according to this procedure, subjects and implications of the illustrations, were registered and classified according to a code book. In contrast to the articles about cardiac drugs, half of the psychopharmacological drug reports primarily deal with the problems of side effects the drugs may produce. There was much more critical comment and emotional emphasis used to characterize the psychopharmacological drugs. Only in 9% was their therapeutic efficacy mentioned. Cardiac drugs are generally discussed objectively in a medical context and their efficacy is emphasized. Psychopharmacological drugs are often mentioned in stories about prominent persons having a life crisis, taking drugs, or turning to alcoholism, in the sense of social decline. In only 3% of these articles could a serious mental diseases be identified as the reason for the prescription. Corresponding to the more prominent emotional emphasis of these articles, compared to the articles about cardiac drugs, more pictures, mainly of prominent persons or patients are used. However, the illustration seldom adds to information provided. The reasons for and implications of these findings and the significant differences between the distinct groups of newspapers are discussed.

Low-complexity DOA estimation from short data snapshots for ULA systems using the annihilating filter technique

Science.gov (United States)

Bellili, Faouzi; Amor, Souheib Ben; Affes, Sofiène; Ghrayeb, Ali

2017-12-01

This paper addresses the problem of DOA estimation using uniform linear array (ULA) antenna configurations. We propose a new low-cost method of multiple DOA estimation from very short data snapshots. The new estimator is based on the annihilating filter (AF) technique. It is non-data-aided (NDA) and does not impinge therefore on the whole throughput of the system. The noise components are assumed temporally and spatially white across the receiving antenna elements. The transmitted signals are also temporally and spatially white across the transmitting sources. The new method is compared in performance to the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB), the root-MUSIC algorithm, the deterministic maximum likelihood estimator and another Bayesian method developed precisely for the single snapshot case. Simulations show that the new estimator performs well over a wide SNR range. Prominently, the main advantage of the new AF-based method is that it succeeds in accurately estimating the DOAs from short data snapshots and even from a single snapshot outperforming by far the state-of-the-art techniques both in DOA estimation accuracy and computational cost.

New tools, technology and techniques applied in geological sciences: current situation and future perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulloa, Andres

2014-01-01

Technological tools and work methodologies most used in the area of geological sciences are reviewed and described. The various electronic devices such as laptops, palmtops or PDA (personal digital assistant), tablets and smartphones have allowed to take field geological data and store them efficiently. Tablets and smartphones have been convenient for data collection of scientific data by the diversity of sensors that present, portability, autonomy and the possibility to install specific applications. High precision GPS in conjunction with LIDAR technology and sonar technology have been more accessible and used for geological research, generating high resolution three-dimensional models to complement geological studies. Remote sensing techniques such as high penetration radar are used to perform models of the ice thickness and topography in Antarctic. Modern three-dimensional scanning and printing techniques are used in geological science research and teaching. Currently, the advance in the computer technology has allowed to handle three-dimensional models on personal computers efficiently way and with different display options. Some, of the new areas of geology, emerged recently, are mentioned to generate a broad panorama toward where can direct geological researches in the next years [es

Application of X-ray fluorescence analytical techniques in phytoremediation and plant biology studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Necemer, Marijan; Kump, Peter; Scancar, Janez; Jacimovic, Radojko; Simcic, Jurij; Pelicon, Primoz; Budnar, Milos; Jeran, Zvonka; Pongrac, Paula; Regvar, Marjana; Vogel-Mikus, Katarina

