54,246 research outputs found
System for sterilizing objects
A system for producing a stream of humidified sterilizing gas for sterilizing objects such as the water systems of space vehicles and the like includes a source of sterilant gas which is fed to a mixing chamber which has inlet and outlet ports. The level of the water only partially fills the mixing chamber so as to provide an empty space adjacent the top of the chamber. A heater is provided for heating the water in the chamber so as to produce a humidified atmosphere. The sterilant gas is fed through an arcuate shaped tubular member connected to the inlet port of the mixing chamber for producing a vortex type of flow of sterilant gas into the chamber for humidification. A tubular member extends from the mixing chamber for supplying the humidified sterilant gas to the object for being sterilized. Scrubbers are provided for removing the sterilant gas after use
Searching a biomedical bibliographic database from the Ukraine: the Panteleimon database
The Panteleimon database is available via the Internet and is a public access, database, capable of being searched in English, Russian and Ukrainian, covering medical, pharmaceutical, and chemical publications, published in he Ukraine and Russia from 1998. Describes the formulation of a search strategy for the Panteleimon database, for the identification of citations to randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and the comparison of the search results with records included in the Cochrane Library's Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) database, to evaluate how comprehensive the coverage of the CENTRAL database is for the literature of the Ukraine. The results indicated that Panteleimon is an easily accessible bibliographic database offering easy access to the Ukrainian biomedical literature. The English language retrieval functions picked up most of the reports of RCTs/CCTs (91 per cent precision but the lower recall of 55 per cent indicates the need to search using Russian and Ukrainian terms for completeness. The overall precision of 26 per cent compares favourably with a search for RCTs in EMBASE, carried out by the UK Cochrane Centre, where 70,000 reports of RCTs were identified from 300,000 records down-loaded (precision 23 per cent). (Quotes from original text
The SERI solar energy storage program
In support of the DOE thermal and chemical energy storage program, the solar energy storage program (SERI) provides research on advanced technologies, systems analyses, and assessments of thermal energy storage for solar applications in support of the Thermal and Chemical Energy Storage Program of the DOE Division of Energy Storage Systems. Currently, research is in progress on direct contact latent heat storage and thermochemical energy storage and transport. Systems analyses are being performed of thermal energy storage for solar thermal applications, and surveys and assessments are being prepared of thermal energy storage in solar applications. A ranking methodology for comparing thermal storage systems (performance and cost) is presented. Research in latent heat storage and thermochemical storage and transport is reported
The Inclusive-Exclusive Connection and the Neutron Negative Central Charge Density
We find an interpretation of the recent finding that the central charge
density of the neutron is negative by using models of generalized parton
distributions at zero skewness to relate the behavior of deep inelastic
scattering quark distributions, evaluated at large values of Bjorken x, to the
transverse charge density evaluated at small distances. The key physical input
of these models is the Drell-Yan-West relation We find that the d quarks
dominate the neutron structure function for large values of Bjorken x, where
the large longitudinal momentum of the struck quark has a significant impact on
determining the center-of-momentum of the system, and thus the "center" of the
nucleon in the transverse position plane.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Text of an invited talk presented by G. A.
Miller at the 2008 Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting in Oakland. Prepared
for Int. Journ. Mod. Phys.
Hydrogen turbine power conversion system assessment
A three part technical study was conducted whereby parametric technical and economic feasibility data were developed on several power conversion systems suitable for the generation of central station electric power through the combustion of hydrogen and the use of the resulting heat energy in turbogenerator equipment. The study assessed potential applications of hydrogen-fueled power conversion systems and identified the three most promising candidates: (1) Ericsson Cycle, (2) gas turbine, and (3) direct steam injection system for fossil fuel as well as nuclear powerplants. A technical and economic evaluation was performed on the three systems from which the direct injection system (fossil fuel only) was selected for a preliminary conceptual design of an integrated hydrogen-fired power conversion system
Structural, vibrational and thermal properties of densified silicates : insights from Molecular Dynamics
Structural, vibrational and thermal properties of densified sodium silicate
(NS2) are investigated with classical molecular dynamics simulations of the
glass and the liquid state. A systematic investigation of the glass structure
with respect to density was performed. We observe a repolymerization of the
network manifested by a transition from a tetrahedral to an octahedral silicon
environment, the decrease of the amount of non-bridging oxygen atoms and the
appearance of three-fold coordinated oxygen atoms (triclusters). Anomalous
changes in the medium range order are observed, the first sharp diffraction
peak showing a minimum of its full-width at half maximum according to density.
The previously reported vibrational trends in densified glasses are observed,
such as the shift of the Boson peak intensity to higher frequencies and the
decrease of its intensity. Finally, we show that the thermal behavior of the
liquid can be reproduced by the Birch-Murnaghan equation of states, thus
allowing us to compute the isothermal compressibility
Visualization of the birth of an optical vortex using diffraction from a triangular aperture
Funding: EPSRC, UKThe study and application of optical vortices have gained significant prominence over the last two decades. An interesting challenge remains the determination of the azimuthal index (topological charge) l of an optical vortex beam for a range of applications. We explore the diffraction of such beams from a triangular aperture and observe that the form of the resultant diffraction pattern is dependent upon both the magnitude and sign of the azimuthal index and this is valid for both monochromatic and broadband light fields. For the first time we demonstrate that this behavior is related not only to the azimuthal index but crucially the Gouy phase component of the incident beam. In particular, we explore the far field diffraction pattern for incident fields incident upon a triangular aperture possessing non-integer values of the azimuthal index l. Such fields have a complex vortex structure. We are able to infer the birth of a vortex which occurs at half-integer values of l and explore its evolution by observations of the diffraction pattern. These results demonstrate the extended versatility of a triangular aperture for the study of optical vortices. (c) 2011 Optical Society of AmericaPublisher PDFPeer reviewe
Signal-to-Noise Eigenmode Analysis of the Two-Year COBE Maps
To test a theory of cosmic microwave background fluctuations, it is natural
to expand an anisotropy map in an uncorrelated basis of linear combinations of
pixel amplitudes --- statistically-independent for both the noise and the
signal. These -eigenmodes are indispensible for rapid Bayesian analyses of
anisotropy experiments, applied here to the recently-released two-year COBE
{\it dmr} maps and the {\it firs} map. A 2-parameter model with an overall
band-power and a spectral tilt describes well inflation-based
theories. The band-powers for {\it all} the {\it dmr} + GHz
and {\it firs} 170 GHz maps agree, , and
are largely independent of tilt and degree of (sharp) -filtering. Further,
after optimal -filtering, the {\it dmr} maps reveal the same
tilt-independent large scale features and correlation function. The unfiltered
{\it dmr} + index is ; increasing the
-filtering gives a broad region at (1.0--1.2)0.5, a jump to
(1.4--1.6)0.5, then a drop to 0.8, the higher values clearly seen to be
driven by -power spectrum data points that do not fit single-tilt models.
These indices are nicely compatible with inflation values (0.8--1.2), but
not overwhelmingly so.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Letters, 4 pages, uuencoded compressed
PostScript; also bdmr2.ps.Z, via anonymous ftp to ftp.cita.utoronto.ca, cd to
/pub/dick/yukawa; CITA-94-2
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