Comparison of measurements made with two different instruments of the same atmospheric vertical profile

The validation of atmospheric remote-sensing measurements involves the comparison of vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents obtained by different instruments. This operation is a complex one because it has to take into account the measurement errors that are described by the variance-covariance matrices and the different features of the two observing systems that are described by the averaging kernels. The procedure is discussed and a method of comparison that is rigorous and does not involve degradation of the available information is developed by use of the formalism of functional spaces. The functional spaces that can be used for representation of the two profiles are reviewed, and criteria are determined for the choice of the most convenient functional space to minimize degradation of the measurements. Once the functional spaces are chosen, the components of the profiles are compared in the intersection space of these two functional spaces. If the intersection space coincides with the null vector, a pseudointersection space with useful geometrical properties can be used instead. A test of the method is made with a realistic simulation. In the test the profiles retrieved by two real instruments are simulated and quantitatively compared.     

Simple portable lens meter

A device measuring the optical power of simple lenses by means of moiré phenomena is described. The relevant equations are derived, and a working instrument is presented. A power measuring accuracy better than 0.25 m(-1) in the range of +/- 10 m(-1) is demonstrated.     

Detection of DNA sequence variations in homo- and heterozygous samples via molecular mass measurements by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The potential of ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on-line hyphenated to electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the characterization of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified nucleic acids was evaluated. For that purpose, a "SNP toolbox" was constructed by cloning and PCR-mediated site-directed in vitro mutagenesis at nucleotide position (ntp) 16,519 of a sequence-verified fragment of the human mitochondrial genome (ntps 15,900-599). Confirmatory sequencing demonstrated that within the sequences of the clones one and the same base was mutated to all other bases. Using these clones or equimolar mixtures of these clones as PCR templates, 51-401-bp-long amplicons were generated, which were used to determine the upper size limits of PCR products for the unequivocal detection of sequence variations in homo- and heterozygous samples. Based on the high mass spectrometric performance of the applied time-of-flight mass spectrometer, the unequivocal genotyping of all kinds of single base exchanges in PCR amplicons from heterozygous samples with lengths up to 254 base pairs (bp) was demonstrated. Considering homozygous samples, the successful genotyping of single base substitutions in up to 401-bp-long PCR products was possible. Consequently, the described hyphenated technique represents one of the most powerful mass spectrometric genotyping assays available today.     

Automatic Window Repositioning Technique for Digital Window Comparator Used Within Mixed-Signal Design-for Testability Schemes

