Polyurethane spray coating of aluminum wire bonds to prevent corrosion and suppress resonant oscillations

Unencapsulated aluminum wedge wire bonds are common in particle physics pixel and strip detectors. Industry-favored bulk encapsulation is eschewed due to the range of operating temperatures and radiation. Wire bond failures are a persistent source of tracking-detector failure. Unencapsulated bonds are vulnerable to condensation-induced corrosion, particularly when halides are present. Oscillations from periodic Lorentz forces are documented as another source of wire bond failure. Spray application of polyurethane coatings, performance of polyurethane-coated wire bonds after climate chamber exposure, and resonant properties of polyurethane-coated wire bonds and their resistance to periodic Lorentz forces are under study for use in a future High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider detector such as the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade

Davis-Beirut reaction: route to thiazolo-, thiazino-, and thiazepino-2H-indazoles.

Methods for the construction of thiazolo-, thiazino-, and thiazepino-2H-indazoles from o-nitrobenzaldehydes or o-nitrobenzyl bromides and S-trityl-protected 1°-aminothioalkanes are reported. The process consists of formation of the requisite N-(2-nitrobenzyl)(tritylthio)alkylamine, subsequent deprotection of the trityl moiety with TFA, and immediate treatment with aq. KOH in methanol under Davis-Beirut reaction conditions to deliver the target thiazolo-, thiazino-, or thiazepino-2H-indazole in good overall yield. Subsequent S-oxidation gives the corresponding sulfone

Direction finding measurements of auroral kilometric radiation

Direction finding measurements with plasma wave experiments onboard the Hawkeye-1 and IMP-8 satellites were used to locate the source region of auroral kilometric radiation. The radiation exhibits peak intensities between about 100 kHz and 300 kHz, and emits intense sporadic bursts lasting for between one half hour to several hours. The total power emitted in this frequency range exceeds 10 to the 9th power watts at peak intensity. The occurrence of the radiation is known to be closely associated with bright auroral arcs which occur in the local evening auroral regions

Characterization of Atmospheric Particulate Matter in Mountaintop Mining and Non-mining Areas in West Virginia with Known Health Differences

Introduction: Mortality and morbidity rates in the Appalachian region are higher than in the national population. People who live in Appalachian areas where coal mining is prominent have increased health problems compared to people in non-mining areas of Appalachia. Health disparities remain higher in mining areas even after adjusting for lifestyle and demographic effects illustrating that additional factors, such as environmental influences, are associated with adverse health outcomes. Coal mines and coal mining activities result in the production of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which is associated with environmental and human health effects. Environmental studies of air and water quality in southwest West Virginia provide evidence of air contamination and surface and ground water contamination around coal mining areas, including mountaintop mining (MTM) sites. However, there is a gap in research regarding characterization of PM around MTM areas and the health effects from PM in MTM areas. The objective of this project was to assess the potential health hazard of PM by characterizing atmospheric PM in coal and non-mining areas to identify PM elemental composition, concentration, size distribution to determine inhaled deposited dose, and environmental dry deposition.;Methods/Results: In the first study, particle size distribution and concentration data were collected to calculate deposited lung dose at MTM and non-mining sites. This study was divided into two parts to examine variability in particle size distribution and concentration measurements within sampling areas and seasonal variability within and between MTM and non-mining sites was evaluated. Particle number concentrations and deposited lung dose were elevated around the MTM sites demonstrating elevated risk to humans. In the second study, a primary analysis of semi-quantitative data was conducted to identify the most abundant elements contributing to coarse PM at MTM and non-mining sites. Crustal elements dominated all samples and MTM sites had elevated siliceous materials and the non-mining PM was primarily from combustion sources. The final study quantified environmental dry deposition for inorganic materials at mining and non-mining sites. Results from this study revealed the mining sites contained elevated flux estimates and elevated concentrations of crustal and anthropogenic inorganic materials.;Conclusions: Atmospheric PM at the MTM areas in this study pose an increased hazard to human health due to elevated dose to human lungs, particle count, and chemical composition. This research extends exposure assessment literature by directly estimating the inhaled dose and concentration of particles that residents of high disease rate areas receive. Furthermore, threats to the environment were noted due to elevated dry environmental deposition flux estimates for elements in PM depositing in the environment around mining areas. Our findings demonstrate the need to address air quality issues and regulate mining-related sources of PM in MTM areas to decrease health disparities in the Appalachian coal mining areas

A Concept for Using Combined Multimodal Queries in Digital Music Libraries

Περιέχει το πλήρες κείμενοIn this paper, we propose a concept for using combined multimodal queries in the context of digital music libraries. Whereas usual mechanisms for content-based music retrieval only consider a single query mode, such as query-by-humming, full-text lyrics-search or query-by-example using short audio snippets, our proposed concept allows to combine those different modalities into one integrated query. Our particular contributions consist of concepts for query formulation, combined content-based retrieval and presentation of a suitably ranked result list. The proposed concepts have been realized within the context of the PROBADO Music Repository and allow for music retrieval based on combining full-text lyrics search and score-based query-by-example search

A rule-based functional-structural model of rice considering source and sink functions

As a first step towards a generic genotype-phenotype model of rice, we present here a model of the growth and morphology of rice in combination with ecophysiological processes using the technique of functional-structural plant modelling (FSPM) and the interactive modelling platform GroIMP along with the graph-based Relational Growth Grammar formalism. The model constitutes a simple yet functionally coherent phenotype model of rice, consisting of a set of morphogenetic RGG rules describing an “average” developmental course and final morphology, partially linking yield traits to processes (tiller and grain number, stem length, grain filling rate, grain weight)

Saturn as a radio source

Magnetospheric radio emissions, Saturn electrostatic discharges, inferred source locations, and emission theories are addressed

Planning for a residential agricultural and environmental education program at the Iowa 4-H Education and Natural Resources Center

Education programs are needed to increase awareness and implementation of sustainable agriculture goals and practices. Hands-on experiences, such as those offered by residential environmental and agricultural education programs, are an excellent way to spread the word about sustainable agriculture. A participatory planning process was used to determine the feasibility of providing this sort of program at the Iowa 4-H Center. An advisory group reviewed existing programs, evaluated target audience survey results, and began to develop a program plan