Water-free replication of pons-fleischmann LENR

Poster slides.Excess heat has been produced by a method conceptually similar to that of Pons and Fleischmann except that it does not involve electrolysis or even water (heavy or light). Instead of putting hydrogen into the system by operation for a few days, the hydrogen solute is quenched into the electrode alloy, by temperature and pressure, before the cell is assembled. The cell contains two hydrogenated alloy electrodes separated by an insulating textile layer. Substituting for the Pons-Fleischmann (P-F) electrolyte, an oil based conductor containing very fine particles of an electrically conducting solid is soaked into the separator textile. Thus, the cell is a low Q capacitor, with the nuclear active environment initially installed. I believe that a basis for the P-F effect is a critical distribution of electric current across the surface of the cathode, both spatially and temporally, that is regulated by the moving layer of electrolytic hydrogen bubbles on that surface. Erratic behaviour of those bubbles accounts for the inconsistency typically observed in P-F experiments. In my work, the fine particles in the conductor create near-point-sources of current that (with brownian motion) create the charge distribution that seems necessary to trigger the nuclear reaction producing P-F excess heat. Typically, the low Q capacitor method has yielded about 15% more thermal energy than electric power input. Excess heat increases disporportionally with increasing electrical current. The system seems far from optimized, however. With the oil-based conductor, excess heat appears almost immediately, and much more consistently, compared to the classic P-F method. There are also more, and more-controllable, variables for optimization of the effect. This presentation will report experiments using a well-controlled, evacuated, seebeck-type calorimeter using direct current activation. Total power is typically a few hundred milliwatts; electrode mass is one to two grams. Most experiments have been with copper based alloys; nickel is under way. Results with and without light hydrogen solute are shown. Use of additional alloying ingredients (especially boron) is described

Quantifying mixing using magnetic resonance imaging.

Mixing is a unit operation that combines two or more components into a homogeneous mixture. This work involves mixing two viscous liquid streams using an in-line static mixer. The mixer is a split-and-recombine design that employs shear and extensional flow to increase the interfacial contact between the components. A prototype split-and-recombine (SAR) mixer was constructed by aligning a series of thin laser-cut Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) plates held in place in a PVC pipe. Mixing in this device is illustrated in the photograph in Fig. 1. Red dye was added to a portion of the test fluid and used as the minor component being mixed into the major (undyed) component. At the inlet of the mixer, the injected layer of tracer fluid is split into two layers as it flows through the mixing section. On each subsequent mixing section, the number of horizontal layers is duplicated. Ultimately, the single stream of dye is uniformly dispersed throughout the cross section of the device. Using a non-Newtonian test fluid of 0.2% Carbopol and a doped tracer fluid of similar composition, mixing in the unit is visualized using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI is a very powerful experimental probe of molecular chemical and physical environment as well as sample structure on the length scales from microns to centimeters. This sensitivity has resulted in broad application of these techniques to characterize physical, chemical and/or biological properties of materials ranging from humans to foods to porous media (1, 2). The equipment and conditions used here are suitable for imaging liquids containing substantial amounts of NMR mobile (1)H such as ordinary water and organic liquids including oils. Traditionally MRI has utilized super conducting magnets which are not suitable for industrial environments and not portable within a laboratory (Fig. 2). Recent advances in magnet technology have permitted the construction of large volume industrially compatible magnets suitable for imaging process flows. Here, MRI provides spatially resolved component concentrations at different axial locations during the mixing process. This work documents real-time mixing of highly viscous fluids via distributive mixing with an application to personal care products

Transient and steady state creep response of ice I and magnesium sulfate hydrate eutectic aggregates

Using uniaxial compression creep experiments, we characterized the transient and steady state deformation behaviors of eutectic aggregates of system ice I and MgSO4 • 11H2O (MS11; meridianiite), which has significance because of its likely presence on moons of the outer solar system. Synthetic samples of eutectic liquid bulk composition, which produce eutectic colonies containing 0.35–0.50 volume fraction MS11, were tested as functions of colony size and lamellar spacing, temperature (230–250 K), and confining pressure (0.1 and 50 MPa) to strains ≤ 0.2. Up to a differential stress of 6 MPa, the ice I‐MS11 aggregates display an order of magnitude higher effective viscosity and higher stress sensitivity than do aggregates of pure polycrystalline ice at the same conditions. The creep data and associated microstructural observations demonstrate, however, that the aggregates are additionally more brittle than pure ice, approaching rate‐independent plasticity that includes rupture of the hydrate phase at 6–8 MPa, depending on the scale of the microstructure. Microstructures of deformed samples reveal forms of semibrittle flow in which the hydrate phase fractures while the ice phase deforms plastically. Semibrittle flow in the icy shell of a planetary body would truncate the lithospheric strength envelope and thereby decrease the depth to the brittle‐ductile transition by 55% and reduce the failure limit for compressional surface features from 10 to ∼6 MPa. A constitutive equation that includes eutectic colony boundary sliding and intracolony flow is used to describe the steady state rheology of the eutectic aggregates

Human Papillomavirus Awareness in Haiti: Preparing for a National HPV Vaccination Program

Cervical cancer morbidity and mortality are pressing public health issues impacting women in Haiti. To inform efforts to develop a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program in Haiti, we sought to understand HPV awareness and willingness to get HPV vaccination in Haiti

Plasminogen activator levels are influenced by location and varicosity in greater saphenous vein

