The fourth amendment and emerging communications technologies

The key US Supreme Court case that addresses the constitutionality of government surveillance is nearly four decades old. This overview considers how technological developments have strained the prevailing legal framework and highlights areas for reform.     

Constriction resistance at high signal frequencies

This paper describes the dependence of constriction resistance on signal frequency. This dependence was calculated for circular constrictions ranging in diameter from 10 to 100 /spl mu/m, and for frequencies ranging from dc to 1 GHz. The results indicate that the magnitude of constriction resistance does not deviate appreciably from values predicted by Holm's classical analytical expression, as long as the skin depth is large compared with the constriction radius. For skin depths that are much smaller than the constriction radius, constriction resistance decreases with increasing frequency to an apparent limiting value independent of the constriction radius. At high frequencies, constriction resistance constitutes only one of two components of the total connection resistance measured in practice. The second component of connection resistance is determined by details of the geometry and dimensions of the contact interface, and increases with signal frequency.     

Further studies on polyamides from bisacid a2

Earlier work on the low temperature solution polyamidation of bisacid A2 has raised a number of structural problems. Work carried out more recently showed that the problem of apparent nonisostoichiometry could be reasonably satisfactorily explained. The present paper reports the synthesis and investigates the properties of a further series of polyamides based upon Bisacid A2. More importantly, however, a detailed characterization and evaluation of the new polymers with respect to their structures is presented. This enabled us to compare the various structures in the light of the experimental evidence provided by a number of analytical and spectroscopic techniques, solution behavior, molecular weight, and thermal, morphological, and mechanical properties. Some work was also done on the effect of incorporating a small amount of a trifunctional monomer into the polyamide system.     

Dynamics of hydrated iron(II) cations in nafion polymer membranes

Mössbauer studies of Fe²⁺ in water-soaked nafion polymer membranes in the temperature range between 90 K and 250 K have been performed. Above a critical temperature (～ 180 K) the spectra exhibit both elastic narrow absorption lines and quasielastic broad lines. These spectra are typical of bounded diffusion phenomena observed by Mössbauer spectroscopy in macromolecular systems like haemoglobin, myoglobin and ferritin. Similar spectral shapes have been observed by quasielastic neutron scattering from water in nafion membranes. Within 50 K above the critical temperature the total Mössbauer absorption area decreases by an order of magnitude whereas the narrow absorption line decreases by two orders of magnitude. The results are interpreted in terms of bounded diffusive motion of the iron. Using a model based on overdamped harmonically bound Brownian motion, the essential parameters of the iron motion can be derived as a function of temperature. The iron motion most probably reflects the motion of a large Fe²⁺ complex, e.g. Fe(H₂O)²⁺₆, which is attached to the polymer side chains via the sulphonic group.     

Radiation safety of a population inhabiting the area where a nuclear facility is situated

Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 81–83, August, 1989.     

Scrubbing Hydrogen Sulfide from Gases. A Rational Approach

Worsening of the environmental situation in many regions of Russia in recent decades is to a great degree due to production and refining of oil and gas with a high hydrogen sulfide content. Industrial methods of utilization of hydrogen sulfide are extremely irrational: it is either burned in flares or used for production of sulfur whose quality and quantity pose new problems related to its use.     

An investigation of the Co:MgF2laser system

The Co:MgF2laser, tunable over the range from 1.5 to 2.3 μm, has been investigated under a variety of operating conditions. Included in this paper are reports on basic spectroscopy of Co:MgF2, a determination of the gain cross section, the efficiency and temporal behavior under pulsed excitation, and performance in theQ-switched mode. In addition, operation with thermoelectric cooling and CW oscillation at the multiwatt power level are discussed. Equations covering laser-pumped lasers are derived and comparisons between experiments and theory are presented.