VERTICAL REACTION FORCE AND KINEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF DROP LANDING MOVEMENT IN OBESE AND NORMAL SUBJECTS

INTRODUCTION: During the landing moment, the maximum knee flexion angle of 90 degree is considered as the standard, and deviation from this is considered as either stiff or soft landing (DeVita & Skelly, 1992). It’s been reported that the increased risk of injury during landing activities is related to the subjects’ physical and physiological characteristics such as gender, weight and age facilitating different landing strategies (Decker, Torry, Wyland, Sterett & Steadman, 2003). Especially, weight differences result in diverse landing strategies to prevent lower extremities injuries. The purpose of this study was to compare the vertical reaction force and kinematical factors of landing movement between obese and normal subjects

Time and Amplitude of Afterpulse Measured with a Large Size Photomultiplier Tube

We have studied the afterpulse of a hemispherical photomultiplier tube for an upcoming reactor neutrino experiment. The timing, the amplitude, and the rate of the afterpulse for a 10 inch photomultiplier tube were measured with a 400 MHz FADC up to 16 \ms time window after the initial signal generated by an LED light pulse. The time and amplitude correlation of the afterpulse shows several distinctive groups. We describe the dependencies of the afterpulse on the applied high voltage and the amplitude of the main light pulse. The present data could shed light upon the general mechanism of the afterpulse.Comment: 11 figure

Single-filament Composite MgB2/SUS Ribbons by Powder-In-Tube Process

We report the successful fabrication of single-filament composite MgB2/SUS ribbons, as an ultra-robust conductor type, employing the powder-in-tube (PIT) process, by swaging and cold rolling only. The remarkable transport critical current (Ic) of the non-sintered MgB2/SUS ribbon has observed, as an unexpected result. Transport critical currents Ic ~ 316 A at T = 4.2 K and Ic ~ 82 A at T = 20 K were observed at self-field, for the non-sintered composite MgB2/SUS ribbon. In addition, the persistent current density Jp values, that were estimated by Bean formula, were more than ~ 7  105 A/cm2 at T = 5 K, and ~ 1.2  105 A/cm2 at T = 30 K, for the sintered composite MgB2/SUS ribbon, at H = 0 G.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of Ultra-Low Potassium Contaminations with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Levels of trace radiopurity in active detector materials is a subject of major concern in low-background experiments. Among the radio-isotopes, \k40 is one of the most abundant and yet whose signatures are difficult to reject. Procedures were devised to measure trace potassium concentrations in the inorganic salt CsI as well as in organic liquid scintillator (LS) with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), giving, respectively, the \k40-contamination levels of $\sim 10^{-10}$ and $\sim 10^{-13}$ g/g. Measurement flexibilities and sensitivities are improved over conventional methods. The projected limiting sensitivities if no excess of potassium signals had been observed over background are $8 \times 10^{-13}$ g/g and $3 \times 10^{-17}$ g/g for the CsI and LS, respectively. Studies of the LS samples indicate that the radioactive contaminations come mainly in the dye solutes, while the base solvents are orders of magnitude cleaner. The work demonstrate the possibilities of measuring naturally-occurring isotopes with the AMS techniques.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Lognormal Properties of SGR 1806-20 and Implications for Other SGR Sources

The time interval between successive bursts from SGR 1806-20 and the intensity of these bursts are both consistent with lognormal distributions. Monte Carlo simulations of lognormal burst models with a range of distribution parameters have been investigated. The main conclusions are that while most sources like SGR 1806-20 should be detected in a time interval of 25 years, sources with means about 100 times longer have a probability of about 5\% of being detected in the same interval. A new breed of experiments that operate for long periods are required to search for sources with mean recurrence intervals much longer than SGR 1806-20.Comment: 4 pages, latex with seperate file containing 2 uuencoded, gzip'ed, tarred, .eps figures. Replaced with file that does not use kluwer.sty to allow automatic postscript generation. To appear in proceedings of ESLAB 2

Experimental pulse technique for the study of microbial kinetics in continuous culture

A novel technique was developed for studying the growth kinetics of microorganisms in continuous culture. The method is based on following small perturbations of a chemostat culture by on-line measurement of the dynamic response in oxygen consumption rates. A mathematical model, incorporating microbial kinetics and mass transfer between gas and liquid phases, was applied to interpret the data. Facilitating the use of very small disturbances, the technique is non-disruptive as well as fast and accurate. The technique was used to study the growth kinetics of two cultures, Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b growing on methane, both in the presence and in the absence of copper, and Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia G4 growing on phenol. Using headspace flushes, gas blocks and liquid substrate pulse experiments, estimates for limiting substrate concentrations, maximum conversion rates Vmax and half saturation constants Ks could rapidly be obtained. For M. trichosporium OB3b it was found that it had a far higher affinity for methane when particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) was expressed than when the soluble form (sMMO) was expressed under copper limitation. While for B. cepacia G4 the oxygen consumption pattern during a phenol pulse in the chemostat indicated that phenol was transiently converted to an intermediate (4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate), so that initially less oxygen was used per mole of phenol.

Measurement of Trace I-129 Concentrations in CsI Powder and Organic Liquid Scintillator with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Levels of trace radiopurity in active detector materials is a subject of major concern in low-background experiments. Procedures were devised to measure trace concentrations of I-129 in the inorganic salt CsI as well as in organic liquid scintillator with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) which leads to improvement in sensitivities by several orders of magnitude over other methods. No evidence of their existence in these materials were observed. Limits of < 6 X 10^{-13} g/g and < 2.6 X 10^{-17} g/g on the contaminations of I-129 in CsI and liquid scintillator, respectively, were derived.These are the first results in a research program whose goals are to develop techniques to measure trace radioactivity in detector materials by AMS.Comment: Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometr

Assessment of Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC. essential oil content in different packages during storage

The use of medicinal plants as therapeutic source is ancient and has increased in value in recent years for both the population and the science. Several national and international companies use raw plant material in the preparation of their products, making essential the commercial cultivation and the post-harvest processing of these species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the essential oil content of [Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC.] in three different packages over one year of storage. During storage, Kraft-paper package best preserved the integrity of some physical and chemical characteristics of the product and maintained the oil content for one year of storage.O uso de plantas medicinais como fonte terapêutica é milenar e nos últimos anos o seu valor tem aumentado, tanto para a população quanto para a ciência. Várias empresas nacionais e internacionais empregam matéria-prima vegetal na elaboração de seus produtos, o que torna indispensável o cultivo comercial e o beneficiamento pós-colheita destas espécies. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o teor de óleo essencial de carqueja [Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC.], em três embalagens diferentes ao longo de um ano de armazenamento. Observou-se que ao longo do armazenamento, a embalagem de papel Kraft foi a que melhor preservou a integridade de certas características físicas e químicas do produto, assim como, manteve o teor de óleo ao longo de um ano de armazenamento.545

The effects of the composition of microporous layers on the permeability of gas diffusion layers used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

The effects of the composition of the microporous layer (MPL) on the through-plane permeability of the gas diffusion layers (GDLs) used in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) have been thoroughly experimentally investigated in this paper. For a given PTFE loading in the MPL, the GDL permeability was found to decrease with increasing carbon loading and this is due to the increase in the thickness of the MPL. For all the investigated carbon loadings of the MPL, the permeability values of the GDLs were found to have common trends for the PTFE loadings ranging from 10 to 50% (by weight): the GDL permeability increases when the PTFE loading in the MPL is increased from 20 to 50%; the GDL permeability decreases when the PTFE loading in the MPL is increased from 10 to 20%; and the GDL permeability is a minimum at 20% PTFE loading present in the MPL. On the other hand, the permeability of the GDL was found to depend on the carbon loading of the MPL in the PTFE range 0–10%. The effects of the MPL composition on the MPL permeability were found to be similar to those on the GDL permeability. However, the permeability values of the MPLs of the same composition, which were supposed to be ideally the same, were found to significantly vary. This was attributed to the MPL penetration into the body of the carbon substrates