WorldWideScience

Sample records for thick frequency selective

  1. Wide-range frequency selectivity in an acoustic sensor fabricated using a microbeam array with non-uniform thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shintaku, Hirofumi; Kotera, Hidetoshi; Kobayashi, Takayuki; Zusho, Kazuki; Kawano, Satoyuki

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we have demonstrated the fabrication of a microbeam array (MBA) with various thicknesses and investigated the suitability it for an acoustic sensor with wide-range frequency selectivity. For this, an MBA composed of 64 beams, with thicknesses varying from 2.99–142 µm, was fabricated by using single gray-scale lithography and a thick negative photoresist. The vibration of the beams in air was measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer; the resonant frequencies of the beams were measured to be from 11.5 to 290 kHz. Lastly, the frequency range of the MBA with non-uniform thickness was 10.9 times that of the MBA with uniform thickness. (paper)

  2. Optically transparent frequency selective surfaces on flexible thin plastic substrates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dewani, Aliya A., E-mail: a.ashraf@griffith.edu.au; O’Keefe, Steven G.; Thiel, David V.; Galehdar, Amir [School Of Electrical Engineering, Griffith University, Brisbane, 4111 (Australia)

    2015-02-15

    A novel 2D simple low cost frequency selective surface was screen printed on thin (0.21 mm), flexible transparent plastic substrate (relative permittivity 3.2). It was designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range 10-20 GHz. The plane wave transmission and reflection coefficients agreed with numerical modelling. The effective permittivity and thickness of the backing sheet has a significant effect on the frequency characteristics. The stop band frequency reduced from 15GHz (no backing) to 12.5GHz with polycarbonate. The plastic substrate thickness beyond 1.8mm has minimal effect on the resonant frequency. While the inner element spacing controls the stop-band frequency, the substrate thickness controls the bandwidth. The screen printing technique provided a simple, low cost FSS fabrication method to produce flexible, conformal, optically transparent and bio-degradable FSS structures which can find their use in electromagnetic shielding and filtering applications in radomes, reflector antennas, beam splitters and polarizers.

  3. Optically transparent frequency selective surfaces on flexible thin plastic substrates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aliya A. Dewani

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available A novel 2D simple low cost frequency selective surface was screen printed on thin (0.21 mm, flexible transparent plastic substrate (relative permittivity 3.2. It was designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range 10-20 GHz. The plane wave transmission and reflection coefficients agreed with numerical modelling. The effective permittivity and thickness of the backing sheet has a significant effect on the frequency characteristics. The stop band frequency reduced from 15GHz (no backing to 12.5GHz with polycarbonate. The plastic substrate thickness beyond 1.8mm has minimal effect on the resonant frequency. While the inner element spacing controls the stop-band frequency, the substrate thickness controls the bandwidth. The screen printing technique provided a simple, low cost FSS fabrication method to produce flexible, conformal, optically transparent and bio-degradable FSS structures which can find their use in electromagnetic shielding and filtering applications in radomes, reflector antennas, beam splitters and polarizers.

  4. Optically transparent frequency selective surfaces on flexible thin plastic substrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewani, Aliya A.; O'Keefe, Steven G.; Thiel, David V.; Galehdar, Amir

    2015-02-01

    A novel 2D simple low cost frequency selective surface was screen printed on thin (0.21 mm), flexible transparent plastic substrate (relative permittivity 3.2). It was designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range 10-20 GHz. The plane wave transmission and reflection coefficients agreed with numerical modelling. The effective permittivity and thickness of the backing sheet has a significant effect on the frequency characteristics. The stop band frequency reduced from 15GHz (no backing) to 12.5GHz with polycarbonate. The plastic substrate thickness beyond 1.8mm has minimal effect on the resonant frequency. While the inner element spacing controls the stop-band frequency, the substrate thickness controls the bandwidth. The screen printing technique provided a simple, low cost FSS fabrication method to produce flexible, conformal, optically transparent and bio-degradable FSS structures which can find their use in electromagnetic shielding and filtering applications in radomes, reflector antennas, beam splitters and polarizers.

  5. Resonant frequency function of thickness-shear vibrations of rectangular crystal plates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ji; Yang, Lijun; Pan, Qiaoqiao; Chao, Min-Chiang; Du, Jianke

    2011-05-01

    The resonant frequencies of thickness-shear vibrations of quartz crystal plates in rectangular and circular shapes are always required in the design and manufacturing of quartz crystal resonators. As the size of quartz crystal resonators shrinks, for rectangular plates we must consider effects of both length and width for the precise calculation of resonant frequency. Starting from the three-dimensional equations of wave propagation in finite crystal plates and the general expression of vibration modes, we obtained the relations between frequency and wavenumbers. By satisfying the major boundary conditions of the dominant thickness-shear mode, three wavenumber solutions are obtained and the frequency equation is constructed. It is shown the resonant frequency of thickness-shear mode is a second-order polynomial of aspect ratios. This conforms to known results in the simplest form and is applicable to further analytical and experimental studies of the frequency equation of quartz crystal resonators.

  6. Thickness Measurement of a Film on a Substrate by Low-Frequency Ultrasound

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LI Ming-Xuan; WANG Xiao-Min; MAO Jie

    2004-01-01

    @@ We describe a new simple technique for the low-frequency ultrasonic thickness measurement of an air-backed soft thin layer attached on a hard substrate of finite thickness through the frequency-shifts of the substrate resonances by the substrate-side insonification. A plane compressive wave impinging normally on the substrate surface from a liquid is studied. Low frequency here means an interrogating acoustical wave frequency of less than half of coating to the substrate. Equations for the frequency-shifts are derived and solved by the Newton iterative method and the Taylor expansion method, respectively, indicating satisfactory agreement within the range of interest of thickness ratio of the thin layer to the substrate for a polymer-aluminium structure. An experimental setup is constructed to verify the validity of the technique.

  7. Micro-machined high-frequency (80 MHz) PZT thick film linear arrays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Qifa; Wu, Dawei; Liu, Changgeng; Zhu, Benpeng; Djuth, Frank; Shung, K

    2010-10-01

    This paper presents the development of a micromachined high-frequency linear array using PZT piezoelectric thick films. The linear array has 32 elements with an element width of 24 μm and an element length of 4 mm. Array elements were fabricated by deep reactive ion etching of PZT thick films, which were prepared from spin-coating of PZT sol-gel composite. Detailed fabrication processes, especially PZT thick film etching conditions and a novel transferring-and-etching method, are presented and discussed. Array designs were evaluated by simulation. Experimental measurements show that the array had a center frequency of 80 MHz and a fractional bandwidth (-6 dB) of 60%. An insertion loss of -41 dB and adjacent element crosstalk of -21 dB were found at the center frequency.

  8. Relationship between soft stratum thickness and predominant frequency of ground based on microtremor observation data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chia, Kenny; Lau, Tze Liang

    2017-07-01

    Despite categorized as low seismicity group, until being affected by distant earthquake ground motion from Sumatra and the recent 2015 Sabah Earthquake, Malaysia has come to realize that seismic hazard in the country is real and has the potential to threaten the public safety and welfare. The major concern in this paper is to study the effect of local site condition, where it could amplify the magnitude of ground vibration at sites. The aim for this study is to correlate the thickness of soft stratum with the predominant frequency of soil. Single point microtremor measurements were carried out at 24 selected points where the site investigation reports are available. Predominant period and frequency at each site are determined by Nakamura's method. The predominant period varies from 0.22 s to 0.98 s. Generally, the predominant period increases when getting closer to the shoreline which has thicker sediments. As far as the thickness of the soft stratum could influence the amplification of seismic wave, the advancement of micotremor observation to predict the thickness of soft stratum (h) from predominant frequency (fr) is of the concern. Thus an empirical relationship h =54.917 fr-1.314 is developed based on the microtremor observation data. The empirical relationship will be benefited in the prediction of thickness of soft stratum based on microtremor observation for seismic design with minimal cost compared to conventional boring method.

  9. Frequency Invariability of (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O₃ Antiferroelectric Thick-Film Micro-Cantilevers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Kun; Jin, Xuechen; Meng, Jiang; Li, Xiao; Ren, Yifeng

    2018-05-13

    Micro-electromechanical systems comprising antiferroelectric layers can offer both actuation and transduction to integrated technologies. Micro-cantilevers based on the (Pb 0.97 La 0.02 )(Zr 0.95 Ti 0.05 )O₃ (PLZT) antiferroelectric thick film are fabricated by the micro-nano manufacturing process, to utilize the effect of phase transition induced strain and sharp phase switch of antiferroelectric materials. When micro-cantilevers made of antiferroelectric thick films were driven by sweep voltages, there were two resonant peaks corresponding to the natural frequency shift from 27.8 to 27.0 kHz, before and after phase transition. This is the compensation principle for the PLZT micro-cantilever to tune the natural frequency by the amplitude modulation of driving voltage, rather than of frequency modulation. Considering the natural frequency shift about 0.8 kHz and the frequency tuning ability about 156 Hz/V before the phase transition, this can compensate the frequency shift caused by increasing temperature by tuning only the amplitude of driving voltage, when the ultrasonic micro-transducer made of antiferroelectric thick films works for such a long period. Therefore, antiferroelectric thick films with hetero-structures incorporated into PLZT micro-cantilevers not only require a lower driving voltage (no more than 40 V) than rival bulk piezoelectric ceramics, but also exhibit better performance of frequency invariability, based on the amplitude modulation.

  10. Frequency characteristics of the MIM thick film capacitors fabricated by laser micro-cladding electronic pastes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cao Yu; Li Xiangyou [Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Sci and Tech, 430074 Wuhan, Hubei (China); Zeng Xiaoyan [Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Sci and Tech, 430074 Wuhan, Hubei (China)], E-mail: xyzeng@mail.hust.edu.cn

    2008-05-25

    With rapid development of the electronic industry, how to respond the market requests quickly, shorten R and D prototyping fabrication period, and reduce the cost of the electronic devices have become a challenge work, which need flexible manufacturing methods. In this work, two direct write processing methods, direct material deposition by microPen and Nd:YAG laser micro-cladding, are integrated with CAD/CAM technology for the hybrid fabrication of passive electronic components. Especially, the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type thick film capacitors are fabricated on ceramic substrates by this method. A basic two-step procedure of laser micro-cladding electronic pastes (LMCEPs) process for the thick film pattern preparation is presented. For a better understanding of the MIM thick film capacitor characterization, equivalent circuit models at low-frequency and high-frequency domains are introduced, respectively. The frequency characteristics tests up to 1.8 GHz of capacitance stability, equivalent series resistance (ESR), equivalent series inductance (ESL) and impendence are performed, and the results show good DC voltage stability (<2.48%), good frequency stability (<2.6%) and low dissipation factor (<0.6%) of the MIM thick film capacitors, which may get application to megahertz regions. The further developments of the LMCEP process for fabricating MIM thick film capacitors are also investigated.

  11. Frequency characteristics of the MIM thick film capacitors fabricated by laser micro-cladding electronic pastes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Yu; Li Xiangyou; Zeng Xiaoyan

    2008-01-01

    With rapid development of the electronic industry, how to respond the market requests quickly, shorten R and D prototyping fabrication period, and reduce the cost of the electronic devices have become a challenge work, which need flexible manufacturing methods. In this work, two direct write processing methods, direct material deposition by microPen and Nd:YAG laser micro-cladding, are integrated with CAD/CAM technology for the hybrid fabrication of passive electronic components. Especially, the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type thick film capacitors are fabricated on ceramic substrates by this method. A basic two-step procedure of laser micro-cladding electronic pastes (LMCEPs) process for the thick film pattern preparation is presented. For a better understanding of the MIM thick film capacitor characterization, equivalent circuit models at low-frequency and high-frequency domains are introduced, respectively. The frequency characteristics tests up to 1.8 GHz of capacitance stability, equivalent series resistance (ESR), equivalent series inductance (ESL) and impendence are performed, and the results show good DC voltage stability (<2.48%), good frequency stability (<2.6%) and low dissipation factor (<0.6%) of the MIM thick film capacitors, which may get application to megahertz regions. The further developments of the LMCEP process for fabricating MIM thick film capacitors are also investigated

  12. Frequency selective bolometer development at Argonne National Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datesman, Aaron; Pearson, John; Wang, Gensheng; Yefremenko, Volodymyr; Divan, Ralu; Downes, Thomas; Chang, Clarence; McMahon, Jeff; Meyer, Stephan; Carlstrom, John; Logan, Daniel; Perera, Thushara; Wilson, Grant; Novosad, Valentyn

    2008-07-01

    We discuss the development, at Argonne National Laboratory, of a four-pixel camera suitable for photometry of distant dusty galaxies located by Spitzer and SCUBA, and for study of other millimeter-wave sources such as ultra-luminous infrared galaxies, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect in clusters, and galactic dust. Utilizing Frequency Selective Bolometers (FSBs) with superconducting Transition-Edge Sensors (TESs), each of the camera's four pixels is sensitive to four colors, with frequency bands centered approximately at 150, 220, 270, and 360 GHz. The current generation of these devices utilizes proximity effect superconducting bilayers of Mo/Au or Ti/Au for TESs, along with frequency selective circuitry on membranes of silicon nitride 1 cm across and 1 micron thick. The operational properties of these devices are determined by this circuitry, along with thermal control structures etched into the membranes. These etched structures do not perforate the membrane, so that the device is both comparatively robust mechanically and carefully tailored in terms of its thermal transport properties. In this paper, we report on development of the superconducting bilayer TES technology and characterization of the FSB stacks. This includes the use of new materials, the design and testing of thermal control structures, the introduction of desirable thermal properties using buried layers of crystalline silicon underneath the membrane, detector stability control, and optical and thermal test results. The scientific motivation, FSB design, FSB fabrication, and measurement results are discussed.

  13. Frequency selectivity at very low centre frequencies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Orellana, Carlos Andrés Jurado; Pedersen, Christian Sejer; Marquardt, Torsten

    2010-01-01

    measurements based on OAE suppression techniques and notched-noise masking data psychophysically measured for centre frequencies in the range 50-125 Hz, this study examines how individual differences in frequency selectivity, as well as in masking, may occur at very low CFs due to individual differences...

  14. Binaural frequency selectivity in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhey, Jesko L; van de Par, Steven

    2018-01-23

    Several behavioural studies in humans have shown that listening to sounds with two ears that is binaural hearing, provides the human auditory system with extra information on the sound source that is not available when sounds are only perceived through one ear that is monaurally. Binaural processing involves the analysis of phase and level differences between the two ear signals. As monaural cochlea processing (in each ear) precedes the neural stages responsible for binaural processing properties it is reasonable to assume that properties of the cochlea may also be observed in binaural processing. A main characteristic of cochlea processing is its frequency selectivity. In psychoacoustics, there is an ongoing discussion on the frequency selectivity of the binaural auditory system. While some psychoacoustic experiments seem to indicate poorer frequency selectivity of the binaural system than that of the monaural processing others seem to indicate the same frequency selectivity for monaural and binaural processing. This study provides an overview of these seemingly controversial results and the different explanations that were provided to account for the different results. © 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. Comparison of high-resolution Scheimpflug and high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy to anterior-segment OCT corneal thickness measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kanellopoulos AJ

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Anastasios John Kanellopoulos,1,2 George Asimellis1 1Laservision.gr Eye Institute, Athens, Greece; 2New York University Medical School, New York, NY, USA Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and correlate central corneal thickness in healthy, nonoperated eyes with three advanced anterior-segment imaging systems: a high-resolution Scheimpflug tomography camera (Oculyzer II, a spectral-domain anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT system, and a high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy (HF-UBM system. Methods: Fifty eyes randomly selected from 50 patients were included in the study. Inclusion criteria were healthy, nonoperated eyes examined consecutively by the same examiner. Corneal imaging was performed by three different methods, ie, Oculyzer II, spectral-domain AS-OCT, and FH-UBM. Central corneal thickness measurements were compared using scatter diagrams, Bland-Altman plots (with bias and 95% confidence intervals, and two-paired analysis. Results: The coefficient of determination (r2 between the Oculyzer II and AS-OCT measurements was 0.895. Likewise, the coefficient was 0.893 between the Oculyzer II and HF-UBM and 0.830 between the AS-OCT and HF-UBM. The trend line coefficients of linearity were 0.925 between the Oculyzer II and the AS-OCT, 1.006 between the Oculyzer II and HF-UBM, and 0.841 between the AS-OCT and HF-UBM. The differences in average corneal thickness between the three pairs of CCT measurements were –6.86 µm between the Oculyzer II and HF-UBM, –12.20 µm between the AS-OCT and Oculyzer II, and +19.06 µm between the HF-UBM and AS-OCT. Conclusion: The three methods used for corneal thickness measurement are highly correlated. Compared with the Scheimplug and ultrasound devices, the AS-OCT appears to report a more accurate, but overally thinner corneal pachymetry. Keywords: anterior eye segment, high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy, optical coherence tomography, high-resolution Pentacam

  16. Femtosecond frequency mixing in optically thick bulk GaAs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jho, Young Dahl; Kim, Dai Sik

    1999-01-01

    Femtosecond degenerate four-wave mixing experiment (FWM) has been performed at 11 K in transmission geometry. Strong signal where the energy extends well above the bandedge is still observed in FWM transmittance although the thickness is larger than the penetration depth by an order. In addition, these above-the-bandgap signals are mostly confined to the negative time delay region and shift further into the negative time as the detection energy increases. All these unusual phenomena can be understood by the third order frequency mixing (2ω 2 -ω 1 ; ω 2 > ω 1 )

  17. Vibration-response due to thickness loss on steel plate excited by resonance frequency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kudus, S. A.; Suzuki, Y.; Matsumura, M.; Sugiura, K.

    2018-04-01

    The degradation of steel structure due to corrosion is a common problem found especially in the marine structure due to exposure to the harsh marine environment. In order to ensure safety and reliability of marine structure, the damage assessment is an indispensable prerequisite for plan of remedial action on damaged structure. The main goal of this paper is to discuss simple vibration measurement on plated structure to give image on overview condition of the monitored structure. The changes of vibration response when damage was introduced in the plate structure were investigated. The damage on plate was simulated in finite element method as loss of thickness section. The size of damage and depth of loss of thickness were varied for different damage cases. The plate was excited with lower order of resonance frequency in accordance estimate the average remaining thickness based on displacement response obtain in the dynamic analysis. Significant reduction of natural frequency and increasing amplitude of vibration can be observed in the presence of severe damage. The vibration analysis summarized in this study can serve as benchmark and reference for researcher and design engineer.

  18. Metamaterial near-field sensor for deep-subwavelength thickness measurements and sensitive refractometry in the terahertz frequency range

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reinhard, Benjamin; Schmitt, Klemens M.; Neu, Jens [Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern (Germany); Wollrab, Viktoria; Beigang, Rene; Rahm, Marco [Department of Physics and Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern (Germany); Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM, 79110 Freiburg (Germany)

    2012-05-28

    We present a metamaterial-based terahertz (THz) sensor for thickness measurements of subwavelength-thin materials and refractometry of liquids and liquid mixtures. The sensor operates in reflection geometry and exploits the frequency shift of a sharp Fano resonance minimum in the presence of dielectric materials. We obtained a minimum thickness resolution of 12.5 nm (1/16 000 times the wavelength of the THz radiation) and a refractive index sensitivity of 0.43 THz per refractive index unit. We support the experimental results by an analytical model that describes the dependence of the resonance frequency on the sample material thickness and the refractive index.

  19. Metamaterial near-field sensor for deep-subwavelength thickness measurements and sensitive refractometry in the terahertz frequency range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reinhard, Benjamin; Schmitt, Klemens M.; Neu, Jens; Wollrab, Viktoria; Beigang, Rene; Rahm, Marco

    2012-01-01

    We present a metamaterial-based terahertz (THz) sensor for thickness measurements of subwavelength-thin materials and refractometry of liquids and liquid mixtures. The sensor operates in reflection geometry and exploits the frequency shift of a sharp Fano resonance minimum in the presence of dielectric materials. We obtained a minimum thickness resolution of 12.5 nm (1/16 000 times the wavelength of the THz radiation) and a refractive index sensitivity of 0.43 THz per refractive index unit. We support the experimental results by an analytical model that describes the dependence of the resonance frequency on the sample material thickness and the refractive index.

  20. Miniaturized, Planar Ion-selective Electrodes Fabricated by Means of Thick-film Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Koncki

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Various planar technologies are employed for developing solid-state sensorshaving low cost, small size and high reproducibility; thin- and thick-film technologies aremost suitable for such productions. Screen-printing is especially suitable due to itssimplicity, low-cost, high reproducibility and efficiency in large-scale production. Thistechnology enables the deposition of a thick layer and allows precise pattern control.Moreover, this is a highly economic technology, saving large amounts of the used inks. Inthe course of repetitions of the film-deposition procedure there is no waste of material dueto additivity of this thick-film technology. Finally, the thick films can be easily and quicklydeposited on inexpensive substrates. In this contribution, thick-film ion-selective electrodesbased on ionophores as well as crystalline ion-selective materials dedicated forpotentiometric measurements are demonstrated. Analytical parameters of these sensors arecomparable with those reported for conventional potentiometric electrodes. All mentionedthick-film strip electrodes have been totally fabricated in only one, fully automated thick-film technology, without any additional manual, chemical or electrochemical steps. In allcases simple, inexpensive, commercially available materials, i.e. flexible, plastic substratesand easily cured polymer-based pastes were used.

  1. Filter and slice thickness selection in SPECT image reconstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ivanovic, M.; Weber, D.A.; Wilson, G.A.; O'Mara, R.E.

    1985-01-01

    The choice of filter and slice thickness in SPECT image reconstruction as function of activity and linear and angular sampling were investigated in phantom and patient imaging studies. Reconstructed transverse and longitudinal spatial resolution of the system were measured using a line source in a water filled phantom. Phantom studies included measurements of the Data Spectrum phantom; clinical studies included tomographic procedures in 40 patients undergoing imaging of the temporomandibular joint. Slices of the phantom and patient images were evaluated for spatial of the phantom and patient images were evaluated for spatial resolution, noise, and image quality. Major findings include; spatial resolution and image quality improve with increasing linear sampling frequencies over the range of 4-8 mm/p in the phantom images, best spatial resolution and image quality in clinical images were observed at a linear sampling frequency of 6mm/p, Shepp and Logan filter gives the best spatial resolution for phantom studies at the lowest linear sampling frequency; smoothed Shepp and Logan filter provides best quality images without loss of resolution at higher frequencies and, spatial resolution and image quality improve with increased angular sampling frequency in the phantom at 40 c/p but appear to be independent of angular sampling frequency at 400 c/p

  2. [Clinical auxiliary diagnosis value of high frequency ultrasonographic measurements of the thickness of transverse carpal ligaments in carpal tunnel syndrome patients].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, L; Chen, F M; Wang, L; Zhang, P X; Jiang, X R

    2016-04-18

    To evaluate the meaning and value of high-frequency ultrasound in the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). In this study, 48 patients (unilateral hand) with CTS were analyzed. The thickness of transverse carpal ligaments at the pisiform bone was measured using high-frequency ultrasound. Open carpal tunnel release procedure was performed in the 48 CTS patients, and the thickness of transverse carpal ligaments at the hamate hook bone measured using vernier caliper under direct vision. The accuracy of thickness of transverse carpal ligaments was evaluated using high-frequency ultrasound. high-frequency ultrasound measurement of thickness of transverse carpal ligaments at the hamate hook bone and pisiform bone, and determination of the diagnostic threshold measurement index using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, sensitivity and specificity were performed and the correlation between the thickness of transverse carpal ligaments and nerve conduction study (NCS) analyzed. The thickness of transverse carpal ligaments in the CTS patients were (0.42±0.08) cm (high-frequency ultrasound) and (0.41±0.06) cm (operation) at hamate hook bone, and there was no significant difference between the two ways (t=0.672, P>0.05). The optimal cut-off value of the transverse carpal ligaments at hamate hook bone was 0.385 cm, the sensitivity 0.775, and the specificity 0.788. The optimal cut-off value of the transverse carpal ligaments at the pisiform bone was 0.315 cm, the sensitivity 0.950, and the specificity 1.000. The transverse carpal ligaments thickness and wrist-index finger sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV), wrist-middle finger SCV showed a negative correlation. High frequency ultrasound measurements of thickness of transverse carpal ligaments is a valuable method for the diagnosis of CTS.

  3. Numerical Determination of Natural Frequencies and Modes of the Vibrations of a Thick-Walled Cylindrical Shell

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grigorenko, A. Ya.; Borisenko, M. Yu.; Boichuk, E. V.; Prigoda, A. P.

    2018-01-01

    The dynamic characteristics of a thick-walled cylindrical shell are determined numerically using the finite-element method implemented with licensed FEMAR software. The natural frequencies and modes are compared with those obtained earlier experimentally by the method of stroboscopic holographic interferometry. Frequency coefficients demonstrating how the natural frequency depends on the physical and mechanical parameters of the material are determined.

  4. A study of frequency effects on conductivity measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nurul Ain Ahmad Latif; Mahmood Dollah; Mohd Khidir Kamaron; Suaib Ibrahim

    2010-01-01

    In eddy current testing (ET), different measurement can be carry out through the selection of the test frequency. In conductivity measurement, the selection of eddy current test frequencies permits to select the specific material properties to be measured. The test frequency selected should be sufficient high that eddy current penetration is limited only to fraction of the test material thickness. This paper describes the effects of test frequency on the conductivity measurement. This experiment done by applying different values of test frequency which is 20 kHz, 100 kHz and 1 MHz. (author)

  5. Frequency-Selective Attention in Auditory Scenes Recruits Frequency Representations Throughout Human Superior Temporal Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riecke, Lars; Peters, Judith C; Valente, Giancarlo; Kemper, Valentin G; Formisano, Elia; Sorger, Bettina

    2017-05-01

    A sound of interest may be tracked amid other salient sounds by focusing attention on its characteristic features including its frequency. Functional magnetic resonance imaging findings have indicated that frequency representations in human primary auditory cortex (AC) contribute to this feat. However, attentional modulations were examined at relatively low spatial and spectral resolutions, and frequency-selective contributions outside the primary AC could not be established. To address these issues, we compared blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the superior temporal cortex of human listeners while they identified single frequencies versus listened selectively for various frequencies within a multifrequency scene. Using best-frequency mapping, we observed that the detailed spatial layout of attention-induced BOLD response enhancements in primary AC follows the tonotopy of stimulus-driven frequency representations-analogous to the "spotlight" of attention enhancing visuospatial representations in retinotopic visual cortex. Moreover, using an algorithm trained to discriminate stimulus-driven frequency representations, we could successfully decode the focus of frequency-selective attention from listeners' BOLD response patterns in nonprimary AC. Our results indicate that the human brain facilitates selective listening to a frequency of interest in a scene by reinforcing the fine-grained activity pattern throughout the entire superior temporal cortex that would be evoked if that frequency was present alone. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  6. Frequency selective bolometers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kowitt, M.S.; Fixsen, D.J.; Goldin, A.

    1996-01-01

    We propose a concept for radiometry in the millimeter, the submillimeter, and the far-IR spectral regions, the frequency selective bolometer (FSB). This system uses a bolometer as a coupled element of a tuned quasi-optical interference filter in which the absorption, the transmission......-dimensional transmission-line model. Instruments based on FSB technology should have several advantages over current multiband bolometric radiometers including smaller and more compact cryogenic optics; reduced demands on cryostat size and weight, high coupling efficiency, minimum constraints on the geometry in the focal...

  7. Controlling Fluences of Reactive Species Produced by Multipulse DBDs onto Wet Tissue: Frequency and Liquid Thickness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Wei; Kushner, Mark J.

    2015-09-01

    Tissue covered by a thin liquid layer treated by atmospheric pressure plasmas for biomedical applications ultimately requires a reproducible protocol for human healthcare. The outcomes of wet tissue treatment by dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) depend on the plasma dose which determines the integral fluences of radicals and ions onto the tissue. These fluences are controlled in part by frequency and liquid thickness. In this paper, we report on results from a computational investigation of multipulse DBDs interacting with wet tissue. The DBDs were simulated for 100 stationary or random streamers at different repetition rates and liquid thicknesses followed by 10 s to 2 min of afterglow. At 100 Hz, NOaq and OHaq are mixed by randomly striking streamers, although they have different rates of solvation. NOaq is nearly completely consumed by reactions with OHaq at the liquid surface. Only H2O2aq, produced through OHaq mutual reactions, survives to reach the tissue. After 100 pulses, the liquid becomes ozone-rich, in which the nitrous ion, NO2-aq, is converted to the nitric ion, NO3-aq. Reducing the pulse frequency to 10 Hz results in significant fluence of NOaq to the tissue as NOaq can escape during the interpulse period from the liquid surface where OHaq is formed. For the same reason, NO2-aq can also reach deeper into the liquid at lower frequency. Frequency and thickness of the liquid are methods to control the plasma produced aqueous species to the underlying tissue. Work supported by DOE (DE-SC0001319) and NSF (CHE-1124724).

  8. Effect of photonic crystal and frequency selective surface implementation on gain enhancement in the microstrip patch antenna at terahertz frequency

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nejati, Ameneh, E-mail: ameneh.nejati@gmail.com [Department of Electrical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Sadeghzadeh, Ramezan Ali [Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, K.N Toosi University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Geran, Fatemeh [Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2014-09-15

    In this paper, microstrip patch antenna with frequency selective surface (FSS) and photonic band gap (PBG) structures in the frequency range of 0.5–0.7 THz is presented for wireless communications. Proposed patch antenna is designed on a substrate with uniform and non-uniform PBG structures. Here, the effects of substrate thickness, various radii and arrangement of holes on antenna resonance in both PBG forms are studied. Near zero characteristic on uniform and non-uniform PBG substrate is compared and the results show that along with increase in hole radius, antenna operating frequency and bandwidth are increased. Also, the FSS structure is designed as a perfect absorber. Finally, by using FSS and PBG structures simultaneously, gain enhancement, increase in directivity and pattern shaping are studied at THz field. The antenna gain in final structure is increased by 2 dBi (32%) in comparison to simple form and Half-Power beam width is reduced from 100°×80° in simple form to 72°×48° by using FSS and PBG. All simulations and designs are done by Ansoft HFSS and CST Microwave Studio simulation tools with different full wave methods.

  9. Thickness-dependent coherent phonon frequency in ultrathin FeSe/SrTiO3 films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yang, Shuolong [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Sobota, Jonathan A. [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Leuenberger, Dominik [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Kemper, Alexander F. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lee, James J. [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Schmitt, Felix T. [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Li, Wei [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Moore, Rob G. [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Kirchmann, Patrick S. [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Shen, Zhi -Xun [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)

    2015-06-01

    Ultrathin FeSe films grown on SrTiO3 substrates are a recent milestone in atomic material engineering due to their important role in understanding unconventional superconductivity in Fe-based materials. By using femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, we study phonon frequencies in ultrathin FeSe/SrTiO3 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. After optical excitation, we observe periodic modulations of the photoelectron spectrum as a function of pump–probe delay for 1-unit-cell, 3-unit-cell, and 60-unit-cell thick FeSe films. The frequencies of the coherent intensity oscillations increase from 5.00 ± 0.02 to 5.25 ± 0.02 THz with increasing film thickness. By comparing with previous works, we attribute this mode to the Se A1g phonon. The dominant mechanism for the phonon softening in 1-unit-cell thick FeSe films is a substrate-induced lattice strain. Results demonstrate an abrupt phonon renormalization due to a lattice mismatch between the ultrathin film and the substrate.

  10. Thin film thickness measurement error reduction by wavelength selection in spectrophotometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsepulin, Vladimir G; Perchik, Alexey V; Tolstoguzov, Victor L; Karasik, Valeriy E

    2015-01-01

    Fast and accurate volumetric profilometry of thin film structures is an important problem in the electronic visual display industry. We propose to use spectrophotometry with a limited number of working wavelengths to achieve high-speed control and an approach to selecting the optimal working wavelengths to reduce the thickness measurement error. A simple expression for error estimation is presented and tested using a Monte Carlo simulation. The experimental setup is designed to confirm the stability of film thickness determination using a limited number of wavelengths

  11. Selection of the ''best'' model for converting beta backscatter count readings into thickness measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smiriga, N.G.

    1976-01-01

    This report compares two models for converting beta backscatter count readings into thickness measurements. The necessary formulas to be used in an unweighted and weighted regression analysis are listed. The question of whether one should perform a regression analysis using the five available standard thicknesses or whether one should, in addition to these standard thicknesses, use zero as a standard thickness is decided. A weighted regression analysis is compared with an unweighted one for each model. The ''best'' model is selected, and the conclusions of the analysis are presented

  12. The effect of the gas factor on selecting the thickness of a layer during two-layer getting of thick seams. [USSR

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Varekha, Zh P; Kurkin, A S; Vechera, V N

    1979-01-01

    For technico-economic verification of the selection of the efficient removed thickness of upper and lower layers under conditions of high gas abundance of seams, the KNIUI has developed an economic model of converted costs within a getting field, allowing for natural and technical factors. The calculation considers specific costs for stoping work when getting the upper and lower layers, digging and maintenance of development workings, coal transport, assembly-disassembly work, ventilation, labor costs, degassing, etc. The calculation dependences and nomogram obtained enable comparatively easy definition of efficient thicknesses of removed layers when designing stoping work at thick, gently sloping seams, as well as calculation converted costs using as the initial data the total thickness of the seam, its natural gas content, and the expected degree of preliminary degassing.

  13. Dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation and stable performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hang; Qu, Shao-Bo; Peng, Wei-Dong; Lin, Bao-Qin; Wang, Jia-Fu; Ma, Hua; Zhang, Jie-Qiu; Bai, Peng; Wang, Xu-Hua; Xu, Zhuo

    2012-05-01

    A new technique of designing a dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation is presented. This technique is based on a delicately designed topology of L- and Ku-band microwave filters. The two band-pass responses are generated by a capacitively-loaded square-loop frequency selective surface and an aperture-coupled frequency selective surface, respectively. A Faraday cage is located between the two frequency selective surface structures to eliminate undesired couplings. Based on this technique, a dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation is designed, which possesses large band separation, high selectivity, and stable performance under various incident angles and different polarizations.

  14. Dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation and stable performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou Hang; Qu Shao-Bo; Lin Bao-Qin; Wang Jia-Fu; Ma Hua; Zhang Jie-Qiu; Peng Wei-Dong; Bai Peng; Wang Xu-Hua; Xu Zhuo

    2012-01-01

    A new technique of designing a dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation is presented. This technique is based on a delicately designed topology of L- and Ku-band microwave filters. The two band-pass responses are generated by a capacitively-loaded square-loop frequency selective surface and an aperture-coupled frequency selective surface, respectively. A Faraday cage is located between the two frequency selective surface structures to eliminate undesired couplings. Based on this technique, a dual-band frequency selective surface with large band separation is designed, which possesses large band separation, high selectivity, and stable performance under various incident angles and different polarizations. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

  15. Regolith thickness over Sinus Iridum: Results from morphology and size-frequency distribution of small impact craters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fa, Wenzhe; Liu, Tiantian; Zhu, Meng-Hua; Haruyama, Junichi

    2014-08-01

    High-resolution optical images returned from recent lunar missions provide a new chance for estimation of lunar regolith thickness using morphology and the size-frequency distribution of small impact craters. In this study, regolith thickness over the Sinus Iridum region is estimated using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) images. A revised relationship between crater geometry and regolith thickness is proposed based on old experimental data that takes into considering the effect of the illumination angle of the images. In total, 227 high-resolution LROC NAC images are used, and 378,556 impact craters with diameters from 4.2 to 249.8 m are counted, and their morphologies are identified. Our results show that 50% of the Sinus Iridum region has a regolith thickness between 5.1 and 10.7 m, and the mean and median regolith thicknesses are 8.5 and 8.0 m, respectively. There are substantial regional variations in the regolith thickness, with its median value varying from 2.6 to 12.0 m for most regions. Local variations of regolith thickness are found to be correlated with the lunar surface age: the older the surface, the greater the thickness. In addition, sporadically distributed impact ejecta and crater rays are associated with relatively larger regolith thickness, which might result from excavation and transport of materials during the formation of the secondaries of Copernican-aged craters. Our estimated regolith thickness can help with future analysis of Chang'E-3 lunar penetrating radar echoes and studies of the subsurface stratigraphic structure of the Moon.

  16. Frequency selective tunable spin wave channeling in the magnonic network

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadovnikov, A. V., E-mail: sadovnikovav@gmail.com; Nikitov, S. A. [Laboratory “Metamaterials,” Saratov State University, Saratov 410012 (Russian Federation); Kotel' nikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 125009 (Russian Federation); Beginin, E. N.; Odincov, S. A.; Sheshukova, S. E.; Sharaevskii, Yu. P. [Laboratory “Metamaterials,” Saratov State University, Saratov 410012 (Russian Federation); Stognij, A. I. [Scientific-Practical Materials Research Center, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 220072 Minsk (Belarus)

    2016-04-25

    Using the space-resolved Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy, we study the frequency and wavenumber selective spin-wave channeling. We demonstrate the frequency selective collimation of spin-wave in an array of magnonic waveguides, formed between the adjacent magnonic crystals on the surface of yttrium iron garnet film. We show the control over spin-wave propagation length by the orientation of an in-plane bias magnetic field. Fabricated array of magnonic crystal can be used as a magnonic platform for multidirectional frequency selective signal processing applications in magnonic networks.

  17. High-frequency internal waves and thick bottom mixed layers observed by gliders in the Gulf Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todd, Robert E.

    2017-06-01

    Autonomous underwater gliders are conducting high-resolution surveys within the Gulf Stream along the U.S. East Coast. Glider surveys reveal two mechanisms by which energy is extracted from the Gulf Stream as it flows over the Blake Plateau, a portion of the outer continental shelf between Florida and North Carolina where bottom depths are less than 1000 m. Internal waves with vertical velocities exceeding 0.1 m s-1 and frequencies just below the local buoyancy frequency are routinely found over the Blake Plateau, particularly near the Charleston Bump, a prominent topographic feature. These waves are likely internal lee waves generated by the subinertial Gulf Stream flow over the irregular bathymetry of the outer continental shelf. Bottom mixed layers with O(100) m thickness are also frequently encountered; these thick bottom mixed layers likely form in the lee of topography due to enhanced turbulence generated by O(1) m s-1 near-bottom flows.

  18. A reconfigurable frequency-selective surface for dual-mode multi-band filtering applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidzadeh, Maryam; Ghobadi, Changiz; Nourinia, Javad

    2017-03-01

    A reconfigurable single-layer frequency-selective surface (FSS) with dual-mode multi-band modes of operation is presented. The proposed structure is printed on a compact 10 × 10 mm2 FR4 substrate with the thickness of 1.6 mm. A simple square loop is printed on the front side while another one along with two defected vertical arms is deployed on the backside. To realise the reconfiguration, two pin diodes are embedded on the backside square loop. Suitable insertion of conductive elements along with pin diodes yields in dual-mode multi-band rejection of applicable in service frequency ranges. The first operating mode due to diodes' 'ON' state provides rejection of 2.4 GHz WLAN in 2-3 GHz, 5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN and X band in 5-12 GHz, and a part of Ku band in 13.9-16 GHz. In diodes 'OFF' state, the FSS blocks WLAN in 4-7.3 GHz, X band in 8-12.7 GHz as well as part of Ku band in 13.7-16.7 GHz. As well, high attenuation of incident waves is observed by a high shielding effectiveness (SE) in the blocked frequency bands. Also, a stable behaviour against different polarisations and angles of incidence is obtained. Comprehensive studies are conducted on a fabricated prototype to assess its performance from which encouraging results are obtained.

  19. Frequency selective surfaces integrated with phased array antennas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Monni, S.

    2005-01-01

    Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS's) are periodic arrays of patches and/or slots etched on a metal plate, having frequency and angular ??ltering properties. The FSS response to an excitation (for example a plane wave) is characterized in terms of its re ection and transmission coe??cient, and

  20. Computerized J-H loop tracer for soft magnetic thick films in the audio frequency range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loizos G.

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available A computerized J-H loop tracer for soft magnetic thick films in the audio frequency range is described. It is a system built on a PXI platform combining PXI modules for control signal generation and data acquisition. The physiscal signals are digitized and the respective data strems are processed, presented and recorded in LabVIEW 7.0.

  1. Frequency Selection for Multi-frequency Acoustic Measurement of Suspended Sediment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, X.; HO, H.; Fu, X.

    2017-12-01

    Multi-frequency acoustic measurement of suspended sediment has found successful applications in marine and fluvial environments. Difficult challenges remain in regard to improving its effectiveness and efficiency when applied to high concentrations and wide size distributions in rivers. We performed a multi-frequency acoustic scattering experiment in a cylindrical tank with a suspension of natural sands. The sands range from 50 to 600 μm in diameter with a lognormal size distribution. The bulk concentration of suspended sediment varied from 1.0 to 12.0 g/L. We found that the commonly used linear relationship between the intensity of acoustic backscatter and suspended sediment concentration holds only at sufficiently low concentrations, for instance below 3.0 g/L. It fails at a critical value of concentration that depends on measurement frequency and the distance between the transducer and the target point. Instead, an exponential relationship was found to work satisfactorily throughout the entire range of concentration. The coefficient and exponent of the exponential function changed, however, with the measuring frequency and distance. Considering the increased complexity of inverting the concentration values when an exponential relationship prevails, we further analyzed the relationship between measurement error and measuring frequency. It was also found that the inversion error may be effectively controlled within 5% if the frequency is properly set. Compared with concentration, grain size was found to heavily affect the selection of optimum frequency. A regression relationship for optimum frequency versus grain size was developed based on the experimental results.

  2. Characteristics of spectro-temporal modulation frequency selectivity in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oetjen, Arne; Verhey, Jesko L

    2017-03-01

    There is increasing evidence that the auditory system shows frequency selectivity for spectro-temporal modulations. A recent study of the authors has shown spectro-temporal modulation masking patterns that were in agreement with the hypothesis of spectro-temporal modulation filters in the human auditory system [Oetjen and Verhey (2015). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 137(2), 714-723]. In the present study, that experimental data and additional data were used to model this spectro-temporal frequency selectivity. The additional data were collected to investigate to what extent the spectro-temporal modulation-frequency selectivity results from a combination of a purely temporal amplitude-modulation filter and a purely spectral amplitude-modulation filter. In contrast to the previous study, thresholds were measured for masker and target modulations with opposite directions, i.e., an upward pointing target modulation and a downward pointing masker modulation. The comparison of this data set with previous corresponding data with the same direction from target and masker modulations indicate that a specific spectro-temporal modulation filter is required to simulate all aspects of spectro-temporal modulation frequency selectivity. A model using a modified Gabor filter with a purely temporal and a purely spectral filter predicts the spectro-temporal modulation masking data.

  3. The research of characteristic difference of selected frequency luminescence for desert sand

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Chao; Wei Mingjian; Li Huhou

    2011-01-01

    The characters of selected frequency luminescence of four groups of samples from Badain Jaran desert are measured by BG2003 luminescence spectrograph. The measurement subjects include selected frequency optical stimulate luminescence spectrum, selected frequency thermoluminescence spectrum and the dose response curve. A double-peak map is obtained by the result from all groups of data and spectrum. The difference is emerged between each group. The optical stimulate luminescence and thermoluminescence is applied in the measurement process. The dispersion of photon count on every response wavelength is analyzed. Based on the analysis, a better result can be gained by selected frequency thermoluminescence. (authors)

  4. 47 CFR 90.723 - Selection and assignment of frequencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 220-222 MHz Band § 90.723 Selection and assignment of frequencies. (a) Phase II applications for frequencies in the 220-222 MHz band shall specify whether their intended use is for 10-channel nationwide... medical use. Phase II applicants for frequencies for public safety/mutual aid use or emergency medical use...

  5. Multisource full waveform inversion of marine streamer data with frequency selection

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Yunsong; Schuster, Gerard T.

    2013-01-01

    Multisource migration with frequency selection is now extended to multisource full waveform inversion (FWI) of supergathers for marine streamer data. There are three advantages of this approach compared to conventional FWI for marine streamer data. 1. The multisource FWI method with frequency selection is computationally more efficient than conventional FWI. 2. A supergather requires more than an order of magnitude less storage than the the original data. 3. Frequency selection overcomes the acquisition mismatch between the observed data and the simulated multisource supergathers for marine data. This mismatch problem has prevented the efficient application of FWI to marine geometries in the space-time domain. Preliminary result of applying multisource FWI with frequency selection to a synthetic marine data set suggests it is at least four times more efficient than standard FWI.

  6. Application of high Tc superconductors as frequency selective surfaces: Experiment and theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dawei Zhang; Yahya Rahmat-Samii; Fetterman, H.R.

    1993-01-01

    YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x and Tl 2 CaBa 2 Cu 2 O 8 high temperature superconducting thin films were utilized to fabricate frequency selective surfaces (FSS) at millimeter-wave frequencies (75--110 GHz). An analytical/numerical model was applied, using a Floquet expansion and the Method of Moments, to analyze bandstop superconducting frequency selective surfaces. Experimental results were compared with the model, and showed a good agreement with resonant frequency prediction with an accuracy of better than 1%. The use of the superconducting frequency selective surfaces as quasi-optical millimeter-wave bandpass filters was also demonstrated

  7. Low-frequency noise in high-Tc superconducting thick films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aponte, J.M.; Gutierrez, G.; Octavio, M.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper experimental results on the resistance noise in thick films of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ in the vicinity of the superconducting transition are reported. The measurements were performed in samples with broad resistive transitions and in the frequency range from 1Hz to 100 Hz. The power spectral density S v /V 2 of the excess noise is obtained by subtracting the current-independent background noise from the total measured noise. The authors observed that at the transition, the magnitude of S v /V 2 rises above its level at room temperature exhibiting peaks at the same temperatures at which R -1 dR/dT has maxima. The authors performed measurements of S v /V 2 as a function of the current through the sample and the authors found that it diverges as the critical current is approached from above and that it is zero below the critical current. This transition is found to be described quite well by a percolation model

  8. Allele frequency changes due to hitch-hiking in genomic selection programs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Huiming; Sørensen, Anders Christian; Meuwissen, Theo H E

    2014-01-01

    of inbreeding due to changes in allele frequencies and hitch-hiking. This study aimed at understanding the impact of using long-term genomic selection on changes in allele frequencies, genetic variation and the level of inbreeding. Methods Selection was performed in simulated scenarios with a population of 400......-BLUP, Genomic BLUP and Bayesian Lasso. Changes in allele frequencies at QTL, markers and linked neutral loci were investigated for the different selection criteria and different scenarios, along with the loss of favourable alleles and the rate of inbreeding measured by pedigree and runs of homozygosity. Results...

  9. Cooperative Orthogonal Space-Time-Frequency Block Codes over a MIMO-OFDM Frequency Selective Channel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Rezaei

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a cooperative algorithm to improve the orthogonal space-timefrequency block codes (OSTFBC in frequency selective channels for 2*1, 2*2, 4*1, 4*2 MIMO-OFDM systems, is presented. The algorithm of three node, a source node, a relay node and a destination node is formed, and is implemented in two stages. During the first stage, the destination and the relay antennas receive the symbols sent by the source antennas. The destination node and the relay node obtain the decision variables employing time-space-frequency decoding process by the received signals. During the second stage, the relay node transmits decision variables to the destination node. Due to the increasing diversity in the proposed algorithm, decision variables in the destination node are increased to improve system performance. The bit error rate of the proposed algorithm at high SNR is estimated by considering the BPSK modulation. The simulation results show that cooperative orthogonal space-time-frequency block coding, improves system performance and reduces the BER in a frequency selective channel.

  10. An attenuation Layer for Electromagnetic Shielding in X- Band Frequency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vida Zaroushani

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Uncontrolled exposure to X-band frequency leads to health damage. One of the principles of radiation protection is shielding. But, conventional shielding materials have disadvantages. Therefore, studies of novel materials, as an alternative to conventional shielding materials, are required to obtain new electromagnetic shielding material. Therefore, this study investigated the electromagnetic shielding of two component epoxy thermosetting resin for the X - band frequency with workplace approach. Two components of epoxy resin mixed according to manufacturing instruction with the weight ratio that was 100:10 .Epoxy plates fabricated in three different thicknesses (2, 4 and 6mm and shielding effectiveness measured by Vector Network Analyzer. Then, shielding effectiveness measured by the scattering parameters.The results showed that 6mm thickness of epoxy had the highest and 2mm had the lowest average of shielding effectiveness in X-band frequency that is 4.48 and 1.9 dB, respectively. Also, shielding effectiveness increased by increasing the thickness. But this increasing is useful up to 4mm. Percentage shielding effectiveness of attenuation for 6, 4 and 2mm thicknesses is 64.35%, 63.31% and 35.40%. Also, attenuation values for 4mm and 6mm thicknesses at 8.53 GHz and 8.52 GHz frequency are 77.15% and 82.95%, respectively, and can be used as favourite shields for the above frequency. 4mm-Epoxy is a suitable candidate for shielding application in X-band frequency range but, in the lower section, 6mm thickness is recommended. Finely, the shielding matrix can be used for selecting the proper thickness for electromagnetic shielding in X- Band frequency.

  11. Corrosion monitoring using high-frequency guided waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fromme, P.

    2016-04-01

    Corrosion can develop due to adverse environmental conditions during the life cycle of a range of industrial structures, e.g., offshore oil platforms, ships, and desalination plants. Generalized corrosion leading to wall thickness loss can cause the reduction of the strength and thus degradation of the structural integrity. The monitoring of corrosion damage in difficult to access areas can be achieved using high frequency guided waves propagating along the structure from accessible areas. Using standard ultrasonic wedge transducers with single sided access to the structure, guided wave modes were selectively generated that penetrate through the complete thickness of the structure. The wave propagation and interference of the different guided wave modes depends on the thickness of the structure. Laboratory experiments were conducted for wall thickness reduction due to milling of the steel structure. From the measured signal changes due to the wave mode interference the reduced wall thickness was monitored. Good agreement with theoretical predictions was achieved. The high frequency guided waves have the potential for corrosion damage monitoring at critical and difficult to access locations from a stand-off distance.

  12. Frequency-Wavenumber (FK)-Based Data Selection in High-Frequency Passive Surface Wave Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Feng; Xia, Jianghai; Xu, Zongbo; Hu, Yue; Mi, Binbin

    2018-04-01

    Passive surface wave methods have gained much attention from geophysical and civil engineering communities because of the limited application of traditional seismic surveys in highly populated urban areas. Considering that they can provide high-frequency phase velocity information up to several tens of Hz, the active surface wave survey would be omitted and the amount of field work could be dramatically reduced. However, the measured dispersion energy image in the passive surface wave survey would usually be polluted by a type of "crossed" artifacts at high frequencies. It is common in the bidirectional noise distribution case with a linear receiver array deployed along roads or railways. We review several frequently used passive surface wave methods and derive the underlying physics for the existence of the "crossed" artifacts. We prove that the "crossed" artifacts would cross the true surface wave energy at fixed points in the f-v domain and propose a FK-based data selection technique to attenuate the artifacts in order to retrieve the high-frequency information. Numerical tests further demonstrate the existence of the "crossed" artifacts and indicate that the well-known wave field separation method, FK filter, does not work for the selection of directional noise data. Real-world applications manifest the feasibility of the proposed FK-based technique to improve passive surface wave methods by a priori data selection. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our approach.

  13. Frequency-Wavenumber (FK)-Based Data Selection in High-Frequency Passive Surface Wave Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Feng; Xia, Jianghai; Xu, Zongbo; Hu, Yue; Mi, Binbin

    2018-07-01

    Passive surface wave methods have gained much attention from geophysical and civil engineering communities because of the limited application of traditional seismic surveys in highly populated urban areas. Considering that they can provide high-frequency phase velocity information up to several tens of Hz, the active surface wave survey would be omitted and the amount of field work could be dramatically reduced. However, the measured dispersion energy image in the passive surface wave survey would usually be polluted by a type of "crossed" artifacts at high frequencies. It is common in the bidirectional noise distribution case with a linear receiver array deployed along roads or railways. We review several frequently used passive surface wave methods and derive the underlying physics for the existence of the "crossed" artifacts. We prove that the "crossed" artifacts would cross the true surface wave energy at fixed points in the f- v domain and propose a FK-based data selection technique to attenuate the artifacts in order to retrieve the high-frequency information. Numerical tests further demonstrate the existence of the "crossed" artifacts and indicate that the well-known wave field separation method, FK filter, does not work for the selection of directional noise data. Real-world applications manifest the feasibility of the proposed FK-based technique to improve passive surface wave methods by a priori data selection. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our approach.

  14. Spectro-temporal modulation masking patterns reveal frequency selectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oetjen, Arne; Verhey, Jesko L

    2015-02-01

    The present study investigated the possibility that the human auditory system demonstrates frequency selectivity to spectro-temporal amplitude modulations. Threshold modulation depth for detecting sinusoidal spectro-temporal modulations was measured using a generalized masked threshold pattern paradigm with narrowband masker modulations. Four target spectro-temporal modulations were examined, differing in their temporal and spectral modulation frequencies: a temporal modulation of -8, 8, or 16 Hz combined with a spectral modulation of 1 cycle/octave and a temporal modulation of 4 Hz combined with a spectral modulation of 0.5 cycles/octave. The temporal center frequencies of the masker modulation ranged from 0.25 to 4 times the target temporal modulation. The spectral masker-modulation center-frequencies were 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 times the target spectral modulation. For all target modulations, the pattern of average thresholds for the eight normal-hearing listeners was consistent with the hypothesis of a spectro-temporal modulation filter. Such a pattern of modulation-frequency sensitivity was predicted on the basis of psychoacoustical data for purely temporal amplitude modulations and purely spectral amplitude modulations. An analysis of separability indicates that, for the present data set, selectivity in the spectro-temporal modulation domain can be described by a combination of a purely spectral and a purely temporal modulation filter function.

  15. Quantification of thickness loss in a liquid-loaded plate using ultrasonic guided wave tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, Jing; Ratassepp, Madis; Fan, Zheng

    2017-12-01

    Ultrasonic guided wave tomography (GWT) provides an attractive solution to map thickness changes from remote locations. It is based on the velocity-to-thickness mapping employing the dispersive characteristics of selected guided modes. This study extends the application of GWT on a liquid-loaded plate. It is a more challenging case than the application on a free plate, due to energy of the guided waves leaking into the liquid. In order to ensure the accuracy of thickness reconstruction, advanced forward models are developed to consider attenuation effects using complex velocities. The reconstruction of the thickness map is based on the frequency-domain full waveform inversion (FWI) method, and its accuracy is discussed using different frequencies and defect dimensions. Validation experiments are carried out on a water-loaded plate with an irregularly shaped defect using S0 guided waves, showing excellent performance of the reconstruction algorithm.

  16. Feasibility study of 2D thick-slice MR digital subtraction angiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishimori, Yoshiyuki; Takeuchi, Miho; Higashimura, Kyouji; Komuro, Hiroyuki

    2000-01-01

    Conditions required to perform contrast MR digital subtraction angiography using a two-dimensional thick-slice high-speed gradient echo were investigated. The conditions in the phantom experiment included: slice profile, flip angle, imaging matrix, fat suppression, duration of IR pulse and frequency selectivity, flip angle of IR pulse and inversion time. Based on the results of the experiment, 2D thick-slice MRDSA was performed in volunteers. Under TR/TE=5.3-9/1.3-1.8 ms conditions, the requirements were a slice thick enough to include the target region, a flip angle of 10 degrees, and a phase matrix of 96 or more. Fat suppression was required for adipose-tissue-rich regions, such as the abdomen. The optimal conditions for applying the IR preparation pulse of the IR prepped fast gradient recalled echo as spectrally selective inversion recovery appeared to be: duration of IR pulse =20 ms, flip angle =100 degrees, and inversion time =40 ms. The authors concluded that it was feasible to perform 2D thick-slice MRDSA with time resolution within 1 second. (K.H.)

  17. Mutational jackpot events generate effective frequency-dependent selection in adapting populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallatschek, Oskar

    The site-frequency spectrum is one the most easily measurable quantities that characterize the genetic diversity of a population. While most neutral models predict that site frequency spectra should decay with increasing frequency, a high-frequency uptick has been reported in many populations. Anomalies in the high-frequency tail are particularly unsettling because the highest frequencies can be measured with greatest accuracy. Here, we show that an uptick in the spectrum of neutral mutations generally arises when mutant frequencies are dominated by rare jackpot events, mutational events with large descendant numbers. This leads to an effective pattern of frequency-dependent selection (or unstable internal equilibrium at one half frequency) that causes an accumulation of high-frequency polymorphic sites. We reproduce the known uptick occurring for recurrent hitchhiking (genetic draft) as well as rapid adaptation, and (in the future) generalize the shape of the high-frequency tail to other scenarios that are dominated by jackpot events, such as frequent range expansions. We also tackle (in the future) the inverse approach to use the high-frequency uptick for learning about the tail of the offspring number distribution. Positively selected alleles need to surpass, typically, an u NSF Career Award (PoLS), NIH NIGMS R01, Simons Foundation.

  18. Spatial Tuning of a RF Frequency Selective Surface through Origami (Postprint)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-05-12

    computational tools to systematically predict optimal folds. 15. SUBJECT TERMS origami, frequency selective surface, tuning, radio frequency 16...experimental study and motivates the development of computational tools to systematically predict optimal fold patterns for targeted frequency response...folding motions. The precise mapping of origami presents a novel method to spatially tune radio frequency (RF) devices, including adaptive antennas

  19. A quantitative study of ramped radio frequency, magnetization transfer, and slab thickness in three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography in a patient population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodrich, K C; Blatter, D D; Parker, D L; Du, Y P; Meyer, K J; Bernstein, M A

    1996-06-01

    The authors compare the effectiveness of various magnetic resonance (MR) angiography acquisition strategies in enhancing the visibility of small intracranial vessels. Blood vessel contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in time-of-flight MR angiography was studied as a function of vessel size and several selectable imaging parameters. Contrast-to-noise measurements were made on 257 vessel segments ranging in size from 0.3 mm to 4.2 mm in patients who recently had undergone intraarterial cerebral angiography. Imaging parameters studied included magnetization transfer, spatially variable radio frequency (RF) pulse profile (ramped RF), and imaging slab thickness. The combination of thin slabs (16 slices/slab), ramped RF, and magnetization transfer resulted in the highest CNR for all but the smallest vessel sizes. The smallest vessels (slab (64 slices/slab) with ramped RF and magnetization transfer. Magnetization transfer always improved vessel CNR, but the improvement diminished as the slab thickness was reduced. The CNR increased with a decrease in slab thickness for all but the smallest vessel sizes. Overall, the results provide a quantitative demonstration that inflow enhancement of blood is reduced for small vessels. Thus, whereas magnetization transfer is important at all vessel sizes, it becomes the primary factor in improving the visibility of the smallest vessels.

  20. Cavity-soliton laser with frequency-selective feedback

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scroggie, A. J.; Firth, W. J.; Oppo, G.-L.

    2009-01-01

    We present a coupled-cavity model of a laser with frequency-selective feedback, and use it to analyze and explain the existence of stationary and dynamic spatial solitons in the device. Particular features of soliton addressing in this system are discussed. We demonstrate the advantages of our model with respect to the common Lang-Kobayashi approximation.

  1. Selective paint coatings for coloured solar absorbers: Polyurethane thickness insensitive spectrally selective (TISS) paints (Part II)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orel, B.; Spreizer, H.; Surca Vuk, A.; Fir, M. [National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia); Merlini, D.; Vodlan, M. [Color d.d., Cesta komandanta Staneta 4, SI-1230 Medvode (Slovenia); Koehl, M. [Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstr. 2, D-79110 Freiburg (Germany)

    2007-01-23

    Red, green and blue paints were prepared for use as thickness insensitive spectrally selective (TISS) paint coatings for solar facade absorbers. The paints were composed of a polyurethane resin binder in which various pigments were incorporated in such a way that they formed stable paint dispersions, satisfying stability criteria for facade coatings. A low emittance of the paints was achieved by using low-emittance aluminium flake pigments combined with iron oxide (red coloured paints). Black pigment was added to adjust solar absorptance. Blue and green paints were made by the addition of coloured aluminium flake pigment and the solar absorptance was also adjusted by the addition of black pigment. Efficiency for photo-thermal conversion of solar radiation was assessed by evaluation of the corresponding performance criteria, which enabled the selection of paints whose performance criteria values were higher than 0 (spectrally non-selective black coating). The results confirmed that blue and green paints and to minor extent red ones, combined selectivity with colour. The morphology of the paints was assessed, revealing that the colours originated from the deposition of finely dispersed colour and/or black pigment on the surface of the aluminium flakes during paint preparation. (author)

  2. Retrieval of ice thickness from polarimetric SAR data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, R.; Yueh, S. H.; Nghiem, S. V.; Huynh, D. D.

    1993-01-01

    We describe a potential procedure for retrieving ice thickness from multi-frequency polarimetric SAR data for thin ice. This procedure includes first masking out the thicker ice types with a simple classifier and then deriving the thickness of the remaining pixels using a model-inversion technique. The technique used to derive ice thickness from polarimetric observations is provided by a numerical estimator or neural network. A three-layer perceptron implemented with the backpropagation algorithm is used in this investigation with several improved aspects for a faster convergence rate and a better accuracy of the neural network. These improvements include weight initialization, normalization of the output range, the selection of offset constant, and a heuristic learning algorithm. The performance of the neural network is demonstrated by using training data generated by a theoretical scattering model for sea ice matched to the database of interest. The training data are comprised of the polarimetric backscattering coefficients of thin ice and the corresponding input ice parameters to the scattering model. The retrieved ice thickness from the theoretical backscattering coefficients is compare with the input ice thickness to the scattering model to illustrate the accuracy of the inversion method. Results indicate that the network convergence rate and accuracy are higher when multi-frequency training sets are presented. In addition, the dominant backscattering coefficients in retrieving ice thickness are found by comparing the behavior of the network trained backscattering data at various incidence angels. After the neural network is trained with the theoretical backscattering data at various incidence anges, the interconnection weights between nodes are saved and applied to the experimental data to be investigated. In this paper, we illustrate the effectiveness of this technique using polarimetric SAR data collected by the JPL DC-8 radar over a sea ice scene.

  3. Secured Communication over Frequency-Selective Fading Channels: A Practical Vandermonde Precoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Debbah Mérouane

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the frequency-selective broadcast channel with confidential messages (BCC where the transmitter sends a confidential message to receiver 1 and a common message to receivers 1 and 2. In the case of a block transmission of symbols followed by a guard interval of symbols, the frequency-selective channel can be modeled as a Toeplitz matrix. For this special type of multiple-input multiple-output channels, we propose a practical Vandermonde precoding that projects the confidential messages in the null space of the channel seen by receiver 2 while superposing the common message. For this scheme, we provide the achievable rate region and characterize the optimal covariance for some special cases of interest. Interestingly, the proposed scheme can be applied to other multiuser scenarios such as the -user frequency-selective BCC with confidential messages and the two-user frequency-selective BCC with two confidential messages. For each scenario, we provide the secrecy degree of freedom (s.d.o.f. region of the corresponding channel and prove the optimality of the Vandermonde precoding. One of the appealing features of the proposed scheme is that it does not require any specific secrecy encoding technique but can be applied on top of any existing powerful encoding schemes.

  4. Full Waveform Inversion with Multisource Frequency Selection of Marine Streamer Data

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Yunsong

    2017-10-27

    The theory and practice of multisource full waveform inversion of marine supergathers are described with a frequency-selection strategy. The key enabling property of frequency selection is that it eliminates the crosstalk among sources, thus overcoming the aperture mismatch of marine multisource inversion. Tests on multisource full waveform inversion of synthetic marine data and Gulf of Mexico data show speedups of 4× and 8×, respectively, compared to conventional full waveform inversion.

  5. Full Waveform Inversion with Multisource Frequency Selection of Marine Streamer Data

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Yunsong; Schuster, Gerard T.

    2017-01-01

    The theory and practice of multisource full waveform inversion of marine supergathers are described with a frequency-selection strategy. The key enabling property of frequency selection is that it eliminates the crosstalk among sources, thus overcoming the aperture mismatch of marine multisource inversion. Tests on multisource full waveform inversion of synthetic marine data and Gulf of Mexico data show speedups of 4× and 8×, respectively, compared to conventional full waveform inversion.

  6. Least-squares reverse time migration of marine data with frequency-selection encoding

    KAUST Repository

    Dai, Wei

    2013-08-20

    The phase-encoding technique can sometimes increase the efficiency of the least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) by more than one order of magnitude. However, traditional random encoding functions require all the encoded shots to share the same receiver locations, thus limiting the usage to seismic surveys with a fixed spread geometry. We implement a frequency-selection encoding strategy that accommodates data with a marine streamer geometry. The encoding functions are delta functions in the frequency domain, so that all the en- coded shots have unique non-overlapping frequency content, and the receivers can distinguish the wavefield from each shot with a unique frequency band. Since the encoding functions are orthogonal to each other, there will be no crosstalk between different shots during modeling and migration. With the frequency-selection encoding method, the computational efficiency of LSRTM is increased so that its cost is compara- ble to conventional RTM for both the Marmousi2 model and a marine data set recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. With more iterations, the LSRTM image quality is further improved. We conclude that LSRTM with frequency-selection is an efficient migration method that can sometimes produce more focused images than conventional RTM.

  7. Mechanical stress-controlled tunable active frequency-selective surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Bo-Cin; Hong, Jian-Wei; Lo, Cheng-Yao

    2017-01-01

    This study proposes a tunable active frequency-selective surface (AFSS) realized by mechanically expanding or contracting a split-ring resonator (SRR) array. The proposed AFSS transfers mechanical stress from its elastic substrate to the top of the SRR, thereby achieving electromagnetic (EM) modulation without the need for an additional external power supply, meeting the requirements for the target application: the invisibility cloak. The operating mechanism of the proposed AFSS differs from those of other AFSSs, supporting modulations in arbitrary frequencies in the target range. The proposed stress-controlled or strain-induced EM modulation proves the existence of an identical and linear relationship between the strain gradient and the frequency shift, implying its suitability for other EM modulation ranges and applications.

