Shock absorbing mount for electrical components

A shock mount for installing electrical components on circuit boards is described. The shock absorber is made of viscoelastic material which interconnects the electrical components. With this system, shocks imposed on one component of the circuit are not transmitted to other components. A diagram of a typical circuit is provided

Improved strain-wire flowmeter has fast response time

Strain-sensitive resistance wires in a Wheatstone bridge arrangement form the sensing element of a flowmeter. The change in resistance of the wires is measured as a function of stream velocity. Thus the electrical output is a measure of both rapidly varying and steady fluid-flow rates

Shock and vibration isolation mount for small electronic components

Mount includes metallic cup and support ring placed in mold fixture. Viscoelastic material is injected between these parts by means of large hypodermic needle. Circular projections on cup and ring extend into material and are kept in place without dependence on quality of adhesion between material and metal

Patterns of gene expression in schistosomes: localization by whole mount in situ hybridization

rom the identification of genes to the characterization of their functions and interactions. Developmental biologists have long used whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH) to determine gene expression patterns, as a vital tool for formulating and testing hypotheses about function. This paper describes the application of WISH to the study of gene expression in larval and adult schistosomes. Fixed worms were permeablized by proteinase K treatment for hybridization with digoxygenin-labelled RNA probes, with binding being detected by alkaline phosphatase-coupled anti-digoxygenin antibodies, and BM Purple substrate. Discrete staining patterns for the transcripts of the molecules Sm29, cathepsin L, antigen 10.3 and chorion were observed in the tegument cell bodies, gut epithelium, oesophageal gland and vitelline lobules, respectively, of adult worms. Transcripts of the molecules SGTP4, GP18-22 and cathepsin L were localized to tegument cell bodies and embryonic gut, respectively, of lung schistosomula. We also showed that Fast Red TR fluorescent substrate can refine the pattern of localization permitting use of confocal microscopy. We believe that method of WISH will find broad application, in synergy with other emerging post-genomic techniques, such as RNA interference, to studies focused at increasing our molecular understanding of schistosomes

High-severity wildfire leads to multi-decadal impacts on soil biogeochemistry in mixed-conifer forests.

During the past century, systematic wildfire suppression has decreased fire frequency and increased fire severity in the western United States of America. While this has resulted in large ecological changes aboveground such as altered tree species composition and increased forest density, little is known about the long-term, belowground implications of altered, ecologically novel, fire regimes, especially on soil biological processes. To better understand the long-term implications of ecologically novel, high-severity fire, we used a 44-yr high-severity fire chronosequence in the Sierra Nevada where forests were historically adapted to frequent, low-severity fire, but were fire suppressed for at least 70 yr. High-severity fire in the Sierra Nevada resulted in a long-term (44 +yr) decrease (>50%, P < 0.05) in soil extracellular enzyme activities, basal microbial respiration (56-72%, P < 0.05), and organic carbon (>50%, P < 0.05) in the upper 5 cm compared to sites that had not been burned for at least 115 yr. However, nitrogen (N) processes were only affected in the most recent fire site (4 yr post-fire). Net nitrification increased by over 600% in the most recent fire site (P < 0.001), but returned to similar levels as the unburned control in the 13-yr site. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find a consistent effect of plant cover type on soil biogeochemical processes in mid-successional (10-50 yr) forest soils. Rather, the 44-yr reduction in soil organic carbon (C) quantity correlated positively with dampened C cycling processes. Our results show the drastic and long-term implication of ecologically novel, high-severity fire on soil biogeochemistry and underscore the need for long-term fire ecological experiments

Love Of A Rose

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1948/thumbnail.jp

Effects of cochlear implantation on binaural hearing in adults with unilateral hearing loss

A FDA clinical trial was carried out to evaluate the potential benefit of cochlear implant (CI) use for adults with unilateral moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Subjects were 20 adults with moderate-to-profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and normal or near-normal hearing on the other side. A MED-EL standard electrode was implanted in the impaired ear. Outcome measures included: (a) sound localization on the horizontal plane (11 positions, −90° to 90°), (b) word recognition in quiet with the CI alone, and (c) masked sentence recognition with the target at 0° and the masker at −90°, 0°, or 90°. This battery was completed preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after CI activation. Normative data were also collected for 20 age-matched control subjects with normal or near-normal hearing bilaterally. The CI improved localization accuracy and reduced side bias. Word recognition with the CI alone was similar to performance of traditional CI recipients. The CI improved masked sentence recognition when the masker was presented from the front or from the side of normal or near-normal hearing. The binaural benefits observed with the CI increased between the 1- and 3-month intervals but appeared stable thereafter. In contrast to previous reports on localization and speech perception in patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, CI benefits were consistently observed across individual subjects, and performance was at asymptote by the 3-month test interval. Cochlear implant settings, consistent CI use, and short duration of deafness could play a role in this result

Modeling ontology views: An abstract view model for semantic web

The emergence of Semantic Web (SW) and the related technologies promise to make the web a meaningful experience. However, high level modelling, design and querying techniques proves to be a challenging task for organizations that are hoping to utilize the SW paradigm for their industrial applications. To address one such issue, in this paper, we propose an abstract view model with conceptual extensions for the SW. First we outline the view model, its properties and some modelling issues with the help of an industrial case study example. Then, we provide some discussions on constructing such views (at the conceptual level) using a set of operators. Later we provide a brief discussion on how such this view model can utilized in the MOVE [1] system, to design and construct materialized Ontology views to support Ontology extraction

Bioeconomic Factors of Beef Heifer Maturity to Consider when Establishing Criteria to Optimally Select and/or Retain Herd Replacements

Understanding the biology of heifer maturity and its relationship to calving difficulty and subsequent breeding success is a vital step in building abioeconomic model to identify optimal production and profitability. A limited dependent variable probit model is used to quantify the responses among heifer maturities, measured by a maturity index (MI), on dystocia and second pregnancy. The MI account for heifer age, birth BW, prebreeding BW, nutrition level, and dam size and age and is found to be inversely related to dystocia occurrence. On average there is a 2.2% increase in the probability of dystocia with every 1 point drop in the MI between the MI scores of 50 and 70. Statistically, MI does not directly alter second pregnancy rate; however, dystocia does. The presence of dystocia reduced second pregnancy rates by 10.67%. Using the probability of dystocia predicted from the MI in the sample, it is found that on average, every 1 point increase in MI added 0.62% to the probability of the occurrence of second pregnancy over the range represented by the data. Relationships among MI, dystocia, and second pregnancy are nonlinear and exhibit diminishing marginal effects. These relationships indicate optimal production and profitability occur at varying maturities, which are altered by animal type, economic environment, production system, and management regime. With these captured relationships, any single group of heifers may be ranked by profitability given their physical characteristics and the applicable production, management, and economic conditions