Wall Rock Alteration,Uranium Mineralization,and Potentiality of Uranium and Iron Dissolution from Mineralized Abu Rusheid Gneiss Rock,South Eastern Desert,Egypt

Radiochemistry - Ferrugination, sericitization, desulfitization, chloritization, and kaolinitization of hydrothermal origin are the main wall rock alterations occurring within the NNW shear zones...     

Regression of severe atherosclerotic plaque in patients with mild elevation of LDL cholesterol

BACKGROUND: Intensive risk factor reduction in patients with dyslipidemias and coronary atherosclerosis has been shown to result in alterations in coronary artery morphology and reduced clinical events. However, the impact of such interventions in populations with relatively normal levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) is unclear. METHODS: To test the hypothesis that intensive risk factor reduction results in angiographic regression in patients with only mildly elevated levels of LDL, 14 patients with angiographically proven coronary atherosclerosis were entered into the University of California Davis Coronary Artery Disease Regression Program and intensively treated with pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions for 2 years. Quantitative angiography was performed prior to and after 2 years of therapy to determine changes in coronary artery diameter. RESULTS: As a result of this program, dietary fat intake was reduced by 58% and LDL fell from 120 +/- 7 mg/dL to 104 +/- 6 mg/dL (p = 0.05). The average diameter of the measured arterial locations (including all 53 stenoses and 292 nondiscrete regions) on study entry was 2.74 +/- 0.05 mm. After 24 months, there was a net increase in arterial diameter (regression) of +0.05 +/- 0.04 mm to 2.81 +/- 0.05 mm (p = 0.01). While there was no significant change in the average diameter of discrete stenoses, all 8 lesions > or = 50% initial diameter narrowing regressed, with a mean diameter change of + 0.2 mm. Conversely, only 1 of 8 mild lesions < or = 20% regressed, while 4 progressed. Intermediate lesions (20% to 50%, n = 37) had balanced progression and regression. CONCLUSIONS: When examined as a continuous variable, there was a significant linear correlation between initial lesion severity (% stenosis) and the extent of regression (mm). Therefore, risk factor reduction (dietary therapy, exercise, psycho-social counseling, and lipid lowering therapy) in patients with only mild dyslipidemia results in angiographic regression of more severe lesions (> 50% initial stenosis), but does not prevent progression of mild lesions (< 20%). These findings demonstrate that intensive risk factor reduction in patients with only mild elevation of lipids beneficially influences the morphology of the most severe lesions.     

The validity of the Gammarus:Asellus ratio as an index of organic pollution: abiotic and biotic influences.

In freshwaters. Gammarus spp. are more sensitive to organic pollution than Asellus spp. and the relative abundance of the two taxa has been proposed as a pollution index. We tested the validity of this by examining the relationship between the Gammarus: Asellus (G : A) ratio and (1) a suite of physico-chemical variables. (2) established biotic (average score per taxon, ASPT) and richness (species richness (S) and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera families richness (EPT family richness)) indices generated from the macroinvertebrate community. In addition, we investigated a suspected biotic interaction, predation, between Gammarus and Asellus. Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the G: A ratio was sometimes responsive to changes in parameters linked to organic pollution, such as BOD5 and nitrate levels. However, the G : A ratio also appeared responsive to variables not directly linked to organic pollution, such as conductivity and distance from source. There were significant positive correlations among the G : A ratio and the ASPT, S and EPT, indicating that changes in the relative abundances of Gammarus and Asellus were reflected in changes in the pollution sensitivity and richness of the wider macroinvertebrate community. A laboratory experiment revealed significant predation of Asellus aquaticus juveniles by Gammarus duebeni celticus adults, but no reciprocal predation. We propose that the G: A ratio may be useful as a crude measure of organic pollution that could supplement more complex indices in a multimetric approach to pollution monitoring or be used for monitoring individual sites, where a simple technique is required for monitoring purposes over a period of time. Also, we urge recognition of the possible role of biotic interactions among taxa used in the generation of pollution indices.     