  8. Performance of High Layer Thickness in Selective Laser Melting of Ti6Al4V

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xuezhi Shi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available To increase building rate and save cost, the selective laser melting (SLM of Ti6Al4V with a high layer thickness (200 μm and low cost coarse powders (53 μm–106 μm at a laser power of 400 W is investigated in this preliminary study. A relatively large laser beam with a diameter of 200 μm is utilized to produce a stable melt pool at high layer thickness, and the appropriate scanning track, which has a smooth surface with a shallow contact angle, can be obtained at the scanning speeds from 40 mm/s to 80 mm/s. By adjusting the hatch spacings, the density of multi-layer samples can be up to 99.99%, which is much higher than that achieved in previous studies about high layer thickness selective laser melting. Meanwhile, the building rate can be up to 7.2 mm3/s, which is about 2 times–9 times that of the commercial equipment. Besides, two kinds of defects are observed: the large un-melted defects and the small spherical micropores. The formation of the un-melted defects is mainly attributed to the inappropriate overlap rates and the unstable scanning tracks, which can be eliminated by adjusting the processing parameters. Nevertheless, the micropores cannot be completely eliminated. It is worth noting that the high layer thickness plays a key role on surface roughness rather than tensile properties during the SLM process. Although a sample with a relatively coarse surface is generated, the average values of yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation are 1050 MPa, 1140 MPa, and 7.03%, respectively, which are not obviously different than those with the thin layer thickness used in previous research; this is due to the similar metallurgical bonding and microstructure.

  9. Performance of High Layer Thickness in Selective Laser Melting of Ti6Al4V.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Xuezhi; Ma, Shuyuan; Liu, Changmeng; Chen, Cheng; Wu, Qianru; Chen, Xianping; Lu, Jiping

    2016-12-01

    To increase building rate and save cost, the selective laser melting (SLM) of Ti6Al4V with a high layer thickness (200 μm) and low cost coarse powders (53 μm-106 μm) at a laser power of 400 W is investigated in this preliminary study. A relatively large laser beam with a diameter of 200 μm is utilized to produce a stable melt pool at high layer thickness, and the appropriate scanning track, which has a smooth surface with a shallow contact angle, can be obtained at the scanning speeds from 40 mm/s to 80 mm/s. By adjusting the hatch spacings, the density of multi-layer samples can be up to 99.99%, which is much higher than that achieved in previous studies about high layer thickness selective laser melting. Meanwhile, the building rate can be up to 7.2 mm³/s, which is about 2 times-9 times that of the commercial equipment. Besides, two kinds of defects are observed: the large un-melted defects and the small spherical micropores. The formation of the un-melted defects is mainly attributed to the inappropriate overlap rates and the unstable scanning tracks, which can be eliminated by adjusting the processing parameters. Nevertheless, the micropores cannot be completely eliminated. It is worth noting that the high layer thickness plays a key role on surface roughness rather than tensile properties during the SLM process. Although a sample with a relatively coarse surface is generated, the average values of yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation are 1050 MPa, 1140 MPa, and 7.03%, respectively, which are not obviously different than those with the thin layer thickness used in previous research; this is due to the similar metallurgical bonding and microstructure.

  10. Consequences of peripheral frequency selectivity for nonsimultaneous masking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Duifhuis, H.

    1973-01-01

    The frequency selectivity of the peripheral ear (e.g., at the VIIIth nerve level) is so acute that onset and offset transients in responses to short signals produce a nonnegligible extension of the signal duration. Thus, peripheral excitation patterns produced by signals which were separated in time

  11. Secured Communication over Frequency-Selective Fading Channels: A Practical Vandermonde Precoding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mari Kobayashi

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the frequency-selective broadcast channel with confidential messages (BCC where the transmitter sends a confidential message to receiver 1 and a common message to receivers 1 and 2. In the case of a block transmission of N symbols followed by a guard interval of L symbols, the frequency-selective channel can be modeled as a N×(N+L Toeplitz matrix. For this special type of multiple-input multiple-output channels, we propose a practical Vandermonde precoding that projects the confidential messages in the null space of the channel seen by receiver 2 while superposing the common message. For this scheme, we provide the achievable rate region and characterize the optimal covariance for some special cases of interest. Interestingly, the proposed scheme can be applied to other multiuser scenarios such as the K+1-user frequency-selective BCC with K confidential messages and the two-user frequency-selective BCC with two confidential messages. For each scenario, we provide the secrecy degree of freedom (s.d.o.f. region of the corresponding channel and prove the optimality of the Vandermonde precoding. One of the appealing features of the proposed scheme is that it does not require any specific secrecy encoding technique but can be applied on top of any existing powerful encoding schemes.

  12. Increased carotid intima thickness and decreased media thickness in premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus: an investigation by non-invasive high-frequency ultrasound.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonard, D; Akhter, T; Nordmark, G; Rönnblom, L; Naessen, T

    2011-01-01

    To determine whether high-frequency ultrasound (US) yielding separate assessments of intima and media thickness gives additional information about the vascular morphology compared with the total common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT). Using a 22 MHz US instrument, we determined the near-wall CCA-IMT, the intima and media layers, and the intima/media (I/M) ratio in 47 premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 20 healthy women, and 17 postmenopausal women (mean ages 37, 40, and 69 years, respectively). In SLE, the carotid intima was thicker (0.19 ± 0.04 vs. 0.12 ± 0.02 mm), the media thinner (0.45 ± 0.12 vs. 0.68 ± 0.24 mm), the I/M ratio higher (0.45 ± 0.17 vs. 0.20 ± 0.07) (all p women (0.19 ± 0.04 vs. 0.14 ± 0.03 mm, p media, and a higher I/M ratio in women with SLE compared to healthy controls and indicated an artery wall status in SLE comparable to 30-years-older healthy women. Separate estimates of carotid intima and media layers may be preferable to CCA-IMT in SLE patients.

  13. Least-squares reverse time migration of marine data with frequency-selection encoding

    KAUST Repository

    Dai, Wei

    2013-06-24

    The phase-encoding technique can sometimes increase the efficiency of the least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) by more than one order of magnitude. However, traditional random encoding functions require all the encoded shots to share the same receiver locations, thus limiting the usage to seismic surveys with a fixed spread geometry. We implement a frequency-selection encoding strategy that accommodates data with a marine streamer geometry. The encoding functions are delta functions in the frequency domain, so that all the encoded shots have unique nonoverlapping frequency content, and the receivers can distinguish the wavefield from each shot with a unique frequency band. Because the encoding functions are orthogonal to each other, there will be no crosstalk between different shots during modeling and migration. With the frequency-selection encoding method, the computational efficiency of LSRTM is increased so that its cost is comparable to conventional RTM for the Marmousi2 model and a marine data set recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. With more iterations, the LSRTM image quality is further improved by suppressing migration artifacts, balancing reflector amplitudes, and enhancing the spatial resolution. We conclude that LSRTM with frequency-selection is an efficient migration method that can sometimes produce more focused images than conventional RTM. © 2013 Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

  14. On selecting a sensitive region thickness of a silicon semiconductor detector for operation under counting conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pronkin, N.S.; Khakhalin, V.V.

    1972-01-01

    The paper discusses the selection of a thickness of a sensitive area of a silicon semiconductor detector, used in the count regime based on the signal to noise ratio and β-radiation registration efficiency. (author)

  15. Creaming enhancement in a liter scale ultrasonic reactor at selected transducer configurations and frequencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juliano, Pablo; Temmel, Sandra; Rout, Manoj; Swiergon, Piotr; Mawson, Raymond; Knoerzer, Kai

    2013-01-01

    Recent research has shown that high frequency ultrasound (0.4-3 MHz), can enhance milkfat separation in small scale systems able to treat only a few milliliters of sample. In this work, the effect of ultrasonic standing waves on milkfat creaming was studied in a 6L reactor and the influence of different frequencies and transducer configurations in direct contact with the fluid was investigated. A recombined coarse milk emulsion with fat globules stained with oil-red-O dye was selected for the separation trials. Runs were performed with one or two transducers placed in vertical (parallel or perpendicular) and horizontal positions (at the reactor base) at 0.4, 1 and/or 2 MHz (specific energy 8.5 ± 0.6 kJ/kg per transducer). Creaming behavior was assessed by measuring the thickness of the separated cream layer. Other methods supporting this assessment included the measurement of fat content, backscattering, particle size distribution, and microscopy of samples taken at the bottom and top of the reactor. Most efficient creaming was found after treatment at 0.4 MHz in single and double vertical transducer configurations. Among these configurations, a higher separation rate was obtained when sonicating at 0.4 MHz in a vertical perpendicular double transducer setup. The horizontal transducer configuration promoted creaming at 2 MHz only. Fat globule size increase was observed when creaming occurred. This research highlights the potential for enhanced separation of milkfat in larger scale systems from selected transducer configurations in contact with a dairy emulsion, or emulsion splitting in general. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Tuning In to Sound: Frequency-Selective Attentional Filter in Human Primary Auditory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Costa, Sandra; van der Zwaag, Wietske; Miller, Lee M.; Clarke, Stephanie

    2013-01-01

    Cocktail parties, busy streets, and other noisy environments pose a difficult challenge to the auditory system: how to focus attention on selected sounds while ignoring others? Neurons of primary auditory cortex, many of which are sharply tuned to sound frequency, could help solve this problem by filtering selected sound information based on frequency-content. To investigate whether this occurs, we used high-resolution fMRI at 7 tesla to map the fine-scale frequency-tuning (1.5 mm isotropic resolution) of primary auditory areas A1 and R in six human participants. Then, in a selective attention experiment, participants heard low (250 Hz)- and high (4000 Hz)-frequency streams of tones presented at the same time (dual-stream) and were instructed to focus attention onto one stream versus the other, switching back and forth every 30 s. Attention to low-frequency tones enhanced neural responses within low-frequency-tuned voxels relative to high, and when attention switched the pattern quickly reversed. Thus, like a radio, human primary auditory cortex is able to tune into attended frequency channels and can switch channels on demand. PMID:23365225

  17. Individual Alpha Peak Frequency Predicts 10 Hz Flicker Effects on Selective Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulbinaite, Rasa; van Viegen, Tara; Wieling, Martijn; Cohen, Michael X; VanRullen, Rufin

    2017-10-18

    Rhythmic visual stimulation ("flicker") is primarily used to "tag" processing of low-level visual and high-level cognitive phenomena. However, preliminary evidence suggests that flicker may also entrain endogenous brain oscillations, thereby modulating cognitive processes supported by those brain rhythms. Here we tested the interaction between 10 Hz flicker and endogenous alpha-band (∼10 Hz) oscillations during a selective visuospatial attention task. We recorded EEG from human participants (both genders) while they performed a modified Eriksen flanker task in which distractors and targets flickered within (10 Hz) or outside (7.5 or 15 Hz) the alpha band. By using a combination of EEG source separation, time-frequency, and single-trial linear mixed-effects modeling, we demonstrate that 10 Hz flicker interfered with stimulus processing more on incongruent than congruent trials (high vs low selective attention demands). Crucially, the effect of 10 Hz flicker on task performance was predicted by the distance between 10 Hz and individual alpha peak frequency (estimated during the task). Finally, the flicker effect on task performance was more strongly predicted by EEG flicker responses during stimulus processing than during preparation for the upcoming stimulus, suggesting that 10 Hz flicker interfered more with reactive than proactive selective attention. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis that visual flicker entrained endogenous alpha-band networks, which in turn impaired task performance. Our findings also provide novel evidence for frequency-dependent exogenous modulation of cognition that is determined by the correspondence between the exogenous flicker frequency and the endogenous brain rhythms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here we provide novel evidence that the interaction between exogenous rhythmic visual stimulation and endogenous brain rhythms can have frequency-specific behavioral effects. We show that alpha-band (10 Hz) flicker impairs stimulus

  18. The Effect of Selected Conditions in a Thermoforming Process on Wall Thickness Variations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emil Sasimowski

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper reports the results of a study on the effect of selected conditions in a thermoforming process for thin polystyrene sheet by vacuum assisted drape forming on the wall thickness non-uniformity of finished parts. The investigation was performed using Statistica’s DOE module for three variables: temperatures in the external and internal zones of the heater as well as heating time of the plastic sheet. The results demonstrate that the wall thickness in the finished parts at the measuring points is primarily affected by the heating time and the temperature in the internal zone of the heater, while the temperature in the external zone only affects some regions of the finished part. The results demonstrate that a short heating time and hence a lower temperature of the plastic sheet lead to a more uniform deformation of both the bottom and the side walls of the finished part, and as a consequence, to smaller variations in the wall thickness. The shortening of the heating time is however limited by the necessity of accurate reproduction of the shape of the finished part.

  19. Automated Estimation of Melanocytic Skin Tumor Thickness by Ultrasonic Radiofrequency Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrekute, Kristina; Valiukeviciene, Skaidra; Raisutis, Renaldas; Linkeviciute, Gintare; Makstiene, Jurgita; Kliunkiene, Renata

    2016-05-01

    High-frequency (>20-MHz) ultrasound (US) is a noninvasive preoperative tool for assessment of melanocytic skin tumor thickness. Ultrasonic melanocytic skin tumor thickness estimation is not always easy and is related to the experience of the clinician. In this article, we present an automated thickness measurement method based on time-frequency analysis of US radiofrequency signals. The study was performed on 52 thin (≤1-mm) melanocytic skin tumors (46 melanocytic nevi and 6 melanomas). Radiofrequency signals were obtained with a single-element focused transducer (fundamental frequency, 22 MHz; bandwidth, 12-28 MHz). The radiofrequency data were analyzed in the time-frequency domain to make the tumor boundaries more noticeable. The thicknesses of the tumors were evaluated by 3 different metrics: histologically measured Breslow thickness, manually measured US thickness, and automatically measured US thickness. The results showed a higher correlation coefficient between the automatically measured US thickness and Breslow thickness (r= 0.83; Pmeasured US thickness (r = 0.68; P measurement algorithm was 96.55%, and the specificity was 78.26% compared with histologic measurement. The sensitivity of the manually measured US thickness was 75.86%, and the specificity was 73.91%. The efficient automated tumor thickness measurement method developed could be used as a tool for preoperative assessment of melanocytic skin tumor thickness. © 2016 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

  20. The yule approximation for the site frequency spectrum after a selective sweep.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Bossert

    Full Text Available In the area of evolutionary theory, a key question is which portions of the genome of a species are targets of natural selection. Genetic hitchhiking is a theoretical concept that has helped to identify various such targets in natural populations. In the presence of recombination, a severe reduction in sequence diversity is expected around a strongly beneficial allele. The site frequency spectrum is an important tool in genome scans for selection and is composed of the numbers S(1,...,S(n-1, where S(k is the number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs present in k from n individuals. Previous work has shown that both the number of low- and high-frequency variants are elevated relative to neutral evolution when a strongly beneficial allele fixes. Here, we follow a recent investigation of genetic hitchhiking using a marked Yule process to obtain an analytical prediction of the site frequency spectrum in a panmictic population at the time of fixation of a highly beneficial mutation. We combine standard results from the neutral case with the effects of a selective sweep. As simulations show, the resulting formula produces predictions that are more accurate than previous approaches for the whole frequency spectrum. In particular, the formula correctly predicts the elevation of low- and high-frequency variants and is significantly more accurate than previously derived formulas for intermediate frequency variants.

  1. Selective injection locking of a multi-mode semiconductor laser to a multi-frequency reference beam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pramod, Mysore Srinivas; Yang, Tao; Pandey, Kanhaiya; Giudici, Massimo; Wilkowski, David

    2014-07-01

    Injection locking is a well known and commonly used method for coherent light amplification. Usually injection locking is obtained on a single-mode laser injected by a single-frequency seeding beam. In this work we show that selective injection locking of a single-frequency may also be achieved on a multi-mode semiconductor laser injected by a multi-frequency seeding beam, if the slave laser provides sufficient frequency filtering. This selective injection locking condition depends critically on the frequency detuning between the free-running slave emission frequency and each injected frequency component. Stable selective injection locking to a set of three seeding components separated by 1.2 GHz is obtained. This system provides an amplification up to 37 dB of each component. This result suggests that, using distinct slave lasers for each frequency line, a set of mutually coherent high-power radiation modes can be tuned in the GHz frequency domain.

  2. Improving accuracy of overhanging structures for selective laser melting through reliability characterization of single track formation on thick powder beds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mohanty, Sankhya; Hattel, Jesper Henri

    2016-01-01

    Repeatability and reproducibility of parts produced by selective laser melting is a standing issue, and coupled with a lack of standardized quality control presents a major hindrance towards maturing of selective laser melting as an industrial scale process. Consequently, numerical process...... modelling has been adopted towards improving the predictability of the outputs from the selective laser melting process. Establishing the reliability of the process, however, is still a challenge, especially in components having overhanging structures.In this paper, a systematic approach towards...... establishing reliability of overhanging structure production by selective laser melting has been adopted. A calibrated, fast, multiscale thermal model is used to simulate the single track formation on a thick powder bed. Single tracks are manufactured on a thick powder bed using same processing parameters...

  3. Effect of length to thickness ratio on free vibration analysis of thick fiber reinforced plastic skew cross-ply laminate with circular cutout

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srividya, K.; Reddy, Ch. Kishore; Sumanth, Ch. Mohan; Krishnaiah, P. Gopala; Kishan, V. Mallikharjuna

    2018-04-01

    The present investigation deals with the free vibration analysis of a thick four-layered symmetric cross-ply skew laminated composite plate with a circular cutout. Three dimensional finite element models (FEM) which use the elasticity theory for the determination of stiffness matrices are modeled in ANSYS software to evaluate first five natural frequencies of the laminate. The variations of the first five natural frequencies with respect to length to thickness ratio (S) for different diameter to length ratios (d/l) are presented. It is observed that, the natural frequencies decreases with increase of thickness ratio(S).

  4. Selection of the wavelet function for the frequencies estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia R, A.

    2007-01-01

    At the moment the signals are used to diagnose the state of the systems, by means of the extraction of their more important characteristics such as the frequencies, tendencies, changes and temporary evolutions. This characteristics are detected by means of diverse analysis techniques, as Autoregressive methods, Fourier Transformation, Fourier transformation in short time, Wavelet transformation, among others. The present work uses the one Wavelet transformation because it allows to analyze stationary, quasi-stationary and transitory signals in the time-frequency plane. It also describes a methodology to select the scales and the Wavelet function to be applied the one Wavelet transformation with the objective of detecting to the dominant system frequencies. (Author)

  5. Integral criterion for selecting nonlinear crystals for frequency conversion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grechin, Sergei G

    2009-01-01

    An integral criterion, which takes into account all parameters determining the conversion efficiency, is offered for selecting nonlinear crystals for frequency conversion. The angular phase-matching width is shown to be related to the beam walk-off angle. (nonlinear optical phenomena)

  6. A Smartphone Application for Customized Frequency Table Selection in Cochlear Implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jethanamest, Daniel; Azadpour, Mahan; Zeman, Annette M; Sagi, Elad; Svirsky, Mario A

    2017-09-01

    A novel smartphone-based software application can facilitate self-selection of frequency allocation tables (FAT) in postlingually deaf cochlear implant (CI) users. CIs use FATs to represent the tonotopic organization of a normal cochlea. Current CI fitting methods typically use a standard FAT for all patients regardless of individual differences in cochlear size and electrode location. In postlingually deaf patients, different amounts of mismatch can result between the frequency-place function they experienced when they had normal hearing and the frequency-place function that results from the standard FAT. For some CI users, an alternative FAT may enhance sound quality or speech perception. Currently, no widely available tools exist to aid real-time selection of different FATs. This study aims to develop a new smartphone tool for this purpose and to evaluate speech perception and sound quality measures in a pilot study of CI subjects using this application. A smartphone application for a widely available mobile platform (iOS) was developed to serve as a preprocessor of auditory input to a clinical CI speech processor and enable interactive real-time selection of FATs. The application's output was validated by measuring electrodograms for various inputs. A pilot study was conducted in six CI subjects. Speech perception was evaluated using word recognition tests. All subjects successfully used the portable application with their clinical speech processors to experience different FATs while listening to running speech. The users were all able to select one table that they judged provided the best sound quality. All subjects chose a FAT different from the standard FAT in their everyday clinical processor. Using the smartphone application, the mean consonant-nucleus-consonant score with the default FAT selection was 28.5% (SD 16.8) and 29.5% (SD 16.4) when using a self-selected FAT. A portable smartphone application enables CI users to self-select frequency allocation

  7. Ferrite Film Loaded Frequency Selective Metamaterials for Sub-GHz Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bo Gao

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Electromagnetic metamaterials are constructed with sub-wavelength structures that exhibit particular electromagnetic properties under a certain frequency range. Because the form-factor of the substructures has to be comparable to the wavelength of the operating frequency, few papers have discussed the metamaterials under GHz frequency. In this paper, we developed an innovative method to reduce the resonant frequency of metamaterals. By integrating the meta-structures with ferrite materials of higher permeability, the cell size of the meta-structure can be scaled down. This paper describes the methodology, design, and development of low-profile GHz ferrite loaded metamaterials. A ferrite film with a permeability of 20 could reduce the resonant frequency of metamaterials by up to 50%. A prototype has been fabricated and the measurement data align well with the simulation results. Because of the lowered operational frequency, the proposed ferrite loaded metamaterials offer more flexibility for various sub-GHz microwave applications, such as cloaks, absorbers, and frequency selective surfaces.

  8. Estimation of soft sediment thickness in Kuala Lumpur based on microtremor observation data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiew, Chang Chyau; Cheah, Yi Ben; Tan, Chin Guan; Lau, Tze Liang

    2017-10-01

    Seismic site effect is one of the major concerns in earthquake engineering. Soft ground tends to amplify the seismic wave in surficial geological layers. The determination of soft ground thickness on the surface layers of the earth is an important input for seismic hazard assessment. This paper presents an easy and convenient approach to estimate the soft sediment thickness at the site using microtremor observation technique. A total number of 133 survey points were conducted in selected sites around Kuala Lumpur area using a microtremor measuring instrument, but only 103 survey points contributed to the seismic microzonation and sediment thickness plots. The bedrock of Kuala Lumpur area is formed by Kenny Hill Formation, limestone, granite, and the Hawthornden Schist; however, the thickness of surface soft ground formed by alluvial deposits, mine tailings, and residual soils remains unknown. Hence, the predominant frequency of the ground in each site was determined based on Nakamura method. A total number of 14 sites with known depth to bedrock from the supply of geotechnical reports in the study area were determined. An empirical correlation was developed to relate the ground predominant frequency and soft ground thickness. This correlation may contribute to local soil underlying the subsurface of Kuala Lumpur area. The finding provides an important relationship for engineers to estimate the soft ground thickness in Kuala Lumpur area based on the dynamic characteristics of the ground measured from microtremor observation.

  9. Multi-frequency Defect Selective Imaging via Nonlinear Ultrasound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solodov, Igor; Busse, Gerd

    The concept of defect-selective ultrasonic nonlinear imaging is based on visualization of strongly nonlinear inclusions in the form of localized cracked defects. For intense excitation, the ultrasonic response of defects is affected by mechanical constraint between their fragments that makes their vibrations extremely nonlinear. The cracked flaws, therefore, efficiently generate multiple new frequencies, which can be used as a nonlinear "tag" to detect and image them. In this paper, the methodologies of nonlinear scanning laser vibrometry (NSLV) and nonlinear air-coupled emission (NACE) are applied for nonlinear imaging of various defects in hi-tech and constructional materials. A broad database obtained demonstrates evident advantages of the nonlinear approach over its linear counterpart. The higher-order nonlinear frequencies provide increase in signal-to-noise ratio and enhance the contrast of imaging. Unlike conventional ultrasonic instruments, the nonlinear approach yields abundant multi-frequency information on defect location. The application of image recognition and processing algorithms is described and shown to improve reliability and quality of ultrasonic imaging.

  10. Does modifying the thick texture and creamy flavour of a drink change portion size selection and intake?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCrickerd, Keri; Chambers, Lucy; Yeomans, Martin R

    2014-02-01

    Previous research indicates that a drink's sensory characteristics can influence appetite regulation. Enhancing the thick and creamy sensory characteristics of a drink generated expectations of satiety and improved its actual satiating effects. Expectations about food also play an important role in decisions about intake, in which case enhancing the thick and creamy characteristics of a drink might also result in smaller portion size selection. In the current study forty-eight participants (24 female) completed four test days where they came into the laboratory for a fixed-portion breakfast, returning two hours later for a mid-morning drink, which they could serve themselves and consume as much as they liked. Over the test days, participants consumed an iso-energetic drink in four sensory contexts: thin and low-creamy; thin and high-creamy; thick and low-creamy; thick and high-creamy. Results indicated that participants consumed less of the thick drinks, but that this was only true of the female participants; male participants consumed the same amount of the four drinks regardless of sensory context. The addition of creamy flavour did not affect intake but the thicker drinks were associated with an increase in perceived creaminess. Despite differences in intake, hunger and fullness ratings did not differ across male and female participants and were not affected by the drinks sensory characteristics. The vast majority of participants consumed all of the drink they served themselves indicating that differences in intake reflected portion size decisions. These findings suggest women will select smaller portions of a drink when its sensory characteristics indicate that it will be satiating. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Enhanced selectivity of boron doped diamond electrodes for the detection of dopamine and ascorbic acid by increasing the film thickness

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Qi, Yao; Long, Hangyu [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Ma, Li, E-mail: marycsupm@csu.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Wei, Quiping, E-mail: qiupwei@csu.edu.cn [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Li, Site [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Yu, Zhiming [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Hu, Jingyuan [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Liu, Peizhi [Key laboratory of interface science and engineering in advanced materials, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024,PR China (China); Wang, Yijia [School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); Meng, Lingcong [Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

    2016-12-30

    Highlights: • BDD electrodes with different thickness have been fabricated. • BDD electrodes are used for simultaneous detection of DA and AA. • Anodic pretreatment enhance the separation of DA and AA oxidation peak potential. • Thicker BDD electrode show better performance for DA detection coexisting with AA. - Abstract: In this paper, boron doped diamond (BDD) with different thickness were prepared by hot filament chemical vapor deposition. The performance of BDD electrodes for detecting dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectra reveal the grain size increases and the film quality improves with the increase of film thickness. Electrochemical test show that the transfer coefficient in [Fe{sub 3} (CN) {sub 6}]{sup 3−/4−} redox system increases with the increase of the film thickness. The results of selectivity and sensitivity for DA mixed with AA detection show that 8h-BDD and 12h-BDD electrodes possess well selective separated oxidation peaks of DA and AA, and the 12h-BDD electrode exhibits optimal sensitivity until the DA concentration drops to 1 μ M.

  12. Study on the sandwich piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducer in thickness vibration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin Shuyu; Tian Hua

    2008-01-01

    A sandwich piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducer in thickness vibration is studied. The transducer consists of front and back metal masses, and coaxially segmented, thickness polarized piezoelectric ceramic thin rings. For this kind of sandwich piezoelectric transducers in thickness vibration, it is required that the lateral dimension of the transducer is sufficiently large compared with its longitudinal dimension so that no lateral displacements in the transducer can occur (laterally clamped). In this paper, the thickness vibration of the piezoelectric ceramic stack consisting of a number of identical piezoelectric ceramic thin rings is analysed and its electro-mechanical equivalent circuit is obtained. The resonance frequency equation for the sandwich piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducer in thickness vibration is derived. Based on the frequency equation, two sandwich piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducers are designed and manufactured, and their resonance frequencies are measured. It is shown that the measured resonance frequencies are in good agreement with the theoretical results. This kind of sandwich piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is expected to be used in megasonic ultrasonic cleaning and sonochemistry where high power and high frequency ultrasound is needed

  13. Vast Volatility Matrix Estimation using High Frequency Data for Portfolio Selection*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Jianqing; Li, Yingying; Yu, Ke

    2012-01-01

    Portfolio allocation with gross-exposure constraint is an effective method to increase the efficiency and stability of portfolios selection among a vast pool of assets, as demonstrated in Fan et al. (2011). The required high-dimensional volatility matrix can be estimated by using high frequency financial data. This enables us to better adapt to the local volatilities and local correlations among vast number of assets and to increase significantly the sample size for estimating the volatility matrix. This paper studies the volatility matrix estimation using high-dimensional high-frequency data from the perspective of portfolio selection. Specifically, we propose the use of “pairwise-refresh time” and “all-refresh time” methods based on the concept of “refresh time” proposed by Barndorff-Nielsen et al. (2008) for estimation of vast covariance matrix and compare their merits in the portfolio selection. We establish the concentration inequalities of the estimates, which guarantee desirable properties of the estimated volatility matrix in vast asset allocation with gross exposure constraints. Extensive numerical studies are made via carefully designed simulations. Comparing with the methods based on low frequency daily data, our methods can capture the most recent trend of the time varying volatility and correlation, hence provide more accurate guidance for the portfolio allocation in the next time period. The advantage of using high-frequency data is significant in our simulation and empirical studies, which consist of 50 simulated assets and 30 constituent stocks of Dow Jones Industrial Average index. PMID:23264708

  14. Vast Volatility Matrix Estimation using High Frequency Data for Portfolio Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Jianqing; Li, Yingying; Yu, Ke

    2012-01-01

    Portfolio allocation with gross-exposure constraint is an effective method to increase the efficiency and stability of portfolios selection among a vast pool of assets, as demonstrated in Fan et al. (2011). The required high-dimensional volatility matrix can be estimated by using high frequency financial data. This enables us to better adapt to the local volatilities and local correlations among vast number of assets and to increase significantly the sample size for estimating the volatility matrix. This paper studies the volatility matrix estimation using high-dimensional high-frequency data from the perspective of portfolio selection. Specifically, we propose the use of "pairwise-refresh time" and "all-refresh time" methods based on the concept of "refresh time" proposed by Barndorff-Nielsen et al. (2008) for estimation of vast covariance matrix and compare their merits in the portfolio selection. We establish the concentration inequalities of the estimates, which guarantee desirable properties of the estimated volatility matrix in vast asset allocation with gross exposure constraints. Extensive numerical studies are made via carefully designed simulations. Comparing with the methods based on low frequency daily data, our methods can capture the most recent trend of the time varying volatility and correlation, hence provide more accurate guidance for the portfolio allocation in the next time period. The advantage of using high-frequency data is significant in our simulation and empirical studies, which consist of 50 simulated assets and 30 constituent stocks of Dow Jones Industrial Average index.

  15. Frequency Selective Surfaces for extended Bandwidth backing reflector functions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pasian, M.; Neto, A.; Monni, S.; Ettorre, M.; Gerini, G.

    2008-01-01

    This paper deals with the use of Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) to increase the Efficiency × Bandwidth product in Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) antenna arrays whose efficiency is limited by the front-to-back ratio. If the backing reflector is realized in one metal plane solution its location will be

  16. A glimpse beneath Antarctic sea ice: observation of platelet-layer thickness and ice-volume fraction with multi-frequency EM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hendricks, S.; Hoppmann, M.; Hunkeler, P. A.; Kalscheuer, T.; Gerdes, R.

    2015-12-01

    In Antarctica, ice crystals (platelets) form and grow in supercooled waters below ice shelves. These platelets rise and accumulate beneath nearby sea ice to form a several meter thick sub-ice platelet layer. This special ice type is a unique habitat, influences sea-ice mass and energy balance, and its volume can be interpreted as an indicator for ice - ocean interactions. Although progress has been made in determining and understanding its spatio-temporal variability based on point measurements, an investigation of this phenomenon on a larger scale remains a challenge due to logistical constraints and a lack of suitable methodology. In the present study, we applied a lateral constrained Marquardt-Levenberg inversion to a unique multi-frequency electromagnetic (EM) induction sounding dataset obtained on the ice-shelf influenced fast-ice regime of Atka Bay, eastern Weddell Sea. We adapted the inversion algorithm to incorporate a sensor specific signal bias, and confirmed the reliability of the algorithm by performing a sensitivity study using synthetic data. We inverted the field data for sea-ice and sub-ice platelet-layer thickness and electrical conductivity, and calculated ice-volume fractions from platelet-layer conductivities using Archie's Law. The thickness results agreed well with drill-hole validation datasets within the uncertainty range, and the ice-volume fraction also yielded plausible results. Our findings imply that multi-frequency EM induction sounding is a suitable approach to efficiently map sea-ice and platelet-layer properties. However, we emphasize that the successful application of this technique requires a break with traditional EM sensor calibration strategies due to the need of absolute calibration with respect to a physical forward model.

  17. Theoretical study of the influence of twine thickness on haddock selectivity in diamond mesh cod-ends

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herrmann, Bent; O'Neill, F.G.

    2006-01-01

    Using the cod-end simulation model PRESEMO, the influence of twine thickness on cod-end selectivity is investigated. The reduction of lateral mesh opening that arises as a result of both twine bending stiffness and the physical presence of the twine is considered. While it is shown that this lead...

  18. Color selectivity of surface-plasmon holograms illuminated with white light.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozaki, Miyu; Kato, Jun-ichi; Kawata, Satoshi

    2013-09-20

    By using the optical frequency dependence of surface-plasmon polaritons, color images can be reconstructed from holograms illuminated with white light. We report details on the color selectivity of the color holograms. The selectivity is tuned by the thickness of a dielectric film covering a plasmonic metal film. When the dielectric is SiO(2) and the metal is silver, the appropriate thicknesses are 25 and 55 nm, respectively. In terms of spatial color uniformity, holograms made of silver-film corrugations are better than holograms recorded on photographic film on a flat silver surface.

  19. Type-I frequency-doubling characteristics of high-power, ultrafast fiber laser in thick BIBO crystal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaitanya N, Apurv; Aadhi, A; Singh, R P; Samanta, G K

    2014-09-15

    We report on experimental realization of optimum focusing condition for type-I second-harmonic generation (SHG) of high-power, ultrafast laser in "thick" nonlinear crystal. Using single-pass, frequency doubling of a 5 W Yb-fiber laser of pulse width ~260 fs at repetition rate of 78 MHz in a 5-mm-long bismuth triborate (BIBO) crystal we observed that the optimum focusing condition is more dependent on the birefringence of the crystal than its group-velocity mismatch (GVM). A theoretical fit to our experimental results reveals that even in the presence of GVM, the optimum focusing condition matches the theoretical model of Boyd and Kleinman, predicted for continuous-wave and long-pulse SHG. Using a focusing factor of ξ=1.16 close to the estimated optimum value of ξ=1.72 for our experimental conditions, we generated 2.25 W of green radiation of pulse width 176 fs with single-pass conversion efficiency as high as 46.5%. Our study also verifies the effect of pulse narrowing and broadening of angular phase-matching bandwidth of SHG at tighter focusing. This study signifies the advantage of SHG in "thick" crystal in controlling SH-pulse width by changing the focusing lens while accessing high conversion efficiency and broad angular phase-matching bandwidth.

  20. Use of high-frequency ultrasonography for evaluation of skin thickness in relation to hydration status and fluid distribution at various cutaneous sites in dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diana, Alessia; Guglielmini, Carlo; Fracassi, Federico; Pietra, Marco; Balletti, Erika; Cipone, Mario

    2008-09-01

    To assess the usefulness of high-frequency diagnostic ultrasonography for evaluation of changes of skin thickness in relation to hydration status and fluid distribution at various cutaneous sites in dogs. 10 clinically normal adult dogs (6 males and 4 females) of various breeds. Ultrasonographic examination of the skin was performed before and after hydration via IV administration of an isotonic crystalloid solution (30 mL/kg/h for 30 minutes). A 13-MHz linear-array transducer was used to obtain series of ultrasonographic images at 4 different cutaneous sites (the frontal, sacral, flank, and metatarsal regions). Weight and various clinicopathologic variables (PCV; serum osmolality; and serum total protein, albumin, and sodium concentrations) were determined before and after the infusion. These variables and ultrasonographic measurements of skin thickness before and after hydration were compared. Among the 10 dogs, mean preinfusion skin thickness ranged from 2,211 microm (metatarsal region) to 3,249 microm (sacral region). Compared with preinfusion values, weight was significantly increased, whereas PCV; serum osmolality; and serum total protein, albumin, and sodium concentrations were significantly decreased after infusion. After infusion, dermal echogenicity decreased and skin thickness increased significantly by 21%, 14%, 15%, and 13% in the frontal, sacral, flank, and metatarsal regions, respectively. Cutaneous site and hydration were correlated with cutaneous characteristics and skin thickness determined by use of high-frequency ultrasonography in dogs. Thus, diagnostic ultrasonography may be a useful tool for the noninvasive evaluation of skin hydration in healthy dogs and in dogs with skin edema.

  1. The film thickness dependent thermal stability of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films as high-temperature solar selective absorbers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiao Xiudi; Xu Gang, E-mail: xiudixiao@163.com; Xiong Bin; Chen Deming; Miao Lei [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrates, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (China)

    2012-03-15

    The monolayer Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films were prepared by magnetron sputtering. The microstructure and optical properties of thin film after annealing at 700 Degree-Sign C in air were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectrophotometer. It revealed that the particle shape, size, and distribution across the film were greatly changed before and after annealing. The surface plasmon resonance absorption and thermal stability of the film were found to be strongly dependent on the film thickness, which was believed to be associated with the evolution process of particle diffusion, agglomeration, and evaporation during annealing at high temperature. When the film thickness was smaller than 90 nm, the film SPR absorption can be attenuated until extinct with increasing annealing time due to the evaporation of Ag particles. While the film thickness was larger than 120 nm, the absorption can keep constant even after annealing for 64 h due to the agglomeration of Ag particles. On the base of film thickness results, the multilayer Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag solar selective thin films were prepared and the thermal stability test illustrated that the solar selectivity of multilayer films with absorbing layer thickness larger than 120 nm did not degrade after annealing at 500 Degree-Sign C for 70 h in air. It can be concluded that film thickness is an important factor to control the thermal stability of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Ag thin films as high-temperature solar selective absorbers.

  2. Effect of efferent activation on binaural frequency selectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verhey, Jesko L; Kordus, Monika; Drga, Vit; Yasin, Ifat

    2017-07-01

    Binaural notched-noise experiments indicate a reduced frequency selectivity of the binaural system compared to monaural processing. The present study investigates how auditory efferent activation (via the medial olivocochlear system) affects binaural frequency selectivity in normal-hearing listeners. Thresholds were measured for a 1-kHz signal embedded in a diotic notched-noise masker for various notch widths. The signal was either presented in phase (diotic) or in antiphase (dichotic), gated with the noise. Stimulus duration was 25 ms, in order to avoid efferent activation due to the masker or the signal. A bandpass-filtered noise precursor was presented prior to the masker and signal stimuli to activate the efferent system. The silent interval between the precursor and the masker-signal complex was 50 ms. For comparison, thresholds for detectability of the masked signal were also measured in a baseline condition without the precursor and, in addition, without the masker. On average, the results of the baseline condition indicate an effectively wider binaural filter, as expected. For both signal phases, the addition of the precursor results in effectively wider filters, which is in agreement with the hypothesis that cochlear gain is reduced due to the presence of the precursor. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Analysis of Various Frequency Selective Shielding Glass by FDTD method

    OpenAIRE

    笠嶋, 善憲; Kasashima, Yoshinori

    2012-01-01

    A frequency Selective shielding (FSS) glass is a print of many same size antennas on a sheet of glass, and it has high shielding properties for one specific frequency. This time, the author analyzed characteristics of various FSSs whose antenna types are different by FDTD method. The antenna types are cross dipole, circular loop, square loop, circular patch, and square patch. As the result, the FSSs can be composed of the various types of the antennas, and the FSSs have broad-band shielding c...

  4. The effect of training frequency on selected physical and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    They were randomly selected into 3 groups of 20 each. Groups A and B served as the training groups while group C formed the control group which remained sedentary, and followed their normal lifestyle. The experimental groups (A & B) initially trained for 12 weeks at a training frequency of 3 times a week. This was ...

  5. Human Commercial Models' Eye Colour Shows Negative Frequency-Dependent Selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabela Rodrigues Nogueira Forti

    Full Text Available In this study we investigated the eye colour of human commercial models registered in the UK (400 female and 400 male and Brazil (400 female and 400 male to test the hypothesis that model eye colour frequency was the result of negative frequency-dependent selection. The eye colours of the models were classified as: blue, brown or intermediate. Chi-square analyses of data for countries separated by sex showed that in the United Kingdom brown eyes and intermediate colours were significantly more frequent than expected in comparison to the general United Kingdom population (P<0.001. In Brazil, the most frequent eye colour brown was significantly less frequent than expected in comparison to the general Brazilian population. These results support the hypothesis that model eye colour is the result of negative frequency-dependent selection. This could be the result of people using eye colour as a marker of genetic diversity and finding rarer eye colours more attractive because of the potential advantage more genetically diverse offspring that could result from such a choice. Eye colour may be important because in comparison to many other physical traits (e.g., hair colour it is hard to modify, hide or disguise, and it is highly polymorphic.

  6. 3D electroplated inductors with thickness variation for improved broadband performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farm-Guoo Tseng, Victor; Bedair, Sarah S.; Lazarus, Nathan

    2017-01-01

    The performance of an RF spiral inductor is based on the balance between ohmic losses in the outer turns and eddy current losses dominant in the inner turns where the magnetic field is the strongest. In this work, air-core spiral inductors with winding trace thicknesses decreasing towards the center are demonstrated, achieving quality factor improvement over a wide frequency range compared to uniform thickness inductors. A custom 3D copper electroplating process was used to produce spiral inductors with varying winding thicknesses in a single plating step, with patterned gaps in a seed layer used to create delays in the vertical plating. The fabricated center-lowered coil inductors were 80 nH within a one square millimeter area with thickness varying from 60 µm to 10 µm from outer to inner winding. Within the 16 MHz-160 MHz range, the center-lowered inductors were shown to have a maximum to minimum quality factor improvement of 90%-10% when compared to uniform thickness inductors with thicknesses ranging from 60 µm to 10 µm. Compared to the 20 µm uniform thickness inductor which has the optimal performance among all uniform thickness inductors in this frequency range, the center-lowered inductors were shown to achieve a maximum quality factor improvement of 20% at the edge frequencies of 16 MHz and 160 MHz, and a minimum quality factor improvement of 10% near the geometric mean center frequency of 46 MHz.

  7. Card controlled beta backscatter thickness measuring instrument

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlesinger, J.

    1978-01-01

    An improved beta backscatter instrument for the nondestructive measurement of the thickness of thin coatings on a substrate is described. Included therein is the utilization of a bank of memory stored data representative of isotope, substrate, coating material and thickness range characteristics in association with a control card having predetermined indicia thereon selectively representative of a particular isotope, substrate material, coating material and thickness range for conditioning electronic circuit means by memory stored data selected in accord with the predetermined indicia on a control card for converting backscattered beta particle counts into indicia of coating thickness

  8. Selective attention modulates human auditory brainstem responses: relative contributions of frequency and spatial cues.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre Lehmann

    Full Text Available Selective attention is the mechanism that allows focusing one's attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, for instance, on a single conversation in a noisy room. Attending to one sound source rather than another changes activity in the human auditory cortex, but it is unclear whether attention to different acoustic features, such as voice pitch and speaker location, modulates subcortical activity. Studies using a dichotic listening paradigm indicated that auditory brainstem processing may be modulated by the direction of attention. We investigated whether endogenous selective attention to one of two speech signals affects amplitude and phase locking in auditory brainstem responses when the signals were either discriminable by frequency content alone, or by frequency content and spatial location. Frequency-following responses to the speech sounds were significantly modulated in both conditions. The modulation was specific to the task-relevant frequency band. The effect was stronger when both frequency and spatial information were available. Patterns of response were variable between participants, and were correlated with psychophysical discriminability of the stimuli, suggesting that the modulation was biologically relevant. Our results demonstrate that auditory brainstem responses are susceptible to efferent modulation related to behavioral goals. Furthermore they suggest that mechanisms of selective attention actively shape activity at early subcortical processing stages according to task relevance and based on frequency and spatial cues.

  9. Optimized ONO thickness for multi-level and 2-bit/cell operation for wrapped-select-gate (WSG) SONOS memory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Woei-Cherng; Chao, Tien-Sheng; Yang, Tsung-Yu; Peng, Wu-Chin; Yang, Wen-Luh; Chen, Jian-Hao; Ma, Ming Wen; Lai, Chao-Sung; Lee, Chien-Hsing; Hsieh, Tsung-Min; Liou, Jhyy Cheng; Chen, Tzu Ping; Chen, Chien Hung; Lin, Chih Hung; Chen, Hwi Huang; Ko, Joe

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, highly reliable wrapped-select-gate (WSG) silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon (SONOS) memory cells with multi-level and 2-bit/cell operation have been successfully demonstrated. The source-side injection mechanism for WSG-SONOS memory with different ONO thickness was thoroughly investigated. The different programming efficiencies of the WSG-SONOS memory under different ONO thicknesses are explained by the lateral electrical field extracted from the simulation results. Furthermore, multi-level storage is easily obtained, and good V TH distribution presented, for the WSG-SONOS memory with optimized ONO thickness. High program/erase speed (10 µs/5 ms) and low programming current (3.5 µA) are used to achieve the multi-level operation with tolerable gate and drain disturbance, negligible second-bit effect, excellent data retention and good endurance performance

  10. Repeatability and interobserver reproducibility of Artemis-2 high-frequency ultrasound in determination of human corneal thickness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ogbuehi KC

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Kelechi C Ogbuehi, Uchechukwu L OsuagwuOutpatient Clinic, Department of Optometry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaBackground: The purpose of this study was to assess the repeatability and limits of agreement of corneal thickness values measured by a high-frequency ultrasound (Artemis-2, hand-held ultrasound pachymeter (DGH-500 and a specular microscope (SP-3000P.Methods: Central corneal thickness (CCT was analyzed in this prospective randomized study that included 32 patients (18 men and 14 women aged 21–24 years. Measurements were obtained in two sessions, one week apart, by two examiners with three devices in a randomized order. Nine measurements were taken (three with each device on one randomly selected eye of each patient in each measurement session. The coefficient of repeatability and interobserver reproducibility for the values of each method were calculated. The limits of agreement between techniques were also evaluated.Results: There were no significant differences in CCT values between sessions for each of the three devices (P > 0.05. The repeatability coefficients for the Artemis-2 (±8 µm/±9 µm were superior to those of the SP-3000P (±9 µm/±11 µm and DGH 500 (±12 µm/±12 µm in session 1/session 2 respectively, while the interobserver reproducibility index (differences between session 1 and session 2 was superior for the SP-3000P (±17 µm with respect to DHG-500 (±29 µm and the Artemis-2 (±31 µm. In session 1 and session 2, the limits of agreement between the techniques were 35 µm to -31 µm and 34 to -20 µm, respectively, for DGH-500 versus Artemis-2, 73 µm to 3 µm and 60 µm to 9 µm for Artemis-2 versus SP-3000P, and 58 µm to 22 µm and 72 µm to 10 µm for DGH-500 versus SP-3000P comparisons. The DGH-500 and Artemis-2 gave similar values (P > 0.05 in both sessions, but both (Artemis-2 and DGH-500 values were significantly greater than that of the SP-3000P (P < 0.05 in both sessions

  11. Electromagnetic fields created by a beam in an axisymmetric infinitely thick single-layer resistive pipe: general formulas and low frequency approximations

    CERN Document Server

    Mounet, Nicolas Frank; CERN. Geneva. ATS Department

    2015-01-01

    This note provides general and approximate formulas for the electromagnetic fields created by a passing beam in an axisymmetric infinitely thick resistive pipe made of a single homogeneous layer. The full derivations and their resulting approximate expressions at low and intermediate frequencies are given here, as well as the conditions under which those approximations are valid. Beam-coupling impedances are also computed, and examples are shown.

  12. Predicting the impact of selection for scrapie resistance on PRNP genotype frequencies in goats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sacchi, Paola; Rasero, Roberto; Ru, Giuseppe; Aiassa, Eleonora; Colussi, Silvia; Ingravalle, Francesco; Peletto, Simone; Perrotta, Maria Gabriella; Sartore, Stefano; Soglia, Dominga; Acutis, Pierluigi

    2018-03-06

    The European Union has implemented breeding programmes to increase scrapie resistance in sheep. A similar approach can be applied also in goats since the K222 allele provides a level of resistance equivalent to that of ARR in sheep. The European Food Safety Authority stated that breeding for resistance could be offered as an option for Member States to control classical scrapie in goats. We assessed the impact of different breeding strategies on PRNP genotype frequencies using a mathematical model that describes in detail the evolution of K222 in two goat breeds, Chamois Coloured and Saanen. Different patterns of age structure and replacement rate were modelled as factors affecting response to selection. Breeding for scrapie resistance can be implemented in goats, even though the initial K222 frequencies in these breeds are not particularly favourable and the rate at which the resistant animals increase, both breeding and slaughtered for meat production, is slow. If the goal is not to achieve the fixation of resistance allele, it is advisable to carry out selection only until a desired frequency of K222-carriers has been attained. Nucleus selection vs. selection on the overall populations is less expensive but takes longer to reach the desired output. The programme performed on the two goat breeds serves as a model of the response the selection could have in other breeds that show different initial frequencies and population structure. In this respect, the model has a general applicability.

  13. Removal of Optically Thick Clouds from Multi-Spectral Satellite Images Using Multi-Frequency SAR Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Eckardt

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This study presents a method for the reconstruction of pixels contaminated by optical thick clouds in multi-spectral Landsat images using multi-frequency SAR data. A number of reconstruction techniques have already been proposed in the scientific literature. However, all of the existing techniques have certain limitations. In order to overcome these limitations, we expose the Closest Spectral Fit (CSF method proposed by Meng et al. to a new, synergistic approach using optical and SAR data. Therefore, the term Closest Feature Vector (CFV is introduced. The technique facilitates an elegant way to avoid radiometric distortions in the course of image reconstruction. Furthermore the cloud cover removal is independent from underlying land cover types and assumptions on seasonality, etc. The methodology is applied to mono-temporal, multi-frequency SAR data from TerraSAR-X (X-Band, ERS (C-Band and ALOS Palsar (L-Band. This represents a way of thinking about Radar data not as foreign, but as additional data source in multi-spectral remote sensing. For the assessment of the image restoration performance, an experimental framework is established and a statistical evaluation protocol is designed. The results show the potential of a synergistic usage of multi-spectral and SAR data to overcome the loss of data due to cloud cover.

  14. Application of the Modified Vlasov Model to the Free Vibration Analysis of Thick Plates Resting on Elastic Foundations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Korhan Ozgan

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The Modified Vlasov Model is applied to the free vibration analysis of thick plates resting on elastic foundations. The effects of the subsoil depth, plate dimensions and their ratio, the value of the vertical deformation parameter within the subsoil on the frequency parameters of plates on elastic foundations are investigated. A four-noded, twelve degrees of freedom quadrilateral finite element (PBQ4 is used for plate bending analysis based on Mindlin plate theory which is effectively applied to the analysis of thin and thick plates when selective reduced integration technique is used. The first ten natural frequency parameters are presented in tabular and graphical forms to show the effects of the parameters considered in the study. It is concluded that the effect of the subsoil depth on the frequency parameters of the plates on elastic foundation is generally larger than that of the other parameters considered in the study.

  15. Research on High Layer Thickness Fabricated of 316L by Selective Laser Melting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuo Wang

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Selective laser melting (SLM is a potential additive manufacturing (AM technology. However, the application of SLM was confined due to low efficiency. To improve efficiency, SLM fabrication with a high layer thickness and fine powder was systematically researched, and the void areas and hollow powders can be reduced by using fine powder. Single-track experiments were used to narrow down process parameter windows. Multi-layer fabrication relative density can be reached 99.99% at the exposure time-point distance-hatch space of 120 μs-40 μm-240 μm. Also, the building rate can be up to 12 mm3/s, which is about 3–10 times higher than the previous studies. Three typical defects were found by studying deeply, including the un-melted defect between the molten pools, the micro-pore defect within the molten pool, and the irregular distribution of the splashing phenomenon. Moreover, the microstructure is mostly equiaxed crystals and a small amount of columnar crystals. The averages of ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation are 625 MPa, 525 MPa, and 39.9%, respectively. As exposure time increased from 80 μs to 200 μs, the grain size is gradually grown up from 0.98 μm to 2.23 μm, the grain aspect ratio is close to 1, and the tensile properties are shown as a downward trend. The tensile properties of high layer thickness fabricated are not significantly different than those with a coarse-powder layer thickness of low in previous research.

  16. Research on High Layer Thickness Fabricated of 316L by Selective Laser Melting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shuo; Liu, Yude; Shi, Wentian; Qi, Bin; Yang, Jin; Zhang, Feifei; Han, Dong; Ma, Yingyi

    2017-09-08

    Selective laser melting (SLM) is a potential additive manufacturing (AM) technology. However, the application of SLM was confined due to low efficiency. To improve efficiency, SLM fabrication with a high layer thickness and fine powder was systematically researched, and the void areas and hollow powders can be reduced by using fine powder. Single-track experiments were used to narrow down process parameter windows. Multi-layer fabrication relative density can be reached 99.99% at the exposure time-point distance-hatch space of 120 μs-40 μm-240 μm. Also, the building rate can be up to 12 mm³/s, which is about 3-10 times higher than the previous studies. Three typical defects were found by studying deeply, including the un-melted defect between the molten pools, the micro-pore defect within the molten pool, and the irregular distribution of the splashing phenomenon. Moreover, the microstructure is mostly equiaxed crystals and a small amount of columnar crystals. The averages of ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation are 625 MPa, 525 MPa, and 39.9%, respectively. As exposure time increased from 80 μs to 200 μs, the grain size is gradually grown up from 0.98 μm to 2.23 μm, the grain aspect ratio is close to 1, and the tensile properties are shown as a downward trend. The tensile properties of high layer thickness fabricated are not significantly different than those with a coarse-powder layer thickness of low in previous research.

  17. Substrate effects on terahertz metamaterial resonances for various metal thicknesses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, S. J.; Ahn, Y. H.

    2014-01-01

    We demonstrate dielectric substrate effects on the resonance shift of terahertz metamaterials with various metal thicknesses by using finite-difference time-domain simulations. We found a small red shift in the metamaterial resonance with increasing metal thickness for the free-standing case. Conversely, when the metamaterial pattern was supported by a substrate with a high dielectric constant, the resonant frequency exhibited a large blue shift because the relative contribution of the substrate's refractive index to the resonant frequency decreased drastically as we increased the metal thickness. We determined the substrate's refractive index, 1.26, at which the metamaterial resonance was independent of the metal thickness. We extracted the effective refractive index as a function of the substrate's refractive index explicitly, which was noticeably different for different film thicknesses.

  18. Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a visual signal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Chien-Wei; Blamires, Sean J; Liao, Chen-Pan; Tso, I-Min

    2015-03-30

    The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey. Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top down and bottom up selection on decoration frequency and form variation difficult to discern. Here we used dummy spiders and decorations to simulate four possible strategies that the spider Argiope aemula may choose and measured the prey and predator attraction consequences for each in the field. The strategy of decorating at a high frequency with a variable form attracted the most prey, while that of decorating at a high frequency with a fixed form attracted the most predators. These results suggest that mitigating the cost of attracting predators while maintaining prey attraction drives the use of variation in decoration form by many Argiope spp. when decorating frequently. Our study highlights the importance of considering top-down and bottom up selection pressure when devising evolutionary ecology experiments.

  19. Relationships among cloud occurrence frequency, overlap, and effective thickness derived from CALIPSO and CloudSat merged cloud vertical profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Seiji; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Rose, Fred G.; Chen, Yan; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.

    2010-01-01

    A cloud frequency of occurrence matrix is generated using merged cloud vertical profiles derived from the satellite-borne Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and cloud profiling radar. The matrix contains vertical profiles of cloud occurrence frequency as a function of the uppermost cloud top. It is shown that the cloud fraction and uppermost cloud top vertical profiles can be related by a cloud overlap matrix when the correlation length of cloud occurrence, which is interpreted as an effective cloud thickness, is introduced. The underlying assumption in establishing the above relation is that cloud overlap approaches random overlap with increasing distance separating cloud layers and that the probability of deviating from random overlap decreases exponentially with distance. One month of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat data (July 2006) support these assumptions, although the correlation length sometimes increases with separation distance when the cloud top height is large. The data also show that the correlation length depends on cloud top hight and the maximum occurs when the cloud top height is 8 to 10 km. The cloud correlation length is equivalent to the decorrelation distance introduced by Hogan and Illingworth (2000) when cloud fractions of both layers in a two-cloud layer system are the same. The simple relationships derived in this study can be used to estimate the top-of-atmosphere irradiance difference caused by cloud fraction, uppermost cloud top, and cloud thickness vertical profile differences.

  20. Analysis of Broad-band Frequency Selective Shielding Glass by FDTD method

    OpenAIRE

    笠嶋, 善憲; Kasashima, Yoshinori

    2010-01-01

    A frequency Selective shielding (FSS) glass is a print of many same size antennas on a sheet of glass, and it has high shielding properties for one specific frequency. In the past, the author analyzed theoretically the characteristics of the FSS, as a large scale array antenna. The FSS has narrow-band shielding characteristics. This time, the author analyzed accurately the characteristics of a FSS glass being a print of many same size dipole antennas on a sheet of glass by FDTD method. As the...

  1. A new method of hybrid frequency hopping signals selection and blind parameter estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Xiaoyu; Jiao, Wencheng; Sun, Huixian

    2018-04-01

    Frequency hopping communication is widely used in military communications at home and abroad. In the case of single-channel reception, it is scarce to process multiple frequency hopping signals both effectively and simultaneously. A method of hybrid FH signals selection and blind parameter estimation is proposed. The method makes use of spectral transformation, spectral entropy calculation and PRI transformation basic theory to realize the sorting and parameter estimation of the components in the hybrid frequency hopping signal. The simulation results show that this method can correctly classify the frequency hopping component signal, and the estimated error of the frequency hopping period is about 5% and the estimated error of the frequency hopping frequency is less than 1% when the SNR is 10dB. However, the performance of this method deteriorates seriously at low SNR.

  2. Vibration of Elastic Functionally Graded Thick Rings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guang-Hui Xu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The free vibration behaviors of functionally graded rings were investigated theoretically. The material graded in the thickness direction according to the power law rule and the rings were assumed to be in plane stress and plane strain states. Based on the first-order shear deformation theory and the kinetic relation of von Kárman type, the frequency equation for free vibration of functionally graded ring was derived. The derived results were verified by those in literatures which reveals that the present theory can be appropriate to predict the free vibration characteristics for quite thick rings with the radius-to-thickness ratio from 60 down to 2.09. Comparison between the plane stress case and the plane strain case indicates a slight difference. Meanwhile, the effects of the structural dimensional parameters and the material inhomogeneous parameter are examined. It is interesting that the value of the logarithmic form of vibration frequency is inversely proportional to the logarithmic form of the radius-to-thickness ratio or the mean radius.

  3. The research of device for measuring film thickness of intelligent coating machine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Wanjun

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Ion beam sputtering machine uses computer to real time monitor the change of film thickness in the preparation process of soft X ray multilayer element fabrication. It solves the problems of uneven film thickness and too thick film thickness and so on, which exist in the original preparation process. The high-precision quartz crystal converts film thickness measurement into frequency measurement. The equal precision frequency meter based on FPGA measures the frequency. It can reduce the signal delay and interference signal of discrete components, accordingly improving the accuracy of measurement. Then it sents the count value to the host computer through the single chip microcomputer serial port. It calculates and displays the value by the GUI of LabVIEW. The experimental results show that, the relative measurement error can be decreased to 1/10, i.e., the measurement accuracy can be improved by more than ten times.

  4. Switches of stimulus tagging frequencies interact with the conflict-driven control of selective attention, but not with inhibitory control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scherbaum, Stefan; Frisch, Simon; Dshemuchadse, Maja

    2016-01-01

    Selective attention and its adaptation by cognitive control processes are considered a core aspect of goal-directed action. Often, selective attention is studied behaviorally with conflict tasks, but an emerging neuroscientific method for the study of selective attention is EEG frequency tagging. It applies different flicker frequencies to the stimuli of interest eliciting steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in the EEG. These oscillating SSVEPs in the EEG allow tracing the allocation of selective attention to each tagged stimulus continuously over time. The present behavioral investigation points to an important caveat of using tagging frequencies: The flicker of stimuli not only produces a useful neuroscientific marker of selective attention, but interacts with the adaptation of selective attention itself. Our results indicate that RT patterns of adaptation after response conflict (so-called conflict adaptation) are reversed when flicker frequencies switch at once. However, this effect of frequency switches is specific to the adaptation by conflict-driven control processes, since we find no effects of frequency switches on inhibitory control processes after no-go trials. We discuss the theoretical implications of this finding and propose precautions that should be taken into account when studying conflict adaptation using frequency tagging in order to control for the described confounds. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Temperature dependency of cupular mechanics and hair cell frequency selectivity in the fish canal lateral line organ

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wiersinga-Post, JEC; van Netten, SM

    2000-01-01

    The mechanical frequency selectivity of the cupula located in the supraorbital lateral line canal and the frequency selectivity of the hair cells driven by the cupula were measured simultaneously in vivo. Laser interferometry was used to measure cupular mechanics and extracellular receptor

  6. Selective ablation of dental calculus with a frequency-doubled Alexandrite laser

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rechmann, Peter; Hennig, Thomas

    1996-01-01

    The aim of the study was the selective removal of dental calculus by means of pulsed lasers. In a first approach the optical characteristics of subgingival calculus were calculated using fluorescence emission spectroscopy (excitation laser: N2-laser, wavelength 337 nm, pulse duration 4 ns). Subgingival calculus seems to absorb highly in the ultraviolet spectral region up to 420 nm. According to these measurements a frequency doubled Alexandrite-laser (wavelength 377 nm, pulse duration 100 ns, repetition rate 110 Hz) was used to irradiate calculus located on enamel, at the cementum enamel junction and on the root surface (located on dentin or on cementum). Irradiation was performed perpendicular to the root surface with a laser fluence of 1 Jcm-2. During the irradiation procedure an effective water cooling-system was engaged. Histological investigations were done on undecalcified sections. As a result, engaging low fluences allows a fast and strictly selective removal of subgingival calculus. Even more the investigations revealed that supragingival calculus can be removed in a strictly selective manner engaging a frequency doubled Alexandrite-laser. No adverse side effects to the surrounding tissues could be found.

  7. Design of Nonuniform Filter Bank Transceivers for Frequency Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan-Pei Lin

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there has been considerable interest in the theory and design of filter bank transceivers due to their superior frequency response. In many applications, it is desired to have transceivers that can support multiple services with different incoming data rates and different quality-of-service requirements. To meet these requirements, we can either do resource allocation or design transceivers with a nonuniform bandwidth partition. In this paper, we propose a method for the design of nonuniform filter bank transceivers for frequency selective channels. Both frequency response and signal-to-interference ratio (SIR can be incorporated in the transceiver design. Moreover, the technique can be extended to the case of nonuniform filter bank transceivers with rational sampling factors. Simulation results show that nonuniform filter bank transceivers with good filter responses as well as high SIR can be obtained by the proposed design method.

  8. Spatial Frequency Selectivity Is Impaired in Dopamine D2 Receptor Knockout Mice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Bruno Oliveira Ferreira; Abou Rjeili, Mira; Quintana, Clémentine; Beaulieu, Jean M.; Casanova, Christian

    2018-01-01

    Dopamine is a neurotransmitter implicated in several brain functions, including vision. In the present study, we investigated the impacts of the lack of D2 dopamine receptors on the structure and function of the primary visual cortex (V1) of D2-KO mice using optical imaging of intrinsic signals. Retinotopic maps were generated in order to measure anatomo-functional parameters such as V1 shape, cortical magnification factor, scatter, and ocular dominance. Contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency selectivity (SF) functions were computed from responses to drifting gratings. When compared to control mice, none of the parameters of the retinotopic maps were affected by D2 receptor loss of function. While the contrast sensitivity function of D2-KO mice did not differ from their wild-type counterparts, SF selectivity function was significantly affected as the optimal SF and the high cut-off frequency (p D2-KO than in WT mice. These findings show that the lack of function of D2 dopamine receptors had no influence on cortical structure whereas it had a significant impact on the spatial frequency selectivity and high cut-off. Taken together, our results suggest that D2 receptors play a specific role on the processing of spatial features in early visual cortex while they do not seem to participate in its development. PMID:29379422

  9. Non-contact radiation thickness gauge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsujii, T.; Okino, T.

    1983-01-01

    A noncontact thickness gauge system for measuring the thickness of a material comprising a source of radiation, a detector for detecting the amount of radiation transmitted through the material which is a function of the absorptance and thickness of the material, a memory for storing the output signals of the detector and curve-defining parameters for a plurality of quadratic calibration curves which correspond to respective thickness ranges, and a processor for processing the signals and curve defining parameters to determine the thickness of the material. Measurements are made after precalibration to obtain calibration curves and these are stored in the memory, providing signals representative of a nominal thickness and an alloy compensation coefficient for the material. The calibration curve corresponding to a particular thickness range is selected and the curve compensated for drift; the material is inserted into the radiation path and the detector output signal processed with the compensated calibration curve to determine the thickness of the material. (author)

  10. Effect of Reduced Meal Frequency during Ramadan Fasting on Retinal and Choroidal Thickness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersan, Ismail; Tufan, Hasan Ali; Arikan, Sedat; Kara, Selcuk; Gencer, Baran; Hondur, Ahmet Murat

    2017-01-01

    To evaluate the effects of Ramadan fasting on central foveal thickness (CFT) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) in healthy individuals using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT). The EDI-OCT scans of 42 healthy individuals obtained after about 12 hours of fasting on at least the twenty-first consecutive day of fasting were compared to scans of the same patients taken one month after the last day they had fasted. CFT values were similar for both time periods (p > 0.05). The SFCT was significantly higher after consecutive fasting days towards the end of Ramadan, compared to the SFCT after one month of no fasting (one month after Ramadan ended) (p Ramadan fasting may lead to a significant increase in subfoveal choroidal thickness without affecting the central foveal thickness.

  11. Equivalence of Linear MMSE Detection in DS-CDMA and MC-CDMA Systems over Time and Frequency Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tamer A. Kadous

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to compare the performance of the linear minimum mean square error (MMSE detector for a class of code division multiple access (CDMA systems in time and frequency selective channels. Specifically, we consider direct sequence (DS-CDMA, multicarrier (MC-CDMA, and the MC-DS-CDMA systems. Two key tools are used in our development. First, a general time-frequency framework that includes the different CDMA systems as special cases. Second, the duality between time and frequency domains that is used to derive equivalences between the different CDMA systems operating over purely frequency selective and purely time selective channels. We then combine the insights obtained from these special cases to assess the performance of CDMA systems over time and frequency selective channels. We provide sufficient conditions for the codes employed by the CDMA systems for the equivalences to hold. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the results.