2008-01-01

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that employs the use of higher plants for the clean-up of contaminated environments. Progress in the field is however handicapped by limited knowledge of the biological processes involved in plant metal uptake, translocation, tolerance and plant-microbe-soil interactions; therefore a better understanding of the basic biological mechanisms involved in plant/microbe/soil/contaminant interactions would allow further optimization of phytoremediation technologies. In view of the needs of global environmental protection, it is important that in phytoremediation and plant biology studies the analytical procedures for elemental determination in plant tissues and soil should be fast and cheap, with simple sample preparation, and of adequate accuracy and reproducibility. The aim of this study was therefore to present the main characteristics, sample preparation protocols and applications of X-ray fluorescence-based analytical techniques (energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry-EDXRF, total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry-TXRF and micro-proton induced X-ray emission-micro-PIXE). Element concentrations in plant leaves from metal polluted and non-polluted sites, as well as standard reference materials, were analyzed by the mentioned techniques, and additionally by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The results were compared and critically evaluated in order to assess the performance and capability of X-ray fluorescence-based techniques in phytoremediation and plant biology studies. It is the EDXRF, which is recommended as suitable to be used in the analyses of a large number of samples, because it is multi-elemental, requires only simple preparation of sample material, and it is analytically comparable to the most frequently used instrumental chemical techniques. The TXRF is compatible to FAAS in sample preparation, but relative to AAS it is fast, sensitive and

The aggressive invasion of exotic reptiles in Florida with a focus on prominent species: A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard ENGEMAN, Elliott JACOBSON, Michael L. AVERY

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Florida, along with Hawaii, has among the two worst invasive species problems in the USA, and the state is especially susceptible to establishment by alien reptiles. Besides the large numbers of established non-native reptile species in Florida, many of these species present novel difficulties for management, or have other characteristics making effective management extremely challenging. Moreover, initiation of management action requires more than recognition by experts that a potentially harmful species has become established. It also requires the political will along with concomitant resources and appropriate personnel to develop effective methods and apply them. We review the situation in Florida, including assessment of risk for establishment, and we use a subset of prominent species to illustrate in more detail the array of invasive reptile species circumstances in Florida, including routes of introduction, impacts, and potential and implemented management actions. These examples not only highlight the severity of the invasive reptile problems in the state, but they also show the diversity in resolve and response towards them and the motivating factors [Current Zoology 57 (5: 599–612, 2011].

Study on in vivo examination of tumors of epithelial origin for the monoclonales antibodies ior c5, ior egf/r3 and humanized hr3, by using inmunogammagraphy technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramos Suzarte, Mayra; Iznaga Escobar, Normando; Torres Gemil, Olga; Rodriguez Obaya, Teresita; Perez Rodriguez, Rolando; Rodriguez Mesa, Nelson; Oliva Gonzalez, Juan P.; Perera Pintado, Alejandro; Torres Aroche, Leonel; Batista Cuellar, Juan; Gonzalez Lazo, Nery; Cruz, Teresa; Leonard, Ibrahim; Neninger, Elia

2003-01-01

The present work is aimed at demonstrating that humanized hR3 and ior egf/r3, ior c5, ior cea-1 murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can identify primary neoplasia lesions, Their post-surgical received and metastasis by using immunography, Results showed that above mentioned mAbs are useful for the diagnosis of epithelial tumors, their metastasis and post-surgical received. this technique becomes a concept prove for further use of mAbs in cancer therapy

IRAS 15099-5856: REMARKABLE MID-INFRARED SOURCE WITH PROMINENT CRYSTALLINE SILICATE EMISSION EMBEDDED IN THE SUPERNOVA REMNANT MSH15-52

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koo, Bon-Chul; Kim, Hyun-Jeong; Im, Myungshin; McKee, Christopher F.; Suh, Kyung-Won; Moon, Dae-Sik; Lee, Ho-Gyu; Onaka, Takashi; Burton, Michael G.; Hiramatsu, Masaaki; Bessell, Michael S.; Gaensler, B. M.; Lee, Jae-Joon; Jeong, Woong-Seob; Tatematsu, Ken'ichi; Kawabe, Ryohei; Ezawa, Hajime; Kohno, Kotaro; Wilson, Grant; Yun, Min S.

