Doped silicon and NIS junctions for bolometer applications

We discuss the performance, of a normal metal hot electron bolometer (NHEB) that we have measured at 0.3 K. We found that the noise equivalent power was limited by the amplifier noise. To improve the NHEB power response and to make it more robust and reliable we propose to substitute the normal metal with heavily doped silicon. The heavily doped silicon behaves like a metal with lower carrier concentration and has a smaller electron–phonon thermal coupling. We have fabricated superconductor-doped silicon-superconductor contacts (S-Sm-S) and we have used them as thermometers and coolers.     

A comparative analysis of methods for pruning decision trees

In this paper, we address the problem of retrospectively pruning decision trees induced from data, according to a top-down approach. This problem has received considerable attention in the areas of pattern recognition and machine learning, and many distinct methods have been proposed in literature. We make a comparative study of six well-known pruning methods with the aim of understanding their theoretical foundations, their computational complexity, and the strengths and weaknesses of their formulation. Comments on the characteristics of each method are empirically supported. In particular, a wide experimentation performed on several data sets leads us to opposite conclusions on the predictive accuracy of simplified trees from some drawn in the literature. We attribute this divergence to differences in experimental designs. Finally, we prove and make use of a property of the reduced error pruning method to obtain an objective evaluation of the tendency to overprune/underprune observed in each method     

Paste Residence Time in a Spouted Bed Dryer. III: Effect of Paste Properties and Quality Interactions

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of paste properties on residence time during drying in a spouted bed dryer with inert bodies. The effect of paste solids content, surface tension, and viscosity on the residence time distribution and the mean residence times were studied using factorial experimental designs. The inert bodies used were glass and polyethylene beads. The mean residence times varied from 13.6 to 16.3 and 12.2 to 17.7 min for drying on glass and polyethylene beads, respectively. The analysis of variance showed that mean residence times significantly depended on solids content and surface tension for glass beads and also on viscosity for polyethylene beads. The residence time distributions for all conditions studied fitted well to the perfect mixing cell when applying the continuous stirred vessels in series model analysis. The powder density, flowability, and particle size depended on paste properties and inert type.     

Localized dissection of the abdominal aorta. Diagnosis and surgical treatment

Abdominal aortic dissection is a rare pathology. As far as we are concerned, only 59 cases have been reported in the English literature. In the last two years, two cases were treated at our Institution. Both were males, over 70 years of age. They were evaluated with ultrasonography, angiography (1 case) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging which showed localised dissection of the abdominal aorta with aneurysmal dilatation. They underwent surgical treatment with good results. At 1 and 2 years from operation both patients are alive and well. A postoperative ultrasonography didn't show any residual dissection.     

Nisin expression production from Lactococcus lactis in milk whey medium

BACKGROUND: Nisin is a commercially available bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis ATCC 11454 and used as a natural agent in the biopreservation of food. In the current investigation, milk whey, a byproduct from dairy industries was used as a fermentation substrate for the production of nisin. Lactococcus lactis ATCC 11454 was developed in a rotary shaker (30 °C/36 h/100 rpm) using two different media with milk whey (i) without filtration, pH 6.8, adjusted with NaOH 2 mol L^?1 and without pH adjustment, both autoclaved at 121 °C for 30 min, and (ii) filtrated (1.20 µm and 0.22 µm membrane filter). These cultures were transferred five times using 5 mL aliquots of broth culture for every new volume of the respective media. RESULTS: The results showed that culture media composed of milk whey without filtration supplied L. lactis its adaptation needs better than filtrated milk whey. Nisin titers, in milk whey without filtration (pH adjusted), was 11120.13 mg L^?1 in the second transfer, and up to 1628‐fold higher than the filtrated milk whey, 6.83 mg.L^?1 obtained in the first^t transfer. CONCLUSIONS: Biological processing of milk byproducts (milk whey) can be considered a profitable alternative, generating high‐value bioproducts and contributing to decreasing river disposals by dairy industries. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry