Modeling and characterization of microwave breakdown at atmospheric pressure in OMUX filters

For output multiplexer (OMUX) filters placed in telecommunication satellites, microwave breakdown happens in an involuntary and undesirable way during tests at atmospheric pressure. This avalanche phenomenon is due to exponential growth of the electronic density caused by thermoelectronic emission under strong electromagnetic field magnitude. In this paper, our objective is to model and characterize experimentally multipole OMUX filters composed with coupled cavities. For identifying the element responsible for the breakdown, the electric field is calculated within each cavity and each iris. In order to characterize the breakdown phenomenon, we proposed an experimental test bench and we measured the power, both at the input and at the output of the filter. The article details the theoretical breakdown prediction and the experimental setup for such a structure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:46–54, 2014.     

Interactions between steels and sulphide-producing bacteria—Corrosion of carbon steels and low-alloy steels in natural seawater

Metallic infrastructure immersed in natural seawater is exposed to important corrosion phenomena, which are sometimes characterised by microorganism influenced corrosion. The presence of sulphide-producing bacteria is generally associated with catastrophic cases of material degradation. In this work, commercial steel grades (carbon steels and low-alloy steels) are immersed for approximately 1 year in two types of natural seawater, which contain different concentrations of sulphide-producing bacteria. Gravimetric, microbiological, and electrochemical measurements and corrosion product analyses indicate that in seawater the observed corrosion phenomenon is composed of two different phases. The first phase is characterized by decreased corrosion kinetics correlated with a higher concentration of sessile sulphide-producing bacteria and the formation of sulphur-containing chemical species. The second phase is marked by an increased rate of corrosion. This multidisciplinary study demonstrates the complexity of the interactions between steels and bacteria. The presence of alloying elements in the steel composition affects the rate of corrosion and growth patterns of sessile sulphide-producing bacteria. At the same time, the presence of sulphide-producing bacteria affects in the process of steel corrosion in natural seawater.     

When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated.

Procedures for examining whether treatment effects on an outcome are mediated and/or moderated have been well developed and are routinely applied. The mediation question focuses on the intervening mechanism that produces the treatment effect. The moderation question focuses on factors that affect the magnitude of the treatment effect. It is important to note that these two processes may be combined in informative ways, such that moderation is mediated or mediation is moderated. Although some prior literature has discussed these possibilities, their exact definitions and analytic procedures have not been completely articulated. The purpose of this article is to define precisely both mediated moderation and moderated mediation and provide analytic strategies for assessing each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genealogy of the 129 inbred strains: 129/SvJ is a contaminated inbred strain

The 129 mouse is the most widely used strain in gene targeting experiments. However, numerous substrains exist with demonstrable physiological differences. In this study a set of simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLPs) was used to determine the relatedness of selected 129 substrains. 129/SvJ was significantly different from the other 129 substrains and is more accurately classified as a recombinant congenic strain (129cX/Sv), being derived from 129/Sv and an unknown strain. This mixed genetic background could complicate gene targeting experiments by reducing homologous recombination efficiency when constructs and ES cells are not derived from the same 129 substrain. Additionally, discrepancies due to different genetic backgrounds may arise when comparing phenotypes of genes targeted in different 129-derived ES cell lines.