Prediction of far-field acoustic emissions from cavitation clouds during shock wave lithotripsy for development of a clinical device

This study presents the key simulation and decision stage of a multi-disciplinary project to develop a hospital device for monitoring the effectiveness of kidney stone fragmentation by shock wave lithotripsy (SWL). The device analyses, in real time, the pressure fields detected by sensors placed on the patient's torso, fields generated by the interaction of the incident shock wave, cavitation, kidney stone and soft tissue. Earlier free-Lagrange simulations of those interactions were restricted (by limited computational resources) to computational domains within a few centimetres of the stone. Later studies estimated the far-field pressures generated when those interactions involved only single bubbles. This study extends the free-Lagrange method to quantify the bubble–bubble interaction as a function of their separation. This, in turn, allowed identification of the validity of using a model of non-interacting bubbles to obtain estimations of the far-field pressures from 1000 bubbles distributed within the focus of the SWL field. Up to this point in the multi-disciplinary project, the design of the clinical device had been led by the simulations. This study records the decision point when the project's direction had to be led by far more costly clinical trials instead of the relatively inexpensive simulations. <br/

An overview of the first results on the solar array materials passive LDEF experiment (sample), A0171

Power degradation in the solar cells was consistent with the exposure environment and appears to be produced principally by the radiation and atomic oxygen environments. Atomic oxygen erosion was generally as expected; atomic oxygen effects dominated for the most part in materials that were both atomic oxygen and ultraviolet vulnerable. Silicone coatings appear to protect Kapton, and adhesive systems contained under photon opaque materials were surprisingly environmentally resistant. A high density of small micro-meteroid/space debris impacts were observed on mirrors, protective coatings, paints, and composites. New synergistic effects of the space environment were noted in the interaction of atomic oxygen and copious amounts of contamination and in the induced luminescence of many materials

Recognition of micro-scale deformation structures in glacial sediments - pattern perception, observer bias and the influence of experience

It is a scientist's mission to try to remain unbiased. However, certain factors play a role in scientific analyses that are not controlled by conscious thought. These factors are potentially very important in areas of science where interpretations are based on a scientist's ability to identify patterns or structures. One such area is the micromorphology of glacial sediments. In this paper we investigate the role of an analyst's experience in relation to pattern perception with specific reference to turbate microstructures in glacial diamictons. An experiment was conducted on 52 participants, which demonstrated that, as may be expected, more experienced (glacial) micromorphologists tend to exhibit a higher sensitivity-to-signal, but that complete novices, if given clear instructions, can reach levels of sensitivity similar to those of experts. It also showed, perhaps more surprisingly, that response bias does not decrease with experience. We discuss psychological factors, such as the drive for success and consistency, that may have contributed to these results and investigate their possible implications in the micromorphological analysis and interpretation of glacial sediments

Development of a new diagnostic device for extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy

Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) is the leading technique for the non-invasive treatment of urinary stones. Thousands of ultrasound shocks are focused on the stones in order to break them into fragments small enough to be passed naturally by the body. The procedure is well established, though the re-treatment rate is around 50%. One of the limits of the procedure is that there is no capability for on-line monitoring of the degree of fragmentation of the stone. The output of the treatments could probably be improved if this facility was made available. The underlying physical mechanisms responsible for the break-up of the stone are still subject to investigation. However both direct stress damage and indirect cavitation erosion seem to be necessary to obtain eliminable fragments. In previous studies, Coleman et al. monitored cavitation in-vivo through the associated acoustic emissions. The objective of this research was to design a new diagnostic device for lithotripsy, exploiting the information carried by these acoustic emissions. After preliminary laboratory experiments some clinical prototypes were developed in collaboration with Precision Acoustic Ltd., UK. The prototypes are currently been tested in the clinic