AbstractPurpose: The plasminogen system, which includes tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA), urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA), and their main inhibitor, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), plays a major role in both fibrinolysis and tissue remodeling. This study compares the levels of tPA, uPA, and PAI-1 at the groin and ankle in normal and varicose greater saphenous vein (GSV).Methods: GSV was collected from patients undergoing varicose vein (VV) removal and from normal vein (NV) from arterial bypass procedures. Portions of the GSV at the groin and the ankle were minced and placed in serum-free media for 48 hours. Assays of the supernatants were obtained for tPA, uPA, and PAI-1 protein by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cyclohexamide and actinomycin D were also added to the media of the VV tissue explant supernatants to inhibit protein and RNA synthesis, respectively.Results: Levels of tPA were significantly higher at the groin (11 ± 2) than the ankle (5 ± 1) in the VV ( p < 0.005), and this trend was also seen in the NV (groin 10 ± 2 and ankle 7 ± 3). Levels of uPA were significantly higher in the groin VV (14 ± 4.3) than in NV (3.0 ± 0.8, p < 0.05). This difference, although not statistically significant, applied to the ankle as well (VV 14.5 ± 6.3 and NV 5.3 ± 2.7). No significant difference was seen between NV and VV for PAI-1 (NV, groin 155 ± 73 and ankle 113 ± 53, VV, groin 161 ± 20 and ankle 142 ± 38) or tPA. Inhibitor studies revealed no significant difference among control, cyclohexamide, and actinomycin D supernatants for tPA, suggesting release of protein rather than active synthesis. In contrast, inhibitor supernatants were significantly lower for uPA and PAI-1 than control supernatants ( p < 0.05), suggesting that uPA and PAI-1 were actively synthesized.Conclusions: In the tissue explant supernatant model uPA and PAI-1 are actively synthesized, but tPA is not. Levels of PAI-1 were comparable in all four groups. Levels of uPA in the varicose GSV were higher than in NV, suggesting a role for uPA in the pathologic makeup of VV. Levels of tPA were higher at the groin versus the ankle position, potentially explaining the previously described increased fibrinolytic activity seen at the groin. (J Vasc Surg 1996;24:719-24.

Awareness of Cervical Cancer Causes and Predeterminants of Likelihood to Screen Among Women in Haiti:

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Haiti. Given this high disease burden, we sought to better understand women's knowledge of its causes and the sociodemographic and health correlates of cervical cancer screening. Participants were 410 adult women presenting at clinics in Léogâne and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. We used bivariate and multivariate logic regression to identify correlates of Pap smear receipt. Only 29% of respondents had heard of human papillomavirus (HPV), whereas 98% were aware of cervical cancer. Of those aware of cervical cancer, 12% believed that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) cause it, and only 4% identified HPV infection as the cause. Women with a previous sexually transmitted infection were more likely to have had Pap smear (34% vs 71%, odds ratio = 3.45; 95% CI = 1.57-7.59). Screening was also more likely among women who were older than the age of 39 years, better educated, and employed (all p < .05). Almost all women (97%) were willing to undergo cervical cancer screening. This sample of Haitian women had limited awareness of HPV and cervical cancer causes; but when provided with health information, they saw the benefits of cancer screening. Future initiatives should provide health education messages, with efforts targeting young and at-risk women

Organic Geochemical Studies. Ii. The Distribution of Aliphatichydrocarbons in Algae, Bacteria, and in a Recent Lake Sediment: Apreliminary Report

The theory that algal oozes could give rise to oil shales is not a recent one. Evidence for this theory rests on the finding that algae have less cellulose and a correspondingly greater proportion of lipids than most plant material. In addition, the contemporary alga Botyrococcus is present in microscopic remains in some organic oozes. Since the algal ooze precursor theory rests primarily on geological and paleobotanical evidence, they have sought to complement this evidence by making a study of the constitutents of various genera of algae at the molecular level and comparing them with the organic constituents isolated and identified in the algal ooze from a Florida lake. They have analyzed the hydrocarbon constituents of four species of algae: the blue-greens, Nostoc and Anacystis, the green algae, Spirogyra and Chlorella

Aircraft accident report: NASA 712, Convair 990, N712NA, March Air Force Base, California, July 17, 1985, facts and analysis

On July 17, l985, at 1810 P.d.t., NASA 712, a Convair 990 aircraft, was destroyed by fire at March Air Force Base, California. The fire started during the rollout after the pilot rejected the takeoff on runway 32. The rejected takeoff was initiated during the takeoff roll because of blown tires on the right landing gear. During the rollout, fragments of either the blown tires or the wheel/brake assemblies penetrated a right-wing fuel tank forward of the right main landing gear. Leaking fuel ignited while the aircraft was rolling, and fire engulfed the right wing and the fuselage after the aircraft was stopped on the runway. The 4-man flightcrew and the 15 scientists and technicians seated in the cabin evacuated the aircraft without serious injury. The fire was not extinguished by crash/rescue efforts and the aircraft was destroyed

Efficacious, effective, and embedded interventions: Implementation research in infectious disease control

Background: Research in infectious disease control is heavily skewed towards high end technology; development of new drugs, vaccines and clinical interventions. Oft ignored, is the evidence to inform the best strategies that ensure the embedding of interventions into health systems and amongst populations. In this paper we undertake an analysis of the challenge in the development of research for the sustainable implementation of disease control interventions. Results: We highlight the fundamental differences between the research paradigms associated with the development of technologies and interventions for disease control on the one hand and the research paradigms required for enhancing the sustainable uptake of those very same interventions within the communities on the other. We provide a definition for implementation research in an attempt to underscore its critical role and explore the multidisciplinary science needed to address the challenges in disease control. Conclusion: The greatest value for money in health research lies in the sustainable and effective implementation of already proven, efficacious solutions. The development of implementation research that can help provide some solutions on how this can be achieved is sorely needed