Determination of the thermophysical properties of translucent materials

A method is proposed for determining the thermophysical properties of translucent scattering materials in the nonsteady heating regime.Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 977–982, December, 1985.     

Preoperative evaluation of 54 gliomas by PET with fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose and/or carbon-11-methionine

This study evaluates the usefulness of PET for the preoperative evaluation of brain gliomas and methods of quantification of PET results. METHODS: Fifty-four patients with brain gliomas were studied by PET with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) (n = 45) and/or 11C-methionine (MET) (n = 41) before any treatment. Results of visual analysis, calculation of glucose consumption and five tumor-to-normal brain ratios for both tracers were correlated with two histologic grading systems and with follow-up. RESULTS: Visual analysis (for FDG) and tumor-to-mean cortical uptake (T/MCU) ratio proved to be the best tools for the evaluation of PET results. Methionine was proven to be better than FDG at delineating low-grade gliomas. Tumor-to-mean cortical uptake ratios for FDG and MET were clearly correlated (r = 0.78), leading to the equation T/MCU(FDG) = 0.4 x T/MCU(MET). We showed a good correlation between FDG PET and histologic grading. MET uptake could not differentiate between low-grade and anaplastic astrocytomas but was significantly increased in glioblastomas. Low-grade oligodendrogliomas exhibited high uptake of FDG and MET, probably depending more on oligodendroglial cellular differentiation than on proliferative potential. Uptake was decreased in anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, probably due to dedifferentiation. Care must be taken with peculiar histologic subgroups, i.e., juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas, because of a discrepancy between high PET metabolism and low proliferative potential (good prognosis). Both tracers proved useful for the prediction of survival prognosis. Methionine proved slightly superior to FDG for predicting the histologic grade and prognosis of gliomas, despite the impossibility of differentiation between Grades II and III astrocytomas with MET. This superiority of MET could be explained by patient sampling (low number of Grade III gliomas submitted to examination with both tracers). The combination of both tracers improved the overall results compared to each tracer alone. CONCLUSION: Both tracers are useful for the prediction of the histologic grade and prognosis. The apparent superiority of MET over FDG could be due to the small number of Grade III gliomas studied with both tracers.     

Indices of the nutritional status of workers in the oil and gas production industry adapting to the extreme conditions of an arid zone

The authors studied actual nutrition and certain parameters of food (supply of vitamins A, E, C and the content of phospholipids, cholesterol, NEFA, triglycerides and cholesterol esters) for oil derrick installers working during summer at the "Mangyschlakneft" amalgamation. Incorrect structure of their nutrition and insufficient supply with vitamins A and C, revealed as the result of the study, necessitate rationalization of the nutrition for such workers.     

Anisotropy in the strength of cellulosic fibres

Conclusions It is proposed to use the equation of a lemniscate, or the Cassini curve, to determine the destructive stress at break for cellulose films in any direction. Thereupon, to determine , it is necessary to know the destructive stress along two basic directions (₀ and ₉₀).To obtain cellulosic films which are isotropic in plane, a necessary and sufficient condition is ₀=₉₀.Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 6, pp. 34–35, November–December, 1987.     

Terahertz radiation generation in multilayer quantum-cascade heterostructures

I–V and radiative characteristics of multilayer quantum-cascade GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures with a double metal waveguide are investigated. The I–V characteristics typical of the quantum-cascade lasers are seen. The observed threshold-intensity growth and narrow radiation spectrum are characteristic of laser generation. The measured radiation frequency was found to be about 3 THz, which coincides with the calculated value. Thus, fully domestic terahertz quantum-cascade lasers are demonstrated for the first time.     

Continuous input nonlocal games

We present a family of nonlocal games in which the inputs the players receive are continuous. We study three representative members of the family. For the first two a team sharing quantum correlations (entanglement) has an advantage over any team restricted to classical correlations. We conjecture that this is true for the third member of the family as well.     

Analytical computer calculations in problems with random division of an interval

The novelty and originality of the presented studies consists of the fact that the rigorous mathematical proof of one of relationships that describe the probability of an error-free reading of random discrete images contained in them was previously found by the authors using specially created programs for computer analytical calculations.