Hints for beginners in dairying

The first and most essential requirement is to teach the patrons how to take care of the milk. Everything about the dairy that the milk comes in contact with should be of tin. The milk should be thoroughly cooled and aereated immediately after it is drawn from the cow to prevent souring. In winter it should be kept in a cool room. In summer it should be set in cold water until the collector calls for it. The delivery cans should be washed out with warm water in which some sal soda has been dissolved, then scalded and rinsed in cold water, and placed out of doors to air. The milk should not be allowed to stand in these cans as it will sour more rapidly than in the common setting cans, but should be poured in just before sending to the creamery. The collector should live at the farther end of the route and start early enough to deliver the milk to the creamery by 9 o’ clock. The milk should not be allowed to freeze in winter, as it imparts a bitter taste to the butter, nor warm up in the summer above 75 degrees. Every collector should be provided with blankets to protect the milk in winter. By wetting the blankets in cold water in the summer and spreading over the cans they will keep the milk cool while on the road. The butter maker should examine every can separately to ascertain the condition of the milk before allowing it to be emptied into the weigh can, and if any defective milk is found it should be returned to the patron. One can of poor milk will injure a whole vat of good milk. In winter the milk should be partly warmed up in the receiving vat, and finished in the heating vat, as it will be easier to control the temperature that way. The milk should be at a temperature of 80 degrees never above when ready for separating. Regulate the cream outlet on the separator to take out nothing but the cream; for the thicker the cream the better the butter and less loss of butter fat in the butter milk. The skim milk should be tested every day to ascertain if the separators are doing good work; if they are not, decrease the feed and increase the speed until there is a perfect separation. The cream should be immediately cooled after separating. In winter the cooling can be done in the tempering vat, but in the summer it can be cooled to better advantage by using a cream cooler. In winter, if the milk is separated every day, the cream should be allowed to stand forty-eight hours at a temperature of 60 degrees, but if separated every other day it can be ripened in twenty-four hours, if one gallon of butter milk to one hundred gallons of cream is used as a starter

Parallel Exhaustive Search without Coordination

We analyze parallel algorithms in the context of exhaustive search over totally ordered sets. Imagine an infinite list of "boxes", with a "treasure" hidden in one of them, where the boxes' order reflects the importance of finding the treasure in a given box. At each time step, a search protocol executed by a searcher has the ability to peek into one box, and see whether the treasure is present or not. By equally dividing the workload between them, $k$ searchers can find the treasure $k$ times faster than one searcher. However, this straightforward strategy is very sensitive to failures (e.g., crashes of processors), and overcoming this issue seems to require a large amount of communication. We therefore address the question of designing parallel search algorithms maximizing their speed-up and maintaining high levels of robustness, while minimizing the amount of resources for coordination. Based on the observation that algorithms that avoid communication are inherently robust, we analyze the best running time performance of non-coordinating algorithms. Specifically, we devise non-coordinating algorithms that achieve a speed-up of $9/8$ for two searchers, a speed-up of $4/3$ for three searchers, and in general, a speed-up of $\frac{k}{4}(1+1/k)^2$ for any $k\geq 1$ searchers. Thus, asymptotically, the speed-up is only four times worse compared to the case of full-coordination, and our algorithms are surprisingly simple and hence applicable. Moreover, these bounds are tight in a strong sense as no non-coordinating search algorithm can achieve better speed-ups. Overall, we highlight that, in faulty contexts in which coordination between the searchers is technically difficult to implement, intrusive with respect to privacy, and/or costly in term of resources, it might well be worth giving up on coordination, and simply run our non-coordinating exhaustive search algorithms

A farm creaming experiment

A short time ago we were asked whether any injustice would result to either creamery-man or patron, if the latter should set his evening’s milk, skim it in the morning, mix the cream with the morning’s milk and send the mixture to the creamery instead of sending the milk of both evening and morning, as is the usual custom. The most satisfactory way to answer all such queries is by practical demonstrations, and it was determined to conduct an experiment bearing on the point in question. A short time ago we were asked whether any injustice would result to either creamery-man or patron, if the latter should set his evening’s milk, skim it in the morning, mix the cream with the morning’s milk and send the mixture to the creamery instead of sending the milk of both evening and morning, as is the usual custom. The most satisfactory way to answer all such queries is by practical demonstrations, and it was determined to conduct an experiment bearing on the point in question