  12. Channel and delay estimation for base-station–based cooperative communications in frequency-selective fading channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongjun Xu

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available A channel and delay estimation algorithm for both positive and negative delay, based on the distributed Alamouti scheme, has been recently discussed for base-station–based asynchronous cooperative systems in frequency-flat fading channels. This paper extends the algorithm, the maximum likelihood estimator, to work in frequency-selective fading channels. The minimum mean square error (MMSE performance of channel estimation for both packet schemes and normal schemes is discussed in this paper. The symbol error rate (SER performance of equalisation and detection for both time-reversal space-time block code (STBC and single-carrier STBC is also discussed in this paper. The MMSE simulation results demonstrated the superior performance of the packet scheme over the normal scheme with an improvement in performance of up to 6 dB when feedback was used in the frequency-selective channel at a MSE of 3 x 10–2. The SER simulation results showed that, although both the normal and packet schemes achieved similar diversity orders, the packet scheme demonstrated a 1 dB coding gain over the normal scheme at a SER of 10–5. Finally, the SER simulations showed that the frequency-selective fading system outperformed the frequency-flat fading system.

  13. Effect of thickness on structural, corrosion and mechanical properties of a thin ZrN film deposited by medium frequency (MF) reactive sputtering

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kavitha, Ayyalu; Kannan, Raman [Anna Univ., Dindigul (India). Dept. of Physics; Loganathan, Subramani [Titan Industries, Hosur, Tamilnadu (India). Ion Plating Dept.

    2016-07-01

    Zirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films were prepared on stainless steel (SS) substrates by medium frequency (MF) reactive sputtering with gas ion source (GIS) by varying the deposition time and obtained thickness (t{sub ZrN}) in the range of 1.25 to 3.24 μm. The effect of thickness on the structural and microstructural properties was studied using XRD and AFM. XRD characterization revealed that the texture of the ZrN thin films changes as a function of thickness. Both, the (111) and (200) peak, appear initially and (111) becomes more intense with increasing t{sub ZrN}. AFM imaging revealed that the ZrN thin film coated with t{sub ZrN} ∼ 3.24 μm shows larger grains that are uniformly distributed over the surface. An average hardness value of 19.79 GPa was observed for ZrN thin films having t{sub ZrN} ∼ 3.24 μm. The ZrN thin films having t{sub ZrN} ∼ 3.24 μm exhibits better adhesion strength up to 20 N. The electrochemical polarization studies indicated that the ZrN thin film having larger thickness shows improved corrosion resistance compared to SS in 3.5 % NaCl solution.

  14. A guinea pig model of selective severe high-frequency hearing loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havenith, Sarah; Klis, Sjaak F L; Versnel, Huib; Grolman, Wilko

    2013-10-01

    Using an appropriate dose of an aminoglycoside antibiotic cotreated with a loop diuretic a guinea pig model of high-frequency loss can be obtained mimicking cochlear implant candidates with low-frequency residual hearing. We examined the stability of this model over time. A well-established method to create an animal model for profound deafness is cotreatment with an aminoglycoside antibiotic and a loop diuretic. Recent data indicated that reduction of the aminoglycoside dose might yield selective high-frequency hearing loss. Such a model is relevant for studies related to hybrid cochlear implant devices, for example, with respect to preservation of residual hearing. Guinea pigs received an electrode for chronic recording of compound action potentials to tones to assess thresholds. They were treated with a coadministration of kanamycin (200 mg/kg) and furosemide (100 mg/kg), after which, the animals were sacrificed for histologic analysis at 2, 4, or 7 weeks. After 2 to 7 weeks threshold shifts were greater than 50 dB for 8 to 16 kHz in 15 of 17 animals, whereas threshold shifts at 2 kHz or lower were less than 50 dB in 13 animals. Major threshold shifts occurred the first 2 to 4 days; subsequently, some spontaneous recovery occurred and, after 2-3 weeks thresholds, remained stable. Inner hair cell loss still progressed between 2 and 4 weeks in the most basal cochlear region; thereafter, hair cell loss was stable. An appropriate animal model for selective severe high-frequency hearing loss was obtained, which is stable at 4 weeks after ototoxic treatment.

  15. Mode Identification of Guided Ultrasonic Wave using Time- Frequency Algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoon, Byung Sik; Yang, Seung Han; Cho, Yong Sang; Kim, Yong Sik; Lee, Hee Jong

    2007-01-01

    The ultrasonic guided waves are waves whose propagation characteristics depend on structural thickness and shape such as those in plates, tubes, rods, and embedded layers. If the angle of incidence or the frequency of sound is adjusted properly, the reflected and refracted energy within the structure will constructively interfere, thereby launching the guided wave. Because these waves penetrate the entire thickness of the tube and propagate parallel to the surface, a large portion of the material can be examined from a single transducer location. The guided ultrasonic wave has various merits like above. But various kind of modes are propagating through the entire thickness, so we don't know the which mode is received. Most of applications are limited from mode selection and mode identification. So the mode identification is very important process for guided ultrasonic inspection application. In this study, various time-frequency analysis methodologies are developed and compared for mode identification tool of guided ultrasonic signal. For this study, a high power tone-burst ultrasonic system set up for the generation and receive of guided waves. And artificial notches were fabricated on the Aluminum plate for the experiment on the mode identification

  16. The long-term evolution of multilocus traits under frequency-dependent disruptive selection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Doorn, G. Sander; Dieckmann, Ulf

    Frequency-dependent disruptive selection is widely recognized as an important source of genetic variation. Its evolutionary consequences have been extensively studied using phenotypic evolutionary models, based on quantitative genetics, game theory, or adaptive dynamics. However, the genetic

  17. Optimized thick-wall cylinders by virtue of Poisson's ratio selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whitty, J.P.M.; Henderson, B.; Francis, J.; Lloyd, N.

    2011-01-01

    The principal stress distributions in thick-wall cylinders due to variation in the Poisson's ratio are predicted using analytical and finite element methods. Analyses of appropriate brittle and ductile failure criteria show that under the isochoric pressure conditions investigated that auextic (i.e. those possessing a negative Poisson's ratio) materials act as stress concentrators; hence they are predicted to fail before their conventional (i.e. possessing a positive Poisson's ratio) material counterparts. The key finding of the work presented shows that for constrained thick-wall cylinders the maximum tensile principal stress can vanish at a particular Poisson's ratio and aspect ratio. This phenomenon is exploited in order to present an optimized design criterion for thick-wall cylinders. Moreover, via the use of a cogent finite element model, this criterion is also shown to be applicable for the design of micro-porous materials.

  18. The Quasar Fraction in Low-Frequency Selected Complete Samples and Implications for Unified Schemes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willott, Chris J.; Rawlings, Steve; Blundell, Katherine M.; Lacy, Mark

    2000-01-01

    Low-frequency radio surveys are ideal for selecting orientation-independent samples of extragalactic sources because the sample members are selected by virtue of their isotropic steep-spectrum extended emission. We use the new 7C Redshift Survey along with the brighter 3CRR and 6C samples to investigate the fraction of objects with observed broad emission lines - the 'quasar fraction' - as a function of redshift and of radio and narrow emission line luminosity. We find that the quasar fraction is more strongly dependent upon luminosity (both narrow line and radio) than it is on redshift. Above a narrow [OII] emission line luminosity of log(base 10) (L(sub [OII])/W) approximately > 35 [or radio luminosity log(base 10) (L(sub 151)/ W/Hz.sr) approximately > 26.5], the quasar fraction is virtually independent of redshift and luminosity; this is consistent with a simple unified scheme with an obscuring torus with a half-opening angle theta(sub trans) approximately equal 53 deg. For objects with less luminous narrow lines, the quasar fraction is lower. We show that this is not due to the difficulty of detecting lower-luminosity broad emission lines in a less luminous, but otherwise similar, quasar population. We discuss evidence which supports at least two probable physical causes for the drop in quasar fraction at low luminosity: (i) a gradual decrease in theta(sub trans) and/or a gradual increase in the fraction of lightly-reddened (0 approximately quasar luminosity; and (ii) the emergence of a distinct second population of low luminosity radio sources which, like M8T, lack a well-fed quasar nucleus and may well lack a thick obscuring torus.

  19. Thick-film analysis: literature search and bibliography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gehman, R.W.

    1981-09-01

    A literature search was conducted to support development of in-house diagnostic testing of thick film materials for hybrid microcircuits. A background literature review covered thick film formulation, processing, structure, and performance. Important material properties and tests were identified and several test procedures were obtained. Several tests were selected for thick film diagnosis at Bendix Kansas City. 126 references

  20. Mechanical frequency selectivity of an artificial basilar membrane using a beam array with narrow supports

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Sangwon; Jang, Jongmoon; Choi, Hongsoo; Song, Won Joon; Jang, Jeong Hun

    2013-01-01

    The study presented in this paper assessed the frequency selectivity of an artificial basilar membrane (ABM) constructed using a piezoelectric beam array with narrow supports. Three ABM samples were constructed. Each ABM contained 16 beams with various lengths in a one-dimensional array. To experimentally assess the frequency selectivity of the ABM, mechanical vibration induced either by an electrical or an acoustic stimulus was measured with a scanning laser-Doppler vibrometer. The electro-mechanical and acousto-mechanical transfer functions were defined for the same purpose. The tonotopy of each beam array was visualized by post-processing the experimental results. Finite element analyses were conducted to numerically compute the resonance frequencies, identify the associated vibrational modes, and evaluate the harmonic responses of the beams. The influence of the residual stresses existing in the beams was reflected in the geometric models by introducing three different levels of arc-shaped lateral deformations in the beams. The harmonic analyses revealed that each beam of the ABM samples presented independent band-pass characteristics. The experiments and simulations commonly showed a frequency selectivity of the fabricated ABMs in the range of 2–20 kHz. Therefore, the device is suitable for development of a totally implantable artificial cochlea, implementing a mechanical frequency analyzer. This work is part of research to develop a prototype of a totally implantable artificial cochlea. (paper)

  1. A hybrid polarization-selective atomic sensor for radio-frequency field detection with a passive resonant-cavity field amplifier

    OpenAIRE

    Anderson, David A.; Paradis, Eric G.; Raithel, Georg

    2018-01-01

    We present a hybrid atomic sensor that realizes radio-frequency electric field detection with intrinsic field amplification and polarization selectivity for robust high-sensitivity field measurement. The hybrid sensor incorporates a passive resonator element integrated with an atomic vapor cell that provides amplification and polarization selectivity for detection of incident radio-frequency fields. The amplified intra-cavity radio-frequency field is measured by atoms using a quantum-optical ...

  2. Generation of radio vortex beams with designable polarization using anisotropic frequency selective surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jin; Zhang, Cheng; Ma, Hui Feng; Zhao, Jie; Dai, Jun Yan; Yuan, Wei; Yang, Liu Xi; Cheng, Qiang; Cui, Tie Jun

    2018-05-01

    We propose a strategy to convert a linearly polarized wave from a single point source to an orbital angular momentum (OAM) wave by arbitrary polarization via an anisotropic frequency selective surface (FSS) in the microwave frequency. By tailoring the geometries of FSS elements, reflection-phases in x and y polarizations are engineered and encoded independently, which allows us to design the eventual polarization state of the generated OAM vortex beam by elaborately selecting individual coding sequences for each polarization. Two types of FSSs are designed and experimentally characterized to demonstrate the capability of OAM generation with circular and linear polarizations, respectively, showing excellent performance in a wide bandwidth from 14 to 16 GHz. This method provides opportunities for polarization multiplexing in microwave OAM communication systems.

  3. Digital surfaces and thicknesses of selected hydrogeologic units of the Floridan aquifer system in Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Lester J.; Dixon, Joann F.

    2015-01-01

    Digital surfaces and thicknesses of selected hydrogeologic units of the Floridan aquifer system were developed to define an updated hydrogeologic framework as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program. The dataset contains structural surfaces depicting the top and base of the aquifer system, its major and minor hydrogeologic units and zones, geophysical marker horizons, and the altitude of the 10,000-milligram-per-liter total dissolved solids boundary that defines the approximate fresh and saline parts of the aquifer system. The thicknesses of selected major and minor units or zones were determined by interpolating points of known thickness or from raster surface subtraction of the structural surfaces. Additional data contained include clipping polygons; regional polygon features that represent geologic or hydrogeologic aspects of the aquifers and the minor units or zones; data points used in the interpolation; and polygon and line features that represent faults, boundaries, and other features in the aquifer system.

  4. Negative frequency-dependent selection between Pasteuria penetrans and its host Meloidogyne arenaria

    Science.gov (United States)

    In negative frequency-dependant selection (NFDS), parasite genotypes capable of infecting the numerically dominant host genotype are favored, while host genotypes resistant to the dominant parasite genotype are favored, creating a cyclical pattern of resistant genotypes in the host population and, a...

  5. Optimized Irregular Low-Density Parity-Check Codes for Multicarrier Modulations over Frequency-Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valérian Mannoni

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with optimized channel coding for OFDM transmissions (COFDM over frequency-selective channels using irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC codes. Firstly, we introduce a new characterization of the LDPC code irregularity called “irregularity profile.” Then, using this parameterization, we derive a new criterion based on the minimization of the transmission bit error probability to design an irregular LDPC code suited to the frequency selectivity of the channel. The optimization of this criterion is done using the Gaussian approximation technique. Simulations illustrate the good performance of our approach for different transmission channels.

  6. Temporal mode selectivity by frequency conversion in second-order nonlinear optical waveguides

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Reddy, D. V.; Raymer, M. G.; McKinstrie, C. J.

    2013-01-01

    in a transparent optical network using temporally orthogonal waveforms to encode different channels. We model the process using coupled-mode equations appropriate for wave mixing in a uniform second-order nonlinear optical medium pumped by a strong laser pulse. We find Green functions describing the process...... in this optimal regime. We also find an operating regime in which high-efficiency frequency conversion without temporal-shape selectivity can be achieved while preserving the shapes of a wide class of input pulses. The results are applicable to both classical and quantum frequency conversion....

  7. Mapping sediment thickness of Islamabad city using empirical ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    A number of studies in recent years have demonstrated that frequency and ... sediment thicknesses derived from empirical relations developed in this study with ... Location map of the study area, the bold light grey line shows the boundary of the Islamabad region. .... frequency disturbances (wind blowing, in case of near tall ...

  8. Fatigue level estimation of monetary bills based on frequency band acoustic signals with feature selection by supervised SOM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teranishi, Masaru; Omatu, Sigeru; Kosaka, Toshihisa

    Fatigued monetary bills adversely affect the daily operation of automated teller machines (ATMs). In order to make the classification of fatigued bills more efficient, the development of an automatic fatigued monetary bill classification method is desirable. We propose a new method by which to estimate the fatigue level of monetary bills from the feature-selected frequency band acoustic energy pattern of banking machines. By using a supervised self-organizing map (SOM), we effectively estimate the fatigue level using only the feature-selected frequency band acoustic energy pattern. Furthermore, the feature-selected frequency band acoustic energy pattern improves the estimation accuracy of the fatigue level of monetary bills by adding frequency domain information to the acoustic energy pattern. The experimental results with real monetary bill samples reveal the effectiveness of the proposed method.

  9. Use of buffy coat thick films in detecting malaria parasites in patients with negative conventional thick films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duangdee, Chatnapa; Tangpukdee, Noppadon; Krudsood, Srivicha; Wilairatana, Polrat

    2012-04-01

    To determine the frequency of malaria parasite detection from the buffy coat blood films by using capillary tube in falciparum malaria patients with negative conventional thick films. Thirty six uncomplicated falciparum malaria patients confirmed by conventional thick and thin films were included in the study. The patients were treated with artemisinin combination therapy at Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bangkok, Thailand for 28 day. Fingerpricks for conventional blood films were conducted every 6 hours until negative parasitemia, then daily fingerpricks for parasite checks were conducted until the patients were discharged from hospital. Blood samples were also concurrently collected in 3 heparinized capillary tubes at the same time of fingerpricks for conventional blood films when the prior parasitemia was negative on thin films and parasitemia was lower than 50 parasites/200 white blood cells by thick film. The first negative conventional thick films were compared with buffy coat thick films for parasite identification. Out of 36 patients with thick films showing negative for asexual forms of parasites, buffy coat films could detect remaining 10 patients (27.8%) with asexual forms of Plasmodium falciparum. The study shows that buffy coat thick films are useful and can detect malarial parasites in 27.8% of patients whose conventional thick films show negative parasitemia.

  10. Improved capacitance sensor with variable operating frequency for scanning capacitance microscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwon, Joonhyung; Kim, Joonhui; Jeong, Jong-Hwa; Lee, Euy-Kyu; Seok Kim, Yong; Kang, Chi Jung; Park, Sang-il

    2005-01-01

    Scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) has been gaining attention for its capability to measure local electrical properties in doping profile, oxide thickness, trapped charges and charge dynamics. In many cases, stray capacitance produced by different samples and measurement conditions affects the resonance frequency of a capacitance sensor. The applications of conventional SCM are critically limited by the fixed operating frequency and lack of tunability in its SCM sensor. In order to widen SCM application to various samples, we have developed a novel SCM sensor with variable operating frequency. By performing variable frequency sweep over the band of 160 MHz, the SCM sensor is tuned to select the best and optimized resonance frequency and quality factor for each sample measurement. The fundamental advantage of the new variable frequency SCM sensor was demonstrated in the SCM imaging of silicon oxide nano-crystals. Typical sensitivity of the variable frequency SCM sensor was found to be 10 -19 F/V

  11. Cortical drive of low-frequency oscillations in the human nucleus accumbens during action selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stenner, Max-Philipp; Litvak, Vladimir; Rutledge, Robb B; Zaehle, Tino; Schmitt, Friedhelm C; Voges, Jürgen; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Dolan, Raymond J

    2015-07-01

    The nucleus accumbens is thought to contribute to action selection by integrating behaviorally relevant information from multiple regions, including prefrontal cortex. Studies in rodents suggest that information flow to the nucleus accumbens may be regulated via task-dependent oscillatory coupling between regions. During instrumental behavior, local field potentials (LFP) in the rat nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex are coupled at delta frequencies (Gruber AJ, Hussain RJ, O'Donnell P. PLoS One 4: e5062, 2009), possibly mediating suppression of afferent input from other areas and thereby supporting cortical control (Calhoon GG, O'Donnell P. Neuron 78: 181-190, 2013). In this report, we demonstrate low-frequency cortico-accumbens coupling in humans, both at rest and during a decision-making task. We recorded LFP from the nucleus accumbens in six epilepsy patients who underwent implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes. All patients showed significant coherence and phase-synchronization between LFP and surface EEG at delta and low theta frequencies. Although the direction of this coupling as indexed by Granger causality varied between subjects in the resting-state data, all patients showed a cortical drive of the nucleus accumbens during action selection in a decision-making task. In three patients this was accompanied by a significant coherence increase over baseline. Our results suggest that low-frequency cortico-accumbens coupling represents a highly conserved regulatory mechanism for action selection. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  12. Top down and bottom up selection drives variations in frequency and form of a visual signal

    OpenAIRE

    Yeh, Chien-Wei; Blamires, Sean J.; Liao, Chen-Pan; Tso, I.-Min

    2015-01-01

    The frequency and form of visual signals can be shaped by selection from predators, prey or both. When a signal simultaneously attracts predators and prey, selection may favour a strategy that minimizes risks while attracting prey. Accordingly, varying the frequency and form of the silken decorations added to their web may be a way that Argiope spiders minimize predation while attracting prey. Nonetheless, the role of extraneous factors renders the influences of top down and bottom up selecti...

  13. Design, Fabrication and Characterization of MIM Diodes and Frequency Selective Thermal Emitters for Solar Energy Harvesting and Detection Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Saumya

    Energy harvesting using rectennas for infrared radiation continues to be a challenge due to the lack of fast switching diodes capable of rectification at THz frequencies. Metal insulator metal diodes which may be used at 30 THz must show adequate nonlinearity for small signal rectification such as 30 mV. In a rectenna assembly, the voltage signal received as an output from a single nanoantenna can be as small as ~30microV. Thus, only a hybrid array of nanoantennas can be sufficient to provide a signal in the ~30mV range for the diode to be able to rectify around 30THz. A metal-insulator-metal diode with highly nonlinear I-V characteristics is required in order for such small signal rectification to be possible. Such diode fabrication was found to be faced with two major fabrication challenges. The first one being the lack of a precisely controlled deposition process to allow a pinhole free insulator deposition less than 3nm in thickness. Another major challenge is the deposition of a top metal contact on the underlying insulating thin film. As a part of this research study, most of the MIM diodes were fabricated using Langmuir Blodgett monolayers deposited on a thin Ni film that was sputter coated on a silicon wafer. UV induced polymerization of the Langmuir Blodgett thin film was used to allow intermolecular crosslinking. A metal top contact was sputtered onto the underlying Langmuir Blodgett film assembly. In addition to material characterization of all the individual films using IR, UV-VIS spectroscopy, electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, the I-V characteristics, resistance, current density, rectification ratio and responsivity with respect to the bias voltage were also measured for the electrical characterization of these MIM diodes. Further improvement in the diode rectification ratio and responsivity was obtained with Langmuir Blodgett films grown by the use of horizontally oriented organic molecules, due to a smaller tunneling distance that

  14. Selective visual scaling of time-scale processes facilitates broadband learning of isometric force frequency tracking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Adam C; Newell, Karl M

    2015-10-01

    The experiment investigated the effect of selectively augmenting faster time scales of visual feedback information on the learning and transfer of continuous isometric force tracking tasks to test the generality of the self-organization of 1/f properties of force output. Three experimental groups tracked an irregular target pattern either under a standard fixed gain condition or with selectively enhancement in the visual feedback display of intermediate (4-8 Hz) or high (8-12 Hz) frequency components of the force output. All groups reduced tracking error over practice, with the error lowest in the intermediate scaling condition followed by the high scaling and fixed gain conditions, respectively. Selective visual scaling induced persistent changes across the frequency spectrum, with the strongest effect in the intermediate scaling condition and positive transfer to novel feedback displays. The findings reveal an interdependence of the timescales in the learning and transfer of isometric force output frequency structures consistent with 1/f process models of the time scales of motor output variability.

  15. Impact of parents’ nutritional knowledge on the nutrition and frequency of consumption of selected products in children and adolescents practicing football in a football club in Bydgoszcz, Poland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Anna Ameryk

    2017-02-01

    A correlation between the parents’ nutritional knowledge and the frequency of consumption of selected products by their children was observed. Parents with insufficient knowledge less frequently served dark bread and thick groats than those with good and sufficient knowledge. Parents with good and sufficient knowledge less frequently served instant soups, canned meat, energy and isotonic drinks. No impact of the parents’ knowledge was observed with reference to white cheese, vegetable oils and sweets. Nutritional education of the parents of young athletes is necessary regardless of their nutritional knowledge. Improving eating habits can positively affect children’s development and achievements in sports.   Keywords: Nutrition; Knowledge; Sport; Young Athletes; Eating habits.

  16. Evaluation of TFAM and FABP4 gene polymorphisms in three lines of Nellore cattle selected for growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayres, D R; Souza, F R P; Mercadante, M E Z; Fonseca, L F S; Tonhati, H; Cyrillo, J N S G; Bonilha, S F M; Albuquerque, L G

    2010-10-19

    We analyzed the polymorphisms TFAM HaeIII, TFAM MboI and FABP4 MspA1I in three Nellore lines selected for growth in order to evaluate how selection affects the frequencies of these polymorphisms and evaluate their association with growth and carcass traits in Zebu cattle. Birth, weaning and yearling weights, rump height, longissimus muscle area, backfat thickness, and rump fat thickness were analyzed. The sample was constituted of animals from two lines selected for yearling weight (NeS and NeT), and a control line (NeC), established in 1980, at the São Paulo Instituto de Zootecnia. Two hundred and seventy-two heifers were genotyped for TFAM gene SNPs, and 325 heifers were genotyped for the FABP4 SNP. High frequencies were observed for the alleles A (TFAM HaeIII), C (TFAM MboI) and C (FABP4 MspA1I). Significant differences in allele frequencies between NeS and NeT were observed for the TFAM HaeIII, and between the line NeT and lines NeC and NeS for the FABP4 MspA1I SNP. Five haplotypes were observed for the two polymorphisms in the TFAM gene, haplotype AACC being the most frequent. None of the markers separately or according to haplotype was significantly associated with the growth and carcass traits. The low frequencies of alleles that are associated with high marbling scores and thick subcutaneous fat in taurine breeds might explain the low means for these traits in Nellore cattle.

  17. Effect of layer thickness in selective laser melting on microstructure of Al/5 wt.%Fe2O3 powder consolidated parts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dadbakhsh, Sasan; Hao, Liang

    2014-01-01

    In situ reaction was activated in the powder mixture of Al/5 wt.%Fe2O3 by using selective laser melting (SLM) to directly fabricate aluminium metal matrix composite parts. The microstructural characteristics of these in situ consolidated parts through SLM were investigated under the influence of thick powder bed, 75  μm layer thickness, and 50  μm layer thickness in various laser powers and scanning speeds. It was found that the layer thickness has a strong influence on microstructural outcome, mainly attributed to its impact on oxygen content of the matrix. Various microstructural features (such as granular, coralline-like, and particulate appearance) were observed depending on the layer thickness, laser power, and scanning speed. This was associated with various material combinations such as pure Al, Al-Fe intermetallics, and Al(-Fe) oxide phases formed after in situ reaction and laser rapid solidification. Uniformly distributed very fine particles could be consolidated in net-shape Al composite parts by using lower layer thickness, higher laser power, and lower scanning speed. The findings contribute to the new development of advanced net-shape manufacture of Al composites by combining SLM and in situ reaction process.

  18. How does male–male competition generate negative frequency-dependent selection and disruptive selection during speciation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Border, Shana E

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Natural selection has been shown to drive population differentiation and speciation. The role of sexual selection in this process is controversial; however, most of the work has centered on mate choice while the role of male–male competition in speciation is relatively understudied. Here, we outline how male–male competition can be a source of diversifying selection on male competitive phenotypes, and how this can contribute to the evolution of reproductive isolation. We highlight how negative frequency-dependent selection (advantage of rare phenotype arising from stronger male–male competition between similar male phenotypes compared with dissimilar male phenotypes) and disruptive selection (advantage of extreme phenotypes) drives the evolution of diversity in competitive traits such as weapon size, nuptial coloration, or aggressiveness. We underscore that male–male competition interacts with other life-history functions and that variable male competitive phenotypes may represent alternative adaptive options. In addition to competition for mates, aggressive interference competition for ecological resources can exert selection on competitor signals. We call for a better integration of male–male competition with ecological interference competition since both can influence the process of speciation via comparable but distinct mechanisms. Altogether, we present a more comprehensive framework for studying the role of male–male competition in speciation, and emphasize the need for better integration of insights gained from other fields studying the evolutionary, behavioral, and physiological consequences of agonistic interactions. PMID:29492042

  19. Storm-time slab thickness at low latitudes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chauhan, N.S.; Gurm, H.S.

    1981-01-01

    The ATS-6 data for a period of 1975-76 is used for the study of slab thickness during two moderate storms (Ksub(p) - ) around the crest of the anomaly, Ahmedabad and a very great (Ksub(p) + ) outside the equatorial anomaly region, Delhi. While at Ahmedabad, on the average, the slab thickness is found to be above the frequency. Comparison of slab thickness with foF2 and the equatorial magnetic record (for Ahmedabad only) shows that the foF2 changes alone cannot be held responsible for the slab thickness variation and thus entry of the plasma flux from the plasmasphere cannot be ruled out. The pressure variation effect of storm-time heating on the slab thickness at Ahmedabad is that even for Ksub(p)=8, the thermal expansion and the contraction effects are unable to explain complete quantitative and qualitative features of the observations

  20. Relation of Cloud Occurrence Frequency, Overlap, and Effective Thickness Derived from CALIPSO and CloudSat Merged Cloud Vertical Profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Seiji; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Miller, Walter F.; Rose, Fred G.; Chen, Yan; Minnis, Patrick; Wielicki, Bruce A.

    2009-01-01

    A cloud frequency of occurrence matrix is generated using merged cloud vertical profile derived from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR). The matrix contains vertical profiles of cloud occurrence frequency as a function of the uppermost cloud top. It is shown that the cloud fraction and uppermost cloud top vertical pro les can be related by a set of equations when the correlation distance of cloud occurrence, which is interpreted as an effective cloud thickness, is introduced. The underlying assumption in establishing the above relation is that cloud overlap approaches the random overlap with increasing distance separating cloud layers and that the probability of deviating from the random overlap decreases exponentially with distance. One month of CALIPSO and CloudSat data support these assumptions. However, the correlation distance sometimes becomes large, which might be an indication of precipitation. The cloud correlation distance is equivalent to the de-correlation distance introduced by Hogan and Illingworth [2000] when cloud fractions of both layers in a two-cloud layer system are the same.

  1. Broadband Reflectionless Metasheets: Frequency-Selective Transmission and Perfect Absorption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. S. Asadchy

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Energy of propagating electromagnetic waves can be fully absorbed in a thin lossy layer, but only in a narrow frequency band, as follows from the causality principle. On the other hand, it appears that there are no fundamental limitations on broadband matching of thin resonant absorbing layers. However, known thin absorbers produce significant reflections outside of the resonant absorption band. In this paper, we explore possibilities to realize a thin absorbing layer that produces no reflected waves in a very wide frequency range, while the transmission coefficient has a narrow peak of full absorption. Here we show, both theoretically and experimentally, that a thin resonant absorber, invisible in reflection in a very wide frequency range, can be realized if one and the same resonant mode of the absorbing array unit cells is utilized to create both electric and magnetic responses. We test this concept using chiral particles in each unit cell, arranged in a periodic planar racemic array, utilizing chirality coupling in each unit cell but compensating the field coupling at the macroscopic level. We prove that the concept and the proposed realization approach also can be used to create nonreflecting layers for full control of transmitted fields. Our results can have a broad range of potential applications over the entire electromagnetic spectrum including, for example, perfect ultracompact wave filters and selective multifrequency sensors.

  2. Ecological genetics of the Bromus tectorum (Poaceae) - Ustilago Bullata (Ustilaginaceae): A role for frequency dependent selection?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susan E. Meyer; David L. Nelson; Suzette Clement; Alisa Ramakrishnan

    2010-01-01

    Evolutionary processes that maintain genetic diversity in plants are likely to include selection imposed by pathogens. Negative frequency-dependent selection is a mechanism for maintenance of resistance polymorphism in plant - pathogen interactions. We explored whether such selection operates in the Bromus tectorum - Ustilago bullata pathosystem. Gene-for-gene...

  3. A theoretical analysis of the response of an air-cored eddy current coil for remote oxide thickness measurements on reactor components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, R.

    1979-10-01

    It is shown how the impedance of an air-cored eddy current coil in close proximity to an oxidised steel component may be calculated. Representative values were selected for the oxide thickness, lift off, operating frequency, conductivities and permeabilities of the oxide coating and steel base. The values of these parameters in the calculations were allowed to vary between suitable limits to quantify the effect of each one on coil impedance. The results of the calculations are used to determine the most suitable conditions for the measurement of oxide thickness on steel components using an air-cored eddy current probe. (author)

  4. Dielectric measurements on PWB materials at microwave frequencies

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    the angular frequency and c0 the velocity of light, c the thickness of the ... Dielectric parameters, absorption index and refractive index for pure PSF and pure PMMA at 8⋅92 GHz frequency and at 35°C temperature. Dielectric. Dielectric. Loss. Relaxation. Conductivity Absorption. Refractive. Thickness, constant loss tangent.

  5. Video error concealment using block matching and frequency selective extrapolation algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    P. K., Rajani; Khaparde, Arti

    2017-06-01

    Error Concealment (EC) is a technique at the decoder side to hide the transmission errors. It is done by analyzing the spatial or temporal information from available video frames. It is very important to recover distorted video because they are used for various applications such as video-telephone, video-conference, TV, DVD, internet video streaming, video games etc .Retransmission-based and resilient-based methods, are also used for error removal. But these methods add delay and redundant data. So error concealment is the best option for error hiding. In this paper, the error concealment methods such as Block Matching error concealment algorithm is compared with Frequency Selective Extrapolation algorithm. Both the works are based on concealment of manually error video frames as input. The parameter used for objective quality measurement was PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) and SSIM(Structural Similarity Index). The original video frames along with error video frames are compared with both the Error concealment algorithms. According to simulation results, Frequency Selective Extrapolation is showing better quality measures such as 48% improved PSNR and 94% increased SSIM than Block Matching Algorithm.

  6. Signatures of positive selection: from selective sweeps at individual loci to subtle allele frequency changes in polygenic adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephan, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    In the past 15 years, numerous methods have been developed to detect selective sweeps underlying adaptations. These methods are based on relatively simple population genetic models, including one or two loci at which positive directional selection occurs, and one or two marker loci at which the impact of selection on linked neutral variation is quantified. Information about the phenotype under selection is not included in these models (except for fitness). In contrast, in the quantitative genetic models of adaptation, selection acts on one or more phenotypic traits, such that a genotype-phenotype map is required to bridge the gap to population genetics theory. Here I describe the range of population genetic models from selective sweeps in a panmictic population of constant size to evolutionary traffic when simultaneous sweeps at multiple loci interfere, and I also consider the case of polygenic selection characterized by subtle allele frequency shifts at many loci. Furthermore, I present an overview of the statistical tests that have been proposed based on these population genetics models to detect evidence for positive selection in the genome. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Sound frequency and aural selectivity in sound-contingent visual motion aftereffect.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maori Kobayashi

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: One possible strategy to evaluate whether signals in different modalities originate from a common external event or object is to form associations between inputs from different senses. This strategy would be quite effective because signals in different modalities from a common external event would then be aligned spatially and temporally. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that after adaptation to visual apparent motion paired with alternating auditory tones, the tones begin to trigger illusory motion perception to a static visual stimulus, where the perceived direction of visual lateral motion depends on the order in which the tones are replayed. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. One important approach to understanding the mechanisms is to examine whether the effect has some selectivity in auditory processing. However, it has not yet been determined whether this aftereffect can be transferred across sound frequencies and between ears. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Two circles placed side by side were presented in alternation, producing apparent motion perception, and each onset was accompanied by a tone burst of a specific and unique frequency. After exposure to this visual apparent motion with tones for a few minutes, the tones became drivers for illusory motion perception. However, the aftereffect was observed only when the adapter and test tones were presented at the same frequency and to the same ear. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that the auditory processing underlying the establishment of novel audiovisual associations is selective, potentially but not necessarily indicating that this processing occurs at an early stage.

  8. Three-dimensional primate molar enamel thickness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olejniczak, Anthony J; Tafforeau, Paul; Feeney, Robin N M; Martin, Lawrence B

    2008-02-01

    Molar enamel thickness has played an important role in the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and dietary assessments of fossil primate teeth for nearly 90 years. Despite the frequency with which enamel thickness is discussed in paleoanthropological discourse, methods used to attain information about enamel thickness are destructive and record information from only a single plane of section. Such semidestructive planar methods limit sample sizes and ignore dimensional data that may be culled from the entire length of a tooth. In light of recently developed techniques to investigate enamel thickness in 3D and the frequent use of enamel thickness in dietary and phylogenetic interpretations of living and fossil primates, the study presented here aims to produce and make available to other researchers a database of 3D enamel thickness measurements of primate molars (n=182 molars). The 3D enamel thickness measurements reported here generally agree with 2D studies. Hominoids show a broad range of relative enamel thicknesses, and cercopithecoids have relatively thicker enamel than ceboids, which in turn have relatively thicker enamel than strepsirrhine primates, on average. Past studies performed using 2D sections appear to have accurately diagnosed the 3D relative enamel thickness condition in great apes and humans: Gorilla has the relatively thinnest enamel, Pan has relatively thinner enamel than Pongo, and Homo has the relatively thickest enamel. Although the data set presented here has some taxonomic gaps, it may serve as a useful reference for researchers investigating enamel thickness in fossil taxa and studies of primate gnathic biology.

  9. Trade-offs between microbial growth phases lead to frequency-dependent and non-transitive selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manhart, Michael; Adkar, Bharat V; Shakhnovich, Eugene I

    2018-02-14

    Mutations in a microbial population can increase the frequency of a genotype not only by increasing its exponential growth rate, but also by decreasing its lag time or adjusting the yield (resource efficiency). The contribution of multiple life-history traits to selection is a critical question for evolutionary biology as we seek to predict the evolutionary fates of mutations. Here we use a model of microbial growth to show that there are two distinct components of selection corresponding to the growth and lag phases, while the yield modulates their relative importance. The model predicts rich population dynamics when there are trade-offs between phases: multiple strains can coexist or exhibit bistability due to frequency-dependent selection, and strains can engage in rock-paper-scissors interactions due to non-transitive selection. We characterize the environmental conditions and patterns of traits necessary to realize these phenomena, which we show to be readily accessible to experiments. Our results provide a theoretical framework for analysing high-throughput measurements of microbial growth traits, especially interpreting the pleiotropy and correlations between traits across mutants. This work also highlights the need for more comprehensive measurements of selection in simple microbial systems, where the concept of an ordinary fitness landscape breaks down. © 2018 The Author(s).

  10. Analytical Solution for Elliptical Cloaks Based on The Frequency Selective Surface

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Ghasemi Mizuji

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the elliptical dielectric cylinder which is covered with FSS cloak is considered. Frequency selective surface cloak which Alu named it mantle cloak is one of the recent techniques for cloaking. In this method an appropriate FSS can act as cloaking device for suppressing  the scattering of object  in the desired frequency. With using this method the dimension of the cloaks is extremely reduced. By this proposed structure, the RCS of elliptical cylinder  is reduced about 10-20 dB and designed cloak has an appropriate performance.  The analytical solution for the wave in each layer is presented and with using simulation, the electric field and the scattering pattern has been drawn.

  11. Terahertz Mapping of Microstructure and Thickness Variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Donald J.; Seebo, Jeffrey P.; Winfree, William P.

    2010-01-01

    A noncontact method has been devised for mapping or imaging spatial variations in the thickness and microstructure of a layer of a dielectric material. The method involves (1) placement of the dielectric material on a metal substrate, (2) through-the-thickness pulse-echo measurements by use of electromagnetic waves in the terahertz frequency range with a raster scan in a plane parallel to the substrate surface that do not require coupling of any kind, and (3) appropriate processing of the digitized measurement data.

  12. Effect of Layer Thickness in Selective Laser Melting on Microstructure of Al/5 wt.%Fe2O3 Powder Consolidated Parts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sasan Dadbakhsh

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In situ reaction was activated in the powder mixture of Al/5 wt.%Fe2O3 by using selective laser melting (SLM to directly fabricate aluminium metal matrix composite parts. The microstructural characteristics of these in situ consolidated parts through SLM were investigated under the influence of thick powder bed, 75 μm layer thickness, and 50 μm layer thickness in various laser powers and scanning speeds. It was found that the layer thickness has a strong influence on microstructural outcome, mainly attributed to its impact on oxygen content of the matrix. Various microstructural features (such as granular, coralline-like, and particulate appearance were observed depending on the layer thickness, laser power, and scanning speed. This was associated with various material combinations such as pure Al, Al-Fe intermetallics, and Al(-Fe oxide phases formed after in situ reaction and laser rapid solidification. Uniformly distributed very fine particles could be consolidated in net-shape Al composite parts by using lower layer thickness, higher laser power, and lower scanning speed. The findings contribute to the new development of advanced net-shape manufacture of Al composites by combining SLM and in situ reaction process.

  13. Mixed Stimulus-Induced Mode Selection in Neural Activity Driven by High and Low Frequency Current under Electromagnetic Radiation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lulu Lu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The electrical activities of neurons are dependent on the complex electrophysiological condition in neuronal system, the three-variable Hindmarsh-Rose (HR neuron model is improved to describe the dynamical behaviors of neuronal activities with electromagnetic induction being considered, and the mode transition of electrical activities in neuron is detected when external electromagnetic radiation is imposed on the neuron. In this paper, different types of electrical stimulus impended with a high-low frequency current are imposed on new HR neuron model, and mixed stimulus-induced mode selection in neural activity is discussed in detail. It is found that mode selection of electrical activities stimulated by high-low frequency current, which also changes the excitability of neuron, can be triggered owing to adding the Gaussian white noise. Meanwhile, the mode selection of the neuron electrical activity is much dependent on the amplitude B of the high frequency current under the same noise intensity, and the high frequency response is selected preferentially by applying appropriate parameters and noise intensity. Our results provide insights into the transmission of complex signals in nerve system, which is valuable in engineering prospective applications such as information encoding.

  14. Diversity Techniques for Single-Carrier Packet Retransmissions over Frequency-Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Assimi Abdel-Nasser

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available In data packet communication systems over multipath frequency-selective channels, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ protocols are usually used in order to ensure data reliability. For single-carrier packet transmission in slow fading environment, an identical retransmission of the same packet, due to a decoding failure, does not fully exploit the available time diversity in retransmission-based HARQ protocols. In this paper, we compare two transmit diversity techniques, namely, cyclic frequency-shift diversity and bit-interleaving diversity. Both techniques can be integrated in the HARQ scheme in order to improve the performance of the joint detector. Their performance in terms of pairwise error probability is investigated using maximum likelihood detection and decoding. The impact of the channel memory and the modulation order on the performance gain is emphasized. In practice, we use low complexity linear filter-based equalization which can be efficiently implemented in the frequency domain. The use of iterative equalization and decoding is also considered. The performance gain in terms of frame error rate and data throughput is evaluated by numerical simulations.

  15. Frequency-selective near-field radiative heat transfer between photonic crystal slabs: a computational approach for arbitrary geometries and materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Alejandro W; Ilic, Ognjen; Bermel, Peter; Celanovic, Ivan; Joannopoulos, John D; Soljačić, Marin; Johnson, Steven G

    2011-09-09

    We demonstrate the possibility of achieving enhanced frequency-selective near-field radiative heat transfer between patterned (photonic-crystal) slabs at designable frequencies and separations, exploiting a general numerical approach for computing heat transfer in arbitrary geometries and materials based on the finite-difference time-domain method. Our simulations reveal a tradeoff between selectivity and near-field enhancement as the slab-slab separation decreases, with the patterned heat transfer eventually reducing to the unpatterned result multiplied by a fill factor (described by a standard proximity approximation). We also find that heat transfer can be further enhanced at selective frequencies when the slabs are brought into a glide-symmetric configuration, a consequence of the degeneracies associated with the nonsymmorphic symmetry group.

  16. Frequency-Selective Signal Sensing with Sub-Nyquist Uniform Sampling Scheme

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pierzchlewski, Jacek; Arildsen, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    In this paper the authors discuss a problem of acquisition and reconstruction of a signal polluted by adjacent- channel interference. The authors propose a method to find a sub-Nyquist uniform sampling pattern which allows for correct reconstruction of selected frequencies. The method is inspired...... by the Restricted Isometry Property, which is known from the field of compressed sensing. Then, compressed sensing is used to successfully reconstruct a wanted signal even if some of the uniform samples were randomly lost, e. g. due to ADC saturation. An experiment which tests the proposed method in practice...

  17. Measurement of Choroidal Perfusion and Thickness Following Systemic Sildenafil (Viagra®)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, David Y.; Silverman, Ronald H.; Chan, R.V. Paul; Khanifar, Aziz A.; Rondeau, Mark; Lloyd, Harriet; Schlegel, Peter; Coleman, D. Jackson

    2011-01-01

    Objective To demonstrate anatomic and physiologic changes in the human choroid following systemic sildenafil citrate (ViagraR) using enhanced depth imaging spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) and swept-scan high frequency digital ultrasound. Methods Seven healthy male subjects (mean age 32.7 years) were evaluated at baseline and two hours after ingesting 50 mg of sildenafil. Swept-scan high frequency digital ultrasound and EDI-OCT were utilized to measure choroidal perfusion and thickness, respectively. Results were read by masked observers. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and t-test were used to analyze differences in choroidal flow and thickness at baseline and two hours after ingestion of sildenafil. Results Two hours following sildenafil, increased choroidal perfusion was observed in 11 of 12 eyes measured by swept-scan high frequency digital ultrasound. The mean increase was 3.46 (±2.00) times baseline with a range of 0.47 to 7.80 times baseline (p=0.004). Increased choroidal thickness was observed in 12 of 12 eyes measured with EDI-OCT. The average choroidal thickness increased by 11.6% temporal to the fovea, 9.3% nasal to the fovea, and 10.7% underneath the fovea (p<0.001 for all values). Conclusions Choroidal perfusion and thickness both increase in response to systemic sildenafil. These changes could secondarily affect retinal function, explain previously reported clinical symptoms, and potentially be a useful adjunct for treatment of ocular diseases that would benefit from increased choroidal blood flow. PMID:22974308

  18. Relevance feature selection of modal frequency-ambient condition pattern recognition in structural health assessment for reinforced concrete buildings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    He-Qing Mu

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Modal frequency is an important indicator for structural health assessment. Previous studies have shown that this indicator is substantially affected by the fluctuation of ambient conditions, such as temperature and humidity. Therefore, recognizing the pattern between modal frequency and ambient conditions is necessary for reliable long-term structural health assessment. In this article, a novel machine-learning algorithm is proposed to automatically select relevance features in modal frequency-ambient condition pattern recognition based on structural dynamic response and ambient condition measurement. In contrast to the traditional feature selection approaches by examining a large number of combinations of extracted features, the proposed algorithm conducts continuous relevance feature selection by introducing a sophisticated hyperparameterization on the weight parameter vector controlling the relevancy of different features in the prediction model. The proposed algorithm is then utilized for structural health assessment for a reinforced concrete building based on 1-year daily measurements. It turns out that the optimal model class including the relevance features for each vibrational mode is capable to capture the pattern between the corresponding modal frequency and the ambient conditions.

  19. Obtaining thickness profiles from the tomographic inversion of guided wave data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bloom, J.G.P.; Luiten, E.A.; Volker, A.W.F.

    2009-01-01

    Guided wave tomography is a promising technique for the monitoring of corrosion over large areas. Guided waves have a wave speed mat depends in certain frequency-thickness regimes on the local thickness of the waveguide they follow. Therefore, the travel time of the guided wave over a fixed distance

  20. Influence of slice thickness on the determination of left ventricular wall thickness and dimension by magnetic resonance imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ohnishi, Shusaku; Fukui, Sugao; Atsumi, Chisato and others

    1989-02-01

    Wall thickness of the ventricular septum and left ventricle, and left ventricular cavity dimension were determined on magnetic resonance (MR) images with slices 5 mm and 10 mm in thickness. Subjects were 3 healthy volunteers and 7 patients with hypertension (4), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (one) or valvular heart disease (2). In visualizing the cardiac structures such as left ventricular papillary muscle and right and left ventricles, 5 mm-thick images were better than 10 mm-thick images. Edges of ventricular septum and left ventricular wall were more clearly visualized on 5 mm-thick images than 10 mm-thick images. Two mm-thick MR images obtained from 2 patients yielded the most excellent visualization in end-systole, but failed to reveal cardiac structures in detail in end-diastole. Phantom studies revealed no significant differences in image quality of 10 mm and 5 mm in thickness in the axial view 80 degree to the long axis. In the axial view 45 degree to the long axis, 10 mm-thick images were inferior to 5 mm-thick images in detecting the edge of the septum and the left ventricular wall. These results indicate that the selection of slice thickness is one of the most important determinant factors in the measurement of left ventricular wall thickness and cavity dimension. (Namekawa, K).

  1. Influence of slice thickness on the determination of left ventricular wall thickness and dimension by magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohnishi, Shusaku; Fukui, Sugao; Atsumi, Chisato

    1989-01-01

    Wall thickness of the ventricular septum and left ventricle, and left ventricular cavity dimension were determined on magnetic resonance (MR) images with slices 5 mm and 10 mm in thickness. Subjects were 3 healthy volunteers and 7 patients with hypertension (4), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (one) or valvular heart disease (2). In visualizing the cardiac structures such as left ventricular papillary muscle and right and left ventricles, 5 mm-thick images were better than 10 mm-thick images. Edges of ventricular septum and left ventricular wall were more clearly visualized on 5 mm-thick images than 10 mm-thick images. Two mm-thick MR images obtained from 2 patients yielded the most excellent visualization in end-systole, but failed to reveal cardiac structures in detail in end-diastole. Phantom studies revealed no significant differences in image quality of 10 mm and 5 mm in thickness in the axial view 80 degree to the long axis. In the axial view 45 degree to the long axis, 10 mm-thick images were inferior to 5 mm-thick images in detecting the edge of the septum and the left ventricular wall. These results indicate that the selection of slice thickness is one of the most important determinant factors in the measurement of left ventricular wall thickness and cavity dimension. (Namekawa, K)

  2. Radio frequency selective addressing of localized atoms in a periodic potential

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ott, H.; De Mirandes, E.; Ferlaino, F.; Roati, G.; Tuerck, V.; Modugno, G.; Inguscio, M.

    2004-01-01

    We study the localization and addressability of ultracold atoms in a combined parabolic and periodic potential. Such a potential supports the existence of localized stationary states and we show that applying a radio frequency field allows us to selectively address atoms in these states. This method is used to measure the energy and momentum distribution of the atoms in the localized states. We also discuss possible extensions of this scheme to address and manipulate atoms in single lattice sites

  3. Free and Forced Vibrations of Thick-Walled Anisotropic Cylindrical Shells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchuk, A. V.; Gnedash, S. V.; Levkovskii, S. A.

    2017-03-01

    Two approaches to studying the free and forced axisymmetric vibrations of cylindrical shell are proposed. They are based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity and division of the original cylindrical shell with concentric cross-sectional circles into several coaxial cylindrical shells. One approach uses linear polynomials to approximate functions defined in plan and across the thickness. The other approach also uses linear polynomials to approximate functions defined in plan, but their variation with thickness is described by the analytical solution of a system of differential equations. Both approaches have approximation and arithmetic errors. When determining the natural frequencies by the semi-analytical finite-element method in combination with the divide and conqure method, it is convenient to find the initial frequencies by the finite-element method. The behavior of the shell during free and forced vibrations is analyzed in the case where the loading area is half the shell thickness

  4. Extragalactic Peaked-spectrum Radio Sources at Low Frequencies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Callingham, J. R.; Gaensler, B. M.; Sadler, E. M.; Lenc, E. [Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA), School of Physics, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia); Ekers, R. D.; Bell, M. E. [CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS), Marsfield, NSW 2122 (Australia); Line, J. L. B.; Hancock, P. J.; Kapińska, A. D.; McKinley, B.; Procopio, P. [ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) (Australia); Hurley-Walker, N.; Tingay, S. J.; Franzen, T. M. O.; Morgan, J. [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102 (Australia); Dwarakanath, K. S. [Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore 560080 (India); For, B.-Q. [International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009 (Australia); Hindson, L.; Johnston-Hollitt, M. [School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140 (New Zealand); Offringa, A. R., E-mail: joseph.callingham@sydney.edu.au [Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Dwingeloo (Netherlands); and others

    2017-02-20

    We present a sample of 1483 sources that display spectral peaks between 72 MHz and 1.4 GHz, selected from the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey. The GLEAM survey is the widest fractional bandwidth all-sky survey to date, ideal for identifying peaked-spectrum sources at low radio frequencies. Our peaked-spectrum sources are the low-frequency analogs of gigahertz-peaked spectrum (GPS) and compact-steep spectrum (CSS) sources, which have been hypothesized to be the precursors to massive radio galaxies. Our sample more than doubles the number of known peaked-spectrum candidates, and 95% of our sample have a newly characterized spectral peak. We highlight that some GPS sources peaking above 5 GHz have had multiple epochs of nuclear activity, and we demonstrate the possibility of identifying high-redshift ( z > 2) galaxies via steep optically thin spectral indices and low observed peak frequencies. The distribution of the optically thick spectral indices of our sample is consistent with past GPS/CSS samples but with a large dispersion, suggesting that the spectral peak is a product of an inhomogeneous environment that is individualistic. We find no dependence of observed peak frequency with redshift, consistent with the peaked-spectrum sample comprising both local CSS sources and high-redshift GPS sources. The 5 GHz luminosity distribution lacks the brightest GPS and CSS sources of previous samples, implying that a convolution of source evolution and redshift influences the type of peaked-spectrum sources identified below 1 GHz. Finally, we discuss sources with optically thick spectral indices that exceed the synchrotron self-absorption limit.

  5. Mode-Selective Photon Counting Via Quantum Frequency Conversion Using Spectrally-Engineered Pump Pulses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manurkar, Paritosh

    Most of the existing protocols for quantum communication operate in a two-dimensional Hilbert space where their manipulation and measurement have been routinely investigated. Moving to higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces is desirable because of advantages in terms of longer distance communication capabilities, higher channel capacity and better information security. We can exploit the spatio-temporal degrees of freedom for the quantum optical signals to provide the higher-dimensional signals. But this necessitates the need for measurement and manipulation of multidimensional quantum states. To that end, there have been significant theoretical studies based on quantum frequency conversion (QFC) in recent years even though the experimental progress has been limited. QFC is a process that allows preservation of the quantum information while changing the frequency of the input quantum state. It has deservedly garnered a lot of attention because it serves as the connecting bridge between the communications band (C-band near 1550 nm) where the fiber-optic infrastructure is already established and the visible spectrum where high efficiency single-photon detectors and optical memories have been demonstrated. In this experimental work, we demonstrate mode-selective frequency conversion as a means to measure and manipulate photonic signals occupying d -dimensional Hilbert spaces where d=2 and 4. In the d=2 case, we demonstrate mode contrast between two temporal modes (TMs) which serves as the proof-of-concept demonstration. In the d=4 version, we employ six different TMs for our detailed experimental study. These TMs also include superposition modes which are a crucial component in many quantum key distribution protocols. Our method is based on producing pump pulses which allow us to upconvert the TM of interest while ideally preserving the other modes. We use MATLAB simulations to determine the pump pulse shapes which are subsequently produced by controlling the amplitude and

  6. Frequency Selective Surface for Structural Health Monitoring

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norlyana Azemi, Saidatul; Mustaffa, Farzana Hazira Wan; Faizal Jamlos, Mohd; Abdullah Al-Hadi, Azremi; Soh, Ping Jack

    2018-03-01

    Structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies have attained attention to monitor civil structures. SHM sensor systems have been used in various civil structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels and so on. However the previous sensor for SHM is wired and encounter with problem to cover large areas. Therefore, wireless sensor was introduced for SHM to reduce network connecting problem. Wireless sensors for Structural Health monitoring are new technology and have many advantages to overcome the drawback of conventional and wired sensor. This project proposed passive wireless SHM sensor using frequency selective surface (FSS) as an alternative to conventional sensors. The electromagnetic wave characteristic of FSS will change by geometrical changes of FSS due to mechanical strain or structural failure. The changes feature is used as a sensing function without any connecting wires. Two type of design which are circular ring and square loop along with the transmission and reflection characteristics of SHM using FSS were discussed in this project. A simulation process has shown that incident angle characteristics can be use as a data for SHM application.

  7. Magnetic properties of permalloy films with different thicknesses deposited onto obliquely sputtered Cu underlayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xiaoyu; Sun, Xiaojun; Wang, Jianbo; Liu, Qingfang

    2015-01-01

    In this work, the influence of obliquely sputtered Cu underlayer of 10 nm on the magnetic properties of normally sputtered Permalloy thin films with different thicknesses from 10 nm to 150 nm has been investigated. It has been found that the samples with the Permalloy layer thickness ranging from 10 nm to 70 nm exhibit a good in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, and the increase of the film thickness leads to a decrease of the anisotropy field and the natural resonance frequency. The critical Permalloy layer thickness for stripe domain initiation of these films is about 80 nm, which is thinner than that of obliquely sputtered Permalloy thin films without an underlayer. The characteristic shapes of hysteresis loops which can be called ''transcritical'' are observed above the critical thickness. The condition and mechanism of appearing stripe domain structure were discussed and it has been found that the frequency response of permeability of the anisotropic films shows the characteristics of multi-peak resonance. - Highlights: • Py films were fabricated on obliquely sputtered Cu underlayers by RF magnetron sputtering. • Effects of Py layer thickness on anisotropy, ferromagnetic resonance frequency have been studied. • Samples with Py layer (<70 nm) show a good in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. • Samples with Py layer (>80 nm) show stripe domains and multi-peaks in permeability spectra

  8. Photoacoustic signal attenuation analysis for the assessment of thin layers thickness in paintings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tserevelakis, George J.; Dal Fovo, Alice; Melessanaki, Krystalia; Fontana, Raffaella; Zacharakis, Giannis

    2018-03-01

    This study introduces a novel method for the thickness estimation of thin paint layers in works of art, based on photoacoustic signal attenuation analysis (PAcSAA). Ad hoc designed samples with acrylic paint layers (Primary Red Magenta, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue) of various thicknesses on glass substrates were realized for the specific application. After characterization by Optical Coherence Tomography imaging, samples were irradiated at the back side using low energy nanosecond laser pulses of 532 nm wavelength. Photoacoustic waves undergo a frequency-dependent exponential attenuation through the paint layer, before being detected by a broadband ultrasonic transducer. Frequency analysis of the recorded time-domain signals allows for the estimation of the average transmitted frequency function, which shows an exponential decay with the layer thickness. Ultrasonic attenuation models were obtained for each pigment and used to fit the data acquired on an inhomogeneous painted mock-up simulating a real canvas painting. Thickness evaluation through PAcSAA resulted in excellent agreement with cross-section analysis with a conventional brightfield microscope. The results of the current study demonstrate the potential of the proposed PAcSAA method for the non-destructive stratigraphic analysis of painted artworks.

  9. Tunable antenna radome based on graphene frequency selective surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Meijun; Rao, Menglou; Li, Shufang; Deng, Li

    2017-09-01

    In this paper, a graphene-based frequency selective surface (FSS) is proposed. The proposed FSS exhibits a tunable bandpass filtering characteristic due to the alterable conductivity of the graphene strips which is controlled by chemical potential. Based on the reconfigurable bandpass property of the proposed FSS, a cylindrical antenna radome is designed using the FSS unit cells. A conventional omnidirectional dipole can realize a two-beam directional pattern when it is placed into the proposed antenna radome. Forward and backward endfire radiations of the dipole loaded with the radome is realized by properly adjusting the chemical potential. The proposed antenna radome is extremely promising for beam-scanning in terahertz and mid-infrared plasmonic devices and systems when the gain of a conventional antenna needs to be enhanced.

  10. Frequency Selective Properties of Coaxial Transmission Lines Loaded with Combined Artificial Inclusions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Falcone

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The properties of a modified coaxial transmission line by periodic inclusions will be discussed. The introduction of split ring resonators, conductor stubs, air gaps, and combination of these gives rise to new frequency selective properties, such as stopband or passband behavior, observable in planar as well as volumetric metamaterial structures. These results envisage new potential applications and implementation of devices in coaxial transmission line technology.

  11. Manual B-mode versus automated radio-frequency carotid intima-media thickness measurements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dogan, Soner; Plantinga, Yvonne; Dijk, Joke M.; van der Graaf, Yolanda; Grobbee, Diederick E.; Bots, Michiel L.; Algra, N. N.; Doevendans, P. A.; Eikelboom, C.; van der Graaf, Y.; Grobbee, E.; Kappelle, L. J.; Mali, W. P. Th M.; Moll, F. L.; Rutten, G. E. H. M.; Visseren, F. L. J.

    2009-01-01

    Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) serves as an indicator of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk. Manual measurements of B-mode ultrasound images are the most applied method. Automated measurements with radiofrequency (RF) ultrasound have been suggested as an alternative. The aim of this

  12. The Effect of Subcutaneous Fat on Electrical Impedance Myography: Electrode Configuration and Multi-Frequency Analyses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Le Li

    Full Text Available This study investigates the impact of the subcutaneous fat layer (SFL thickness on localized electrical impedance myography (EIM, as well as the effects of different current electrodes, varying in distance and direction, on EIM output. Twenty-three healthy subjects underwent localized multi-frequency EIM on their biceps brachii muscles with a hand-held electrode array. The EIM measurements were recorded under three different configurations: wide (or outer longitudinal configuration 6.8 cm, narrow (or inner longitudinal configuration 4.5 cm, and narrow transverse configuration 4.5 cm. Ultrasound was applied to measure the SFL thickness. Coefficients of determination (R2 of three EIM variables (resistance, reactance, and phase and SFL thickness were calculated. For the longitudinal configuration, the wide distance could reduce the effects of the subcutaneous fat when compared with the narrow distance, but a significant correlation still remained for all three EIM parameters. However, there was no significant correlation between SFL thickness and reactance in the transverse configuration (R2 = 0.0294, p = 0.434. Utilizing a ratio of 50kHz/100kHz phase was found to be able to help reduce the correlation with SFL thickness for all the three configurations. The findings indicate that the appropriate selection of the current electrode distance, direction and the multi-frequency phase ratio can reduce the impact of subcutaneous fat on EIM. These settings should be evaluated for future clinical studies using hand-held localized arrays to perform EIM.

  13. Detection of optic nerve lesions in optic neuritis using frequency-selective fat-saturation sequences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, D.H.; MacManus, D.G.; Bartlett, P.A.; Kapoor, R.; Morrissey, S.P.; Moseley, I.F.

    1993-01-01

    MRI was performed on seven patients with acute optic neuritis, using two sequences which suppress the signal from orbital fat: frequency-selective fat-saturation and inversion recovery with a short inversion time. Lesions were seen on both sequences in all the symptomatic optic nerves studied. (orig.)

  14. Thickness measurement instrument with memory storage of multiple calibrations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lieber, S.; Schlesinger, J.; Lieber, D.; Baker, A.

    1979-01-01

    An improved backscatter instrument for the nondestructive measurement of coatings on a substrate is described. A memory having selectable memory areas, each area having stored intelligence available which is determinative of the shape of a functional plot of coating thickness versus backscatter counts per minute unique for each particular combination of emitting isotope, substrate material, coating material and physical characteristics of the measuring instrument. A memory selector switch connects a selected area of memory to a microprocessor operating under program control whereby the microprocessor reads the intelligence stored at the selected area and converts the backscattered count of the coating being measured into indicia of coating thickness

  15. Magnetic Probe Construction using Thick-film Technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, H.; Sakakibara, S.; Kubota, Y.; Yamada, H.

    2001-01-01

    Thick-film technology has been successfully adapted for the design and fabrication of magnetic probes of a new type suitable for use in the simultaneous ultra-high vacuum and high-temperature environment of a nuclear fusion device. The maximum usable temperature is expected to be around 900 degrees C. This new probe has a specific sensitivity (coupling area per unit volume) an order of magnitude higher than a conventional coil. The new probe in one implementation is capable of simultaneously measuring magnetic field in three orthogonal directions about a single spatial point and in two frequency ranges. Low-frequency coils have a measured coupling area of 296-323 cm squared and a frequency response of about 300 kHz. High-frequency coils have a design coupling area of 12-15 cm squared

  16. Study of lead free ferroelectrics using overlay technique on thick film microstrip ring resonator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shridhar N. Mathad

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The lead free ferroelectrics, strontium barium niobates, were synthesized via the low cost solid state reaction method and their fritless thick films were fabricated by screen printing technique on alumina substrate. The X band response (complex permittivity at very high frequencies of Ag thick film microstrip ring resonator perturbed with strontium barium niobates (SrxBa1-xNb2O6 in form of bulk and thick film was measured. A new approach for determination of complex permittivity (ε′ and ε′′ in the frequency range 8–12 GHz, using perturbation of Ag thick film microstrip ring resonator (MSRR, was applied for both bulk and thick film of strontium barium niobates (SrxBa1-xNb2O6. The microwave conductivity of the bulk and thick film lie in the range from 1.779 S/cm to 2.874 S/cm and 1.364 S/cm to 2.296 S/cm, respectively. The penetration depth of microwave in strontium barium niobates is also reported.

  17. Piezoresistive silicon nanowire resonators as embedded building blocks in thick SOI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasr Esfahani, Mohammad; Kilinc, Yasin; Çagatay Karakan, M.; Orhan, Ezgi; Hanay, M. Selim; Leblebici, Yusuf; Erdem Alaca, B.

    2018-04-01

    The use of silicon nanowire resonators in nanoelectromechanical systems for new-generation sensing and communication devices faces integration challenges with higher-order structures. Monolithic and deterministic integration of such nanowires with the surrounding microscale architecture within the same thick crystal is a critical aspect for the improvement of throughput, reliability and device functionality. A monolithic and IC-compatible technology based on a tuned combination of etching and protection processes was recently introduced yielding silicon nanowires within a 10 μ m-thick device layer. Motivated by its success, the implications of the technology regarding the electromechanical resonance are studied within a particular setting, where the resonator is co-fabricated with all terminals and tuning electrodes. Frequency response is measured via piezoresistive readout with frequency down-mixing. Measurements indicate mechanical resonance with frequencies as high as 100 MHz exhibiting a Lorentzian behavior with proper transition to nonlinearity, while Allan deviation on the order of 3-8 ppm is achieved. Enabling the fabrication of silicon nanowires in thick silicon crystals using conventional semiconductor manufacturing, the present study thus demonstrates an alternative pathway to bottom-up and thin silicon-on-insulator approaches for silicon nanowire resonators.

