Sensitivity Analysis of Calibration Methods and Factors Effecting the Statistical Nature of Radiation Measurement

The scintillator detectors are recalibrated against the datasheet given by the manufacturer. Optimal and mutual dependent values of (a) high voltage at PMT (Photomultiplier Tube), (b) amplifier gain, (c) average time to count the radiation particles (set by operator), and (d) number of instances/sample number are estimated. Total 5: two versions of Central Limit Theorem (CLT), (3) industry preferred Pulse Width Saturation, (4) calibration based on MPPC coupled Gamma-ray detector, and (5) gross method are used. It is shown that the CLT method is the most optimal method to calibrate the detector and its respective electronics couple. An inverse modeling-based Computerized Tomography method is used for verification. It is shown that statistically averaging results are more accurate and precise data than mode and median if the data is not skewed and a random number of samples are used during the calibration process. It is also shown that the average time to count the radiation particle is the most important parameter affecting the optimal calibration setting for precision and accurate measurements of gamma radiation.

     

Kinetic analysis of magnesium aluminate spinel formation: Effect of MgO:Al2O3 ratio and titania dopant

The mechanistic pathway of MgO-Al₂O₃ reaction in solid state to form MgAl₂O₄ spinel was investigated to correlate the kinetic parameters with ratio of reactants (MgO:Al₂O₃) and with the presence of a doping agent, TiO₂. The time-temperature-expansion data of oxide compacts was analyzed using several model free analyses and model based (linear and non-linear) kinetic algorithms. These indicated that spinel formation process can be best described by single step with n-dimensional Avrami equation for every MgO:Al₂O₃ ratio, irrespective of titania dopant. The activation energy (E_a) of the process was proportional to % spinel formed in each system and validated with quantitative XRD analysis. The higher value of Avrami coefficient (n) in 90 wt% Al₂O₃ compositions has been explained with geometric considerations of powder packing. Incorporations of 1% TiO₂ in the MgO: Al₂O₃ oxide compact did not markedly affect the reaction model, frequency factor and Activation energy.     

Effect of electric field on the hydrodynamics of fluidized nanoparticles

The effect of electric field on the hydrodynamics of nanoparticles was studied in a fluidized rectangular bed, with electrodes attached to two parallel walls. It was shown that the electric field of the order of 3 times the gravity markedly decreased the bed expansion and increased the solids volume fraction of nanoparticles fluidized by air. In these experiments, a light diode assembly was utilized to infer the local solids volume fractions within a rectangular bed of 10 nm silica particles. These experimental measurements yielded a two dimensional solids volume fraction distribution within the rectangular bed. The experimental results provided some new insights into the distribution of solids within the bed. The agglomerate diameters were computed using a momentum balance with the drag given by the Ergun equation and the empirical Richardson-Zaki method. Both methods yielded agglomerate diameters of the order of 100 μm and showed dependence on the strength of the electric field. The electric field decreased the granular temperature of the nanoparticles.     

Dynamics of carotid body responses in vitro in the presence of CO2-HCO3-: role of carbonic anhydrase

The role of carbonic anhydrase (CNA) in the dynamics of carotid body (CB) function was tested by studying the effects of the membrane-permeable CNA inhibitor methazolamide on the chemosensory responses of the cat CB, perfused and superfused in vitro with cell-free and modified Tyrode solution at 36.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C in the presence of CO2-HCO3- (PO2 = 120 Torr, PCO2 = 32 Torr, pH = 7.40). The bulk of CO2 flow to the CB from the external milieu was overwhelmingly large relative to the metabolic production of CO2 in the CB. Accordingly, the relative contribution of the endogenous CO2 to the CB responses was small. The chemosensory nerve discharges were recorded from the whole desheathed carotid sinus nerve. The responses to acidic hypercapnia (PCO2 = 50-60 Torr, pH = 7.20-7.10), hypoxia (PO2 = 25 and 50 Torr), perfusate flow interruption, and bolus injections of sodium cyanide (20-40 nmol) were tested. To contrast, we also measured the effects of nicotine (2-4 nmol), which may act at sites other than those for O2 and CO2. Methazolamide (30 mg/l) in the perfusate at constant PCO2 and pH reduced the baseline activity and delayed the responses to step changes in PCO2 (and concomitantly pH) and PO2 and to cyanide but not to nicotine. The steady-state responses to these stimuli, measured as differences from control, were reduced, but not significantly. The initial overshoots seen with step changes in both high PCO2 and low PO2 were eliminated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Myocardial imaging with technetium-99m-tetrofosmin: comparison of one-day and two-day protocols

There is no evidence of myocardial redistribution after tetrofosmin injection, therefore, two separate injections are needed to differentiate scar from ischemia with this tracer. The injections can be given on the same day (one-day protocol) or on separate days (two-day protocol). As part of a Phase II clinical study, a one-day protocol was compared with a two-day protocol. METHODS: Fifty-five patients with suspected coronary artery disease were studied according to the following protocol: on the first day at rest, anterior, left lateral, left anterior oblique 40 degrees and 70 degrees images were acquired 30 min after injection of 8 mCi of tetrofosmin for 5 min each. Two days later, exercise and rest images were acquired on the same day. At peak exercise, 8 mCi of tetrofosmin were injected and 30 min later the same four standard planar images were recorded as on Day one. Four hours after the exercise injection, 24 mCi of tetrofosmin were injected at rest and imaging was repeated 30 min later. Qualitative comparisons between the one- and two-day protocols were performed in 50 patients in whom all data were available following blinded evaluation of images by three readers. RESULTS: All three readers reported identical results for the 26 patients. A difference in extent or location between the observers was found in seven patients, differences between normal and abnormal in eight patients, while discrepancies between ischemia and necrosis were noted in four patients. In five patients, an ischemic area was found according to the one-day protocol, but according to the data of the two-day protocol, this area was judged to be necrotic. One observer reported the opposite in one patient. These discrepancies between the reversibility of defects were restricted to the inferior wall. Comparison with 201Tl data showed no systematic pattern of variation. CONCLUSION: Tetrofosmin can be used in a one-day protocol. However, in planar imaging, the inferior wall should be reported with caution.     

Pre-illumination to control the active trap density in asemi-insulating MQW device

The trap density in a photorefractive semi-insulating quantum-well (QW) device can be dynamically adjusted for optimum sensitivity by passivating some of its traps with photocarriers from a pre-illumination pulse. By reducing the effective trap density with pre-illumination, we demonstrate that the carrier drift length can increase, causing more than an order of magnitude increase in device sensitivity by increasing the number of QW's screened per carrier. Too much pre-illumination, on the other hand, decreases four-wave mixing diffraction efficiency, due to lateral drift. The optimum trap density enables higher sensitivity while maintaining high-resolution operation. Pre-illumination can also be used to speed up grating erasure by increasing the electron-hole recombination probability     

Cat carotid body chemosensory discharge (in vitro) is insensitive to charybdotoxin

Charybdotoxin (ChTX), a venom protein, suppresses Ca2+-activated K+ (K+(Ca)) currents in the glomus cell of neonatal rat carotid body. If it works similarly for cat carotid body chemoreceptors, charybdotoxin is expected to stimulate the chemosensory discharge during normoxia, and particularly hypoxia and hypercapnia. We studied the effects of charybdotoxin (20-40 nM) in vitro (perfused/superfused) on the cat carotid chemosensory discharge, and simultaneously tissue PO2 (PtiO2), as a measure of positive control. ChTX (20 nM) only increased PtiO2 and decreased carotid chemosensory discharge during hypoxia, indicating vasodilation. We conclude that K+(Ca) channels do not appear to play a significant role in chemotransduction in the cat carotid body.     

Planning for the Subernarekha river system in eastern India

The study describes the systems studies carried out to plan a river basin in order to determine the nature and size of water storage facilities and releases for irrigation and industrial uses, and the associated cropping pattern. The model has been formulated in the framework of a linear programming model for a specific target year. This model is developed in the context of planning the Subernarekha river basin. The results are discussed and these provide information and insight suggesting the need for more disaggregated analysis of interaction between irrigation and related agroeconomic parameters.     

Flash pyrolysis of coal: effect of nitrogen,argon and other atmospheres in increasing olefin concentration and its significance on the mechanism of coal pyrolysis

Samples of three Indian coals, of widely differing origin and rank, were subjected to flash pyrolysis at a temperature of about 1150 °C for 30 s in vacuo, and under atmospheres of nitrogen, argon, ammonia, and perdeuterobenzene. The gaseous products of the pyrolyses were analysed by infra-red and mass spectroscopy and by gas chromatography. Observed variations in gas compositions are discussed relative to the possible mode of influence by the pyrolytic atmospheres. It would appear that the pyrolytic atmosphere is an important factor in determining the composition of the pyrolysis products; the influence of nitrogen, argon and perdeuterobenzene is a physical one, leading especially to higher yields of olefins.     

Acoustic modeling problem for automatic speech recognition system: conventional methods (Part I)

In automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems, the speech signal is captured and parameterized at front end and evaluated at back end using the statistical framework of hidden Markov model (HMM). The performance of these systems depend critically on both the type of models used and the methods adopted for signal analysis. Researchers have proposed a variety of modifications and extensions for HMM based acoustic models to overcome their limitations. In this review, we summarize most of the research work related to HMM-ASR which has been carried out during the last three decades. We present all these approaches under three categories, namely conventional methods, refinements and advancements of HMM. The review is presented in two parts (papers): (i) An overview of conventional methods for acoustic phonetic modeling, (ii) Refinements and advancements of acoustic models. Part I explores the architecture and working of the standard HMM with its limitations. It also covers different modeling units, language models and decoders. Part II presents a review on the advances and refinements of the conventional HMM techniques along with the current challenges and performance issues related to ASR.