An efficient electromagnetic-physics-based numerical technique for modeling and optimization of high-frequency multifinger transistors

We present a fast wavelet-based time-domain modeling technique to study the effect of electromagnetic (EM)-wave propagation on the performance of high-power and high-frequency multifinger transistors. The proposed approach solves the active device model that combines the transport physics, and Maxwell's equations on nonuniform self-adaptive grids, obtained by applying wavelet transforms followed by hard thresholding. This allows forming fine and coarse grids in the locations where variable solutions change rapidly and slowly, respectively. A CPU time reduction of 75% is achieved compared to a uniform-grid case, while maintaining the same degree of accuracy. After validation, the potential of the developed technique is demonstrated by EM-physical modeling of multifinger transistors. Different numerical examples are presented, showing that accurate modeling of high-frequency devices should incorporate the effect of EM-wave propagation and electron-wave interactions within and around the device. Moreover, high-frequency advantages of multifinger transistors over single-finger transistors are underlined through numerical examples. To our knowledge, this is the first time in the literature a fully numerical EM-physics-based simulator for accurate modeling of high-frequency multifinger transistors is introduced and implemented.     

Robust weighted likelihood estimation of exponential parameters

The problem of estimating the parameter of an exponential distribution when a proportion of the observations are outliers is quite important to reliability applications. The method of weighted likelihood is applied to this problem, and a robust estimator of the exponential parameter is proposed. Interestingly, the proposed estimator is an /spl alpha/-trimmed mean type estimator. The large-sample robustness properties of the new estimator are examined. Further, a Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted showing that the proposed estimator is, under a wide range of contaminated exponential models, more efficient than the usual maximum likelihood estimator in the sense of having a smaller risk, a measure combining bias & variability. An application of the method to a data set on the failure times of throttles is presented.     

Effects of forage level and canola seed supplementation on site and extent of digestion of organic matter, carbohydrates, and energy by steers

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of fat supplementation from canola seed (CS) on ruminal fermentation and postruminal digestion of OM, carbohydrates, and energy of diets containing different levels of forage. Six ruminally and duodenally cannulated beef steers (354 kg +/- 18) were given ad libitum access to six isonitrogenous diets that were offered twice daily in a 6 x 6 Latin square design. Treatments were arranged as a 2 x 3 factorial with two forage levels (70 vs 30% of dietary DM as corn silage) and three forms of CS supplementation including no CS or CS added at 10% of dietary DM as whole CS treated with alkaline hydrogen peroxide or untreated crushed CS. Fat from CS provided 5% of dietary DM. The remaining dietary ingredients were corn, canola meal, molasses, and urea. No interactions (P > .05) between dietary forage level and CS supplementation were observed for ruminal characteristics or digestion of OM, carbohydrates, and energy in the rumen, postruminally, or in the total tract. Fat supplementation from CS did not affect (P > .05) DMI. With few exceptions, fat supplementation did not affect (P > .05) ruminal, postruminal, or total tract digestibilities of OM, structural and nonstructural carbohydrates, and GE. Ruminal disappearance of GE was decreased (P < .05) when diets were supplemented with fat from whole treated CS, and total tract digestibilities of OM and GE were decreased (P < .05) when diets were supplemented with fat from CS in either form. Ruminal pH, concentrations of NH3 N and total VFA, and molar proportions of acetate, propionate, and butyrate were not affected (P > .05) by fat supplementation. Results suggest that fat supplementation from CS (at 5% of dietary DM) as whole treated or untreated crushed had no negative effects on ruminal fermentation of OM, carbohydrates, or energy when steers were given ad libitum access to diets containing high or low forage.     

Metallurgical parameters,mechanical properties and machinability of ductile cast iron

Results on the effect of solidification cooling rate on the microstructure, mechanical properties and machinability of spheroidal graphite (SG) iron have been presented. The effect of ferritic heat treatment on the same properties has been also investigated. The microstructural observation, tensile properties and hardness values of the present SG iron has been developed. The tool life criterion was used as a measure of machinability. It was found that during turning of SG iron by using a single point cutting tool, its life increased with decreasing the solidification cooling rate for both sand and metal moulds. The tool life was found to be significantly affected by the variation of nodule characteristics. A decrease in tool life due to an increase of nodule count was observed. The tool life was found to be directly proportional to the ductility of SG iron whether for the as cast or ferritic heat-treated ingots.