Psychological health and attitude toward Christianity: a study among pupils attending Catholic schools in the Netherlands

This study examines the wider relevance of recent research conducted in England, Northern Ireland and Hong Kong concerning the association between religion and psychological health among young people, by administering translations of the same measures to a sample of 980 pupils attending Catholic secondary schools in the Netherlands. These pupils completed the short-form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The data confirmed the key finding from previous research that a more positive attitude toward Christianity is associated with lower scores recorded on the psychoticism scale. The implications of these findings are discussed for religious educators

On the theory of magnetic field dependence of heat conductivity in dielectric in isotropic model

Phonon polarization in a magnetic field is analyzed in isotropic model. It is shown, that at presence of spin-phonon interaction phonon possess circular polari-zation which causes the appearance of heat flux component perpendicular both to temperature gradient and magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 0 figure

Optical diffraction for measurements of nano-mechanical bending

Micromechanical transducers such as cantilevers for AFM often rely on optical readout methods that require illumination of a specific region of the microstructure. Here we explore and exploit the diffraction effects that have been previously neglected when modeling cantilever bending measurement techniques. The illumination of a cantilever end causes an asymmetric diffraction pattern at the photodetector that significantly affects the calibration of the signal in the popular optical beam deflection technique (OBDT). Conditions for optimized linear signals that avoid detection artifacts conflict with small numerical aperture illumination and narrow cantilevers which are softer and therefore more sensitive. Embracing diffraction patterns as a physical measurable allows a richer detection technique that decouples measurements of tilt and curvature and simultaneously relaxes the requirements on the alignment of illumination and detector. We show analytical results, numerical simulations and physiologically relevant experimental data demonstrating the usefulness of these diffraction features. We offer experimental design guidelines and identify and quantify possible sources of systematic error of up to 10% in OBDT. We demonstrate a new nanometre resolution detection method that can replace OBDT, where Frauenhofer and Bragg diffraction effects from finite sized and patterned cantilevers are exploited. Such effects are readily generalized to arrays, and allow transmission detection of mechanical curvature, enabling in-line instruments. In particular, a cantilever with a periodic array of slots produces Bragg peaks which can be analyzed to deduce the cantilever curvature. We highlight the comparative advantages over OBDT by detecting molecular activity of antibiotic Vancomycin, with an RMS noise equivalent to less than $2.5 \mu M$ (1.5 nm), as example of possible multi-maker bio-assays.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Влияние различных факторов на прочность торфяных термобрикетов

In-situ observation of the in-volume modification of glasses by focused ultra-short pulsed laser radiation with an interferometer microscope allows for the spatially resolved measurement of the transient optical path difference (OPD) in the surrounding of the laser-induced modification. By the relation of refractive index and temperature an estimation of temperature during modification process is possible. The absorption of the laser radiation is measured and is, together with the estimation of processing temperature during modification, a first step towards a process model for the induced modifications of the transparent material

Enhancement of bulk second-harmonic generation from silicon nitride films by material composition

We present a comprehensive tensorial characterization of second-harmonic generation from silicon nitride films with varying composition. The samples were fabricated using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and the material composition was varied by the reactive gas mixture in the process. We found a six-fold enhancement between the lowest and highest second-order susceptibility, with the highest value of approximately 5 pm/V from the most silicon-rich sample. Moreover, the optical losses were found to be sufficiently small (below 6 dB/cm) for applications. The tensorial results show that all samples retain in-plane isotropy independent of silicon content, highlighting the controllability of the fabrication process.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; Re-submitted to Optics Letter

Distributed, price-based control approach to market-based operation of future power systems

In this paper we present, discuss and illustrate on examples the price-based control paradigm as a suitable approach to solve some of the challenging problems facing future, market-based power systems. It is illustrated how global objectives and constraints are optimally translated into time-varying prices. The real-time varying price signals are guaranteed to adequately reflect the state of the physical system and present the signals that optimally shape, coordinate and synchronize local, profit driven behaviors of producers/consumers to mutually reinforce and guarantee global objectives and constraints. As an illustrative example, the real-time price-based power balance control with congestion management is presented

Fan blade protection system

In one type of aircraft propulsion system, propeller blades are mounted on a ring which surrounds a turbine. An annular space exists between the turbine and the ring. If a propeller blade should break free, the unbalanced centrifugal load tends to deform the ring. The invention reduces the deformation, as by locating spacers between the turbine and the ring