2011-01-01

We report new mid-infrared (MIR) observations of the remarkable object IRAS 15099-5856 using the space telescopes AKARI and Spitzer, which demonstrate the presence of prominent crystalline silicate emission in this bright source. IRAS 15099-5856 has a complex morphology with a bright central compact source (IRS1) surrounded by knots, spurs, and several extended (∼4') arc-like filaments. The source is seen only at ≥10 μm. The Spitzer mid-infrared spectrum of IRS1 shows prominent emission features from Mg-rich crystalline silicates, strong [Ne II] 12.81 μm, and several other faint ionic lines. We model the MIR spectrum as thermal emission from dust and compare with the Herbig Be star HD 100546 and the luminous blue variable R71, which show very similar MIR spectra. Molecular line observations reveal two molecular clouds around the source, but no associated dense molecular cores. We suggest that IRS1 is heated by UV radiation from the adjacent O star Muzzio 10 and that its crystalline silicates most likely originated in a mass outflow from the progenitor of the supernova remnant (SNR) MSH 15-52. IRS1, which is embedded in the SNR, could have been shielded from the SN blast wave if the progenitor was in a close binary system with Muzzio 10. If MSH 15-52 is a remnant of Type Ib/c supernova (SN Ib/c), as has been previously proposed, this would confirm the binary model for SN Ib/c. IRS1 and the associated structures may be the relics of massive star death, as shaped by the supernova explosion, the pulsar wind, and the intense ionizing radiation of the embedded O star.

A comprehensive analysis of Italian web pages mentioning squalene-based influenza vaccine adjuvants reveals a high prevalence of misinformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Panatto, Donatella; Amicizia, Daniela; Arata, Lucia; Lai, Piero Luigi; Gasparini, Roberto

2018-04-03

Squalene-based adjuvants have been included in influenza vaccines since 1997. Despite several advantages of adjuvanted seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines, laypeople's perception of such formulations may be hesitant or even negative under certain circumstances. Moreover, in Italian, the term "squalene" has the same root as such common words as "shark" (squalo), "squalid" and "squalidness" that tend to have negative connotations. This study aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze a representative sample of Italian web pages mentioning squalene-based adjuvants used in influenza vaccines. Every effort was made to limit the subjectivity of judgments. Eighty-four unique web pages were assessed. A high prevalence (47.6%) of pages with negative or ambiguous attitudes toward squalene-based adjuvants was established. Compared with web pages reporting balanced information on squalene-based adjuvants, those categorized as negative/ambiguous had significantly lower odds of belonging to a professional institution [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.12, p = .004], and significantly higher odds of containing pictures (aOR = 1.91, p = .034) and being more readable (aOR = 1.34, p = .006). Some differences in wording between positive/neutral and negative/ambiguous web pages were also observed. The most common scientifically unsound claims concerned safety issues and, in particular, claims linking squalene-based adjuvants to the Gulf War Syndrome and autoimmune disorders. Italian users searching the web for information on vaccine adjuvants have a high likelihood of finding unbalanced and misleading material. Information provided by institutional websites should be not only evidence-based but also carefully targeted towards laypeople. Conversely, authors writing for non-institutional websites should avoid sensationalism and provide their readers with more balanced information.

Atypical dengue meningitis in Makkah, Saudi Arabia with slow resolving, prominent migraine like headache, phobia, and arrhythmia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalakatawi H Mamdouh

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Although dengue meningitis is a rare presentation of dengue infection, our aim is to focus on atypical presentation of dengue meningitis that may appear in dengue endemic area like the Makkah region. We report two cases of clinical meningitis with positive dengue virus (DENV IgM in cerebrospinal fluid, followed for minimal 3 months for their prominent attacks of migraine like headache, phobia, and arrhythmia. With special consideration to attack time, type, severity, and respond to classical therapy, using regular ECG monitoring, visual analog pain score and neuropsychological assessments were done. Both cases showed resistant migraine like headaches to classic anti-migraine therapy except for strong NSAID and narcotics with tendency to have severe to extreme severe daily migraine like headache on early to late afternoon time, associated with non-fatal arrhythmias and extreme death phobia, that resolve slowly in a minimal 3 month period. In conclusion, dengue meningitis in the endemic area may present atypically.

Ears and Eyes in the Sky: The Evolution of Manned Airborne ISR

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-25

immeasurably grateful. I would be remiss not to mention Mr. Larry Tart. His work on manned airborne ISR has educated and inspired the latest...comprehensive summary of airborne ISR such as that presented in this thesis. Several prominent works contain significant sections on airborne ISR. Larry ...Historic Cryptographic Collection, RG 457, Box 1369, NARA. 77 William E. Burrows , By Any Means Necessary (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

An Extension of the Fuzzy Possibilistic Clustering Algorithm Using Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elid Rubio

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this work an extension of the Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means (FPCM algorithm using Type-2 Fuzzy Logic Techniques is presented, and this is done in order to improve the efficiency of FPCM algorithm. With the purpose of observing the performance of the proposal against the Interval Type-2 Fuzzy C-Means algorithm, several experiments were made using both algorithms with well-known datasets, such as Wine, WDBC, Iris Flower, Ionosphere, Abalone, and Cover type. In addition some experiments were performed using another set of test images to observe the behavior of both of the above-mentioned algorithms in image preprocessing. Some comparisons are performed between the proposed algorithm and the Interval Type-2 Fuzzy C-Means (IT2FCM algorithm to observe if the proposed approach has better performance than this algorithm.

Studies on the reproductive efficiency of cattle using radioimmunoassay techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

In 1982 the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, initiated a co-ordinated research programme with the aim of stimulating studies to characterize and improve the reproductive performance of indigenous cattle under the diverse environmental and management conditions prevailing in developing countries. This publication represents the results of the five year co-ordinated research programme, individual papers being essentially a synthesis of the work presented by the participants of the programme at the final research co-ordination meeting held in Vienna from 5 to 9 September 1988. Concurrently with the above mentioned research co-ordination meeting, the Joint FAO/IAEA Division held a consultants meeting on the interaction between reproduction, disease, nutrition and the environment, and on field reproductive management strategies. The papers presented by the consultants as well as their recommendations are included in this publication. These recommendations will form the basis of the future direction of livestock reproduction research programmes supported by the Joint FAO/IAEA Division. Refs, figs and tabs

[A comparative study of blood culture conventional method vs. a modified lysis/centrifugation technique for the diagnosis of fungemias].

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago, Axel Rodolfo; Hernández, Betsy; Rodríguez, Marina; Romero, Hilda

2004-12-01

The purpose of this work was to compare the efficacy of blood culture conventional method vs. a modified lysis/centrifugation technique. Out of 450 blood specimens received in one year, 100 where chosen for this comparative study: 60 from patients with AIDS, 15 from leukemic patients, ten from febrile neutropenic patients, five from patients with respiratory infections, five from diabetics and five from septicemic patients. The specimens were processed, simultaneously, according to the above mentioned methodologies with daily inspections searching for fungal growth in order to obtain the final identification of the causative agent. The number (40) of isolates recovered was the same using both methods, which included; 18 Candida albicans (45%), ten Candida spp. (25%), ten Histoplasma capsulatum (25%), and two Cryptococcus neoformans (5%). When the fungal growth time was compared by both methods, growth was more rapid when using the modified lysis/centrifugation technique than when using the conventional method. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference (pcentrifugation technique showed to be more efficacious than the conventional one, and therefore the implementation of this methodology is highly recommended for the isolation of fungi from blood.

Stimulus und Kognition. Zur Aktivierung mentaler Raumbilder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lameli, Alfred

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Within the context of investigations of cognitive spatial models, the study analyzes the effect of varying the informational structure of linguistic survey instruments. A group of informants was asked to draw German language areas on different types of geographic maps. First, in a quantitative approach we show how the specific informational structure of each map type influences the frequency and prominence of the named language areas. The second part of the study focuses on the localization of the mentioned language areas. Here we discuss the specific effects of each type of map and the information it contains on the localization. We also discuss general characteristics of the conceptualization of linguistic space as well as differences in the perception of the prominent language areas.

A novel histological technique for distinguishing between epithelial cells in forensic casework.

Science.gov (United States)

French, Claire E V; Jensen, Cynthia G; Vintiner, Susan K; Elliot, Douglas A; McGlashan, Susan R

2008-06-10

There are a number of forensic cases in which the identification of the epithelial cell type from which DNA originated would provide important probative evidence. This study aimed to develop a technique using histological staining of fixed cells to distinguish between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelium. First, 11 different stains were screened on formalin-fixed, wax-embedded cells from five women. Samples were analysed qualitatively by examining staining patterns (colour) and morphology (absence or presence of nuclei). Three of the staining methods--Dane's, Csaba's and Ayoub-Shklar--were successful in distinguishing skin epithelial cells from buccal and vaginal. Second, cells were smeared directly onto slides, fixed with one of five fixatives and stained with one of the three stains mentioned above. Methanol fixation, coupled with the Dane's staining method, specific to keratin, was the only technique that distinguished between all three cell types. Skin cells stained magenta, red and orange and lacked nuclei; buccal cells stained predominantly orange-pink with red nuclei; while vaginal cells stained bright orange with orange nuclei and a blue extracellular hue. This staining pattern in vaginal cells was consistent in samples collected from 50 women aged between 18 and 67. Identification of cell type from unlabelled micrographs by 10 trained observers showed a mean success rate of 95%. The results of this study demonstrate that histological staining may provide forensic scientists with a technique for distinguishing between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelial cells and thus would enable more conclusive analyses when investigating sexual assault cases.

In situ study of Li-ions diffusion and deformation in Li-rich cathode materials by using scanning probe microscopy techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Kaiyang; Li, Tao; Tian, Tian

2017-08-01

In this paper, the scanning probe microscopy (SPM) based techniques, namely, conductive-AFM, electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) and AM-FM (amplitude modulation-frequency modulation) techniques, are used to in situ characterize the changes in topography, conductivity and elastic properties of Li-rich layered oxide cathode (Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2) materials, in the form of nanoparticles, when subject to the external electric field. Nanoparticles are the basic building blocks for composite cathode in a Li-ion rechargeable battery. Characterization of the structure and electrochemical properties of the nanoparticles is very important to understand the performance and reliability of the battery materials and devices. In this study, the conductivity, deformation and mechanical properties of the Li-rich oxide nanoparticles under different polarities of biases are studied using the above-mentioned SPM techniques. This information can be correlated with the Li+-ion diffusion and migration in the particles under external electrical field. The results also confirm that the SPM techniques are ideal tools to study the changes in various properties of electrode materials at nano- to micro-scales during or after the ‘simulated’ battery operation conditions. These techniques can also be used to in situ characterize the electrochemical performances of other energy storage materials, especially in the form of the nanoparticles.

Copies of editions from V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine Old Printed and Rare Editions Department fonds, not mentioned in «Svodnyi catalog knig na inostrannyh yazykah, izdannyh v Rossii v XVIII veke»

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rudakova Y.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available «Svodnyi catalog knig na inostrannyh yazykah, izdannyh v Rossii v XVIII veke (1701-1800» is the first and currently the only bibliographic index of books in foreign languages, printed in Russian Empire typographies in the 18th century. The catalogue was arranged on the basis of fonds of 14 major libraries of former USSR, including the contemporary V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. However, a number of books, not mentioned in the catalogue in question, were found in the fonds of Old Printed and Rare Editions Department of V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Also a list of editions, which descriptions in the catalogue need to be completed or corrected, was composed. This information will be reflected in the fifth volume of the catalogue that is being prepared for publication in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article intends to inform about these additions. They are displayed by two lists. The first list contains numbers of editions, which descriptions in the catalogue are to be improved. The second list contains editions from the fonds of V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine Old Printed and Rare Editions Department, which are not mentioned in the catalogue. The lists of additions are supplemented with brief characteristics of the catalogue.

Nuclear activation techniques in the life sciences, 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parr, R.M.; Ryabukhin, Yu.S.

1978-01-01

A brief summary of the symposium is presented, pointing out the main achievements in the use of activation analysis for elemental analysis of biological materials. Some of the individual papers presented at the meeting are mentioned

Effects of processing techniques on oxidative stability of Prunus pedunculatus seed oil

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J. Yan

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper investigated the effects of Prunus pedunculatus (P. pedunculatus seed pre-treatment, including microwaving (M, roasting (R, steaming (S and roasting plus steaming (RS on crude oil quality in terms of yield, color change, fatty acid composition, and oxidative stability. The results showed an increase in monounsaturated fatty acid content and oxidative stability of the oils obtained from different processing treatments compared to the oil obtained from raw seeds (RW without processing. The oils, obtained from pretreated seeds, had higher conjugated diene (CD and 2-thiobarbituric acid (2-TBA values, compared to that obtained from RW when stored in a Schaal oven at 65 °C for 168 h. However, polyphenol and tocopherol contents decreased in all oil samples, processed or unprocessed. The effect of pre-treating the seeds was more prominent in the oil sample obtained through the RS technique, and showed higher oxidative stability than the other processed oils and the oil from RW.