  18. Collective spin waves on a nanowire array with step-modulated thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gubbiotti, G; Tacchi, S; Kostylev, M; Ivanov, E; Samarin, S; Madami, M; Carlotti, G; Ding, J; Adeyeye, A O; Zighem, F; Stashkevich, A A

    2014-01-01

    It is shown experimentally that collective Bloch spin waves are able to propagate in a dense periodic array of nanowires with step-modulated thickness along the periodicity direction. The spin wave dispersion (frequency versus wave vector k) was measured using the Brillouin light scattering technique by sweeping the wave vector perpendicularly to the wire length. Remarkably, the mode measured at the lowest frequency exhibits an oscillating dispersion and its frequency is up-shifted with respect to the homogeneous-thickness wires of the same width. The modes located at higher frequencies have negligible dependencies on the wave number, i.e. are practically dispersionless. Complementary ferromagnetic resonance measurements enabled us to independently measure the whole set of modes at k = 0, showing a good agreement with the Brillouin light scattering data. These results have been successfully reproduced in a numerical simulation employing a two-dimensional Green's function description of the dynamic dipole field of the precessing magnetization. The theory also allowed visualizing the non-trivial distribution of dynamic magnetization across the wire cross-section and estimating the Brillouin light scattering cross-section. The analysis of these intensities suggests complicated magneto-optical coupling between the light and the dynamic magnetization in the arrays of nanowires with step-modulated thickness. This work can stimulate the design, tailoring, and characterization of three-dimensional magnonic crystals. (paper)

  19. The short-term effects of antenna insulation thickness on path losses in wireless telemetry implants at microwave frequencies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lukas Kneisz

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Various physiological parameters can be monitored non-invasively using wireless biotelemetry links. The development of sophisticated ultra low power consuming transceivers allows the transmission of large amounts of data from the inside of the body to an external receiver in real time at microwave frequencies.Antenna impedance matching is crucial for obtaining an acceptable propagation link budget in a wireless telemetry link. The dielectric properties of biological tissue induce detuning to transceiver antennas when implanted into the body. To counteract detuning problems, implant antennas are coated with biocompatible insulating material. The study investigates the propagation losses of a wireless communication link at different insulation thicknesses of medical grade silicone in the Industrial-Scientific-Medical (ISM radio band at 2.45 GHz. The wireless link consisted of an implantable unit which was placed between two pads of tissue substitute material and an external receiver which was connected to a laptop. Predefined data packets were transmitted from the implant, the received packets were analyzed, packet errors and packet losses were logged and the received signal strength indicator values (RSSI were recorded. Our results showed that the mean RSSI values of insulated transmitter antennas - embedded in tissue equivalent material - provide more safety distance to critical receiver sensitivity level than uncoated antennas.The conducted measurements let us conclude that with increasing thickness of the insulation layer, the antenna becomes less sensitive to detuning by adjacent tissue substitute material. Therefore tuned antennas are less influenced by the surrounding tissue after implantation.

  20. Distributive estimation of frequency selective channels for massive MIMO systems

    KAUST Repository

    Zaib, Alam

    2015-12-28

    We consider frequency selective channel estimation in the uplink of massive MIMO-OFDM systems, where our major concern is complexity. A low complexity distributed LMMSE algorithm is proposed that attains near optimal channel impulse response (CIR) estimates from noisy observations at receive antenna array. In proposed method, every antenna estimates the CIRs of its neighborhood followed by recursive sharing of estimates with immediate neighbors. At each step, every antenna calculates the weighted average of shared estimates which converges to near optimal LMMSE solution. The simulation results validate the near optimal performance of proposed algorithm in terms of mean square error (MSE). © 2015 EURASIP.

  1. Faraday effect in hollow quantum cylinder of finite thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ismailov, T.G.; Jabrailova, G.G.

    2009-01-01

    The interband Faraday rotation in hollow quantum cylinder of finite thickness is theoretically investigated. Faraday rotation in the dependence on incident light energy for different values of cylinder thickness. It is seen that the resonance peaks appear on Faraday rotation curve. The roles of selection are obtained

  2. Analysis of cutoff frequency in a one-dimensional superconductor-metamaterial photonic crystal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aly, Arafa H; Aghajamali, Alireza; Elsayed, Hussein A.; Mobarak, Mohamed

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Our results show that the appearance of the cutoff frequency, below which the incident electromagnetic waves cannot propagate in the structure. We demonstrate that the cutoff frequency shows an upward trend as the thickness of the superconductor layer as well as the thickness of the metamaterial increase. • The cutoff frequency can be tuned by the operating temperature. Our structures are good candidates for many optical devices such as optical filters, switches, temperature controlled optical shutter, and among photoelectronic applications in gigahertz. - Abstract: In this paper, using the two-fluid model and the characteristic matrix method, we investigate the transmission characteristics of the one-dimensional photonic crystal. Our structure composed of the layers of low-temperature superconductor material (NbN) and double-negative metamaterial. We target studying the effect of many parameters such as the thickness of the superconductor material, the thickness of the metamaterial layer, and the operating temperature. We show that the cut-off frequency can be tuned efficiently by the operating temperature as well as the thicknesses of the constituent materials.

  3. Uncertainty estimation of ultrasonic thickness measurement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yassir Yassen, Abdul Razak Daud; Mohammad Pauzi Ismail; Abdul Aziz Jemain

    2009-01-01

    The most important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting ultrasonic thickness measurement technique is its reliability. Only when the uncertainty of a measurement results is known, it may be judged if the result is adequate for intended purpose. The objective of this study is to model the ultrasonic thickness measurement function, to identify the most contributing input uncertainty components, and to estimate the uncertainty of the ultrasonic thickness measurement results. We assumed that there are five error sources significantly contribute to the final error, these sources are calibration velocity, transit time, zero offset, measurement repeatability and resolution, by applying the propagation of uncertainty law to the model function, a combined uncertainty of the ultrasonic thickness measurement was obtained. In this study the modeling function of ultrasonic thickness measurement was derived. By using this model the estimation of the uncertainty of the final output result was found to be reliable. It was also found that the most contributing input uncertainty components are calibration velocity, transit time linearity and zero offset. (author)

  4. Optimal stapler cartridge selection according to the thickness of the pancreas in distal pancreatectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hongbeom; Jang, Jin-Young; Son, Donghee; Lee, Seungyeoun; Han, Youngmin; Shin, Yong Chan; Kim, Jae Ri; Kwon, Wooil; Kim, Sun-Whe

    2016-08-01

    Stapling is a popular method for stump closure in distal pancreatectomy (DP). However, research on which cartridges are suitable for different pancreatic thickness is lacking. To identify the optimal stapler cartridge choice in DP according to pancreatic thickness.From November 2011 to April 2015, data were prospectively collected from 217 consecutive patients who underwent DP with 3-layer endoscopic staple closure in Seoul National University Hospital, Korea. Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) was graded according to International Study Group on Pancreatic Fistula definitions. Staplers were grouped based on closed length (CL) (Group I: CL ≤ 1.5 mm, II: 1.5 mm 17 mm. With pancreatic thickness <12 mm, the POPF rate was lowest with Group II (I: 50%, II: 27.6%, III: 69.2%, P = 0.035).The optimal stapler cartridges with pancreatic thickness <12 mm were those in Group II (Gold, CL: 1.8 mm). There was no suitable cartridge for thicker pancreases. Further studies are necessary to reduce POPF in thick pancreases.

  5. Frequency selective surfaces based high performance microstrip antenna

    CERN Document Server

    Narayan, Shiv; Jha, Rakesh Mohan

    2016-01-01

    This book focuses on performance enhancement of printed antennas using frequency selective surfaces (FSS) technology. The growing demand of stealth technology in strategic areas requires high-performance low-RCS (radar cross section) antennas. Such requirements may be accomplished by incorporating FSS into the antenna structure either in its ground plane or as the superstrate, due to the filter characteristics of FSS structure. In view of this, a novel approach based on FSS technology is presented in this book to enhance the performance of printed antennas including out-of-band structural RCS reduction. In this endeavor, the EM design of microstrip patch antennas (MPA) loaded with FSS-based (i) high impedance surface (HIS) ground plane, and (ii) the superstrates are discussed in detail. The EM analysis of proposed FSS-based antenna structures have been carried out using transmission line analogy, in combination with the reciprocity theorem. Further, various types of novel FSS structures are considered in desi...

  6. Selective spleen scintigraphy to evaluate frequency of splenosis after posttraumatic splenectomy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loew, A.; Tischler, E.; Mahlstedt, J.; Wolf, F.; Meier, H.

    1981-01-01

    In 60 patients having had posttraumatic splenectomy between 9 months and 12 years ago frequency of splenosis was investigated in comparison to immunological and hematological parameters. Selective spleen scintigraphy was performed with sup(99m)-Tc-labelled heat-damaged auto-erythrocytes. In 46,7% of the patients splenosis was found without age dependence. Between patients with and without splenosis no significant differences concerning the immunological and hematological parameters were seen. Therefore, the lack of pathological manifestations after posttraumatic splenectomy is not to be related to autotransplantation of splenic tissue. (orig.) [de

  7. Mapping sediment thickness of Islamabad city using empirical relationships: Implications for seismic hazard assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Sarfraz; Khan, M. Asif

    2016-04-01

    Soft sediments make an important component of the subsurface lithology, especially in areas underlain by river/stream basins. Occupying a position directly above the bedrock up to the land surface, these soft sediments can range in thickness from few centimeters to hundreds of meters. They carry a special nuisance in seismic hazards, as they serve as a source of seismic amplification that may enhance the seismic shaking of many folds. Determination of the thickness of the soft sediments is therefore crucial in seismic hazard analysis. A number of studies in recent years have demonstrated that frequency and amplitude spectrum obtained from the noise measurements during the recording of natural seismicity can be used to obtain thickness of soft sediments covering the bedrock. Nakamura (1989) presented a technique to determine such spectrum using ratio of horizontal to vertical components of the Rayleigh waves. The present study is based on an extensive set of microtremor measurements carried out in the Islamabad city, Pakistan. Fundamental frequencies were obtained from weak motion sensors and Tromino Engy Plus instruments to show that the correlation is clearly valid for a wide range of sediment thickness. A simple formula was derived for the investigated area to determine directly the thickness of sediments from the main peaks in the H/ V spectrum for seismometer and Tromino data separately. A comparison is made between sediment thicknesses derived from empirical relations developed in this study with those given in literature to demonstrate a positive correlation. The correlation of instrumental resonant frequencies with calculated resonant frequencies (theoretical) suggests that the relation derived from the noise measurements mostly depends on the velocity depth function of the shear wave. The fundamental frequency of the main peak of spectral ratio of H/ V using the both instruments correlates well with the thickness of sediments at the site obtained from the

  8. Ferroelectric domain inversion and its stability in lithium niobate thin film on insulator with different thicknesses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shao, Guang-hao; Bai, Yu-hang; Cui, Guo-xin; Li, Chen; Qiu, Xiang-biao; Wu, Di; Lu, Yan-qing, E-mail: yqlu@nju.edu.cn [National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China); Geng, De-qiang [Jinan Jingzheng Electronics Co., Ltd., Jinan 250100 (China)

    2016-07-15

    Ferroelectric domain inversion and its effect on the stability of lithium niobate thin films on insulator (LNOI) are experimentally characterized. Two sets of specimens with different thicknesses varying from submicron to microns are selected. For micron thick samples (∼28 μm), domain structures are achieved by pulsed electric field poling with electrodes patterned via photolithography. No domain structure deterioration has been observed for a month as inspected using polarizing optical microscopy and etching. As for submicron (540 nm) films, large-area domain inversion is realized by scanning a biased conductive tip in a piezoelectric force microscope. A graphic processing method is taken to evaluate the domain retention. A domain life time of 25.0 h is obtained and possible mechanisms are discussed. Our study gives a direct reference for domain structure-related applications of LNOI, including guiding wave nonlinear frequency conversion, nonlinear wavefront tailoring, electro-optic modulation, and piezoelectric devices.

  9. Asymmetric transmission of acoustic waves in a layer thickness distribution gradient structure using metamaterials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jung-San Chen

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This research presents an innovative asymmetric transmission design using alternate layers of water and metamaterial with complex mass density. The directional transmission behavior of acoustic waves is observed numerically inside the composite structure with gradient layer thickness distribution and the rectifying performance of the present design is evaluated. The layer thickness distributions with arithmetic and geometric gradients are considered and the effect of gradient thickness on asymmetric wave propagation is systematically investigated using finite element simulation. The numerical results indicate that the maximum pressure density and transmission through the proposed structure are significantly influenced by the wave propagation direction over a wide range of audible frequencies. Tailoring the thickness of the layered structure enables the manipulation of asymmetric wave propagation within the desired frequency range. In conclusion, the proposed design offers a new possibility for developing directional-dependent acoustic devices.

  10. Comparison of different methods for measuring the passive film thickness on metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benoit, Marie; Bataillon, Christian; Gwinner, Benoit; Miserque, Frédéric; Orazem, Mark E.; Sánchez-Sánchez, Carlos M.; Tribollet, Bernard; Vivier, Vincent

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • In situ EIS and ex situ XPS were used for the characterization of zirconium oxide films. • The film thicknesses can be obtained from the analysis of a single EIS diagram. • A convenient graphical method to extract film properties is proposed. - Abstract: In situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements on electrogenerated zirconium oxide films on zirconium (Zr/ZrO_2) were used to quantify the oxide film thickness and resistivity profiles through the oxide. The EIS analysis presented here takes advantage of the high-frequency domain at which the constant-phase element (CPE) behavior of the oxide film reverts to a capacitive response and the Cole-Cole representations of the complex capacitance to extract the high-frequency capacitance of the oxide film without reference to the nature of the time-constant distribution within the oxide film. The film thickness of the ZrO_2 samples measured from the high-frequency capacitance of EIS were in good agreement with the thickness obtained from XPS. Moreover, the EIS analysis presented is based on the use of the integral solution of the power law model, which allows to obtain in one single EIS experiment, both the film thickness and the resistivity profile in the ZrO_2 film. This work suggests a convenient graphical method to extract film properties and serves to validate a key assumption of the power-law model for interpretation of CPE parameters in terms of physical properties.

  11. Assessment of DGAT1 and LEP gene polymorphisms in three Nelore (Bos indicus) lines selected for growth and their relationship with growth and carcass traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, F R P; Mercadante, M E Z; Fonseca, L F S; Ferreira, L M S; Regatieri, I C; Ayres, D R; Tonhati, H; Silva, S L; Razook, A G; Albuquerque, L G

    2010-02-01

    The aim of this study was to analyze LEP and DGAT1 gene polymorphisms in 3 Nelore lines selected for growth and to evaluate their effects on growth and carcass traits. Traits analyzed were birth, weaning, and yearling weight, rump height, LM area, backfat thickness, and rump fat thickness obtained by ultrasound. Two SNP in the LEP gene [LEP 1620(A/G) and LEP 305(T/C)] and the K232A mutation in the DGAT1 gene were analyzed. The sample consisted of 357 Nelore heifers from 2 lines selected for yearling weight and a control line, established in 1980, at the Estação Experimental de Zootecnia de Sertãozinho (Sertãozinho, Brazil). Three genotypes were obtained for each marker. Differences in allele frequencies among the 3 lines were only observed for the DGAT1 K232A polymorphism, with the frequency of the A allele being greater in the control line than in the selected lines. The DGAT1 K232A mutation was associated only with rump height, whereas LEP 1620(A/G) was associated with weaning weight and LEP 305(T/C) with birth weight and backfat thickness. However, more studies, with larger data sets, are necessary before these makers can be used for marker-assisted selection.

  12. Manipulating single second mode transparency in a corrugated waveguide via the thickness of sputtered gold

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xu, Dan [Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry of Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Photonics Research Center, College of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Fan, Ya-Xian, E-mail: yxfan@hrbeu.edu.cn [Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry of Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Photonics Research Center, College of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Sang, Tang-Qing; Xu, Lan-Lan; Bibi, Aysha [Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry of Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Photonics Research Center, College of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Tao, Zhi-Yong, E-mail: zytao@hrbeu.edu.cn [Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry of Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China); Photonics Research Center, College of Science, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001 (China)

    2016-03-11

    We propose a classical analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in a cylindrical waveguide with undulated metallic walls. The transparency, induced by multi-mode interactions in waveguides, not only has a narrow line-width, but also consists of a single second-order transverse mode, which corresponds to the Bessel function distributions investigated extensively due to their unique characteristics. By increasing the thickness of sputtered gold layers of the waveguide, we demonstrate a frequency-agile single mode transparency phenomenon in a terahertz radiation. It is found that the center frequency of the transparency is linearly related to the gold thickness, indicating the achievement of a controllable single mode terahertz device. The field distributions at the cross-sections of outlets verify the single second mode transparency and indicate the mechanism of its frequency manipulation, which will significantly benefit the mode-control engineering in terahertz applications. - Highlights: • An analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in terahertz tubes is proposed. • A single second transverse mode of Bessel distributions is observed in the pass band. • The operating frequency can be linearly controlled by the sputtered gold thickness. • We can effectively manipulate the slow down factor of light by the gold thickness. • The transparency characteristics rely on the transition of multi-mode interactions.

  13. Manipulating single second mode transparency in a corrugated waveguide via the thickness of sputtered gold

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Dan; Fan, Ya-Xian; Sang, Tang-Qing; Xu, Lan-Lan; Bibi, Aysha; Tao, Zhi-Yong

    2016-01-01

    We propose a classical analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in a cylindrical waveguide with undulated metallic walls. The transparency, induced by multi-mode interactions in waveguides, not only has a narrow line-width, but also consists of a single second-order transverse mode, which corresponds to the Bessel function distributions investigated extensively due to their unique characteristics. By increasing the thickness of sputtered gold layers of the waveguide, we demonstrate a frequency-agile single mode transparency phenomenon in a terahertz radiation. It is found that the center frequency of the transparency is linearly related to the gold thickness, indicating the achievement of a controllable single mode terahertz device. The field distributions at the cross-sections of outlets verify the single second mode transparency and indicate the mechanism of its frequency manipulation, which will significantly benefit the mode-control engineering in terahertz applications. - Highlights: • An analog of electromagnetically induced transparency in terahertz tubes is proposed. • A single second transverse mode of Bessel distributions is observed in the pass band. • The operating frequency can be linearly controlled by the sputtered gold thickness. • We can effectively manipulate the slow down factor of light by the gold thickness. • The transparency characteristics rely on the transition of multi-mode interactions.

  14. BaTiO3 thick fi lms obtained by tape casting from powders prepared by the oxalate route

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adelina Ianculescu

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available BaTiO3 powders were prepared by co-precipitation via oxalate route. The size, morphology and particle size distribution of the oxalate powders have been optimized by the control of different synthesis parameters during the precipitation reaction (nature of salts, concentration of different solutions, aging time. The single phase BaTiO3 oxide particles were obtained after a thermal decomposition of the as-synthesized powders at 850°C for 4 hours under air atmosphere. Oxide powders with a suitable specifi c surface area were selected in order to obtain thick fi lms by the tape casting technique. The microstructure and dielectric properties of the thick films varied obviously depending on the deposition-calcination-sintering cycle used. A double depositioncalcination cycle followed by sintering, as well as a two step deposition-calcination-sintering procedure was used in order to improve the compactness and therefore, the dielectric behaviour. A higher dielectric constant value (~ 750 and lower dielectric losses (~ 2 % were achieved at room temperature and at 1 kHz frequency for the dense, double-deposited fi lm obtained after two deposition-calcination-sintering cycles. For this film, a superior value of the dielectric constant (~ 1100, almost frequency independent in the frequency range of 100 Hz – 10 kHz was gained also at the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition temperature of 130°C.

  15. On the application of frequency selective common mode feedback for multifrequency EIT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langlois, Peter J; Wu, Yu; Bayford, Richard H; Demosthenous, Andreas

    2015-06-01

    Common mode voltages are frequently a problem in electrical impedance tomography (EIT) and other bioimpedance applications. To reduce their amplitude common mode feedback is employed. Formalised analyses of both current and voltage feedback is presented in this paper for current drives. Common mode effects due to imbalances caused by the current drives, the electrode connections to the body load and the introduction of the body impedance to ground are considered. Frequency selective narrowband common mode feedback previously proposed to provide feedback stability is examined. As a step towards multifrequency applications the use of narrowband feedback is experimentally demonstrated for two simultaneous current drives. Measured results using standard available components show a reduction of 62 dB for current feedback and 31 dB for voltage feedback. Frequencies ranged from 50 kHz to 1 MHz.

  16. Non-Contact Thickness and Profile Measurements of Rolled Aluminium Strip Using EMAT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hobbis, A.; Aruleswaran, A.

    2006-01-01

    Accurate measurement of strip thickness is a very high priority for the aluminium rolled product industry. This paper presents the findings of trials to measure the thickness of aluminium strip using a send-receive, radially polarised Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT). A broadband EMAT system, developed at Warwick University, UK with a centre frequency of approximately 5 MHz and frequency content up to 12 MHz was used. The resultant ultrasonic waveforms have been processed using Fourier analysis. Static measurements of aluminium alloy samples in the thickness range between 0.28 mm to 2.8 mm have been measured using this non-contact approach at stand-offs of up to 2 mm. Measurements across the aluminium strip width to evaluate its profile for quality control was also carried out successfully. Some of the experiments and results obtained are described in detail

  17. Laser Processing on the Surface of Niobium Superconducting Radio-Frequency Accelerator Cavities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singaravelu, Senthilraja; Klopf, Michael; Krafft, Geoffrey; Kelley, Michael

    2011-03-01

    Superconducting Radio frequency (SRF) niobium cavities are at the heart of an increasing number of particle accelerators.~ Their performance is dominated by a several nm thick layer at the interior surface. ~Maximizing its smoothness is found to be critical and aggressive chemical treatments are employed to this end.~ We describe laser-induced surface melting as an alternative ``greener'' approach.~ Modeling guided selection of parameters for irradiation with a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser.~ The resulting topography was examined by SEM, AFM and Stylus Profilometry.

  18. Multi-frequency excitation

    KAUST Repository

    Younis, Mohammad I.

    2016-03-10

    Embodiments of multi-frequency excitation are described. In various embodiments, a natural frequency of a device may be determined. In turn, a first voltage amplitude and first fixed frequency of a first source of excitation can be selected for the device based on the natural frequency. Additionally, a second voltage amplitude of a second source of excitation can be selected for the device, and the first and second sources of excitation can be applied to the device. After applying the first and second sources of excitation, a frequency of the second source of excitation can be swept. Using the methods of multi- frequency excitation described herein, new operating frequencies, operating frequency ranges, resonance frequencies, resonance frequency ranges, and/or resonance responses can be achieved for devices and systems.

  19. Correlation between coronary artery disease severity, left ventricular mass index and carotid intima media thickness, assessed by radio-frequency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ciccone Marco M

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Intima-media thickness of the common carotid artery (CCA-IMT is a validated marker of systemic atherosclerosis process. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between coronary artery disease (CAD, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH and CCA-IMT, assessed by Radio Frequency-Quality Intima Media Thickness (RFQIMT method, the next generation of IMT real-time measurement, based on the direct analysis of the radiofrequency signal and endowed with high accuracy and reproducibility in early detection of arterial wall thickness. Methods 115 patients (76 men, mean age: 65.1 ± 12 years referred to our department and shown significant (≥ 70% luminal obstruction stenosis at least in one major epicardial coronary artery were studied. Coronary angiograms were divided for severity and extent of the disease: 79 patients (69% had one, 24 patients (21% two, 12 patients (10% three major epicardial coronary arteries with ≥ 70% stenosis. All patients underwent echocardiography and carotid ultrasound examination, assessed by RF. Results Dividing RFQIMT data in tertiles, dyslipidaemia (31 patients with IMT ≥ 1.20 mm vs 16 with IMT = 0.91-1.19 vs 25 with IMT ≤ 0.9, p = 0.004, LVMI (153.5 ± 20.6 g/m2 in IMT ≥ 1.20 mm vs 131.2 ± 8.4 g/m2 in IMT = 0.91-1.19 mm vs 114.3 ± 11.1 g/m2 in IMT ≤ 0.9 mm, P 2 = 0.88, RFQIMT remained significantly associated with the dyslipidemia (regression coefficient ± standard error [SE]: 0.057 ± 0.023; p = 0.017, LVMI (regression coefficient ± SE: 0.01 ± 0.001; P Conclusions RFQIMT is a sophisticated method for carotid ultrasound evaluation. Its evaluation in patients with at least one important major epicardial coronary vessel stenosis would help the accuracy in the general assessment of the number of coronary lesions in these patients.

  20. Air-coupled ultrasonic through-transmission thickness measurements of steel plates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waag, Grunde; Hoff, Lars; Norli, Petter

    2015-02-01

    Non-destructive ultrasonic testing of steel structures provide valuable information in e.g. inspection of pipes, ships and offshore structures. In many practical applications, contact measurements are cumbersome or not possible, and air-coupled ultrasound can provide a solution. This paper presents air-coupled ultrasonic through-transmission measurements on a steel plate with thicknesses 10.15 mm; 10.0 mm; 9.8 mm. Ultrasound pulses were transmitted from a piezoelectric transducer at normal incidence, through the steel plate, and were received at the opposite side. The S1, A2 and A3 modes of the plate are excited, with resonance frequencies that depend on the material properties and the thickness of the plate. The results show that the resonances could be clearly identified after transmission through the steel plate, and that the frequencies of the resonances could be used to distinguish between the three plate thicknesses. The S1-mode resonance was observed to be shifted 10% down compared to a simple plane wave half-wave resonance model, while the A2 and S2 modes were found approximately at the corresponding plane-wave resonance frequencies. A model based on the angular spectrum method was used to predict the response of the through-transmission setup. This model included the finite aperture of the transmitter and receiver, and compressional and shear waves in the solid. The model predicts the frequencies of the observed modes of the plate to within 1%, including the down-shift of the S1-mode. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Giant moving vortex mass in thick magnetic nanodots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guslienko, K Y; Kakazei, G N; Ding, J; Liu, X M; Adeyeye, A O

    2015-09-10

    Magnetic vortex is one of the simplest topologically non-trivial textures in condensed matter physics. It is the ground state of submicron magnetic elements (dots) of different shapes: cylindrical, square etc. So far, the vast majority of the vortex dynamics studies were focused on thin dots with thickness 5-50 nm and only uniform across the thickness vortex excitation modes were observed. Here we explore the fundamental vortex mode in relatively thick (50-100 nm) dots using broadband ferromagnetic resonance and show that dimensionality increase leads to qualitatively new excitation spectra. We demonstrate that the fundamental mode frequency cannot be explained without introducing a giant vortex mass, which is a result of the vortex distortion due to interaction with spin waves. The vortex mass depends on the system geometry and is non-local because of important role of the dipolar interaction. The mass is rather small for thin dots. However, its importance increases drastically with the dot thickness increasing.

  2. Monitoring of corrosion damage using high-frequency guided ultrasonic waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chew, D.; Fromme, P.

    2015-03-01

    Due to adverse environmental conditions corrosion can develop during the life cycle of industrial structures, e.g., offshore oil platforms, ships, and desalination plants. Both pitting corrosion and generalized corrosion leading to wall thickness loss can cause the degradation of the integrity and load bearing capacity of the structure. Structural health monitoring of corrosion damage in difficult to access areas can in principle be achieved using high frequency guided waves propagating along the structure from accessible areas. Using standard ultrasonic transducers with single sided access to the structure, high frequency guided wave modes were generated that penetrate through the complete thickness of the structure. Wall thickness reduction was induced using accelerated corrosion in a salt water bath. The corrosion damage was monitored based on the effect on the wave propagation and interference of the different modes. The change in the wave interference was quantified based on an analysis in the frequency domain (Fourier transform) and was found to match well with theoretical predictions for the wall thickness loss. High frequency guided waves have the potential for corrosion damage monitoring at critical and difficult to access locations from a stand-off distance.

  3. Nanoparticle array based optical frequency selective surfaces: theory and design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saeidi, Chiya; van der Weide, Daniel

    2013-07-01

    We demonstrate a synthesis procedure for designing a bandstop optical frequency selective surface (FSS) composed of nanoparticle (NP) elements. The proposed FSS uses two-dimensional (2-D) periodic arrays of NPs with subwavelength unit-cell dimensions. We derive equivalent circuit for a nanoparticle array (NPA) using the closed-form solution for a 2-D NPA excited by a plane wave in the limit of the dipole approximation, which includes contribution from both individual and collective plasmon modes. Using the extracted equivalent circuit, we demonstrate synthesis of an optical FSS using cascaded NPA layers as coupled resonators, which we validate with both circuit model and full-wave simulation for a third-order Butterworth bandstop prototype.

  4. Reliability assessment for thickness measurements of pipe wall using probability of detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamoto, Hiroyuki; Kojima, Fumio; Kato, Sho

    2013-01-01

    This paper proposes a reliability assessment method for thickness measurements of pipe wall using probability of detection (POD). Thicknesses of pipes are measured by qualified inspectors with ultrasonic thickness gauges. The inspection results are affected by human factors of the inspectors and include some errors, because the inspectors have different experiences and frequency of inspections. In order to ensure reliability for inspection results, first, POD evaluates experimental results of pipe-wall thickness inspection. We verify that the results have differences depending on inspectors including qualified inspectors. Second, two human factors that affect POD are indicated. Finally, it is confirmed that POD can identify the human factors and ensure reliability for pipe-wall thickness inspections. (author)

  5. Practically Efficient Blind Speech Separation Using Frequency Band Selection Based on Magnitude Squared Coherence and a Small Dodecahedral Microphone Array

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazunobu Kondo

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Small agglomerative microphone array systems have been proposed for use with speech communication and recognition systems. Blind source separation methods based on frequency domain independent component analysis have shown significant separation performance, and the microphone arrays are small enough to make them portable. However, the level of computational complexity involved is very high because the conventional signal collection and processing method uses 60 microphones. In this paper, we propose a band selection method based on magnitude squared coherence. Frequency bands are selected based on the spatial and geometric characteristics of the microphone array device which is strongly related to the dodecahedral shape, and the selected bands are nonuniformly spaced. The estimated reduction in the computational complexity is 90% with a 68% reduction in the number of frequency bands. Separation performance achieved during our experimental evaluation was 7.45 (dB (signal-to-noise ratio and 2.30 (dB (cepstral distortion. These results show improvement in performance compared to the use of uniformly spaced frequency band.

  6. Frequency selectivity in pulse responses of Pt/poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl/polyethylene oxide +Li+/Pt hetero-junction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fei Zeng

    Full Text Available Pt/poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl/polyethylene oxide + Li+/Pt hetero junctions were fabricated, and their pulse responses were studied. The direct current characteristics were not symmetric in the sweeping range of ±2 V. Negative differential resistance appeared in the input range of 0 to 2 V because of de-doping (or reduction in the side with the semiconductor layer. The device responded stably to a train of pulses with a fixed frequency. The inverse current after a pulse was related to the back-migrated ions. Importantly, the weight calculated based on the inverse current strength, was depressed during low-frequency stimulations but was potentiated during high-frequency stimulations when pulses were positive. Therefore, frequency selectivity was first observed in a semiconducting polymer/electrolyte hetero junction. Detailed analysis of the pulse response showed that the input frequency could modulate the timing of ion doping, de-doping, and re-doping at the semiconducting polymer/electrolyte interface, which then resulted in the frequency selectivity. Our study suggests that the simple redox process in semiconducting polymers can be modulated and used in signal handling or the simulation of bio-learning.

  7. Influence of proton-skin thickness on the {{\\alpha }} decays of heavy nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seif, W. M.; Abdurrahman, A.

    2018-01-01

    We investigate the effect of proton-skin thickness on the α decay process. We consider 188 neutron-deficient nuclei belonging to the isotopic chains from Te (Z = 52) to Pb (Z = 82). The calculations of the half-life are carried out in the framework of the preformed cluster model, with the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin penetration probability and assault frequency. It is shown that the proton-skin thickness ({\\varDelta }{{p}}) of the daughter nucleus gives rise to a total α- daughter nucleus interaction potential of relatively wide deep internal pocket and a thinner Coulomb barrier of less height. This increases the penetration probability but decreases the assault frequency. The overall impact of the proton-skin thickness appears as a decrease in the decay half-life. The proton-skin thickness decreases the stability of the nucleus. The half-lives of the proton-skinned isotopes along the isotopic chain decrease exponentially with increasing the proton-skin thickness, whereas the {Q}α -value increases with {\\varDelta }{{p}}. α-decay manifests itself as the second favorite decay mode of neutron-deficient nuclei, next to the {β }+-decay and before proton-decay. It is indicated as main, competing, and minor decay mode, at 21%, 7%, and 57%, respectively, of the investigated nuclei.

  8. A General Model of Negative Frequency Dependent Selection Explains Global Patterns of Human ABO Polymorphism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando A Villanea

    Full Text Available The ABO locus in humans is characterized by elevated heterozygosity and very similar allele frequencies among populations scattered across the globe. Using knowledge of ABO protein function, we generated a simple model of asymmetric negative frequency dependent selection and genetic drift to explain the maintenance of ABO polymorphism and its loss in human populations. In our models, regardless of the strength of selection, models with large effective population sizes result in ABO allele frequencies that closely match those observed in most continental populations. Populations must be moderately small to fall out of equilibrium and lose either the A or B allele (N(e ≤ 50 and much smaller (N(e ≤ 25 for the complete loss of diversity, which nearly always involved the fixation of the O allele. A pattern of low heterozygosity at the ABO locus where loss of polymorphism occurs in our model is consistent with small populations, such as Native American populations. This study provides a general evolutionary model to explain the observed global patterns of polymorphism at the ABO locus and the pattern of allele loss in small populations. Moreover, these results inform the range of population sizes associated with the recent human colonization of the Americas.

  9. Analytic clock frequency selection for global DVFS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gerards, Marco Egbertus Theodorus; Hurink, Johann L.; Holzenspies, P.K.F.; Kuper, Jan; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria

    2014-01-01

    Computers can reduce their power consumption by decreasing their speed using Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS). A form of DVFS for multicore processors is global DVFS, where the voltage and clock frequency is shared among all processor cores. Because global DVFS is efficient and cheap to

  10. Pupil Dilation and EEG Alpha Frequency Band Power Reveal Load on Executive Functions for Link-Selection Processes during Text Reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Scharinger

    Full Text Available Executive working memory functions play a central role in reading comprehension. In the present research we were interested in additional load imposed on executive functions by link-selection processes during computer-based reading. For obtaining process measures, we used a methodology of concurrent electroencephalographic (EEG and eye-tracking data recording that allowed us to compare epochs of pure text reading with epochs of hyperlink-like selection processes in an online reading situation. Furthermore, this methodology allowed us to directly compare the two physiological load-measures EEG alpha frequency band power and pupil dilation. We observed increased load on executive functions during hyperlink-like selection processes on both measures in terms of decreased alpha frequency band power and increased pupil dilation. Surprisingly however, the two measures did not correlate. Two additional experiments were conducted that excluded potential perceptual, motor, or structural confounds. In sum, EEG alpha frequency band power and pupil dilation both turned out to be sensitive measures for increased load during hyperlink-like selection processes in online text reading.

  11. Effect of mechanical ventilation on regional variation of pleural liquid thickness in rabbits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, P M; Lai-Fook, S J

    1997-01-01

    We studied the effect of ventilation on the regional distribution of pleural liquid thickness in anesthetized rabbits. Three transparent pleural windows were made between the second and eight intercostal space along the midaxillary line of the right chest. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled dextran (1 ml) was injected into the pleural space through a rib capsule and allowed to mix with the pleural liquid. The light emitted from the pleural space beneath the windows was measured by fluorescence videomicroscopy at a constant tidal volume (20 ml) and two ventilation frequencies (20 and 40 breaths/min). Pleural liquid thickness was determined from the light measurements after in vitro calibration of pleural liquid collected postmortem. At 20 breaths/min, pleural liquid thickness increased with a cranial-caudal distance from 5 microns at the second to third intercostal space to 30 microns at the sixth through eighth intercostal space. At 40 breaths/min, pleural space thickness was unchanged at the second to third intercostal space but increased to 46 microns at the sixth through eighth intercostal space. To determine this effect on pleural liquid shear stress, we measured relative lung velocity from videomicroscopic images of the lung surface through the windows. Lung velocity amplitude increased with cranial-caudal distance and with ventilation frequency. Calculated shear stress amplitude was constant with cranial-caudal distance but increased with ventilation frequency. Thus, pleural liquid thickness is matched to the relative lung motion so as to maintain a spatially uniform shear stress amplitude in pleural liquid during mechanical ventilation.

  12. Use of apparent thickness for preprocessing of low-frequency electromagnetic data in inversion-based multibarrier evaluation workflow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Omar, Saad; Omeragic, Dzevat

    2018-04-01

    The concept of apparent thicknesses is introduced for the inversion-based, multicasing evaluation interpretation workflow using multifrequency and multispacing electromagnetic measurements. A thickness value is assigned to each measurement, enabling the development of two new preprocessing algorithms to remove casing collar artifacts. First, long-spacing apparent thicknesses are used to remove, from the pipe sections, artifacts ("ghosts") caused by the transmitter crossing a casing collar or corrosion. Second, a collar identification, localization, and assignment algorithm is developed to enable robust inversion in collar sections. Last, casing eccentering can also be identified on the basis of opposite deviation of short-spacing phase and magnitude apparent thicknesses from the nominal value. The proposed workflow can handle an arbitrary number of nested casings and has been validated on synthetic and field data.

  13. Homogeneity analysis of high yield manufacturing process of mems-based pzt thick film vibrational energy harvesters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lei, Anders; Xu, Ruichao; Pedersen, C.M.

    2011-01-01

    This work presents a high yield wafer scale fabrication of MEMS-based unimorph silicon/PZT thick film vibrational energy harvesters aimed towards vibration sources with peak frequencies in the range of a few hundred Hz. By combining KOH etching with mechanical front side protection, SOI wafer...... to accurately define the thickness of the silicon part of the harvester and a silicon compatible PZT thick film screen-printing technique, we are able to fabricate energy harvesters on wafer scale with a yield higher than 90%. The characterization of the fabricated harvesters is focused towards the full wafer....../mass-production aspect; hence the analysis of uniformity in harvested power and resonant frequency....

  14. Across-environment genetic correlations and the frequency of selective environments shape the evolutionary dynamics of growth rate in Impatiens capensis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stinchcombe, John R; Izem, Rima; Heschel, M Shane; McGoey, Brechann V; Schmitt, Johanna

    2010-10-01

    Trade-offs can exist within and across environments, and constrain evolutionary trajectories. To examine the effects of competition and resource availability on trade-offs, we grew individuals of recombinant inbred lines of Impatiens capensis in a factorial combination of five densities with two light environments (full light and neutral shade) and used a Bayesian logistic growth analysis to estimate intrinsic growth rates. To estimate across-environment constraints, we developed a variance decomposition approach to principal components analysis, which accounted for sample size, model-fitting, and within-RIL variation prior to eigenanalysis. We detected negative across-environment genetic covariances in intrinsic growth rates, although only under full-light. To evaluate the potential importance of these covariances, we surveyed natural populations of I. capensis to measure the frequency of different density environments across space and time. We combined our empirical estimates of across-environment genetic variance-covariance matrices and frequency of selective environments with hypothetical (yet realistic) selection gradients to project evolutionary responses in multiple density environments. Selection in common environments can lead to correlated responses to selection in rare environments that oppose and counteract direct selection in those rare environments. Our results highlight the importance of considering both the frequency of selective environments and the across-environment genetic covariances in traits simultaneously. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2010 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  15. Diode-pumped dual-frequency microchip Nd : YAG laser with tunable frequency difference

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ren Cheng; Zhang Shulian, E-mail: ren-c06@mails.tsinghua.edu.c [State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China)

    2009-08-07

    The diode-pumped dual-frequency microchip Nd : YAG laser with tunable frequency difference is presented. The gain medium used is a microchip 2 mm in thickness for miniaturized and integrated design. Two quarter-wave plates are placed into the laser cavity and the intra-cavity birefringence produces two orthogonally linearly polarized modes. The rotation of one of the two quarter-wave plates introduces a controlled and variable cavity birefringence which causes a variable frequency difference between the two orthogonally polarized modes. The frequency difference can be tuned through the whole cavity free spectral range. The obtained frequency difference ranges from 14 MHz to 1.5 GHz. The variation of the beat frequency over a period of 10 min is less than 10 kHz. The lock-in between modes is not found. Experimental results are presented, which match well with the theoretical analysis based on Jones matrices.

  16. Single frequency thermal wave radar: A next-generation dynamic thermography for quantitative non-destructive imaging over wide modulation frequency ranges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melnikov, Alexander; Chen, Liangjie; Ramirez Venegas, Diego; Sivagurunathan, Koneswaran; Sun, Qiming; Mandelis, Andreas; Rodriguez, Ignacio Rojas

    2018-04-01

    Single-Frequency Thermal Wave Radar Imaging (SF-TWRI) was introduced and used to obtain quantitative thickness images of coatings on an aluminum block and on polyetherketone, and to image blind subsurface holes in a steel block. In SF-TWR, the starting and ending frequencies of a linear frequency modulation sweep are chosen to coincide. Using the highest available camera frame rate, SF-TWRI leads to a higher number of sampled points along the modulation waveform than conventional lock-in thermography imaging because it is not limited by conventional undersampling at high frequencies due to camera frame-rate limitations. This property leads to large reduction in measurement time, better quality of images, and higher signal-noise-ratio across wide frequency ranges. For quantitative thin-coating imaging applications, a two-layer photothermal model with lumped parameters was used to reconstruct the layer thickness from multi-frequency SF-TWR images. SF-TWRI represents a next-generation thermography method with superior features for imaging important classes of thin layers, materials, and components that require high-frequency thermal-wave probing well above today's available infrared camera technology frame rates.

  17. Single frequency thermal wave radar: A next-generation dynamic thermography for quantitative non-destructive imaging over wide modulation frequency ranges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melnikov, Alexander; Chen, Liangjie; Ramirez Venegas, Diego; Sivagurunathan, Koneswaran; Sun, Qiming; Mandelis, Andreas; Rodriguez, Ignacio Rojas

    2018-04-01

    Single-Frequency Thermal Wave Radar Imaging (SF-TWRI) was introduced and used to obtain quantitative thickness images of coatings on an aluminum block and on polyetherketone, and to image blind subsurface holes in a steel block. In SF-TWR, the starting and ending frequencies of a linear frequency modulation sweep are chosen to coincide. Using the highest available camera frame rate, SF-TWRI leads to a higher number of sampled points along the modulation waveform than conventional lock-in thermography imaging because it is not limited by conventional undersampling at high frequencies due to camera frame-rate limitations. This property leads to large reduction in measurement time, better quality of images, and higher signal-noise-ratio across wide frequency ranges. For quantitative thin-coating imaging applications, a two-layer photothermal model with lumped parameters was used to reconstruct the layer thickness from multi-frequency SF-TWR images. SF-TWRI represents a next-generation thermography method with superior features for imaging important classes of thin layers, materials, and components that require high-frequency thermal-wave probing well above today's available infrared camera technology frame rates.

  18. Retail Deli Slicer Cleaning Frequency--Six Selected Sites, United States, 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Laura G; Hoover, E Rickamer; Ripley, Danny; Matis, Bailey; Nicholas, David; Hedeen, Nicole; Faw, Brenda

    2016-04-01

    Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) causes the third highest number of foodborne illness deaths (an estimated 255) in the United States annually, after nontyphoidal Salmonella species and Toxoplasma gondii (1). Deli meats are a major source of listeriosis illnesses, and meats sliced and packaged at retail delis are the major source of listeriosis illnesses attributed to deli meat (4). Mechanical slicers pose cross-contamination risks in delis and are an important source of Listeria cross-contamination. Reducing Listeria contamination of sliced meats in delis will likely reduce Listeria illnesses and outbreaks. Good slicer cleaning practices can reduce this foodborne illness risk. CDC's Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) studied how often retail deli slicers were fully cleaned (disassembled, cleaned, and sanitized) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Code-specified minimum frequency of every 4 hours and examined deli and staff characteristics related to slicer cleaning frequency. Interviews with staff members in 298 randomly-selected delis in six EHS-Net sites showed that approximately half of delis fully cleaned their slicers less often than FDA's specified minimum frequency. Chain-owned delis and delis with more customers, more slicers, required manager food safety training, food safety-knowledgeable workers, written slicer-cleaning policies, and food safety-certified managers fully cleaned their slicers more frequently than did other types of delis, according to deli managers or workers. States and localities should require deli manager training and certification, as specified in the FDA Food Code. They should also consider encouraging or requiring delis to have written slicer-cleaning policies. Retail food industry leaders can also implement these prevention efforts to reduce risk in their establishments. Because independent and smaller delis had lower frequencies of slicer cleaning, prevention efforts should focus on these types of

  19. Spatial heterogeneity, frequency-dependent selection and polymorphism in host-parasite interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tellier Aurélien

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genomic and pathology analysis has revealed enormous diversity in genes involved in disease, including those encoding host resistance and parasite effectors (also known in plant pathology as avirulence genes. It has been proposed that such variation may persist when an organism exists in a spatially structured metapopulation, following the geographic mosaic of coevolution. Here, we study gene-for-gene relationships governing the outcome of plant-parasite interactions in a spatially structured system and, in particular, investigate the population genetic processes which maintain balanced polymorphism in both species. Results Following previous theory on the effect of heterogeneous environments on maintenance of polymorphism, we analysed a model with two demes in which the demes have different environments and are coupled by gene flow. Environmental variation is manifested by different coefficients of natural selection, the costs to the host of resistance and to the parasite of virulence, the cost to the host of being diseased and the cost to an avirulent parasite of unsuccessfully attacking a resistant host. We show that migration generates negative direct frequency-dependent selection, a condition for maintenance of stable polymorphism in each deme. Balanced polymorphism occurs preferentially if there is heterogeneity for costs of resistance and virulence alleles among populations and to a lesser extent if there is variation in the cost to the host of being diseased. We show that the four fitness costs control the natural frequency of oscillation of host resistance and parasite avirulence alleles. If demes have different costs, their frequencies of oscillation differ and when coupled by gene flow, there is amplitude death of the oscillations in each deme. Numerical simulations show that for a multiple deme island model, costs of resistance and virulence need not to be present in each deme for stable polymorphism to occur

  20. Blind CP-OFDM and ZP-OFDM Parameter Estimation in Frequency Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vincent Le Nir

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A cognitive radio system needs accurate knowledge of the radio spectrum it operates in. Blind modulation recognition techniques have been proposed to discriminate between single-carrier and multicarrier modulations and to estimate their parameters. Some powerful techniques use autocorrelation- and cyclic autocorrelation-based features of the transmitted signal applying to OFDM signals using a Cyclic Prefix time guard interval (CP-OFDM. In this paper, we propose a blind parameter estimation technique based on a power autocorrelation feature applying to OFDM signals using a Zero Padding time guard interval (ZP-OFDM which in particular excludes the use of the autocorrelation- and cyclic autocorrelation-based techniques. The proposed technique leads to an efficient estimation of the symbol duration and zero padding duration in frequency selective channels, and is insensitive to receiver phase and frequency offsets. Simulation results are given for WiMAX and WiMedia signals using realistic Stanford University Interim (SUI and Ultra-Wideband (UWB IEEE 802.15.4a channel models, respectively.

  1. Spatial Evolution of the Thickness Variations over a CFRP Laminated Structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davila, Yves; Crouzeix, Laurent; Douchin, Bernard; Collombet, Francis; Grunevald, Yves-Henri

    2017-10-01

    Ply thickness is one of the main drivers of the structural performance of a composite part. For stress analysis calculations (e.g., finite element analysis), composite plies are commonly considered to have a constant thickness compared to the reality (coefficients of variation up to 9% of the mean ply thickness). Unless this variability is taken into account reliable property predictions cannot be made. A modelling approach of such variations is proposed using parameters obtained from a 16-ply quasi-isotropic CFRP plate cured in an autoclave. A discrete Fourier transform algorithm is used to analyse the frequency response of the observed ply and plate thickness profiles. The model inputs, obtained by a mathematical representation of the ply thickness profiles, permit the generation of a representative stratification considering the spatial continuity of the thickness variations that are in good agreement with the real ply profiles spread over the composite part. A residual deformation FE model of the composite plate is used to illustrate the feasibility of the approach.

  2. Phased arrays of compact waveguide radiators and frequency selective surfaces : a multi-mode equivalent network approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gerini, G.

    2003-01-01

    The current trend for radar array antennas requires increased integration, as well as large bandwidth, for multifunction systems, and frequency/angular selectivity properties for structural integration on military platforms, like ships and aircrafts, with low radar cross section (RCS). We have

  3. High-performance piezoelectric thick film based energy harvesting micro-generators for MEMS

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zawada, Tomasz; Hansen, Karsten; Lou-Moeller, Rasmus

    2010-01-01

    and are transformed by the energy harvesting micro-generator into usable electrical signal. The micro-generator comprises a silicon cantilever with integrated InSensor® TF2100 PZT thick film deposited using screen-printing. The output power versus frequency and electrical load has been investigated. Furthermore......, devices based on modified, pressure treated thick film materials have been tested and compared with the commercial InSensor® TF2100 PZT thick films. It has been found that the structures based on the pressure treated materials exhibit superior properties in terms of energy output....

  4. High interannual variability of sea ice thickness in the Arctic region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laxon, Seymour; Peacock, Neil; Smith, Doug

    2003-10-30

    Possible future changes in Arctic sea ice cover and thickness, and consequent changes in the ice-albedo feedback, represent one of the largest uncertainties in the prediction of future temperature rise. Knowledge of the natural variability of sea ice thickness is therefore critical for its representation in global climate models. Numerical simulations suggest that Arctic ice thickness varies primarily on decadal timescales owing to changes in wind and ocean stresses on the ice, but observations have been unable to provide a synoptic view of sea ice thickness, which is required to validate the model results. Here we use an eight-year time-series of Arctic ice thickness, derived from satellite altimeter measurements of ice freeboard, to determine the mean thickness field and its variability from 65 degrees N to 81.5 degrees N. Our data reveal a high-frequency interannual variability in mean Arctic ice thickness that is dominated by changes in the amount of summer melt, rather than by changes in circulation. Our results suggest that a continued increase in melt season length would lead to further thinning of Arctic sea ice.

  5. Terahertz thickness determination with interferometric vibration correction for industrial applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeiffer, Tobias; Weber, Stefan; Klier, Jens; Bachtler, Sebastian; Molter, Daniel; Jonuscheit, Joachim; Von Freymann, Georg

    2018-05-14

    In many industrial fields, like automotive and painting industry, the thickness of thin layers is a crucial parameter for quality control. Hence, the demand for thickness measurement techniques continuously grows. In particular, non-destructive and contact-free terahertz techniques access a wide range of thickness determination applications. However, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy based systems perform the measurement in a sampling manner, requiring fixed distances between measurement head and sample. In harsh industrial environments vibrations of sample and measurement head distort the time-base and decrease measurement accuracy. We present an interferometer-based vibration correction for terahertz time-domain measurements, able to reduce thickness distortion by one order of magnitude for vibrations with frequencies up to 100 Hz and amplitudes up to 100 µm. We further verify the experimental results by numerical calculations and find very good agreement.

  6. Tunable characteristics of bending resonance frequency in magnetoelectric laminated composites

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Chen Lei; Li Ping; Wen Yu-Mei; Zhu Yong

    2013-01-01

    As the magnetoelectric (ME) effect in piezoelectric/magnetostrictive laminated composites is mediated by mechanical deformation,the ME effect is significantly enhanced in the vicinity of resonance frequency.The bending resonance frequency (fr) of bilayered Terfenol-D/PZT (MP) laminated composites is studied,and our analysis predicts that (i) the bending resonance frequency of an MP laminated composite can be tuned by an applied dc magnetic bias (Hdc) due to the △E effect; (ii) the bending resonance frequency of the MP laminated composite can be controlled by incorporating FeCuNbSiB layers with different thicknesses.The experimental results show that with Hdc increasing from 0Oe (1 Oe=79.5775 A/m)to 700 Oe,the bending resonance frequency can be shifted in a range of 32.68 kHz ≤ fr ≤ 33.96 kHz.In addition,with the thickness of the FeCuNbSiB layer increasing from 0 μm to 90 μm,the bending resonance frequency of the MP laminated composite gradually increases from 33.66 kHz to 39.18 kHz.This study offers a method of adjusting the strength of dc magnetic bias or the thicknesses of the FeCuNbSiB layer to tune the bending resonance frequency for ME composite,which plays a guiding role in the ME composite design for real applications.

  7. Similar patterns of frequency-dependent selection on animal personalities emerge in three species of social spiders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lichtenstein, J L L; Pruitt, J N

    2015-06-01

    Frequency-dependent selection is thought to be a major contributor to the maintenance of phenotypic variation. We tested for frequency-dependent selection on contrasting behavioural strategies, termed here 'personalities', in three species of social spiders, each thought to represent an independent evolutionary origin of sociality. The evolution of sociality in the spider genus Anelosimus is consistently met with the emergence of two temporally stable discrete personality types: an 'aggressive' or 'docile' form. We assessed how the foraging success of each phenotype changes as a function of its representation within a colony. We did this by creating experimental colonies of various compositions (six aggressives, three aggressives and three dociles, one aggressive and five dociles, six dociles), maintaining them in a common garden for 3 weeks, and tracking the mass gained by individuals of either phenotype. We found that both the docile and aggressive phenotypes experienced their greatest mass gain in mixed colonies of mostly docile individuals. However, the performance of both phenotypes decreased as the frequency of the aggressive phenotype increased. Nearly identical patterns of phenotype-specific frequency dependence were recovered in all three species. Naturally occurring colonies of these spiders exhibit mixtures dominated by the docile phenotype, suggesting that these spiders may have evolved mechanisms to maintain the compositions that maximize the success of the colony without compromising the expected reproductive output of either phenotype. © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

  8. Vibration and acoustic frequency spectra for industrial process modeling using selective fusion multi-condition samples and multi-source features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Jian; Qiao, Junfei; Wu, ZhiWei; Chai, Tianyou; Zhang, Jian; Yu, Wen

    2018-01-01

    Frequency spectral data of mechanical vibration and acoustic signals relate to difficult-to-measure production quality and quantity parameters of complex industrial processes. A selective ensemble (SEN) algorithm can be used to build a soft sensor model of these process parameters by fusing valued information selectively from different perspectives. However, a combination of several optimized ensemble sub-models with SEN cannot guarantee the best prediction model. In this study, we use several techniques to construct mechanical vibration and acoustic frequency spectra of a data-driven industrial process parameter model based on selective fusion multi-condition samples and multi-source features. Multi-layer SEN (MLSEN) strategy is used to simulate the domain expert cognitive process. Genetic algorithm and kernel partial least squares are used to construct the inside-layer SEN sub-model based on each mechanical vibration and acoustic frequency spectral feature subset. Branch-and-bound and adaptive weighted fusion algorithms are integrated to select and combine outputs of the inside-layer SEN sub-models. Then, the outside-layer SEN is constructed. Thus, "sub-sampling training examples"-based and "manipulating input features"-based ensemble construction methods are integrated, thereby realizing the selective information fusion process based on multi-condition history samples and multi-source input features. This novel approach is applied to a laboratory-scale ball mill grinding process. A comparison with other methods indicates that the proposed MLSEN approach effectively models mechanical vibration and acoustic signals.

  9. Low-frequency magnetization processes in chemically etched Co-based amorphous ribbons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Betancourt, I.; Martinez, L.A.; Valenzuela, R.

    2005-01-01

    In this report we present a study of the magnetization processes for Co-based amorphous ribbons at low frequencies (10 Hz-13 MHz) as a function of decreasing thicknesses attained by chemical etching. Reversible domain-wall bulging, characterized by initial permeability and relaxation frequency, was monitored by means of inductance measurements. The real part of inductance (proportional to initial permeability) exhibited a decreasing trend with diminishing ribbon thickness, together with an increasing tendency for the relaxation frequency. For high amplitude of the ac field (leading to domain-wall unpinning), reduced ribbon thickness showed a deleterious-enhancement effect on irreversible domain-wall displacement, which was observed for both real and imaginary inductance spectroscopic plots. Results are interpreted in terms of reduced domain-wall pinning distances resulting from thinner alloy samples

  10. Corrosion monitoring using high-frequency guided ultrasonic waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fromme, Paul

    2014-02-01

    Corrosion develops due to adverse environmental conditions during the life cycle of a range of industrial structures, e.g., offshore oil platforms, ships, and desalination plants. Both pitting corrosion and generalized corrosion leading to wall thickness loss can cause the degradation of the structural integrity. The nondestructive detection and monitoring of corrosion damage in difficult to access areas can be achieved using high frequency guided waves propagating along the structure from accessible areas. Using standard ultrasonic transducers with single sided access to the structure, guided wave modes were generated that penetrate through the complete thickness of the structure. The wave propagation and interference of the different guided wave modes depends on the thickness of the structure. Laboratory experiments were conducted and the wall thickness reduced by consecutive milling of the steel structure. Further measurements were conducted using accelerated corrosion in a salt water bath and the damage severity monitored. From the measured signal change due to the wave mode interference the wall thickness reduction was monitored. The high frequency guided waves have the potential for corrosion damage monitoring at critical and difficult to access locations from a stand-off distance.

  11. Thick melanoma in Tuscany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiarugi, Alessandra; Nardini, Paolo; Borgognoni, Lorenzo; Brandani, Paola; Gerlini, Gianni; Rubegni, Pietro; Lamberti, Arianna; Salvini, Camilla; Lo Scocco, Giovanni; Cecchi, Roberto; Sirna, Riccardo; Lorenzi, Stefano; Gattai, Riccardo; Battistini, Silvio; Crocetti, Emanuele

    2017-03-14

    The epidemiologic trends of cutaneous melanoma are similar in several countries with a Western-type life style, where there is a progressive increasing incidence and a low but not decreasing mor- tality, or somewhere an increase too, especially in the older age groups. Also in Tuscany there is a steady rise in incidence with prevalence of in situ and invasive thin melanomas, with also an increase of thick melanomas. It is necessary to reduce the frequency of thick melanomas to reduce specific mortality. The objective of the current survey has been to compare, in the Tuscany population, by a case- case study, thin and thick melanoma cases, trying to find out those personal and tumour characteristics which may help to customize preventive interventions. RESULTS The results confirmed the age and the lower edu- cation level are associated with a later detection. The habit to perform skin self-examination is resulted protec- tive forward thick melanoma and also the diagnosis by a doctor. The elements emerging from the survey allow to hypothesize a group of subjects resulting at higher risk for a late diagnosis, aged over 50 and carrier of a fewer constitutional and environmental risk factors: few total and few atypical nevi, and lower sun exposure and burning. It is assumable that a part of people did not be reached from messages of prevention because does not recognize oneself in the categories of people at risk for skin cancers described in educational cam- paigns. If we want to obtain better results on diagnosis of skin melanoma we have to think a new strategy. At least to think over the educational messages discriminating people more at risk of incidence of melanoma from people more at risk to die from melanoma, and to renewed active involvement of the Gen- eral Practitioners .

  12. MEMS-based thick film PZT vibrational energy harvester

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lei, Anders; Xu, Ruichao; Thyssen, Anders

    2011-01-01

    We present a MEMS-based unimorph silicon/PZT thick film vibrational energy harvester with an integrated proof mass. We have developed a process that allows fabrication of high performance silicon based energy harvesters with a yield higher than 90%. The process comprises a KOH etch using a mechan......We present a MEMS-based unimorph silicon/PZT thick film vibrational energy harvester with an integrated proof mass. We have developed a process that allows fabrication of high performance silicon based energy harvesters with a yield higher than 90%. The process comprises a KOH etch using...... a mechanical front side protection of an SOI wafer with screen printed PZT thick film. The fabricated harvester device produces 14.0 μW with an optimal resistive load of 100 kΩ from 1g (g=9.81 m s-2) input acceleration at its resonant frequency of 235 Hz....

  13. Improved CT-detection of acute bowel ischemia using frequency selective non-linear image blending.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneeweiss, Sven; Esser, Michael; Thaiss, Wolfgang; Boesmueller, Hans; Ditt, Hendrik; Nikolau, Konstantin; Horger, Marius

    2017-07-01

    Computed tomography (CT) as a fast and reliable diagnostic technique is the imaging modality of choice for acute bowel ischemia. However, diagnostic is often difficult mainly due to low attenuation differences between ischemic and perfused segments. To compare the diagnostic efficacy of a new post-processing tool based on frequency selective non-linear blending with that of conventional linear contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) image blending for the detection of bowel ischemia. Twenty-seven consecutive patients (19 women; mean age = 73.7 years, age range = 50-94 years) with acute bowel ischemia were scanned using multidetector CT (120 kV; 100-200 mAs). Pre-contrast and portal venous scans (65-70 s delay) were acquired. All patients underwent surgery for acute bowel ischemia and intraoperative diagnosis as well as histologic evaluation of explanted bowel segments was considered "gold standard." First, two radiologists read the conventional CECT images in which linear blending was adapted for optimal contrast, and second (three weeks later) the frequency selective non-linear blending (F-NLB) image. Attenuation values were compared, both in the involved and non-involved bowel segments creating ratios between unenhanced and CECT. The mean attenuation difference between ischemic and non-ischemic wall in the portal venous scan was 69.54 HU (reader 2 = 69.01 HU) higher for F-NLB compared with conventional CECT. Also, the attenuation ratio between contrast-enhanced and pre-contrast CT data for the non-ischemic walls showed significantly higher values for the F-NLB image (CECT: reader 1 = 2.11 (reader 2 = 3.36), F-NLB: reader 1 = 4.46 (reader 2 = 4.98)]. Sensitivity in detecting ischemic areas increased significantly for both readers using F-NLB (CECT: reader 1/2 = 53%/65% versus F-NLB: reader 1/2 = 62%/75%). Frequency selective non-linear blending improves detection of bowel ischemia compared with conventional CECT by increasing

  14. Asymmetric vibrations of thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Kosawada, Tadashi; Yachita, Takumi.

    1988-01-01

    An exact method using power series expansions is presented for solving asymmetric free vibration problems for thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature. Based on the improved thick shell theory, the Lagrangian of the shells of revolution are obtained, and the equations of motion and the boundary conditions are derived from the stationary condition of the Lagrangian. The method is demonstrated for thick shells of revolution having elliptical, cycloidal, parabolical, catenary and hyperbolical meridional curvature. The results by the present method are compared with those by the thin shell theory and the effects of the rotatory inertia and the shear deformation upon the natural frequencies are clarified. (author)

  15. Host population structure and treatment frequency maintain balancing selection on drug resistance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baskerville, Edward B.; Colijn, Caroline; Hanage, William; Fraser, Christophe; Lipsitch, Marc

    2017-01-01

    It is a truism that antimicrobial drugs select for resistance, but explaining pathogen- and population-specific variation in patterns of resistance remains an open problem. Like other common commensals, Streptococcus pneumoniae has demonstrated persistent coexistence of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains. Theoretically, this outcome is unlikely. We modelled the dynamics of competing strains of S. pneumoniae to investigate the impact of transmission dynamics and treatment-induced selective pressures on the probability of stable coexistence. We find that the outcome of competition is extremely sensitive to structure in the host population, although coexistence can arise from age-assortative transmission models with age-varying rates of antibiotic use. Moreover, we find that the selective pressure from antibiotics arises not so much from the rate of antibiotic use per se but from the frequency of treatment: frequent antibiotic therapy disproportionately impacts the fitness of sensitive strains. This same phenomenon explains why serotypes with longer durations of carriage tend to be more resistant. These dynamics may apply to other potentially pathogenic, microbial commensals and highlight how population structure, which is often omitted from models, can have a large impact. PMID:28835542

  16. Semantic Wavelet-Induced Frequency-Tagging (SWIFT Periodically Activates Category Selective Areas While Steadily Activating Early Visual Areas.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roger Koenig-Robert

    Full Text Available Primate visual systems process natural images in a hierarchical manner: at the early stage, neurons are tuned to local image features, while neurons in high-level areas are tuned to abstract object categories. Standard models of visual processing assume that the transition of tuning from image features to object categories emerges gradually along the visual hierarchy. Direct tests of such models remain difficult due to confounding alteration in low-level image properties when contrasting distinct object categories. When such contrast is performed in a classic functional localizer method, the desired activation in high-level visual areas is typically accompanied with activation in early visual areas. Here we used a novel image-modulation method called SWIFT (semantic wavelet-induced frequency-tagging, a variant of frequency-tagging techniques. Natural images modulated by SWIFT reveal object semantics periodically while keeping low-level properties constant. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, we indeed found that faces and scenes modulated with SWIFT periodically activated the prototypical category-selective areas while they elicited sustained and constant responses in early visual areas. SWIFT and the localizer were selective and specific to a similar extent in activating category-selective areas. Only SWIFT progressively activated the visual pathway from low- to high-level areas, consistent with predictions from standard hierarchical models. We confirmed these results with criterion-free methods, generalizing the validity of our approach and show that it is possible to dissociate neural activation in early and category-selective areas. Our results provide direct evidence for the hierarchical nature of the representation of visual objects along the visual stream and open up future applications of frequency-tagging methods in fMRI.

  17. Randomized, Paired-Site Comparison of Autologous Engineered Skin Substitutes and Split-Thickness Skin Graft for Closure of Extensive, Full-Thickness Burns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyce, Steven T; Simpson, Peggy S; Rieman, Mary T; Warner, Petra M; Yakuboff, Kevin P; Bailey, J Kevin; Nelson, Judith K; Fowler, Laura A; Kagan, Richard J

    Stable closure of full-thickness burn wounds remains a limitation to recovery from burns of greater than 50% of the total body surface area (TBSA). Hypothetically, engineered skin substitutes (ESS) consisting of autologous keratinocytes and fibroblasts attached to collagen-based scaffolds may reduce requirements for donor skin, and decrease mortality. ESS were prepared from split-thickness skin biopsies collected after enrollment of 16 pediatric burn patients into an approved study protocol. ESS and split-thickness autograft (AG) were applied to 15 subjects with full-thickness burns involving a mean of 76.9% TBSA. Data consisted of photographs, tracings of donor skin and healed wounds, comparison of mortality with the National Burn Repository, correlation of TBSA closed wounds with TBSA full-thickness burn, frequencies of regrafting, and immunoreactivity to the biopolymer scaffold. One subject expired before ESS application, and 15 subjects received 2056 ESS grafts. The ratio of closed wound to donor areas was 108.7 ± 9.7 for ESS compared with a maximum of 4.0 ± 0.0 for AG. Mortality for enrolled subjects was 6.25%, and 30.3% for a comparable population from the National Burn Repository (P burn generated an R value of 0.65 (P burns of greater than 50% TBSA.

