Unexpected transient creep behavior of tin alloys strengthened by high volume fractions of SbSn

An unexpected transient creep behavior characterized by a stress exponent of 1 was observed at low stresses in tin alloys strengthened by large volume fractions (>15 pct) of the precipitate SbSn. By way of solid-state precipitation, SbSn forms as high-aspect ratio whiskers. At large volume fractions, whiskers are both directly and indirectly observed to be in direct contact with multiple other whiskers. The transient creep behavior is attributed to a phase-boundary-enhanced diffusional creep mechanism, possibly diffusional creep along continuous phase-boundary paths between tin grain boundaries. It is thought that the creep behavior is, in fact, a “steady-state” behavior characteristic of the initial microstructure. The ultimate transient nature is due to precipitate coarsening occurring with time during the creep test.     

采用斐索(Fizeau)激光波长计进行激光强度稳定性的测量

本文提出了用斐索(Fizeau)激光波长计测量激光强度稳定性的新方法,扩展了斐索激光波长计的使用功能。文中还给出了对连续波环形染料激光器激光强度短期稳定性的测量结果。     

KCX-1型快速齿科手机消毒器

口腔齿科手机是HBV、HCV、HIV等血液传播性疾病和消化道传染病的传播媒介。采用激光泵浦光源在辐射过程中产生的瞬间高温、丰富的光谱分布的强光作为载体,对齿科手机进行快速、彻底、无损伤的消毒灭菌。     

UV induced erythema evaluated 24 h post-exposure by skin reflectance and laser Doppler flowmetry is identical in healthy persons and patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma and basal cell cancer

Twenty-one patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma and 19 patients with basal cell skin cancer and 29 healthy volunteers were phototested on non-UV exposed buttock skin to examine their 24 h reaction to a series of increasing doses of simulated sunlight with 25% dose increments. Skin pigmentation at the phototest sites was determined by skin reflectance before testing to assure an equal level of constitutive skin pigmentation in the 3 groups. Erythema reactions were scored visually 24 hours post-exposure and objective measurements of erythema were performed by skin reflectance and laser Doppler flowmetry. In adjacent non-irradiated skin the redness was also quantified to determine the increase in redness in irradiated skin compared to non-irradiated skin. Constitutional skin pigmentation correlated well to UV sensitivity (r = 0.75) and skin redness measured by skin reflectance technique correlated to laser Doppler flowmetry (r = 0.86). No significant differences in UV doses to barely perceptible erythema or to the higher erythema grades were found between the two skin tumour groups and the control group, and no significant differences were found in skin reflectance measured redness or in laser Doppler flowmetry of any erythema reactions between the 3 groups. The 24 h erythema reaction to sunlight can therefore not be used to distinguish patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma or basal cell carcinoma from normal persons.     

声光调QCO_2激光器的理论计算和实验研究

采用谐振腔内插入声光调制器的方法进行了小型CO2激光器的调Q实验,并根据影响激光器输出的诸多因素,利用调Q脉冲激光器速率方程对该激光器输出的主要技术参数进行了理论计算,据此提出了声光调QCO2激光器优化设计的途径和方法。设计制成的声光调QCO2激光器获得峰值功率超过4000 W,激光脉冲宽度为180 ns,与理论计算基本一致。激光器脉冲重复频率调节范围1 Hz~100 kHz。理论分析和实验结果均证明,调Q晶体中超声场的渡越时间并不会影响输出激光的脉冲宽度,因此无需在腔内插入光学透镜进行光束直径的压缩变换;渡越时间的影响只是体现在延长了激光脉冲的建立时间上;激光器的最佳工作频率在1 kHz左右,这与CO2分子0001能级大约1 ms的辐射寿命相匹配,当频率超过1 kHz时,激光的脉冲宽度随着频率的增加而开始加宽。激光器通过光栅选线的设计方式实现了9.2~10.8μm的全波段波长调谐,测得激光输出谱线超过60条。     

Salt appetite is enhanced by one prior episode of sodium depletion in the rat.

