Study of photosensitive mixtures of TMAE and helium, hydrocarbon or CF4-based carrier gases

Among the photocathodes used for particle identification based on the Cherenkov Ring Imaging technique, the TMAE molecule is still the best in terms of quantum efficiency. Despite the fact that TMAE gaseous photocathodes have already been used in a number of large experiments, one still seeks answers to many detailed questions. We present a systematic study of gaseous photocathodes based on TMAE mixed with helium, hydrocarbon and CF₄-based gases at normal pressure. The study includes a measurement of the electron drift velocity, gas quenching properties, single electron pulse height spectra and anode wire aging. The paper makes recommendations for carrier gas mixtures to obtain the best quenching, and suggests how to manage TMAE wire aging. This study was motivated by a specific particle identification detector proposal, the Fast Drift CRID proposed for the B-factory at SLAC.     

The evolution of custom microarray manufacture

Given the enormous size of the genome and that there are potentially many other types of measurements we need to do to understand it, it has become necessary to pick and choose one's targets to measure because it is still impossible to evaluate the entire genome all at once. What has emerged is a need to have rapidly customizable microarrays. There are two dominant methods to accomplish custom microarray synthesis, Affymetrix-like microarrays manufactured using light projection rather than semiconductor-like masks used by Affymetrix to mass manufacture their GeneChip/sup TM/ arrays now, or the ink-jet printing method employed by Agilent. The manufacture of these custom Affymetrix-like microarrays can now be done on a digital optical chemistry (DOC) machine developed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and this method offers much higher feature numbers and feature density than is possible with ink-jet printed arrays. On a microarray, each feature contains a single genetic measurement. The initial DOC prototype has been described in several publications, but that has now led to a second-generation machine. This machine reliably produces a number of arrays daily, has been deployed against a number of biomedical questions, is being used in new ways and has also led to a number of spin-off technologies.     

Experience in High-Temperature Thermomechanical Treatment with Helical Reduction in the Production of Axisymmetric Parts

Metal Science and Heat Treatment -     

On the construction of the reachability domain in one nonlinear problem

An algorithm for construction of the reachability domain by the given time instant ? for a nonlinear third order system under the condition of preliminary approach to a predefined point is proposed. All possible cases of location of this point in the motion plane of the system for different values of the time instant ? are studied.     

What's different about Six Sigma?

The Six Sigma approach is one of the more recent initiatives adopted by organisations who seek to make a paradigm shift in performance improvement (attacking at least one of the cost, quality, delivery measurements for improved competitiveness). Is there anything new about Six Sigma, does it offer improvements that other approaches cannot, or is it just a clever delivery of repackaged goods? The author investigates the above questions related to the Six Sigma approach     

An expert diagnostic system for the MACRO experiment at the GranSasso Laboratory

The maintenance of the MACRO (a Monopoles, Astrophysics and Cosmic Ray Observatory), a large-area detector that will be used to search for rare constituents or phenomena in cosmic radiation penetrating deep underground, is addressed. A real-time expert system for diagnosing detector and data acquisition system anomalies, which is based on the NEXPERT commercial tool, is described. It performs online diagnosis and, if an abnormal condition is identified, takes the appropriate action to reduce the unavailability of the apparatus. The data acquisition system is CAMAC-based, and the sensor modules, which gather the significant values for diagnosis, are implemented in the VME crate     

Performance engineering and topological design of metro WDM opticalnetworks using computer simulation

This paper demonstrates the use of computer simulation for topological design and performance engineering of transparent wavelength-division multiplexing metropolitan-area networks. Engineering of these networks involves the study of various transport-layer impairments such as amplifier noise, component ripple, chirp/dispersion, optical crosstalk, waveform distortion due to filter concatenation, fiber nonlinearities, and polarization effects. A computer simulation methodology composed of three main simulation steps is derived and implemented. This methodology obtains performance estimations by applying efficient wavelength-domain simulations on the entire network topology, followed by time-/frequency-domain simulations on selected paths of the network and finally Q-budgeting on an identified worst case path. The above technique provides an efficient tool for topological design and network performance engineering. Accurate simulation models are presented for each of the performance impairments, and the computer simulation methodology is used for the design and engineering of a number of actual metro network architectures