The extinction of fires in aircraft jet engines — Part I,small-scale simulation of fires

Three modes of combustion are possible in an aircraft engine fire, and these have been simulated separately in a small wind tunnel.     

Transient emission and generation currents in Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor capacitors

The transient current of an MIS (metal-insulator-silicon) capacitor which is subjected to a voltage step (or pulse) has been investigated. It is shown that the different magnitudes and shapes exhibited by the transient current depend on the initial and final biasing conditions. By varying these conditions the three main contributing current components, namely, surface emission, surface generation and bulk generation can be identified.     

Theory of dynamic charge current and capacitance characteristics in MIS systems containing distributed surface traps

Theoretical studies have been made on the dynamic characteristics of the metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitor containing distributed surface traps. It has been shown that when the surface traps are in dynamic equilibrium with the voltage ramp, the device exhibits steady-state charge, current and capacitance characteristics. When the surface traps are out of equilibrium with the voltage ramp, then the emission of trapped charge is a function of time only and not of voltage. Under such conditions, the characteristics are considered to be non-steady-state in nature.In the steady state, the emission of electrons from a continuum of surface traps accounts for the reduction in the slopes of the C–V curves from the ideal ones. Kinks are manifested when the traps just empty the last of their electrons.In the non-steady state, electron emission can be described by the non-steady-state (time-dependent) occupancy function derived herein, which is shown to be similar in shape to the Fermi function. This means that electron emission takes place from a narrow band of energy positioned near the uppermost-filled traps. Hysteresis effects are manifested in the C–V characteristics due to the non-steady-state emission of trapped charge. At the transition from the steady state to the non-steady state and vice versa, kinks are exhibited in the charge and capacitance characteristics, while step changes in current components are also predicted.The physical processes involved have been stressed and closed-form expressions have been obtained for the charge, current and capacitance in terms of the trapping parameters, sweep-rate and temperature.     

Automation in American libraries

Despite its concentration on technical developments in library science, this survey is offered here because it is relevant to humanists for two reasons: first, that humanists all use libraries and therefore need to encourage their evolution to higher levels of efficiency, and, second, that the procedures outlined here may be of help to humanists in establishing procedures for their own research.     

Rat endometrial Vdup1 expression: changes related to sensitization for the decidual cell reaction and hormonal control

To study the effect of re-immunization against inhibin on ovarian response and hormonal profiles, Japanese beef heifers (n = 5) were re-immunized three times with inhibin vaccine (recombinant ovine inhibin alpha-subunit in oil emulsion, 125 microg ml(-1)) one year after the primary immunization. Control heifers (n = 5) were injected with placebo (Montanide: Marcol adjuvant alone). Oestrous cycles were synchronized by using prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha) and ovarian response was monitored daily by ultrasonography. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture for assessment of hormonal levels and inhibin antibody titres. In contrast to controls, inhibin re-immunized heifers generated antibodies against inhibin rapidly reaching a peak level 9 days after the first booster injection. The mean concentrations of FSH in re-immunized cows increased significantly in comparison with controls. In addition, there was a significant increase in oestradiol-17beta and progesterone levels in re-immunized cows compared with controls. Inhibin re-immunized heifers had a significant increase in small (> or =4 < 7 mm), medium (> or =7 < 10 mm) and large (> or =10 mm in diameter) sized follicles. Moreover, the mean ovulation rate was 5.0 +/- 1.1 after the third booster injection in re-immunized heifers compared with control heifers (single ovulation). These results clearly demonstrate that re-immunization of inhibin can be used to enhance ovarian follicular development and ovulation rate. Furthermore, the great number of follicles is a potential source of oocytes that could be harvested for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer programmes.     

Measuring computer software reliability

Under certain conditions, traditional hypothesis-testing techniques may be used as a management tool by software developers or software purchasers who wish to insure that their packages have some specified reliability level. These conditions are: (1) the existence of independent collections of test data, (2) a way of determining the correctness of processing of these collections, and (3) a way of randomly selecting test data.Two basic approaches have been described. In a fixed sample size test, the user decides on the reliability desired. He can then determine the number of test cases which must be examined and the acceptance/rejection criteria. In a sequential test, the desired reliability level is again pre-determined, but samples are tested one at a time until an accept/reject decision can be made.Experiments with a large amount of error data derived from six separate systems indicate that reliability results derived from these models are consistent with actual reliability figures.Most current acceptance procedures are based on a naive assumption that a large program can be exhaustively tested and delivered in an error-free condition. Because these expectations cannot be fulfilled, the manager of a software development project or the purchaser of a software product is provided with no quantitative information on which to base an acceptance decision and is thus forced to make these decisions based mostly on intuition and his own experience in similar situations. These models allow one to replace these intuition-based decisions with quantitatively-based decisions and thus constitute an important contribution to the science of management of software development efforts.     

Effects of water and other dielectrics on crack growth

Effects of water and a variety of organic liquids on crack-growth rates in soda-lime-silica glass was investigated. When water is present in organic liquids, it is usually the principal agent that promotes subcritical crack growth in glass. In region I, subcritical crack growth is controlled primarily by the chemical potential of the water in the liquid; whereas in region II, crack growth is controlled by the concentration of water and the viscosity of the solution formed by the water and the organic liquid. In region III, where water does not affect crack growth, the slope of the crack-growth curves can be correlated with the dielectric constant of the liquid. It is suggested that these latter results can be explained by electrostatic interactions between the environment and charges that form during the rupture of Si-O bonds.     

Freeze-dried strawberry powder improves lipid profile and lipid peroxidation in women with metabolic syndrome: baseline and post intervention effects

Background  

Strawberry flavonoids are potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents that have been shown to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors in prospective cohort studies. Effects of strawberry supplementation on metabolic risk factors have not been studied in obese populations. We tested the hypothesis that freeze-dried strawberry powder (FSP) will lower fasting lipids and biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation at four weeks compared to baseline. We also tested the tolerability and safety of FSP in subjects with metabolic syndrome. FSP is a concentrated source of polyphenolic flavonoids, fiber and phytosterols.