A single sodium depletion enhances the salt appetite that is expressed after a second and subsequent sodium depletions. The enhanced salt intake, as measured by a decrease in latency to drink and an increase in volume of 3% NaCl ingested, is not accounted for by an increased sodium loss. The enhanced salt intake occurs even when the interval between first and second depletion is as long as 4 months. The enhanced salt appetite does not depend on the drinking of salt after the animal's first sodium depletion and is specific for strong 0.52 M NaCl but not for 0.52 M KCl. Moreover, it can be produced without sodium depletion by the actions of the hormones aldosterone and angiotensin on the brain. These results suggest that angiotensin and aldosterone, which are released in response to sodium depletion, (a) increase renal sodium conservation, (b) evoke a salt appetite to restore the lost sodium, and (c) produce enduring changes in the brain that prepare it for more rapid and more vigorous expression of salt appetite in response to future sodium depletions. Thus the neural mechanisms that govern salt appetite are not only activated by the hormones of sodium conservation but appear also to be organized by them for a lifelong increase in avidity for salty substances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isothermal solidification of Cu/Sn diffusion couples to form thin-solder joints

Isothermal solidification of conventional Cu/Sn diffusional couples was performed to form thin (30 μm) joints consisting of Cu-Sn intermetallics. During initial stages of isothermal solidification, both Cu₆Sn₅ and Cu₃Sn phases grow, even though the former is the dominant. After consumption of all available Sn, the Cu₃Sn phase grows reactively at the expense of Cu and Cu₆Sn₅. Finally, we obtain solder joints that consist of only Cu₃Sn. Indentation fracture-toughness measurements show that Cu₃Sn is superior to Cu₆Sn₅. Furthermore, indentations of Cu₃Sn exhibit the presence of shear bands, which are not observed in Cu₆Sn₅, implying that the former is more ductile than the latter. Ductile intermetallic-based joints formed by isothermal solidification are promising candidates to form thin (as thin as 5–10 μm or less) solder joints, as they are thermally and thermodynamically stable compared to conventional solder joints. Excess copper in the interconnect provides ductility to the interconnect.     

Time to clinical stability in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: implications for practice guidelines

CONTEXT: Many groups have developed guidelines to shorten hospital length of stay in pneumonia in order to decrease costs, but the length of time until a patient hospitalized with pneumonia becomes clinically stable has not been established. OBJECTIVE: To describe the time to resolution of abnormalities in vital signs, ability to eat, and mental status in patients with community-acquired pneumonia and assess clinical outcomes after achieving stability. DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study. SETTING: Three university and 1 community teaching hospital in Boston, Mass, Pittsburgh, Pa, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. PATIENTS: Six hundred eighty-six adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time to resolution of vital signs, ability to eat, mental status, hospital length of stay, and admission to an intensive care, coronary care, or telemetry unit. RESULTS: The median time to stability was 2 days for heart rate (< or =100 beats/min) and systolic blood pressure (> or =90 mm Hg), and 3 days for respiratory rate (< or =24 breaths/min), oxygen saturation (> or =90%), and temperature (< or =37.2 degrees C [99 degrees F]). The median time to overall clinical stability was 3 days for the most lenient definition of stability and 7 days for the most conservative definition. Patients with more severe cases of pneumonia at presentation took longer to reach stability. Once stability was achieved, clinical deterioration requiring intensive care, coronary care, or telemetry monitoring occurred in 1% of cases or fewer. Between 65% to 86% of patients stayed in the hospital more than 1 day after reaching stability, and fewer than 29% to 46% were converted to oral antibiotics within 1 day of stability, depending on the definition of stability. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimates of time to stability in pneumonia and explicit criteria for defining stability can provide an evidence-based estimate of optimal length of stay, and outline a clinically sensible approach to improving the efficiency of inpatient management.     

Conservative management of penetrating and blunt Type III renal injuries

This study examines whether, while controlling for local economic conditions, job design and other organizational factors affect facility aide turnover rates in a sample of 250 nursing homes from 10 states. Facility characteristics were largely based on administrator and director of nursing interviews conducted in 1993 as part of the Health Care Financing Administration's evaluation of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) implementation. Aide turnover was significantly reduced by involvement in interdisciplinary care plan meetings. Turnover rates were higher in for-profit homes. Aide involvement in assessments, aide training and workload, case mix severity, payor source mix, and facility size were not significantly related to aide turnover.