Introduction to geothermal exploration on ascension island, South Atlantic Ocean

The exploration for a geothermal resource on Ascension Island utilized a strategy that initially employed geologic mapping. On the basis of this, subsurface faults were mapped using an aeromagnetic survey. The faults were then explored using electrical resistivity surveys to define areas of potential hydrothermal fluid up-welling. The results of all of these techniques were used to site temperature gradient holes. A deep geothermal exploration well was then drilled in the area with highest heat flow adjacent to a rhyolite-to-trachyte volcanic complex.     

Simultaneous visualisation of biofouling, organic and inorganic particle fouling on separation membranes.

Fouling is a major problem in membrane processes of water treatment. It can be caused by the deposition of inorganic and organic particulate material, and of microbial cells which may subsequently form biofilms. In practice, usually more than one foulant participates in the formation of membrane deposits. Knowledge of the composition of fouling layers is important for the development of appropriate countermeasures. For this purpose, an experimental system was established for the generation and microscopic visualisation of mixed deposits, using fluorescently labelled model foulants: (i) drinking-water bacteria stained with nucleic acid-specific dyes (biofouling), (ii) synthetic clay mineral laponite stained with rhodamine 6G (inorganic particle fouling), and (iii) fluorescently labelled polystyrene microspheres (organic particle fouling). Polycarbonate and polyethersulfone membranes were challenged with these foulants by dead-end filtration. On the basis of different fluorescent labels, the single foulants in these mixed deposits could be visualised separately by confocal laser scanning microscopy which, in combination with image analysis, allowed the generation of three-dimensional views of the complete deposits. This method offers the possibility for the estimation of quantitative surface coverage by foulants and for the determination of the efficacy of cleaning measures with respect to the removal of different foulants.     

What is a free name in a process algebra?

There are two popular approaches to specifying the semantics of process algebras: labelled transition semantics and reaction semantics. While the notion of free name is rather unproblematic for labelled transition semantics this is not so for reaction semantics in the presence of a structural congruence for unfolding recursive declarations.We show that the standard definition of free name is not preserved under the structural congruence. We then develop a fixed point approach to the set of free names and show that it is invariant under the structural congruence.     

Long-term evaluation of the ventricular defibrillation energy requirement

INTRODUCTION: Defibrillation energy requirements in patients with nonthoracotomy defibrillators may increase within several months after implantation. However, the stability of the defibrillation energy requirement beyond 1 year has not been reported. The purpose of this study was to characterize the defibrillation energy requirement during 2 years of clinical follow-up. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty-one consecutive patients with a biphasic nonthoracotomy defibrillation system underwent defibrillation energy requirement testing using a step-down technique (20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 J) during defibrillator implantation, and then 24 hours, 2 months, 1 year, and 2 years after implantation. The mean defibrillation energy requirement during these evaluations was 10.9+/-5.5 J, 12.3+/-7.3 J, 11.7+/-5.6 J, 10.2+/-4.0 J, and 11.7+/-7.4 J, respectively (P = 0.4). The defibrillation energy requirement was noted to have increased by 10 J or more after 2 years of follow-up in five patients. In one of these patients, the defibrillation energy requirement was no longer associated with an adequate safety margin, necessitating revision of the defibrillation system. There were no identifiable clinical characteristics that distinguished patients who did and did not develop a 10-J or more increase in the defibrillation energy requirement. CONCLUSION: The mean defibrillation energy requirement does not change significantly after 2 years of biphasic nonthoracotomy defibrillator system implantation. However, approximately 15% of patients develop a 10-J or greater elevation in the defibrillation energy requirement, and 3% may require a defibrillation system revision. Therefore, a yearly evaluation of the defibrillation energy requirement may be appropriate.     

Definition of the specific roles of lysolecithin and palmitic acid in altering the susceptibility of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers to phospholipase A2

Bilayers composed of phosphatidylcholine initially resist catalysis by phospholipase A2. However, after a latency period, they become susceptible when sufficient reaction products (lysolecithin and fatty acid) accumulate in the membrane. Temperature near the main bilayer phase transition and calcium concentration modulate the effectiveness of the reaction products. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual contributions of lysolecithin and palmitic acid to the susceptibility of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine vesicles and to rationalize the effects of temperature and calcium. Various fluorescent probes (Prodan, Laurdan, pyrene-labeled fatty acid, and dansyl-labeled phospholipid) were used to assess changes in the ability of the reaction products to perturb the bilayer and to affect the interactions with the enzyme. Un-ionized palmitic acid decreased bilayer polarity and perturbed the membrane surface exposing some of the Prodan to bulk water. Lysolecithin increased bilayer polarity and the rate of dipolar relaxation in response to the excited states of Laurdan and Prodan. A combination of the individual contributions of each product was observed when palmitic acid and lysolecithin were present together at low calcium, and the effects of lysolecithin dominated at high calcium. Palmitic acid, but not lysolecithin, promoted the binding of phospholipase A2 to the bilayer surface in the absence of calcium. Lysolecithin reduced the ability of fatty acid to enhance binding apparently by altering the structure of fatty acid domains in the membrane. Furthermore, increased temperature and ionization of the fatty acid tended to cause segregation of bound phospholipase A2 into domains poor in phospholipid content which presumably impeded bilayer hydrolysis. In contrast, un-ionized palmitic acid and lysolecithin promoted hydrolysis by augmenting a step distal to the adsorption of enzyme to the bilayer. This kinetic response to lysolecithin was calcium-dependent. A model accounting for these varied influences of the reaction products is presented.     

