Cobol: perception and reality

The authors list the perceptions they have uncovered and counter them with the reality of Cobol. Some of the perceptions are: Cobol is a mainframe language-it has been available on PCs since their inception; Cobol stopped evolving in the 1970s, stopped growing in popularity in the 1980s, and stopped being used to develop client-server and Web-based applications in the 1990s; and Cobol is not an object-oriented language, when, in fact, it has objects galore     

Mammalian Rh/T2/S-glycoprotein ribonuclease family genes: cloning of a human member located in a region of chromosome 6 (6q27) frequently deleted in human malignancies

OBJECTIVE: To implement a low-cost system of transmitting high-quality digital photographs of mutilating extremity injuries using the speed of the Internet. DESIGN: A high-resolution digital camera and simple hardware and software platform are used to take and transmit images via electronic mail. The images are received within minutes by the consultant, and an assessment can be made. RESULTS: A low-cost and high-quality system can easily be implemented. Images can be seen by consultants only a few minutes after they are obtained. The quality of the reproductions is excellent, and they are handled exactly as other photographs. CONCLUSION: This technique can be widely applicable and inexpensive to initiate in any emergency room. It allows rapid assessment of extremity injuries and x-ray images by expert consultants, who can then evaluate the replantation or revascularization potential of extremity trauma cases. This can eliminate unnecessary and often expensive transfer of patients who are not candidates for replantation.     

A high-stability fiber amplifier source for the fiber opticgyroscope

We demonstrate an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) source for the fiber gyroscope with an overall mean wavelength stability of four parts per million. This source, which amplifies the gyroscope signal before detection, is shown to be more stable than a similar single-pass source in a standard configuration. The effects of varying the fiber temperature, pump power, pump wavelength, gyroscope feedback power and signal polarization state on the output mean wavelength are individually explored. Experimental results are in excellent agreement with simulations     

Experimental determination of electron and hole mobilities in MOSaccumulation layers

This letter presents for the first time, the experimentally determined majority carrier mobilities in the accumulation layer of a MOSFET for both p-type and n-type channel doping for a wide range of doping concentrations. The measured carrier mobility is observed to follow a universal behavior at high transverse fields, similar to that observed for minority carriers in MOS inversion layers. At the higher doping levels, the effective mobility for majority carriers at low to moderate transverse fields is found to be very close to the bulk mobility. This is believed to be due to carrier screening of the ionized impurity scattering which dominates at the higher doping concentrations     

Scattering center parameterization of wide-angle backscattered datausing adaptive Gaussian representation

We present a scattering center extraction algorithm to parameterize the backscattered data from complex targets collected over large angular apertures. This parameterization is based on a scattering center model of the target, but includes an aspect-dependent amplitude function for each scattering center. A two-dimensional (2-D) adaptive Gaussian representation (AGR) algorithm is used to extract the position and the amplitude function associated with each scattering center. The algorithm is tested with data generated by the Xpatch radar simulation code as well as chamber measurement data. The results show that a very good compression ratio can be achieved, resulting in a compact scattering center model of the target. Once such model is available, we can easily reconstruct range profiles and ISAR images at any aspect on the same plane with good accuracy     

Ti3+ ion concentration and Ti:sapphire laser performance

The pulsed and CW laser performance of a range of titanium sapphire laser crystals is reported. Titanium ion concentration in the crystals ranged from 0.07 at.% to 0.25 and 0.41 at.% for some recently developed heavily doped crystals. Values of the crystal figure of merit lay between 30 and 220. Threshold, slope efficiency, tunability, and temporal response are assessed. Comparisons are made with the predictions of a simple rate equation model     

Causes of Decay of Fresh-cut Celery

A decay of fresh-cut celery (Apium graveolens) segments stored at < 5°C in sealed film bags began with a water soaking of the cut surfaces. Slimy moisture accumulated inside the bags. The segments water soaked completely, softened, discolored and sometimes disintegrated. Total aerobic bacterial populations isolated from decayed segments ranged from log₁₀ 7.0–7.7 CFU/g tissue weight. The predominant bacteria, identified by fatty acid analysis as Pseudomonas fluorescens and P. marginalis, caused water soaking, soft rot, and discoloration in freshly inoculated celery tissues stored at 5 or 25°C. Leuconostoc mesenteroides was also isolated and may have been responsible for slime production.