FIRST SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATION OF AN H{alpha} MORETON WAVE, EUV WAVE, AND FILAMENT/PROMINENCE OSCILLATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Asai, Ayumi; Isobe, Hiroaki [Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471 (Japan); Ishii, Takako T.; Kitai, Reizaburo; Ichimoto, Kiyoshi; UeNo, Satoru; Nagata, Shin' ichi; Morita, Satoshi; Nishida, Keisuke; Shibata, Kazunari [Kwasan and Hida Observatories, Kyoto University, Yamashina, Kyoto 607-8471 (Japan); Shiota, Daikou [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Oi, Akihito [College of Science, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki 310-8512 (Japan); Akioka, Maki, E-mail: asai@kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Hiraiso Solar Observatory, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 311-1202 (Japan)

2012-02-15

We report on the first simultaneous observation of an H{alpha} Moreton wave, the corresponding EUV fast coronal waves, and a slow and bright EUV wave (typical EIT wave). We observed a Moreton wave, associated with an X6.9 flare that occurred on 2011 August 9 at the active region NOAA 11263, in the H{alpha} images taken by the Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope at Hida Observatory of Kyoto University. In the EUV images obtained by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory we found not only the corresponding EUV fast 'bright' coronal wave, but also the EUV fast 'faint' wave that is not associated with the H{alpha} Moreton wave. We also found a slow EUV wave, which corresponds to a typical EIT wave. Furthermore, we observed, for the first time, the oscillations of a prominence and a filament, simultaneously, both in the H{alpha} and EUV images. To trigger the oscillations by the flare-associated coronal disturbance, we expect a coronal wave as fast as the fast-mode MHD wave with the velocity of about 570-800 km s{sup -1}. These velocities are consistent with those of the observed Moreton wave and the EUV fast coronal wave.

Paradoxical aging in HIV: immune senescence of B Cells is most prominent in young age.

Science.gov (United States)

Rinaldi, Stefano; Pallikkuth, Suresh; George, Varghese K; de Armas, Lesley R; Pahwa, Rajendra; Sanchez, Celeste M; Pallin, Maria Fernanda; Pan, Li; Cotugno, Nicola; Dickinson, Gordon; Rodriguez, Allan; Fischl, Margaret; Alcaide, Maria; Gonzalez, Louis; Palma, Paolo; Pahwa, Savita

2017-04-01

Combination antiretroviral therapies (cART)can lead to normal life expectancy in HIV-infected persons, and people aged >50 yrs represent the fastest growing HIV group. Although HIV and aging are independently associated with impaired humoral immunity, immune status in people aging with HIV is relatively unexplored. In this study influenza vaccination was used to probe age associated perturbations in the B cell compartment of HIV-negative "healthy controls" (HC) and virologically controlled HIV-infected participants on cART (HIV) (n=124), grouped by age as young (aged (40-59yrs) or old ( > 60 yrs). H1N1 antibody response at d21 post-vaccination correlated inversely with age in both HC and HIV. Immunophenotyping of cryopreserved PBMC demonstrated increased frequencies of double negative B cells and decreased plasmablasts in old compared to young HC. Remarkably, young HIV were different from young HC but similar to old HC in B cell phenotype, influenza specific spontaneous (d7) or memory (d21) antibody secreting cells. We conclude that B cell immune senescence is a prominent phenomenon in young HIV in comparison to young HC, but distinctions between old HIV and old HC are less evident though both groups manifest age-associated B cell dysfunction.

