Characterization of rectangular waveguide with a pseudochiral /spl Omega/ slab

A mode matching approach has been employed for evaluating the matrix S of the section of rectangular waveguide with pseudochiral /spl Omega/ slab. Scattering characteristics for different localizations of the /spl Omega/ slab in the guide are predicted numerically and verified by measurements. Based on the numerical analysis, the scattering properties of the guides are discussed. Scattering parameters are next applied in an optimization procedure to extract constitutive parameters of the /spl Omega/ slab used in experiment.     

High-accuracy gas analysis via isotope dilution mass spectrometry: carbon dioxide in air

An absolute method, based on isotope dilution mass spectrometry, is described for the determination of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in dry air. In this study, the relative amounts of sample and spike gases are measured manometrically under temperature control before blending. The spike CO2 composition is approximately 0.1 atom % 13C while the oxygen isotopic composition is "normal". Exhaustive assessment of potential error sources leads to accountability of observed imprecision and determination of accuracy confidence intervals (CI). The imprecision interval (95% CI) about the mean is smaller than +/- 0.1% (+/- 0.4 mumol/mol) while the accuracy interval (95% CI) is +/- 0.15% (+/- 0.52 mumol/mol) for air having a CO2 concentration of about 350 mumol/mol. Calculated concentrations of CO2 are statistically indistinguishable from those generated by gravimetry, an independent method of analysis. In this study, the major contributors to uncertainty and imprecision are the predetermination of the gas volume ratio and the measurement of the isotopic composition of the blended CO2, respectively.     

Localization of NADPH-d positive cells in the thymus of pheasants and mice

In this case report we discribe clinic, pathology and diagnostic of an avian reovirus-infection in pheasants. The disease was observed 1993 in a flock of game-pheasants in the western part of Turkey. Of a live-stock of 100 animals, 27 were affected most of them being three to five months old. Beside a general disorder, sick pheasants showed signs of shortness of breath as well as greenish, watery diarrhoea and died within a week. The pathologic findings were dominated by an extreme hepatopathia. In addition a fibrinous tracheitis, a catarrhal inflammation of the gut and a perihepatitis fibrinosa could be observed. From organs of affected pheasants a pathogen could be isolated, which was characterized anti-genetically, by physico-chemical properties an by electronmicroscopy as avian reovirus.     

The effect of higher alkanes on the ignition of methane-oxygen-argon mixtures in shock waves

Ignition delay times and product distribution were observed in mixtures of methane-oxygen-argon to which different amounts of ethane, propane, butane and pentane were added. All produced appreciable reduction in ignition delay time, which at low additive concentrations could be correlated in terms of the thermal effects. However, chemical analysis of quenched reacting mixtures and kinetic model calculations indicated that the additive influence waschemical andnot thermal. An explanation is advanced for the thermal correlation and its breakdown.     

Standards development of global warming gas species: methane, nitrous oxide, trichlorofluoromethane, and dichlorodifluoromethane

Environmental scientists from federal agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and academia have long suspected that increasing anthropogenic inputs of various trace gases into the atmosphere can cause changes in the earth's climate and protective ozone layer. Nitrous oxide and methane, cited in the Kyoto Protocol, as well astrichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) and dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12), cited in the Montreal Protocol, are all greenhouse gases and are implicated in the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer. The lack of national standards prompted research to determine the feasibility of preparing accurate and stable standards containing these four compounds. Development of these standards would support the measurement of these species by those in the atmospheric research community not having their own source of standards. A suite of eight primary gas standards containing methane, nitrous oxide, CFC-11, and CFC-12 in a balance of air were prepared gravimetrically to bracket the ambient atmospheric concentrations. The combined uncertainties (uc) were calculated from error propagation analysis that included the weighing data from the gravimetric preparation and other sources of error such as the purity analysis of the compounds and air matrix. The expanded uncertainties (U) for the gravimetric standards were < 0.5% as calculated from the equation U = kuc, where the coverage factor k is equal to 2 for a 95% confidence interval. Analyses of the suite of standards by gas chromatography with flame-ionization and electron capture detection resulted in average absolute residuals of < 0.25% from regression models. The NIST suite of eight gravimetric standards was used to determine the concentrations in two standardsfrom NOAA. Those analyses resulted in bias across the two laboratories of < or = 2.1%.