Laser stimulated low-temperature crystallization of amorphous silicon

Laser annealing of amorphous silicon (a-Si) at different initial temperatures (77 and 300 K) has been studied. It is established that the laser-stimulated crystallization of silicon is possible at relatively low temperatures. A theoretical model is proposed, which explains this phenomenon by melting via the electron mechanism followed by recrystallization.     

Efficient particle filter-based processing algorithm for clutter suppression and IR point targets enhancement

A novel soft decision-based median subtraction filter is presented for clutter suppression and infrared (IR) point targets enhancement. The decision is made based on a jump Markov model and its state and parameter estimation using a particle filter. The scheme is compared with other conventional clutter background removal techniques and good results are obtained.     

Application of the blind source separation method to feature extraction of machine sound signals

As the result of vibration emission in air, a machine sound signal carries important information about the working condition of machinery. But in practice, the sound signal is typically received with a very low signal-to-noise ratio. To obtain features of the original sound signal, uncorrelated sound signals must be removed and the wavelet coefficients related to fault condition must be retrieved. In this paper, the blind source separation technique is used to recover the wavelet coefficients of a monitored source from complex observed signals. Since in the proposed blind source separation (BSS) algorithms it is generally assumed that the number of sources is known, the Gerschgorin disk estimator method is introduced to determine the number of sound sources before applying the BSS method. This method can estimate the number of sound sources under non-Gaussian and non-white noise conditions. Then, the partial singular value analysis method is used to select these significant observations for BSS analysis. This method ensures that signals are separated with the smallest distortion. Afterwards, the time-frequency separation algorithm, converted to a suitable BSS algorithm for the separation of a non-stationary signal, is introduced. The transfer channel between observations and sources and the wavelet coefficients of the source signals can be blindly identified via this algorithm. The reconstructed wavelet coefficients can be used for diagnosis. Finally, the separation results obtained from the observed signals recorded in a semi-anechoic chamber demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented methods .     

A Shortcut Method for Estimating the HETP of Structured Packed Distillation Columns at Elevated Pressure

A shortcut model is developed for predicting the HETP of a structured packed distillation column operating at elevated pressure. The proposed model incorporates the geometrical parameters of the packing, physical properties of the vapor and liquid phases, and the hydrodynamics of the two‐phase flow. The proposed model is tested and validated by comparing the predicted results with the present experimental data and some published HETP data. The results show that the proposed model can predict the experimental data with a deviation smaller than 20 %.     

Self-reinforced materials based on aluminum nitride

Powder Metallurgy and Metal Ceramics -     

Nucleotide sequence and genome structure of mink enteritis virus

Diabetes mellitus is a common disease. It affects multiple organ systems. Adverse effects of hyperglycemia on infection, fracture healing, and bone remodeling have been recently reported. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical and radiographic results of 93 total hip arthroplasties in 78 consecutive patients with diabetes. All femoral components were cemented using contemporary cementing techniques. Prophylactic antibiotics were given in each case. The mean follow-up period was 4.1 years (range, 2-6.5 years). Ninety-six percent of the hips were rated excellent or good. Radiolucencies were observed in only 3.7% of the stems, while 22.2% of the cups showed radiolucencies. There was a 4% revision incidence. There was no postoperative infection in this series--a distinct improvement from previously reported series. However, complications remained high at 24.3%. The most frequent complication was urinary tract infection (14.2%). The most serious complication was myocardial infarction. The authors believe total hip arthroplasty can be safely performed in patients with diabetes, provided that adequate medical and follow-up evaluations are performed. The medium-term clinical and radiographic follow-up evaluations are not inferior to reported series in patients without diabetes.     

Biofilm adaptation to sulfate reduction in anaerobic immobilized biomass reactors sujected to different COD/sulfate ratios.

Various aspects of biofilm adaptation to sulfate reduction in horizontal-flow anaerobic immobilized biomass (HAIB) reactors subjected to increasing sulfate concentrations and different COD/sulfate ratios are presented and discussed. Four bench-scale HAIB reactors filled with vegetal carbon (R1 and R2) and polyurethane foam matrices (R3 and R4) were utilized. Influent sulfate concentrations ranging from 500 to 3000 mg/L were applied at COD/sulfate ratios ranging from 5.0 to 1.7. Reactors R1 and R4 were operated with higher sulfate loads than those applied to R2 and R3. For the same COD/sulfate ratio, the highest sulfate reduction efficiency (approximately 80%) was displayed by the vegetal carbon reactor (R2) subjected to low sulfate loads. According to the results of our molecular biology analyses, the different support materials provided different biomass colonization conditions. The lowest diversity of sulfate-reducing bacteria was found in the HAIB filled with polyurethane foam matrices operating with high sulfate loads.