  18. Individual common carotid artery wall layer dimensions, but not carotid intima-media thickness, indicate increased cardiovascular risk in women with preeclampsia: an investigation using noninvasive high-frequency ultrasound.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akhter, Tansim; Wikström, Anna-Karin; Larsson, Marita; Naessen, Tord

    2013-09-01

    Preeclampsia (PE) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. Ultrasound assessment of the common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) during or after PE has not indicated any increased cardiovascular risk. We used high-frequency ultrasound (22 MHz) to estimate the individual common carotid artery IMTs in 55 women at PE diagnosis and in 64 women with normal pregnancies at a similar stage. All were re-examined about 1 year postpartum. A thick intima, thin media, and high intima/media (I/M) ratio are signs of a less healthy artery wall. PE was associated with a significantly thicker mean common carotid artery intima, thinner media, and higher I/M ratio than in normal pregnancy (mean I/M difference, 0.21; 95% confidence interval, 0.17-0.25; Pwomen with PE were negatively affected during pregnancy and 1 year postpartum compared with women with normal pregnancies, indicating increased cardiovascular risk. Estimation of intima thickness and I/M ratio seem preferable to estimation of common carotid artery IMT in imaging cardiovascular risk in PE. Results from this pilot study warrant further confirmation.

  19. Design of instantaneous liquid film thickness measurement system for conductive or non-conductive fluid with high viscosity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongxin Yu

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the paper, a new capacitive sensor with a dielectric film coating was designed to measure the thickness of the liquid film on a flat surface. The measured medium can be conductive or non-conductive fluid with high viscosity such as silicone oil, syrup, CMC solution and melt. With the dielectric film coating, the defects caused by the humidity in a capacitor can be avoided completely. With a excitation frequency 0-20kHz, the static permittivity of capacitive sensor is obtained and stable when small thicknesses are monitored within the frequency of 0-3kHz. Based on the measurement principle, an experimental system was designed and verified including calibration and actual measurement for different liquid film thickness. Experimental results showed that the sensitivity, the resolution, repeatability and linear range of the capacitive sensor are satisfied to the liquid film thickness measurement. Finally, the capacitive measuring system was successfully applied to the water, silicone oil and syrup film thickness measurement.

  20. Full reflector thickness and isolation thickness on neutron transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakai, Tomohiro; Naito, Yoshitaka; Komuro, Yuichi.

    1988-08-01

    A method to determine ''full reflector thickness'' and ''isolation thickness'', which is utilized for criticality safety evaluation on nuclear fuel facilities, was proposed in this paper. Firstly, a calculation was tryed to obtain the two kinds of thicknesses from the result of criticality calculations for a specific case. Then, two simple equations which calculates the two kinds of thicknesses were made from the relation between reflector (or isolator) thickness and k eff , and one-group diffusion theory. Finally, we proposed a new method to determine the thicknesses. From the method we proposed, ''full reflector thickness'' and ''isolation thickness'' can be obtain using the equations and migration length of the reflector (or isolator) and infinite and effective multiplication factor of the fuel. (author)

  1. Zirconium titanate thin film prepared by surface sol-gel process and effects of thickness on dielectric property

    CERN Document Server

    Kim, C H

    2002-01-01

    Single phase of multicomponent oxide ZrTiO sub 4 film could be prepared through surface sol-gel route simply by coating the mixture of 100mM zirconium butoxide and titanium butoxide on Pt/Ti/SiO sub 2 /Si(100) substrate, following pyrolysis at 450 .deg. C, and annealing it at 770 .deg. C. The dielectric constant of the film was reduced as the film thickness decreased due to of the interfacial effects caused by layer/electrode and a few voids inside the multilayer. However, the dielectric property was independent of applied dc bias sweeps voltage (-2 to +2 V). The dielectric constant of bulk film, 31.9, estimated using series-connected capacitor model was independent of film thickness and frequency in the measurement range, but theoretical interfacial thickness, t sub i , was dependent on the frequency. It reached a saturated t sub i value, 6.9 A, at high frequency by extraction of some capacitance component formed at low frequency range. The dielectric constant of bulk ZrTiO sub 4 pellet-shaped material was 3...

  2. JNDS of interaural time delay (ITD) of selected frequency bands in speech and music signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aliphas, Avner; Colburn, H. Steven; Ghitza, Oded

    2002-05-01

    JNDS of interaural time delay (ITD) of selected frequency bands in the presence of other frequency bands have been reported for noiseband stimuli [Zurek (1985); Trahiotis and Bernstein (1990)]. Similar measurements will be reported for speech and music signals. When stimuli are synthesized with bandpass/band-stop operations, performance with complex stimuli are similar to noisebands (JNDS in tens or hundreds of microseconds); however, the resulting waveforms, when viewed through a model of the auditory periphery, show distortions (irregularities in phase and level) at the boundaries of the target band of frequencies. An alternate synthesis method based upon group-delay filtering operations does not show these distortions and is being used for the current measurements. Preliminary measurements indicate that when music stimuli are created using the new techniques, JNDS of ITDs are increased significantly compared to previous studies, with values on the order of milliseconds.

  3. Multi-frequency excitation

    KAUST Repository

    Younis, Mohammad I.

    2016-01-01

    Embodiments of multi-frequency excitation are described. In various embodiments, a natural frequency of a device may be determined. In turn, a first voltage amplitude and first fixed frequency of a first source of excitation can be selected

  4. Frequency Selective Non-Linear Blending to Improve Image Quality in Liver CT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bongers, M N; Bier, G; Kloth, C; Schabel, C; Fritz, J; Nikolaou, K; Horger, M

    2016-12-01

    Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a new frequency selective non-linear blending (NLB) algorithm on the contrast resolution of liver CT with low intravascular concentration of iodine contrast. Materials and Methods: Our local ethics committee approved this retrospective study. The informed consent requirement was waived. CT exams of 25 patients (60 % female, mean age: 65 ± 16 years of age) with late phase CT scans of the liver were included as a model for poor intrahepatic vascular contrast enhancement. Optimal post-processing settings to enhance the contrast of hepatic vessels were determined. Outcome variables included signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) of hepatic vessels and SNR of liver parenchyma of standard and post-processed images. Image quality was quantified by two independent readers using Likert scales. Results: The post-processing settings for the visualization of hepatic vasculature were optimal at a center of 115HU, delta of 25HU, and slope of 5. Image noise was statistically indifferent between standard and post-processed images. The CNR between the hepatic vasculature (HV) and liver parenchyma could be significantly increased for liver veins (CNR Standard 1.62 ± 1.10, CNR NLB 3.6 ± 2.94, p = 0.0002) and portal veins (CNR Standard 1.31 ± 0.85, CNR NLB 2.42 ± 3.03, p = 0.046). The SNR of liver parenchyma was significantly higher on post-processed images (SNR NLB 11.26 ± 3.16, SNR Standard 8.85 ± 2.27, p = 0.008). The overall image quality and depiction of HV were significantly higher on post-processed images (NLB DHV : 4 [3 - 4.75], S tandardDHV : 2 [1.3 - 2.5], p = algorithm increases the contrast resolution of liver CT and can improve the visibility of the hepatic vasculature in the setting of a low contrast ratio between vessels and the parenchyma. Key Points: • Using the new frequency selective non-linear blending algorithm is feasible in contrast

  5. Measuring Auditory Selective Attention using Frequency Tagging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hari M Bharadwaj

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Frequency tagging of sensory inputs (presenting stimuli that fluctuate periodically at rates to which the cortex can phase lock has been used to study attentional modulation of neural responses to inputs in different sensory modalities. For visual inputs, the visual steady-state response (VSSR at the frequency modulating an attended object is enhanced, while the VSSR to a distracting object is suppressed. In contrast, the effect of attention on the auditory steady-state response (ASSR is inconsistent across studies. However, most auditory studies analyzed results at the sensor level or used only a small number of equivalent current dipoles to fit cortical responses. In addition, most studies of auditory spatial attention used dichotic stimuli (independent signals at the ears rather than more natural, binaural stimuli. Here, we asked whether these methodological choices help explain discrepant results. Listeners attended to one of two competing speech streams, one simulated from the left and one from the right, that were modulated at different frequencies. Using distributed source modeling of magnetoencephalography results, we estimate how spatially directed attention modulates the ASSR in neural regions across the whole brain. Attention enhances the ASSR power at the frequency of the attended stream in the contralateral auditory cortex. The attended-stream modulation frequency also drives phase-locked responses in the left (but not right precentral sulcus (lPCS, a region implicated in control of eye gaze and visual spatial attention. Importantly, this region shows no phase locking to the distracting stream suggesting that the lPCS in engaged in an attention-specific manner. Modeling results that take account of the geometry and phases of the cortical sources phase locked to the two streams (including hemispheric asymmetry of lPCS activity help partly explain why past ASSR studies of auditory spatial attention yield seemingly contradictory

  6. Thickness of the Buccal Plate in Posterior Teeth: A Prospective Cone Beam Computed Tomography Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temple, Kayleigh Eaves; Schoolfield, John; Noujeim, Marcel E; Huynh-Ba, Guy; Lasho, David J; Mealey, Brian L

    Buccal plate thickness is an important clinical parameter for postextraction implant treatment planning. The purpose of this study was to assess buccal plate thickness of the posterior maxilla and mandible using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). A total of 265 patients and 934 teeth met the inclusion criteria for this study. CBCT volumes were taken and aligned for measurement at the ideal midsagittal cross-section. Buccal plate thickness was measured at 1, 3, and 5 mm apical to the alveolar crest. The frequency of thick (≥ 1 mm), thin (teeth.

  7. iNOS-dependent increase in colonic mucus thickness in DSS-colitic rats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olof Schreiber

    Full Text Available AIM: To investigate colonic mucus thickness in vivo in health and during experimental inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS: Colitis was induced with 5% DSS in drinking water for 8 days prior to experiment, when the descending colonic mucosa of anesthetized rats was studied using intravital microscopy. Mucus thickness was measured with micropipettes attached to a micromanipulator. To assess the contributions of NOS and prostaglandins in the regulation of colonic mucus thickness, the non-selective NOS-inhibitor L-NNA (10 mg/kg bolus followed by 3 mg/kg/h, the selective iNOS-inhibitor L-NIL (10 mg/kg bolus followed by 3 mg/kg/h and the non-selective COX-inhibitor diclofenac (5 mg/kg were administered intravenously prior to experiment. To further investigate the role of iNOS in the regulation of colonic mucus thickness, iNOS -/- mice were used. RESULTS: Colitic rats had a thicker firmly adherent mucus layer following 8 days of DSS treatment than untreated rats (88±2 µm vs 76±1 µm. During induction of colitis, the thickness of the colonic mucus layer initially decreased but was from day 3 significantly thicker than in untreated rats. Diclofenac reduced the mucus thickness similarly in colitic and untreated rats (-16±5 µm vs -14±2 µm. While L-NNA had no effect on colonic mucus thickness in DSS or untreated controls (+3±2 µm vs +3±1 µm, L-NIL reduced the mucus thickness significantly more in colitic rats than in controls (-33±4 µm vs -10±3 µm. The importance of iNOS in regulating the colonic mucus thickness was confirmed in iNOS-/- mice, which had thinner colonic mucus than wild-type mice (35±3 µm vs 50±2 µm, respectively. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry revealed increased levels of iNOS in the colonic surface epithelium following DSS treatment. CONCLUSION: Both prostaglandins and nitric oxide regulate basal colonic mucus thickness. During onset of colitis, the thickness of the mucus layer is initially reduced followed by an i

  8. Inlfuence of Different-Frequency Glucocorticoid Induction on Morphological Structures of Humeri, Soft Tissues and Immune System in Rats

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LI Jian-min; LI Heng

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To explore the influence of different-frequency glucocorticoid (GC) induction on morphological structures of humeri and soft tissues as well as immune system in rats. Methods: A total of 32 speciifc pathogen-free (SPF) SD rats at the age of 3 months were selected and randomly divided into 4 groups, 8 cases in each group. The rats in control group were not given any treatment, while those in low-, moderate- and high-frequency groups were treated with intramuscular injection of dexamethasone 1 mg/kg per time for twice, 4 times and 6 times per week, respectively. All the rats were sacriifced on d30 to measure their body mass and qualities of soft tissues and immune organs, and bone histomorphometry was applied to analyze humeral bone mass and bone structural changes. Results: Compared with control group, there was no change in cancellous bone mass and bone structures of upper humeri in low-frequency group, but serious loss of bone mass, signiifcantly degenerated bone structure, markedly reduced trabecular thickness and number as well as notably increased trabecular separation was all observed in moderate- and high-frequency groups. The size of cortical bones, total size of bone structure, thickness of cortical bones and size percentage of cortical bones in middle humeri reduced apparently, while the size percentage of medullary cavity increased dramatically in high-frequency group. Growth plate thickness of upper humeri decreased in low-, moderate- and high-frequency groups, and the diameters of mastocytes diminished in moderate- and high-frequency groups. Compared with control group, body mass decreased obviously, qualities and indexes of spleen and thymus showed decreasing tendency along with the increase of drug administration frequency in low-, moderate- and high-frequency groups. Conclusion: Low-frequency GC cannot change humeral morphology. The higher the frequency of drug administration is, the more the loss of cancellous bone mass is. When the

  9. Analytic clock frequency selection for global DVFS

    OpenAIRE

    Gerards, Marco Egbertus Theodorus; Hurink, Johann L.; Holzenspies, P.K.F.; Kuper, Jan; Smit, Gerardus Johannes Maria

    2014-01-01

    Computers can reduce their power consumption by decreasing their speed using Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS). A form of DVFS for multicore processors is global DVFS, where the voltage and clock frequency is shared among all processor cores. Because global DVFS is efficient and cheap to implement, it is used in modern multicore processors like the IBM Power 7, ARM Cortex A9 and NVIDIA Tegra 2. This theory oriented paper discusses energy optimal DVFS algorithms for such processors....

  10. Determination of material and its thickness for Cs-137 gamma source shielding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tukiman

    2008-01-01

    Its has been determined the shielding material and its thickness necessarily conducted due to every material will have different half-thickness characteristics, and by the selection a suitable material and its thickness will be obtained. Half-thickness of any material is the ability of the material at a certain thickness to absorb any radiation intensity so that the intensity becomes half of its source. Sample materials to be used are concrete, wood, and lead with their thickness varied. From experiment data and theoretical computation can be concluded that lead is the suitable material for shielding with the value of HVT for gamma radiation 0,732 cm. For wood and concrete will give half-thickness of 11,0 cm and 3,164 cm respectively. (author)

  11. Low Frequency Space Array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dennison, B.; Weiler, K.W.; Johnston, K.J.

    1987-01-01

    The Low Frequency Space Array (LFSA) is a conceptual mission to survey the entire sky and to image individual sources at frequencies between 1.5 and 26 MHz, a frequency range over which the earth's ionosphere transmits poorly or not at all. With high resolution, high sensitivity observations, a new window will be opened in the electromagnetic spectrum for astronomical investigation. Also, extending observations down to such low frequencies will bring astronomy to the fundamental limit below which the galaxy becomes optically thick due to free-free absorption. A number of major scientific goals can be pursued with such a mission, including mapping galactic emission and absorption, studies of individual source spectra in a frequency range where a number of important processes may play a role, high resolution imaging of extended sources, localization of the impulsive emission from Jupiter, and a search for coherent emission processes. 19 references

  12. Axisymmetric vibrations of thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Kosawada, Tadashi; Takahashi, Shin; Takahashi, Fumiaki.

    1987-01-01

    An exact method using power series expansions is presented for solving axisymmetric free vibration problems for thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature. Based on the improved thick shell theory, the Lagrangian of the shells of revolution are obtained, and the equations of motion and the boundary conditions are derived from the stationary condition of the Lagrangian. The method is applied to thick shells of revolution having their generating curves of ellipse, cycloid, parabola, catenary and hyperbola. The results by the present method are compared with those by the thin shell theory and the effects of rotatory inertia and shear deformation upon the natural frequencies and the mode shapes are clarified. (author)

  13. [Relation between frequency modulation direction selectivity and forward masking of inferior collicular neurons: a study on in vivo intracellular recording in mice].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Zi-Ying; Zeng, Hong; Tang, Jia; Li, Jie; Li, Juan; Chen, Qi-Cai

    2013-06-25

    It has been reported that the frequency modulation (FM) or FM direction sensitivity and forward masking of central auditory neurons are related with the neural inhibition, but there are some arguments, because no direct evidence of inhibitory synaptic input was obtained in previous studies using extracellular recording. In the present study, we studied the relation between FM direction sensitivity and forward masking of the inferior collicular (IC) neurons using in vivo intracellular recordings in 20 Mus musculus Km mice. Thirty seven with complete data among 93 neurons were analyzed and discussed. There was an inhibitory area which consisted of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSP) at high frequency side of frequency tuning of up-sweep FM (FMU) sensitive neurons (n = 12) and at low frequency side of frequency tuning of down-sweep FM (FMD) selective neurons (n = 8), while there was no any inhibitory area at both sides of frequency tuning of non-FM sweep direction (FMN) sensitive neurons (n = 17). Therefore, these results show that the inhibitory area at low or high frequency side of frequency tuning is one of the mechanisms for forming FM sweep direction sensitivity of IC neurons. By comparison of forward masking produced by FMU and FMD sound stimuli in FMU, FMD and FMN neurons, the selective FM sounds could produce stronger forward masking than the non-selective in FMU and FMD neurons, while there was no forward masking difference between FMU and FMD stimuli in the FMN neurons. We suggest that the post-action potential IPSP is a potential mechanism for producing stronger forward masking in FMU and FMD neurons.

  14. Frequency selective surface based passive wireless sensor for structural health monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Sang-Dong; Kang, Byung-Woo; Kim, Jaehwan

    2013-01-01

    Wireless sensor networks or ubiquitous sensor networks are a promising technology giving useful information to people. In particular, the chipless passive wireless sensor is one of the most important developments in wireless sensor technology because it is compact and does not need a battery or chip for the sensor operation. So it has many possibilities for use in various types of sensor system with economical efficiency and robustness in harsh environmental conditions. This sensor uses an electromagnetic resonance frequency or phase angle shift associated with a geometrical change of the sensor tag or an impedance change of the sensor. In this paper, a chipless passive wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) sensor is made using a frequency selective surface (FSS). The cross type FSS is introduced, and its SHM principle is explained. The electromagnetic characteristics of the FSS are simulated in terms of transmission and reflection coefficients using simulation software, and an experimental verification is conducted. The electromagnetic characteristic change of the FSS in the presence of mechanical strain or a structural crack is investigated by means of simulation and experiment. Since large-area structures can be covered by deploying FSS, it is possible to detect the location of any cracks. (paper)

  15. MUC1 gene polymorphism in three Nelore lines selected for growth and its association with growth and carcass traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza, Fabio Ricardo Pablos; Maione, Sandra; Sartore, Stefano; Soglia, Dominga; Spalenza, Veronica; Cauvin, Elsa; Martelli, Lucia Regina; Mercadante, Maria Eugênia Zerlotti; Sacchi, Paola; de Albuquerque, Lucia Galvão; Rasero, Roberto

    2012-02-01

    The objective of this study was to describe the VNTR polymorphism of the mucin 1 gene (MUC1) in three Nelore lines selected for yearling weight to determine whether allele and genotype frequencies of this polymorphism were affected by selection for growth. In addition, the effects of the polymorphism on growth and carcass traits were evaluated. Birth, weaning and yearling weights, rump height, Longissimus muscle area, backfat thickness, and rump fat thickness, were analyzed. A total of 295 Nelore heifers from the Beef Cattle Research Center, Instituto de Zootecnia de Sertãozinho, were used, including 41 of the control line, 102 of the selection line and 152 of the traditional. The selection and traditional lines comprise animals selected for higher yearling weight, whereas control line animals are selected for yearling weight close to the average. Five alleles were identified, with allele 1 being the most frequent in the three lines, especially in the lines selected for higher means for yearling weight. Heterozygosity was significantly higher in the control line. Association analyses showed significant effects of allele 1 on birth weight and weaning weight while the allele 3 exert significant effects on yearling weight and back fat thickness. Despite these findings, application of this marker to marker-assisted selection requires more consistent results based on the genotyping of a larger number of animals in order to increase the accuracy of the statistical analyses.

  16. Inferring Allele Frequency Trajectories from Ancient DNA Indicates That Selection on a Chicken Gene Coincided with Changes in Medieval Husbandry Practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loog, Liisa; Thomas, Mark G; Barnett, Ross; Allen, Richard; Sykes, Naomi; Paxinos, Ptolemaios D; Lebrasseur, Ophélie; Dobney, Keith; Peters, Joris; Manica, Andrea; Larson, Greger; Eriksson, Anders

    2017-08-01

    Ancient DNA provides an opportunity to infer the drivers of natural selection by linking allele frequency changes to temporal shifts in environment or cultural practices. However, analyses have often been hampered by uneven sampling and uncertainties in sample dating, as well as being confounded by demographic processes. Here, we present a Bayesian statistical framework for quantifying the timing and strength of selection using ancient DNA that explicitly addresses these challenges. We applied this method to time series data for two loci: TSHR and BCDO2, both hypothesised to have undergone strong and recent selection in domestic chickens. The derived variant in TSHR, associated with reduced aggression to conspecifics and faster onset of egg laying, shows strong selection beginning around 1,100 years ago, coincident with archaeological evidence for intensified chicken production and documented changes in egg and chicken consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first example of preindustrial domesticate trait selection in response to a historically attested cultural shift in food preference. For BCDO2, we find support for selection, but demonstrate that the recent rise in allele frequency could also have been driven by gene flow from imported Asian chickens during more recent breed formations. Our findings highlight that traits found ubiquitously in modern domestic species may not necessarily have originated during the early stages of domestication. In addition, our results demonstrate the importance of precise estimation of allele frequency trajectories through time for understanding the drivers of selection. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  17. Altered cortical thickness and attentional deficits in adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berner, Laura A; Stefan, Mihaela; Lee, Seonjoo; Wang, Zhishun; Terranova, Kate; Attia, Evelyn; Marsh, Rachel

    2018-05-01

    Frontostriatal and frontoparietal abnormalities likely contribute to deficits in control and attentional processes in individuals with bulimia nervosa and to the persistence of dysregulated eating across development. This study assessed these processes and cortical thickness in a large sample of adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa compared with healthy controls. We collected anatomical MRI data from adolescent girls and women (ages 12-38 yr) with full or subthreshold bulimia nervosa and age-matched healthy controls who also completed the Conners Continuous Performance Test-II (CPT-II). Groups were compared on task performance and cortical thickness. Mediation analyses explored associations among cortical thickness, CPT-II variables, bulimia nervosa symptoms and age. We included 60 girls and women with bulimia nervosa and 54 controls in the analyses. Compared with healthy participants, those with bulimia nervosa showed increased impulsivity and inattention on the CPT-II, along with reduced thickness of the right pars triangularis, right superior parietal and left dorsal posterior cingulate cortices. In the bulimia nervosa group, exploratory analyses revealed that binge eating frequency correlated inversely with cortical thickness of frontoparietal and insular regions and that reduced frontoparietal thickness mediated the association between age and increased symptom severity and inattention. Binge eating frequency also mediated the association between age and lower prefrontal cortical thickness. These findings are applicable to only girls and women with bulimia nervosa, and our cross-sectional design precludes understanding of whether cortical thickness alterations precede or result from bulimia nervosa symptoms. Structural abnormalities in the frontoparietal and posterior cingulate regions comprising circuits that support control and attentional processes should be investigated as potential contributors to the maintenance of bulimia nervosa and useful

  18. Altered cortical thickness and attentional deficits in adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berner, Laura A; Stefan, Mihaela; Lee, Seonjoo; Wang, Zhishun; Terranova, Kate; Attia, Evelyn; Marsh, Rachel

    2018-01-12

    Frontostriatal and frontoparietal abnormalities likely contribute to deficits in control and attentional processes in individuals with bulimia nervosa and to the persistence of dysregulated eating across development. This study assessed these processes and cortical thickness in a large sample of adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa compared with healthy controls. We collected anatomical MRI data from adolescent girls and women (ages 12-38 yr) with full or subthreshold bulimia nervosa and age-matched healthy controls who also completed the Conners Continuous Performance Test-II (CPT-II). Groups were compared on task performance and cortical thickness. Mediation analyses explored associations among cortical thickness, CPT-II variables, bulimia nervosa symptoms and age. We included 60 girls and women with bulimia nervosa and 54 controls in the analyses. Compared with healthy participants, those with bulimia nervosa showed increased impulsivity and inattention on the CPT-II, along with reduced thickness of the right pars triangularis, right superior parietal and left dorsal posterior cingulate cortices. In the bulimia nervosa group, exploratory analyses revealed that binge eating frequency correlated inversely with cortical thickness of frontoparietal and insular regions and that reduced frontoparietal thickness mediated the association between age and increased symptom severity and inattention. Binge eating frequency also mediated the association between age and lower prefrontal cortical thickness. These findings are applicable to only girls and women with bulimia nervosa, and our cross-sectional design precludes understanding of whether cortical thickness alterations precede or result from bulimia nervosa symptoms. Structural abnormalities in the frontoparietal and posterior cingulate regions comprising circuits that support control and attentional processes should be investigated as potential contributors to the maintenance of bulimia nervosa and useful

  19. Passive Frequency Selective Surface Array as a Diffuser for Destroying Millimeter Wave Coherence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saiful Islam

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the design, construction, and testing of grounded frequency selective surface (FSS array as a diffuser for destroying millimeter wave coherence which is used to eliminate speckle in active millimeter wave imaging. To create stochastically independent illumination patterns, we proposed a diffuser based on random-phase distributions obtained by changing the incident frequency. The random-phase diffuser was obtained by mixing up the phase relations between the cells of a deterministic function (e.g., beam splitter. The slot length of FSS is the main design parameter used to optimize the phase shifting properties of the array. The critical parameters of the diffuser array design, such as phase relation with slot lengths, losses, and bandwidth, are discussed. We designed the FSS arrays with finite integral technique (FIT, fabricated by etching technique, and characterized the S-parameters with a free-space MVNA, and measured the radiation patterns with a BWO in motorized setup.

  20. All-dielectric metamaterial frequency selective surface based on spatial arrangement ceramic resonators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liyang; Wang, Jun; Feng, Mingde; Ma, Hua; Wang, Jiafu; Du, Hongliang; Qu, Shaobo

    In this paper, we demonstrate a method of designing all-dielectric metamaterial frequency selective surface (FSS) with ceramic resonators in spatial arrangement. Compared with the traditional way, spatial arrangement provides a flexible way to handle the permutation and combination of different ceramic resonators. With this method, the resonance response can be adjusted easily to achieve pass/stop band effects. As an example, a stop band spatial arrangement all-dielectric metamaterial FSS is designed. Its working band is in 11.65-12.23GHz. By adjusting permittivity and geometrical parameters of ceramic resonators, we can easily modulate the resonances, band pass or band stop characteristic, as well as the working band.

  1. Is the colour dimorphism in Dactylorhiza sambucina maintained by differential seed viability instead of frequency-dependent selection?

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Jersáková, Jana; Kindlmann, Pavel; Renner, S.S.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 41, - (2006), s. 61-76 ISSN 0015-5551 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR(CZ) KJB6141302 Keywords : Dactylorhiza * flower colour polymorphism * frequency-dependent selection * pollinator discrimination * rewardless flowers * seed viability Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 1.033, year: 2005

  2. Assessing the copula selection for bivariate frequency analysis ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    58

    Copulas are applied to overcome the restriction of traditional bivariate frequency ... frequency analysis methods cannot describe the random variable properties that ... In order to overcome the limitation of multivariate distributions, a copula is a ..... The Mann-Kendall (M-K) test is a non-parametric statistical test which is used ...

  3. The influence of thickness and viscosity of liquid annular layer on dynamic behavior of cylindrical shell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuzelka, V.; Neuman, F.; Pecinka, L.

    1983-01-01

    This paper presents the results of experiments concerning the influence of thickness and viscosity of inner and outer annular layers of a liquid on the dynamic behaviour of a cylindrical shell, and a mathematical model of the problem based on acoustic approach is formulated to compare experimental and theoretical results. The measurements of natural frequencies and of damping ratios of a cylindrical shell were carried out with water and with two kinds of mineral oils of different viscosities. The results point towards the fact that with a decreasing thickness of the liquid layer the influence of the added liquid mass increases and the frequency drop is higher. On the other hand there is a certain relative magnitude of the surrounding medium at which the system behaves as an unlimited one. This magnitude depends on the mode order. The statement that the lesser is the thickness of the annular liquid layer the more important is its influence and the larger is the added liquid mass holds up to a certain thickness of the gap, comparable with the thickness of the thin liquid layer on the surface of the shell in which there has not yet been formed a transverse wave. The flowing in this layer is not potential. The governing equation for the description of this problem then is not Euler equation but Stokes's and Helmholtz's theorems for whirling motion. The thickness of the surface layer depends on the viscosity of the liquid. The frequencies measured for the least gap for water were well identified, while for both the mineral oils were chaotical, without any conspicuous resonances. (orig./GL)

  4. Gas Sensing Performance of Pure and Modified BST Thick Film Resistor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. H. JAIN

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Barium Strontium Titanate (BST-(Ba0.87Sr0.13TiO3 ceramic powder was prepared by mechanochemical process. The thick films of different thicknesses of BST were prepared by screen-printing technique and gas-sensing performance of these films was tested for various gases. The films showed highest response and selectivity to ammonia gas. The pure BST film was surface modified by surfactant CrO3 by using dipping technique. The surface modified film suppresses the response to ammonia and enhances to H2S gas. The surface modification of films changes the adsorption-desorption relationship with the target gas and shifts its selectivity. The gas response, selectivity, response and recovery time of the pure and modified films were measured and presented.

  5. Hydroxyapatite screen-printed thick films: optical and electrical properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, C.C.; Rocha, H.H.B.; Freire, F.N.A.; Santos, M.R.P.; Saboia, K.D.A.; Goes, J.C.; Sombra, A.S.B.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we did a study on the structural and electrical properties of bioceramic hydroxiapatite (HA) thick films. The films were prepared in two layers using the screen-printing technique on Al 2 O 3 substrates. Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of hydroxyapatite to be used in the films. We also look for the effect of the grain size of the HA in the final properties of the film. The samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy and electrical measurements. We did a study of the dielectric permittivity and the loss of the films in the radio-frequency of the spectra. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the films indicate that all the peaks associated to HA phase is present in the films. One can notice that, for all the films there is a decrease of the DC (dielectric constant) with the increase of the frequency. The values of the dielectric constant of the films are in between 4 and 9 (at 1 kHz), as a function of the flux concentration. The loss is decreasing as we increase the frequency for all the films. These results strongly suggest that the screen-printing HA thick films are good candidates for applications in biocompatible coatings of implant materials

  6. Hydroxyapatite screen-printed thick films: optical and electrical properties

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silva, C.C. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Rocha, H.H.B. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Freire, F.N.A. [Departamento de Quimica Orga-circumflex nica e Inorga-circumflex nica-UFC, Caixa Postal 6030, CEP 60455-760, Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Santos, M.R.P. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Saboia, K.D.A. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Goes, J.C. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil); Sombra, A.S.B. [Laboratorio de Telecomunicaco-tilde es e Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais (LOCEM), Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara (Brazil)]. E-mail: sombra@fisica.ufc.br

    2005-07-15

    In this paper, we did a study on the structural and electrical properties of bioceramic hydroxiapatite (HA) thick films. The films were prepared in two layers using the screen-printing technique on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrates. Mechanical alloying has been used successfully to produce nanocrystalline powders of hydroxyapatite to be used in the films. We also look for the effect of the grain size of the HA in the final properties of the film. The samples were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), infrared and Raman scattering spectroscopy and electrical measurements. We did a study of the dielectric permittivity and the loss of the films in the radio-frequency of the spectra. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the films indicate that all the peaks associated to HA phase is present in the films. One can notice that, for all the films there is a decrease of the DC (dielectric constant) with the increase of the frequency. The values of the dielectric constant of the films are in between 4 and 9 (at 1 kHz), as a function of the flux concentration. The loss is decreasing as we increase the frequency for all the films. These results strongly suggest that the screen-printing HA thick films are good candidates for applications in biocompatible coatings of implant materials.

  7. Wall thickness measurements using digital radiography - state of the art

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wawrzinek, T.; Zscherpel, U.; Bellon, C.

    1997-01-01

    Projection radiography is a method long since used for wall thickness measurements in pipes. Another method sometimes applied is thickness determination based on measuring changes of the optical density by using radioactive isotopes, as in this case the effects of stray radiation are negligible. The two methods hitherto were to be performed manually, and wall thickness data were derived by calculations with a pocket calculator. The required measuring and calculating work can now be automated by way of computerized processing of digitised images. The paper presents the software for automated evaluation of data of a selected location after system calibration. (orig./CB) [de

  8. The effects of slice thickness and reconstructive parameters on VR image quality in multi-slice CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao Zhenlong; Wang Qiang; Liu Caixia

    2005-01-01

    Objective: To explore the effects of slice thickness, reconstructive thickness and reconstructive interval on VR image quality in multi-slice CT, in order to select the best slice thickness and reconstructive parameters for the imaging. Methods: Multi-slice CT scan was applied on a rubber dinosaur model with different slice thickness. VR images were reconstructed with different reconstructive thickness and reconstructive interval. Five radiologists were invited to evaluate the quality of the images without knowing anything about the parameters. Results: The slice thickness, reconstructive thickness and reconstructive interval did have effects on VR image quality and the effective degree was different. The effective coefficients were V 1 =1413.033, V 2 =563.733, V 3 =390.533, respectively. The parameters interacted with the others (P<0.05). The smaller of those parameters, the better of the image quality. With a small slice thickness and a reconstructive slice equal to slice thickness, the image quality had no obvious difference when the reconstructive interval was 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 of the slice thickness. Conclusion: A relative small scan slice thickness, a reconstructive slice equal to slice thickness and a reconstructive interval 1/2 of the slice thickness should be selected for the best VR image quality. The image quality depends mostly on the slice thickness. (authors)

  9. Impact of Different CT Slice Thickness on Clinical Target Volume for 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prabhakar, Ramachandran; Ganesh, Tharmar; Rath, Goura K.; Julka, Pramod K.; Sridhar, Pappiah S.; Joshi, Rakesh C.; Thulkar, Sanjay

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to present the variation of clinical target volume (CTV) with different computed tomography (CT) slice thicknesses and the impact of CT slice thickness on 3-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy treatment planning. Fifty patients with brain tumors were selected and CT scans with 2.5-, 5-, and 10-mm slice thicknesses were performed with non-ionic contrast enhancement. The patients were selected with tumor volume ranging from 2.54 cc to 222 cc. Three-dimensional treatment planning was performed for all three CT datasets. The target coverage and the isocenter shift between the treatment plans for different slice thickness were correlated with the tumor volume. An important observation from our study revealed that for volume 25 cc, the target underdosage was less than 6.7% for 5-mm slice thickness and 8% for 10-mm slice thickness. For 3D conformal radiotherapy treatment planning (3DCRT), a CT slice thickness of 2.5 mm is optimum for tumor volume 25 cc

  10. Experimental study of the polymer powder film thickness uniformity produced by the corona discharge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fazlyyyakhmatov, Marsel

    2017-01-01

    The results of an experimental study of the polymer powder film thickness uniformity are presented. Polymer powder films are produced by the electrostatic field of corona discharge. Epoxy and epoxy-polyester powder films with thickness in the range of 30-120 microns are studied. Experimentally confirmed possibility of using these coatings as protective matching layer of piezoceramic transducers at frequencies of 0.5-15 MHz.

  11. Asymmetric vibrations of shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature and thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Kosawada, Tadashi; Miura, Kazuyuki.

    1988-01-01

    An exact method using power series expansions is presented for solving asymmetric free vibration problems for shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature and thickness. The gaverning equations of motion and the boundary conditions are derived from the stationary conditions of the Lagrangian of the shells of revolution. The method is demonstrated for shells of revolution having elliptical, cycloidal, parabolical, catenary and hyperbolical meridional curvature. The natural frequencies are numerically calculated for these shells having second degree thickness variation. (author)

  12. Guided wave mode selection for inhomogeneous elastic waveguides using frequency domain finite element approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chillara, Vamshi Krishna; Ren, Baiyang; Lissenden, Cliff J

    2016-04-01

    This article describes the use of the frequency domain finite element (FDFE) technique for guided wave mode selection in inhomogeneous waveguides. Problems with Rayleigh-Lamb and Shear-Horizontal mode excitation in isotropic homogeneous plates are first studied to demonstrate the application of the approach. Then, two specific cases of inhomogeneous waveguides are studied using FDFE. Finally, an example of guided wave mode selection for inspecting disbonds in composites is presented. Identification of sensitive and insensitive modes for defect inspection is demonstrated. As the discretization parameters affect the accuracy of the results obtained from FDFE, effect of spatial discretization and the length of the domain used for the spatial fast Fourier transform are studied. Some recommendations with regard to the choice of the above parameters are provided. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Magma Supply of Southwest Indian Ocean: Implication from Crustal Thickness Anomalies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiheng, L.; Jianghai, L.; Huatian, Z.; Qingkai, F.

    2017-12-01

    The Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) is one of the world's slowest spreading ridges with a full spreading rate of 14mm a-1, belonging to ultraslow spreading ridge, which are a novel class of spreading centers symbolized by non-uniform magma supply and crustal accretion. Therefore, the crustal thickness of Southwest Indian Ocean is a way to explore the magmatic and tectonic process of SWIR and the hotspots around it. Our paper uses Residual Mantle Bouguer Anomaly processed with the latest global public data to invert the relative crustal thickness and correct it according to seismic achievements. Gravity-derived crustal thickness model reveals a huge range of crustal thickness in Southwest Indian Ocean from 0.04km to 24km, 7.5km of average crustal thickness, and 3.5km of standard deviation. In addition, statistics data of crustal thickness reveal the frequency has a bimodal mixed skewed distribution, which indicates the crustal accretion by ridge and ridge-plume interaction. Base on the crustal thickness model, we divide three types of crustal thickness in Southwest Indian Ocean. About 20.31% of oceanic crust is 9.8km thick as thick crust. Furthermore, Prominent thin crust anomalies are associated with the trend of most transform faults, but thick crust anomalies presents to northeast of Andrew Bain transform fault. Cold and depleted mantle are also the key factors to form the thin crust. The thick crust anomalies are constrained by hotspots, which provide abundant heat to the mantle beneath mid-ocean ridge or ocean basin. Finally, we roughly delineate the range of ridge-plume interaction and transform fault effect.

  14. Altered cortical thickness and attentional deficits in adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefan, Mihaela; Lee, Seonjoo; Wang, Zhishun; Terranova, Kate; Attia, Evelyn; Marsh, Rachel

    2018-01-01

    Background Frontostriatal and frontoparietal abnormalities likely contribute to deficits in control and attentional processes in individuals with bulimia nervosa and to the persistence of dysregulated eating across development. This study assessed these processes and cortical thickness in a large sample of adolescent girls and women with bulimia nervosa compared with healthy controls. Methods We collected anatomical MRI data from adolescent girls and women (ages 12–38 yr) with full or subthreshold bulimia nervosa and age-matched healthy controls who also completed the Conners Continuous Performance Test-II (CPT-II). Groups were compared on task performance and cortical thickness. Mediation analyses explored associations among cortical thickness, CPT-II variables, bulimia nervosa symptoms and age. Results We included 60 girls and women with bulimia nervosa and 54 controls in the analyses. Compared with healthy participants, those with bulimia nervosa showed increased impulsivity and inattention on the CPT-II, along with reduced thickness of the right pars triangularis, right superior parietal and left dorsal posterior cingulate cortices. In the bulimia nervosa group, exploratory analyses revealed that binge eating frequency correlated inversely with cortical thickness of frontoparietal and insular regions and that reduced frontoparietal thickness mediated the association between age and increased symptom severity and inattention. Binge eating frequency also mediated the association between age and lower prefrontal cortical thickness. Limitations These findings are applicable to only girls and women with bulimia nervosa, and our cross-sectional design precludes understanding of whether cortical thickness alterations precede or result from bulimia nervosa symptoms. Conclusion Structural abnormalities in the frontoparietal and posterior cingulate regions comprising circuits that support control and attentional processes should be investigated as potential

  15. Noise-based frequency offset modulation in wideband frequency-selective fading channels

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijerink, Arjan; Cotton, S.L.; Bentum, Marinus Jan; Scanlon, W.G.

    2009-01-01

    A frequency offset modulation scheme using wideband noise carriers is considered. The main advantage of such a scheme is that it enables fast receiver synchronization without channel adaptation, while providing robustness to multipath fading and in-band interference. This is important for low-power

  16. A study of the impact of frequency selectivity on link adaptive wireless LAN systems

    OpenAIRE

    Armour, SMD; Doufexi, A; Nix, AR; Bull, DR

    2002-01-01

    Wireless local area networks (WLANs) supporting broadband multimedia communication are being developed and standardized around the world. The HIPERLAN/2, 802.11a and HiSWANa standards provide channel adaptive data rates between 6 and 54 Mbps in the 5GHz radio band. The link adaptation mechanism is not specified in the standards. In this paper the performance of the HIPERLAN/2 system is evaluated in terms of throughput in a range of test channels with different degrees of frequency selectivity...

  17. Study on the Thick-Walled Pipe Ultrasonic Signal Enhancement of Modified S-Transform and Singular Value Decomposition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haichao Cai

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available When detecting the ultrasonic flaw of thick-walled pipe, the flaw echo signals are often interrupted by scanning system frequency and background noise. In particular when the thick-walled pipe defect is small, echo signal amplitude is often drowned in noise signal and affects the extraction of defect signal and the position determination accuracy. This paper presents the modified S-transform domain singular value decomposition method for the analysis of ultrasonic flaw echo signals. By changing the scale rule of Gaussian window functions with S-transform to improve the time-frequency resolution. And the paper tries to decompose the singular value decomposition of time-frequency matrix after the S-transform to determine the singular entropy of effective echo signal and realize the adaptive filter. Experiments show that, using this method can not only remove high frequency noise but also remove the low frequency noise and improve the signal-to-noise ratio of echo signal.

  18. CdO Doped Indium Oxide Thick Film as a Low Temperature H2S Gas Sensor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. N. CHAVAN

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The thick films of AR grade In2O3 were prepared by standard screen-printing technique. The gas sensing performance of thick film was tested for various gases. It showed maximum gas response to ethanol vapor at 350 oC for 80 ppm. To improve the gas response and selectivity of the film towards a particular gas, In2O3 thick films were modified by dipping them in an aqueous solution of 0.1 M CdCl2 for different intervals of time. The surface modified (10 min In2O3 thick film showed maximum response to H2S gas (10 ppm than pure In2O3 thick film at 150 oC. Cadmium oxide on the surface of the film shifts the gas response from ethanol vapor to H2S gas. A systematic study of sensing performance of the thick films indicates the key role played by cadmium oxide on the surface of thick films. The selectivity, gas response and recovery time of the thick films were measured and presented.

  19. Simultaneous determination of the residual stress, elastic modulus, density and thickness of ultrathin film utilizing vibrating doubly clamped micro-/nanobeams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stachiv, Ivo; Kuo, Chih-Yun; Fang, Te-Hua; Mortet, Vincent

    2016-01-01

    Measurement of ultrathin film thickness and its basic properties can be highly challenging and time consuming due to necessity of using several very sophisticated devices. Here, we report an easy accessible resonant based method capable to simultaneously determinate the residual stress, elastic modulus, density and thickness of ultrathin film coated on doubly clamped micro-/nanobeam. We show that a general dependency of the resonant frequencies on the axial load is also valid for in-plane vibrations, and the one depends only on the considered vibrational mode. As a result, we found that the film elastic modulus, density and thickness can be evaluated from two measured in-plane and out-plane fundamental resonant frequencies of micro-/nanobeam with and without film under different prestress forces. Whereas, the residual stress can be determined from two out-plane (in-plane) measured consecutive resonant frequencies of beam with film under different prestress forces without necessity of knowing film and substrate properties and dimensions. Moreover, we also reveal that the common uncertainties in force (and thickness) determination have a negligible (and minor) impact on the determined film properties. The application potential of the present method is illustrated on the beam made of silicon and SiO_2 with deposited 20 nm thick AlN and 40 nm thick Au thin films, respectively.

  20. Self-Poling of BiFeO3 Thick Films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khomyakova, Evgeniya; Sadl, Matej; Ursic, Hana; Daniels, John; Malic, Barbara; Bencan, Andreja; Damjanovic, Dragan; Rojac, Tadej

    2016-08-03

    Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) is difficult to pole because of the combination of its high coercive field and high electrical conductivity. This problem is particularly pronounced in thick films. The poling, however, must be performed to achieve a large macroscopic piezoelectric response. This study presents evidence of a prominent and reproducible self-poling effect in few-tens-of-micrometer-thick BiFeO3 films. Direct and converse piezoelectric measurements confirmed that the as-sintered BiFeO3 thick films yield d33 values of up to ∼20 pC/N. It was observed that a significant self-poling effect only appears in cases when the films are heated and cooled through the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition (Curie temperature TC ∼ 820 °C). These self-poled films exhibit a microstructure with randomly oriented columnar grains. The presence of a compressive strain gradient across the film thickness cooled from above the TC was experimentally confirmed and is suggested to be responsible for the self-poling effect. Finally, the macroscopic d33 response of the self-poled BiFeO3 film was characterized as a function of the driving-field frequency and amplitude.

  1. Comparison of Simulated PEC Probe Performance for Detecting Wall Thickness Reduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Young Kil; Choi, Dong Myung; Jung, Hee Sung

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, four different types of pulsed eddy current(PEC) probe are designed and their performance of detecting wall thickness reduction is compared. By using the backward difference method in time and the finite element method in space, PEC signals from various thickness and materials are numerically calculated and three features of the signal are selected. Since PEC signals and features are obtained by various types and sizes of probe, the comparison is made through the normalized features which reflect the sensitivity of the feature to thickness reduction. The normalized features indicate that the shielded reflection probe provides the best sensitivity to wall thickness reduction for all three signal features. Results show that the best sensitivity to thickness reduction can be achieved by the peak value, but also suggest that the time to peak can be a good candidate because of its linear relationship with the thickness variation.

  2. Impact of P/In flux ratio and epilayer thickness on faceting for nanoscale selective area growth of InP by molecular beam epitaxy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fahed, M; Desplanque, L; Coinon, C; Troadec, D; Wallart, X

    2015-07-24

    The impact of the P/In flux ratio and the deposited thickness on the faceting of InP nanostructures selectively grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is reported. Homoepitaxial growth of InP is performed inside 200 nm wide stripe openings oriented either along a [110] or [1-10] azimuth in a 10 nm thick SiO2 film deposited on an InP(001) substrate. When varying the P/In flux ratio, no major shape differences are observed for [1-10]-oriented apertures. On the other hand, the InP nanostructure cross sections strongly evolve for [110]-oriented apertures for which (111)B facets are more prominent and (001) ones shrink for large P/In flux ratio values. These results show that the growth conditions allow tailoring the nanocrystal shape. They are discussed in the framework of the equilibrium crystal shape model using existing theoretical calculations of the surface energies of different low-index InP surfaces as a function of the phosphorus chemical potential, directly related to the P/In ratio. Experimental observations strongly suggest that the relative (111)A surface energy is probably smaller than the calculated value. We also discuss the evolution of the nanostructure shape with the InP-deposited thickness.

  3. Selective detection of crystalline cellulose in plant cell walls with sum-frequency-generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnette, Anna L; Bradley, Laura C; Veres, Brandon D; Schreiner, Edward P; Park, Yong Bum; Park, Junyeong; Park, Sunkyu; Kim, Seong H

    2011-07-11

    The selective detection of crystalline cellulose in biomass was demonstrated with sum-frequency-generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy. SFG is a second-order nonlinear optical response from a system where the optical centrosymmetry is broken. In secondary plant cell walls that contain mostly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin with varying concentrations, only certain vibration modes in the crystalline cellulose structure can meet the noninversion symmetry requirements. Thus, SFG can be used to detect and analyze crystalline cellulose selectively in lignocellulosic biomass without extraction of noncellulosic species from biomass or deconvolution of amorphous spectra. The selective detection of crystalline cellulose in lignocellulosic biomass is not readily achievable with other techniques such as XRD, solid-state NMR, IR, and Raman analyses. Therefore, the SFG analysis presents a unique opportunity to reveal the cellulose crystalline structure in lignocellulosic biomass.

  4. Analysis and applications of a frequency selective surface via a random distribution method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xie Shao-Yi; Huang Jing-Jian; Yuan Nai-Chang; Liu Li-Guo

    2014-01-01

    A novel frequency selective surface (FSS) for reducing radar cross section (RCS) is proposed in this paper. This FSS is based on the random distribution method, so it can be called random surface. In this paper, the stacked patches serving as periodic elements are employed for RCS reduction. Previous work has demonstrated the efficiency by utilizing the microstrip patches, especially for the reflectarray. First, the relevant theory of the method is described. Then a sample of a three-layer variable-sized stacked patch random surface with a dimension of 260 mm×260 mm is simulated, fabricated, and measured in order to demonstrate the validity of the proposed design. For the normal incidence, the 8-dB RCS reduction can be achieved both by the simulation and the measurement in 8 GHz–13 GHz. The oblique incidence of 30° is also investigated, in which the 7-dB RCS reduction can be obtained in a frequency range of 8 GHz–14 GHz. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)

  5. Selective Interareal Synchronization through Gamma Frequency Differences and Slower-Rhythm Gamma Phase Reset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burwick, Thomas; Bouras, Alexandros

    2017-03-01

    The communication-through-coherence (CTC) hypothesis states that a sending group of neurons will have a particularly strong effect on a receiving group if both groups oscillate in a phase-locked ("coherent") manner (Fries, 2005 , 2015 ). Here, we consider a situation with two visual stimuli, one in the focus of attention and the other distracting, resulting in two sites of excitation at an early cortical area that project to a common site in a next area. Taking a modeler's perspective, we confirm the workings of a mechanism that was proposed by Bosman et al. ( 2012 ) in the context of providing experimental evidence for the CTC hypothesis: a slightly higher gamma frequency of the attended sending site compared to the distracting site may cause selective interareal synchronization with the receiving site if combined with a slow-rhythm gamma phase reset. We also demonstrate the relevance of a slightly lower intrinsic frequency of the receiving site for this scenario. Moreover, we discuss conditions for a transition from bottom-up to top-down driven phase locking.

  6. Computer software to assess weld thickness loss in offshore pipelines: PEDS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Germano, Andre Luiz Silva; Correa, Samanda Cristine Arruda [Centro Universitario Estadual da Zona Oeste (CCMAT/UEZO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], e-mail: scorrea@nuclear.ufrj.br; Souza, Edmilson Monteiro de; Silva, Ademir Xavier da; Lopes, Ricardo Tadeu [Programa de Engenharia Nuclear, COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], e-mails: emonteiro@nuclear.ufrj.br, ademir@nuclear.ufrj.br, ricardo@lin.ufrj.br

    2010-07-01

    The purpose of this work is to present an initial vision about a computer software named PEDS to assess weld thickness loss in offshore pipelines through digital radiography. This software calculates the thickness loss through a data bank obtained using computational modeling based on Monte Carlo MCNPX code. In order to give users more flexibility, the computer software was written in Java, which allows it to run on Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Furthermore, tools are provided to image display, select and analyze specific areas of the image (measure average, area of selection) and generate profile plots. Applications of this software in the offshore area are presented. (author)

  7. Reducing the Impact of Electroconductivity and the Gap between the Pipe and the Transducer at Measuring Thickness of Electroconductive Pipe Walls using the Eddy-Current Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yakimov Evgeny

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes a dual-frequency method for reducing the impact of changes in the gap size between the eddy-current transducer and the pipe, as well as the pipe electrical conductivity on the eddy-current thickness gauge readings. A block-diagram of the dual-frequency eddycurrent thickness gauge is proposed for light-alloy drill pipes. The amplitude and signal phase dependencies on the wall thickness in the range from 6 to 17 mm and the gap in the range from 0 to 13.5 mm were studied, the results are presented. The digital signal processing algorithms based on the piecewise-linear approximation of low-frequency and high-frequency signal phase dependencies on the wall thickness are proposed. It is shown that the proposed correction algorithms can reduce the error caused by variations of electrical conductivity and the gap between the transducer and the pipe.

  8. Robust and efficient multi-frequency temporal phase unwrapping: optimal fringe frequency and pattern sequence selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Minliang; Chen, Qian; Tao, Tianyang; Feng, Shijie; Hu, Yan; Li, Hui; Zuo, Chao

    2017-08-21

    Temporal phase unwrapping (TPU) is an essential algorithm in fringe projection profilometry (FPP), especially when measuring complex objects with discontinuities and isolated surfaces. Among others, the multi-frequency TPU has been proven to be the most reliable algorithm in the presence of noise. For a practical FPP system, in order to achieve an accurate, efficient, and reliable measurement, one needs to make wise choices about three key experimental parameters: the highest fringe frequency, the phase-shifting steps, and the fringe pattern sequence. However, there was very little research on how to optimize these parameters quantitatively, especially considering all three aspects from a theoretical and analytical perspective simultaneously. In this work, we propose a new scheme to determine simultaneously the optimal fringe frequency, phase-shifting steps and pattern sequence under multi-frequency TPU, robustly achieving high accuracy measurement by a minimum number of fringe frames. Firstly, noise models regarding phase-shifting algorithms as well as 3-D coordinates are established under a projector defocusing condition, which leads to the optimal highest fringe frequency for a FPP system. Then, a new concept termed frequency-to-frame ratio (FFR) that evaluates the magnitude of the contribution of each frame for TPU is defined, on which an optimal phase-shifting combination scheme is proposed. Finally, a judgment criterion is established, which can be used to judge whether the ratio between adjacent fringe frequencies is conducive to stably and efficiently unwrapping the phase. The proposed method provides a simple and effective theoretical framework to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of a practical FPP system in actual measurement conditions. The correctness of the derived models as well as the validity of the proposed schemes have been verified through extensive simulations and experiments. Based on a normal monocular 3-D FPP hardware system

  9. Frequency and wavenumber selective excitation of spin waves through coherent energy transfer from elastic waves

    OpenAIRE

    Hashimoto, Yusuke; Bossini, Davide; Johansen, Tom H.; Saitoh, Eiji; Kirilyuk, Andrei; Rasing, Theo

    2017-01-01

    Using spin-wave tomography (SWaT), we have investigated the excitation and the propagation dynamics of optically-excited magnetoelastic waves, i.e. hybridized modes of spin waves and elastic waves, in a garnet film. By using time-resolved SWaT, we reveal the excitation dynamics of magnetoelastic waves through coherent-energy transfer between optically-excited pure-elastic waves and spin waves via magnetoelastic coupling. This process realizes frequency and wavenumber selective excitation of s...

  10. A hybrid transport-diffusion Monte Carlo method for frequency-dependent radiative-transfer simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Densmore, Jeffery D.; Thompson, Kelly G.; Urbatsch, Todd J.

    2012-01-01

    Discrete Diffusion Monte Carlo (DDMC) is a technique for increasing the efficiency of Implicit Monte Carlo radiative-transfer simulations in optically thick media. In DDMC, particles take discrete steps between spatial cells according to a discretized diffusion equation. Each discrete step replaces many smaller Monte Carlo steps, thus improving the efficiency of the simulation. In this paper, we present an extension of DDMC for frequency-dependent radiative transfer. We base our new DDMC method on a frequency-integrated diffusion equation for frequencies below a specified threshold, as optical thickness is typically a decreasing function of frequency. Above this threshold we employ standard Monte Carlo, which results in a hybrid transport-diffusion scheme. With a set of frequency-dependent test problems, we confirm the accuracy and increased efficiency of our new DDMC method.

  11. Reflectance confocal microscopy features of thin versus thick melanomas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kardynal, Agnieszka; Olszewska, Małgorzata; de Carvalho, Nathalie; Walecka, Irena; Pellacani, Giovanni; Rudnicka, Lidia

    2018-01-24

    In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) plays an increasingly important role in differential diagnosis of melanoma. The aim of the study was to assess typical confocal features of thin (≤1mm according to Breslow index) versus thick (>1mm) melanomas. 30 patients with histopathologically confirmed cutaneous melanoma were included in the study. Reflectance confocal microscopy was performed with Vivascope equipment prior to excision. Fifteen melanomas were thin (Breslow thickness ≤ 1mm) and 15 were thick melanomas (Breslow thickness >1mm). In the RCM examination, the following features were more frequently observed in thin compared to thick melanomas: edged papillae (26.7% vs 0%, p=0.032) and areas with honeycomb or cobblestone pattern (33.3% vs 6.7%, p=0.068). Both features are present in benign melanocytic lesions, so in melanoma are good prognostic factors. The group of thick melanomas compared to the group of thin melanomas in the RCM images presented with greater frequency of roundish cells (100% vs 40%, p=0.001), non-edged papillae (100% vs 60%, p=0.006), numerous pagetoid cells (73.3% vs 33.3%, p=0.028), numerous atypical cells at dermal-epidermal junction (53.3% vs 20%, p=0.058) and epidermal disarray (93.3% vs 66.7%, p=0.068). Non-invasive imaging methods helps in deepening of knowledge about the evolution and biology of melanoma. The most characteristic features for thin melanomas in confocal examination are: fragments of cobblestone or honeycomb pattern and edged papillae (as good prognostic factors). The features of thick melanomas in RCM examination are: roundish cells, non-edged papillae, numerous pagetoid cells at dermal-epidermal junction and epidermal disarray.

  12. Low-frequency fluctuation regime in a multimode semiconductor laser subject to a mode-selective optical feedback

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogister, F.; Sciamanna, M.; Deparis, O.; Megret, P.; Blondel, M.

    2002-01-01

    We study numerically the dynamics of a multimode laser diode subject to a mode-selective optical feedback by using a generalization of the Lang-Kobayashi equations. In this configuration, only one longitudinal mode of the laser is reinjected into the laser cavity; the other modes are free. When the laser operates in the low-frequency fluctuation regime, our model predicts intensity bursts in the free modes simultaneously with dropouts in the selected mode, in good agreement with recent experiments. In the frame of our model, intensity bursts and dropouts are associated with collisions of the system trajectory in phase space with saddle-type antimodes

  13. Dendritic thickness: a morphometric parameter to classify mouse retinal ganglion cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L.D. Loopuijt

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available To study the dendritic morphology of retinal ganglion cells in wild-type mice we intracellularly injected these cells with Lucifer yellow in an in vitro preparation of the retina. Subsequently, quantified values of dendritic thickness, number of branching points and level of stratification of 73 Lucifer yellow-filled ganglion cells were analyzed by statistical methods, resulting in a classification into 9 groups. The variables dendritic thickness, number of branching points per cell and level of stratification were independent of each other. Number of branching points and level of stratification were independent of eccentricity, whereas dendritic thickness was positively dependent (r = 0.37 on it. The frequency distribution of dendritic thickness tended to be multimodal, indicating the presence of at least two cell populations composed of neurons with dendritic diameters either smaller or larger than 1.8 µm ("thin" or "thick" dendrites, respectively. Three cells (4.5% were bistratified, having thick dendrites, and the others (95.5% were monostratified. Using k-means cluster analysis, monostratified cells with either thin or thick dendrites were further subdivided according to level of stratification and number of branching points: cells with thin dendrites were divided into 2 groups with outer stratification (0-40% and 2 groups with inner (50-100% stratification, whereas cells with thick dendrites were divided into one group with outer and 3 groups with inner stratification. We postulate, that one group of cells with thin dendrites resembles cat ß-cells, whereas one group of cells with thick dendrites includes cells that resemble cat a-cells.

  14. Studies on Gas Sensing Performance of Pure and Surface Chrominated Indium Oxide Thick Film Resistors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. N. CHAVAN

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The thick films of AR grade In2O3 were prepared by standard screen-printing technique. The gas sensing performance of thick film was tested for various gases. It showed maximum gas response to ethanol vapor at 350 oC for 80 ppm. To improve the gas response and selectivity of the film towards a particular gas, In2O3 thick films were modified by dipping them in an aqueous solution of 0.1 M CrO3 for different intervals of time. The surface chrominated (20 min In2O3 thick film showed maximum response to H2S gas (40 ppm than pure In2O3 thick film at 250 oC. Chromium oxide on the surface of the film shifts the gas response from ethanol vapor to H2S gas. A systematic study of sensing performance of the sensor indicates the key role played by chromium oxide on the surface of thick film. The selectivity, gas response and recovery time of the sensor were measured and presented.

  15. Sensor for thickness measurement of a liquid metal film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blanc, R.

    1984-04-01

    Description, calibration and measuring method of a sensor for the measure of thin liquid metal depths in a temperature range of 0-500 0 C and for shift frequencies from 0 to 100 Hz; these sensors are based on the principle of induction-coil impedance variation, as a function of the thickness of an electrical conductor matter placed in the coil magnetic field [fr

  16. Very high frequency (beyond 100 MHz) PZT kerfless linear arrays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Da-Wei; Zhou, Qifa; Geng, Xuecang; Liu, Chang-Geng; Djuth, Frank; Shung, K Kirk

    2009-10-01

    This paper presents the design, fabrication, and measurements of very high frequency kerfless linear arrays prepared from PZT film and PZT bulk material. A 12-microm PZT thick film fabricated from PZT-5H powder/solution composite and a piece of 15-microm PZT-5H sheet were used to fabricate 32-element kerfless high-frequency linear arrays with photolithography. The PZT thick film was prepared by spin-coating of PZT sol-gel composite solution. The thin PZT-5H sheet sample was prepared by lapping a PZT-5H ceramic with a precision lapping machine. The measured results of the 2 arrays were compared. The PZT film array had a center frequency of 120 MHz, a bandwidth of 60% with a parylene matching layer, and an insertion loss of 41 dB. The PZT ceramic sheet array was found to have a center frequency of 128 MHz with a poorer bandwidth (40% with a parylene matching layer) but a better sensitivity (28 dB insertion loss).

  17. Fine-structure processing, frequency selectivity and speech perception in hearing-impaired listeners

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strelcyk, Olaf; Dau, Torsten

    2008-01-01

    Hearing-impaired people often experience great difficulty with speech communication when background noise is present, even if reduced audibility has been compensated for. Other impairment factors must be involved. In order to minimize confounding effects, the subjects participating in this study...... consisted of groups with homogeneous, symmetric audiograms. The perceptual listening experiments assessed the intelligibility of full-spectrum as well as low-pass filtered speech in the presence of stationary and fluctuating interferers, the individual's frequency selectivity and the integrity of temporal...... modulation were obtained. In addition, these binaural and monaural thresholds were measured in a stationary background noise in order to assess the persistence of the fine-structure processing to interfering noise. Apart from elevated speech reception thresholds, the hearing impaired listeners showed poorer...

  18. Geographic information system datasets of regolith-thickness data, regolith-thickness contours, raster-based regolith thickness, and aquifer-test and specific-capacity data for the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties, Colorado

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, L. Rick

    2010-01-01

    These datasets were compiled in support of U.S. Geological Survey Scientific-Investigations Report 2010-5082-Hydrogeology and Steady-State Numerical Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties, Colorado. The datasets were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Lost Creek Ground Water Management District and the Colorado Geological Survey. The four datasets are described as follows and methods used to develop the datasets are further described in Scientific-Investigations Report 2010-5082: (1) ds507_regolith_data: This point dataset contains geologic information concerning regolith (unconsolidated sediment) thickness and top-of-bedrock altitude at selected well and test-hole locations in and near the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties, Colorado. Data were compiled from published reports, consultant reports, and from lithologic logs of wells and test holes on file with the U.S. Geological Survey Colorado Water Science Center and the Colorado Division of Water Resources. (2) ds507_regthick_contours: This dataset consists of contours showing generalized lines of equal regolith thickness overlying bedrock in the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties, Colorado. Regolith thickness was contoured manually on the basis of information provided in the dataset ds507_regolith_data. (3) ds507_regthick_grid: This dataset consists of raster-based generalized thickness of regolith overlying bedrock in the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties, Colorado. Regolith thickness in this dataset was derived from contours presented in the dataset ds507_regthick_contours. (4) ds507_welltest_data: This point dataset contains estimates of aquifer transmissivity and hydraulic conductivity at selected well locations in the Lost Creek Designated Ground Water Basin, Weld, Adams, and

  19. Fringe order correction for the absolute phase recovered by two selected spatial frequency fringe projections in fringe projection profilometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Yi; Peng, Kai; Yu, Miao; Lu, Lei; Zhao, Kun

    2017-08-01

    The performance of the two selected spatial frequency phase unwrapping methods is limited by a phase error bound beyond which errors will occur in the fringe order leading to a significant error in the recovered absolute phase map. In this paper, we propose a method to detect and correct the wrong fringe orders. Two constraints are introduced during the fringe order determination of two selected spatial frequency phase unwrapping methods. A strategy to detect and correct the wrong fringe orders is also described. Compared with the existing methods, we do not need to estimate the threshold associated with absolute phase values to determine the fringe order error, thus making it more reliable and avoiding the procedure of search in detecting and correcting successive fringe order errors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by the experimental results.

  20. Spatial frequency domain spectroscopy of two layer media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudovsky, Dmitry; Durkin, Anthony J.

    2011-10-01

    Monitoring of tissue blood volume and oxygen saturation using biomedical optics techniques has the potential to inform the assessment of tissue health, healing, and dysfunction. These quantities are typically estimated from the contribution of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin to the absorption spectrum of the dermis. However, estimation of blood related absorption in superficial tissue such as the skin can be confounded by the strong absorption of melanin in the epidermis. Furthermore, epidermal thickness and pigmentation varies with anatomic location, race, gender, and degree of disease progression. This study describes a technique for decoupling the effect of melanin absorption in the epidermis from blood absorption in the dermis for a large range of skin types and thicknesses. An artificial neural network was used to map input optical properties to spatial frequency domain diffuse reflectance of two layer media. Then, iterative fitting was used to determine the optical properties from simulated spatial frequency domain diffuse reflectance. Additionally, an artificial neural network was trained to directly map spatial frequency domain reflectance to sets of optical properties of a two layer medium, thus bypassing the need for iteration. In both cases, the optical thickness of the epidermis and absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of the dermis were determined independently. The accuracy and efficiency of the iterative fitting approach was compared with the direct neural network inversion.

