The Doppler Rayleigh lidar system at Arecibo

The instrument structure and the operation of a Doppler Rayleigh lidar located at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico are described. The device consists of an injection seeded, frequency doubled, Nd:YAG laser coupled with a small Newtonian telescope and a single etalon, Fabry-Perot interferometer in its receiver. With this combination of transmitter and receiver, observations of the Doppler spectral components of the Rayleigh backscattered signal from the atmosphere are possible. Neutral wind and temperature up to mesospheric heights are presented. The improvements to the instrument that are underway, which will allow an increase in the temporal and spectral sampling of the winds, are discussed     

Changes in activity of alpha amylase and its salivary isoenzyme in serum and urine after surgical treatment of ovarian neoplasms

Serum and urinary activity of alpha-amylase and isoamylase salivary was assessed in 40 patients with different types of ovarian cancer. The measurements were performed before surgical procedure and the 7th day after surgical removal of the tumor. Significant increases activity was found in patients with serosal ovarian cancer p < 0.001. On the 7th day after operation the activity of alpha-amylase and her of isoenzyme salivary reached control values.     

Applications of the finite difference techniques to the compensatedVIP 3 dB directional coupler

A new and simple compensated structure for a vertically installed planar (VIP) 3 dB directional coupler has been studied theoretically as well as experimentally by combining an improved 2-D-general finite difference (2-D-GFD) design procedure with a three-dimensional finite difference time domain (3-D-FDTD) method. The obtained full wave analysis results agree well with the measured ones. The investigations have shown that with this planar compensated structure, a better performance of the VIP coupler in the L-band can be realized by only using the same kind of dielectric substrate for its vertical and horizontal one     

Use of chemical fibre processing wastes for fabrication of thermoplastic composites

The behavior of the components of an inseparable mixture of processing wastes containing polyamide, polyacrylonitrile, and cellulose fibres was investigated. The possibility of using them in production of wood—polymer composites if cyclization in the structure of PAN and chemical reaction of basic and acid functional groups play the determining role in intensification of the interfacial interaction in the composite and correspondingly in increasing the strength properties of the final product, was demonstrated. The parameters of the process were optimized, and this allowed for obtaining materials with a static bending strength of up to 80 MPa, water absorption of up to 11%, and a degree of swelling of up to 8.3% according to GOST, which satisfies the requirements for brand ST_s-500 ultrahard board materials.St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design. Wood Technology Academy, St. Petersburg. Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 6, pp. 39–44, November–December, 1996.     

Polarisation insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier withintegrated electroabsorption modulators

The authors demonstrate a 1.55 μm wavelength multiquantum well semiconductor optical amplifier, integrated with bulk layer electroabsorption modulators and passive waveguide beam expanders at the input and output ports. The device has a fibre to fibre gain of 9 dB, an extinction ratio of 15 dB per modulator, a spectral range >35 nm, and polarisation sensitivity <1 dB     

Models for the elastic deformation of honeycombs

A theoretical model has been developed for predicting the elastic constants of honeycombs based on the deformation of the honeycomb cells by flexure, stretching and hinging. This is an extension of earlier work based on flexure alone. The model has been used to derive expressions for the tensile moduli, shear moduli and Poisson's ratios. Examples are given of structures with a negative Poisson's ratio. It is shown how the properties can be tailored by varying the relative magnitudes of the force constants for the different deformation mechanisms. Off-axis elastic constants are also calculated and it is shown how the moduli and Poisson's ratios vary with applied loading direction. Depending on the geometry of the honeycomb the properties may be isotropie (for regular hexagons) or extremely anisotropic. Again, the degree of anisotropy is also affected by the relative magnitude of the force constants for the three deformation mechanisms.     

Manual digital instruments for monitoring gear wheels

A justification is given for the conversion of pointer-reading manual gear measuring instruments to digital ones. The BV-5126 digital gear tooth micrometer and BV-5126 pitch gauge, both developed at NII-izmerieniya, are described. These instruments, while retaining the advantages of mechanical manual instruments, are more convenient in use, and have smaller errors. Computer software is also described which considerably widens the functional possibilities of the manual instruments. Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 6, pp. 31–33, June, 1996.     

Changes in the activation energy and the rate of hydrogen release from neutral media due to deformation

It is shown that plastic deformations of metals govern the kinetics of hydrogen release (by decreasing the work function of escape of an electron into solution) and are a controlling factor in the processes of hydrogenation and crack growth by a hydrogen mechanism.Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, L'viv. Translated from Fiziko-Khimicheskaya Mekhanika Materialov, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 16–22, November–December, 1993.