Paradoxical aging in HIV: immune senescence of B Cells is most prominent in young age

Science.gov (United States)

George, Varghese K.; de Armas, Lesley R.; Pahwa, Rajendra; Sanchez, Celeste M.; Pallin, Maria Fernanda; Pan, Li; Cotugno, Nicola; Dickinson, Gordon; Rodriguez, Allan; Fischl, Margaret; Alcaide, Maria; Gonzalez, Louis; Palma, Paolo; Pahwa, Savita

2017-01-01

Combination antiretroviral therapies (cART) can lead to normal life expectancy in HIV-infected persons, and people aged >50 yrs represent the fastest growing HIV group. Although HIV and aging are independently associated with impaired humoral immunity, immune status in people aging with HIV is relatively unexplored. In this study influenza vaccination was used to probe age associated perturbations in the B cell compartment of HIV-negative “healthy controls” (HC) and virologically controlled HIV-infected participants on cART (HIV) (n=124), grouped by age as young (<40 yrs), middle-aged (40-59yrs) or old (≥60 yrs). H1N1 antibody response at d21 post-vaccination correlated inversely with age in both HC and HIV. Immunophenotyping of cryopreserved PBMC demonstrated increased frequencies of double negative B cells and decreased plasmablasts in old compared to young HC. Remarkably, young HIV were different from young HC but similar to old HC in B cell phenotype, influenza specific spontaneous (d7) or memory (d21) antibody secreting cells. We conclude that B cell immune senescence is a prominent phenomenon in young HIV in comparison to young HC, but distinctions between old HIV and old HC are less evident though both groups manifest age-associated B cell dysfunction. PMID:28448963

Ornament in Contemporary Iranian Architecture (Case Study: Prominent Buildings in Tehran after the Islamic Revolution

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Fatemeh Ahani

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the status of ornamental practices in contemporary Iranian architecture, specifically after the Islamic revolution, using a descriptive–analytical method. In this regard, the external appearances of 92 prominent buildings constructed in Tehran between 1979–2013, were examined, and their means of visual expression were analyzed. The results indicate that half of the samples lack ornament; in the others, a noticeable increase in the ornamental element size and visual complexity, as well as a significant decrease in their semantic contents (as compared with traditional ornament were observed. These are changes that mostly resulted from modernization and subsequent processes such as industrialization and rationalization, as well as the long-lasting influence of modernists’ arguments against such practices. The presence of ornament in architecture, however, is necessary due to its crucial role in increasing the visual coherence of the environment and fulfilling the human desire for order and beauty. Therefore, this paper suggests the replacement of the current dualistic model of thought, which is dominant in the profession and schools of architecture in Iran, with one that provides an opportunity for the coexistence of concepts such as ornament and structure, form and function, and the sensuous and the rational, hence providing a revitalization of ornament in contemporary architecture.

Applying the nominal group technique in an employment relations conflict situation: A case study of a university maintenance section in South Africa

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Cornelis (Kees S. van der Waal

2009-09-01

Full Text Available After a breakdown in employment relations in the maintenance section of a higher education institution, the authors were asked to intervene in order to try and solve the employment relations conflict situation. It was decided to employ the Nominal Group Technique (NGT as a tool in problem identification during conflict in the workplace. An initial investigation of documentation and interviews with prominent individuals in the organisation was carried out. The NGT was then used in four focus group discussions to determine the important issues as seen by staff members. The NGT facilitates the determination of shared perceptions and the ranking of ideas. The NGT was used in diverse groups, necessitating adaptations to the technique. The perceived causes of the conflict were established. The NGT can be used in a conflict situation in the workplace in order to establish the perceived causes of employment relations conflict.

The lipid- and lipoprotein- [LDL-Lp(a)] apheresis techniques. Updating.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefanutti, C; Morozzi, C; Perrone, G; Di Giacomo, S; Vivenzio, A; D'Alessandri, G

2012-01-01

-cholesterol (LDLC) (-61%) and Lp(a) (-60%) removal from plasma through processing 3 liters of filtered plasma by means of lipid-specific thermofiltration, LDL immunoadsorption, heparin-induced LDL precipitation, LDL adsorption through dextran sulphate. More recently (90's) the DALI®, and the Liposorber D® hemoperfusion systems, effective for apoB100- containing lipoproteins removal have been developed. All the above mentioned systems are established LDL-apheresis techniques referable to the generic definition of LDLa. However, this last definition cannot describe in an appropriate manner the removal of another highly atherogenic lipoprotein particle: the Lp(a). Thus it would be better to refer the above mentioned techniques to the wider scientific and technical concept of lipoprotein apheresis.

A prominent anchoring effect on the kinetic control of drug release from mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs).

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Vy Anh; Lee, Sang-Wha

2018-01-15

This work demonstrated kinetically controlled release of model drugs (ibuprofen, FITC) from well-tailored mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) depending on the surface charges and molecular sizes of the drugs. The molecular interactions between entrapped drugs and the pore walls of MSNs controlled the release of the drugs through the pore channels of MSNs. Also, polydopamine (PDA) layer-coated MSNs (MSNs@PDA) was quite effective to retard the release of large FITC, in contrast to a slight retardation effect on relatively small Ibuprofen. Of all things, FITC (Fluorescein isothiocyanate)-labeled APTMS (3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane) (APTMS-FITC conjugates) grafted onto the MSNs generate a pinch-effect on the pore channel (so-called a prominent anchoring effect), which was highly effective in trapping (or blocking) drug molecules at the pore mouth of the MSNs. The anchored APTMS-FITC conjugates provided not only tortuous pathways to the diffusing molecules, but also sustained release of the ibuprofen over a long period of time (∼7days). The fast release kinetics was predicted by an exponential equation based on Fick's law, while the slow release kinetics was predicted by Higuchi model. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prominence vs. aboutness in sequencing: a functional distinction within the left inferior frontal gyrus.

Science.gov (United States)

Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Grewe, Tanja; Schlesewsky, Matthias

2012-02-01

Prior research on the neural bases of syntactic comprehension suggests that activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (lIFG) correlates with the processing of word order variations. However, there are inconsistencies with respect to the specific subregion within the IFG that is implicated by these findings: the pars opercularis or the pars triangularis. Here, we examined the hypothesis that the dissociation between pars opercularis and pars triangularis activation may reflect functional differences between clause-medial and clause-initial word order permutations, respectively. To this end, we directly compared clause-medial and clause-initial object-before-subject orders in German in a within-participants, event-related fMRI design. Our results showed increased activation for object-initial sentences in a bilateral network of frontal, temporal and subcortical regions. Within the lIFG, posterior and inferior subregions showed only a main effect of word order, whereas more anterior and superior subregions showed effects of word order and sentence type, with higher activation for sentences with an argument in the clause-initial position. These findings are interpreted as evidence for a functional gradation of sequence processing within the left IFG: posterior subportions correlate with argument prominence-based (local) aspects of sequencing, while anterior subportions correlate with aboutness-based aspects of sequencing, which are crucial in linking the current sentence to the wider discourse. This proposal appears compatible with more general hypotheses about information processing gradients in prefrontal cortex (Koechlin & Summerfield, 2007). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DC Microgrids–Part I: A Review of Control Strategies and Stabilization Techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dragicevic, Tomislav; Lu, Xiaonan; Vasquez, Juan; Guerrero, Josep

2015-01-01

This paper presents a review of control strategies, stability analysis, and stabilization techniques for dc microgrids (MGs). Overall control is systematically classified into local and coordinated control levels according to respective functionalities in each level. As opposed to local control, which relies only on local measurements, some line of communication between units needs to be made available in order to achieve the coordinated control. Depending on the communication method, three basic coordinated control strategies can be distinguished, i.e., decentralized, centralized, and distributed control. Decentralized control can be regarded as an extension of the local control since it is also based exclusively on local measurements. In contrast, centralized and distributed control strategies rely on digital communication technologies. A number of approaches using these three coordinated control strategies to achieve various control objectives are reviewed in this paper. Moreover, properties of dc MG dynamics and stability are discussed. This paper illustrates that tightly regulated point-of-load converters tend to reduce the stability margins of the system since they introduce negative impedances, which can potentially oscillate with lightly damped power supply input filters. It is also demonstrated that how the stability of the whole system is defined by the relationship of the source and load impedances, referred to as the minor loop gain. Several prominent specifications for the minor loop gain are reviewed. Finally, a number of active stabilization techniques are presented.