How good are clinical MEDLINE searches? A comparative study of clinical end-user and librarian searches

The objective of this study was to determine the quality of MEDLINE searches done by physicians, physician trainees, and expert searchers (clinicians and librarians). Its design was an analytic survey with independent replication in a setting of self-service online searching from medical wards, an intensive care unit, a coronary care unit, an emergency room, and an ambulatory clinic in a 300-bed teaching hospital. Participating were all M.D. clinical clerks, house, and attending staff responsible for patients in the above settings. Intervention for all participants consisted of a 2-h small group class and 1-h practice session on MEDLINE searching (GRATEFUL MED) before free access to MEDLINE. Search questions from 104 randomly selected novice searches were given to 1 of 13 clinicians with prior search experience and 1 of 3 librarians to run independent searches (triplicated searches). Measurements and main results from these unique citations of the triplicated searches were sent to expert clinicians to rate for relevance (7-point scale). Recall (number of relevant citations retrieved from an individual search divided by the total number of relevant citations from all searches on the same topic) and precision (proportion of relevant citations retrieved in each search) were calculated. Librarians were significantly better than novices for both. Librarians had equivalent recall to, and better precision than, experienced end-users. Unexpectedly, only 20% of relevant citations were retrieved by more than one search of the set of three, with the conclusion that novice searchers on MEDLINE via GRATEFUL MED after brief training have relatively low recall and precision. Recall improves with experience but precision remains suboptimal. Further research is needed to determine the "learning curve," evaluate training interventions, and explore the non-overlapping retrieval of relevant citations by different searchers.     

Utilizing biomass and waste for power production—a decade of contributing to the understanding, interpretation and analysis of deposits and corrosion products

Through the years, Danish utilities have gained significant knowledge on how to minimize or even avoid ash deposition problems in utility boilers, firing a worldwide suite of high-volatile bituminous coals. In the early 1990s, the Danish Government decided on a 20% reduction in the CO₂-emission before the year 2005, based on the 1988-level. Biomass is considered CO₂-neutral due to its short time of regeneration, compared to fossil fuels. Thus, the Danish power producers are enjoined to burn 1.0 Mtonnes of straw, 0.2 Mtonnes of wood chips and 0.2 Mtonnes of straw/wood chips (free choice) every year beyond year 2005. As a consequence of this, the CHEC Research Centre, Department of Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, being partly funded by the Danish power utilities, has during the last decade, investigated ash and deposit formation, and corrosion, in utility boilers fired with coal, petcoke, orimulsion, and different types of biomass (straw (barley, rape and wheat), wood (beech, spruce, fibreboard, bark and waste wood), shea nuts, olive stones, etc.). A number of reviews of these full-scale measuring campaigns have been provided in the open literature. Recently, a project on the formation of ash and deposits in waste incinerators has been initiated.This paper summarizes our findings, including recent activities on: (1) deposit formation during coal-wheat straw co-firing in suspension-fired boilers; (2) a pilot-scale study of ash and deposit formation in the Sandia Multi-Fuel Combustor (MFC); (3) a full-scale measuring campaign dealing with the effect of co-firing of biomass on the ash and deposit formation; (4) a full-scale measuring campaign addressing low-temperature corrosion of tubes in the air pre-heater of a straw-fired utility boiler; (5) a lab-scale study of the corrosion of superheater materials in straw-fired utility boilers, and, finally; (6) a fundamental study on ash and deposit formation in municipal solid waste incinerators. The paper provides insight into the experience gained on ash, deposit and corrosion formation in thermal fuel conversion systems fired with solid non-fossil fuels, and focuses attention on how these results fit into our current understanding of this subject. A complete and updated list of references covering our research activities within this area during the last decade is provided. In addition, a brief overview of current and future research activities is provided.     

Static analysis of topology-dependent broadcast networks

Broadcast semantics poses significant challenges over point-to-point communication when it comes to formal modelling and analysis. Current approaches to analysing broadcast networks have focused on fixed connectivities, but this is unsuitable in the case of wireless networks where the dynamically changing network topology is a crucial ingredient. In this paper, we develop a static analysis that automatically constructs an abstract transition system, labelled by actions and connectivity information, to yield a mobility-preserving finite abstraction of the behaviour of a network expressed in a process calculus with asynchronous local broadcast. Furthermore, we use model checking based on a 3-valued temporal logic to distinguish network behaviour which differs under changing connectivity patterns.