Design of a Viscometer Using Magnetostriction of Ferromagnetic Probes

On-line measurement of viscosity of process liquids at process temperature is difficult though industrially very important. A viscometer is designed which can do this up to about 300 °C almost on-line within about 1-8% accuracy except for very viscous liquids like glucose. It uses a ferromagnetic probe designed to mechanically vibrate in the ultrasonic frequency range. An excitation coil sends repeated excitation current pulses to induce mechanical vibration in the probe tip. When placed in a process fluid, the vibration amplitude is damped due to the viscosity of the fluid, and the damped vibration is sensed by Faraday\u27s principle by a sensing coil. The number of pulses per second needed to keep the probe vibrating above a threshold level is directly proportional to the viscosity of the fluid. Necessary calibration was done and the performance tested using several pure liquids as references with known viscosities in the range 0.1 - 2,000 cp at temperatures between -80 and +300°C

Constraints on background torsion field from K physics

We point out that a background torsion field will produce an effective potential to the $K$ and $\bar{K}$ with opposite signs. This allows us to constrain the background torsion field from the $K_L$ and $K_S$ mass difference, CPT violating $K^\circ$ and $\bar{K^\circ}$ mass difference and the CP violating quantities $\epsilon$ and $\eta_{+-}$. The most stringent bound on the cosmological background torsion $< 10^{-25}$ GeV comes from the direct measurement of the CPT violation.Comment: 12 pages latex fil

Quantifying Cerebellum Grey Matter and White Matter Perfusion Using Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling

To facilitate quantification of cerebellum cerebral blood flow (CBF), studies were performed to systematically optimize arterial spin labeling (ASL) parameters for measuring cerebellum perfusion, segment cerebellum to obtain separate CBF values for grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM), and compare FAIR ASST to PICORE. Cerebellum GM and WM CBF were measured with optimized ASL parameters using FAIR ASST and PICORE in five subjects. Influence of volume averaging in voxels on cerebellar grey and white matter boundaries was minimized by high-probability threshold masks. Cerebellar CBF values determined by FAIR ASST were 43.8 ± 5.1 mL/100 g/min for GM and 27.6 ± 4.5 mL/100 g/min for WM. Quantitative perfusion studies indicated that CBF in cerebellum GM is 1.6 times greater than that in cerebellum WM. Compared to PICORE, FAIR ASST produced similar CBF estimations but less subtraction error and lower temporal, spatial, and intersubject variability. These are important advantages for detecting group and/or condition differences in CBF values

Radiobiology & Radiation Benefits in Alzheimer’s from CT: a physics assessment

This work is a review and assessment of research literature on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) today which is an irreversible neurological disorder, that continuously decreases the individual’s memory and thinking skills and, suddenly, the ability to carry out the simplest functions of daily living. Although treatment can only help manage the symptoms of AD, there is no cure for the disease. CT imaging is proven to be somewhat helpful in the detection of AD disease similar to MRI, multiple repeat CT seems to show promise in part-reversing the loss (radiation Hormesis). Invivo exposure, spatial distribution, and quantitative characterization could be essential markers in diagnosing and assessing AD progression. Phase-Contrast X-ray microcomputed tomography (micro CT) is an emerging highly sensitive imaging technique capable of high resolution and impressive soft tissue discrimination. FDG and Pittsburgh compound B PET are functional tools to map affected brain with AD. There is a potential to extend it to imaging precise 3D information about the inner structures of the entire brain in future using clinical CT machines but with phase contrast software without requiring thin sections. However, we feel clinical scanners with phase contrast modes will not provide the plaque imaging exactly for 50 μm for individual plaques but plaque tangles and high tissue contrast resolution for hippocampus structures as in highfield MRI may be possible by phase contrast CT

Sleep-Wake Disturbances in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Meta analysis of Literature and Modeling of Cerebral Tissue Vulnerability

