Inhibition effect of carbon dioxide on the oxidation of hydrogen over a platinum foil catalyst

This paper investigates the catalytic ignition of the H₂/O₂/CO₂ mixture on platinum in a stagnation flow at atmospheric pressure experimentally and numerically. We measure the ignition temperatures of the gas mixtures flowing towards resistively heated platinum with various composition ratios and various diluent gases of N₂, Ar and CO₂. Compared with N₂ or Ar, the CO₂ dilution shows higher ignition temperature by about 50 K, even at the same composition ratio. The ignition temperature increase is proportional to the dilution ratio. Through the numerical simulation, it is illustrated that higher ignition temperature is caused by the adsorption of CO₂ and following dissociation on platinum surface, which was to date considered negligible in catalytic combustion.     

Panchromatic Chromophore Mixtures in an AlPO4‐5 Molecular Sieve: Spatial Separation Effects and Energy Transfer Cascades

Dye‐loaded AlPO₄‐5 single crystals were prepared by microwave‐assisted hydrothermal synthesis from a batch, containing a mixture of three chromophores (Coumarin 40, Rhodamine BE50, and Oxazine 1) differing in their absorption range, molecular dimensions, and solubilities. Confocal fluorescence images reveal a spatial separation effect of the dye molecules, where the slimmer, more‐soluble dye molecule (Coumarin 40) is uniformly distributed in the body of the single crystal, and the bulky and/or less‐soluble ones (Rhodamine BE50, Oxazine 1) are situated in distinct domains. Visible spectra show good panchromatic absorption of visible light. Fluorescence lifetime measurements indicate the presence of an energy transfer cascade of the entirely fixed dye molecules from Coumarin 40 to Oxazine 1. The transfer mechanism is predominantly radiative.     

A New Approach for Built‐in Self‐Test of 4.5 to 5.5 GHz Low‐Noise Amplifiers

This paper presents a low‐cost RF parameter estimation technique using a new RF built‐in self‐test (BIST) circuit and efficient DC measurement for 4.5 to 5.5 GHz low noise amplifiers (LNAs). The BIST circuit measures gain, noise figure, input impedance, and input return loss for an LNA. The BIST circuit is designed using 0.18 μm SiGe technology. The test technique utilizes input impedance matching and output DC voltage measurements. The technique is simple and inexpensive.     

Jitter considerations in high bit rate digital video signals

While digital signals tend to be more immune to noise as measured in analog systems, other noise related phenomena such as bit errors can cause problems which are equally as undesirable. This paper addresses one such noise artifact which is jitter in a digital bit stream. While the typical method of measuring jitter is with a sampling oscilloscope, a new technique using modulation domain analyzers was used. This method allows direct measurement of the spectral content of jitter. This technique has been used in the telecommunications industry and examples of their specifications are provided     

Enterococcal bacteremia in a medical center

BACKGROUND: The enterococci have become important nosocomial pathogens. They can cause multiple site infections and enterococcal bacteremia becomes more frequently associated with a high mortality rate. Previous studies of enterococcal bacteremia showed a variety of results. To establish the significance and importance of enterococci as nosocomial pathogens in this hospital, to characterize their clinical pictures and to search for the risk factors for mortality, this retrospective study was performed. METHODS: There were 208 cases of enterococcal bacteremia which occurred from 1988 to 1992. Twenty-seven cases had no medical charts, dismissing possibility of evaluation. Finally, 181 cases of enterococcal bacteremia were analysed. RESULTS: One hundred and eighteen episodes were nosocomial infections. Polymicrobial bacteremia occurred in 68.5% of the patients and the most common co-isolate was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Those patients (78.5%) with underlying diseases and malignancies were the most common underlying problems. The portal of entry could be found in 69.6 percent of patients, with the gastrointestinal tract the most common sources. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed high gentamicin resistance rate (89.5%), and ampicillin still had about 80 percent sensitivity rate. The group who received specific antibiotic therapy for enterococcus showed lower mortality (36.4% versus 47.6%). Only one case had infective endocarditis. Forty-nine patients suffered from septic shock, the cause of 30 deaths. Totally 75 patients died during hospitalization. Besides sepsis, another major cause of death was their underlying diseases itself. CONCLUSIONS: Enterococci have no doubt become important nosocomial pathogens and enterococcal bacteremia were associated with high mortality, especially in elderly patients with underlying diseases such as malignancy or diabetes. When clinically dealing with sepsis from the gastrointestinal or biliary tract, especially when previous cephalosporins therapy showed no response, the possibility of enterococcal bacteremia should always be considered.     

Dynamic endocrine testing. The Mayo Clinic model

An endocrine testing center (ETC) is a universal requirement for the practice of endocrinology. Modifications of the Mayo Clinic model for an ETC should be applicable to most endocrine practices. Key components of an ETC include a centralized testing area, registered nurse-physician team, detailed testing protocols, and patient education programs.     

Recording of volume hologram using a beam pattern from taperedoptical fiber

A photorefractive volume hologram was recorded and probed using light diffracted from a tapered optical fiber as a reference beam. A single-mode fiber (SMF) was chemically etched and tapered to give a complicated beam pattern, and it is shown that the tapered optical fiber can be utilized to increase the storage density of the volume hologram. Spatial selectivity of the volume hologram with this method was increased by two times compared to the normal SMF referencing, which is due to the fact that the complicated beam pattern has little correlation with its shifted version     

Gonadal steroids have paradoxical effects on brain oxytocin receptors

Specific brain receptors for oxytocin have been described in several mammalian species. The distribution of these receptors differs greatly across species and in the rat, receptor binding in specific brain regions appears to depend upon gonadal steroids. This study used in vitro receptor autoradiography to examine the effects of testosterone on oxytocin receptor binding in the mouse forebrain. Three groups of male mice were compared: castrates treated with blank capsules, castrates treated with testosterone filled capsules, and intact males. Irrespective of steroid treatment, the distribution of oxytocin receptors in mouse forebrain differed markedly from patterns previously described in the rat. In addition to these species differences in receptor distribution, testosterone had effects in the mouse which differed from the induction of receptors previously reported in the rat. In the mouse ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus, binding in the untreated castrate males was approximately double that observed in either the intact or the testosterone-treated castrates. In other regions of the mouse brain, such as the intermediate zone of the lateral septum, binding to oxytocin receptors was increased with testosterone treatment. These results suggest that the brain oxytocin receptor varies across species not only in its distribution but also in its regional regulation by gonadal steroids. These apparently paradoxical changes in oxytocin receptor binding may result from either direct or indirect effects of gonadal steroids in mouse brain.