Structure development during melt spinning of linear polyethylene fibers

Apparatus has been developed for studying the development of crystallinity and orientation during the melt spinning of synthetic fibers. Tension in the fiber and temperature, diameter, and x-ray diffraction patterns are measured as a function of distance from the spinneret for a running monofilament. Measurements are presented for linear polyethylene over a range of spinning variables together with other investigations carried out on the final as-spun fibers. These data indicate that the development of crystallinity in polyethylene is controlled by a balance between increased crystallization kinetics caused by the stress in the fiber and a tendency for increased supercooling with change in any spinning variable that increases cooling rates in the fiber. The type of crystalline orientation observed, its development during the spinning process, and the changes observed with changes in spinning conditions suggest a model for the as-spun fiber structure in which varying amounts of row nucleation and twisting of lamellar, folded-chain crystal overgrowths occur depending on the spinning conditions. As-spun fiber birefringence was shown to depend primarily on the crystalline orientation. Mechanical properties correlated well with c-axis crystalline orientation function and spinline stress.     

Algorithms for testing that sets of DNA words concatenate without secondary structure

We present an efficient algorithm for determining whether all moleculesin a combinatorial set of DNA or RNA strandsare structure free, and thus availablefor bonding to their Watson-Crick complements.This work is motivated by the goalof testing whether strands used in DNAcomputations or as molecular bar-codesare structure free, where the strands areconcatenations of short words. We alsopresent an algorithm for determining whetherall words in S*, for some finite setS of equi-length words, are structure free. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Simplified calculation of the area specific impedance for battery design

Battery design is a critical aspect of material and system development that leads to the commercialization of effective electrochemical energy storage systems. Successful modeling of battery designs relies upon accurate calculation of the area specific impedance (ASI). A simplified calculation of the ASI is presented that accounts for physical limitations without performing computationally expensive calculations. The limiting currents for transport within the electrolyte and within the intercalation materials are implemented into a linear form of the Butler-Volmer equation to calculate the interfacial impedance. Lithium-ion batteries are then designed to examine the effect of power to energy ratio on battery dimensions. A large ASI is shown to be detrimental to battery design regardless if the increase in impedance results from mass transport limitations or a reduction in electrochemical active area due to small electrode loadings. The smaller electrochemical active area does not increase the voltage losses of a battery when a constant C-rate is maintained. However, the higher ASI values from low electrode loadings require a larger separator and current collector area resulting in a greater battery volume and weight to achieve similar energy and power requirements when compared to a system with a lower ASI.     

Massive hemorrhage caused by a perforating Gianturco-Z stent resulting in an aortoesophageal fistula

Squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil has a relatively poor prognosis. Aggressive surgery, radiation therapy and combinations of irradiation and surgery have been employed but there exists some controversy about the efficacy of these treatment modalities. The purpose of this paper is to compare the efficacy of treatment between the surgery followed by radiation therapy and the preoperative radiation therapy followed by surgical resection. The medical records of 33 patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Korea University Hospital between 1989-1993 were reviewed retrospectively. None of the patients were stage I, but stage II, III, and IV were four, five, and 24 patients, respectively. There were 30 males and three females. The most common histopathology was moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (20/33). The 13 patients treated initially with surgery had an overall three-year survival rate of 38.5%, and the rate for the 20 patients treated initially with radiation was 40%. The main pattern of treatment failure was a local recurrence and neck metastases, and pathologic differentiation thought to be an important prognostic factor. Complications are fewer in patients treated initially with surgery (23.1%) than patients initially treated with radiation (50.0%). There is no difference in the efficacy between the two therapeutic groups.     

Native command queuing - advanced performance in desktop storage

This paper describes a new key feature of SATA standard, native command queuing (NCQ). This feature is specific to the SATA interface but is similar in some ways to other reordering protocols developed for the small computer system interface (SCSI). Building a queue is the first component of this protocol. The drive must know when it receives a command whether it should queue the command or whether it should execute that command immediately. NCQ uses a new command protocol with new command opcodes that allows the device to know whether a command can be queued. Thus NCQ is more beneficial to the home PC environment, providing the storage subsystem with better performance for today's end-user requirements as media accessibility and the use of multiple applications simultaneously becomes a more commonplace event in the digital home.     

The Dutch Renal Artery Stenosis Intervention Cooperative (DRASTIC) Study: rationale, design and inclusion data

RATIONALE: Renal artery stenosis may lead to renovascular hypertension, risking multiple organ damage including damage to the contralateral kidney. Progression of stenosis may impair the function of the affected kidney. It is important to identify individuals with this disease among hypertensive patients. The first aim of the Dutch Renal Artery Stenosis Intervention Cooperative (DRASTIC) study is to assess the prevalence of renal artery stenosis in patients with well-defined forms of drug-resistant hypertension, and to determine the predictive value of clinical characteristics and diagnostic tests in these pre-selected patients. With regard to treatment, the effect of renal angioplasty on hypertension is disappointing in atherosclerotic stenosis and technical failure frequently occurs. Therefore, the second aim is to compare the effects of balloon angioplasty and antihypertensive medication on blood pressure in patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis. DESIGN HYPERTENSIVE: patients receiving standard antihypertensive medication in whom diastolic blood pressure remained > or =95 mmHg during three consecutive visits to the outpatient clinic underwent full diagnostic work-up, including renal arteriography. The prevalence of renal artery stenosis in this well-defined patient group was then established, and the predictive value of the various diagnostic tests was assessed. Patients with an atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis of > or =50% were then randomly assigned to balloon angioplasty or to treatment with antihypertensive drugs. After 1 year of intensive follow-up of blood pressure and renal function, re-arteriography was performed. CONCLUSION: In total, 1205 patients have been included in the study, about 500 have received diagnostic work-up, and it is expected that 100 patients will be randomly assigned for renal angioplasty or medical treatment.     

Cognitive modularity: Implications for counseling and the representation of personal issues.

Recent modular views or cognition are described and related to counseling approaches. A framework for client–counselor interactions that are based on these views is developed and used to examine ways of expressing and representing counseling issues. The resulting analysis suggests that, for certain counseling activities, spatial-graphic representations are likely to be useful adjuncts to natural language. Previous work with specialized spatial-graphic approaches (e.g., genograms, behavior loop maps) is reviewed, and a general representational technique, node-link mapping, is introduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Node-link mapping and the evaluation of drug abuse counseling sessions.

Node-link mapping is a visual representation system that can be used in group and individual counseling sessions to illustrate clients' problems, issues, and plans. One hundred sixty-nine methadone treatment clients and their 10 counselors evaluated each of their individual and group sessions during a 2.5-month period by using the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (W. B. Stiles, 1980) and map rating items. A series of multivariate analyses of variance and correlational analyses indicated that the use of mapping (including the quantity and quality of mapping) was positively related to higher ratings of session depth by both clients and counselors. In addition, mapped group sessions were rated higher on several evaluative dimensions than were mapped individual sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance degradation of high-power lithium-ion cells—Electrochemistry of harvested electrodes

The performance of 18650-type high-power lithium-ion cells is being evaluated as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOEs) Advanced Technology Development (ATD) program. In this article, we present accelerated aging data acquired on 18650-cells containing LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂- or LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Al_0.1O₂-based positive electrodes, MAG-10 graphite-based negative electrodes, and 1.2-M LiPF₆ in EC:EMC (3:7 by wt.) electrolyte. Capacity and impedance data acquired on electrodes harvested from these cells highlight the contributions of the positive and negative electrodes to the degradation of cell performance. We also describe test methodologies used to examine the electrochemical characteristics of the harvested electrodes. Identifying and optimizing cell components responsible for performance degradation should enable the development of new lithium-ion cell chemistries that will meet the 15-year cell calendar life goal established by DOEs FreedomCar initiative.