  1. Hollow cylindrical plasma filament waveguide with discontinuous finite thickness cladding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alshershby, Mostafa; Hao Zuoqiang; Lin Jingquan

    2013-01-01

    We have explored here a hollow cylindrical laser plasma multifilament waveguide with discontinuous finite thickness cladding, in which the separation between individual filaments is in the range of several millimeters and the waveguide cladding thickness is in the order of the microwave penetration depth. Such parameters give a closer representation of a realistic laser filament waveguide sustained by a long stable propagation of femtosecond (fs) laser pulses. We report how the waveguide losses depend on structural parameters like normalized plasma filament spacing, filament to filament distance or pitch, normal spatial frequency, and radius of the plasma filament. We found that for typical plasma parameters, the proposed waveguide can support guided modes of microwaves in extremely high frequency even with a cladding consisting of only one ring of plasma filaments. The loss of the microwave radiation is mainly caused by tunneling through the discontinuous finite cladding, i.e., confinement loss, and is weakly dependent on the plasma absorption. In addition, the analysis indicates that the propagation loss is fairly large compared with the loss of a plasma waveguide with a continuous infinite thickness cladding, while they are comparable when using a cladding contains more than one ring. Compared to free space propagation, this waveguide still presents a superior microwave transmission to some distance in the order of the filamentation length; thus, the laser plasma filaments waveguide may be a potential channel for transporting pulsed-modulated microwaves if ensuring a long and stable propagation of fs laser pulses.

  2. Selection of the wavelet function for the frequencies estimation; Seleccion de la funcion wavelet para la estimacion de frecuencias

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garcia R, A. [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca S/N, 52750 La Marquesa, Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)]. e-mail: ramador@nuclear.inin.mx

    2007-07-01

    At the moment the signals are used to diagnose the state of the systems, by means of the extraction of their more important characteristics such as the frequencies, tendencies, changes and temporary evolutions. This characteristics are detected by means of diverse analysis techniques, as Autoregressive methods, Fourier Transformation, Fourier transformation in short time, Wavelet transformation, among others. The present work uses the one Wavelet transformation because it allows to analyze stationary, quasi-stationary and transitory signals in the time-frequency plane. It also describes a methodology to select the scales and the Wavelet function to be applied the one Wavelet transformation with the objective of detecting to the dominant system frequencies. (Author)

  3. Trochanteric Soft Tissue Thickness and Hip Fracture in Older Men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielson, Carrie M.; Bouxsein, Mary L.; Freitas, Sinara S.; Ensrud, Kristine E.; Orwoll, Eric S.

    2009-01-01

    Background: Greater thickness of the tissue extending laterally from the greater trochanter has been associated with a lower risk of hip fracture in women. The effect of trochanteric soft tissue thickness on the risk of incident hip fracture has not been evaluated in men. Methods: We measured trochanteric soft tissue thickness by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry for all incident hip fracture cases (n = 70) and 222 randomly selected noncases in older men (≥65 yr) enrolled in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study. Differences in tissue thickness between cases and controls were examined. Changes in fall force and factor-of-risk (the ratio of force from a sideways fall to femoral bone strength) associated with tissue thickness were determined. The relative risk for incident hip fracture per sd decrease in tissue thickness was calculated. Results: Mean trochanteric soft tissue thickness did not differ significantly between cases and noncases (29.1 ± 11.9 vs 31.0 ± 11.5 mm; P = 0.2). Although increased tissue thickness reduced both the estimates of fall force and the factor-of-risk, tissue thickness was not associated with the risk of hip fracture (age- and bone mineral density-adjusted relative risk per sd decrease in tissue thickness = 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.70–1.16). Conclusions: In this study of elderly community-dwelling men, we found no significant association between trochanteric soft tissue thickness and incident hip fracture. Trochanteric soft tissue thickness in these men was less than previously reported in older women and may explain the difference between these results and those reported in women. PMID:19017753

  4. CO2 Selective Potentiometric Sensor in Thick-film Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ralf Moos

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available A potentiometric sensor device based on screen-printed Nasicon films was investigated. In order to transfer the promising sensor concept of an open sodium titanate reference to thick film technology, “sodium-rich” and “sodium-poor” formulations were compared. While the “sodium-rich” composition was found to react with the ion conducting Nasicon during thermal treatment, the “sodium-poor” reference mixture was identified as an appropriate reference composition. Screen-printed sensor devices were prepared and tested with respect to CO2 response, reproducibility, and cross-interference of oxygen. Excellent agreement with the theory was observed. With the integration of a screen-printed heater, sensor elements were operated actively heated in a cold gas stream.

  5. Chemical constraints on the formation of the Galactic thick disk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feltzing S.

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available We highlight some results from our detailed abundance analysis study of 703 kinematically selected F and G dwarf stars in the solar neighbourhood. The analysis is based on spectra of high-resolution (R = 45000 to 110 000 and high signal-to-noise (S/N ≈ 150 to 300. The main findings include: (1 at a given metallicity, the thick disk abundance trends are more α-enhanced than those of the thin disk; (2 the metal-rich limit of the thick disk reaches at least solar metallicities; (3 the metal-poor limit of the thin disk is around [Fe/H] ≈−0.8; (4 the thick disk shows an age-metallicity gradient; (5 the thin disk does not show an age-metallicity gradient; (6 the most metal-rich thick disk stars at [Fe/H] ≈ 0 are significantly older than the most metal-poor thin disk stars at [Fe/H] ≈−0.7; (7 based on our elemental abundances we find that kinematical criteria produce thin and thick disk stellar samples that are biased in the sense that stars from the low-velocity tail of the thick disk are classified as thin disk stars, and stars from the high-velocity tail of the thin disk are classified as thick disk stars; (8 age criteria appears to produce thin and thick disk stellar samples with less contamination.

  6. Skin thickness as a potential marker of gestational age at birth despite different fetal growth profiles: A feasibility study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela Luiza Nogueira Vitral

    Full Text Available New methodologies to estimate gestational age (GA at birth are demanded to face the limited access to obstetric ultrasonography and imprecision of postnatal scores. The study analyzed the correlation between neonatal skin thickness and pregnancy duration. Secondarily, it investigated the influence of fetal growth profiles on tissue layer dimensions.In a feasibility study, 222 infants selected at a term-to-preterm ratio of 1:1 were assessed. Reliable information on GA was based on the early ultrasonography-based reference. The thicknesses of the epidermal and dermal skin layers were examined using high-frequency ultrasonography. We scanned the skin over the forearm and foot plantar surface of the newborns. A multivariate regression model was adjusted to determine the correlation of GA with skin layer dimensions. The best model to correlate skin thickness with GA was fitted using the epidermal layer on the forearm site, adjusted to cofactors, as follows: Gestational age (weeks = -28.0 + 12.8 Ln (Thickness - 4.4 Incubator staying; R2 = 0.604 (P<0.001. In this model, the constant value for the standard of fetal growth was statistically null. The dermal layer thickness on the forearm and plantar surfaces had a negative moderate linear correlation with GA (R = -0.370, P<0.001 and R = -0.421, P<0.001, respectively. The univariate statistical analyses revealed the influence of underweight and overweight profiles on neonatal skin thickness at birth. Of the 222 infants, 53 (23.9% had inappropriate fetal growths expected for their GA. Epidermal thickness was not fetal growth standard dependent as follows: 172.2 (19.8 μm for adequate for GA, 171.4 (20.6 μm for SGA, and 177.7 (15.2 μm for LGA (P = 0.525, mean [SD] on the forearm.The analysis highlights a new opportunity to relate GA at birth to neonatal skin layer thickness. As this parameter was not influenced by the standard of fetal growth, skin maturity can contribute to clinical applications.

  7. Susceptibility of CoFeB/AlOx/Co Magnetic Tunnel Junctions to Low-Frequency Alternating Current

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan-Tsung Chen

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This investigation studies CoFeB/AlOx/Co magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ in the magnetic field of a low-frequency alternating current, for various thicknesses of the barrier layer AlOx. The low-frequency alternate-current magnetic susceptibility (χac and phase angle (θ of the CoFeB/AlOx/Co MTJ are determined using an cac analyzer. The driving frequency ranges from 10 to 25,000 Hz. These multilayered MTJs are deposited on a silicon substrate using a DC and RF magnetron sputtering system. Barrier layer thicknesses are 22, 26, and 30 Å. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD include a main peak at 2θ = 44.7° from hexagonal close-packed (HCP Co with a highly (0002 textured structure, with AlOx and CoFeB as amorphous phases. The full width at half maximum (FWHM of the Co(0002 peak, decreases as the AlOx thickness increases; revealing that the Co layer becomes more crystalline with increasing thickness. χac result demonstrates that the optimal resonance frequency (fres that maximizes the χac value is 500 Hz. As the frequency increases to 1000 Hz, the susceptibility decreases rapidly. However, when the frequency increases over 1000 Hz, the susceptibility sharply declines, and almost closes to zero. The experimental results reveal that the mean optimal susceptibility is 1.87 at an AlOx barrier layer thickness of 30 Å because the Co(0002 texture induces magneto-anisotropy, which improves the indirect CoFeB and Co spin exchange-coupling strength and the χac value. The results concerning magnetism indicate that the magnetic characteristics are related to the crystallinity of Co.

  8. Frequency selective non-linear blending to improve image quality in liver CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bongers, M.N.; Bier, G.; Kloth, C.; Schabel, C.; Nikolaou, K.; Horger, M.; Fritz, J.

    2016-01-01

    To evaluate the effects of a new frequency selective non-linear blending (NLB) algorithm on the contrast resolution of liver CT with low intravascular concentration of iodine contrast. Our local ethics committee approved this retrospective study. The informed consent requirement was waived. CT exams of 25 patients (60% female, mean age: 65±16 years of age) with late phase CT scans of the liver were included as a model for poor intrahepatic vascular contrast enhancement. Optimal post-processing settings to enhance the contrast of hepatic vessels were determined. Outcome variables included signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) of hepatic vessels and SNR of liver parenchyma of standard and post-processed images. Image quality was quantified by two independent readers using Likert scales. The post-processing settings for the visualization of hepatic vasculature were optimal at a center of 115HU, delta of 25HU, and slope of 5. Image noise was statistically indifferent between standard and post-processed images. The CNR between the hepatic vasculature (HV) and liver parenchyma could be significantly increased for liver veins (CNR Standard 1.62±1.10, CNR NLB 3.6±2.94, p=0.0002) and portal veins (CNR Standard 1.31±0.85, CNR NLB 2.42±3.03, p=0.046). The SNR of liver parenchyma was significantly higher on post-processed images (SNR NLB 11.26±3.16, SNR Standard 8.85± 2.27, p=0.008). The overall image quality and depiction of HV were significantly higher on post-processed images (NLB DHV : 4 [3-4.75], S tandardDHV : 2 [1.3-2.5], p=<0.0001; NLBIQ : 4 [4-4], StandardIQ : 2 [2-3], p=<0.0001). The use of a frequency selective non-linear blending algorithm increases the contrast resolution of liver CT and can improve the visibility of the hepatic vasculature in the setting of a low contrast ratio between vessels and the parenchyma.

  9. Frequency selective non-linear blending to improve image quality in liver CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bongers, M.N.; Bier, G.; Kloth, C.; Schabel, C.; Nikolaou, K.; Horger, M. [University Hospital of Tuebingen (Germany). Dept. of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology; Fritz, J. [Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (United States). Russell H. Morgan Dept. of Radiology and Radiological Science

    2016-12-15

    To evaluate the effects of a new frequency selective non-linear blending (NLB) algorithm on the contrast resolution of liver CT with low intravascular concentration of iodine contrast. Our local ethics committee approved this retrospective study. The informed consent requirement was waived. CT exams of 25 patients (60% female, mean age: 65±16 years of age) with late phase CT scans of the liver were included as a model for poor intrahepatic vascular contrast enhancement. Optimal post-processing settings to enhance the contrast of hepatic vessels were determined. Outcome variables included signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) of hepatic vessels and SNR of liver parenchyma of standard and post-processed images. Image quality was quantified by two independent readers using Likert scales. The post-processing settings for the visualization of hepatic vasculature were optimal at a center of 115HU, delta of 25HU, and slope of 5. Image noise was statistically indifferent between standard and post-processed images. The CNR between the hepatic vasculature (HV) and liver parenchyma could be significantly increased for liver veins (CNR{sub Standard} 1.62±1.10, CNR{sub NLB} 3.6±2.94, p=0.0002) and portal veins (CNR{sub Standard} 1.31±0.85, CNR{sub NLB} 2.42±3.03, p=0.046). The SNR of liver parenchyma was significantly higher on post-processed images (SNR{sub NLB} 11.26±3.16, SNR{sub Standard} 8.85± 2.27, p=0.008). The overall image quality and depiction of HV were significantly higher on post-processed images (NLB{sub DHV}: 4 [3-4.75], S{sub tandardDHV}: 2 [1.3-2.5], p=<0.0001; {sub NLBIQ}: 4 [4-4], {sub StandardIQ}: 2 [2-3], p=<0.0001). The use of a frequency selective non-linear blending algorithm increases the contrast resolution of liver CT and can improve the visibility of the hepatic vasculature in the setting of a low contrast ratio between vessels and the parenchyma.

  10. Lead Thickness Measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rucinski, R.

    1998-01-01

    The preshower lead thickness applied to the outside of D-Zero's superconducting solenoid vacuum shell was measured at the time of application. This engineering documents those thickness measurements. The lead was ordered in sheets 0.09375-inch and 0.0625-inch thick. The tolerance on thickness was specified to be +/- 0.003-inch. The sheets all were within that thickness tolerance. The nomenclature for each sheet was designated 1T, 1B, 2T, 2B where the numeral designates it's location in the wrap and 'T' or 'B' is short for 'top' or 'bottom' half of the solenoid. Micrometer measurements were taken at six locations around the perimeter of each sheet. The width,length, and weight of each piece was then measured. Using an assumed pure lead density of 0.40974 lb/in 3 , an average sheet thickness was calculated and compared to the perimeter thickness measurements. In every case, the calculated average thickness was a few mils thinner than the perimeter measurements. The ratio was constant, 0.98. This discrepancy is likely due to the assumed pure lead density. It is not felt that the perimeter is thicker than the center regions. The data suggests that the physical thickness of the sheets is uniform to +/- 0.0015-inch.

  11. THE ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION OF Lyα RESONANT PHOTONS EMERGING FROM AN OPTICALLY THICK MEDIUM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Yang; Shu Chiwang; Roy, Ishani; Fang Lizhi

    2013-01-01

    We investigate the angular distribution of Lyα photons scattering or emerging from an optically thick medium. Since the evolution of specific intensity I in frequency space and angular space are coupled with each other, we first develop the WENO numerical solver to find the time-dependent solutions of the integro-differential equation of I in frequency and angular space simultaneously. We first show that the solutions with the Eddington approximation, which assume that I is linearly dependent on the angular variable μ, yield similar frequency profiles of the photon flux as those without the Eddington approximation. However, the solutions of the μ distribution evolution are significantly different from those given by the Eddington approximation. First, the angular distribution of I is found to be substantially dependent on the frequency of the photons. For photons with the resonant frequency ν 0 , I contains only a linear term of μ. For photons with frequencies at the double peaks of the flux, the μ-distribution is highly anisotropic; most photons are emitted radially forward. Moreover, either at ν 0 or at the double peaks, the μ distributions actually are independent of the initial μ distribution of photons of the source. This is because the photons with frequencies either at ν 0 or the double peaks undergo the process of forgetting their initial conditions due to resonant scattering. We also show that the optically thick medium is a collimator of photons at the double peaks. Photons from the double peaks form a forward beam with a very small opening angle.

  12. Laser polishing of niobium for application to superconducting radio frequency cavities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singaravelu, Senthil; Klopf, John Michael; Xu, Chen; Krafft, Geoffrey; Kelley, Michael J.

    2012-01-01

    Superconducting radio frequency niobium cavities are at the heart of an increasing number of particle accelerators. Their performance is dominated by a several nanometer thick layer at the interior surface. Maximizing the smoothness of this surface is critical, and aggressive chemical treatments are now employed to this end. The authors describe laser-induced surface melting as an alternative 'greener' approach. Selection of laser parameters guided by modeling achieved melting that reduced the surface roughness from the fabrication process. The resulting topography was examined by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope (AFM). Plots of power spectral density computed from the AFM data give further insight into the effect of laser melting on the topography of the mechanically polished (only) niobium

  13. On the variation in the electrical properties and ac conductivity of through-thickness nano-porous anodic alumina with temperature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tahir, Mahmood; Mehmood, Mazhar; Nadeem, Muhammad; Waheed, Abdul; Tanvir, Muhammad Tauseef

    2013-01-01

    The electrical response of self-organized through-thickness anodic alumina with hexagonal arrangement of cylindrical pores has been studied as a function of temperature. Mechanically stable thick porous anodic alumina was prepared, by through-thickness anodic oxidation of aluminum sheet in sulfuric acid, with extremely high aspect ratio pores exhibiting fairly uniform diameter and interpore distance. It was observed that the electrical properties of through-thickness anodic alumina are very sensitive to minute changes in temperature and the role of surface conductivity in governing its electrical response cannot be overlooked. At high frequencies, intrinsic dielectric response of anodic alumina was dominant. The frequency-dependent conductivity behavior at low and intermediate frequencies was explained on the basis of correlated barrier hopping (CBH) and quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) models, respectively. Experimental data was modeled using an equivalent circuit consisting of Debye circuit, for bulk alumina, parallel to surface conduction path. The surface conduction was primarily based on two circuits in series, each with a parallel arrangement of a resistor and a constant phase element. This suggested heterogeneity in alumina pore surface, possibly related with islands of physisorbed water separated by the regions of chemisorbed water. Temperature dependence of some circuit elements has been analyzed to express different charge migration phenomena occurring in nano-porous anodic alumina

  14. Dynamic temperature field in the ferromagnetic plate induced by moving high frequency inductor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milošević-Mitić Vesna

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject of the paper is the temperature distribution in the thin metallic ferromagnetic plate influenced by moving linear high frequency induction heater. As a result of high frequency electromagnetic field, conducting currents appear in the part of the plate. Distribution of the eddy-current power across the plate thickness is obtained by use of complex analysis. The influences of the heater frequency, magnetic field intensity and plate thickness on the heat power density were discussed. By treating this power as a moving heat source, differential equations governing distribution of the temperature field are formulated. Temperature across the plate thickness is assumed to be in linear form. Differential equations are analytically solved by using integral-transform technique, Fourier finite-sine and finite-cosine transform and Laplace transform. The influence of the heater velocity to the plate temperature is presented on numerical examples based on theoretically obtained results. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 35040 i br. TR 35011

  15. Thickness and clearance visualization based on distance field of 3D objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masatomo Inui

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a novel method for visualizing the thickness and clearance of 3D objects in a polyhedral representation. The proposed method uses the distance field of the objects in the visualization. A parallel algorithm is developed for constructing the distance field of polyhedral objects using the GPU. The distance between a voxel and the surface polygons of the model is computed many times in the distance field construction. Similar sets of polygons are usually selected as close polygons for close voxels. By using this spatial coherence, a parallel algorithm is designed to compute the distances between a cluster of close voxels and the polygons selected by the culling operation so that the fast shared memory mechanism of the GPU can be fully utilized. The thickness/clearance of the objects is visualized by distributing points on the visible surfaces of the objects and painting them with a unique color corresponding to the thickness/clearance values at those points. A modified ray casting method is developed for computing the thickness/clearance using the distance field of the objects. A system based on these algorithms can compute the distance field of complex objects within a few minutes for most cases. After the distance field construction, thickness/clearance visualization at a near interactive rate is achieved.

  16. High spectral selectivity for solar absorbers using a monolayer transparent conductive oxide coated on a metal substrate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Makoto; Suzuki, Mari; Iguchi, Fumitada; Yugami, Hiroo

    2017-05-01

    A spectrally selective absorber composed of a monolayer transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coated on a metal substrate is investigated for use in solar systems operating at temperatures higher (>973 K) than the operation temperature of conventional systems ( ˜ 673 K). This method is different from the currently used solar-selective coating technologies, such as those using multilayered and cermet materials. The spectral selective absorption property can be attributed to the inherent optical property of TCO owing to the plasma frequency and interferences between the substrates. Since spectral selectivity can be achieved using monolayered materials, the effect of atomic diffusion occurring at each layer boundary in a multilayer or cermet coatings under high-temperature conditions can be reduced. In addition, since this property is attributed to the inherent property of TCO, the precise control of the layer thickness can be omitted if the layer is sufficiently thick (>0.5 μm). The optimum TCO properties, namely, carrier density and mobility, required for solar-selective absorbers are analyzed to determine the cutoff wavelength and emittance in the infrared range. A solar absorptance of 0.95 and hemispherical emittance of 0.10 at 973 K are needed for achieving the optimum TCO properties, i.e., a carrier density of 5.5 × 1020 cm-3 and mobility of 90 cm2 V-1 s-1 are required. Optical simulations indicate that the spectrally selective absorption weakly depends on the incident angle and film thickness. The thermal stability of the fabricated absorber treated at temperatures up to 973 K for 10 h is verified in vacuum by introducing a SiO2 interlayer, which plays an important role as a diffusion barrier.

  17. Dynamic Analysis of Three-Layer Sandwich Beams with Thick Viscoelastic Damping Core for Finite Element Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Cortés

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of the dynamic behaviour of constrained layer damping (CLD beams with thick viscoelastic layer. A homogenised model for the flexural stiffness is formulated using Reddy-Bickford’s quadratic shear in each layer, and it is compared with Ross-Kerwin-Ungar (RKU classical model, which considers a uniform shear deformation for the viscoelastic core. In order to analyse the efficiency of both models, a numerical application is accomplished and the provided results are compared with those of a 2D model using finite elements, which considers extensional and shear stress and longitudinal, transverse, and rotational inertias. The intermediate viscoelastic material is characterised by a fractional derivative model, with a frequency dependent complex modulus. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are obtained from an iterative method avoiding the computational problems derived from the frequency dependence of the stiffness matrices. Also, frequency response functions are calculated. The results show that the new model provides better accuracy than the RKU one as the thickness of the core layer increases. In conclusion, a new model has been developed, being able to reproduce the mechanical behaviour of thick CLD beams, reducing storage needs and computational time compared with a 2D model, and improving the results from the RKU model.

  18. Properties of conductive thick-film inks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holtze, R. F.

    1972-01-01

    Ten different conductive inks used in the fabrication of thick-film circuits were evaluated for their physical and handling properties. Viscosity, solid contents, and spectrographic analysis of the unfired inks were determined. Inks were screened on ceramic substrates and fired for varying times at specified temperatures. Selected substrates were given additional firings to simulate the heat exposure received if thick-film resistors were to be added to the same substrate. Data are presented covering the (1) printing characteristics, (2) solderability using Sn-63 and also a 4 percent silver solder, (3) leach resistance, (4) solder adhesion, and (5) wire bonding properties. Results obtained using different firing schedules were compared. A comparison was made between the various inks showing general results obtained for each ink. The changes in firing time or the application of a simulated resistor firing had little effect on the properties of most inks.

  19. The dependence of the modulation transfer function on the blocking layer thickness in amorphous selenium x-ray detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunter, David M.; Belev, Gueorgi; DeCrescenzo, Giovanni; Kasap, Safa O.; Mainprize, James G.; Rowlands, J. A.; Smith, Charles; Tuemer, Tuemay; Verpakhovski, Vladimir; Yin Shi; Yaffe, Martin J.

    2007-01-01

    Blocking layers are used to reduce leakage current in amorphous selenium detectors. The effect of the thickness of the blocking layer on the presampling modulation transfer function (MTF) and on dark current was experimentally determined in prototype single-line CCD-based amorphous selenium (a-Se) x-ray detectors. The sampling pitch of the detectors evaluated was 25 μm and the blocking layer thicknesses varied from 1 to 51 μm. The blocking layers resided on the signal collection electrodes which, in this configuration, were used to collect electrons. The combined thickness of the blocking layer and a-Se bulk in each detector was ∼200 μm. As expected, the dark current increased monotonically as the thickness of the blocking layer was decreased. It was found that if the blocking layer thickness was small compared to the sampling pitch, it caused a negligible reduction in MTF. However, the MTF was observed to decrease dramatically at spatial frequencies near the Nyquist frequency as the blocking layer thickness approached or exceeded the electrode sampling pitch. This observed reduction in MTF is shown to be consistent with predictions of an electrostatic model wherein the image charge from the a-Se is trapped at a characteristic depth within the blocking layer, generally near the interface between the blocking layer and the a-Se bulk

  20. Inkjet printed paper based frequency selective surfaces and skin mounted RFID tags : the interrelation between silver nanoparticle ink, paper substrate and low temperature sintering technique

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sanchez-Romaquera, V.; Wïnscher, S.; Turki, B.M.; Abbel, R.J.; Barbosa, S.; Tate, D.J.; Oyeka, D.; Batchelor, J.C.; Parker, E.A.; Schubert, U.S.; Yeates, S.G.

    2015-01-01

    Inkjet printing of functional frequency selective surfaces (FSS) and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on commercial paper substrates using silver nanoparticle inks sintered using low temperature thermal, plasma and photonic techniques is reported. Printed and sintered FSS devices

  1. Holocene eruption history in Iceland - Eruption frequency vs. Tephra layer frequency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oladottir, B. A.; Larsen, G.

    2012-12-01

    Volcanic deposits of all kinds are used to reconstruct eruption history of volcanoes and volcanic zones. In Iceland tephra is the ideal volcanic deposit to study eruption history as two out of every three eruptions taking place there during the last 11 centuries have been explosive, leaving tephra as their only product. If eruptions producing both lava and tephra are included three out of every four eruptions have produced tephra. Tephra dispersal and deposition depends on factors such as eruption magnitude, eruption cloud height, duration of eruption and prevailing wind directions at the time of eruption. Several outcrops around a particular volcano must therefore be measured to obtain optimal information of its eruption history. Vegetation in the area of deposition is also of great importance for its preservation. Tephra deposited on un-vegetated land is rapidly eroded by wind and water, and deposits up to few tens of cm thickness may be lost from the record. Such tephra deposited on grassy or forested land is at least partly sheltered from the wind after deposition. Soon after tephra deposition (how soon depends on tephra thickness) the root system of the vegetation creates an even better shelter for the tephra and when this stage is reached the tephra is preserved in the soil for millennia, given that no soil erosion takes place. Vegetation is often boosted in the first years after tephra deposition which in turn helps tephra preservation. A setback of using soil sections for reconstructing Holocene eruption history is the lack of soil at the beginning of the era but for that time period tephra records in lake and marine sediments can be used. When tephra stratigraphy in soil sections is measured to study eruption history and eruption frequency of a volcano it must be kept in mind that what is seen is in fact the tephra layer frequency. One section only shows tephra layers deposited in that location and more importantly only the layers preserved there. The

  2. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic Analysis of RuO2 Based Thick Film pH Sensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manjakkal, Libu; Djurdjic, Elvira; Cvejin, Katarina; Kulawik, Jan; Zaraska, Krzysztof; Szwagierczak, Dorota

    2015-01-01

    The conductimetric interdigitated thick film pH sensors based on RuO 2 were fabricated and their electrochemical reactions with solutions of different pH values were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. The microstructural properties and composition of the sensitive films were examined by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The EIS analysis of the sensor was carried out in the frequency range 10 mHz–2 MHz for pH values of test solutions 2–12. The electrical parameters of the sensor were found to vary with changing pH. The conductance and capacitance of the film were distinctly dependent on pH in the low frequency range. The Nyquist and Bode plots derived from the impedance data for the metal oxide thick film pH sensor provided information about the underlying electrochemical reactions

  3. A Method for Dynamically Selecting the Best Frequency Hopping Technique in Industrial Wireless Sensor Network Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández de Gorostiza, Erlantz; Berzosa, Jorge; Mabe, Jon; Cortiñas, Roberto

    2018-02-23

    Industrial wireless applications often share the communication channel with other wireless technologies and communication protocols. This coexistence produces interferences and transmission errors which require appropriate mechanisms to manage retransmissions. Nevertheless, these mechanisms increase the network latency and overhead due to the retransmissions. Thus, the loss of data packets and the measures to handle them produce an undesirable drop in the QoS and hinder the overall robustness and energy efficiency of the network. Interference avoidance mechanisms, such as frequency hopping techniques, reduce the need for retransmissions due to interferences but they are often tailored to specific scenarios and are not easily adapted to other use cases. On the other hand, the total absence of interference avoidance mechanisms introduces a security risk because the communication channel may be intentionally attacked and interfered with to hinder or totally block it. In this paper we propose a method for supporting the design of communication solutions under dynamic channel interference conditions and we implement dynamic management policies for frequency hopping technique and channel selection at runtime. The method considers several standard frequency hopping techniques and quality metrics, and the quality and status of the available frequency channels to propose the best combined solution to minimize the side effects of interferences. A simulation tool has been developed and used in this work to validate the method.

  4. Phased laser diode array permits selective excitation of ultrasonic guided waves in coated bone-mimicking tubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moilanen, Petro; Salmi, Ari; Kilappa, Vantte; Zhao, Zuomin; Timonen, Jussi; Hæggström, Edward

    2017-10-01

    This paper validates simulation predictions, which state that specific modes could be enhanced in quantitative ultrasonic bone testing. Tunable selection of ultrasonic guided wave excitation is useful in non-destructive testing since it permits the mediation of energy into diagnostically useful modes while reducing the energy mediated into disturbing contributions. For instance, it is often challenging to distinguish and extract the useful modes from ultrasound signals measured in bone covered by a soft tissue. We show that a laser diode array can selectively excite ultrasound in bone mimicking phantoms. A fiber-coupled diode array (4 elements) illuminated two solid tubes (2-3 mm wall thickness) embraced by an opaque soft-tissue mimicking elastomer coating (5 mm thick). A predetermined time delay matching the selected mode and frequency was employed between the outputs of the elements. The generated ultrasound was detected by a 215 kHz piezo receiver. Our results suggest that this array reduces the disturbances caused by the elastomer cover and so pave way to permit non-contacting in vivo guided wave ultrasound assessment of human bones. The implementation is small, inexpensive, and robust in comparison with the conventional pulsed lasers.

  5. Analysis of the rebalancing frequency in log-optimal portfolio selection

    OpenAIRE

    Kuhn, Daniel; Luenberger, David G.

    2010-01-01

    In a dynamic investment situation, the right timing of portfolio revisions and adjustments is essential to sustain long-term growth. A high rebalancing frequency reduces the portfolio performance in the presence of transaction costs, whereas a low rebalancing frequency entails a static investment strategy that hardly reacts to changing market conditions. This article studies a family of portfolio problems in a Black-Scholes type economy which depend parametrically on the rebalancing frequency...

  6. High-Power Characteristics of Thickness Shear Mode for Textured SrBi2Nb2O9 Ceramics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogawa, Hirozumi; Kawada, Shinichiro; Kimura, Masahiko; Higuchi, Yukio; Takagi, Hiroshi

    2009-09-01

    The high-power piezoelectric characteristics of the thickness shear mode for oriented ceramics of bismuth layer structured ferroelectrics (BLSF), SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN), were studied by the constant current driving method. These textured ceramics were fabricated by the templated grain growth (TGG) method, and the Lotgering factor was 95%. The vibration of the thickness shear mode in the textured SBN ceramics was stable at the vibration velocity of 2.0 m/s. The resonant frequency was almost constant with increasing vibration velocity in the textured SBN ceramics, however, it decreased with increasing vibration velocity in the randomly oriented SBN ceramics. In the case of Pb(Mn,Nb)O3-Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics, the vibration velocity of the thickness shear mode was saturated at more than 0.3 m/s, and the resonant frequency decreased at lower vibration velocity than in the case of SBN ceramics. The dissipation power density of the textured SBN ceramics was the lowest among those of the randomly oriented SBN and Pb(Mn,Nb)O3-PZT ceramics. The thickness shear mode of textured SBN ceramics is a good candidate for high-power piezoelectric applications.

  7. Effect of thickness on microwave absorptive behavior of La-Na doped Co-Zr barium hexaferrites in 18.0–26.5 GHz band

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arora, Amit [D.A.V. Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jalandhar (India); Narang, Sukhleen Bindra, E-mail: sukhleen2@yahoo.com [Department of Electronics Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (India); Pubby, Kunal [Department of Electronics Technology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (India)

    2017-02-01

    In this research, the microwave properties of Lanthanum-Sodium doped Cobalt-Zirconium barium hexaferrites, intended as microwave absorbers, are analyzed on Vector Network Analyzer in K-band. The results indicate that the doping has resulted in lowering of real permittivity and enhancement of dielectric losses. Real permeability has shown increase while magnetic losses have shown decrease in value with doping. All these four properties have shown very small variation with frequency in the scanned frequency range which indicates the relaxation type of behavior. Microwave absorption characteristics of these compositions are analyzed with change in sample thickness. The results demonstrate that the matching frequency of the microwave absorber shifts towards lower side of frequency band with increase in thickness. The complete analysis of the prepared microwave absorbers shows a striking achievement with very low reflection loss and wide absorption bandwidth for all the six compositions in 18–26.5 GHz frequency band. - Highlights: • Electromagnetic Characterization of M-hexaferrites in K-band (18–26.5 GHz) • Variation of absorption properties with thickness of sample. • Satisfaction of quarter-wavelength condition for absorption properties • Results of double-layer absorbers (not reports till day by anyone).

  8. Wideband RCS Reduction of Microstrip Array Antenna Based on Absorptive Frequency Selective Surface and Microstrip Resonators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingjing Xue

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available An approach for wideband radar cross section (RCS reduction of a microstrip array antenna is presented and discussed. The scheme is based on the microstrip resonators and absorptive frequency selective surface (AFSS with a wideband absorptive property over the low band 1.9–7.5 GHz and a transmission characteristic at high frequency 11.05 GHz. The AFSS is designed to realize the out-of-band RCS reduction and preserve the radiation performance simultaneously, and it is placed above the antenna with the operating frequency of 11.05 GHz. Moreover, the microstrip resonators are loaded to obtain the in-band RCS reduction. As a result, a significant RCS reduction from 1.5 GHz to 13 GHz for both types of polarization has been accomplished. Compared with the reference antenna, the simulated results exhibit that the monostatic RCS of the proposed array antenna in x- and y-polarization can be reduced as much as 17.6 dB and 21.5 dB, respectively. And the measured results agree well with the simulated ones.

  9. Choroidal thickness in Malaysian eyes with full-thickness macular holes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chew Y Tan

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To compare choroidal thickness at the macula in eyes with unilateral idiopathic full-thickness macular holes(FTMHwith that of unaffected fellow eyes, and eyes of normal control patients.METHODS: Cross-sectional study. Thirty patients with unilateral idiopathic FTMH and thirty age, sex, and race-matched controls were recruited. Axial lengths were measured using laser interferometry. Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography images were obtained using Heidelberg spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Choroidal thickness was measured at the fovea, and at 1 mm and 2 mm nasally, temporally, superiorly and inferiorly from the center of the fovea. Statistical analysis was performed using independent and paired t-tests, chi-square tests, and Pearson correlation tests(PRESULTS: The mean subfoveal choroidal thickness was 201.0±44.0 μm in the FTMH group, 225.3±51.4 μm in the fellow eye group and 262.3±70.3 μm in the control group. The choroid was thinner in FTMH eyes at all locations when compared to control eyes(PPP>0.05. Choroidal thickness was generally highest subfoveally and lowest nasally. Subfoveal choroidal thickness was negatively correlated with age(r=-0.278, P=0.032, and axial length(r=-0.328, P=0.011.CONCLUSION: Choroidal thickness is lower in both eyes of patients with unilateral FTMH compared to healthy control eyes.

  10. Asymmetric Vibration of Polar Orthotropic Annular Circular Plates of Quadratically Varying Thickness with Same Boundary Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Bhardwaj

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In the present paper, asymmetric vibration of polar orthotropic annular circular plates of quadratically varying thickness resting on Winkler elastic foundation is studied by using boundary characteristic orthonormal polynomials in Rayleigh-Ritz method. Convergence of the results is tested and comparison is made with results already available in the existing literature. Numerical results for the first ten frequencies for various values of parameters describing width of annular plate, thickness profile, material orthotropy and foundation constant for all three possible combinations of clamped, simply supported and free edge conditions are shown and discussed. It is found that (a higher elastic property in circumferential direction leads to higher stiffness against lateral vibration; (b Lateral vibration characteristics of F-Fplates is more sensitive towards parametric changes in material orthotropy and foundation stiffness than C-C and S-Splates; (c Effect of quadratical thickness variation on fundamental frequency is more significant in cases of C-C and S-S plates than that of F-Fplates. Thickness profile which is convex relative to plate center-line tends to result in higher stiffness of annular plates against lateral vibration than the one which is concave and (d Fundamental mode of vibration of C-C and S-Splates is axisymmetrical while that of F-Fplates is asymmetrical.

  11. Selection of mother wavelets for the detection of the oscillation frequencies in power signals of nuclear reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amador G, R.; Castillo D, R.; Ortiz V, J.

    2007-01-01

    Diverse types of transitory events can lead to oscillations of power in nuclear reactors. In such events, the power monitors provide a signal that contains important characteristics of the transitory one, as the oscillation frequency, tendencies, changes and the instants or periods in those that important events are presented. This characteristics are detected by means of diverse analysis techniques, as Autoregressive methods, Fourier Transform, Fourier Transform in Short Time, Wavelets Transform, among others. Presently work is used the one Wavelets Continuous Transform because it allows to carry out studies of the stationary, quasi-stationary and transitory signals in the Time-scale and Time-scale-spectrum planes. Contrary to other similar works, this work describes a methodology for the selection of the scales and the Wavelet mother to be applied the one Wavelets Continuous Transform, with the objective of detecting to the dominant frequencies of the system. To prove the proposal a broadly well-known real signal of an event of power oscillations it has been used. The obtained results correspond to three families of Wavelets mothers that fulfilled the conditions of scales and central frequency of the proposal. The results show that the value of the certain frequency oscillation in this work is practically the same one reported in other studies with other techniques. (Author)

  12. Terahertz thickness measurements for real industrial applications: from automotive paints to aerospace industry (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krimi, Soufiene; Beigang, René

    2017-02-01

    In this contribution, we present a highly accurate approach for real-time thickness measurements of multilayered coatings using terahertz time domain spectroscopy in reflection geometry. The proposed approach combines the benefits of a model-based material parameters extraction method to calibrate the specimen under test, a generalized modeling method to simulate the terahertz radiation behavior within arbitrary thin films, and the robustness of a powerful evolutionary optimization algorithm to increase the sensitivity and the precision of the minimum thickness measurement limit. Furthermore, a novel self-calibration model is introduced, which takes into consideration the real industrial challenges such as the effect of wet-on-wet spray in the car painting process and the influence of the spraying conditions and the sintering process on ceramic thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) in aircraft industry. In addition, the developed approach enables for some applications the simultaneous determination of the complex refractive index and the coating thickness. Hence, a pre-calibration of the specimen under test is not required for such cases. Due to the high robustness of the self-calibration method and the genetic optimization algorithms, the approach has been successfully applied to resolve individual layer thicknesses within multi-layered coated samples down to less than 10 µm. The regression method can be applied in time-domain, frequency-domain or in both the time and frequency-domain simultaneously. The data evaluation uses general-purpose computing on graphics processing units and thanks to the developed highly parallelized algorithm lasts less than 300 ms. Thus, industrial requirements for fast thickness measurements with an "every-second-cycle" can be fulfilled.

  13. Effects of bleomycin and x irradiation on the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in selected connective tissue diseases

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burkhardt, W.C. Jr.

    1978-01-01

    Whole blood lymphocytes from 28 patients with selected connective tissue disorders (6 progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), 6 anti-nuclear antibody positive rheumatoid arthritis, 6 anti-nuclear antibody negative rheumatoid arthritis, 6 systemic lupus erythematosus, and 4 mixed connective tissue disease) and 17 controls matched for sex, age, and race were studied to determine the frequency of spontaneous as well as bleomycin and/or x-irradiation induced chromosomal aberrations. The effects of bleomycin on cultured lymphocytes were tested, but differential susceptibilities to this clastogen were not demonstrated among the disease groups and controls investigated. However, the combined effect of bleomycin and x irradiation were found to be additive in control lymphocytes, nearly additive in PSS, RA+, and SLE cultures, but reduced considerably from the expected additive value in Ra- cultures. This study indicated that peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with connective tissue disease, as a whole, possess greater frequencies of spontaneous chromosomal aberrations than matched controls and that x rays can produce greater frequencies of chromosomal aberrations in whole blood lymphocytes of PSS patients than in suitably matched control individuals

  14. Endocarp thickness affects seed removal speed by small rodents in a warm-temperate broad-leafed deciduous forest, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hongmao; Zhang, Zhibin

    2008-11-01

    Seed traits are important factors affecting seed predation by rodents and thereby the success of recruitment. Seeds of many tree species have hard hulls. These are thought to confer mechanical protection, but the effect of endocarp thickness on seed predation by rodents has not been well investigated. Wild apricot ( Prunus armeniaca), wild peach ( Amygdalus davidiana), cultivated walnut ( Juglans regia), wild walnut ( Juglans mandshurica Maxim) and Liaodong oak ( Quercus liaotungensis) are very common tree species in northwestern Beijing city, China. Their seeds vary greatly in size, endocarp thickness, caloric value and tannin content. This paper aims to study the effects of seed traits on seed removal speed of these five tree species by small rodents in a temperate deciduous forest, with emphasis on the effect of endocarp thickness. The results indicated that speed of removal of seeds released at stations in the field decreased significantly with increasing endocarp thickness. We found no significant correlations between seed removal speed and other seed traits such as seed size, caloric value and tannin content. In seed selection experiments in small cages, Père David's rock squirrel ( Sciurotamias davidianus), a large-bodied, strong-jawed rodent, selected all of the five seed species, and the selection order among the five seed species was determined by endocarp thickness and the ratio of endocarp mass/seed mass. In contrast, the Korean field mouse ( Apodemus peninsulae) and Chinese white-bellied rat ( Niviventer confucianus), with relatively small bodies and weak jaws, preferred to select small seeds like acorns of Q. liaotungensis and seeds of P. armeniaca, indicating that rodent body size is also an important factor affecting food selection based on seed size. These results suggest endocarp thickness significantly reduces seed removal speed by rodents and then negatively affects dispersal fitness of seeds before seed removal of tree species in the study

  15. Estimation of dosimetry parameters for an EB accelerator using graphite calorimeters of different thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benny, P.G.; Khader, S.A.; Sarma, K.S.S.

    2012-01-01

    Graphite calorimeters of different thickness in the range of 0.6 mm to 10 mm have been designed and fabricated for the dosimetry of 2 MeV electron beam accelerator. Average absorbed dose in each of the calorimeters of different thickness has been determined. The paper reports a method for selecting calorimeters with suitable thickness for its application as absorbed dose calorimeters and as total energy absorption calorimeters for an electron beam of particular energy. Also it reports, using calorimeters of different thickness, it is possible to estimate various parameters such as energy fluence, average absorbed dose, absorbed dose at any depth in the medium and practical range.

  16. Thin and thick primary cutaneous melanomas reveal distinct patterns of somatic copy number alterations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montagnani, Valentina; Benelli, Matteo; Apollo, Alessandro; Pescucci, Chiara; Licastro, Danilo; Urso, Carmelo; Gerlini, Gianni; Borgognoni, Lorenzo; Luzzatto, Lucio; Stecca, Barbara

    2016-05-24

    Cutaneous melanoma is one of the most aggressive type of skin tumor. Early stage melanoma can be often cured by surgery; therefore current management guidelines dictate a different approach for thin (thick (>4mm) melanomas. We have carried out whole-exome sequencing in 5 thin and 5 thick fresh-frozen primary cutaneous melanomas. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis of somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) identified two groups corresponding to thin and thick melanomas. The most striking difference between them was the much greater abundance of SCNAs in thick melanomas, whereas mutation frequency did not significantly change between the two groups. We found novel mutations and focal SCNAs in genes that are embryonic regulators of axon guidance, predominantly in thick melanomas. Analysis of publicly available microarray datasets provided further support for a potential role of Ephrin receptors in melanoma progression. In addition, we have identified a set of SCNAs, including amplification of BRAF and ofthe epigenetic modifier EZH2, that are specific for the group of thick melanomas that developed metastasis during the follow-up. Our data suggest that mutations occur early during melanoma development, whereas SCNAs might be involved in melanoma progression.

  17. Reduced In-Plane, Low Frequency Helicopter Noise of an Active Flap Rotor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sim, Ben W.; Janakiram, Ram D.; Barbely, Natasha L.; Solis, Eduardo

    2009-01-01

    Results from a recent joint DARPA/Boeing/NASA/Army wind tunnel test demonstrated the ability to reduce in-plane, low frequency noise of the full-scale Boeing-SMART rotor using active flaps. Test data reported in this paper illustrated that acoustic energy in the first six blade-passing harmonics could be reduced by up to 6 decibels at a moderate airspeed, level flight condition corresponding to advance ratio of 0.30. Reduced noise levels were attributed to selective active flap schedules that modified in-plane blade airloads on the advancing side of the rotor, in a manner, which generated counteracting acoustic pulses that partially offset the negative pressure peaks associated with in-plane, steady thickness noise. These favorable reduced-noise operating states are a strong function of the active flap actuation amplitude, frequency and phase. The associated noise reductions resulted in reduced aural detection distance by up to 18%, but incurred significant vibratory load penalties due to increased hub shear forces. Small reductions in rotor lift-to-drag ratios, of no more than 3%, were also measured

  18. Fabrication and Characterization of PZT Thick Films for Sensing and Actuation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuo-Ching Kuo

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Lead Zirconate Titanate oxide (PZT thick films with thicknesses of up to 10 μmwere developed using a modified sol-gel technique. Usually, the film thickness is less than1 μm by conventional sol-gel processing, while the electrical charge accumulation whichreveals the direct effect of piezoelectricity is proportional to the film thickness and thereforerestricted. Two approaches were adopted to conventional sol-gel processing – precursorconcentration modulation and rapid thermal annealing. A 10 μm thick film was successfullyfabricated by coating 16 times via this technique. The thickness of each coating layer wasabout 0.6 μm and the morphology of the film was dense with a crack-free area as large as 16mm2. In addition, the structure, surface morphology and physical properties werecharacterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM and atomicforce microscopy (AFM and electrical performance. The dielectric constant and hysteresisloops were measured as electric characteristics. This study investigates the actuation andsensing performance of the vibrating structures with the piezoelectric thick film. Theactuation tests demonstrated that a 4 mm x 4 mm x 6.5 μm PZT film drove a 40 mm x 7 mmx 0.5 mm silicon beam as an actuator. Additionally, it generated an electrical signal of 60mVpp as a sensor, while vibration was input by a shaker. The frequencies of the first twomodes of the beam were compared with the theoretical values obtained by Euler-Bernoullibeam theory. The linearity of the actuation and sensing tests were also examined.

  19. Frequency-specific attentional modulation in human primary auditory cortex and midbrain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Riecke, Lars; Peters, Judith C; Valente, Giancarlo; Poser, Benedikt A; Kemper, Valentin G; Formisano, Elia; Sorger, Bettina

    2018-01-01

    Paying selective attention to an audio frequency selectively enhances activity within primary auditory cortex (PAC) at the tonotopic site (frequency channel) representing that frequency. Animal PAC neurons achieve this 'frequency-specific attentional spotlight' by adapting their frequency tuning,

  20. Ultrasonographic evaluation of reproductive tract measures and fat thickness traits in pre-pubertal Nellore heifers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Morato Monteiro

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between reproductive tract and fat thickness measures obtained by ultrasound in prepubertal Nellore heifers. A total of 128 Nellore heifers born in 2006 and 2007 were submitted to ultrasound evaluations (13, 16, 19 and 22 months of age of reproductive tract measures and fat thickness traits. These animals were from a selection experiment (NeC: control line, and NeS: selection line for yearling weight started in 1981. Mean values of ovary area, height of the right uterine horn (HU, maximum follicular diameter (FOL, backfat thickness (BF, rump fat thickness (RF, and body condition score were analyzed. Repeated records were modeled using the PROC MIXED procedure (SAS, fitting a model that included the selection line, year of birth, measurement as fixed effects, and interactions. Body weight differed between the selected (281.48 kg and control (210.51 kg lines. Only the least square means of FOL were lower in the NeC line compared to the NeS line (P < 0.05, although the difference in mean HU between the two lines was of only borderline significance (P = 0.06. The rate of growth for the three reproductive traits was similar in the two lines. Simple and residual correlations between the reproductive and subcutaneous fat traits ranged from low to medium. The highest correlations were observed between HU and RF (Pearson correlation = 0.71 and residual correlation = 0.34. The current results are consistent with the literature, indicating that fat thickness traits are not good predictors of prepubertal reproductive traits in heifers. Further studies are necessary to clarify the relationship between reproduction and body fat in Nellore heifers.

  1. Measurements of the dependence of damage thresholds on laser wavelength, pulse duration and film thickness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rainer, F.; Vercimak, C.L.; Carniglia, C.K.; Milam, D.; Hart, T.T.

    1985-01-01

    Results of three experiments are described. The authors used 351-nm and 355-nm pulses with durations of 0.6, 1, 5 and 9 ns to measure thresholds for a variety of antireflectance and high reflectance coatings. The functional form t/sup m/, with t the pulse duration, was used to scale fluence thresholds measured at 0.6 ns to those measured at 9.0 ns. Values of the coefficient m ranged from 0.10 to 0.51. The average value was 0.30. In the second experiment, they measured thresholds at 1064 nm, 527 nm and 355 nm for single-frequency high reflectance ZrO/sub 2//SiO/sub 2/ coatings. Coatings for all three frequencies were deposited simultaneously by use of masks in the coating chamber. Thresholds varied from 2-4 J/cm/sup 2/ at 355 nm to 7-10 J/cm/sup 2/ at 1064 nm. The third experiment measured thresholds at 355 nm for antireflection coatings made with layer thicknesses varying from greater than one wavelength to less than a quarterwavelength. A significant variation of threshold with coating thickness was not observed, but the median thresholds increased slightly as coating thickness increased

  2. Endoscopic full-thickness resection: Current status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Arthur; Meier, Benjamin; Caca, Karel

    2015-08-21

    Conventional endoscopic resection techniques such as endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection are powerful tools for treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms. However, those techniques are restricted to superficial layers of the gastrointestinal wall. Endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) is an evolving technique, which is just about to enter clinical routine. It is not only a powerful tool for diagnostic tissue acquisition but also has the potential to spare surgical therapy in selected patients. This review will give an overview about current EFTR techniques and devices.

  3. General analytical approach for sound transmission loss analysis through a thick metamaterial plate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oudich, Mourad; Zhou, Xiaoming; Badreddine Assouar, M.

    2014-01-01

    We report theoretically and numerically on the sound transmission loss performance through a thick plate-type acoustic metamaterial made of spring-mass resonators attached to the surface of a homogeneous elastic plate. Two general analytical approaches based on plane wave expansion were developed to calculate both the sound transmission loss through the metamaterial plate (thick and thin) and its band structure. The first one can be applied to thick plate systems to study the sound transmission for any normal or oblique incident sound pressure. The second approach gives the metamaterial dispersion behavior to describe the vibrational motions of the plate, which helps to understand the physics behind sound radiation through air by the structure. Computed results show that high sound transmission loss up to 72 dB at 2 kHz is reached with a thick metamaterial plate while only 23 dB can be obtained for a simple homogeneous plate with the same thickness. Such plate-type acoustic metamaterial can be a very effective solution for high performance sound insulation and structural vibration shielding in the very low-frequency range

  4. General analytical approach for sound transmission loss analysis through a thick metamaterial plate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oudich, Mourad; Zhou, Xiaoming; Badreddine Assouar, M., E-mail: Badreddine.Assouar@univ-lorraine.fr [CNRS, Institut Jean Lamour, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy F-54506 (France); Institut Jean Lamour, University of Lorraine, Boulevard des Aiguillettes, BP: 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (France)

    2014-11-21

    We report theoretically and numerically on the sound transmission loss performance through a thick plate-type acoustic metamaterial made of spring-mass resonators attached to the surface of a homogeneous elastic plate. Two general analytical approaches based on plane wave expansion were developed to calculate both the sound transmission loss through the metamaterial plate (thick and thin) and its band structure. The first one can be applied to thick plate systems to study the sound transmission for any normal or oblique incident sound pressure. The second approach gives the metamaterial dispersion behavior to describe the vibrational motions of the plate, which helps to understand the physics behind sound radiation through air by the structure. Computed results show that high sound transmission loss up to 72 dB at 2 kHz is reached with a thick metamaterial plate while only 23 dB can be obtained for a simple homogeneous plate with the same thickness. Such plate-type acoustic metamaterial can be a very effective solution for high performance sound insulation and structural vibration shielding in the very low-frequency range.

  5. New fabrication of high-frequency (100-MHz) ultrasound PZT film kerfless linear array.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Benpeng; Chan, Ngai Yui; Dai, Jiyan; Shung, K Kirk; Takeuchi, Shinichi; Zhou, Qifa

    2013-04-01

    The paper describes the design, fabrication, and measurements of a high-frequency ultrasound kerfless linear array prepared from hydrothermal lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick film. The 15-μm hydrothermal PZT thick film with an area of 1 × 1 cm, obtained through a self-separation process from Ti substrate, was used to fabricate a 32-element 100-MHz kerfless linear array with photolithography. The bandwidth at -6 dB without matching layer, insertion loss around center frequency, and crosstalk between adjacent elements were measured to be 39%, -30 dB, and -15 dB, respectively.

  6. Plate-type metamaterials for extremely broadband low-frequency sound insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaopeng; Guo, Xinwei; Chen, Tianning; Yao, Ge

    2018-01-01

    A novel plate-type acoustic metamaterial with a high sound transmission loss (STL) in the low-frequency range ( ≤1000 Hz) is designed, theoretically proven and then experimentally verified. The thin plates with large modulus used in this paper mean that we do not need to apply tension to the plates, which is more applicable to practical engineering, the achievement of noise reduction is better and the installation of plates is more user-friendly than that of the membranes. The effects of different structural parameters of the plates on the sound-proofed performance at low-frequencies were also investigated by experiment and finite element method (FEM). The results showed that the STL can be modulated effectively and predictably using vibration theory by changing the structural parameters, such as the radius and thickness of the plate. Furthermore, using unit cells of different geometric sizes which are responsible for different frequency regions, the stacked panels with thickness ≤16 mm and weight ≤5 kg/m2 showed high STL below 2000 Hz. The acoustic metamaterial proposed in this study could provide a potential application in the low-frequency noise insulation.

  7. Planar Zeolite Film-Based Potentiometric Gas Sensors Manufactured by a Combined Thick-Film and Electroplating Technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marr, Isabella; Reiß, Sebastian; Hagen, Gunter; Moos, Ralf

    2011-01-01

    Zeolites are promising materials in the field of gas sensors. In this technology-oriented paper, a planar setup for potentiometric hydrocarbon and hydrogen gas sensors using zeolites as ionic sodium conductors is presented, in which the Pt-loaded Na-ZSM-5 zeolite is applied using a thick-film technique between two interdigitated gold electrodes and one of them is selectively covered for the first time by an electroplated chromium oxide film. The influence of the sensor temperature, the type of hydrocarbons, the zeolite film thickness, and the chromium oxide film thickness is investigated. The influence of the zeolite on the sensor response is briefly discussed in the light of studies dealing with zeolites as selectivity-enhancing cover layers. PMID:22164042

  8. Planar Zeolite Film-Based Potentiometric Gas Sensors Manufactured by a Combined Thick-Film and Electroplating Technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gunter Hagen

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Zeolites are promising materials in the field of gas sensors. In this technology-oriented paper, a planar setup for potentiometric hydrocarbon and hydrogen gas sensors using zeolites as ionic sodium conductors is presented, in which the Pt-loaded Na-ZSM-5 zeolite is applied using a thick-film technique between two interdigitated gold electrodes and one of them is selectively covered for the first time by an electroplated chromium oxide film. The influence of the sensor temperature, the type of hydrocarbons, the zeolite film thickness, and the chromium oxide film thickness is investigated. The influence of the zeolite on the sensor response is briefly discussed in the light of studies dealing with zeolites as selectivity-enhancing cover layers.

  9. Effect of low-Z absorber's thickness on gamma-ray shielding parameters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mann, Kulwinder Singh, E-mail: ksmann6268@gmail.com [Department of Applied Sciences, Punjab Technical University, Kapurthala 144601 (India); Department of Physics, D.A.V. College, Bathinda 151001, Punjab (India); Heer, Manmohan Singh [Department of Physics, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar 144001 (India); Rani, Asha [Department of Applied Sciences, Ferozpur College of Engineering and Technology, Ferozshah, Ferozpur 142052 (India)

    2015-10-11

    Gamma ray shielding behaviour of any material can be studied by various interaction parameters such as total mass attenuation coefficient (μ{sub m}); half value layer (HVL); tenth value layer (TVL); effective atomic number (Z{sub eff}), electron density (N{sub el}), effective atomic weight (A{sub eff}) and buildup factor. For gamma rays, the accurate measurements of μ{sub m} (cm{sup 2} g{sup −1}) theoretically require perfect narrow beam irradiation geometry. However, the practical geometries used for the experimental investigations deviate from perfect-narrowness thereby the multiple scattered photons cause systematic errors in the measured values of μ{sub m}. Present investigation is an attempt to find the optimum value of absorber thickness (low-Z) for which these errors are insignificant and acceptable. Both experimental and theoretical calculations have been performed to investigate the effect of absorber's thickness on μ{sub m} of six low-Z (10thickness ≤0.5 mean free paths, thus considered it as optimum thickness for low-Z materials in the selected energy range. White cement was found to possess maximum shielding effectiveness for the selected gamma rays. - Highlights: • Optimum thickness value is 0.5 mfp for low-Z absorbers in energy range 662–1332 keV. • For accurate measurement of μ{sub m} absorber's thickness should be ≤optimum thickness. • GRIC2-toolkit is useful for γ-ray shielding analysis of composite materials.

  10. How Metastrategic Considerations Influence the Selection of Frequency Estimation Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Norman R.

    2008-01-01

    Prior research indicates that enumeration-based frequency estimation strategies become increasingly common as memory for relevant event instances improves and that moderate levels of context memory are associated with moderate rates of enumeration [Brown, N. R. (1995). Estimation strategies and the judgment of event frequency. Journal of…

  11. Multi-year high-frequency hydrothermal monitoring of selected high-threat Cascade Range volcanoes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crankshaw, I. M.; Archfield, S. A.; Newman, A. C.; Bergfeld, D.; Clor, L. E.; Spicer, K. R.; Kelly, P. J.; Evans, W. C.; Ingebritsen, S. E.

    2018-05-01

    From 2009 to 2015 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) systematically monitored hydrothermal behavior at selected Cascade Range volcanoes in order to define baseline hydrothermal and geochemical conditions. Gas and water data were collected regularly at 25 sites on 10 of the highest-risk volcanoes in the Cascade Range. These sites include near-summit fumarole groups and springs/streams that show clear evidence of magmatic influence (high 3He/4He ratios and/or large fluxes of magmatic CO2 or heat). Site records consist mainly of hourly temperature and hydrothermal-flux data. Having established baseline conditions during a multiyear quiescent period, the USGS reduced monitoring frequency from 2015 to present. The archived monitoring data are housed at (doi:10.5066/F72N5088). These data (1) are suitable for retrospective comparison with other continuous geophysical monitoring data and (2) will provide context during future episodes of volcanic unrest, such that unrest-related variations at these thoroughly characterized sites will be more clearly recognizable. Relatively high-frequency year-round data are essential to achieve these objectives, because many of the time series reveal significant diurnal, seasonal, and inter-annual variability that would tend to mask unrest signals in the absence of baseline data. Here we characterize normal variability for each site, suggest strategies to detect future volcanic unrest, and explore deviations from background associated with recent unrest.

  12. Axisymmetric vibrations of thick shells of revolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Kosawada, Tadashi; Takahashi, Shin

    1983-01-01

    Axisymmetric shells of revolution are used for chemical plants, nuclear power plants, aircrafts, structures and so on, and the elucidation of their free vibration is important for the design. In this study, the axisymmetric vibration of a barrel-shaped shell was analyzed by the modified thick shell theory. The Lagrangian during one period of the vibration of a shell of revolution was determined, and from its stopping condition, the vibration equations and the boundary conditions were derived. The vibration equations were analyzed strictly by using the series solution. Moreover, the basic equations for the strain of a shell and others were based on those of Love. As the examples of numerical calculation, the natural frequency and vibration mode of the symmetrical shells of revolution fixed at both ends and supported at both ends were determined, and their characteristics were clarified. By comparing the results of this study with the results by thin shell theory, the effects of shearing deformation and rotary inertia on the natural frequency and vibration mode were clarified. The theoretical analysis and the numerical calculation are described. The effects of shearing deformation and rotary inertia on the natural frequency became larger in the higher order vibration. The vibration mode did not much change in both theories. (Kako, I.)

  13. The Adaptive Change of HLA-DRB1 Allele Frequencies Caused by Natural Selection in a Mongolian Population That Migrated to the South of China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hao Sun

    Full Text Available Pathogen-driven balancing selection determines the richness of human leukocyte antigen (HLA alleles. Changes in the pathogen spectrum may cause corresponding changes in HLA loci. Approximately 700 years ago, a Mongolian population moved from the north of China to the Yunnan region in the south of China. The pathogen spectrum in the south of China differs from that in the north. In this study, changes in the HLA genes in the Yunnan Mongolian population, as well as the underlying mechanism, were investigated. A sequence-based typing method (SBT was used to genotype HLA-DRB1 in 470 individuals from two Mongolian populations and another five ethnic groups. Meanwhile, 10 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs were genotyped to assess the influence of genetic background on HLA-DRB1 frequencies. The frequencies of certain alleles changed significantly in the Mongolian population that migrated to Yunnan. For example, DRB1*12:02:01 increased from 6.1% to 35.4%. STR analysis excluded the possibility of a recent bottleneck and indicated that 50% of the genetic consistency between northern and southern Mongolians; Tajima's D value for HLA-DRB1 exon2 and dN/dS analysis showed that the HLA-DRB1 genes in both Mongolian populations were under balancing selection. However, the sites under natural selection changed. We proposed that the dramatically change of HLA frequencies in southern Mongolian was caused by a combination of inter-population gene flow and natural selection. Certain diseases specific to the south of China, such as malaria, may be the driving force behind the enhanced DRB1*12:02:01 frequency.

  14. Bias and frequency response of the permeability of CoZrNb/SiO2 multilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Louis, E.; Jeong, I.S.; Walser, R.M.

    1990-01-01

    Compared to single-layer films, CoZrNb/SiO 2 multilayers with amorphous, soft magnetic films exhibit increased high-frequency response (to about 100 MHz) that is not understood. We studied single and multilayer films in this system and observed three distinct types of magnetic bias and frequency responses (phases I--III). The high-frequency responses of phase II and III films were reduced from that of phase I. Phase changes were produced in the single-layer amorphous CoZrNb films by varying the film thickness, and in double-layer (N=2) and multilayer (N>2) films by varying the magnetic layer thickness. The phase boundaries in the former were shifted by magnetostatic coupling of the perpendicular component of M. These studies indicated that phase I films had uniform planar magnetizations, while phase II and III films had perpendicular components. The results are summarized in the form of a phase diagram (film thickness versus inverse film separation), which suggests that the frequency response of multilayer thin films is enhanced when the individual magnetic layers are sufficiently thin to insure a planar magnetization (phase I)

  15. METALLICITY GRADIENTS OF THICK DISK DWARF STARS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carrell, Kenneth; Chen Yuqin; Zhao Gang, E-mail: carrell@nao.cas.cn [Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

    2012-12-01

    We examine the metallicity distribution of the Galactic thick disk using F, G, and K dwarf stars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 8. Using the large sample of dwarf stars with proper motions and spectroscopically determined stellar parameters, metallicity gradients in the radial direction for various heights above the Galactic plane and in the vertical direction for various radial distances from the Galaxy center have been found. In particular, we find a vertical metallicity gradient of -0.113 {+-} 0.010 (-0.125 {+-} 0.008) dex kpc{sup -1} using an isochrone (photometric) distance determination in the range 1 kpc <|Z| < 3 kpc, which is the vertical height range most consistent with the thick disk of our Galaxy. In the radial direction, we find metallicity gradients between +0.02 and +0.03 dex kpc{sup -1} for bins in the vertical direction between 1 kpc <|Z| < 3 kpc. Both of these results agree with similar values determined from other populations of stars, but this is the first time a radial metallicity gradient for the thick disk has been found at these vertical heights. We are also able to separate thin and thick disk stars based on kinematic and spatial probabilities in the vertical height range where there is significant overlap of these two populations. This should aid further studies of the metallicity gradients of the disk for vertical heights lower than those studied here but above the solar neighborhood. Metallicity gradients in the thin and thick disks are important probes into possible formation scenarios for our Galaxy and a consistent picture is beginning to emerge from results using large spectroscopic surveys, such as the ones presented here.

  16. Low-frequency fluid waves in fractures and pipes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Korneev, Valeri

    2010-09-01

    Low-frequency analytical solutions have been obtained for phase velocities of symmetrical fluid waves within both an infinite fracture and a pipe filled with a viscous fluid. Three different fluid wave regimes can exist in such objects, depending on the various combinations of parameters, such as fluid density, fluid viscosity, walls shear modulus, channel thickness, and frequency. Equations for velocities of all these regimes have explicit forms and are verified by comparisons with the exact solutions. The dominant role of fractures in rock permeability at field scales and the strong amplitude and frequency effects of Stoneley guided waves suggest the importance of including these wave effects into poroelastic theories.

  17. Natural frequencies and an atlas of mode shapes for generally-laminated, thick, skew, trapezoidal plates

    OpenAIRE

    Lovejoy, Andrew Elwyn

    1994-01-01

    Composite materials are increasingly finding use in structures, such as aircraft components, and thus, an accurate method of predicting response is required. Even laminated structures that are considered thin can be significantly affected by transverse shear effects, and as a result, transverse shear should not be neglected. The free vibration response of generally-laminated, thick, skew, trapezoidal plates is investigated as there appears to be a lack of information in this ar...

