Leak detector

A detector for sensing a leaking of fluid pressures is reported. The detector is characterized by an hermetically sealed housing confining therewithin a first normalized pressure, a connector for coupling the housing in direct communication with a suspected leak established within a substantially sealed body, an electrical circuit having a first or normalized configuration and including a pair of circuit completing electrical contacts and means mounting at least one contact of said pair of contacts on a flexible wall of the housing supporting the contact for movement from a first position along a linear path to a second position in response to an altering of the pressure confined within the housing for thereby altering the configuration of the circuit

The medicinal use of leeches in Malta

The medical practice based on the Greek doctrine of the four humors considered that disease was due to alterations in the composition of these humors, and therapy was therefore based on attempting to restore the balance. Bleeding was the first resort in the treatment of a large majority of diseases ­ a therapeutic measure that persisted throughout the centuries. Bloodletting generally took the form of using a knife or lancet to open a vein, a procedure referred to as venesection or phlebotomy. A gentler and more desirable form of bleeding was to put a leech on the affected part and to let the animal engorge itself with the bad blood thought to dwell below the point of application. Leeches have been used medically for centuries; in Europe the use of leeches to drain off blood reached its height of popularity in the 19th century. The practice of bloodletting in the Maltese Islands dates at least to about the 2nd century AD. A tomb-slab from the late Roman/Palaeo-Christian period depicts a set of surgical instruments that include two Roman cupping vessels 1. Only 93 kilometers away from Sicily and 290 km from Northern Africa, the Maltese archipelago with its central position in the Mediterranean was an important meeting place for the various cultures that dominated the region. Malta's location at the crossroads of culture is reflected by the medical practices in use throughout the centuries. The practice of venesection in Malta persisted through the ages and during the medieval period (1539), the procedure was being carried out by the barbersurgeons against payment of one unza2. The barber-surgeons or barberotti remained responsible for venesection well into the 19th century and were only removed from the list of medical practitioners in 19213. The gentler form of bloodletting through the use of leeches was also practiced in Malta.peer-reviewe

Determination of elevated-temperature fatigue data on refractory alloys in ultra- high vacuum third quarterly report, 1 jan. - 1 apr. 1965

Fatigue data for refractory alloys at elevated temperatures in ultrahigh-vacuum environment

Supporting the active learning of collaborative database browsing techniques

We describe the implications of a study of database browsing behaviour for the development of a system to support more effective browsing. In particular we consider the importance of collaborative working, both in learning browsing skills and in co‐operating on a shared information‐retrieval task. From our study, we believe that an interface to support collaboration should promote the awareness of the activities of others, better visualization of the information data structures being browsed, and effective communication of the browsing process

Elevated temperature fatigue of TZC MOLYBDENUM alloy under high frequency and high vacuum conditions

Elevated temperature fatigue of TZC molybdenum alloy determined in high frequency and high vacuum test

On some singularities of the correlation functions that determine neutrino opacities

Certain perturbation graphs in the calculation of the effects of the medium on neutrino scattering in supernova matter have a nonintegrable singularity in a physical region. A number of papers have addressed the apparent pathology through an ansatz that invokes higher order (rescattering) effects. Taking the Gamow-Teller terms as an example, we display an expression for the spin-spin correlation function that determines the cross-sections. It is clear from the form that there are no pathologies in the order by order perturbation expansion. Explicit formulae are given for a simple case, leading to an answer that is very different from one given by other authors.Comment: 8 page

Beyond Stateless Democracy

Pierre Bourdieu began his posthumously published lectures “On the State” by highlighting the three dominant traditions that have framed most thinking about the state in Western social science and modern social theory. On the one hand, he highlighted what he termed the “initial definition” of the state as a “neutral site” designed to regulate conflict and “serve the common good.” Bourdieu traced this essentially classical liberal conception of the state back to the pioneering political treatises of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.1 In direct response to this “optimistic functionalism,” Bourdieu noted the rise of a critical and more “pessimistic” alternative—something of a diametric opposite

Medicinal and other leeches (Annelida, Hirudinea) in the Maltese Islands

The identity and possible provenance of the leeches used medicinally in the Maltese Islands since the sixteenth century and particularly during the nineteenth century is discussed. Two haematophagous species have been identified as possible medicinal imports. Five other non-medicinal species of leeches have been identified as either presently occurring in the Maltese Islands, or as having been possibly introduced in the past.peer-reviewe