Ion and electron temperatures in the SUMMA mirror device by emission spectroscopy

Ion and electron temperatures, and ion drift were measured in a superconducting magnetic mirror apparatus by observing the Doppler-broadened charge-exchange component of the 667.8 and 587.6 nanometer He lines in He plasma, and the H sub alpha and H sub beta lines in H2 plasma. The second moment of the line profiles was used as the parameter for determining ion temperature. Corrections for magnetic splitting, fine structure, monochromator slit function, and variation in charge-exchange cross section with energy are included. Electron temperatures were measured by the line ratio method for the corona model, and correlations of ion and electron temperatures with plasma parameters are presented

Simultaneous Measurement of Middle-Ear Input Impedance and Forward/Reverse Transmission in Cat

Reported here is a technique for measuring forward and reverse middle-ear transmission that exploits distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) to drive the middle ear in reverse without opening the inner ear. The technique allows measurement of DPOAEs, middle-ear input impedance, and forward and reverse middle-ear transfer functions in the same animal. Intermodulation distortion in the cochlea generates a DPOAE at frequency 2f1-f 2 measurable in both ear-canal pressure and the velocity of the stapes. The forward transfer function is computed from stapes velocities and corresponding ear-canal pressures measured at the two primary frequencies; the reverse transfer function is computed from velocity and pressure measurements at the DPOAE frequency. Middle-ear input impedance is computed from ear-canal pressure measurements and the measured Thévenin equivalent of the sound-delivery system. The technique was applied to measure middle-ear characteristics in anesthetized cats with widely opened middle-ear cavities (0.2-10 kHz). Stapes velocity was measured at the incudo-stapedial joint. Results on five animals are reported and compared with a published middle-ear model. The measured forward transfer functions and input impedances generally agree with previous measurements, and all measurements agree qualitatively with model predictions. The reverse transfer function is shown to depend on the acoustic load in the ear canal, and the measurements are used to compute the round-trip middle-ear gain and delay. Finally, the measurements are used to estimate the parameters of a two-port transfer-matrix description of the cat middle ear

Phase synchronization from noisy univariate signals

We present methods for detecting phase synchronization of two unidirectionally coupled, self-sustained noisy oscillators from a signal of the driven oscillator alone. One method detects soft, another hard phase locking. Both are applied to the problem of detecting phase synchronization in von Karman vortex flow meters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Inverse Anticipating Synchronization

We report a new type of chaos synchronization:inverse anticipating synchronization, where a time delay chaotic system can drive another system in such a way that the driven system anticipates the driver by synchronizing with its inverse future state. We extend the concept of inverse anticipating chaos synchronization to cascaded systems. We propose means for the experimental observation of inverse anticipating chaos synchronization in external cavity lasers.Comment: LaTex 6 pages, resubmitted to PR

Parameter Mismatches and Perfect Anticipating Synchronization in bi-directionally coupled external cavity laser diodes

We study perfect chaos synchronization between two bi-directionally coupled external cavity semiconductor lasers and demonstrate for the first time that mismatches in laser photon decay rates can explain the experimentally observed anticipating time in synchronization.Comment: Latex 4 page

A European perspective on nosocomial urinary tract infections II. Report on incidence, clinical characteristics and outcome (ESGINI–04 study)

ObjectivesTo estimate the incidence of nosocomially acquired urinary tract infections (NAUTI) in Europe and provide information on the clinical characteristics, underlying conditions, etiology, management and outcome of patients.Materials and methodsWe collected clinical information from NAUTI patients with a microbiology report on the named study day.ResultsA total of 141 hospitals from 25 European countries participated in the study. Written institutional bladder catheter guidelines were in place in 90.3% of EU hospitals and 55% of non-EU hospitals (P <0.05). The total number of new NAUTI episodes on the day of the study was 298, representing an incidence of 3.55 episodes/1000 patient-days and an estimated prevalence of 10.65/1000. The five most commonly isolated micro-organisms were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus sp., Candida sp., Klebsiella sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients from non-EU countries were younger, with more severe underlying diseases with a higher incidence of obstructive uropathy/lithiasis. Overall, 22.8% of patients had no ‘classic’ UTI-predisposing factors. Catheter-associated UTI (CAUTI) was present in 187 patients (62.8%). A closed drainage system was used in only 78.5% of catheterised patients. The indication for bladder catheterisation was not considered adequate in 7.6% of cases and continuation of bladder catheterisation was considered unnecessary in 31.3%. Opening of the closed drainage system was the most frequent major error in catheter management (16.8%). Antimicrobial treatment was not considered adequate in 19.8% of all cases.ConclusionsThe incidence of NAUTI in a large European population is 3.55/1000 patient-days. There is clearly room for improvement in the area of bladder catheterisation, catheter care and medical management of NAUTI. We recommend that European authorities draw up and implement practical and specific guidelines to reduce the incidence of this infection

Aluminium-oxide wires for superconducting high kinetic inductance circuits

We investigate thin films of conducting aluminium-oxide, also known as granular aluminium, as a material for superconducting high quality, high kinetic inductance circuits. The films are deposited by an optimised reactive DC magnetron sputter process and characterised using microwave measurement techniques at milli-Kelvin temperatures. We show that, by precise control of the reactive sputter conditions, a high room temperature sheet resistance and therefore high kinetic inductance at low temperatures can be obtained. For a coplanar waveguide resonator with 1.5\,k$\Omega$ sheet resistance and a kinetic inductance fraction close to unity, we measure a quality factor in the order of 700\,000 at 20\,mK. Furthermore, we observe a sheet resistance reduction by gentle heat treatment in air. This behaviour is exploited to study the kinetic inductance change using the microwave response of a coplanar wave guide resonator. We find the correlation between the kinetic inductance and the sheet resistance to be in good agreement with theoretical expectations.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Rendimento de grãos de trigo cultivado em seqüência ao adubo verde nabo forrageiro.

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