A comparative study of human skin thermal response to sapphirecontact and cryogen spray cooling

Surface cooling, in conjunction with various thermally mediated therapeutic procedures, can provide a means to protect superficial tissues from injury while achieving destruction of deeper targeted structures. We have investigated the thermal response of in-vivo human skin to: (1) contact cooling with a sapphire window (6-12°C); and (2) spray cooling with a freon substitute cryogen [tetrafluoroethane; boiling point ≈-26°C at 1 atmospheric pressure (atm)]. Measurements utilizing infrared radiometry show surface temperature reductions from 30°C to 14-19°C are obtained within approximately is in response to sapphire contact cooling. Surface temperature reductions to values between 5°C and -9°C are obtained in response to 20-100-ms cryogen spurts. Computational results, based on fitting the measured radiometric surface temperature to estimate heat transfer parameters, show: (1) temperature reductions remain localized to approximately 200 μm of superficial tissue; and (2) values of heat flux and total energy removed per unit skin surface area at least doubled when using cryogen spray cooling     

Effect of the particle size ratio on the conductivity of conductor-insulator powder composites: Numerical simulation

A theoretical method for determining the percolation limit and effective conductivity of composites based on polydisperse mixtures of insulator and conductor powders is proposed. The effect of the particle size ratio between the insulator and conductor on the percolation limit and effective conductivity is studied. Numerical simulation of the microstructure, effective properties, and percolation limit in composites is discussed. __________ Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, Vol. 46, No. 1–2(453), pp. 31–40, 2007.     

A new approach to the decomposition of Boolean functions by the method of <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-partitions. III. Joint decomposition of a function system

The paper considers the set-theoretical approach to the joint decomposition of systems of Boolean functions of variables specified in different representation forms. The approach is based on the method of q-partitions of conjuncterms and concept of decomposition clones. Theorems on joint decomposition of a system of full and partial functions are formulated. The approach is illustrated by examples. Parts I and II of this article are published in No. 5 (2001) and No. 1 (2002). __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 2, pp. 39–58, March–April 2007.     

Statistical analysis of uniform-sampling phase-locked loops based on Volterra functional expansions

With the use of Volterra functional expansions in the domain of the multidimensional z transform, discrete uniform-sampling analogues of digital phase-locked loops of the first, second, and (N + 2)th orders with a delay of N sampling periods are analyzed.     

Combustion of boron-containing condensed systems

Moscow. Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 51–53, January–February, 1992.     

Surface Morphology of Heat-Treated Ceramic Thin Films

The morphology of surfaces of several ceramic materials has been examined using transmission electron microscopy. The approach used was to prepare a sample for examination in the microscope, carefully clean it, and then heat-treat it. In the case of the oxides studied (alumina and spinel) the samples were heated in air; the non-oxides (α-SiC and β -SiC) were annealed under vacuum. The morphology in all but one case was such that the surface faceted parallel to the nearest low-index plane to give well-defined terraces; these were separated by ledges which also tended to facet parallel to the traces of low-index planes. The exception was the {1100} alumina surface, which appears to be unstable in air at temperatures close to 1400°C. A computer program using a multislice approach was used to estimate the height of the steps on the (0001) surface; the step heights appear to be multiples of the c lattice parameter. A reconstruction of this surface as a result of this heat treatment is also proposed.