Superconductivity in hcp Li at high pressure

Recent experimental observations show that metallic lithium becomes a superconductor at high pressure. Here the theoretically calculated band structure as well as the superconducting transition temperature for this metal at 247 kbar pressure are reported. The band structure was obtained using the APW method. The superconducting transition temperature determined using the band structure results agrees fairly well with that measured experimentally.     

Probability method of controlling the consumption of safe life of agte parts by the limiting temperature criterion

A method is proposed for predicting the residual safe life of aircraft engine parts. It facilitates limiting temperature-based control of the depletion, during operation, of durability reserves set when designing these parts. The method is based on probability comparison of in-flight temperature maxima of the parts with limiting temperatures of their materials. The method of least squares is recommended for evaluating the parameters of distributions of in-flight temperature maxima and limiting temperatures that are described by extreme type laws. A series of integral relationships necessitating the use of numerical methods are obtained for the residual gamma-percent safe life of the parts.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 10, pp. 54–58, October, 1991.     

Production of high-strength tubes made of steels of type 15GFB

A unit for making L-class high-strength pump-compressor tubing composed of low-carbon, low-alloy steels of type 15GFB is now being used on the 140 mill in the tube-rolling shop at the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant. The steel 15GFB pump-compressor tubing made by the technology that was developed has the following service properties: σ_y = 630–670 N/mm², σ_u = 730–780 N/mm², δ = 18–22%, ψ = 55–60%, KCU = 1.6–2.2 MJ/m². The percentage of ductile fracture at room temperature is 85–95%. __________ Translated from Metallurg, No. 1, pp. 79–80, January, 2006.     

Effects of selenium and vitamin E on incidence of retained placenta

In a series of experiments over 3 yr, relatively low doses of selenium and vitamin E were injected intramuscularly 3 wk prepartum to pregnant Israeli-Holstein dairy cows in a high-producing herd (9000 kg milk/yr) with a history of retained placenta in 17% of the primiparous and 28% of the multiparous animals, as recorded for the 12 mo preceding the study. Selenium ranged from .035 to .109 ppm in the prepartum diet and from .160 to .200 ppm in the postpartum diet. Doses of selenium ranging from 2.3 to 23.0 mg reduced the incidence of retained placenta in 186 primiparous and in 428 multiparous to 7 and 15%, which was half of that of controls. Low doses of selenium (2.3 to 4.6 mg) tended to be more effective than higher ones. Selenium alone was at least as effective as a combination of selenium and vitamin E. Dosage, timing, mechanism, and interactions of selenium with other factors in reducing the incidence of retained placenta need clarification.     

Effect of dose of bovine growth hormone on lactation of dairy cows

We administered bovine growth hormone to six Holstein cows in a Latin square design to study the relationship between dose of growth hormone and response of milk yield. Treatments were 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 IU/day of pituitary-derived bovine growth hormone administered in once-daily subcutaneous injections. Feed intake and yield of milk and milk components were measured for the last 5 days of each 10-day injection period. Yields of milk, protein, and fat increased in a dose-responsive fashion up to 32, 27, and 46% (for the 100 IU treatment) above control (26.7, .90, and .98 kg/day). Concentration of lactose in milk was not influenced by treatment, but at larger doses of growth hormone, milk fat percent was elevated and protein percent declined. As a result, milk energy secretion in response to 100 IU/day was increased 37% from control (19.2 Mcal/day). Both energy and nitrogen balance decreased with increasing growth hormone. Limited blood samples (timed to coincide with peak concentration of growth hormone postinjection) indicated treatment did not affect concentrations of glucose or insulin in blood plasma but increased concentration of growth hormone. Concentration of nonesterified fatty acids in blood plasma was increased slightly only at the 100 IU/day dose for which energy balance was negative.     

Biochemical quality assessment of broiler production using a hydrogen bacteria biomass in the diet

The authors studied the biochemical composition of the meat of broilers, eggs, liver and muscles of laying hens of 3 generations on a 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100% (broilers), 10 and 20% (laying hens) replacement of the animal protein quota in the diet by protein obtained from the hydrogen bacteria Alcaligenes eutrophus L-1. No deterioration of the quality of the produce was found from the standpoint of the main biochemical parameters.     

Identification of thermoresistive solar radiation sensors

An identification procedure to estimate the parameters of a thermoresistive solar radiation sensor is presented. The proposed technique employs only electrical excitation for the sensor. The estimation algorithm is recursive and is applied to the sensor model derived from the thermodynamic equilibrium differential equations. The simulation and the experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach