Peripheral noxious stimulation induces CREM expression in dorsal horn: involvement of glutamate

Thermal washout curves have been proposed as noninvasive tools for analysing lower airway dimensions and pulmonary blood flow, but how upper airway heat transfer affects these washout curves is unclear. The present study was designed to compare extrathoracic and tracheobronchial contributions to thermal washout curves. Respiratory frequency, air ambient temperature, and body core temperature (tc) were varied in six male subjects before and after immersion in cold (1.1 degrees C) water for up to 2 h under three conditions: 1) control: ambient temperature (tamb) = 25 degrees C, rectal temperature change (delta tre) = 0 degrees C; 2) pre-immersion: tamb = 4 degrees C, delta tre = 0 degrees C; and 3) post-immersion: tamb = 25 degrees C, delta tre = -0.7 degrees C. Both peak expiratory nasal (tpn) and oral (tpo) airstream temperatures were measured. Each subject was tested twice. Expiratory tpo was generally higher than tpn in all conditions. Increasing breathing rates lowered tpn and tpo in the control and cold air environments. Orifice temperatures, which are presumed to reflect upper airway blood temperatures, correlated with both tpn and tpo. Lowering tc had no effect on washout curves during quiet breathing and affected only tpn during rapid breathing. The results suggest that while tracheobronchial conditions may contribute to thermal washout curves, extrathoracic conditions predominate. Strong correlations between orifice temperatures, peak expiratory nasal temperatures and peak expiratory oral temperature demonstrate the dominant role of upper airway heat exchange in determining thermal washout curves.     

Various Scale Levels of the Gel-to-Glass Transformation

The gel-to-glass transition in SiO₂ xerogels prepared by inorganic sol-gel synthesis was studied. The evolution of the molecular structure is traced using the infrared and lowfrequency Raman spectroscopy methods. The elastic moduli of the samples as well as the pore wall moduli at various stages of heat treatment are determined from the data on Brillouin scattering. The formation of monolithic glass on the macroscopic level manifests itself within a narrow temperature range by the dramatic increase of Young's modulus to the accepted value for fused silica. This phenomenon coincides with structural transformations on the molecular scale: (i) the definite correlation radius (the long-range order sphere) appears; (ii) local distortions of the silica network relax. The presence of structural defects influences the kinetics of vitreous SiO₂ formation during xerogel heat treatment.     

Fluorination of pressure-polymerized C60 phases

The reactivity of O-, T- and R-phases of the high pressure-high temperature (HPHT) polymerized C₆₀ towards gaseous fluorine in the temperature range of 50-250 °C was investigated. The reaction products were characterized by FTIR, powder X-ray diffraction, SEM, EDX, and VTP-EIMS to determine the bulk stoichiometries, bonding patterns, phase compositions, crystalline structures and thermal decomposition behavior of the fluorinated polymers. At 1 h isothermal treatment duration, fluorinated products with various bulk stoichiometries were obtained from different polymer phases with the R-phase showing the highest fluorine uptake. At 250 °C, all C₆₀ polymers showed partial decomposition to unfluorinated C₆₀ monomer under fluorine atmosphere. At 200 °C, the fluorination of R-phase yielded a pure fluoropolymer most likely having a {C₆₀F_x}_n (x = 36-44) composition. The same fluoropolymer was presumably obtained from O- and T-phases in lower yields. The linear chain structure was suggested for this new fluorocarbon polymer in agreement with the molecular mechanics modeling calculations.     

Low-temperature phase formation in the SrF2–LaF3 system

Phase formation in the SrF₂–LaF₃ system was studied at temperatures ranging from 300°C to 450°C using nitrate flux. The solubility of LaF₃ in SrF₂ decreases with decreasing temperature. The equilibrium width of the solid solution region Sr_1−xLa_xF_2+x at 400°C, it is 44.6 ± 0.4 mol% LaF₃ (x = 0.446), at 350°C — 38.3 ± 0.7 mol% LaF₃ (x = 0.383), and decreases almost to zero at 300°C.     

A note: Common due date assignment for a single machine scheduling with the rate-modifying activity

In this paper we study the single machine common due date assignment and scheduling problem with the possibility to perform a rate-modifying activity (RMA) for changing the processing times of the jobs following this activity. The objective is to minimize the total weighted sum of earliness, tardiness and due date costs. Placing the RMA to some position in the schedule can decrease the objective function value. Several properties of the problem are considered which in some cases can reduce the complexity of the solution algorithm.     

Energy Evolution in Time-Dependent Harmonic Oscillator

The theory of adiabatic invariants has a long history, and very important implications and applications in many different branches of physics, classically and quantally, but is rarely founded on rigorous results. Here we treat the general time-dependent one-dimensional harmonic oscillator, whose Newton equation q + ω²(t)q = 0 cannot be solved in general. We follow the time-evolution of an initial ensemble of phase points with sharply defined energy E_o at time t = 0 and calculate rigorously the distribution of energy E₁ after time t = T, which is fully (all moments, including the variance μ²) determined by the first moment Ē₁. For example, μ² = E²_o[(Ē₁/E_o)² — (ω(T)/ω(0))²]/2, and all higher even moments are powers of μ², whilst the odd ones vanish identically. This distribution function does not depend on any further details of the function ω(t) and is in this sense universal. In ideal adiabaticity Ē₁ = ω(T)E_o/ω(0), and the variance μ,² is zero, whilst for finite T we calculate Ē₁, and μ² for the general case using exact WKB-theory to all orders. We prove that if ω(t)is of class ^m (all derivatives up to and including the order m are continuous) μ, ∝ T^{−(m + 1)}) whilst for the class °° it is known to be exponential μ ∝ exp(—aT).     

Improvement of copper–molybdenum ore beneficiation using a combined flotation and biohydrometallurgy method

The authors present the results of analysis of material composition and experimental investigations of acid and biohydrometallurgical leaching of middlings on grain size, pH level, leaching process duration, temperature and slurry density. The rational parameters of flotation and acid-bacterial leaching of middlings providing an efficient release of valuable components from mineral complexes and recovery to flotation concentrate and leaching solution have been determined. A combined flowsheet and a beneficiation process for bulk flotation middlings of copper–molybdenum ore have been suggested, which include middlings grinding, sulfide minerals flotation, bacterial leaching of sulfide flotation tailings, liquid-phase extraction of dissolved copper and electrolysis of re-extraction eluates. The suggested combined method of cleaning of middlings of copper–molybdenum ores beneficiation provides the total copper recovery increase by 0.8% with a reduction of the cost price of saleable material by 0.5%.     

Stability analysis and state feedback stabilization of pendulum-like systems with multiple nonlinearities

This paper addresses the Lagrange stability analysis problem and the state feedback Lagrange stabilization problem for pendulum-like systems with multiple nonlinearities. An existing method for analysing the Lagrange stability of pendulum-like systems with a single nonlinearity is generalized to pendulum-like systems with multiple nonlinearities. Also, a non-degeneracy condition of the existing Lagrange stability criterion is removed and a strict frequency-domain inequality is used instead. To study the state feedback Lagrange stabilization problem, this paper develops an extended strict bounded real lemma for linear systems which are not stable but stabilizable. A sufficient condition for state feedback Lagrange stabilization is proposed in terms of an algebraic Riccati equation with a sign indefinite solution.