Apparatus and method for heating a material in a transparent ampoule

An improved process for heating a material within a fused silica ampoule by radiation through the wall of the ampoule, while simultaneously passing a cooling gas around the ampoule is described. The radiation passes through a screen of fused silica so as to remove those components capable of directly heating the silica, therby increasing the temperature of the material within the ampoule above the strain point of the ampoule, while maintaining the exterior of the ampoule cool enough to prevent rupturing the amp

Comment on "Quantum back-reaction through the Bohmian particle"

In this Comment I point out some limitations of the proposal of Prezhdo and Brooksby for coupling quantum and classical degrees of freedom (Phys.Rev.Lett.86(2001)3215) if it is pushed too far.Comment: 1 page, REVTEX, no figure

Space processing of electronic materials

The bulk growth of solid solution alloys of mercury telluride and cadmium telluride is discussed. These alloys are usually described by the formula Hg1-xCdxTe, and are useful for the construction of infrared detectors. The electronic energy band gap can be controlled between zero and 1.6 electron volts by adjusting the composition x. The most useful materials are at x approximately 20%, suitable for detection wavelengths of about 10 micrometers. The problems of growing large crystals are rooted in the wide phase diagram of the HgTe-CdTe pseudobinary system which leads to exaggerate segregation in freezing, constitutional supercooling, and other difficulties, and in the high vapor pressure of mercury at the growth temperatures, which leads to loss of stoichiometry and to the necessity of working in strong, pressure resistant sealed containers

Rethinking bank business models: the role of intangibles

<p>Purpose: This paper provides a new way of rethinking banking models by using qualitative research on intangibles. This is required because the banking sector has been transformed significantly by the changing environment over the past two decades. The 2007-2009 financial crisis also added to concerns about existing bank business models.</p> <p>Design/Methodology approach: Using qualitative data collected from interviews with bank managers and analysts in the UK, this paper develops a grounded theory of bank intangibles.</p> <p>Findings: The model reveals how intangibles and tangible/financial resources interact in the bank value creation process, how they actively respond to environmental changes, how bank intangibles are understood by external observers such as analysts, and how bankers and analysts differ in their views.</p> <p>Research implications: Grounded theory provides the means to further develop bank models as business models and theoretical models. This provides the means to think beyond conventional finance constructs and to relate bank models to a wider theoretical literature concerning intellectual capital, organisational and social systems theory, and ‘performativity’.</p> <p>Practical implications: Such development of bank models and of a systems perspective is critical to the understanding of banks by bankers, by observers and for their ‘critical and reflexive performativity’. It also has implications for systemic risk and bank regulation.</p> <p>Social implications: Improvement in bank models and their use in open and transparent processes are key means to improve public accountability of banks.</p> <p>Originality: The paper reveals the core role of intellectual capital (IC) in banks, in markets, and in developing theory and research at firm and system levels. </p&gt

Space processing of electronic materials

The relative values of thermal conductivity of solid and liquid HgCdTe are critically important in the design configuration of the furnaces used for Bridgman crystal growth. The thermal diffusivity of the material is closely linked to the conductivity by the defining relation D = k/rho c, where D is the diffusivity, K is the thermal conductivity, rho is the density, and c is the specific heat. The use of transient and periodic heating approaches to measure the diffusivity are explored. A system for securing and extracting heat from silica or glass tubes under high C vacuum conditions is described

Metastasis and circulating tumor cells

Cancer is a prominent cause of death worldwide. In most cases, it is not the primary tumor which causes death, but the metastases. Metastatic tumors are spread over the entire human body and are more difficult to remove or treat than the primary tumor. In a patient with metastatic disease, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be found in venous blood. These circulating tumor cells are part of the metastatic cascade. Clinical studies have shown that these cells can be used to predict treatment response and their presence is strongly associated with poor survival prospects. Enumeration and characterization of CTCs is important as this can help clinicians make more informed decisions when choosing or evaluating treatment. CTC counts are being included in an increasing number of studies and thus are becoming a bigger part of disease diagnosis and therapy management. We present an overview of the most prominent CTC enumeration and characterization methods and discuss the assumptions made \ud about the CTC phenotype. Extensive CTC characterization of for example the DNA, RNA and antigen expression may lead to more understanding of the metastatic process

Simplified model of statistically stationary spacecraft rotation and associated induced gravity environments

A stochastic model of spacecraft motion was developed based on the assumption that the net torque vector due to crew activity and rocket thruster firings is a statistically stationary Gaussian vector process. The process had zero ensemble mean value, and the components of the torque vector were mutually stochastically independent. The linearized rigid-body equations of motion were used to derive the autospectral density functions of the components of the spacecraft rotation vector. The cross-spectral density functions of the components of the rotation vector vanish for all frequencies so that the components of rotation were mutually stochastically independent. The autospectral and cross-spectral density functions of the induced gravity environment imparted to scientific apparatus rigidly attached to the spacecraft were calculated from the rotation rate spectral density functions via linearized inertial frame to body-fixed principal axis frame transformation formulae. The induced gravity process was a Gaussian one with zero mean value. Transformation formulae were used to rotate the principal axis body-fixed frame to which the rotation rate and induced gravity vector were referred to a body-fixed frame in which the components of the induced gravity vector were stochastically independent. Rice's theory of exceedances was used to calculate expected exceedance rates of the components of the rotation and induced gravity vector processes

Learning Style Diversity in Post –Secondary Distance Education

During the fall semester of 2005, 153 university graduate students’ preferred learning styles were measured with the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, online version 3.1. The primary findings of the study indicated all of the learning styles and processes described by Kolb were represented in the distance learning population and suggested distance and residential learners uniquely engage the learning process. Biblical references were discussed with respect to the uniqueness displayed by study participants