A probabilistic method for the design of power grounding systems

An improved multivariable, probabilistic method for the safety analysis of power grounding systems is presented. The application of this method is demonstrated in four examples. The first three examples illustrate the practical evaluation of one new and two existing substation grounding grids when the substation is connected to an overhead distribution system. The fourth example ascertains the relative impact of a difference between the S curve of IEC Publication 479 and Dalziel's equation for the allowable body current used in ANSI/IEEE Std 80-1986 on the validity of an exposure model based on the requirements of Std 80. In this example, the statistical data on ground faults have been taken from actual system records. Further possible refinements of the exposure model are discussed     

Study of 18-cm long single-sided AC-coupled silicon microstripdetectors

The SSC GEM silicon Central Tracker design incorporated 18-cm long single-sided AC-coupled silicon microstrip ladders. Compared to the 12-cm long ladders considered in the preliminary stages of the tracker design, the 18-cm long ladders have the advantage of reduced cost, channel count and overall power consumption, and led to a simplified tracker assembly. However, such long ships also present the challenge of maintaining satisfactory performance. The increased capacitance and series resistance contribute to lower signal-to-noise ratios, longer time walk, higher power consumption per channel and increased probability of crosstalk to neighboring channels. In this paper, an accurate method to calculate the geometric capacitance of the AC-coupled microstrips is presented and the calculated results are compared with measurements, SPICE simulations are performed to predict the noise, the extent of interstrip capacitive coupling and the dispersion of the detector signal due to the finite series resistance of the metal strips and the long length of the detector. The influence of the preamplifier current and the shaping time on the signal and noise levels is also presented. The study concludes that the 18-cm long ladders can successfully satisfy the performance goals of the GEM silicon Central Tracker     

Dexamethasone perfusion of the labyrinth plus intravenous dexamethasone for Ménière's disease

Recent clinical and laboratory evidence indicates that Meniere's disease is an immune-mediated disease. Dexamethasone perfusion of the inner ear through the round window plus intravenous dexamethasone often will stop the dizzy spells, reduce the fullness and low-frequency tinnitus, and sometimes improve the hearing in patients with Meniere's disease. The dexamethasone must act mostly on the endolymphatic sac and, to a lesser extent, on the stria vascularis and spiral ligament, the known targets of immune response in the inner ear, to reduce the endolymphatic hydrops and restore the fluid dynamics of the endolymph. Despite the good results with streptomycin perfusion, the number of patients with further hearing loss is large, so dexamethasone perfusion with intravenous dexamethasone should be tried first. The initial response to dexamethasone perfusion plus intravenous dexamethasone has been very good, with very little risk of further hearing loss, and it holds great promise for the future.     

Singular value decomposition-based MA order determination ofnon-Gaussian ARMA models

Singular-value-decomposition (SVD)-based moving-average (MA) order determination of non-Gaussian processes using higher-order statistics is addressed. It is shown that the MA order determination of autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) models is equivalent to the rank determination of a certain error matrix, and a SVD approach is proposed. Its simplified form is applied to pure MA models. To improve the robustness of the order selection, a combination of the SVD and the product of diagonal entries (PODE) test is proposed. Some interesting applications of the two SVD approaches are presented, and simulations verify their performance     

Molecular mechanism of base excision repair of uracil-containing DNA in yeast cell-free extracts

Base excision repair (BER) constitutes a ubiquitous excision repair mechanism, which is responsible for the removal of multiple types of damaged and inappropriate bases in DNA. We have employed a yeast cell-free system to examine the biochemical mechanism of the BER pathway in lower eukaryotes. Using uracil-containing DNA as a model substrate, we demonstrate that yeast BER requires Apn1 protein, an Escherichia coli endonuclease IV homolog. In extracts of an apn1 deletion mutant, the 5'-incision at AP (apurinic/apyrimidinic) sites is not detectable, supporting the notion that yeast contains only one major 5'-AP endonuclease. The processing of the 5'-deoxyribose phosphate moieties was found to be a rate-limiting step. During BER of uracil-containing DNA, repair patch sizes of 1-5 nucleotides were detected, with single nucleotide repair patches predominant.     

Ethnic differences in the length of the menstrual cycle during the postmenarcheal period

In 1989, 125 African-American and 123 European-American girls aged 12-14 years were enrolled in a 2-year study in which they maintained a menstrual calendar, recording the date and amount of menstrual bleeding. Weight, exercise, and stress during the previous week were recorded at the start of each menstrual cycle. Although only minor ethnic differences were observed in expected cycle length (29.3 vs. 28.8 days for European-American and African-American girls, respectively), more prominent differences were observed in the between-subjects standard deviation of cycle length (2.9 vs. 2.2 days, respectively) and in the odds of having a cycle longer than 45 days (odds ratio=1.86, 95% confidence interval 1.17-2.97) for European-American compared with African-American girls. Low weight for height and high levels of exercise increased the probability of having a cycle longer than 45 days and decreased expected cycle length of 13- to 45-day cycles. Additional investigation of potential ethnic differences in menstrual cycle characteristics is warranted.     

Supramedullary modulation of sympathetic vasomotor function

1. Supramedullary structures including the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and the midbrain cuneiform nucleus (CnF) project directly and indirectly to premotor sympatho-excitatory neurons of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) that are critically involved in the generation of sympathetic vasomotor tone. 2. Electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that activation of depressor sites within the MPFC is associated with splanchnic sympathetic vasomotor inhibition and inhibition of the activity of RVLM sympathoexcitatory neurons. 3. Antidromic mapping and anatomical studies support the notion that a relay in the nucleus tractus solitarius is involved in the cardiovascular response to MPFC stimulation. 4. The midbrain CnF, which lies adjacent to the midbrain periaqueductal grey, is a sympathoexcitatory region of the midbrain reticular formation. Sympathoexcitatory responses evoked from the CnF are associated with short-latency excitation of RVLM neurons. 5. Cuneiform nucleus stimulation induces the expression of mRNA for the immediate early genes c-fos and NGFI-A in mid-brain, pontine and hypothalamic structures. 6. The MPFC and CnF are supramedullary structures with opposing modulatory influences on sympathetic vasomotor drive, whose roles in cardiovascular control mechanisms warrant further investigation.     

Large-signal phase retardation with a poled electrooptic fiber

A linear electrooptic coefficient of 0.3 pm/V is induced in a germanosilicate fiber by thermal/electric-field poling. Reducing the fiber thickness by simple mechanical polishing following the poling, leads to a half-wave drive voltage of only 75 V for a 12-cm active length with no measurable linear optical loss in the fiber. The induced linear electrooptic coefficient shows no decay at room temperature for over four months, and only a 10% decay after heating to 90/spl deg/C for 1000 h.     

Apoptosis in the early stage of compensatory renal growth following uninephrectomy in the young and old rats

Myostatin (GDF-8) is a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily and plays a role in muscle growth and development. Mice having targeted disruption of this gene display marked increases in muscle mass, a phenotype similar to the muscular hypertrophy (mh) in several cattle breeds. Physical mapping data developed from YAC clones indicate the bovine myostatin gene lies close to the centromere of bovine Chromosome (Chr) 2 (BTA2) at 2q11, indistinguishable from the cytogenetic location of the mh locus. In addition, a polymorphism in the second intron of the gene was used to show that myostatin maps within the interval previously shown to contain mh. These data suggest myostatin may be the gene causing muscular hypertrophy in cattle.