The construction of digital window comparators for the on-chip evaluation of analogue signals within the mixed-signal integrated circuit is reviewed. One of the difficulties in their application is due to the lot-to-lot variation of the comparator window. A technique that allows the automatic window repositioning is described by which the window shift can be compensated. For this automatic compensation a so-called reference comparator is required. From the reference comparator the control signal are derived to select the actual configuration of the used evaluation comparators. It is shown, that this technique allows the automatic lot condition adjustment of the evaluation comparators by repositioning the windows of those comparators. As a synergy effect this technique provides lot specific information for an automated test equipment that can be documented in the test results for further diagnosis and traceability capabilities.Daniela De Venuto received the master degree in 1989 in Electronic Engineering at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy. In 1992 she obtained the Ph.D. degree for a thesis entitled: Fault diagnosis in digital integrated circuits by pulsed electron beam. In 1994 Dr. De Venuto took a post-doctoral position at the Politecnico di Bari. She became assistant professor in 1995 at the University of Lecce, Italy. Currently she is professor of Electronics at the Politecnico di Bari, Italy, teaching courses in Automatic Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems and Analog Electronics.In 2000 she was on sabbatical leave at the Laboratoire dElectronique Generale at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. During this stay she worked in the area of Hall sensor interface design in SOI technology. Actually she is visiting lecturer at the Centre for Microsystems Engineering, University of Lancaster, UK, where she started a collaboration on the design and test and design for testability of delta sigma converter. Since 2003 she is also Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington (Seattle). She is member of National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and she is also involved in CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) project, for test of radiation hardened analogue front-ends of pixel-detector. She is IEEE member and also member of the Editorial Board of Microelctronics Journal. Her research interests include the design and test of analogue ICs, design for testability for analogue and mixed-signal circuits as well as silicon solid-state detector design and characterisation.Michael J. Ohletz graduated in high frequency electrical engineering at the Fachhochschule Osnabrück, Germany, in 1977 and at the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1982. From 1982–1983 he was working at the cooperate research and development centre of Siemens AG in Munich, Germany. Between 1983– 1989 he was research assistant at the Institute for Electrodynamics at the University of Hannover where he received the Dr.-Ing. degree (PhD) for a thesis about the Hybrid Built-In Self-Test (HBIST) for mixed-signal ICs. Since 1989 Dr. Ohletz was project manager at the Information Technology Lab, and head of the analogue and mixed-signal design&test group. In 1998 he joined the R&D staff of Alcatel Microelectronics in Brussels, Belgium, as project and design methodology leader for high-voltage, mixed-signal ASICs for industrial and automotive applications. Between 2000 and 2002 he was program manager for automotive products. Currently Dr. Ohletz is manager for the whole program management of all mixed-signal ASIC products in Europe including automotive, industrial and computer/ consumer ASIC products at AMI Semiconductor in Vilvoorde, Belgium. His research interests include design, test and design methodology of high-voltage integrated mixed-signal circuits. In particular his interest is on automotive sensor applications. Beside this Dr. Ohletz serves as a reviewer for various international journals, conferences and workshops. He also is a peer referee for different national research councils in Europe and North America as well as for the Commission of the European Union.Bruno Riccò was born in Parma (Italy) on February 8, 1947. In 1971 he graduated in electrical engineering at the University of Bologna (Italy) and in 1975 received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (U.K.) where he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1980 he became Full Professor of Applied Electronics at the University of Padua (Italy) and in 1983 he joined the University of Bologna (Italy). Since 1978 he has been holding courses on Electron Devices, Digital Integrated Electronics, Semiconductor Technology, IC Reliability and Testing. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of Stanford, at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights) and at the University of Washington. From 1986 to 1996 he has been European Editor of the IEEE Transaction on Electron Devices. Nominated Senior Member of the IEEE in 1991, 1n 1995 he received the G. Marconi Award by the Italian Association of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (AEI), for his research in electronics. In 1996 he became President of the Group of Electron Devices, Technologies and Circuits of AEI and in 1998 became President of the Italian Group of Electronics Engineers. In 1999 he was appointed European representative for the International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM). In 2000 he has become Vice-President of the North Italy Section of IEEE. In 1999 he has founded the first university spin-off in Italy working in the field of advanced digital systems. Prof. Ricco has been consulting for major semiconductor companies and for the Commission of the European Union in the definition, evaluation and review of research projects in microelectronics. Form a scientific point of view, Prof. Ricco has worked in the field of solid-state devices and ICs. In particular, he has made many contributions to the understanding and modeling of electron transport, tunneling in thin insulating films, silicon dioxide physics, MOSFETs physics, latch-up in CMOS structures, device modeling and simulation. He is currently working also in the field of IC design, evaluation and testing. Prof. Ricco is (co-) author of over 270 publications, more than half of which have published on major international Journals, of three books and of 6 patents in the field of Non-Volatile memories.     

Nonlinear optical absorption of ZnO doped with copper nanoparticles in the picosecond and nanosecond pulse laser field

The nonlinear absorption of nanocomposite layers based on ZnO implanted with Cu+ ions with an energy of 160 keV in implantation doses of 10(16) and 10(17) ions/cm2 was investigated. The values of the nonlinear absorption coefficient were measured by the Z-scan method at a wavelength of 532 nm by use of nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses. Possible optical applications of these materials are discussed.     