  18. Vibrations of laminated composite thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, Katsuyoshi; Shikanai, Genji; Baba, Iwato

    1998-01-01

    An exact solution is presented for solving free vibrations of laminated composite thick shells of revolution having meridionally varying curvature. Based on the thick lamination theory considering the shear deformation and rotary inertia, equations of motion and boundary conditions are obtained from the stationary conditions of the Lagrangian. The equations of motion are solved exactly by using a power series expansion for symmetrically laminated cross-ply shells. Frequencies and mode shapes of shells of revolution having elliptical and parabolical meridians are presented for both ends clamped, and the effects of shear deformation and rotary inertia are discussed by comparing the results from the present theory with those from the thin lamination theory. (author)

  19. High-Frequency Guided Wave Scattering by a Partly Through-Thickness Hole Based on 3D Theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Hai-Yan; Xu Jian; Ma Shi-Wei

    2015-01-01

    We present a theoretical investigation of the scattering of high frequency S0 Lamb mode from a circular blind hole defect in a plate based on the 3D theory. The S0 wave is incident at the frequency above the A1 mode cut-off frequency, in which the popular approximate plate theories are inapplicable. Due to the non-symmetric blind hole defect, the scattered fields will contain higher order converted modes in addition to the fundamental S0 and A0 modes. The far-field scattering amplitudes of various propagating Lamb modes for different hole sizes are inspected. The results are compared with those of lower frequencies and some different phenomena are found. Two-dimensional Fourier transform (2DFT) results of transient scattered Lamb and SH wave signals agree well with the analytical dispersion curves, which check the validity of the solutions from another point of view. (paper)

  20. Stereological estimation of surface area and barrier thickness of fish gills in vertical sections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Costa, Oscar T F; Pedretti, Ana Carolina E; Schmitz, Anke; Perry, Steven F; Fernandes, Marisa N

    2007-01-01

    Previous morphometric methods for estimation of the volume of components, surface area and thickness of the diffusion barrier in fish gills have taken advantage of the highly ordered structure of these organs for sampling and surface area estimations, whereas the thickness of the diffusion barrier has been measured orthogonally on perpendicularly sectioned material at subjectively selected sites. Although intuitively logical, these procedures do not have a demonstrated mathematical basis, do not involve random sampling and measurement techniques, and are not applicable to the gills of all fish. The present stereological methods apply the principles of surface area estimation in vertical uniform random sections to the gills of the Brazilian teleost Arapaima gigas. The tissue was taken from the entire gill apparatus of the right-hand or left-hand side (selected at random) of the fish by systematic random sampling and embedded in glycol methacrylate for light microscopy. Arches from the other side were embedded in Epoxy resin. Reference volume was estimated by the Cavalieri method in the same vertical sections that were used for surface density and volume density measurements. The harmonic mean barrier thickness of the water-blood diffusion barrier was calculated from measurements taken along randomly selected orientation lines that were sine-weighted relative to the vertical axis. The values thus obtained for the anatomical diffusion factor (surface area divided by barrier thickness) compare favourably with those obtained for other sluggish fish using existing methods.

  1. Contact Selectivity Engineering in a 2 μm Thick Ultrathin c-Si Solar Cell Using Transition-Metal Oxides Achieving an Efficiency of 10.8.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Muyu; Islam, Raisul; Meng, Andrew C; Lyu, Zheng; Lu, Ching-Ying; Tae, Christian; Braun, Michael R; Zang, Kai; McIntyre, Paul C; Kamins, Theodore I; Saraswat, Krishna C; Harris, James S

    2017-12-06

    In this paper, the integration of metal oxides as carrier-selective contacts for ultrathin crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is demonstrated which results in an ∼13% relative improvement in efficiency. The improvement in efficiency originates from the suppression of the contact recombination current due to the band offset asymmetry of these oxides with Si. First, an ultrathin c-Si solar cell having a total thickness of 2 μm is shown to have >10% efficiency without any light-trapping scheme. This is achieved by the integration of nickel oxide (NiO x ) as a hole-selective contact interlayer material, which has a low valence band offset and high conduction band offset with Si. Second, we show a champion cell efficiency of 10.8% with the additional integration of titanium oxide (TiO x ), a well-known material for an electron-selective contact interlayer. Key parameters including V oc and J sc also show different degrees of enhancement if single (NiO x only) or double (both NiO x and TiO x ) carrier-selective contacts are integrated. The fabrication process for TiO x and NiO x layer integration is scalable and shows good compatibility with the device.

  2. Enamel thickness after preparation of tooth for porcelain laminate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pahlevan, Ayoub; Mirzaee, Mansoreh; Yassine, Esmaeil; Ranjbar Omrany, Ladan; Hasani Tabatabaee, Masumeh; Kermanshah, Hamid; Arami, Sakineh; Abbasi, Mehdy

    2014-07-01

    In this investigation the thickness of enamel in the gingival, middle, and incisal thirds of the labial surface of the anterior teeth were measured regarding preparation of the teeth for porcelain laminate veneers. Part one, 20 extracted intact human maxillary central and lateral incisors ten of each were selected. The teeth were imbedded in autopolimerize acrylic resin. Cross section was preformed through the midline of the incisal, middle and cervical one-third of the labial surface of the teeth. The samples were observed under reflected stereomicroscope and the thickness of enamel was recorded. Part II, the effect of different types of preparation on dentin exposure was evaluated. Thirty maxillary central incisor teeth were randomly divided into two groups: A: Knife-edge preparation. B: Chamfer preparation. All samples were embedded in autopolimerize acrylic resin using a silicon mold. The samples were cut through the midline of the teeth. The surface of the samples were polished and enamel and dentin were observed under the stereomicroscope. Data were analyzed by ANOVA-one way test. The results of this study showed that the least enamel thickness in the central incisor was 345 and in lateral incisor is 235 μ this thickness is related to the one-third labial cervical area. Maximum thickness in maxillary central and lateral incisors in the one-third labial incisal surface was 1260 μ and 1220μ, respectively. In the second part of the study, the tendency of dentinal exposure was shown with the chamfer preparation, but no dentinal exposure was found in the knife-edge preparation. The differences between groups were significant (p<0.05). The knowledge of enamel thickness in different part of labial surface is very important. The thickness of enamel in the gingival area does not permit a chamfer preparation. The knife edge preparation is preferable in gingival area.

  3. Enamel thickness after preparation of tooth for porcelain laminate.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayoub Pahlevan

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available In this investigation the thickness of enamel in the gingival, middle, and incisal thirds of the labial surface of the anterior teeth were measured regarding preparation of the teeth for porcelain laminate veneers.Part one, 20 extracted intact human maxillary central and lateral incisors ten of each were selected. The teeth were imbedded in autopolimerize acrylic resin. Cross section was preformed through the midline of the incisal, middle and cervical one-third of the labial surface of the teeth. The samples were observed under reflected stereomicroscope and the thickness of enamel was recorded. Part II, the effect of different types of preparation on dentin exposure was evaluated. Thirty maxillary central incisor teeth were randomly divided into two groups: A: Knife-edge preparation. B: Chamfer preparation. All samples were embedded in autopolimerize acrylic resin using a silicon mold. The samples were cut through the midline of the teeth. The surface of the samples were polished and enamel and dentin were observed under the stereomicroscope.Data were analyzed by ANOVA-one way test. The results of this study showed that the least enamel thickness in the central incisor was 345 and in lateral incisor is 235 μ this thickness is related to the one-third labial cervical area. Maximum thickness in maxillary central and lateral incisors in the one-third labial incisal surface was 1260 μ and 1220μ, respectively. In the second part of the study, the tendency of dentinal exposure was shown with the chamfer preparation, but no dentinal exposure was found in the knife-edge preparation. The differences between groups were significant (p<0.05.The knowledge of enamel thickness in different part of labial surface is very important. The thickness of enamel in the gingival area does not permit a chamfer preparation. The knife edge preparation is preferable in gingival area.

  4. High-resolution geophysical profiling using a stepped-frequency ground penetrating radar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noon, D; Longstaff, D [The University of Queensland, (Australia)

    1996-05-01

    This paper describes the results of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) system which uses stepped-frequency waveforms to obtain high-resolution geophysical profiles. The main application for this system is the high-resolution mapping of thin coal seam structures, in order to assist surface mining operations in open-cut coal mines. The required depth of penetration is one meter which represents the maximum thickness of coal seams that are designated `thin`. A resolution of five centimeters is required to resolve the minimum thickness of coal (or shale partings) which can be economically recovered in an open-cut coal mine. For this application, a stepped-frequency GPR system has been developed, because of its ultrawide bandwidth (1 to 2 GHz) and high external loop sensitivity (155 dB). The field test results of the stepped-frequency GPR system on a concrete pavement and at two Australian open-cut coal mines are also presented. 7 refs., 5 figs.

  5. Suzaku  Observations of Heavily Obscured (Compton-thick) Active Galactic Nuclei Selected by the Swift/BAT Hard X-Ray Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanimoto, Atsushi; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Kawamuro, Taiki; Ricci, Claudio; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Terashima, Yuichi

    2018-02-01

    We present a uniform broadband X-ray (0.5–100.0 keV) spectral analysis of 12 Swift/Burst Alert Telescope selected Compton-thick ({log}{N}{{H}}/{{cm}}-2≥slant 24) active galactic nuclei (CTAGNs) observed with Suzaku. The Suzaku data of three objects are published here for the first time. We fit the Suzaku and Swift spectra with models utilizing an analytic reflection code and those utilizing the Monte-Carlo-based model from an AGN torus by Ikeda et al. The main results are as follows: (1) The estimated intrinsic luminosity of a CTAGN strongly depends on the model; applying Compton scattering to the transmitted component in an analytic model may largely overestimate the intrinsic luminosity at large column densities. (2) Unabsorbed reflection components are commonly observed, suggesting that the tori are clumpy. (3) Most of CTAGNs show small scattering fractions (<0.5%), implying a buried AGN nature. (4) Comparison with the results obtained for Compton-thin AGNs suggests that the properties of these CTAGNs can be understood as a smooth extension from Compton-thin AGNs with heavier obscuration; we find no evidence that the bulk of the population of hard-X-ray-selected CTAGNs are different from less obscured objects.

  6. EMI Shielding Performance For Varies Frequency by Metal Plating on Mold Compound

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Fee Tai

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Conformal metalization on mold compound offers new possibility for IC package design to improve features such as rigidization of the flexible core, heat sink capability, 3D-circuit patterning and the electromagnetic interference (EMI shielding. With the unique processes, the fabrication technology had enabled to achieve the high reliable performance and had passed the electrical test. Following research after the reliability concern, this paper further study the shielding effectiveness of varying coating thickness with respect to laboratory simulated EMI condition, using radio frequency from 10MHz to 5.8 GHz. Different metal namely pure nickel, nickel-phosphorous and pure plated copper are studied for their effectiveness of EMI sheilding. Our first result showed over 35-40dB of shielding effectiveness is achievable on high frequency 868-5800MHz. Nevertheless on low frequency of 10MHz, the shielding effectiveness achievement is below than 25dB. To overcome the shielding need for lower frequency, we further expanded our test by choosing ferromagentic material Nicke/Ironl-alloy in combination with thick copper plating. With this new metal combination, EMI shielding effectiveness for lower frequency is improved to 40dB.

  7. Method of detecting system function by measuring frequency response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, John L.; Morrison, William H.; Christophersen, Jon P.; Motloch, Chester G.

    2013-01-08

    Methods of rapidly measuring an impedance spectrum of an energy storage device in-situ over a limited number of logarithmically distributed frequencies are described. An energy storage device is excited with a known input signal, and a response is measured to ascertain the impedance spectrum. An excitation signal is a limited time duration sum-of-sines consisting of a select number of frequencies. In one embodiment, magnitude and phase of each frequency of interest within the sum-of-sines is identified when the selected frequencies and sample rate are logarithmic integer steps greater than two. This technique requires a measurement with a duration of one period of the lowest frequency. In another embodiment, where selected frequencies are distributed in octave steps, the impedance spectrum can be determined using a captured time record that is reduced to a half-period of the lowest frequency.

  8. Magnetic moment investigation by frequency mixing techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teliban, I; Thede, C; Chemnitz, S; Bechtold, C; Quadakkers, W J; Schütze, M; Quandt, E

    2009-11-01

    Gas turbines and other large industrial equipment are subjected to high-temperature oxidation and corrosion. Research and development of efficient protective coatings is the main task in the field. Also, knowledge about the depletion state of the coating during the operation time is important. To date, practical nondestructive methods for the measurement of the depletion state do not exist. By integrating magnetic phases into the coating, the condition of the coating can be determined by measuring its magnetic properties. In this paper, a new technique using frequency mixing is proposed to investigate the thickness of the coatings based on their magnetic properties. A sensor system is designed and tested on specific magnetic coatings. New approaches are proposed to overcome the dependency of the measurement on the distance between coil and sample that all noncontact techniques face. The novelty is a low cost sensor with high sensibility and selectivity which can provide very high signal-to-noise ratios. Prospects and limitations are discussed for future use of the sensor in industrial applications.

  9. Universal Rim Thickness in Unsteady Sheet Fragmentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Y.; Dandekar, R.; Bustos, N.; Poulain, S.; Bourouiba, L.

    2018-05-01

    Unsteady fragmentation of a fluid bulk into droplets is important for epidemiology as it governs the transport of pathogens from sneezes and coughs, or from contaminated crops in agriculture. It is also ubiquitous in industrial processes such as paint, coating, and combustion. Unsteady fragmentation is distinct from steady fragmentation on which most theoretical efforts have been focused thus far. We address this gap by studying a canonical unsteady fragmentation process: the breakup from a drop impact on a finite surface where the drop fluid is transferred to a free expanding sheet of time-varying properties and bounded by a rim of time-varying thickness. The continuous rim destabilization selects the final spray droplets, yet this process remains poorly understood. We combine theory with advanced image analysis to study the unsteady rim destabilization. We show that, at all times, the rim thickness is governed by a local instantaneous Bond number equal to unity, defined with the instantaneous, local, unsteady rim acceleration. This criterion is found to be robust and universal for a family of unsteady inviscid fluid sheet fragmentation phenomena, from impacts of drops on various surface geometries to impacts on films. We discuss under which viscous and viscoelastic conditions the criterion continues to govern the unsteady rim thickness.

  10. Feasibility Studies on the Use of Higher Frequency Bands and Beamforming Selection Scheme for High Speed Train Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ayotunde O. Laiyemo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With increasing popularity of high speed trains and traffic forecast for future cellular networks, the need to provide improved data rates using higher frequency bands (HFBs for train passengers is becoming crucial. In this paper, we modify the OFDM frame structure for HST, taking into account the increasing sensitivity to speed at HFBs. A lower bound on the SNR/SINR for a given rate for reliable communication was derived considering the physical layer parameters from the OFDM frame. We also analyze different pathloss models in the context of examining the required gain needed to achieve the same performance as with microwave bands. Finally, we present a time-based analogue beamforming selection approach for HST. We observed that, irrespective of the pathloss models used, the required gains are within the same range. For the same SNR/SINR at different frequency bands, the achievable data rate varies with respect to the frequency bands. Our results show the potential of the use of HFBs. However, due to the increased sensitivity of some channel parameters, a maximum frequency band of 38 GHz is suggested. Evaluation of our proposed beamforming scheme indicates a close performance to the optimal SVD scheme with a marginal rate gap of less than 2 b/s/Hz.

  11. Texture Adaption in Dysphagia: Acceptability Differences Between Thickened and Naturally Thick Beverages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerschke, Marco; Seehafer, Peggy

    The aim of the study was to investigate differences in the acceptability between thickened and naturally viscous beverages. This was an exploratory, cross-sectional study. One hundred twenty-eight healthy volunteers rated overall liking/disliking of a selection of each of three thickened drinks and three beverages of natural viscosity pre- and postconsumption. Mean ratings were subjected to statistical analysis done with t tests. Although all naturally thick beverages evoked good expectations, there were significant differences in expected acceptance of thickened fluids concerning the kind of beverage. Postconsumption of naturally thick beverages were rated significantly better than thickened. The findings suggest an alternative offer of naturally thick drinks and waiver of thickening water when viscosity adaption is needed. The sufficient and safe oral fluid intake in dysphagia requires compliance to dietetic recommendations. Naturally thick beverages can contribute to increase the appeal of texture-modified diet.

  12. The effects of substrate layer thickness on piezoelectric vibration energy harvesting with a bimorph type cantilever

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palosaari, Jaakko; Leinonen, Mikko; Juuti, Jari; Jantunen, Heli

    2018-06-01

    In this research four piezoelectric bimorph type cantilevers for energy harvesting were manufactured, measured and analyzed to study the effects of substrate layer thickness on energy harvesting efficiency and durability under different accelerations. The cantilevers had the same dimensions of the piezoelectric ceramic components, but had different thicknesses of the steel substrate (no steel, 30 μm, 50 μm and 75 μm). The cantilevers were tuned to the same resonance frequency with different sizes of tip mass (2.13 g, 3.84 g, 4.17 g and 5.08 g). The energy harvester voltage outputs were then measured across an electrical load near to the resonance frequency (∼40 Hz) with sinusoidal vibrations under different accelerations. The stress exhibited by the four cantilevers was compared and analyzed and their durability was tested with accelerations up to 2.5 g-forces.

  13. A novel reduced-complexity group detection structure in MIMO frequency selective fading channels

    KAUST Repository

    Qaraqe, Khalid A.; Ahimian, Nariman R.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2010-01-01

    In this paper a novel reduced complexity detection method named modified symbol flipping method is introduced and its advantages on reducing the burden of the calculations at the receiver compared to the optimum maximum likelihood detection method on multiple input- multiple output frequency selective fading channels are explained. The initial concept of the symbol flipping method is derived from a preliminary detection scheme named bit flipping which was introduced in [1]. The detection structure employed in this paper is ing, detection, and cancellation. On the detection stage, the proposed method is employed and the results are compared to the group maximum likelihood detection scheme proposed in [2]. Simulation results show that a 6 dB performance gain can be achieved at the expense of a slight increase in complexity in comparison with the conventional symbol flipping scheme. © 2010 Crown.

  14. A novel reduced-complexity group detection structure in MIMO frequency selective fading channels

    KAUST Repository

    Qaraqe, Khalid A.

    2010-09-01

    In this paper a novel reduced complexity detection method named modified symbol flipping method is introduced and its advantages on reducing the burden of the calculations at the receiver compared to the optimum maximum likelihood detection method on multiple input- multiple output frequency selective fading channels are explained. The initial concept of the symbol flipping method is derived from a preliminary detection scheme named bit flipping which was introduced in [1]. The detection structure employed in this paper is ing, detection, and cancellation. On the detection stage, the proposed method is employed and the results are compared to the group maximum likelihood detection scheme proposed in [2]. Simulation results show that a 6 dB performance gain can be achieved at the expense of a slight increase in complexity in comparison with the conventional symbol flipping scheme. © 2010 Crown.

  15. Fully filamentized HTS coated conductor via striation and selective electroplating

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kesgin, Ibrahim; Majkic, Goran [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204 (United States); Selvamanickam, Venkat, E-mail: selva@uh.edu [Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204 (United States)

    2013-03-15

    Highlights: ► Fully-filamentized coated conductor with 13-fold reduction in ac losses. ► Selective electroplating for filamentization of thick copper stabilizer. ► A twofold decrease in ac loss by filamentization of copper stabilizer. ► Absence of appreciable coupling loss contribution from electroplating. -- Abstract: A simple, cost-effective method involving top-down mechanical scribing, oxidation and bottom-up electroplating has been successfully developed to fabricate fully filamentized HTS coated conductors. The copper stabilizer layer is selectively electroplated on the superconducting filaments while the striations remain copper-free due to the formation of a resistive oxide layer in between filaments by oxidation of the striated grooves at elevated temperature in oxygen atmosphere. Magnetization AC loss measurements, performed in a frequency range of 45–500 Hz at 77 K, confirmed the expected N-fold reduction in AC loss of the filamentized tapes with no significant degradation in critical current beyond that due to the material removal from the striations (N – number of filaments). A considerable reduction in coupling AC loss was observed after high temperature annealing/oxidation of the striated tapes. Furthermore, a significant reduction in eddy current loss was achieved with selective copper electroplating, as evidenced by analyzing the field and frequency dependence of magnetization AC loss, as well as by comparing the AC loss performance of striated samples to that of non-striated samples after electroplating of copper stabilizer.

  16. Fully filamentized HTS coated conductor via striation and selective electroplating

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kesgin, Ibrahim; Majkic, Goran; Selvamanickam, Venkat

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Fully-filamentized coated conductor with 13-fold reduction in ac losses. ► Selective electroplating for filamentization of thick copper stabilizer. ► A twofold decrease in ac loss by filamentization of copper stabilizer. ► Absence of appreciable coupling loss contribution from electroplating. -- Abstract: A simple, cost-effective method involving top-down mechanical scribing, oxidation and bottom-up electroplating has been successfully developed to fabricate fully filamentized HTS coated conductors. The copper stabilizer layer is selectively electroplated on the superconducting filaments while the striations remain copper-free due to the formation of a resistive oxide layer in between filaments by oxidation of the striated grooves at elevated temperature in oxygen atmosphere. Magnetization AC loss measurements, performed in a frequency range of 45–500 Hz at 77 K, confirmed the expected N-fold reduction in AC loss of the filamentized tapes with no significant degradation in critical current beyond that due to the material removal from the striations (N – number of filaments). A considerable reduction in coupling AC loss was observed after high temperature annealing/oxidation of the striated tapes. Furthermore, a significant reduction in eddy current loss was achieved with selective copper electroplating, as evidenced by analyzing the field and frequency dependence of magnetization AC loss, as well as by comparing the AC loss performance of striated samples to that of non-striated samples after electroplating of copper stabilizer

  17. Microwave absorptions of ultrathin conductive films and designs of frequency-independent ultrathin absorbers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Sucheng; Anwar, Shahzad; Lu, Weixin; Hang, Zhi Hong; Hou, Bo; Shen, Mingrong; Wang, Chin-Hua

    2014-01-01

    We study the absorption properties of ultrathin conductive films in the microwave regime, and find a moderate absorption effect which gives rise to maximal absorbance 50% if the sheet (square) resistance of the film meets an impedance matching condition. The maximal absorption exhibits a frequency-independent feature and takes place on an extremely subwavelength scale, the film thickness. As a realistic instance, ∼5 nm thick Au film is predicted to achieve the optimal absorption. In addition, a methodology based on metallic mesh structure is proposed to design the frequency-independent ultrathin absorbers. We perform a design of such absorbers with 50% absorption, which is verified by numerical simulations

  18. Remotely sensing the thickness of the bushveld complex UG2 platinum reef using borehole rada.

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Simmat, CM

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available The planar, 80 cm thick, lousy dielectric reefs of the Bushveld are embedded in rocks that are almost transparent at ground penetrating radar frequencies of 10–125 MHz. Pothole sensing practices are based largely on using borehole radars to observe...

  19. Spin-wave resonance frequency in ferromagnetic thin film with interlayer exchange coupling and surface anisotropy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shuhui; Rong, Jianhong; Wang, Huan; Wang, Dong; Zhang, Lei

    2018-01-01

    We have investigated the dependence of spin-wave resonance(SWR) frequency on the surface anisotropy, the interlayer exchange coupling, the ferromagnetic layer thickness, the mode number and the external magnetic field in a ferromagnetic superlattice film by means of the linear spin-wave approximation and Green's function technique. The SWR frequency of the ferromagnetic thin film is shifted to higher values corresponding to those of above factors, respectively. It is found that the linear behavior of SWR frequency curves of all modes in the system is observed as the external magnetic field is increasing, however, SWR frequency curves are nonlinear with the lower and the higher modes for different surface anisotropy and interlayer exchange coupling in the system. In addition, the SWR frequency of the lowest (highest) mode is shifted to higher (lower) values when the film thickness is thinner. The interlayer exchange coupling is more important for the energetically higher modes than for the energetically lower modes. The surface anisotropy has a little effect on the SWR frequency of the highest mode, when the surface anisotropy field is further increased.

  20. Long Elastic Open Neck Acoustic Resonator for low frequency absorption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Frank

    2018-05-01

    Passive acoustic liners, used in aeronautic engine nacelles to reduce radiated fan noise, have a quarter-wavelength behavior, because of perforated sheets backed by honeycombs (with one or two degrees of freedom). However, their acoustic absorption ability is naturally limited to medium and high frequencies because of constraints in thickness. The low ratio "plate thickness/hole diameter" generates impedance levels dependent on the incident sound pressure level and the grazing mean flow (by a mechanism of nonlinear dissipation through vortex shedding), which penalises the optimal design of liners. The aim of this paper is to overcome this problem by a concept called LEONAR ("Long Elastic Open Neck Acoustic Resonator"), in which a perforated plate is coupled with tubes of variable lengths inserted in a limited volume of a back cavity. To do this, experimental and theoretical studies, using different types of liners (material nature, hole diameter, tube length, cavity thickness) are described in this paper. It is shown that the impedance can be precisely determined with an analytical approach based on parallel transfer matrices of tubes coupled to the cavity. Moreover, the introduction of tubes in a cavity of a conventional resonator generates a significant shift in the frequency range of absorption towards lower frequencies or allows a reduction of cavity thickness. The impedance is practically independent of sound pressure level because of a high ratio "tube length/tube hole diameter". Finally, a test led in an aeroacoustic bench suggests that a grazing flow at a bulk Mach number of 0.3 has little impact on the impedance value. These first results allow considering these resonators with linear behavior as an alternative to classical resonators, in particular, as needed for future Ultra High Bypass Ratio engines with shorter and thinner nacelles.

  1. The thickness of the A1 pulleys reflects the disability of hand mobility in scleroderma. A pilot study using high-frequency ultrasound

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tagliafico, Alberto, E-mail: atagliafico@sirm.org [Department of Radiology, National Institute for Cancer Research, Genova (Italy); Panico, Nicoletta [Division of Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Genova (Italy); Serafini, Giovanni [Department of Radiology, Santa Corona Hospital, Pietra Ligure (Italy); Ghio, Massimo [Division of Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Genova (Italy); Martinoli, Carlo [Department of Radiology, University of Genova, Genova (Italy)

    2011-02-15

    Background: Hand involvement in scleroderma is a serious concern. Clinical tests to asses hand dysfunction are based on the experience of the clinician. Objective: To asses if utrasonographic (US) measurement of A1 pulley thickness may be used as an indicator of hand mobility in scleroderma. Materials and methods: Institutional review board approval and patient informed consent was obtained. Twenty-eight patients affected suffering from scleroderma and 40 healthy controls were prospectively evaluated by two blinded radiologists with US, with a transducer operating at 17 MHz. A1 pulley thickness was measured and correlated with the Hand Mobility in Scleroderma Test (HAMIS) and disease duration. Results: The thickness of the A1 pulley was greater in sclerodermic patients than in controls (p < 0.05). Intra and inter-observer agreement were better for ultrasound (0.94;0.88) than for HAMIS tests (0.71;0.70). A good correlation between pulley thickness, hand mobility and disease duration was found (r = 0.78, p < 0.018; r = 0.54, p < 0.05). Conclusion: A1 pulley thickness measured on ultrasound correlates with hand mobility and disease duration. Ultrasound is an useful tool to evaluate hand disability in scleroderma.

  2. The thickness of the A1 pulleys reflects the disability of hand mobility in scleroderma. A pilot study using high-frequency ultrasound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tagliafico, Alberto; Panico, Nicoletta; Serafini, Giovanni; Ghio, Massimo; Martinoli, Carlo

    2011-01-01

    Background: Hand involvement in scleroderma is a serious concern. Clinical tests to asses hand dysfunction are based on the experience of the clinician. Objective: To asses if utrasonographic (US) measurement of A1 pulley thickness may be used as an indicator of hand mobility in scleroderma. Materials and methods: Institutional review board approval and patient informed consent was obtained. Twenty-eight patients affected suffering from scleroderma and 40 healthy controls were prospectively evaluated by two blinded radiologists with US, with a transducer operating at 17 MHz. A1 pulley thickness was measured and correlated with the Hand Mobility in Scleroderma Test (HAMIS) and disease duration. Results: The thickness of the A1 pulley was greater in sclerodermic patients than in controls (p < 0.05). Intra and inter-observer agreement were better for ultrasound (0.94;0.88) than for HAMIS tests (0.71;0.70). A good correlation between pulley thickness, hand mobility and disease duration was found (r = 0.78, p < 0.018; r = 0.54, p < 0.05). Conclusion: A1 pulley thickness measured on ultrasound correlates with hand mobility and disease duration. Ultrasound is an useful tool to evaluate hand disability in scleroderma.

  3. Frequency and zero-point vibrational energy scale factors for double-hybrid density functionals (and other selected methods): can anharmonic force fields be avoided?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kesharwani, Manoj K; Brauer, Brina; Martin, Jan M L

    2015-03-05

    We have obtained uniform frequency scaling factors λ(harm) (for harmonic frequencies), λ(fund) (for fundamentals), and λ(ZPVE) (for zero-point vibrational energies (ZPVEs)) for the Weigend-Ahlrichs and other selected basis sets for MP2, SCS-MP2, and a variety of DFT functionals including double hybrids. For selected levels of theory, we have also obtained scaling factors for true anharmonic fundamentals and ZPVEs obtained from quartic force fields. For harmonic frequencies, the double hybrids B2PLYP, B2GP-PLYP, and DSD-PBEP86 clearly yield the best performance at RMSD = 10-12 cm(-1) for def2-TZVP and larger basis sets, compared to 5 cm(-1) at the CCSD(T) basis set limit. For ZPVEs, again, the double hybrids are the best performers, reaching root-mean-square deviations (RMSDs) as low as 0.05 kcal/mol, but even mainstream functionals like B3LYP can get down to 0.10 kcal/mol. Explicitly anharmonic ZPVEs only are marginally more accurate. For fundamentals, however, simple uniform scaling is clearly inadequate.

  4. Prediction of Layer Thickness in Molten Borax Bath with Genetic Evolutionary Programming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylan, Fatih

    2011-04-01

    In this study, the vanadium carbide coating in molten borax bath process is modeled by evolutionary genetic programming (GEP) with bath composition (borax percentage, ferro vanadium (Fe-V) percentage, boric acid percentage), bath temperature, immersion time, and layer thickness data. Five inputs and one output data exist in the model. The percentage of borax, Fe-V, and boric acid, temperature, and immersion time parameters are used as input data and the layer thickness value is used as output data. For selected bath components, immersion time, and temperature variables, the layer thicknesses are derived from the mathematical expression. The results of the mathematical expressions are compared to that of experimental data; it is determined that the derived mathematical expression has an accuracy of 89%.

  5. Improved high-frequency soft magnetic properties of FeCo films on organic ferroelectric PVDF substrate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Dong; Wang, Zhen; Han, Xuemeng; Li, Yue; Guo, Xiaobin; Zuo, Yalu; Xi, Li, E-mail: xili@lzu.edu.cn

    2015-02-01

    FeCo films with various thicknesses were fabricated by direct-current magnetron sputtering on corning glass and organic ferroelectric PVDF substrates at the same time with 5 nm Ru seed layer and 5 nm Ta protective layer. The in-plane uniaxial anisotropy field of FeCo on glass substrate increases from 24 to 36 Oe with the increase of FeCo film thickness from 5 to 100 nm. However, a large in-plane anisotropy field of FeCo on PVDF substrate increases with FeCo thickness from 5 to 20 nm and gradually decreases with the FeCo thickness further increasing. Atomic force microscope images of FeCo on glass show quite smooth surface with root-mean-square roughness around 0.5 nm and have none visible granules on the surface for all samples. While, AFM images of FeCo on PVDF show quite rough surface with RMS roughness around 25 nm and have visible granules with the smallest granules appearing at the FeCo thickness of 20 nm. The permeability spectra show the typical ferromagnetic resonance phenomenon and can be well fitted by the LLG equation with the obtained experimental parameters. The ferromagnetic resonance frequency can reach 7.0 GHz for the 20 nm FeCo film on PVDF. Moreover, the quality factor of this sample can respectively reach 26, 12 and 7 at 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 GHz, indicating the potential real 3G application for high-frequency devices. - Highlights: 1.Magnetic and morphological properties of FeCo films on PVDF substrates are studied. 2.The large anisotropy field of FeCo films on PVDF is obtained. 3.Improved high frequency properties of FeCo films on flexible substrates are obtained. 4.The origin of improved high frequency properties of FeCo films on PVDF is studied.

  6. Core–shell structured FeSiAl/SiO{sub 2} particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} soft magnetic composite cores with tunable insulating layer thicknesses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fan, Xi’an, E-mail: groupfxa@163.com [The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Wang, Jian, E-mail: snove418562@163.com [The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Wu, Zhaoyang, E-mail: wustwuzhaoyang@163.com [The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Li, Guangqiang, E-mail: ligq-wust@mail.wust.edu.cn [The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China); Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081 (China)

    2015-11-15

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • FeSiAl/SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite cores were prepared. • SiO{sub 2} surrounding FeSiAl were replaced by Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} during sintering process. • Fe{sub 3}Si particles were separated by Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} with tunable thickness in composite cores. • Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} had lower core loss and better frequency stability than FeSiAl core. • The insulating layer between ferromagnetic particles can reduce core loss. - Abstract: FeSiAl/SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite cores with tunable insulating layer thicknesses have been synthesized via a modified Stöber method combined with following high temperature sintering process. Most of the conductive FeSiAl particles could be coated by insulating SiO{sub 2} using the modified Stöber method. During the sintering process, the reaction 4Al + 3SiO{sub 2} ≣ 2α-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} + 3Si took place and the new Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite was formed. The Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite cores displayed more excellent soft magnetic properties, better frequency stability at high frequencies, much higher resistivity and lower core loss than the raw FeSiAl core. Based on this, several types of FeSiAl/SiO{sub 2} particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite cores with tunable insulating layer thicknesses were selectively prepared by simply varying TEOS contents. The thickness of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} insulating layer and resistivity of Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite cores increased with increasing the TEOS contents, while the permeability and core loss changed in the opposite direction.

  7. Collection, processing, and interpretation of ground-penetrating radar data to determine sediment thickness at selected locations in Deep Creek Lake, Garrett County, Maryland, 2007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banks, William S.L.; Johnson, Carole D.

    2011-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey collected geophysical data in Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland, between September 17 through October 4, 2007 to assist the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to better manage resources of the Lake. The objectives of the geophysical surveys were to provide estimates of sediment thickness in shallow areas around the Lake and to test the usefulness of three geophysical methods in this setting. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), continuous seismic-reflection profiling (CSP), and continuous resistivity profiling (CRP) were attempted. Nearly 90 miles of GPR radar data and over 70 miles of CSP data were collected throughout the study area. During field deployment and testing, CRP was determined not to be practical and was not used on a large scale. Sediment accumulation generally could be observed in the radar profiles in the shallow coves. In some seismic profiles, a thin layer of sediment could be observed at the water bottom. The radar profiles appeared to be better than the seismic profiles for the determination of sediment thickness. Although only selected data profiles were processed, all data were archived for future interpretation.

  8. Coal thickness gauge using RRAS techniques, part 1. [radiofrequency resonance absorption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rollwitz, W. L.; King, J. D.

    1978-01-01

    A noncontacting sensor having a measurement range of 0 to 6 in or more, and with an accuracy of 0.5 in or better is needed to control the machinery used in modern coal mining so that the thickness of the coal layer remaining over the rock is maintained within selected bounds. The feasibility of using the radiofrequency resonance absorption (RRAS) techniques of electron magnetic resonance (EMR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as the basis of a coal thickness gauge is discussed. The EMR technique was found, by analysis and experiments, to be well suited for this application.

  9. Thick-Film and LTCC Passive Components for High-Temperature Electronics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Dziedzic

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available At this very moment an increasing interest in the field of high-temperature electronics is observed. This is a result of development in the area of wide-band semiconductors’ engineering but this also generates needs for passives with appropriate characteristics. This paper presents fabrication as well as electrical and stability properties of passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors made in thick-film or Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC technologies fulfilling demands of high-temperature electronics. Passives with standard dimensions usually are prepared by screen-printing whereas combination of standard screen-printing with photolithography or laser shaping are recommenced for fabrication of micropassives. Attainment of proper characteristics versus temperature as well as satisfactory long-term high-temperature stability of micropassives is more difficult than for structures with typical dimensions for thick-film and LTCC technologies because of increase of interfacial processes’ importance. However it is shown that proper selection of thick-film inks together with proper deposition method permit to prepare thick-film micropassives (microresistors, air-cored microinductors and interdigital microcapacitors suitable for the temperature range between 150°C and 400°C.

  10. Static and dynamic through thickness lamina properties of thick laminates

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lahuerta, F.; Nijssen, R.P.L.; Van der Meer, F.P.; Sluys, L.J.

    2015-01-01

    Thick laminates are increasingly present in large composites structures such as wind turbine blades. Different factors are suspected to be involved in the decreased static and dynamic performance of thick laminates. These include the effect of self-heating, the scaling effect, and the manufacturing

  11. High Power Laser Beam Welding of Thick-walled Ferromagnetic Steels with Electromagnetic Weld Pool Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritzsche, André; Avilov, Vjaceslav; Gumenyuk, Andrey; Hilgenberg, Kai; Rethmeier, Michael

    The development of modern high power laser systems allows single pass welding of thick-walled components with minimal distortion. Besides the high demands on the joint preparation, the hydrostatic pressure in the melt pool increases with higher plate thicknesses. Reaching or exceeding the Laplace pressure, drop-out or melt sagging are caused. A contactless electromagnetic weld support system was used for laser beam welding of thick ferromagnetic steel plates compensating these effects. An oscillating magnetic field induces eddy currents in the weld pool which generate Lorentz forces counteracting the gravity forces. Hysteresis effects of ferromagnetic steels are considered as well as the loss of magnetization in zones exceeding the Curie temperature. These phenomena reduce the effective Lorentz forces within the weld pool. The successful compensation of the hydrostatic pressure was demonstrated on up to 20 mm thick plates of duplex and mild steel by a variation of the electromagnetic power level and the oscillation frequency.

  12. Thin Co films with tunable ferromagnetic resonance frequency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maklakov, Sergey S.; Maklakov, Sergey A.; Ryzhikov, Ilya A.; Rozanov, Konstantin N.; Osipov, Alexey V.

    2012-01-01

    The tailored production of thin Co films of 50 nm thick with ferromagnetic resonance frequency in a range from 2.9 to 7.3 GHz using the DC magnetron sputtering is reported. The ferromagnetic resonance frequency, coercivity, effective magnetic field and nanocrystalline structure parameters are shown to be governed by the Co deposition rate. For this investigation, FMR, VSM and TEM techniques were used. - Highlights: ► Thin Co films with FMR frequency in a range from 2.9 to 7.3 GHz are obtained. ► The films' properties are governed by the deposition rate during DC magnetron sputtering. ► FMR, VSM and TEM techniques were used during the study.

  13. Global and Local Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Friction Stir Welds with Dissimilar Materials and/or Thicknesses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zadpoor, A.A.; Sinke, J.; Benedictus, R.

    2010-01-01

    This article studies the properties of a wide range of friction-stir-welded joints with dissimilar aluminum alloys or thicknesses. Two aluminum alloys, namely, 2024-T3 and 7075-T6, are selected for the study and are welded in ten different combinations of alloys and thicknesses. The welding

  14. Thin dielectric film thickness determination by advanced transmission electron microscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Diebold, A.C.; Foran, B.; Kisielowski, C.; Muller, D.; Pennycook, S.; Principe, E.; Stemmer, S.

    2003-09-01

    High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) has been used as the ultimate method of thickness measurement for thin films. The appearance of phase contrast interference patterns in HR-TEM images has long been confused as the appearance of a crystal lattice by non-specialists. Relatively easy to interpret crystal lattice images are now directly observed with the introduction of annular dark field detectors for scanning TEM (STEM). With the recent development of reliable lattice image processing software that creates crystal structure images from phase contrast data, HR-TEM can also provide crystal lattice images. The resolution of both methods was steadily improved reaching now into the sub Angstrom region. Improvements in electron lens and image analysis software are increasing the spatial resolution of both methods. Optimum resolution for STEM requires that the probe beam be highly localized. In STEM, beam localization is enhanced by selection of the correct aperture. When STEM measurement is done using a highly localized probe beam, HR-TEM and STEM measurement of the thickness of silicon oxynitride films agree within experimental error. In this paper, the optimum conditions for HR-TEM and STEM measurement are discussed along with a method for repeatable film thickness determination. The impact of sample thickness is also discussed. The key result in this paper is the proposal of a reproducible method for film thickness determination.

  15. High-frequency permeability in double-layered structure of amorphous Co-Ta-Zr films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ochiai, Y.; Hayakawa, M.; Hayashi, K.; Aso, K.

    1988-01-01

    The high-frequency permeability of amorphous Co-Ta-Zr films was studied and the frequency dependence was described in terms of the eddy-current-loss formula. For the double-layered structure intervened with SiO 2 film, the degradation of the permeability became apparent with the decrease of SiO 2 thickness

  16. Development of thick wall welding and cutting tools for ITER

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakahira, Masataka; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Akou, Kentaro; Koizumi, Koichi

    1998-01-01

    The Vacuum Vessel, which is a core component of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), is required to be exchanged remotely in a case of accident such as superconducting coil failure. The in-vessel components such as blanket and divertor are planned to be exchanged or fixed. In these exchange or maintenance operations, the thick wall welding and cutting are inevitable and remote handling tools are necessary. The thick wall welding and cutting tools for blanket are under developing in the ITER R and D program. The design requirement is to weld or cut the stainless steel of 70 mm thickness in the narrow space. Tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding, plasma cutting and iodine laser welding/cutting are selected as primary option. Element welding and cutting tests, design of small tools to satisfy space requirement, test fabrication and performance tests were performed. This paper reports the tool design and overview of welding and cutting tests. (author)

  17. Development of thick wall welding and cutting tools for ITER

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nakahira, Masataka; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Akou, Kentaro; Koizumi, Koichi [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

    1998-04-01

    The Vacuum Vessel, which is a core component of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), is required to be exchanged remotely in a case of accident such as superconducting coil failure. The in-vessel components such as blanket and divertor are planned to be exchanged or fixed. In these exchange or maintenance operations, the thick wall welding and cutting are inevitable and remote handling tools are necessary. The thick wall welding and cutting tools for blanket are under developing in the ITER R and D program. The design requirement is to weld or cut the stainless steel of 70 mm thickness in the narrow space. Tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding, plasma cutting and iodine laser welding/cutting are selected as primary option. Element welding and cutting tests, design of small tools to satisfy space requirement, test fabrication and performance tests were performed. This paper reports the tool design and overview of welding and cutting tests. (author)

  18. Low-frequency-noise complaints

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Christian Sejer; Møller, Henrik; Persson-Waye, Kerstin

    2008-01-01

    From 203 cases of low-frequency complaints a random selection of twenty-one cases were investigated. The main aim of the investigation was to answer the question whether the annoyance is caused by an external physical sound or by a physically non-existing sound, i.e. low-frequency tinnitus. Noise...... of the complainants are annoyed by a physical sound (20-180 Hz), while others suffer from low-frequency tinnitus (perceived frequency 40-100 Hz). Physical sound at frequencies below 20 Hz (infrasound) is not responsible for the annoyance - or at all audible - in any of the investigated cases, and none...... of the complainants has extraordinary hearing sensitivity at low frequencies. For comparable cases of low-frequency noise complaints in general, it is anticipated that physical sound is responsible in a substantial part of the cases, while low-frequency tinnitus is responsible in another substantial part of the cases....

  19. Central Corneal Thickness And Its Relationship To Intra-ocular And Epidemiological Determinants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tayyab, A.; Masrur, A.

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To measure central corneal thickness in Pakistani population and determine its relationship to intra-ocular pressure, age, gender and ethnicity. Study Design: Cross-sectional observation study. Place and Duration of Study: Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan, between December 2013 and February 2015. Methodology: The right eyes of 1000 cases (496 males and 504 females) were recruited for this study. Inclusion criteria were Pashtun or Punjabi ethnicity, intra-ocular pressure < 22 mmHg, gonioscopically open angles, cup-disk-ratio < 0.5, and age matched normal visual fields. Cases with prior ocular surgery, contact lens use, corneal pathologies, myopia or hypermetropia > ±3.0 diopters, astigmatism of > ±1.0 diopters were excluded. Central corneal thickness was measured using a TopCon non-contact specular microscope. Intra-ocular pressure was measured using Goldmann applanation tonometer. Frequency distribution, test of significance, and regression analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Result: Mean age was 47.31 ±11.78 years. Ethnic composition was 51.6 percentage (n=516) Pashtun and 48.4 percentage (n=484) Punjabi. The mean central corneal thickness was 503.96 (±12.47) meu m, while the mean intra-ocular pressure was 15.61 (±2.68) mmHg. Regression analysis showed a significant association between central corneal thickness and intra-ocular pressure (p=0.00) and age (p=0.00). A ±100 μ change in central corneal thickness was associated with change in IOP of ±3.30 mmHg, whereas central corneal thickness decreased by 0.12 meu m per year. No significant association could be established between central corneal thickness and ethnicity (p=0.19). Conclusion: Central corneal thickness of the studied races was comparable to non-Caucasians which affects intra-ocular pressure measurements, and decreases with increasing age. No relationship was observed between central corneal thickness and

  20. Endoscopic full-thickness resection of gastric subepithelial tumors: a single-center series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Arthur; Bauder, Markus; Riecken, Bettina; von Renteln, Daniel; Muehleisen, Helmut; Caca, Karel

    2015-02-01

    Endoscopic full-thickness resection of gastric subepithelial tumors with a full-thickness suturing device has been described as feasible in two small case series. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and clinical outcome of this resection technique. After 31 patients underwent endoscopic full-thickness resection, the data were analyzed retrospectively. Before snare resection, 1 to 3 full-thickness sutures were placed underneath each tumor with a device originally designed for endoscopic anti-reflux therapy. All tumors were resected successfully. Bleeding occurred in 12 patients (38.7 %); endoscopic hemostasis could be achieved in all cases. Perforation occurred in 3 patients (9.6 %), and all perforations could be managed endoscopically. Complete resection was histologically confirmed in 28 of 31 patients (90.3 %). Mean follow-up was 213 days (range, 1 - 1737), and no tumor recurrences were observed. Endoscopic full-thickness resection of gastric subepithelial tumors with the suturing technique described above is feasible and effective. After the resection of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), we did not observe any recurrences during follow-up, indicating that endoscopic full-thickness resection may be an alternative to surgical resection for selected patients. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  1. Characteristic of selected frequency luminescence for paleo-debris flow deposits in Jiangjia valley

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Zhaowen; Wei Mingjian; Pan Baolin; Liu Chao; Li Dongxu

    2008-01-01

    Eight paleo-debris flow samples from Nideping, Duozhao, Dawazi valley, and Jiangjia valley in Yunnan Province were tested with BG2003 luminescence spectrograph. The characteristic spectra of the selected frequency luminescence of paleo-debris flow deposits from the different locations were obtained. Excited at 488 nm, the wavelengths of emission photons from all samples are 300, 310, 320, 400 and 460 nm. With green excitation (532 nm), the wavelengths of emission photons from all samples are 300, 310, 320 and 460 nm. Then it is determined that the luminescence spectrographs of Nideping are almost same in different time, however, they are different in Dawazi valley and Duozhao. Taking Nideping for example, excited at green, the debris flow substances from the upper, middle, or lower zone of this platform. Response to increasing irradiation dose at 310, 320, and 460 nm, we can define the wavelengths used for dating. (authors)

  2. Low-Complexity Iterative Receiver for Space-Time Coded Signals over Frequency Selective Channels

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed Siala

    2002-05-01

    Full Text Available We propose a low-complexity turbo-detector scheme for frequency selective multiple-input multiple-output channels. The detection part of the receiver is based on a List-type MAP equalizer which is a state-reduction algorithm of the MAP algorithm using per-survivor technique. This alternative achieves a good tradeoff between performance and complexity provided a small amount of the channel is neglected. In order to induce the good performance of this equalizer, we propose to use a whitened matched filter (WMF which leads to a white-noise “minimum phase” channel model. Simulation results show that the use of the WMF yields significant improvement, particularly over severe channels. Thanks to the iterative turbo processing (detection and decoding are iterated several times, the performance loss due to the use of the suboptimum List-type equalizer is recovered.

  3. Model validity and frequency band selection in operational modal analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Au, Siu-Kui

    2016-12-01

    Experimental modal analysis aims at identifying the modal properties (e.g., natural frequencies, damping ratios, mode shapes) of a structure using vibration measurements. Two basic questions are encountered when operating in the frequency domain: Is there a mode near a particular frequency? If so, how much spectral data near the frequency can be included for modal identification without incurring significant modeling error? For data with high signal-to-noise (s/n) ratios these questions can be addressed using empirical tools such as singular value spectrum. Otherwise they are generally open and can be challenging, e.g., for modes with low s/n ratios or close modes. In this work these questions are addressed using a Bayesian approach. The focus is on operational modal analysis, i.e., with 'output-only' ambient data, where identification uncertainty and modeling error can be significant and their control is most demanding. The approach leads to 'evidence ratios' quantifying the relative plausibility of competing sets of modeling assumptions. The latter involves modeling the 'what-if-not' situation, which is non-trivial but is resolved by systematic consideration of alternative models and using maximum entropy principle. Synthetic and field data are considered to investigate the behavior of evidence ratios and how they should be interpreted in practical applications.

  4. Irrigation and fertigation frequencies with nitrogen in the watermelon culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Newdmar Vieira Fernandes

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This study evaluates the influence of different irrigation frequencies and different nitrogen fertigation frequencies on the growth performance of the watermelon (Citrullus lanatus culture. Two experiments were conducted at the Paraguay farm in the Cruz municipality, Ceará, Brazil. They was randomized blocks design with six treatments and four replications. The irrigation frequency experiment consisted of the application of different irrigation frequencies. The treatments were: DM - daily irrigation in the morning with 100% daily dosage; DT - daily irrigation in the afternoon, with 100% daily dosage; DMT - twice daily irrigation, with 50% daily dosage in the morning and 50% daily dosage in the afternoon; 2D - irrigation every two days; 3D - irrigation every three days and 4D - irrigation every four days. To the experiment with different nitrogen fertigation frequencies, the treatments used were: 2F - 2 fertigations in a cycle; 4F - 4 fertigations in a cycle; 8F - 8 fertigations in a cycle; 16F - 16 fertigations in a cycle; 32F - 32 fertigations in a cycle and 64F - 64 fertigations in a cycle. We evaluated the marketable yield (PC, fruit weight (M, polar diameter (DP, equatorial diameter (DE, shell thickness (EC and soluble solids (SS. The irrigation frequency treatments influenced all variables significantly, with twice daily irrigation (DMT, 50% in the morning and the 50% in the afternoon promoting the highest productivity (69.79 t ha-1. The different frequencies of fertigation also significantly influenced all variables, except for the shell thickness, the highest yield (80.69 t ha-1 being obtained with treatment 64 fertigations in a cycle.

  5. Design of a Novel Miniaturized Frequency Selective Surface Based on 2.5-Dimensional Jerusalem Cross for 5G Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Zhao

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available A compact frequency selective surface (FSS for 5G applications has been designed based on 2.5-dimensional Jerusalem cross. The proposed element consists of two main parts: the successive segments of the metal traces placed alternately on the two surfaces of the substrate and the vertical vias connecting traces. Compared with previous published two-dimensional miniaturized elements, the transmission curves indicate a significant size reduction (1/26 wavelengths at the resonant frequency and exhibit good angular and polarization stabilities. Furthermore, a general equivalent circuit model is established to provide direct physical insight into the operating principle of this FSS. A prototype of the proposed FSS has been fabricated and measured, and the results validate this design.

  6. Optical Transmitter Terminal for Selective RF High Frequency Bans

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Recent improvements in multiplexing systems and tunable laser semiconductor diodes make the use of Wavelength Division Multiplexing to combine multiple frequency...

  7. Studies on Gas Sensing Performance of Cr-doped Indium Oxide Thick Film Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. N. Chavan

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available A series of In1-xCrxO3 composites, with x ranging from 0.01 to 0.5wt% were prepared by mechanochemically starting from InCl3 and CrO3. Structural and micro structural characteristics of the sample were investigated by XRD, SEM with EDAX. Thick films of pure Indium Oxide and composites were prepared by standard screen printing technique. The gas sensitivity of these thick films was tested for various gases. The pure Indium Oxide thick film (x=0 shows maximum sensitivity to ethanol vapour (80 ppm at 350 oC, but composite-A (x=0.01 thick film shows maximum sensitivity to H2S gas (40 ppm at 250 oC, composite-B (x=0.1 thick film shows higher sensitivity to NH3 gas (80 ppm at 250 oC and composite-C (x=0.5 thick film shows maximum sensitivity to Cl2 gas (80 ppm at 350 oC. A systematic study of gas sensing performance of the sensors indicates the key role played by concentration variation of Cr doped species. The sensitivity, selectivity and recovery time of the sensor were measured and presented.

  8. Effects of corrugation shape on frequency band-gaps for longitudinal wave motion in a periodic elastic layer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sorokin, Vladislav

    2016-01-01

    The paper concerns determining frequency band-gaps for longitudinal wave motion in a periodic waveguide. The waveguide may be considered either as an elastic layer with variable thickness or as a rod with variable cross section. As a result, widths and locations of all frequency band-gaps are det......The paper concerns determining frequency band-gaps for longitudinal wave motion in a periodic waveguide. The waveguide may be considered either as an elastic layer with variable thickness or as a rod with variable cross section. As a result, widths and locations of all frequency band......, harmonic in the corrugation series. The revealed insights into the mechanism of band-gap formation can be used to predict locations and widths of all frequency band-gaps featured by any corrugation shape. These insights are general and can be valid also for other types of wave motion in periodic structures...

  9. DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF THICK PLATES ON TWO PARAMETER ELASTIC FOUNDATION UNDER TIME VARIABLE LOADING

    OpenAIRE

    Ozgan, Korhan; Daloglu, Ayse T.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, behavior of foundation plates with transverse shear deformation under time variable loading is presented using modified Vlasov foundation model. Finite element formulation of thick plates on elastic foundation is derived by using an 8-noded finite element based on Mindlin plate theory. Selective reduced integration technique is used to avoid shear locking problem which arises when smaller plate thickness is considered for the evaluation of the stiffness matrices. After comparis...

  10. Through thickness property variations in a thick plate AA7050 friction stir welded joint

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canaday, Clinton T.; Moore, Matthew A.; Tang, Wei; Reynolds, A.P.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, moderately thick (32 mm) AA7050 plates were joined by friction stir welding (FSW). Various methods were used to characterize the welded joints, including nugget grain size measurements at different locations through the thickness, micro-hardness indentation through nugget, thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), and heat affected zone (HAZ) at different cross section heights, and residual stress measurement using the cut compliance method with full thickness and partial thickness specimens. All testing results are consistent with the presence of a strong gradient in peak temperature through the plate thickness during FSW.

  11. An ultrathin wide-band planar metamaterial absorber based on a fractal frequency selective surface and resistive film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fan Yue-Nong; Cheng Yong-Zhi; Nie Yan; Wang Xian; Gong Rong-Zhou

    2013-01-01

    We propose an ultrathin wide-band metamaterial absorber (MA) based on a Minkowski (MIK) fractal frequency selective surface and resistive film. This absorber consists of a periodic arrangement of dielectric substrates sandwiched with an MIK fractal loop structure electric resonator and a resistive film. The finite element method is used to simulate and analyze the absorption of the MA. Compared with the MA-backed copper film, the designed MA-backed resistive film exhibits an absorption of 90% at a frequency region of 2 GHz–20 GHz. The power loss density distribution of the MA is further illustrated to explain the mechanism of the proposed MA. Simulated absorptions at different incidence cases indicate that this absorber is polarization-insensitive and wide-angled. Finally, further simulated results indicate that the surface resistance of the resistive film and the dielectric constant of the substrate can affect the absorbing property of the MA. This absorber may be used in many military fields

  12. Optimization of Dimensions of Cylindrical Piezoceramics as Radio-Clean Low Frequency Acoustic Sensors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Ardid

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Circular piezoelectric transducers with axial polarization are proposed as low frequency acoustic sensors for dark matter bubble chamber detectors. The axial vibration behaviour of the transducer is studied by three different methods: analytical models, FEM simulation, and experimental setup. To optimize disk geometry for this application, the dependence of the vibrational modes in function of the diameter-to-thickness ratio from 0.5 (a tall cylinder to 20.0 (a thin disk has been studied. Resonant and antiresonant frequencies for each of the lowest modes are determined and electromechanical coupling coefficients are calculated. From this analysis, due to the requirements of radiopurity and little volume, optimal diameter-to-thickness ratios for good transducer performance are discussed.

  13. The investigation of trapped thickness shear modes in a contoured AT-cut quartz plate using the power series expansion technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Peng; Jin, Feng

    2018-01-01

    The dynamic model about the anti-plane vibration of a contoured quartz plate with thickness changing continuously is established by ignoring the effect of small elastic constant c 56. The governing equation is solved using the power series expansion technique, and the trapped thickness shear modes caused by bulge thickness are revealed. Theoretically, the proposed method is more general, which can be capable of handling various thickness profiles defined mathematically. After the convergence of the series is demonstrated and the correctness is numerically validated with the aid of finite element method results, systematic parametric studies are subsequently carried out to quantify the effects of the geometry parameter upon the trapped modes, including resonant frequency and mode shape. After that, the band structures of thickness shear waves propagation in a periodically contoured quartz plate, as well as the power transmission spectra, are obtained based on the power series expansion technique. It is revealed that broad stop bands below cut-off frequency exist owing to the trapped modes excited by the geometry inhomogeneity, which has little relationship with the structural periodicity, and its physical mechanism is different from the Bragg scattering effect. The outcome is widely applicable, and can be utilized to provide theoretical and practical guidance for the design and manufacturing of quartz resonators and wave filters.

  14. Composites with mechanically tunable plasmon frequency

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schuil, Crystal J; Amirkhizi, Alireza V; Bayatpur, Farhad; Nemat-Nasser, Sia

    2011-01-01

    This paper summarizes our efforts to create a composite material with a mechanically tunable plasmon frequency at the microwave band. The permittivity of the composite changes sign at the plasmon frequency. Such composites, therefore, can be used as electromagnetic filters. Theoretically, an array of non-magnetic, metallic wire coils has been shown to have a plasmon behavior that is dependent on the wire thickness, coil inner diameter, pitch and coil spacing. Here, a material is made out of an array of coils placed within a non-metallic frame, and the material plasmon frequency is tuned through altering the pitch. The coils are arranged with alternating handedness to create an effective, non-chiral medium. A transmit/receive setup is used to characterize the electromagnetic behavior of the composite. The setup consists of a vector network analyzer and two horn antennas, which are used to measure the scattering parameters of the material. These parameters are then used to calculate the permittivity. The results show an increase in the plasmon frequency with increase in the pitch. Increasing the pitch 30%, from 3 to 3.9 mm, results in a corresponding increase from 6.3 to 7.5 GHz in the frequency

  15. Influence of stabilizer thickness on over-current test of YBCO-coated conductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kwon, N Y; Kim, H S; Kim, K L; Lee, H G; Yim, S W; Kim, H-R; Hyun, O-B; Kim, H M

    2009-01-01

    The increased use of distributed power generation has led to increasingly high fault current levels. A superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is a potential solution to prevent the problem of short-circuit currents. YBCO-coated conductors (CCs) are one of the most promising superconducting materials for SFCLs. Most YBCO CCs have stabilizers, which play a significant role in limiting the fault current in the SFCL. Therefore, the selection of the appropriate material and the thickness of the stabilizer of the CC used for the SFCL may affect its quench/recovery characteristics. In this paper, the quench/recovery characteristics of YBCO CC tapes having stabilizers with various thicknesses were investigated. The quench/recovery test results showed that, as the thickness of the stabilizer decreased, both the final approach temperature and the recovery time decreased.

  16. Electroluminescent efficiency of alternating current thick film devices using ZnS:Cu,Cl phosphor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Gaytri; Han, Sang Do; Kim, Jung Duk; Khatkar, Satyender P.; Rhee, Young Woo

    2006-01-01

    ZnS:Cu,Cl phosphor is prepared with the help of low intensity milling of the precursor material in two step firing process. The synthesized phosphor is used for the preparation of alternating current thick film electroluminescent (ACTFEL) devices with screen-printing method. The commission international de l'Eclairge (CIE) color co-ordinates of the ACTFEL devices prepared by these phosphor layers shows a shift from bluish-green to green region with the change in the amount of Cu in the phosphor. The various parameters to improve the efficiency and luminance of the devices have also been investigated. The brightness of the ac thick film EL device depends on the particle size of the phosphor, crystallinity, amount of binding material and applied voltage. The EL device fabricated with phosphor having average particle size of 25 μm shows maximum luminescence, when 60% phosphor concentration is used with respect to binding material. EL intensity is also linearly dependent on frequency. It is due the increase of excitation chances of the host matrix or dopant ions with increasing frequency

  17. Representation of the thickness distribution of channels and stratigraphic events at one of the Iranian fields in the Hormuz Strait using a composite plot and RGB display technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saadatinejad, M R; Javaherian, A; Hassani, H

    2011-01-01

    The Hormuz Strait is an important area which is located between the Persian Gulf, with half the oil reserves of the world, and the Oman Sea south of Iran. Many geophysical studies have been done to analyse the structure of subsurface layers in this strait and explore many new gas reservoirs as these findings help to simulate images from reservoir stratigraphy and understand the paleo-depositional environments. Spectral decomposition, which is a quick and important method in seismic interpretation, provides a strong tool to study these types of subsurface layers. In this paper, a red–green–blue (RGB) multi-colour display technique has been performed as an effective interpretation tool. This technique stacks three different frequencies with three different colours for composite display. So, these frequency components show the distribution of channel thickness as we map the variation of thickness with a colour scale that is equal to the quantitative thickness according to its relationship with frequency. In addition, seismic attributes such as coherency, peak and instantaneous frequency, which are sensitive to the edges of stratigraphic events (such as channels), are shown with a composite plot too; although the RGB technique is better than other techniques, for thickness variation a combined application is the best method of study

  18. Refracted arrival waves in a zone of silence from a finite thickness mixing layer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Takao; Lele, Sanjiva K

    2002-02-01

    Refracted arrival waves which propagate in the zone of silence of a finite thickness mixing layer are analyzed using geometrical acoustics in two dimensions. Here, two simplifying assumptions are made: (i) the mean flow field is transversely sheared, and (ii) the mean velocity and temperature profiles approach the free-stream conditions exponentially. Under these assumptions, ray trajectories are analytically solved, and a formula for acoustic pressure amplitude in the far field is derived in the high-frequency limit. This formula is compared with the existing theory based on a vortex sheet corresponding to the low-frequency limit. The analysis covers the dependence on the Mach number as well as on the temperature ratio. The results show that both limits have some qualitative similarities, but the amplitude in the zone of silence at high frequencies is proportional to omega(-1/2), while that at low frequencies is proportional to omega(-3/2), omega being the angular frequency of the source.

  19. EFFECTS OF GEOMETRIC RATIOS AND FIBRE ORIENTATION ON THE NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Attaf

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The present investigation aims to examine the influence of geometric ratios and fibre orientation on the natural frequencies of fibre-reinforced laminated composite plates using finite element method based on Yang’s theory and his collaborators. The transverse shear and rotatory inertia effects were taken into consideration in the developed Fortran computer program. It has been shown that the use of first-order displacement field provides the same accuracy as higher-order displacement field when the number of elements representing the plate structure is increased (refined mesh. However, poor precision may appear for plates with high thickness-to-side ratio h/a (thickness/side length. This discrepancy limits the application of the developed theory to thick plates (h/a<0.5. The various curves show the evolution of the dimensionless frequency (w* versus fibre orientation angle (q and illustrate the apparition of a “triple-point” phenomenon engendered by the increase of the plate aspect ratio a/b (length/width for a specific value of h/a. This point defines the maximum natural frequency and the associated fibre orientation. Also, results show that for high and/or low aspect ratios, the triple-point phenomenon does not occur. This latter is rapidly reached for thick plates than thin plates when the plate aspect ratio a/b is progressively increased.

  20. Relation between macular morphology and treatment frequency during twelve months with ranibizumab for diabetic macular edema.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuki Mori

    Full Text Available To investigate whether baseline optical coherence tomography (OCT parameters can predict the treatment frequency of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR injections during the first year in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME treated with pro re nata (PRN IVR injections.We retrospectively reviewed 68 eyes of 63 patients with center-involved DME who received IVR injections for 12 months or longer according to three monthly IVR injections followed by the PRN dosing. We measured the mean retinal thicknesses in the individual subfields of the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study grid and evaluated the qualitative and quantitative parameters on OCT sectional images. We investigated the relationship between these OCT parameters at baseline and the number of IVR injections during the 12-month follow-up.Three loading doses were administered to 10 eyes; four to seven annualized IVR injections were administered to 34 eyes. The number of eyes that received IVR injections decreased gradually until month 6 and was almost constant from months 7 to 11. No relationships were seen between the treatment frequency and baseline systemic factors and the ophthalmic examination findings. Univariate analyses showed that the number of IVR injections during the first year was associated with the mean retinal thickness in the individual subfields and the transverse length of the disrupted external limiting membrane (ELM and ellipsoid zone of the photoreceptors. Multivariate analysis showed a significant association with the thickness in the inferior subfield alone. The treatment frequency during the 12-month follow-up was not correlated with improved visual acuity but was associated with the decrease in the central subfield thickness and disrupted ELM.The retinal thickness in the inferior subfield predicts the treatment frequency during the first year in eyes with DME treated with PRN IVR injections.

  1. Lens thickness assessment: anterior segment optical coherence tomography versus A-scan ultrasonography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nikoo Hamzeh

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To assess lens thickness measurements with anterior segment-optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT in comparison with A-scan ultrasonography (A-scan US. METHODS: There were 218 adult subjects (218 eyes aged 59.2±9.2y enrolled in this prospective cross-sectional study. Forty-three eyes had open angles and 175 eyes had narrow angles. Routine ophthalmic exam was performed and nuclear opacity was graded using the Lens Opacities Classification System III (LOCS III. Lens thickness was measured by AS-OCT (Visante OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA. The highest quality image was selected for each eye and lens thickness was calculated using ImageJ software. Lens thickness was also measured by A-scan US. RESULTS: Interclass correlations showed a value of 99.7% for intra-visit measurements and 95.3% for inter-visit measurements. The mean lens thickness measured by AS-OCT was not significantly different from that of A-scan US (4.861±0.404 vs 4.866±0.351 mm, P=0.74. Lens thickness values obtained from the two instruments were highly correlated overall (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.81, P<0.001, and in all LOCS III specific subgroups except in grade 5 of nuclear opacity. Bland-Altman analysis revealed a 95% limit of agreement from -0.45 to 0.46 mm. Lens thickness difference between the two instruments became smaller as the lens thickness increased and AS-OCT yielded smaller values than A-scan US in thicker lens (β=-0.29, P<0.001 CONCLUSION: AS-OCT-derived lens thickness measurement is valid and comparable to the results obtained by A-scan US. It can be used as a reliable noncontact method for measuring lens thickness in adults with or without significant cataract.

