A Spinning Mirror for Fast Angular Scans of EBW Emission for Magnetic Pitch Profile Measurement

A tilted spinning mirror rapidly steers the line of sight of the electron Bernstein wave (EBW) emission radiometer at the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST). In order to resist high mechanical stresses at rotation speeds of up to 12,000 rpm and to avoid eddy current induced magnetic braking, the mirror consists of a glass-reinforced nylon substrate of a special self-balanced design, coated with a reflecting layer. By completing an angular scan every 2.5-10ms, it allows one to characterize with good time resolution the Bernstein-extraordinary-ordinary mode-conversion efficiency as a function of the view angles. Angular maps of conversion efficiency are directly related to the magnetic pitch angle at the cutoff layer for the ordinary mode. Hence, measurements at various frequencies provide the safety factor profile at the plasma edge. Initial measurements and indications of the feasibility of the diagnostic are presented. Moreover, angular scans indicate the best launch conditions for EBW heating.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures. Presented at High Temperature Plasma Diagnostics (HTPD) Conference. Accepted on June 15, 2010 for publication on Rev.Sci.Instru

E-ABR in patients with cochlear implant: A comparison between patients with malformed cochlea and normal cochlea

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to compare the electrical auditory brainstem response (EABR) following cochlear implant (CI) surgery in pediatric subjects with cochlear malformation and a normal cochlea, in order to assess the sensitivity of EABR and to evaluate the surgery outcome. MATERIALS and METHODS: A total of 26 pediatric subjects who were deaf and scheduled for CI surgery were enrolled into this case control study. Group A (n=20) included subjects with a normo-conformed cochlea. Group B (n=6) included subjects with cochlear malformation. Subjects were evaluated with EABR immediately (T0) and 6 months (T1) post-CI surgery. The EABR Waves III and V average amplitude and latency were compared across time, separately for each group, and across groups, separately for each time. RESULTS: Auditory brainstem response (ABR) could only be recorded in Group A. We were able to record EABR from all subjects at T0 and T1, and waves III and V were present in all the recorded signals. There were no statistically significant differences between T0 and T1 in EABR Waves III and V in terms of average amplitude and latency in neither group. When comparing Groups A and B, the only statistically significant difference was the average amplitude of wave V, both at T0 and T1. CONCLUSION: EABR is a valid tool to measure the auditory nerve integrity after CI surgery in patients with a normal and malformed cochlea, as shown by its ability to measure waves III and V when ABR is absent. The EABR testing should be performed before and after CI surgery, and EABR should be used as a measure of outcome, especially in patients with a malformed cochlea

Crack path and damage in a CuZnAl SMA

Abstract: Pseudo-elastic (PE) materials are an important class of metallic alloy which exhibit unique features with respect to common engineering metals. In particular, due to these properties PEs are able to recover their original shape after high values of mechanical deformations, by removing the mechanical load (PE). From the microstructural point of view shape memory and pseudo-elastic effects are due to a reversible solid state microstructural diffusionless transitions from austenite to martensite, which can be activated by mechanical and/or thermal loads. Copper-based shape memory alloys are preferred for their good memory properties and low cost of production. In this work the main crack initiation and its propagation in a tensile test is analyzed in order to evaluate crack path and its behavior at low and at high values of deformation. Results are also associated both to grains boundary chemical properties and to X-ray diffraction, in order to correlate structural transition involved in an Cu-Zn-Al alloy characterized by a PE behavior

Microscopic description of Coulomb and nuclear excitation of multiphonon states in 40^{40}Ca + 40^{40}Ca collisions

We calculate the inelastic scattering cross sections to populate one- and two-phonon states in heavy ion collisions with both Coulomb and nuclear excitations. Starting from a microscopic approach based on RPA, we go beyond it in order to treat anharmonicities and non-linear terms in the exciting field. These anharmonicities and non-linearities are shown to have important effects on the cross sections both in the low energy part of the spectrum and in the energy region of the Double Giant Quadrupole Resonance. By properly introducing an optical potential the inelastic cross section is calculated semiclassically by integrating the excitation probability over all impact parameters. A satisfactory agreement with the experimental results is obtained.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, revtex, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Effects of partial rootzone drying and rootstock vigour on growth and fruit quality of 'Pink Lady' apple trees in Mediterranean environments

We investigated the effects of partial rootzone drying (PRD) and rootstock vigor on water relations, vegetative and productive performance of \u2018Pink Lady\u2019 apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees in central Sicily. In a first field trial, trees on MM.106 rootstock were subjected to: Conventional irrigation (CI), maintaining soil moisture above 80% of field capacity; PRD irrigation, where only one alternated side of the rootzone received 50% of the CI irrigation water; and continuous deficit irrigation (DI), where 50% of the CI water was equally applied to both sides of the rootzone. In a second trial, trees on M.9 or MM.106 were subjected to CI and PRD irrigation. PRD reduced stomatal conductance (gs) more consistently in trees on MM.106 than in trees on M.9, but maintained relative water content (RWC) to the levels of CI. DI induced greater gs reductions than PRD and lower RWC than CI and PRD. Rootstock vigor did not influence plant response to irrigation strategy. PRD induced some reduction in fruit number but no change in yields and fruit quality compared to CI, whereas DI reduced fruit size and marketable yields. Significant reductions in shoot and leaf growth were induced by DI, whereas only leaf growth was affected by PRD. Our observations indicate that responses induced by PRD are due to a combination of the amount and way of applying water, and not just to reductions in irrigation volumes, suggesting a possible use of PRD for increasing apple water use efficiency in Mediterranean environments