Evaluation of toxic agent effects on lung cells by fiber evanescent wave spectroscopy

Biochemical changes in living cells are detected using a fiber probe system composed of a single chalcogenide fiber acting as both the sensor and transmission line for infrared optical signals. The signal is collected via evanescent wave absorption along the tapered sensing zone of the fiber. We spectroscopically monitored the effects of the surfactant Triton X-100, which serves as a toxic agent simulant on a transformed human lung carcinoma type II epithelial cell line (A549). We observe spectral changes between 2800-3000 cm(-1) in four absorptions bands, which are assigned to hydrocarbon vibrations of methylene and methyl groups in membrane lipids. Comparison of fiber and transmission spectra shows that the present technique allows one to locally probe the cell plasma membrane in the lipid spectral region. These optical responses are correlated with cellular metabolic activity measurements and LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) release assays that indicate a loss of cellular function and membrane integrity as would be expected in response to the membrane solubilizing Triton. The spectroscopic technique shows a significantly greater detection resolution in time and concentration.     

Sources of Chemical Signals which Enhance Multiparasitism Preference by a Cleptoparasitoid

The cleptoparasitoid Eupelmus vuilleti recognizes and prefers laying on hosts parasitized by Dinarmus basalis to unparasitized hosts. This recognition is based on the perception of a chemical substance deposited on the surface of the seed. Dufour’s gland secretion and cuticular hydrocarbons of D. basalis are attractive and may mediate the host discrimination. This activity is linked to a mixture of linear and methyl alkanes whose source is apparently the Dufour’s gland.     

Baker's yeast-mediated synthesis of endo-2-cineolylol, a starting compound for potential cosmetic odourants

Synopsis
Baker's yeast-mediated reduction of (+)-1,3,3-trimethyl-2-oxabicyclo[2,2,2]octan-6-one yields the corresponding 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-oxabicyclo[2,2,2]octan-6-ol as endo configuration in optically pure form. To study the reaction behaviour we have developed a RP-HPLC method. The synthesis and the olfactive character of some esters obtained from the endo -2-cineolylol are reported. A comparative odour evaluation between these esters and the corresponding compounds synthesized from the endo-exo alcohol mixture was performed.
Résumé
La réduction de (+)-1,3,3-triméthyl-2-oxabicyclo[2,2,2]octan-6-one par la lévure conduit au 1,3,3-triméthyl [2,2,2]octan-6-ol correspondant, de configuration endo avec une forme optique pure. On a développé une méthode RP-HPLC pour enregistrer le comportement de la réaction. La synthèse et le caractère olfactif des esters obtenus de cet alcool sont rapportés.. On a comparé l'évaluation de l'odeur de ces composés avec celle des composés correspondants, dérivés du mélange endo-eso des alcools.     

Relatively brief environmental enrichment aids recovery of learning capacity and alters brain measures after postweaning brain lesions in rats.

Two experiments showed that enriched postlesion experience aided in overcoming effects of simultaneous bilateral cerebral lesions made at 30 days of age in 64 male inbred Fischer rats (Exp I) and 60 male Berkeley S-sub-1 rats (Exp II). The lesions were directed to the occipital cortex, but in most cases there was also some impairment of the hippocampus. For 60 days after operations, half of the Ss lived in small individual cages and half lived in groups in large enriched-environment cages. They were then pretrained and tested on the standard 12 Hebb-Williams problems. Daily injections of methamphetamine (vs saline) during the period of differential experience in Exp I had no effect on the behavioral scores. Exp II included groups that received only 2 hrs/day of enriched experience, and they benefited as much as groups that remained in the enriched environment 24 hrs/day. Results demonstrate significant beneficial effects of environment when bilateral lesions were made at a later age and when the periods of enriched experience were shorter than have previously been tested. Two additional experiments with 112 Berkeley S-sub-1 rats revealed significant effects of both lesions and environment on weight and RNA/DNA of brain regions. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)