  2. [Extracting THz absorption coefficient spectrum based on accurate determination of sample thickness].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zhi; Zhang, Zhao-hui; Zhao, Xiao-yan; Su, Hai-xia; Yan, Fang

    2012-04-01

    Extracting absorption spectrum in THz band is one of the important aspects in THz applications. Sample's absorption coefficient has a complex nonlinear relationship with its thickness. However, as it is not convenient to measure the thickness directly, absorption spectrum is usually determined incorrectly. Based on the method proposed by Duvillaret which was used to precisely determine the thickness of LiNbO3, the approach to measuring the absorption coefficient spectra of glutamine and histidine in frequency range from 0.3 to 2.6 THz(1 THz = 10(12) Hz) was improved in this paper. In order to validate the correctness of this absorption spectrum, we designed a series of experiments to compare the linearity of absorption coefficient belonging to one kind amino acid in different concentrations. The results indicate that as agreed by Lambert-Beer's Law, absorption coefficient spectrum of amino acid from the improved algorithm performs better linearity with its concentration than that from the common algorithm, which can be the basis of quantitative analysis in further researches.

  3. Thickness filters for gradient based multi-material and thickness optimization of laminated composite structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Rene; Lund, Erik

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a new gradient based method for performing discrete material and thickness optimization of laminated composite structures. The novelty in the new method lies in the application of so-called casting constraints, or thickness filters in this context, to control the thickness...... variation throughout the laminate. The filters replace the layerwise density variables with a single continuous through-the-thickness design variable. Consequently, the filters eliminate the need for having explicit constraints for preventing intermediate void through the thickness of the laminate....... Therefore, the filters reduce both the number of constraints and design variables in the optimization problem. Based upon a continuous approximation of a unit step function, the thickness filters are capable of projecting discrete 0/1 values to the underlying layerwise or ”physical” density variables which...

  4. Electron beam curable polymer thick film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagata, Hidetoshi; Kobayashi, Takashi

    1988-01-01

    Currently, most printed circuit boards are produced by the selective etching of copper clads laminated on dielectric substrates such as paper/phenolic resion or nonwoven glass/epoxy resin composites. After the etchig, various components such as transistors and capacitors are mounted on the boards by soldering. But these are troublesome works, therefore, as an alternative, printing method has been investigated recently. In the printing method, conductor circuits and resistors can be made by printing and curing of the specially prepared paste on dielectric substrates. In the near future, also capacitors are made by same method. Usually, conductor paste, resistor paste and dielectric paste are employed, and in this case, the printing is screen printing, and the curing is done thermally. In order to avoid heating and the deterioration of substrates, attention was paid to electron beam curing, and electron beam curable polymer thick film system was developed. The electron beam curable paste is the milled mixture of a filler and an electron beam curable binder of oligomer/monomer. The major advantage of electron beam curable polymer thick film, the typical data of a printed resistor of this type and its trial are reported. (K.I.)

  5. Measurement of Mucosal Thickness in Denture-bearing Area of Edentulous Mandible

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Dong

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: The thickness of the alveolar mucosa influences the probability of the occurrence of denture-induced irritations. Thick denture-supporting tissues offer relief from mucosal tenderness and ulcers; however, the uniformity of the thickness across the entire mandibular alveolar mucosa cannot be accurately determined in edentulous patients. This study aimed to assess the mucosal thickness of the denture-bearing area in the edentulous mandible. Methods: Twenty-seven edentulous patients underwent cone-beam computed tomography scanning, wherein the patients wore a record base to retract soft tissues away from the alveolar mucosa. The measured regions were the central incisor (IC, lateral incisor (IL, canine (Ca, first premolar (P1, second premolar (P2, first molar (M1, and second molar (M2 regions. The thickness was measured in the alveolar ridge crest (T, buccal (B1-B4, and lingual (L1-L4 alveolar ridge mucosa. The average thickness of the mucosa at buccal sides (B and lingual sides (L were also assessed. Results: The differences in the mucosal thickness between the left and right sides were not significant. In the Ca-M2 regions, T was the thickest, and L3 was the thinnest of all the measured points in the same regions. L was significantly less than B in posterior regions (P < 0.01. On the other hand, M2 at L4 was thinnest of all the measured regions from Ca to M2 (P < 0.01, and was thicker than IC, IL, P1, and P2 at B2. Conclusions: Since the mucosal thickness of denture-bearing area in the edentulous mandible is not uniform; the tissue surface of the denture base or custom tray should be selectively relieved, which may reduce the risk of denture-induced irritations.

  6. MIS-based sensors with hydrogen selectivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li,; Dongmei, [Boulder, CO; Medlin, J William [Boulder, CO; McDaniel, Anthony H [Livermore, CA; Bastasz, Robert J [Livermore, CA

    2008-03-11

    The invention provides hydrogen selective metal-insulator-semiconductor sensors which include a layer of hydrogen selective material. The hydrogen selective material can be polyimide layer having a thickness between 200 and 800 nm. Suitable polyimide materials include reaction products of benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride 4,4-oxydianiline m-phenylene diamine and other structurally similar materials.

  7. Thick and low-stress PECVD amorphous silicon for MEMS applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iliescu, Ciprian; Chen Bangtao

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents a solution for the deposition of thick amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) in PECVD reactors for MEMS applications, such as sacrificial layer or mask layer for dry or wet etching of glass. This achievement was possible by tuning the deposition parameters to a 'zero' value of the residual stress in the α-Si:H layer. The influence of the process parameters, such as power, frequency mode, temperature, pressure and SiH 4 /Ar flow rates for tuning the residual stress and for a good deposition rate is analyzed. The deposition of low-stress and thick (more than 12 µm in our case) α-Si:H layers was possible without generation of hillock defects (previously reported in literature for layers thicker then 2 µm). Finally, the paper presents some MEMS applications of such a deposited α-Si:H layer: masking layer for deep wet etching as well as dry etching of glass, and sacrificial layer for dry or wet release

  8. Comparison of 120- and 140-μm SMILE Cap Thickness Results in Eyes With Thick Corneas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Manli; Zhou, Yugui; Wu, Xianghua; Ye, Tiantian; Liu, Quan

    2016-10-01

    To evaluate clinical outcomes after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) with different cap thicknesses in thick corneas. Forty patients with central corneal thickness of more than 560 μm were recruited in this prospective, randomized, masked, paired-eye study. Patients were randomized to receive SMILE with a 120-μm cap thickness in 1 eye and 140-μm cap thickness in the other. Uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), contrast sensitivity (CS), higher-order aberrations (HOAs), and morphologic modifications of corneal architecture were measured during the 3-month follow-up period. Postoperative refractive outcomes, visual outcomes, CS, and the changes in HOAs were similar between both groups. The persistence of brightly reflective particles in the corneal interface layer was 1388.6 ± 219.5/mm in eyes with 120-μm cap thickness and 54.7 ± 8.6/mm in eyes with 140-μm cap thickness (P line at the interface layer almost disappeared in all eyes with 140-μm cap thickness, and it still persisted in 43% of the fellow eyes at 3 months postoperatively. The anterior surfaces of lenticules in the 140-μm cap thickness group exhibited more smoothness than in the 120-μm cap thickness group. There was a lower level corneal wound-healing response after SMILE with a 140-μm cap thickness than with a 120-μm cap thickness, although the thickness of cap creation did not affect visual outcomes by 3 months postoperatively.

  9. High-frequency performance for a spiral-shaped piezoelectric bimorph

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Fang Sheng; Feng, Zhi Hua; Ma, Yu Ting; Pan, Qiao Sheng; Zhang, Lian Sheng; Liu, Yong Bin; He, Liang Guo

    2018-04-01

    Piezoelectric cantilever is suitable as an actuator for micro-flapping-wing aircraft. Higher resonant frequency brings about stronger flight energy, and the flight amplitude can be compensated by displacement-amplification mechanism, such as lever. To obtain a higher resonant frequency, straight piezoelectric bimorph was rolled into spiral-shaped piezoelectric bimorph with identical effective length in this study, which is verified in COMSOL simulations. Simulation results show that compared with the straight piezoelectric bimorph, the spiral-shaped piezoelectric bimorph with two turns has higher inherent frequencies (from 204.79 Hz to 504.84 Hz in terms of axial oscillation mode, and from 319.77 Hz to 704.48 Hz in terms of tangential torsional mode). The spiral-shaped piezoelectric bimorph is fabricated by a precise laser cutting process and consists of two turns with effective length of 60 mm, width of 2.5 mm, and thickness of 1.6 mm, respectively. With the excitation voltage of 100 Vpp applying an electric field across the thickness of the bimorph, the tip displacement of the actuator in the axial oscillation and tangential torsional modes are 85 μm and 15 μm, respectively.

  10. Manufacturing of composite parts reinforced through-thickness by tufting

    OpenAIRE

    Dell'Anno, G.; Treiber, J. W G; Partridge, Ivana K

    2016-01-01

    The paper aims at providing practical guidelines for the manufacture of composite parts reinforced by tufting. The need for through-thickness reinforcement of high performance carbon fibre composite structures is reviewed and various options are presented. The tufting process is described in detail and relevant aspects of the technology are analysed such as: equipment configuration and setup, latest advances in tooling, thread selection, preform supporting systems and choice of ancillary mate...

  11. Sharp at any Age: Moho boundary thickness estimates along a trans-sect through 2 Ga of tectonic history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Servali, A.; Levin, V. L.; VanTongeren, J. A.

    2015-12-01

    In this study we evaluate crustal thickness and Moho sharpness beneath seismic stations in three different tectonic units of the North American continent: the Archean Superior Province, the Proterozoic Grenville Province, and the Paleozoic Appalachian Orogen. Our analysis involves two steps. First, for each site, we produce P-to-S receiver functions (RFs) organized by backazimuth and epicentral distance, and use them to identify the phase most likely representing a conversion from the Moho. Second, we construct averaged RFs for groups of telesismic events located in a similar geographic region, which we employ to examine shapes of Moho P-to-S converted phases in time series with maximum frequencies increasing from 0.25Hz to 2-3 Hz. At some sites we observe a progressive narrowing of a simple Moho converted phase with an increase in frequency, typical of a vertically instantaneous boundary, while at others the converted phase becomes progressively more complex, typical of a diffuse Moho. Thus, we adopt this difference in converted wave shape dependence on increasing frequency as a measure of Moho thickness. Our estimates of Moho thickness range from less than 300 m to over 2 km, with some locations showing evidence for multiple converting boundaries in the 35-50 km depth range. In this study we define "sharp" Moho at those sites where its vertical thickness is less than 1 km. Our results show that sharp Moho is universal in the Archean terranes regardless of surface lithology, likely due to higher Moho temperatures facilitating wide-spread delamination of dense lower crustal rocks. While a sharp Moho is not unique to the Superior Province, all Grenville and Appalachians sites where we find sharp Moho are in regions of granitic plutonism, suggesting a possible general association with reworking and density sorting of the crustal material (e.g. volcanic arc).

  12. Sibling genes as environment: Sibling dopamine genotypes and adolescent health support frequency dependent selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauscher, Emily; Conley, Dalton; Siegal, Mark L

    2015-11-01

    While research consistently suggests siblings matter for individual outcomes, it remains unclear why. At the same time, studies of genetic effects on health typically correlate variants of a gene with the average level of behavioral or health measures, ignoring more complicated genetic dynamics. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data, we investigate whether sibling genes moderate individual genetic expression. We compare twin variation in health-related absences and self-rated health by genetic differences at three locations related to dopamine regulation and transport to test sibship-level cross-person gene-gene interactions. Results suggest effects of variation at these genetic locations are moderated by sibling genes. Although the mechanism remains unclear, this evidence is consistent with frequency dependent selection and suggests much genetic research may violate the stable unit treatment value assumption. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Flaw-size measurement in a weld samples by ultrasonic frequency analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adler, L.; Cook, K.V.; Whaley, H.L. Jr.; McClung, R.W.

    1975-01-01

    An ultrasonic frequency-analysis technique was developed and applies to characterize flaws in an 8-in. (203-mm) thick heavy-section steel weld specimen. The technique applies a multitransducer system. The spectrum of the received broad-band signal is frequency analyzed at two different receivers for each of the flaws. From the two spectra, the size and orientation of the flaw are determined by the use of an analytic model proposed earlier. (auth)

  14. Nondestructive Evaluation of Thick Concrete Structures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clayton, Dwight A [ORNL

    2015-01-01

    Materials issues are a key concern for the existing nuclear reactor fleet in the United States as material degradation can lead to increased maintenance, increased downtime, and increased risk. Extending reactor life to 60 years and beyond will likely increase susceptibility and severity of both known and new forms of degradation. A multitude of concrete-based structures are typically part of a light water reactor plant to provide foundation, support, shielding, and containment functions. The size and complexity of nuclear power plant containment structures and the heterogeneity of Portland cement concrete make characterization of the degradation extent a difficult task. This paper examines the benefits of using time-frequency analysis with Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT). By using wavelet packet decomposition, the original ultrasound signals are decomposed into various frequency bands that facilitates highly selective analysis of the signal’s frequency content and can be visualized using the familiar SAFT image reconstruction algorithm.

  15. Thickness dependence of magnetic properties and giant magneto-impedance effect in amorphous Co{sub 73}Si{sub 12}B{sub 15} thin films prepared by Dual-Ion beam assisted deposition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Yu [School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); BISSE/BUAA-SPNEE joint Laboratory Magnetism and Sperconducting technology on Spacecraft, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Wang, San-sheng, E-mail: wangssh@buaa.edu.cn [School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); BISSE/BUAA-SPNEE joint Laboratory Magnetism and Sperconducting technology on Spacecraft, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Hu, Teng [School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); He, Tong-fu [School of Instrumentation Science and Opto-electronics Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Chen, Zi-yu [School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China); Yi, Zhong; Meng, Li-Fei [Science and Technology on Reliability and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Beijing Institute of Spacecraft Environment Engineering, Beijing 100094 (China); BISSE/BUAA-SPNEE joint Laboratory Magnetism and Sperconducting technology on Spacecraft, Beihang University, Beijing 100191 (China)

    2017-03-15

    Dual-Ion Beam Assisted Deposition is a suitable method for the preparation of giant magneto-impedance (GMI) materials. In this paper, Co{sub 73}Si{sub 12}B{sub 15} thin films with different thicknesses were prepared by Dual-Ion Beam Assisted Deposition, and the influences of film thickness on magnetic properties and GMI effect were investigated. It was found that the asymmetric magnetic hysteresis loop in the prepared Co{sub 73}Si{sub 12}B{sub 15} thin films occurs at ambient temperature, and the shift behavior of hysteresis loop associated with film thickness. With the film thickness increasing, the values of shift field and coercive field and other parameters such as remanence and shift ratio appeared complex variation. At a certain frequency, the large GMI effect is only observed in some films, which have good magnetic properties including low coercivity, low remanence ratio and high shift ratio. The results indicated that the thickness dependence of magnetic properties nonlinearly determined the GMI effect in Co{sub 73}Si{sub 12}B{sub 15} thin films. - Highlights: • The relationship between film thickness and ΔZ/Z, ΔR/R, ΔX/X ratio of CoSiB film exhibits a complex behavior as the film thickness increases from 1.33 to 7.34 µm. The maximum value of GMI ratio is observed when the film thickness was 1.56, 2.48, 3.81 or 7.34 µm. • With the increase of film thickness, the peak frequency shifts to lower frequency, but does not decrease following the t-power law. • The above thickness phenomenon is due to the different magnetic properties of thin films. • The Dual-Ion Beam Assisted Deposition is introduced to prepare the GMI materials.

  16. Thickness-Dependent Bioelectrochemical and Energy Applications of Thickness-Controlled Meso-Macroporous Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Mieritz

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Coatings of hierarchically meso-macroporous antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO enable interfacing adsorbed species, such as biomacromolecules, with an electronic circuit. The coating thickness is a limiting factor for the surface coverage of adsorbates, that are electrochemically addressable. To overcome this challenge, a carbon black-based templating method was developed by studying the composition of the template system, and finding the right conditions for self-standing templates, preventing the reaction mixture from flowing out of the mask. The thicknesses of as-fabricated coatings were measured using stylus profilometry to establish a relationship between the mask thickness and the coating thickness. Cyclic voltammetry was performed on coatings with adsorbed cytochrome c to check whether the entire coating thickness was electrochemically addressable. Further, bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers were incorporated into the coatings, and photocurrent with respect to coating thickness was studied. The template mixture required enough of both carbon black and polymer, roughly 7% carbon black and 6% poly(ethylene glycol. Coatings were fabricated with thicknesses approaching 30 µm, and thickness was shown to be controllable up to at least 15 µm. Under the experimental conditions, photocurrent was found to increase linearly with the coating thickness, up to around 12 µm, above which were diminished gains.

  17. Comparisons of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness changes after macular hole surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Chamma Capelanes

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Purpose: To compare postoperative changes in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with macular holes treated with vitrectomy with Brilliant Blue-assisted internal limiting membrane peeling. Methods: Twenty-two eyes of 20 patients with macular holes were studied. Each eye was selected to undergo Brilliant Blue-assisted internal limiting membrane peeling. The circumferential retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was determined using spectral domain optical coherence tomography preoperatively and 2 months postoperatively. Mean overall and sectoral retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses were obtained for each patient. Results: There was no statistically significant difference (p≥0.05 between the pre- and post-treatment measurements in relation to each CFN variable, i.e., on average, pre-treatment measures were the same as post-treatment measures. Furthermore, despite the differences between the pre- and post-treatment measures always being positive (pre-post >0, they are not statistically significant. Conclusions: This study showed no significant decrease in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements after macular holes surgery, regardless of age or sex.

  18. Effects of X-ray tube parameters on thickness measure precision in X-ray profile gauge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miao Jichen; Wu Zhifang; Xing Guilai

    2011-01-01

    Instantaneous profile gauge technology has been widely used in metallurgy industry because it can on-line get the profile of steel strip. It has characters of high measure precision and wide measure range, but the X-ray tube parameters only can be set few different values during measurement. The relations of thickness measure precision and X-ray tube current, X-ray tube voltage were analyzed. The results show that the X-ray tube current affects the thickness measure precision and the X-ray tube voltage determines the thickness measure range. The method of estimating the X-ray current by thickness measure precision was provided in the end. This method is the base of X-ray source selection and X-ray source parameter's setting in the instantaneous profile gauge. (authors)

  19. General Space-Confined On-Substrate Fabrication of Thickness-Adjustable Hybrid Perovskite Single-Crystalline Thin Films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yao-Xuan; Ge, Qian-Qing; Shi, Yang; Liu, Jie; Xue, Ding-Jiang; Ma, Jing-Yuan; Ding, Jie; Yan, Hui-Juan; Hu, Jin-Song; Wan, Li-Jun

    2016-12-21

    Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite single-crystalline thin films (SCTFs) are promising for enhancing photoelectric device performance due to high carrier mobility, long diffusion length, and carrier lifetime. However, bulk perovskite single crystals available today are not suitable for practical device application due to the unfavorable thickness. Herein, we report a facile space-confined solution-processed strategy to on-substrate grow various hybrid perovskite SCTFs in a size of submillimeter with adjustable thicknesses from nano- to micrometers. These SCTFs exhibit photoelectric properties comparable to bulk single crystals with low defect density and good air stability. The clear thickness-dependent colors allow fast visual selection of SCTFs with a suitable thickness for specific device application. The present substrate-independent growth of perovskite SCTFs opens up opportunities for on-chip fabrication of diverse high-performance devices.

  20. Increased fire frequency promotes stronger spatial genetic structure and natural selection at regional and local scales in Pinus halepensis Mill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Budde, Katharina B; González-Martínez, Santiago C; Navascués, Miguel; Burgarella, Concetta; Mosca, Elena; Lorenzo, Zaida; Zabal-Aguirre, Mario; Vendramin, Giovanni G; Verdú, Miguel; Pausas, Juli G; Heuertz, Myriam

    2017-04-01

    The recurrence of wildfires is predicted to increase due to global climate change, resulting in severe impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Recurrent fires can drive plant adaptation and reduce genetic diversity; however, the underlying population genetic processes have not been studied in detail. In this study, the neutral and adaptive evolutionary effects of contrasting fire regimes were examined in the keystone tree species Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), a fire-adapted conifer. The genetic diversity, demographic history and spatial genetic structure were assessed at local (within-population) and regional scales for populations exposed to different crown fire frequencies. Eight natural P. halepensis stands were sampled in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, five of them in a region exposed to frequent crown fires (HiFi) and three of them in an adjacent region with a low frequency of crown fires (LoFi). Samples were genotyped at nine neutral simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and at 251 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from coding regions, some of them potentially important for fire adaptation. Fire regime had no effects on genetic diversity or demographic history. Three high-differentiation outlier SNPs were identified between HiFi and LoFi stands, suggesting fire-related selection at the regional scale. At the local scale, fine-scale spatial genetic structure (SGS) was overall weak as expected for a wind-pollinated and wind-dispersed tree species. HiFi stands displayed a stronger SGS than LoFi stands at SNPs, which probably reflected the simultaneous post-fire recruitment of co-dispersed related seeds. SNPs with exceptionally strong SGS, a proxy for microenvironmental selection, were only reliably identified under the HiFi regime. An increasing fire frequency as predicted due to global change can promote increased SGS with stronger family structures and alter natural selection in P. halepensis and in plants with similar life history traits

  1. Endometrial thickness as a test for endometrial cancer in women with postmenopausal vaginal bleeding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tabor, Ann; Watt, Hilary C; Wald, Nicholas J

    2002-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of endometrial thickness measurement as a test for endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women with vaginal bleeding (symptomatic women). DATA SOURCES: We conducted a literature search using the MEDLINE database from 1991 to 1997, and the key words "vaginal...... ultrasonography" and "endometrial thickness measurement." The review was limited to original research reports written in English, concerning symptomatic women having vaginal ultrasonography before a diagnostic test and not receiving tamoxifen. STUDY SELECTION: A total of 48 studies were identified...

  2. Dynamic measurement of liquid film thickness in stratified flow by using ultrasonic echo technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serizawa, A.; Nagane, K.; Kamei, T.; Kawara, Z.; Ebisu, T.; Torikoshi, K.

    2004-01-01

    We developed a technique to measure time-dependent local film thickness in stratified air-water flow over a horizontal plate by using a time of flight of ultrasonic transmission. The ultrasonic echoes reflected at the liquid/air interfaces are detected by a conventional ultrasonic instrumentation, and the signals are analyzed by a personal computer after being digitalized by an A/D converter to give the time of flight for the ultrasonic waves to run over a distance of twice of the film thickness. A 3.8 mm diameter probe type ultrasonic transducer was used in the present work which transmits and receives 10 MHz frequency ultrasonic waves. The estimated spatial resolution with this arrangement is 0.075 mm in film thickness for water. The time resolution, which depends on both the A/D converter and the memory capacity was up to several tens Hz. We also discussed the sensitivity of the method to the inclination angle of the interfaces. (author)

  3. Critical heat flux enhancement regarding to the thickness of graphene films under pool boiling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jin Man; Park, Hyun Sun; Park, Youngjae; Kim, Hyungdae; Kim, Dong Eok; Kim, Moo Hwan; Ahn, Ho Seon

    2014-01-01

    The large thermal conductivity of the graphene films inhibits the formation of hot spots, thereby increasing the CHF. An infrared high-speed visualization showed graphene effect on boiling characteristics during operation. The graphene-coated heater showed an increase in BHT and CHF. As the thickness of the graphene films increased, the CHF also increased up to an asymptotic limit when the graphene layer was approximately 150 nm thick. The increased BHT was explained by the slight decrease in the wettability and the folded edges of the RGO flakes, which led to a decrease in the diameter of the departing bubbles, a larger bubble generation frequency, and an increase in the areal density of the bubble nucleation sites. The increase in the CHF was explained by considering the thermal activity of the graphene films, and the dependence thereof on the thickness and thermal properties of the layer, which was calculated based on high-speed IR visualization data

  4. DNA-microarrays identification of Streptococcus mutans genes associated with biofilm thickness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feldman Mark

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A biofilm is a complex community of microorganisms that develop on surfaces in diverse environments. The thickness of the biofilm plays a crucial role in the physiology of the immobilized bacteria. The most cariogenic bacteria, mutans streptococci, are common inhabitants of a dental biofilm community. In this study, DNA-microarray analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes associated with the thickness of S. mutans biofilms. Results Comparative transcriptome analyses indicated that expression of 29 genes was differentially altered in 400- vs. 100-microns depth and 39 genes in 200- vs. 100-microns biofilms. Only 10 S. mutans genes showed differential expression in both 400- vs. 100-microns and 200- vs. 100-microns biofilms. All of these genes were upregulated. As sucrose is a predominant factor in oral biofilm development, its influence was evaluated on selected genes expression in the various depths of biofilms. The presence of sucrose did not noticeably change the regulation of these genes in 400- vs. 100-microns and/or 200- vs. 100-microns biofilms tested by real-time RT-PCR. Furthermore, we analyzed the expression profile of selected biofilm thickness associated genes in the luxS- mutant strain. The expression of those genes was not radically changed in the mutant strain compared to wild-type bacteria in planktonic condition. Only slight downregulation was recorded in SMU.2146c, SMU.574, SMU.609, and SMU.987 genes expression in luxS- bacteria in biofilm vs. planktonic environments. Conclusion These findings reveal genes associated with the thickness of biofilms of S. mutans. Expression of these genes is apparently not regulated directly by luxS and is not necessarily influenced by the presence of sucrose in the growth media.

  5. Performance of a Planar Leaky-Wave Slit Antenna for Different Values of Substrate Thickness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niamat Hussain

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the performance of a planar, low-profile, and wide-gain-bandwidth leaky-wave slit antenna in different thickness values of high-permittivity gallium arsenide substrates at terahertz frequencies. The proposed antenna designs consisted of a periodic array of 5 × 5 metallic square patches and a planar feeding structure. The patch array was printed on the top side of the substrate, and the feeding structure, which is an open-ended leaky-wave slot line, was etched on the bottom side of the substrate. The antenna performed as a Fabry-Perot cavity antenna at high thickness levels (H = 160 μm and H = 80 μm, thus exhibiting high gain but a narrow gain bandwidth. At low thickness levels (H = 40 μm and H = 20 μm, it performed as a metasurface antenna and showed wide-gain-bandwidth characteristics with a low gain value. Aside from the advantage of achieving useful characteristics for different antennas by just changing the substrate thickness, the proposed antenna design exhibited a low profile, easy integration into circuit boards, and excellent low-cost mass production suitability.

  6. Early Detection of Atrophy of Foot Muscles in Chinese Patients of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by High-Frequency Ultrasonography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaohui Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of high-frequency ultrasonography in detecting atrophy of foot muscles in Chinese patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM. Chinese patients of T2DM with (n=56 or without (n=50 diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN and the control subjects (n=50 were enrolled. The nondominant foot of all subjects was examined with high-frequency ultrasonography. The transverse diameter, thickness, and cross-sectional area of the extensor digitorum brevis muscle (EDB and the thickness of the muscles of the first interstitium (MILs were measured. The results showed that the ultrasonographic transverse diameter, thickness, and cross-sectional area of EDB and the thickness of MILs in patients of T2DM with DPN were significantly smaller than those in patients of T2DM without DPN (all P<0.01 and those in the control subjects (all P<0.01. The transverse diameter and cross-sectional area of the EDB and thickness of MILs in patients of T2DM without DPN were significantly smaller than those of the control subjects (all P<0.01. In conclusion, the atrophy of foot muscle in Chinese T2DM patients can be detected by high-frequency ultrasonography. Notably, ultrasonography may detect early atrophy of foot muscles in patients without DPN.

  7. Translucency and masking ability of various composite resins at different thicknesses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darabi, Farideh; Radafshar, Golpar; Tavangar, Maryam; Davaloo, Reza; Khosravian, Aref; Mirfarhadi, Nastaran

    2014-09-01

    Optical properties of the composite resins, concerning their translucency and thickness, are affected by discolored tooth structure or inherent darkness of the oral cavity. This study aimed to compare the translucency parameter (TP) of five different composite resins in different thicknesses and to evaluate their masking ability in black backgrounds. Five brands of composite resins; Gradia (GC) and Crystalline (Confi-dental) in opaque A2 (OA2), Vit-l-escence (Ultradent) in opaque snow (OS), Herculite XRV (Kerr) and Opallis (FGM) in dentin A2 (DA2) shades were selected to enroll the study. Color coordinates of each composite were determined at 0.5, 1, and 1.5 mm thicknesses on a white backing, the backing of material itself and a black backing were calculated by using a spectrophotometer to evaluate the translucency parameter (TP) of the study materials. The masking ability was also calculated from the specimens on the material itself and on black backing. The values under 2 were estimated as imperceptible. One-way ANOVA, T-test and Tukey HSD were employed for statistical analysis. The masking ability values, recorded for the 1.5 mm-thick specimens, were in the range of imperceptible except for the Herculite. There was no difference in TP values of the materials at 1.5 mm thickness. Opaque snow shade of Vit-l-escence and opaque A2 shade of Gradia showed lower TP values in comparison with the other 1 and 0.5 mm-thick materials and this difference was statistically significant (pcomposite resins could not mask the black background color.

  8. Infrared frequency-tunable coherent thermal sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Hao; Yang, Yue; Wang, Liping

    2015-01-01

    In this work, we numerically demonstrate an infrared (IR) frequency-tunable selective thermal emitter made of graphene-covered silicon carbide (SiC) gratings. Rigorous coupled-wave analysis shows temporally-coherent emission peaks associated with magnetic polariton (MP), whose resonance frequency can be dynamically tuned within the phonon absorption band of SiC by varying graphene chemical potential. An analytical inductor–capacitor circuit model is introduced to quantitatively predict the resonance frequency and further elucidate the mechanism for the tunable emission peak. The effects of grating geometric parameters, such as grating height, groove width and grating period, on the selective emission peak are explored. The direction-independent behavior of MP and associated coherent emission are also demonstrated. Moreover, by depositing four layers of graphene sheets onto the SiC gratings, a large tunability of 8.5% in peak frequency can be obtained to yield the coherent emission covering a broad frequency range from 820 to 890 cm −1 . The novel tunable metamaterial could pave the way to a new class of tunable thermal sources in the IR region. (paper)

  9. Concept development of X-ray mass thickness detection for irradiated items upon electron beam irradiation processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Huaili; Yang, Guang; Kuang, Shan; Wang, Qiang; Liu, Jingjing; Zhang, Xiaomin; Li, Cancan; Han, Zhiwei; Li, Yuanjing

    2018-02-01

    The present project will adopt the principle and technology of X-ray imaging to quickly measure the mass thickness (wherein the mass thickness of the item =density of the item × thickness of the item) of the irradiated items and thus to determine whether the packaging size and inside location of the item will meet the requirements for treating thickness upon electron beam irradiation processing. The development of algorithm of X-ray mass thickness detector as well as the prediction of dose distribution have been completed. The development of the algorithm was based on the X-ray attenuation. 4 standard modules, Al sheet, Al ladders, PMMA sheet and PMMA ladders, were selected for the algorithm development. The algorithm was optimized until the error between tested mass thickness and standard mass thickness was less than 5%. Dose distribution of all energy (1-10 MeV) for each mass thickness was obtained using Monte-carlo method and used for the analysis of dose distribution, which provides the information of whether the item will be penetrated or not, as well as the Max. dose, Min. dose and DUR of the whole item.

  10. Influence of cement film thickness on the retention of implant-retained crowns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehl, Christian; Harder, Sönke; Steiner, Martin; Vollrath, Oliver; Kern, Matthias

    2013-12-01

    The main goal of this study was to establish a new, high precision procedure to evaluate the influence of cement film thickness on the retention of cemented implant-retained crowns. Ninety-six tapered titanium abutments (6° taper, 4.3 mm diameter, Camlog) were shortened to 4 mm. Computer-aided design was used to design the crowns, and selective laser sintering, using a cobalt-chromium alloy, was used to produce the crowns. This method used a focused high-energy laser beam to fuse a localized region of metal powder to build up the crowns gradually. Before cementing, preset cement film thicknesses of 15, 50, 80, or 110 μm were established. Glass ionomer, polycarboxylate, or resin cements were used for cementation. After 3 days storage in demineralized water, the retention of the crowns was measured in tension using a universal testing machine. The cement film thicknesses could be achieved with a high level of precision. Interactions between the factors cement and cement film thickness could be found (p ≤ 0.001). For all cements, crown retention decreased significantly between a cement film thickness of 15 and 50 μm (p ≤ 0.001). At 15 μm cement film thickness, the resin cement was the most retentive cement, followed by the polycarboxylate and then the glass ionomer cement (p ≤ 0.05). The results suggest that cement film thickness has an influence on the retentive strength of cemented implant-retained crowns. © 2013 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

  11. Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in normals measured by spectral domain OCT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bendschneider, Delia; Tornow, Ralf P; Horn, Folkert K; Laemmer, Robert; Roessler, Christopher W; Juenemann, Anselm G; Kruse, Friedrich E; Mardin, Christian Y

    2010-09-01

    To determine normal values for peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) measured by spectral domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SOCT) in healthy white adults and to examine the relationship of RNFL with age, gender, and clinical variables. The peripapillary RNFL of 170 healthy patients (96 males and 74 females, age 20 to 78 y) was imaged with a high-resolution SOCT (Spectralis HRA+OCT, Heidelberg Engineering) in an observational cross-sectional study. RNFL thickness was measured around the optic nerve head using 16 automatically averaged, consecutive circular B-scans with 3.4-mm diameter. The automatically segmented RNFL thickness was divided into 32 segments (11.25 degrees each). One randomly selected eye per subject entered the study. Mean RNFL thickness in the study population was 97.2 ± 9.7 μm. Mean RNFL thickness was significantly negatively correlated with age (r = -0.214, P = 0.005), mean RNFL decrease per decade was 1.90 μm. As age dependency was different in different segments, age-correction of RNFL values was made for all segments separately. Age-adjusted RNFL thickness showed a significant correlation with axial length (r = -0.391, P = 0.001) and with refractive error (r = 0.396, P<0.001), but not with disc size (r = 0.124). Normal RNFL results with SOCT are comparable to those reported with time-domain OCT. In accordance with the literature on other devices, RNFL thickness measured with SOCT was significantly correlated with age and axial length. For creating a normative database of SOCT RNFL values have to be age adjusted.

  12. Autonomous Sea-Ice Thickness Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-06-01

    the conductivity of an infinitely thick slab of sea ice. Ice thickness, Hice, is then obtained by subtracting the height of the ...Thickness Survey of Sea Ice Runway” ERDC/CRREL SR-16-4 ii Abstract We conducted an autonomous survey of sea -ice thickness using the Polar rover Yeti...efficiency relative to manual surveys routinely con- ducted to assess the safety of roads and runways constructed on the sea ice. Yeti executed the

  13. Thickness evaluation using a new relationship between film density and penetrated thickness in radiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sung Sik; Kim, Young H.

    2005-01-01

    In order to improve the accuracies in the thickness evaluation using radiography, a new relationship between film density and penetrated thickness has been proposed, and experimental verification of the proposed relationship was carried out by using the X- and γ-ray radiographs of two carbon steel step wedges. A new parameter, the logarithmic gradient of film density, was defined in order to express the characteristics of the radiographic film for wider range of film density. A new relationship between the film density and the penetrated thickness were formulated using the logarithmic gradient of the film density. In experiment, the logarithmic gradient of the film density was independent on both the exposure and the film density and measured for the radiographic film used in the present work from the slope of the fitting lines for the same penetrated thickness. Experimental results verifies the accuracy of the proposed relationship between film density and the penetrated thickness for the range of film density from 1.0 to 3.5. The thickness can be more accurately determined by using the proposed relationship and the parameters determined by experiment. It is also found that the γ-ray having simple energy spectrum is more appropriate radiation source for the evaluation of the thickness from the film density of the radiograph

  14. Least-squares Migration and Full Waveform Inversion with Multisource Frequency Selection

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Yunsong

    2013-09-01

    Multisource Least-Squares Migration (LSM) of phase-encoded supergathers has shown great promise in reducing the computational cost of conventional migration. But for the marine acquisition geometry this approach faces the challenge of erroneous misfit due to the mismatch between the limited number of live traces/shot recorded in the field and the pervasive number of traces generated by the finite-difference modeling method. To tackle this mismatch problem, I present a frequency selection strategy with LSM of supergathers. The key idea is, at each LSM iteration, to assign a unique frequency band to each shot gather, so that the spectral overlap among those shots—and therefore their crosstallk—is zero. Consequently, each receiver can unambiguously identify and then discount the superfluous sources—those that are not associated with the receiver in marine acquisition. To compare with standard migration, I apply the proposed method to 2D SEG/EAGE salt model and obtain better resolved images computed at about 1/8 the cost; results for 3D SEG/EAGE salt model, with Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) survey, show a speedup of 40×. This strategy is next extended to multisource Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) of supergathers for marine streamer data, with the same advantages of computational efficiency and storage savings. In the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, to mitigate spectral leakage due to delayed onsets of sine waves detected at receivers, I double the simulation time and retain only the second half of the simulated records. To compare with standard FWI, I apply the proposed method to 2D velocity model of SEG/EAGE salt and to Gulf Of Mexico (GOM) field data, and obtain a speedup of about 4× and 8×. Formulas are then derived for the resolution limits of various constituent wavepaths pertaining to FWI: diving waves, primary reflections, diffractions, and multiple reflections. They suggest that inverting multiples can provide some low and intermediate

  15. Effects of high voltage pulse trimming on structural properties of thick-film resistors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanimirović Zdravko

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, compact and reliable electronic devices including up-to-date ceramic micro-electro-mechanical systems require thick-film resistors with significantly reduced dimensions and stable and precise resistance values. For that reason, instead of standard laser trimming method, high voltage pulse trimming of thick-film resistors is being introduced. This method allows controlled and reliable resistance adjustment regardless of resistor position or dimensions and without the presence of cuts. However, it causes irreversible structural changes in the pseudorandom network formed during sintering causing the changes in conducting mechanisms. In this paper results of the experimental investigation of high voltage pulse trimming of thick-film resistors are presented. Obtained results are analyzed and correlations between resistance and low-frequency noise changes and changes in conducting mechanisms in resistors due to high voltage pulse trimming are observed. Sources of measured fluctuations are identified and it is shown that this type of trimming is a valid alternative trimming method to the dominant laser trimming. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. III44003 and III45007

  16. A digital, constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop instrument for real-time, absolute ultrasonic phase measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haldren, H. A.; Perey, D. F.; Yost, W. T.; Cramer, K. E.; Gupta, M. C.

    2018-05-01

    A digitally controlled instrument for conducting single-frequency and swept-frequency ultrasonic phase measurements has been developed based on a constant-frequency pulsed phase-locked-loop (CFPPLL) design. This instrument uses a pair of direct digital synthesizers to generate an ultrasonically transceived tone-burst and an internal reference wave for phase comparison. Real-time, constant-frequency phase tracking in an interrogated specimen is possible with a resolution of 0.000 38 rad (0.022°), and swept-frequency phase measurements can be obtained. Using phase measurements, an absolute thickness in borosilicate glass is presented to show the instrument's efficacy, and these results are compared to conventional ultrasonic pulse-echo time-of-flight (ToF) measurements. The newly developed instrument predicted the thickness with a mean error of -0.04 μm and a standard deviation of error of 1.35 μm. Additionally, the CFPPLL instrument shows a lower measured phase error in the absence of changing temperature and couplant thickness than high-resolution cross-correlation ToF measurements at a similar signal-to-noise ratio. By showing higher accuracy and precision than conventional pulse-echo ToF measurements and lower phase errors than cross-correlation ToF measurements, the new digitally controlled CFPPLL instrument provides high-resolution absolute ultrasonic velocity or path-length measurements in solids or liquids, as well as tracking of material property changes with high sensitivity. The ability to obtain absolute phase measurements allows for many new applications than possible with previous ultrasonic pulsed phase-locked loop instruments. In addition to improved resolution, swept-frequency phase measurements add useful capability in measuring properties of layered structures, such as bonded joints, or materials which exhibit non-linear frequency-dependent behavior, such as dispersive media.

  17. Study of the thickness evolution during SPT Testing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Sánchez-Ávila

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The Small Punch Test (SPT is an increasingly expanding test used to obtain different mechanical data, such as strength, fracture, creep, etc…especially when there is little material available. However, the SPT test is more complicated than the uniaxial tensile test due to its non-linearity, which makes it difficult to relate the data obtained with the tensile tests. In fact, in the literature there is no clear model linking these tests and a different calibration should be used for each material. The complication of the SPT test is that the reduction of the sample thickness is not homogeneous in its gauge volume. In this work we proceeded to determine the variation of the SPT specimen thickness at several points, especially at the center and at the rupture zone, by means of the use of finite elements in COMSOL, taking a SLM AM (selective laser melting additive manufactured 316L stainless steel as the base material for modelling. For the appropriate modelling in COMSOL, the mechanical parameters of two 316L extreme thermomechanical treatments have been implemented, one annealed to a minimum hardness and another heavily work-hardened. The sample thickness variation results allow advancing in the theoretical modeling of the SPT behavior in order to obtain more accurate correlations with tensile tests data.

  18. Micro-structuring of thick NdFeB films using high-power plasma etching for magnetic MEMS application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang, Yonggang; Fujita, Takayuki; Higuchi, Kohei; Maenaka, Kazusuke; Masaoka, Shingo; Uehara, Minoru

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes the micro-patterning of thick NdFeB magnetic films using a high-power plasma etching method. The effects of RF bias power and gas composition on the selectivity and etching rate are experimentally studied. A maximum etching rate of 60 nm min −1 is achieved with an inductively coupled plasma power of 500 W and a RF bias power of 200 W. A maximum selectivity of 0.26 between hard baked AZP4903 photoresist and NdFeB magnetic films is achieved when volumetric Cl 2 concentration is 2.5%. NdFeB micro-magnets as thick as 4.2 µm are achieved by using AZP4903 photoresist. Magnetic film as thick as 10 µm can be patterned by using SU-8 photoresist with a thickness of 100 µm as the mask. The magnetic property of patterned microstructures is characterized using a vibrating sample magnetometer and the magnetic field distribution is measured using a Hall effect sensor IC. The characterization results indicate that the patterned magnetic microstructures have a high magnetic remanance of 1.0 T, which is comparable to that of the non-patterned NdFeB films.

  19. A lightweight low-frequency sound insulation membrane-type acoustic metamaterial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuan Lu

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available A novel membrane-type acoustic metamaterial with a high sound transmission loss (STL at low frequencies (⩽500Hz was designed and the mechanisms were investigated by using negative mass density theory. This metamaterial’s structure is like a sandwich with a thin (thickness=0.25mm lightweight flexible rubber material within two layers of honeycomb cell plates. Negative mass density was demonstrated at frequencies below the first natural frequency, which results in the excellent low-frequency sound insulation. The effects of different structural parameters of the membrane on the sound-proofed performance at low frequencies were investigated by using finite element method (FEM. The numerical results show that, the STL can be modulated to higher value by changing the structural parameters, such as the membrane surface density, the unite cell film shape, and the membrane tension. The acoustic metamaterial proposed in this study could provide a potential application in the low-frequency noise insulation.

  20. A lightweight low-frequency sound insulation membrane-type acoustic metamaterial

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Kuan; Wu, Jiu Hui; Guan, Dong; Gao, Nansha; Jing, Li

    2016-02-01

    A novel membrane-type acoustic metamaterial with a high sound transmission loss (STL) at low frequencies (⩽500Hz) was designed and the mechanisms were investigated by using negative mass density theory. This metamaterial's structure is like a sandwich with a thin (thickness=0.25mm) lightweight flexible rubber material within two layers of honeycomb cell plates. Negative mass density was demonstrated at frequencies below the first natural frequency, which results in the excellent low-frequency sound insulation. The effects of different structural parameters of the membrane on the sound-proofed performance at low frequencies were investigated by using finite element method (FEM). The numerical results show that, the STL can be modulated to higher value by changing the structural parameters, such as the membrane surface density, the unite cell film shape, and the membrane tension. The acoustic metamaterial proposed in this study could provide a potential application in the low-frequency noise insulation.

  1. Direct Frequency Comb Spectroscopy of Alkali Atoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pradhananga, Trinity; Palm, Christopher; Nguyen, Khoa; Guttikonda, Srikanth; Kimball, Derek Jackson

    2011-11-01

    We are using direct frequency comb spectroscopy to study transition frequencies and excited state hyperfine structure in potassium and rubidium using 2-photon transitions excited directly with the frequency-doubled output of a erbium fiber optical frequency comb. The frequency comb output is directed in two counterpropagating directions through a vapor cell containing the atomic vapor of interest. A pair of optical filters is used to select teeth of the comb in order to identify the transition wavelengths. A photomultiplier tube (PMT) measures fluorescence from a decay channel wavelength selected with another optical filter. Using different combinations of filters enables a wide range of transitions to be investigated. By scanning the repetition rate, a Doppler-free spectrum can be obtained enabling kHz-resolution spectral measurements. The thermal motion of the atoms in the vapor cell actually eliminates the need to fine-tune the offset frequency and repetition rate, alleviating a somewhat challenging requirement for spectroscopy of cold atoms. Our investigations are laying the groundwork for a long-term research program to use direct frequency comb spectroscopy to understand the complex spectra of rare-earth atoms.

  2. Comparison of pulse characteristic of low frequency ultrasonic probes for concrete application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amry Amin Abas; Suhairy Sani; Muhammad Pauzi Ismail

    2006-01-01

    Ultrasonic testing of concrete or large volume of composites usually is done in low frequency range. To obtain low frequency pulse, a low frequency pulser/receiver is used attached to a low frequency probe as transmitter/receiver. Concrete is highly attenuative and a high energy pulse is essential to ensure good penetration of test samples. High energy pulse can be obtained by producing low frequency ultrasonic waves.To achieve high penetration in concrete, a low frequency probe is fabricated with the centre frequency lying at around 100 kHz. The probe is fabricated with single crystal of 18 mm thickness without any backing material to obtain wider pulse and higher pulse power. Then, comparison of pulse characteristic is done between the fabricated probe and a commercially available probe to determine the quality of the probe fabricated. (Author)

  3. Ultrasonic stress evaluation through thickness of a stainless steel pressure vessel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Javadi, Yashar; Pirzaman, Hamed Salimi; Raeisi, Mohammadreza Hadizadeh; Najafabadi, Mehdi Ahmadi

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates ultrasonic method in stress measurement through thickness of a pressure vessel. Longitudinal critically refracted (L CR ) waves are employed to measure the welding residual stresses in a vessel constructed from austenitic stainless steel 304L. The acoustoelastic constant is measured through a hydro test to keep the pressure vessel intact. Hoop and axial residual stresses are evaluated by using different frequency range of ultrasonic transducers. The welding processes of vessel shell and caps are simulated by a 3D finite element (FE) model which is validated by hole-drilling method. The residual stresses calculated by FE simulation are then compared with those obtained from the ultrasonic measurement while a good agreement is observed. It is demonstrated that the residual stresses through thickness of the stainless steel pressure vessel can be evaluated by combining FE and L CR method (known as FEL CR method). - Highlights: • The main goal is ultrasonic evaluation of through thickness stresses. • Welding processes of a stainless steel pressure vessel are modelled by FE. • The hole-drilling method is used to validate the FE results. • Residual stresses are measured by four different series of ultrasonic transducers. • The comparison between ultrasonic and FE results show an acceptable agreement

  4. Effect of BST film thickness on the performance of tunable interdigital capacitors grown by MBE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyers, Cedric J. G.; Freeze, Christopher R.; Stemmer, Susanne; York, Robert A.

    2017-12-01

    Voltage-tunable, interdigital capacitors (IDCs) were fabricated on Ba0.29Sr0.71TiO3 grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In this growth technique, we utilize the metal-organic precursor titanium tetraisopropoxide rather than solid-source Ti as with conventional MBE. Two samples of varying BaxSr(1-x)TiO3 (BST) thicknesses were fabricated and analyzed. High-quality, epitaxial Pt electrodes were deposited by sputtering from a high-purity Pt target at 825 °C. The Pt electrodes were patterned and etched by argon ion milling, passivated with reactively sputtered SiO2, and then metallized with lift-off Ti/Au. The fabricated devices consisted of two-port IDCs embedded in ground-signal-ground, coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines to enable radio-frequency (RF) probing. The sample included open and thru de-embedding structures to remove pad and CPW parasitic impedances. Two-port RF scattering (S) parameters were measured from 100 MHz to 40 GHz while DC bias was stepped from 0 V to 100 V. The IDCs exhibit a high zero-bias radio-frequency (RF) quality factor (Q) approaching 200 at 1 GHz and better than 2.3:1 capacitance tuning for the 300-nm-thick sample. Differences in the Q(V) and C(V) response with varying thicknesses indicate that unknown higher order material phenomena are contributing to the loss and tuning characteristics of the material.

  5. Disentangling The Thick Concept Argument

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blomberg, Olle

    2007-01-01

    Critics argue that non-cognitivism cannot adequately account for the existence and nature of some thick moral concepts. They use the existence of thick concepts as a lever in an argument against non-cognitivism, here called the Thick Concept Argument (TCA). While TCA is frequently invoked...

  6. Stability Analysis of a High Fibre Yield and Low Lignin Content “Thick Stem” Mutant in Tossa Jute (Corchorus olitorius L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aninda Mandal

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A “thick stem” mutant of Corchorus olitorius L. was induced at M2 (0.50%, 4 h, EMS and the true breeding mutant is assessed across generations (M5 to M7 considering morphometric traits as well as SEM analysis of pollen grains and raw jute fibres, stem anatomy, cytogenetical attributes, and lignin content in relation to control. Furthermore, single fibre diameter and tensile strength are also analysed. The objective is to assess the stability of mutant for its effective exploration for raising a new plant type in tossa jute for commercial exploitation and efficient breeding. The mutant trait is monogenic recessive to normal. Results indicate that “thick stem” mutant is stable across generations (2n=14 with distinctive high seed and fibre yield and significantly low lignin content. Stem anatomy of the mutant shows significant enhancement in fibre zone, number of fibre pyramids and fibre bundles per pyramid, and diameter of fibre cell in relation to control. Moreover, tensile strength of mutant fibre is significantly higher than control fibre and the trait is inversely related to fibre diameter. However the mutant is associated with low germination frequency, poor seed viability, and high pollen sterility, which may be eliminated through mutational approach followed by rigorous selection and efficient breeding.

  7. The Compton-thick Growth of Supermassive Black Holes constrained

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchner, J.; Georgakakis, A.; Nandra, K.

    2017-10-01

    A heavily obscured growth phase of supermassive black holes (SMBH) is thought to be important in the co-evolution with galaxies. X-rays provide a clean and efficient selection of unobscured and obscured AGN. Recent work with deeper observations and improved analysis methodology allowed us to extend constraints to Compton-thick number densities. We present the first luminosity function of Compton-thick AGN at z=0.5-4 and constrain the overall mass density locked into black holes over cosmic time, a fundamental constraint for cosmological simulations. Recent studies including ours find that the obscuration is redshift and luminosity-dependent in a complex way, which rules out entire sets of obscurer models. A new paradigm, the radiation-lifted torus model, is proposed, in which the obscurer is Eddington-rate dependent and accretion creates and displaces torus clouds. We place observational limits on the behaviour of this mechanism.

  8. Frequency of Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Brazilian HIV-Infected Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salmazo, Péricles Sidnei; Bazan, Silméia Garcia Zanati; Shiraishi, Flávio Gobbis; Bazan, Rodrigo; Okoshi, Katashi; Hueb, João Carlos

    2018-04-09

    AIDS as well as atherosclerosis are important public health problems. The longer survival among HIV-infected is associated with increased number of cardiovascular events in this population, and this association is not fully understood. To identify the frequency of subclinical atherosclerosis in HIV-infected patients compared to control subjects; to analyze associations between atherosclerosis and clinical and laboratory variables, cardiovascular risk factors, and the Framingham coronary heart disease risk score (FCRS). Prospective cross-sectional case-control study assessing the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in 264 HIV-infected patients and 279 controls. Clinical evaluation included ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries, arterial stiffness by pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx), laboratory analysis of peripheral blood, and cardiovascular risk according to FCRS criteria. The significance level adopted in the statistical analysis was p media thickness was higher in the HIV group than in controls (p media thickness, was not associated with carotid plaque frequency, and did not alter the mechanical characteristics of the arterial system (PWV and AIx). HIV-infected patients are at increased risk of atherosclerosis in association with classical cardiovascular risk factors. Treatment with protease inhibitors does not promote functional changes in the arteries, and shows no association with increased frequency of atherosclerotic plaques in carotid arteries. The FCRS may be inappropriate for this population.

  9. Characteristic of selected frequency luminescence for samples collected in deserts north to Beijing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Dongxu; Wei Mingjian; Wang Junping; Pan Baolin; Zhao Shiyuan; Liu Zhaowen

    2009-01-01

    Surface sand samples were collected in eight sites of the Horqin and Otindag deserts located in north to Beijing. BG2003 luminescence spectrograph was used to analyze the emitted photons and characteristic spectra of the selected frequency luminescence were obtained. It was found that high intensities of emitted photons stimulated by heat from 85 degree C-135 degree C and 350 degree C-400 degree C. It belong to the traps of 4.13 eV (300 nm), 4.00 eV (310 nm), 3.88 eV (320 nm) and 2.70 eV (460 nm), and the emitted photons belong to traps of 4.00 eV (310 nm), 3.88 eV (320 nm) and 2.70 eV (460 nm) were stimulated by green laser. And sand samples of the eight sites can respond to the increase of definite radiological dose at each wavelength, which is the characteristic spectrum to provide radiation dosimetry basis for dating. There are definite district characteristic in their characteristic spectra. (authors)

  10. Application of Industrial XRF Coating Thickness Analyzer for Phosphate Coating Thickness on Steel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandr Sokolov

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The results of industrial application of an online X-ray fluorescence coating thickness analyzer for measuring the thickness of phosphate coatings on moving steel strips are considered in the article. The target range of coating thickness to be measured is from tens to hundreds of mg/m2 in a measurement time of 10 s. The measurement accuracy observed during long-duration factory acceptance test was 10–15%. The coating thickness analyzer consists of two XRF gauges, mounted above and below the steel strip and capable of moving across the moving strip system for their suspension and relocation and electronic control unit. Fully automated software was developed to automatically and continuously (24/7 control both gauges, scanning both sides of the steel strip, and develop and test methods for measuring new coatings. It allows performing offline storage and retrieval of the measurement results, remotely controlling the analyzer components and measurement modes from a control room. The developed XRF coating thickness analyzer can also be used for real-time measurement of other types of coatings, both metallic and non-metallic.

  11. Characterization of Films with Thickness Less than 10 nm by Sensitivity-Enhanced Atomic Force Acoustic Microscopy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muraoka Mikio

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract We present a method for characterizing ultrathin films using sensitivity-enhanced atomic force acoustic microscopy, where a concentrated-mass cantilever having a flat tip was used as a sensitive oscillator. Evaluation was aimed at 6-nm-thick and 10-nm-thick diamond-like carbon (DLC films deposited, using different methods, on a hard disk for the effective Young's modulus defined as E/(1 - ν2, where E is the Young's modulus, and ν is the Poisson's ratio. The resonant frequency of the cantilever was affected not only by the film's elasticity but also by the substrate even at an indentation depth of about 0.6 nm. The substrate effect was removed by employing a theoretical formula on the indentation of a layered half-space, together with a hard disk without DLC coating. The moduli of the 6-nm-thick and 10-nm-thick DLC films were 392 and 345 GPa, respectively. The error analysis showed the standard deviation less than 5% in the moduli.

  12. Natural Frequency of F.G. Rectangular Plate by Shear Deformation Theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shahrjerdi, Ali; Sapuan, S M; Shahzamanian, M M; Mustapha, F; Zahari, R; Bayat, M

    2011-01-01

    Natural frequency of functionally graded (F.G.) rectangular plate is carried out by using second-order shear deformation theory (SSDT). The material properties of functionally graded rectangular plates, except the Poisson's ratio, are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the plate in accordance with the exponential law distribution. The equations of motion are obtained by energy method. Numerical results for functionally graded plates are given in dimensionless graphical forms and the effects of material properties on natural frequency are determined.

  13. Studies on Gas Sensing Performance of Pure and Surface Modified SrTiO3 Thick Film Resistors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. B. Gaikwad

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Strontium Titanate (SrTiO3 (ST was prepared mechanochemically from Sr(OH2 and TiO2. XRD confirms the Perovskite phase of material. Thick films of ST were prepared by screen-printing technique. The gas sensing performances of thick films were tested for various gases. It showed maximum sensitivity to CO gas at 350 oC for 100 ppm gas concentration. To improve the sensitivity and selectivity of the film towards a particular gas, ST thick films were surface modified by dipping them in a solution of nano copper for different intervals of time. These surface modified ST films showed larger sensitivity to H2S gas (100 ppm at 300 oC than pure ST film. A systematic study, of sensing performance of the sensor, indicates the key role-played by the nano copper species on the surface .The sensitivity, selectivity, response and recovery time of the sensor were measured and presented.

  14. Cranial vault thickness in primates: Homo erectus does not have uniquely thick vault bones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Copes, Lynn E; Kimbel, William H

    2016-01-01

    Extremely thick cranial vaults have been noted as a diagnostic characteristic of Homo erectus since the first fossil of the species was identified, but relatively little work has been done on elucidating its etiology or variation across fossils, living humans, or extant non-human primates. Cranial vault thickness (CVT) is not a monolithic trait, and the responsiveness of its layers to environmental stimuli is unknown. We obtained measurements of cranial vault thickness in fossil hominins from the literature and supplemented those data with additional measurements taken on African fossil specimens. Total CVT and the thickness of the cortical and diploë layers individually were compared to measures of CVT in extant species measured from more than 500 CT scans of human and non-human primates. Frontal and parietal CVT in fossil primates was compared to a regression of CVT on cranial capacity calculated for extant species. Even after controlling for cranial capacity, African and Asian H. erectus do not have uniquely high frontal or parietal thickness residuals, either among hominins or extant primates. Extant primates with residual CVT thickness similar to or exceeding H. erectus (depending on the sex and bone analyzed) include Nycticebus coucang, Perodicticus potto, Alouatta caraya, Lophocebus albigena, Galago alleni, Mandrillus sphinx, and Propithecus diadema. However, the especially thick vaults of extant non-human primates that overlap with H. erectus values are composed primarily of cortical bone, while H. erectus and other hominins have diploë-dominated vault bones. Thus, the combination of thick vaults comprised of a thickened diploë layer may be a reliable autapomorphy for members of the genus Homo. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Boundaries of dreams, boundaries of dreamers: thin and thick boundaries as a new personality measure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartmann, E

    1989-11-01

    Previous work by the author and his collaborators on frequent nightmare sufferers demonstrated that these people had striking personality characteristics which could be called "thin boundaries" in a number of different senses. In order to measure thin and thick boundaries, a 145-item questionnaire, the Boundary Questionnaire, has been developed which has now been taken by over 1,000 persons. Preliminary results are presented indicating that, as predicted a priori, several new groups of nightmare sufferers and groups of art students scored usually "thin," whereas a group of naval officers had usually "thick" boundaries. Overall, thinness on the Boundary Questionnaire correlated highly positively (r = .40) with frequency of dream recall and also significantly (r = .16) with length of sleep.

  16. A new frequency matching technique for FRF-based model updating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiuming; Guo, Xinglin; Ouyang, Huajiang; Li, Dongsheng

    2017-05-01

    Frequency Response Function (FRF) residues have been widely used to update Finite Element models. They are a kind of original measurement information and have the advantages of rich data and no extraction errors, etc. However, like other sensitivity-based methods, an FRF-based identification method also needs to face the ill-conditioning problem which is even more serious since the sensitivity of the FRF in the vicinity of a resonance is much greater than elsewhere. Furthermore, for a given frequency measurement, directly using a theoretical FRF at a frequency may lead to a huge difference between the theoretical FRF and the corresponding experimental FRF which finally results in larger effects of measurement errors and damping. Hence in the solution process, correct selection of the appropriate frequency to get the theoretical FRF in every iteration in the sensitivity-based approach is an effective way to improve the robustness of an FRF-based algorithm. A primary tool for right frequency selection based on the correlation of FRFs is the Frequency Domain Assurance Criterion. This paper presents a new frequency selection method which directly finds the frequency that minimizes the difference of the order of magnitude between the theoretical and experimental FRFs. A simulated truss structure is used to compare the performance of different frequency selection methods. For the sake of reality, it is assumed that not all the degrees of freedom (DoFs) are available for measurement. The minimum number of DoFs required in each approach to correctly update the analytical model is regarded as the right identification standard.

  17. Effect of catchment properties and flood generation regime on copula selection for bivariate flood frequency analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filipova, Valeriya; Lawrence, Deborah; Klempe, Harald

    2018-02-01

    Applying copula-based bivariate flood frequency analysis is advantageous because the results provide information on both the flood peak and volume. More data are, however, required for such an analysis, and it is often the case that only data series with a limited record length are available. To overcome this issue of limited record length, data regarding climatic and geomorphological properties can be used to complement statistical methods. In this paper, we present a study of 27 catchments located throughout Norway, in which we assess whether catchment properties, flood generation processes and flood regime have an effect on the correlation between flood peak and volume and, in turn, on the selection of copulas. To achieve this, the annual maximum flood events were first classified into events generated primarily by rainfall, snowmelt or a combination of these. The catchments were then classified into flood regime, depending on the predominant flood generation process producing the annual maximum flood events. A contingency table and Fisher's exact test were used to determine the factors that affect the selection of copulas in the study area. The results show that the two-parameter copulas BB1 and BB7 are more commonly selected in catchments with high steepness, high mean annual runoff and rainfall flood regime. These findings suggest that in these types of catchments, the dependence structure between flood peak and volume is more complex and cannot be modeled effectively using a one-parameter copula. The results illustrate that by relating copula types to flood regime and catchment properties, additional information can be supplied for selecting copulas in catchments with limited data.

  18. Optimal thickness of hole transport layer in doped OLEDs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Y.C.; Zhou, J.; Zhao, J.M.; Zhang, S.T.; Zhan, Y.Q.; Wang, X.Z.; Wu, Y.; Ding, X.M.; Hou, X.Y. [Fudan University, Surface Physics Laboratory (National Key Laboratory), Shanghai (China)

    2006-06-15

    Current-voltage (I-V) and electroluminescence (EL) characteristics of organic light-emitting devices with N,N'-Di-[(1-naphthalenyl)-N,N'-diphenyl]-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (NPB) of various thicknesses as the hole transport layer, and tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq{sub 3}) selectively doped with 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) as the electron transport layer, have been investigated. A trapped charge induced band bend model is proposed to explain the I-V characteristics. It is suggested that space charge changes the injection barrier and therefore influences the electron injection process in addition to the carrier transport process. Enhanced external quantum efficiency of the devices due to the electron blocking effect of an inserted NPB layer is observed. The optimal thickness of the NPB layer is experimentally determined to be 12{+-}3 nm in doped devices, a value different from that for undoped devices, which is attributed to the electron trap effect of DCM molecules. This is consistent with the result that the proportion of Alq{sub 3} luminescence in the total electroluminescence (EL) spectra increases with NPB thickness up to 12 nm under a fixed bias. (orig.)

  19. A study of the electromagnetic shielding mechanisms in the GHz frequency range of graphene based composite layers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drakakis, E. [Electrical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Kymakis, E. [Electrical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Center of Materials Technology and Photonics, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Tzagkarakis, G.; Louloudakis, D.; Katharakis, M. [Center of Materials Technology and Photonics, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Kenanakis, G. [Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser (IESL), Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) Hellas, Heraklion (Greece); Suchea, M.; Tudose, V. [Center of Materials Technology and Photonics, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Chemistry Faculty, “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iasi, Iasi (Romania); Koudoumas, E., E-mail: koudoumas@staff.teicrete.gr [Electrical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece); Center of Materials Technology and Photonics, School of Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Heraklion (Greece)

    2017-03-15

    Highlights: • Optimum paint contents should be chosen so that homogeneous and uniform nanocomposite layers exist exhibiting effective electromagnetic shielding. • The electromagnetic shielding in the frequency range studied comes mainly from absorption and increases with frequency. • Reflection reduces with increasing frequency, the decrease rate being smaller than that of the increase in absorption. • The shielding efficiency depends on both conductivity and thickness, the first dependence being more pronounced. - Abstract: We report on the mechanisms of the electromagnetic interference shielding effect of graphene based paint like composite layers. In particular, we studied the absorption and reflection of electromagnetic radiation in the 4–20 GHz frequency of various dispersions employing different amounts of graphene nanoplatelets, polyaniline, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), special attention given on the relative contribution of each process in the shielding effect. Moreover, the influence of the composition, the thickness and the conductivity of the composite layers on the electromagnetic shielding was also examined.

  20. A study of the electromagnetic shielding mechanisms in the GHz frequency range of graphene based composite layers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drakakis, E.; Kymakis, E.; Tzagkarakis, G.; Louloudakis, D.; Katharakis, M.; Kenanakis, G.; Suchea, M.; Tudose, V.; Koudoumas, E.

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Optimum paint contents should be chosen so that homogeneous and uniform nanocomposite layers exist exhibiting effective electromagnetic shielding. • The electromagnetic shielding in the frequency range studied comes mainly from absorption and increases with frequency. • Reflection reduces with increasing frequency, the decrease rate being smaller than that of the increase in absorption. • The shielding efficiency depends on both conductivity and thickness, the first dependence being more pronounced. - Abstract: We report on the mechanisms of the electromagnetic interference shielding effect of graphene based paint like composite layers. In particular, we studied the absorption and reflection of electromagnetic radiation in the 4–20 GHz frequency of various dispersions employing different amounts of graphene nanoplatelets, polyaniline, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), special attention given on the relative contribution of each process in the shielding effect. Moreover, the influence of the composition, the thickness and the conductivity of the composite layers on the electromagnetic shielding was also examined.