Microinjection of thyrotropin-releasing hormone analogue into the central nucleus of the amygdala stimulates gastric contractility in rats

The effect on gastric contractility following bilateral microinjection of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) analog, RX 77368, into the central nucleus of the amygdala was examined in fasted, urethane-anesthetized rats. Extraluminal force transducers were used to measure gastric corpus contractility. Bilateral microinjection of RX 77368 (0.5 microgram, 1.0 microgram, n = 6 each) stimulated gastric contractility for up to 120 min post-injection, P < 0.05. Gastric contractility was not significantly stimulated by microinjection of 0.1 microgram RX 77368, 0.1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) into the central nucleus or RX 77368 (0.5 microgram, 1.0 microgram) into sites adjacent to the central nucleus. Peak responses (1.0 microgram) occurred 40 min post-injection and represented a 16-26-fold increase over basal values. The frequency of gastric contraction waves was attenuated for 0-90 min in rats receiving central amygdaloid microinjection of RX 77368 (0.1, 0.5 or 1.0 microgram) versus rats microinjected with the vehicle or RX 77368 into sites adjacent to the central nuclei. The stimulatory effect of RX 77368 (1.0 microgram) on gastric contractility was abolished by subdiaphragmatic vagotomy. These results indicate that the TRH analog, RX 77368, acts within the central amygdala to vagally stimulate gastric contractility.     

Effect of hardening and aging on thl resistance of nitrided niobium and its MN-1 alloy to low plastic deformation

Niobium, which possesses a unique combination of a high melting temperature (2465°C) and a low modulus of normal elasticity (80,000 –100,000 N/mm²), is a promising base for the creation of heat-resistant spring materials. In addition to the traditional technology, an efficient method for strengthening niobium and its alloys is gas nitriding, especially when it is combined with other strengthening techniques. The limited and temperature-dependent solubility of nirogen in niobium predetermines possibilities of using nitriding and subsequent heat treatment (hardening and aging) for improving the strength characteristics of thin-sheet materials. It is difficult to alloy refractory metals by metallurgical methods due to the high thermodynamic stability of nitrides and the desorption of nitrogen in vacuum. A more available and reliable method for bulk nitrogen alloying is suggested that consists in nitriding semiproducts of small cross section (complete penetration saturation). The present work is devoted to an investigation of the resistance of nitrided niobium and its MN-1 allov to low plastic deformations at room and elevated temperatures after hardening and aging.Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 7, pp. 33 – 36, July, 1996.     

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.     

Moderate antioxidative efficiencies of flavonoids during peroxidation of methyl linoleate in homogeneous and micellar solutions

The relative reactivities as well as the stoichiometric coefficients for a number of flavonoids, catechols, and—for comparison—standard phenolic antioxidants were determined by analyzing the kinetics of oxygen consumption in organic and micellar systems, with peroxidation initiated by lipid- and water-soluble azo initiators. The results demonstrated that the flavonoids did not behave as classic phenolic antioxidants such as α-tocopherol, but showed only moderate chain-breaking activities. The results were in line with other structure-activity relationship studies on the importance of the B-ring catechol structure, the 2,3-double bond, and the 3,5-hydroxy groups. The data are discussed in view of possible explanations of the deviations flavonoids reveal in their behavior compared with regular phenolic antioxidants.     

Universal portfolios with side information

We present a sequential investment algorithm, the μ-weighted universal portfolio with side information, which achieves, to first order in the exponent, the same wealth as the best side-information dependent investment strategy (the best state-constant rebalanced portfolio) determined in hindsight from observed market and side-information outcomes. This is an individual sequence result which shows the difference between the exponential growth wealth of the best state-constant rebalanced portfolio and the universal portfolio with side information is uniformly less than (d/(2n))log (n+1)+(k/n)log 2 for every stock market and side-information sequence and for all time n. Here d=k(m-1) is the number of degrees of freedom in the state-constant rebalanced portfolio with k states of side information and m stocks. The proof of this result establishes a close connection between universal investment and universal data compression     

Adaptive error control for broadcast DS/SSMA packet radio networks

The throughput performance of a broadcast DS/SSMA packet radio network using adaptive error control is investigated. Simulated results for the network throughput against offered load are presented and show that adaptive error control significantly increases the throughput performance at all offered loads     

Soft-decision Viterbi decoding with diversity combining formulti-beam mobile satellite communication systems

Diversity combining methods for mobile satellite communication systems employing convolutional encoding and soft-decision Viterbi decoding are evaluated. Computer simulation clarifies that the pre-Viterbi-decoding maximal ratio combining method has better performance than other methods in Rician fading channels. The simulation results agree with the Pe (bit error probability) performance derived from the numerical analysis for slow fading using the approximate Pe performance of Viterbi decoding in AWGN (additive white Gaussian noise) channels and the probability density function of Rician fading. Applying this diversity method to the multi-beam mobile satellite communication systems, a satellite beam diversity reception scheme is proposed. A computer simulation result shows that the proposed scheme decreases the packet error rate of the control signals to less than 1/100 around the satellite beam boundary     

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     

A 1000 A/20 kV/25 kHz-500 kHz Volt-Ampere-Wattmeter for loads withpower factors from 0.001 to 1.00

Many industrial processes and scientific experiments utilize large amounts of ac power at frequencies from 3 kHz to 500 kHz. The phase angle and the impedances of these loads often vary over a wide range. This paper describes an instrument to provide an accurate measurement of currents (1 A to 1000 A), voltages (100 V to 20 kV), and powers (100 W to 20 MW) over the frequency range from 25 kHz to 500 kHz. It deals with loads having power factors down to nearly zero and with load impedances from 10 Ω to 20 kΩ. The paper contains practical details of both the design and the calibration of the front-end voltage and current transducers. The characteristics of a nearly ideal broadband current transducer are presented. Overall instrument calibration, verification and traceability problems are considered in detail     

Mechanical properties of sinter-forged Al2O3-ZrO2 ceramics

Two kinds of composites, Al₂O₃-25 wt% ZrO₂(2 mol% Y₂O₃) (Y-ZTA), Al₂O₃-25 wt% ZrO₂(8 mol% CeO₂) (Ce-ZTA) were produced by the sinter-forging process. The effect of presintering temperature on the mechanical properties of the composites was examined. The sinter-forging process increased the room-temperature bending strength in comparison with pressureless sintering, owing to the smaller grain size in sinter-forged bodies than in pressureless sintered ones. It was found necessary to keep the presintering temperature considerably lower than sinter-forging temperature in order to improve the room-temperature strength. The strength of sinter-forged Ce-ZTA was higher than that of sinter-forged Y-ZTA. The residual surface compressive stress induced by the phase transition during grinding in Ce-ZTA was found to be effective to further improve the strength and fracture toughness.