Load-carrying capacities of cold-formed steel cut stub columns with lipped C-section

Cutting roll-formed steel lipped C-sections may produce different extent of cross section distortion along the lengths of the sections and may lead to additional initial geometric imperfections. Ten stub columns cut from two different sections were tested under axial compression. Flanges of the stub columns experienced distortional mode of failure, whereas the webs showed signs of local buckling failures. Ultimate compressive strengths obtained from the test results were 75–77% of the strengths estimated based on BS5950:Part 5. This indicates that geometric imperfections caused by cutting may significantly reduce the ultimate strength of stub columns.     

Four-wave mixing of incoherent light in a dispersion-shifted fiberusing a spectrum-sliced fiber amplifier light source

We investigate the FWM efficiency of incoherent light in a dispersion-shifted fiber (DSF) using a spectrum-sliced fiber amplifier light source. A theoretical model is provided to describe the FWM mechanism of incoherent light. The FWM efficiencies of coherent and incoherent light are compared theoretically and experimentally. Unlike the FWM of coherent light, the FWM signals of incoherent light are mostly generated by nondegenerate FWM regardless of the number of input signals. Thus, when two input signals are mixed, incoherent light has about 6 dB higher mixing efficiency than coherent light due to the difference in their degeneracy factor     

Optimal time-frequency deconvolution filter design fornonstationary signal transmission through a fading channel: AF filterbank approach

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new approach-time-frequency deconvolution filter-to optimally reconstruct the nonstationary (or time-varying) signals that are transmitted through a multipath fading and noisy channel. A deconvolution filter based on an ambiguity function (AF) filter bank is proposed to solve this problem via a three-stage filter bank. First, the signal is transformed via an AF analysis filter bank so that the nonstationary (or time-varying) component is removed from each subband of the signal. Then, a Wiener filter bank is developed to remove the effect of channel fading and noise to obtain the optimal estimation of the ambiguity function of the transmitted signal in the time-frequency domain. Finally, the estimated ambiguity function of the transmitted signal in each subband is sent through an AF synthesis filter bank to reconstruct the transmitted signal. In this study, the channel noise may be time-varying or nonstationary. Therefore, the optimal separation problem of multicomponent nonstationary signals is also solved by neglecting the transmission channel     

Increased living donor volunteer rates with a formal recipient family education program

As part of our ongoing studies to characterize molecular alterations in a well-defined series of surgically resected esophageal cancers, we examined the expression of 2 ras-regulated genes, whose products (osteopontin and cathepsin L) previously were shown to be associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. RNA was extracted from primary esophageal tumors (adenocarcinomas, 19; squamous-cell carcinomas, 6) and matched histologically normal esophageal mucosa from the distant resection margin. Northern analysis was used to quantitate RNA, relative to an 18S rRNA control, and immunohistochemistry to assess the tissue distribution of osteopontin. In addition, H-, K- and N-ras mutations were studied in the same tissues using PCR and hybridization with allele (mutant)-specific oligonucleotide probes. We demonstrated a K-ras mutation (codon 12, GTT) in one esophageal adenocarcinoma. The ras-regulated gene osteopontin was over-expressed in 100% of squamous-cell carcinomas and in 58% of adenocarcinomas relative to matched normal esophageal mucosa. Patterns of immunoreactivity for osteopontin protein also varied between squamous-cell carcinomas (tumor cell staining) and adenocarcinomas (predominantly tumor-infiltrating macrophages). Expression of cathepsin L also varied with esophageal tumor histology, with over-expression in 58% of primary esophageal adenocarcinomas and 33% of squamous-cell cancers.     

Pressure electrical contact improved by carbon black paste

Pressure and pressureless electrical contacts were evaluated by measuring the contact electrical resistivity between copper mating surfaces. Pressure electrical contacts with a contact resistivity of 2×10⁻⁵ Ω·cm² have been attained using a carbon black paste of a thickness of less than 25 μm as the interface material. In contrast, a pressureless contact with silver paint as the interface material exhibits a higher resistivity of 3×10⁻⁵ Ω·cm² or above. A pressureless contact with colloidal graphite as the interface material exhibits the same high contact resistivity (1×10⁻⁴ Ω·cm²) as a pressure contact without any interface material. On the other hand, pressureless contacts involving solder and silver epoxy exhibit lower contact resistivity than carbon black pressure contacts.