Phase relations in the ternary system Cu-In-Se

The phase relations of the ternary system Cu-In-Se were studied at 750° C by quenching experiments. Special attention was given to the region CuInSe₂In₂Se₃-In₄Se₃. Only four ternary phases with extended homogeneity ranges were found to exist. They were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, electron microprobe analysis (EK8PA)' end optical microscopy. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) investigations allowed us to construct theT-x diagram of the Cu₂Se-In₂Se₃. out between 47 and 100 mol% In₂Se₃. Besides, it was also possible to give a tentative diagram of the solid-liquid equilibria at 750° C and to get some information on the sub-solid existence fields beside the Cu₂Se-In₂Se₃ cut.     

An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

A Simulation Study of Clock Recovery in QPSK and 9QPRS Systems

Computer simulation is employed to assess jitter performance of a clock recovery circuit as a function of the characteristics of the rectifier being used. Several types of rectifiers are compared, some operating at baseband, others at intermediate frequency (IF). It is shown that the best choice between them depends both on the modulation format and on the excess bandwidth factor of the pulse spectrum. In QPSK systems, fourth-law rectifiers outperform the others for rolloff factors up to 0.2 while, for higher values, baseband absolutevalue rectifiers are preferable. In the case of 9QPRS, baseband absolutevalue rectifiers provide jitter reductions of one order of magnitude at high signal-to-noise ratios.     

Techno-economic study of different alternatives for biodiesel production

Biodiesel has become an attractive diesel fuel substitute due to its environmental benefits since it can be made from renewable resource. However, the high costs surrounding biodiesel production remains the main problem in making it competitive in the fuel market either as a blend or as a neat fuel. More than 80% of the production cost is associated with the feedstock itself and consequently, efforts are focused on developing technologies capable of using lower-cost feedstocks, such as recycled cooking oils and wastes from animal or vegetable oil processing operations.     

Hiding biometric data

With the wide spread utilization of biometric identification systems, establishing the authenticity of biometric data itself has emerged as an important research issue. The fact that biometric data is not replaceable and is not secret, combined with the existence of several types of attacks that are possible in a biometric system, make the issue of security/integrity of biometric data extremely critical. We introduce two applications of an amplitude modulation-based watermarking method, in which we hide a user's biometric data in a variety of images. This method has the ability to increase the security of both the hidden biometric data (e.g., eigen-face coefficients) and host images (e.g., fingerprints). Image adaptive data embedding methods used in our scheme lead to low visibility of the embedded signal. Feature analysis of host images guarantees high verification accuracy on watermarked (e.g., fingerprint) images.     

Schwingfestigkeit von Schraube‐Mutter‐Verbindungen

High cycle fatigue of bolted connections Extensive tests regarding the influences on the fatigue of bolt‐nut‐connections of preloading with torsion, of preloading with yielding, of loading with superimposed bending and of the tested lot are processed. These influences are not yet known according to VDI 2230. New testing devices were designed for these tests, which allow a far less expensive operation and may easily be used for bolts of diameters up to M100 and testing frequencies up to 1000 Hz. The validity of fatigue resistance according to VDI 2230 is specified with respect to the test results. The determined influence of the tested lots is unexpectedly high. The manufacturing process of bolts should be improved to minimize this influence.     

Etching behavior of CVD zinc selenide in inorganic acid solutions

Chemical interaction between polished surfaces of polycrystalline zinc selenide and inorganic acid solutions of various concentrations has been studied.     

Prophylactic treatment of migraine with gamma-linolenic and alpha-linolenic acids

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were administered to 168 patients over a period of 6 months in an open-label uncontrolled study. In 129 patients available for study, 86% experienced reduction in severity, frequency and duration of migraine attacks, 22% became free of migraine and more than 90% had reduced nausea and vomiting. Self-medication changed to simple analgesics in the majority except in 14% of patients without improvement.     

PET: brain tumor biochemistry

Most mechanisms of drugs which are used in brain tumor chemotherapy are well characterized: alkylation of DNA components (nitrosoureas), binding with tubulin protein resulting in metaphase arrest (vincristine), chromatid breaks and chromosome translocations (procarbazine), or inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase (hydroxyurea) [1]. These drugs exert their effects mainly during certain cell cycle phases of proliferating cells, particularly when DNA is synthesized. From this it can be assumed that the efficacy of these drugs depends on the fraction of proliferating cells. Thus it would be of great importance to estimate the proliferation rate of brain tumors which could guide chemotherapy in individual patients. Positron emission tomography (PET) measures quantitatively the in vivo tissue uptake of tracer substances. In tumors, the uptake appears to be altered in a characteristic way determined by biochemical properties of tumor tissue. Some aspects of brain tumor metabolism which are theoretically related to proliferation have been investigated with PET. In the following, the literature is reviewed with regard to: 1) tracer substances whose uptake has been thought to reflect tumor malignancy (11C-methionine, 18F-fluoro-deoxyglucose), and 2) tracers which theoretically could reflect mechanisms specifically related to DNA synthesis (11C-putrescine, ligands for peripheral benzodiazepine receptors).