Resonant Auger decay of 2p hole in argon induced by electron impact

We present an experimental study of L-MM resonant Auger spectra of argon after electron impact excitation. The electron spectra were measured at ten different electron impact energies between 442.6 eV and 461.7 eV. During (e, 2e) measurement the energy of the second electron was kept fixed at 209.6 eV, corresponding to the energy of one of the strongest resonant Auger transitions from the [2p_3/23d] state. Except for the monopole excitations, the recorded spectral structures are explained on the basis of photon impact data.     

Early prostate cancer diagnosis by using artificial neural networks and support vector machines

The aim of this study is to design a classifier based expert system for early diagnosis of the organ in constraint phase to reach informed decision making without biopsy by using some selected features. The other purpose is to investigate a relationship between BMI (body mass index), smoking factor, and prostate cancer. The data used in this study were collected from 300 men (100: prostate adenocarcinoma, 200: chronic prostatism or benign prostatic hyperplasia). Weight, height, BMI, PSA (prostate specific antigen), Free PSA, age, prostate volume, density, smoking, systolic, diastolic, pulse, and Gleason score features were used and independent sample t-test was applied for feature selection. In order to classify related data, we have used following classifiers; scaled conjugate gradient (SCG), Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS), and Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) training algorithms of artificial neural networks (ANN) and linear, polynomial, and radial based kernel functions of support vector machine (SVM). It was determined that smoking is a factor increases the prostate cancer risk whereas BMI is not affected the prostate cancer. Since PSA, volume, density, and smoking features were to be statistically significant, they were chosen for classification. The proposed system was designed with polynomial based kernel function, which had the best performance (accuracy: 79%). In Turkish Family Health System, family physician to whom patients are applied firstly, would contribute to extract the risk map of illness and direct patients to correct treatments by using expert system such proposed.     

Modeling the energy potential of biomass – H2RES

Modeling biomass as a renewable energy source poses many challenges with respect to feedstock variability, which are difficult to account for. It is found that at the preliminary stages of energy planning, heating value and moisture content of the feedstock are the most important factors. In addition, the effects of harvesting, transportation and storage are found to be significant even though they are often overlooked. Using the gathered information a biomass module for energy planning is created and integrated to H₂RES, a renewable energy planning program. Using this excel based software, a case study for a wood processing factory is performed, using the waste wood as feedstock. Comparing various scenarios, it is concluded that using a combination of solid oxide fuel cells, solar panels and steam turbines can satisfy the factories energy requirements with excess sold to the grid.     

Specific Heat and Electrical Resistivity of 53%Niobium-47%Titanium Alloy Measured by Subsecond Calorimetric Technique

This paper presents results of measurements of the specific heat and electrical resistivity of a 53%Ni-47%Ti superconducting alloy. Both properties were measured by a contact variant of the millisecond-resolution pulse calorimeter. W5%Re/W25%Re thermocouple thermometry enabled study from ambient temperature to 2000 K. Results are discussed, and their uncertainty is estimated.     

Solid dispersions of diflunisal-PVP: polymorphic and amorphous states of the drug

Coprecipitates of diflunisal and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K15, K30, and K90) and physical mixtures were studied using x-ray diffraction analysis, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and hot-stage microscopy. X-ray diffraction results revealed an almost amorphous state, even in coprecipitates with a high content of drug, next to 70%, which was independent of the polymer molecular weight. The IR spectra of 70:30 drug-PVP solid dispersions suggest the formation of diflunisal-PVP hydrogen bonds. For 70:30 drug-polymer ratio, the physical mixture showed linear dissolution kinetics of free crystals, but the corresponding coprecipitates exhibit two different dissolution processes. When the 25:75 drug-polymer dispersion is analyzed by hot-stage microscopy, only solid plates of PVP are observed; the absence of drug particles may be due to a molecular dispersion of the drug into the polymer. Moreover, polymorphic changes of diflunisal were detected in the solid dispersions in comparison with the corresponding physical mixtures, which are always formed by polymorph II. At high concentrations of drug (75:25 and 80:20), x-ray diffraction patterns of solid dispersions showed the partial recrystallization of the drug, displaying the main diffraction peaks of polymorph I when ethanol was used as coprecipitation solvent, whereas diflunisal form IV was obtained in chloroform.     

A Trajectory-Based Approach for the Stability Robustness of Nonlinear Systems with Inputs

 We show, for two different definitions of semiglobal practical external stability, that the stability property holds on semi-infinite time intervals if and only if it holds on arbitrarily long but finite time intervals. These results have immediate applications in the analysis of the stability properties of highly oscillatory systems with inputs using averaging or for systems with inputs that are slowly varying. Results are stated for general flows and the stability is given with respect to arbitrary (not necessarily compact) sets. Date received: May 11, 2001. Date revised: March 14, 2002.     

Brucella abortus transits through the autophagic pathway and replicates in the endoplasmic reticulum of nonprofessional phagocytes

Brucella abortus is an intracellular pathogen that replicates within a membrane-bounded compartment. In this study, we have examined the intracellular pathway of the virulent B. abortus strain 2308 (S2308) and the attenuated strain 19 (S19) in HeLa cells. At 10 min after inoculation, both bacterial strains are transiently detected in phagosomes characterized by the presence of early endosomal markers such as the early endosomal antigen 1. At approximately 1 h postinoculation, bacteria are located within a compartment positive for the lysosome-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) marker sec61beta but negative for the mannose 6-phosphate receptors and cathepsin D. Interestingly, this compartment is also positive for the autophagosomal marker monodansylcadaverin, suggesting that S2308 and S19 are located in autophagic vacuoles. At 24 h after inoculation, attenuated S19 is degraded in lysosomes, while virulent S2308 multiplies within a LAMP- and cathepsin D-negative but sec61beta- and protein disulfide isomerase-positive compartment. Furthermore, treatment of infected cells with the pore-forming toxin aerolysin from Aeromonas hydrophila causes vacuolation of the bacterial replication compartment. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that pathogenic B. abortus exploits the autophagic machinery of HeLa cells to establish an intracellular niche favorable for its replication within the ER.     

The effect of kinetic and hydrodynamic factors on current efficiency in the chlorate cell process

An equation has been derived which relates the current efficiency of chlorate production to the operational parameters of the process and the constants connected with the events in the diffusion layer of the anode. The latter have been estimated using available literature data and the equation has been tested for the temperature dependence of current efficiency by comparison with experimental results. A fair degree of agreement has been achieved.Partly presented at the XXth CITCE Meeting, Strasbourg 1969.     

Improved bounds for displacements at shakedown

A method is proposed for obtaining an upper bound for the displacement which can occur in a structure adapted to a given variable-repeated load. First, the exact formulation of the problem is presented which leads to a problem of optimal control. Then the differential constraints are neglected or replaced by algebraic conditions. The solution of the resulting linear programming problem supplies an upper bound to the exact elastic-plastic deflection. Further approximation can be introduced, if desired, which allows the decomposition of the problem into separate bounds to elastic and plastic parts of displacement.Numerical examples include a two-span continuous beam and a two-storey frame. The first was solved analytically, the second by means of a specially developed computer routine capable of evaluating the displacements at shakedown of arbitrary planar frames or trusses. The results obtained confirm the validity of the small displacement approach.