Wireless wake-up sensor network for structural health monitoring of large-scale highway bridges

To realize in-situ structural health monitoring of critical infrastructure such as bridges, we present a powerful, but also low power and flexible, wireless sensor node utilizing a wake-up transceiver. The sensor node is equipped with several kinds of sensors, such as temperature, pressure and acceleration for in-situ monitoring of critical infrastructure. In addition to these commonly used sensors in wireless sensor networks, some nodes are equipped with global navigation satellite system receivers (GNSS) and others with tilt and acceleration sensors of very high accuracy that were developed by Nothrop Grumman LITEF GmbH. We present a low power wakeup multi-hop routing protocol that is able to transmit data with little overhead by supporting the use of wake-up receivers in combination with long-range communication radios. The wireless sensor nodes and the routing protocol are tested at a large-scale highway bridge in south-west Germany, where a prototype network was installed in June 2015 following a first test installation earlier in June at the same bridge. A gateway node equipped with a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) modem transfers the network data to a remote server located at the University of Freiburg

Evidence for Post-Quiescent, High-Energy Emission from Gamma-Ray Burst 990104

It is well known that high-energy emission (MeV-GeV) has been observed in a number of gamma-ray bursts, and temporally-extended emission from lower energy gamma rays through radio wavelengths is well established. An important observed characteristic of some bursts at low energy is quiescence: an initial emission followed by a quiet period before a second (postquiescent) emission. Evidence for significant high-energy, postquiescent emission has been lacking. Here we present evidence for high-energy emission, coincident with lower energy emission, from the postquiescent emission episode of the very bright and long burst, GRB 990104. We show light curves and spectra that confirm emission above 50 MeV, approximately 152 seconds after the BATSE trigger and initial emission episode. Between the initial emission episode and the main peak, seen at both low and high energy, there was a quiescent period of ~100 s during which the burst was relatively quiet. This burst was found as part of an ongoing search for high-energy emission in gamma-ray bursts using the EGRET fixed interval (32 s) accumulation spectra, which provide sensitivity to later, high-energy emission that is otherwise missed by the standard EGRET BATSE-triggered burst spectra.Comment: 5 pages, including 5 figures. Missing citation added to introduction. Accepted for publication in ApJ

EGRET Spectral Index and the Low-Energy Peak Position in the Spectral Energy Distribution of EGRET-Detected Blazars

In current theoretical models of the blazar subclass of active galaxies, the broadband emission consists of two components: a low-frequency synchrotron component with a peak in the IR to X-ray band, and a high-frequency inverse Compton component with a peak in the gamma-ray band. In such models, the gamma-ray spectral index should be correlated with the location of the low-energy peak, with flatter gamma-ray spectra expected for blazars with synchrotron peaks at higher photon energies and vice versa. Using the EGRET-detected blazars as a sample, we examine this correlation and possible uncertainties in its construction.Comment: 17 pages including 1 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Comparison of submicron particle counting methods with a heat stressed monoclonal antibody: effect of electrolytes and implications on sample preparation

Within this study, the performance and limitations of tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS) was evaluated to characterize submicron particles in unstressed and heat stressed monoclonal antibody (mAb) solutions. These were compared with microfluidic resistive pulse sensing (MRPS), resonant mass measurement (RMM), and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). For TRPS and MRPS measurements, an adjustment of ionic strength was required to achieve suitable measurement conditions. The addition of electrolytes is potentially critical for protein formulations and therefore the effect of salt concentration and pH on submicron particle levels was further investigated. Heat stress caused a sharp increase in particle levels between 250-900 nm, observable by all four techniques. Due to reduced colloidal stability, indicated by increased attractive forces and reduced aggregation onset temperatures in the presence of sodium chloride, protein aggregation was observed in heat stressed mAb only after the addition of sodium chloride. Achieving adequate ionic strength by replacing sodium chloride with other electrolytes similarly resulted in reduced colloidal stability and protein aggregation. It is recommended that protein samples prone for aggregation in the presence of high ionic strength should not be analyzed by RPS measurements after the addition of electrolytes. However, protein samples containing already required ionic strength can be analyzed by any of the four techniques.Drug Delivery Technolog

Quality of Pharmaceutical Industry Press Releases Based on Original Research

Background: Press releases are a popular vehicle to disseminate health information to the lay media. While the quality of press releases issued by scientific conferences and medical journals has been questioned, no efforts to assess pharmaceutical industry press releases have been made. Therefore, we sought to systematically examine pharmaceutical company press releases about original research for measures of quality. Methodolgy/Principal Findings: Press releases issued by the ten top selling, international pharmaceutical companies in the year 2005 were selected for evaluation. A total of 1028 electronic press releases were issued and 235 were based on original research. More than half (59%) reported results presented at a scientific meeting. Twenty-one percent of releases were not explicit about the source of original data. While harms or adverse events were commonly cited (76%), study limitations were rarely noted (6%). Almost one-third (29%) of releases did not quantify study results. Studies presented in abstract form were subsequently published within at least 20 months in 53 % of cases. Conclusions: Pharmaceutical company press releases frequently report basic study details. However, readers should be cautioned by the preliminary nature of the data and lack of identified limitations. Methods to improve the reporting and interpretation of drug company press releases are desirable to prevent misleading media coverage

The high-energy gamma-ray fluence and energy spectrum of GRB 970417a from observations with Milagrito

Evidence of TeV emission from GRB970417a has been previously reported using data from the Milagrito detector. Constraints on the TeV fluence and the energy spectrum are now derived using additional data from a scaler system that recorded the rate of signals from the Milagrito photomultipliers. This analysis shows that if emission from GRB970417a has been observed, it must contain photons with energies above 650 GeV. Some consequences of this observation are discussed.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

Search for Sub-TeV Gamma Rays Coincident with BATSE Gamma Ray Bursts

Project GRAND is a 100m x 100m air shower array of proportional wire chambers (PWCs). There are 64 stations each with eight 1.29 m^2 PWC planes arranged in four orthogonal pairs placed vertically above one another to geometrically measure the angles of charged secondaries. A steel plate above the bottom pair of PWCs differentiates muons (which pass undeflected through the steel) from non-penetrating particles. FLUKA Monte Carlo studies show that a TeV gamma ray striking the atmosphere at normal incidence produces 0.23 muons which reach ground level where their angles and identities are measured. Thus, paradoxically, secondary muons are used as a signature for gamma ray primaries. The data are examined for possible angular and time coincidences with eight gamma ray bursts (GRBs) detected by BATSE. Seven of the GRBs were selected because of their good acceptance by GRAND and high BATSE Fluence. The eighth GRB was added due to its possible coincident detection by Milagrito. For each of the eight candidate GRBs, the number of excess counts during the BATSE T90 time interval and within plus or minus five degrees of BATSE's direction was obtained. The highest statistical significance reported in this paper (2.7 sigma) is for the event that was predicted to be the most likely to be observed (GRB 971110).Comment: To be presented at the XXVIII International Cosmic Ray Conference, Tsukuba, Japa

EGRET Observations of the Extragalactic Gamma Ray Emission

The all-sky survey in high-energy gamma rays (E$>$30 MeV) carried out by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory provides a unique opportunity to examine in detail the diffuse gamma-ray emission. The observed diffuse emission has a Galactic component arising from cosmic-ray interactions with the local interstellar gas and radiation as well an almost uniformly distributed component that is generally believed to originate outside the Galaxy. Through a careful study and removal of the Galactic diffuse emission, the flux, spectrum and uniformity of the extragalactic emission is deduced. The analysis indicates that the extragalactic emission is well described by a power law photon spectrum with an index of -(2.10+-0.03) in the 30 MeV to 100 GeV energy range. No large scale spatial anisotropy or changes in the energy spectrum are observed in the deduced extragalactic emission. The most likely explanation for the origin of this extragalactic high-energy gamma-ray emission is that it arises primarily from unresolved gamma-ray-emitting blazars.Comment: 19 pages latex, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Lyophilized wafers comprising carrageenan and pluronic acid for buccal drug delivery using model soluble and insoluble drugs

Lyophilized muco-adhesive wafers with optimum drug loading for potential buccal delivery have been developed. A freeze-annealing cycle was used to obtain optimized wafers from aqueous gels containing 2% κ-carrageenan (CAR 911), 4% pluronic acid (F127), 4.4% (w/w) polyethylene glycol with 1.8% (w/w) paracetamol or 0.8% (w/w) ibuprofen. Thermogravimetric analysis showed acceptable water content between 0.9 and 1.5%. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction showed amorphous conversion for both drugs. Texture analysis showed ideal mechanical and mucoadhesion characteristics whilst both drugs remained stable over 6 months and drug dissolution at a salivary pH showed gradual release within 2 h. The results show the potential of CAR 911 and F127 based wafers for buccal mucosa drug delivery