Alien Registration- Dionne, John B. (Van Buren, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33435/thumbnail.jp

Separation of bacterial spores from flowing water in macro-scale cavities by ultrasonic standing waves

The separation of micron-sized bacterial spores (Bacillus cereus) from a steady flow of water through the use of ultrasonic standing waves is demonstrated. An ultrasonic resonator with cross-section of 0.0254 m x 0.0254 m has been designed with a flow inlet and outlet for a water stream that ensures laminar flow conditions into and out of the resonator section of the flow tube. A 0.01905-m diameter PZT-4, nominal 2-MHz transducer is used to generate ultrasonic standing waves in the resonator. The acoustic resonator is 0.0356 m from transducer face to the opposite reflector wall with the acoustic field in a direction orthogonal to the water flow direction. At fixed frequency excitation, spores are concentrated at the stable locations of the acoustic radiation force and trapped in the resonator region. The effect of the transducer voltage and frequency on the efficiency of spore capture in the resonator has been investigated. Successful separation of B. cereus spores from water with typical volume flow rates of 40-250 ml/min has been achieved with 15% efficiency in a single pass at 40 ml/min.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Nonlinear Competition Between Small and Large Hexagonal Patterns

Recent experiments by Kudrolli, Pier and Gollub on surface waves, parametrically excited by two-frequency forcing, show a transition from a small hexagonal standing wave pattern to a triangular ``superlattice'' pattern. We show that generically the hexagons and the superlattice wave patterns bifurcate simultaneously from the flat surface state as the forcing amplitude is increased, and that the experimentally-observed transition can be described by considering a low-dimensional bifurcation problem. A number of predictions come out of this general analysis.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, revised, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Recomendações clínicas para o diagnóstico e tratamento da melioidose

Melioidosis is an emerging infection in Brazil and neighbouring South American countries. The wide range of clinical presentations include severe community-acquired pneumonia, septicaemia, central nervous system infection and less severe soft tissue infection. Diagnosis depends heavily on the clinical microbiology laboratory for culture. Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterial cause of melioidosis, is easily cultured from blood, sputum and other clinical samples. However, B. pseudomallei can be difficult to identify reliably, and can be confused with closely related bacteria, some of which may be dismissed as insignificant culture contaminants. Serological tests can help to support a diagnosis of melioidosis, but by themselves do not provide a definitive diagnosis. The use of a laboratory discovery pathway can help reduce the risk of missing atypical B. pseudomallei isolates. Recommended antibiotic treatment for severe infection is either intravenous Ceftazidime or Meropenem for several weeks, followed by up to 20 weeks oral treatment with a combination of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole and doxycycline. Consistent use of diagnostic microbiology to confirm the diagnosis, and rigorous treatment of severe infection with the correct antibiotics in two stages; acute and eradication, will contribute to a reduction in mortality from melioidosis.Melioidose é uma infecção emergente no Brasil e em países vizinhos da América do Sul. O amplo espectro de apresentação clínica inclui pneumonia adquirida na comunidade, septicemia, infecção do sistema nervoso central e infecção de partes moles de menor severidade. O diagnóstico depende essencialmente da identificação microbiológica. Burkholderia pseudomallei, a causa bacteriana da melioidose, é facilmente cultivada em sangue, escarro e em outras amostras clínicas. Entretanto, B. pseudomallei pode ser difícil de identificar com segurança e também ser confundido com outras bactérias Gram negativas. Os exames sorológicos podem dar suporte a um diagnóstico de melioidose, mas não fornece um diagnóstico definitivo por si só. A realização de investigação laboratorial seqüenciada pode ajudar a reduzir o risco de não reconhecer isolados incomuns de B. pseudomallei. O tratamento antibiótico recomendado para infecção severa é Ceftazidima ou Meropenem endovenosos por várias semanas, seguido por um tratamento oral com uma combinação de Sulfametoxazol-Trimetopim e Doxiciclina por até 20 semanas. O uso consistente do diagnóstico microbiológico e o tratamento rigoroso da infecção severa com antibióticos adequados nas duas etapas, aguda e de erradicação, contribuirão para a redução da mortalidade por melioidose

Critical Casimir force in 4^4He films: confirmation of finite-size scaling

We present new capacitance measurements of critical Casimir force-induced thinning of $^4$He films near the superfluid/normal transition, focused on the region below $T_{\lambda}$ where the effect is the greatest. $^4$He films of 238, 285, and 340 \AA thickness are adsorbed on N-doped silicon substrates with roughness $\approx 8 {\AA}$. The Casimir force scaling function $\vartheta$, deduced from the thinning of these three films, collapses onto a single universal curve, attaining a minimum $\vartheta = -1.30 \pm 0.03$ at $x=td^{1/\nu}=-9.7\pm 0.8 {\AA}^{1/\nu}$. The collapse confirms the finite-size scaling origin of the dip in the film thickness. Separately, we also confirm the presence down to $2.13 K$ of the Goldstone/surface fluctuation force, which makes the superfluid film $\sim 2 {\AA}$ thinner than the normal film.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR

Superlattice Patterns in Surface Waves

We report novel superlattice wave patterns at the interface of a fluid layer driven vertically. These patterns are described most naturally in terms of two interacting hexagonal sublattices. Two frequency forcing at very large aspect ratio is utilized in this work. A superlattice pattern ("superlattice-I") consisting of two hexagonal lattices oriented at a relative angle of 22^o is obtained with a 6:7 ratio of forcing frequencies. Several theoretical approaches that may be useful in understanding this pattern have been proposed. In another example, the waves are fully described by two superimposed hexagonal lattices with a wavelength ratio of sqrt(3), oriented at a relative angle of 30^o. The time dependence of this "superlattice-II" wave pattern is unusual. The instantaneous patterns reveal a time-periodic stripe modulation that breaks the 6-fold symmetry at any instant, but the stripes are absent in the time average. The instantaneous patterns are not simply amplitude modulations of the primary standing wave. A transition from the superlattice-II state to a 12-fold quasi-crystalline pattern is observed by changing the relative phase of the two forcing frequencies. Phase diagrams of the observed patterns (including superlattices, quasicrystalline patterns, ordinary hexagons, and squares) are obtained as a function of the amplitudes and relative phases of the driving accelerations.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures (gif), to appear in Physica

Very Well-Covered Graphs with the Erd\"os-Ko-Rado Property

A family of independent $r$-sets of a graph $G$ is an $r$-star if every set in the family contains some fixed vertex $v$. A graph is $r$-EKR if the maximum size of an intersecting family of independent $r$-sets is an $r$-star. Holroyd and Talbot conjecture that a graph is $r$-EKR as long as $1\leq r\leq\frac{\mu(G)}{2}$, where $\mu(G)$ is the minimum size of a maximal independent set. It is suspected that the smallest counterexample to this conjecture is a well-covered graph. Here we consider the class of very well-covered graphs $G^*$ obtained by appending a single pendant edge to each vertex of $G$. We prove that the pendant complete graph $K_n^*$ is $r$-EKR when $n \geq 2r$ and strictly so when $n>2r$. Pendant path graphs $P_n^*$ are also explored and the vertex whose $r$-star is of maximum size is determined.Comment: 10 page

Examining the Health Action Process Approach for Predicting Physical Activity Behavior in Adults with Back Pain

This study investigated the appropriateness of the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) as it relates to physical activity (PA) behavior in the back pain population. The motivational and volitional constructs of the HAPA, PA, and back pain-related disability variables were assessed in a sample of 350 men and women with back pain. HAPA model fit was satisfactory accounting for 21% of the variance in PA intentions and 28% of PA behavior. All motivational phase constructs relate to PA intention. Action/coping planning and recovery self-efficacy do not relate to PA behavior. PA intentions are the strongest predictor of PA behavior. An expanded model, including disability-specific variables, satisfactorily fit the data, accounting for 32% of PA intentions and 29% of PA participation. These data partially support assumptions of the HAPA for the back pain population. For the back pain population, interventions designed to affect PA behavior must account for disability-specific variables

Unity and diversity in Asian American language variation: data from Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese Americans

The present study examined sociophonetic variation in a small sample of Asian Americans in Boston, Massachusetts representing four ethnic groups: Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese. Analyzing these speakers’ English production in tasks eliciting both casual and careful speech, we focused on four linguistic features comprising features observed in Eastern New England and in certain Asian American groups. Three features (R-DELETION, L-VOCALIZATION, L/R-CONFLATION) were coded auditorily and one (LOW BACK RAISING of /ɑ/ to /ɔ/) acoustically. Overall, results showed low use of Eastern New England features (R-DELETION, LOW BACK RAISING), high use of L-VOCALIZATION, and no use of L/R-CONFLATION, but also significant differences in specific patterns of use according to ethnicity and speech style. Ethnicity was a significant predictor of the occurrence of R-DELETION and L- VOCALIZATION, and also a significant predictor of first formant (F1) values in the low back vowels, although no clear vowel merger was found. Careful speech showed lower rates of R-DELETION and L-VOCALIZATION and less overlap of the low back vowels as compared to casual speech. These findings reveal similarities and differences in speech production among ethnically diverse Asian Americans and highlight the need for further investigation of phonetic variation within this community.Published versio