Sleep disturbance is a frequent complaint for patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), it can prolong recovery, and the oxidative stress from lack of sleep could worsen other secondary damages of mTBI. The common types of sleep disturbance of mTBI include insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and obstructive sleep apnea. Conventional imaging often fails to detect any abnormalities in mTBI, and the etiology of sleep disturbance is still unclear. Based on the analysis of current published neurobiological and imaging literature, multiple factors could play a role leading to sleep disturbance in mTBI, however, we have focused on the diencephalon, melatonin and serotonin. We constructed a hypothesis that sleep disturbance may be caused by increased tau protein and decreased serotonin consequent to the dynamic load to pineal gland and hypothalamus by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during and after mild head trauma. A geometric model supporting this is under preparation in analogy with Alzheimer’s progression in less actives and Parkinson’s cases with upper body rigidity. In both situations CSF dynamics is abnormal and tau protein increases while serotonin/melatonin levels drop. Our model of impaired circulation of CSF leading to inefficient transportation of sleep-related protein, and excessive encounter of vulnerable tissues (Pineal gland and Hypothalamus for example) with reactive oxygen species due to abnormal CSF dynamics may contribute to dysfunction of sleep governing neuron

Modeling Changes in Cellular Micro-Environment in Mild to Moderate Head Trauma

Our work aims to connect and model multiple small, inter-related tissue injuries as a consequence of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). It has been shown that frontal and temporal lobes are vulnerable regions for brain traumatic injury. A brain injury from a blow or high-speed impact can cause undersurface of the frontal and temporal lobes to deform against the anterior and cranial fossae. This deformation can often trigger damage to the cerebral vasculature, which is ill-understood and can result in chronic damage to larger vessels over time. These physiological injuries can be manifested psychologically; such as patients’ sleep-wake disturbances. The connection between mTBI and the cause of sleep-issues is found to be associated with vascular epithelial injuries to the pineal gland that lies directly at the anterior to the tentorial ridge. In this research, we are modeling brain trauma with two injuries tissue gliding between temporal, frontal and parietal lobes. The frontal lobe may explain the psychological problem and parietal may explain the large venous injury, while the midbrain including pineal and hypothalamus injury may explain sleep issues. Although white matter connectivity is disturbed, the literature is not enough for us to include that within our cell injury model. Learning from these devastating symptoms of mTBI, it is critical to push for more scientific researches to understand the mTBI and offer psychosocial as well as neurobiological interventions

Texture of a Four-Neutrino Mass Matrix

We propose a simple texture of the neutrino mass matrix with one sterile neutrino along with the three standard ones. It gives maximal mixing angles for $\nu_e \to \nu_S$ and $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ oscillations or vice versa. Thus with only four parameters, this mass matrix can explain the solar neutrino anomaly, atmospheric neutrino anomaly, LSND result and the hot dark matter of the universe, while satisfying all other Laboratory constraints. Depending on the choice of parameters, one can get the vacuum oscillation or the large angle MSW solution of the solar neutrino anomaly.Comment: 11 pages latex file; Revised version (to be published in Phys. Lett. B

Radiologic contrast-Induced transmetallation In mineral rich fruits: X-ray imaging to Understand Heat Cycling during Climate Change and Map Metal Redistribution in Biological media for Biomedical Applications

Heat cycling due to climate change can affect hydrated protein or carbohydrate functions, the latter is not well studied. The project started with involving the study of heat-stressed carbohydrate behavior when bulk water was partly stripped from carbohydrates in model microwaved fruits and vegetables, like apples and sweet potatoes (that are mineral-rich) and was set in mineral exchange competition with toxic metals like Gadolinium and chelating complexes like iodinated EDTA. These are common radiologic contrast medias that strongly absorb x-rays and are currently implicated in man-made environmental toxins. Our goal was to map diffusion of injected heavy atoms as well as that of native minerals as a possible result of a metal exchange or “transmetallation”. This is a new concept for metal ion-induced toxicity and our work perhaps is the first imaging demonstration of transmetallation in live biological media. The second phase involved detection of transmetallation in one fruit model, fresh apples, but expressed in four different apple varieties common in North America consisting of different PH and mineral balances. These fruits were treated with contrast media and radiographed under mammography equipment with low kV x rays. This was another way to explore transmetallation induced by toxic heavy atoms from the medical industry for carbohydrate systems with different amounts of iron, magnesium, potassium in their biochemical pools. Low kV x-rays are sensitive to small mineral differences in model biological media and may provide insight to in vivo applications as in various tumors with different pH differences or in infection with metal-dependent bacterial growth. Differential x-ray absorption maps due to radiologic contrast-induced transmetallation could reveal different grades for tumors and help guide treatment plans. Low dual kV CT systems are available today and our work may help develop new tumor grading and infection management using metal chelation to starve metal-dependent bacteria