High intensity focused ultrasound ablation of goat liver in vivo: Pathologic changes of portal vein and the “heat-sink” effect

The purpose of this study was to evaluate pathological changes of the portal vein (PV) and the effects on main branches of the hepatic PV during HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) sonication when liver tissue adjacent to the main branches of hepatic PV was ablated. Normal liver tissue at 0 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm away from the hepatic portal vein in 50 healthy goats was ablated with magnetic resonance image-guided HIFU (MRgHIFU). MRI showed a non-perfusion region at the target area but did not show any significant changes of the PV immediately after HIFU. The histological examination 1 day after HIFU showed coagulative necrosis at the target area, revealed deep-dyed swelling collagen (CS) fibers and vessel wall fracture (VWF) in the PV adjacent to the target area; however, no CS or VWF was observed in the PV 1 week after HIFU ablation. The energy required to ablate the foci at 0 mm was 21% more than that at 10 mm from the PV (p < 0.05); the energy needed to ablate foci 5 mm away from the PV was 10% more than that at 10 mm from the PV (p < 0.05). We concluded that minor injury of the hepatic portal vein may occur when ablating the adjacent liver tissue, and the acoustic energy deposition is related to the distance to the portal vein.     

Optical spectra of triglycine sulfate crystals in the range of 7–33 eV and its changes at phase transition

Pseudo-dielectric functions ?ε₁(E)? and ?ε₂(E)? of triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystal have been obtained in the range of 7–33 eV for different temperatures close to ferroelectric phase transition by spectral ellipsometry using the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II. These dielectric functions ε₁(E) and ε₂(E) have also been calculated from first principles using CASTEP CAmbridge Serial Total Energy Package code together with the band structure and density of electronic states of the crystal. Experimental and theoretical dielectric functions agree satisfactorily. A characteristic decrease of temperature dependences of the dielectric losses tgδ(T) and related values just below the phase transition temperature T _c have been found and discussed.     

CARS difference spectroscopy. II—Determination of small frequency shifts and band width changes in binary mixtures

The experimental verification of CARS difference spectroscopy (CARS-DS) is presented and its application to binary mixtures is shown. The experimental set-up allows the simultaneous measurement of CARS spectra of two different samples under identical conditions. It is shown how the method can be used for the accurate determination of small frequency shifts and band width changes in liquid mixtures. The experimental spectra obtained were analysed by their numerical simulation using a least-squares fitting routine. As examples, experimental results for chloroform–deuterochloroform isotopic mixtures and binary mixtures of benzene and toluene of different concentrations are presented. In both cases frequency shifts and changes in the band width were observed which exhibit an almost linear dependence on the mole fraction of the probe species.     

Detection of acetylene impurities in ethylene and polyethylene manufacturing processes using tunable diode laser spectroscopy in the 3-��m range

Using recently developed GaInAsSb/AlGaInAsSb DFB lasers, tunable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS) has been extended into the 3-??m wavelength region for the detection of acetylene impurities in hydrocarbon compounds encountered in ethylene manufacturing. Measurements of acetylene in pure polymer grade ethylene and in a gas mixture of ethylene and ethane typical of the process stream around a hydrogenation reactor have been performed. Using a procedure incorporating subtraction of a hydrocarbon background spectrum a detection limit of 5?ppb?m was achieved under ordinary laboratory conditions. Under forced temperature cycling conditions, the detection limit deteriorated to 180 ppb?m, due to temperature drift caused by optical interferences generated by reflections in the laser TO8 can.     

Dielectric study of natural inyoite in the frequency range from 10−1 to 107 Hz and the temperature range from −50 to 140°C

For the first time, the method of dielectric dispersion in the 10^?1–10⁷ frequency range is applied to study temperature the dependences of permittivity, conductivity, and dielectric modulus of natural inyoite in the temperature range from ?50 to 140°C. An anomalous increase in the parameters under consideration is observed at temperatures between 87 and 98°C. According to thermal gravimetrical measurements, this range is characterized by an anomaly resulting from a partial loss of crystallization water.     

Low frequency rhythms in human DNA sequences: a key to the organization of gene location and orientation?

We explore large-scale nucleotide compositional fluctuations of the human genome using multiresolution techniques. Analysis of the GC content and of the AT and GC skews reveals the existence of rhythms with two main periods of 110+/-20 kb and 400+/-50 kb that enlighten a remarkable cooperative gene organization. We show that the observed nonlinear oscillations are likely to display all the characteristic features of chaotic strange attractors which suggests a very attractive deterministic picture: gene orientation and location, in relation with the structure and dynamics of chromatin, might be governed by a low-dimensional nonlinear dynamical system.     

Design,manufacture and performance of narrowband ultrasonic immersion probes for multiple frequency operation in the range 3–170 MHz

This paper describes the design, construction and performance of a set of immersion probes which provided useful frequency coverage in the range 3–170 MHz by simple methods, that is harmonic excitation of commercially available lead zirconate titanate and quartz piezoelectric elements. A comparison of the two transducer materials and a comprehensive study of their output power as a function of frequency are presented.     

Measurement of the avalanche photodiode impedance and its matching to a transmitting line in the frequency range 0.5–1.0 GHz

The LCR parameters, which characterize the internal impedance of an avalanche photodiode as a source of a variable emf when exposed to laser radiation modulated at frequencies from 0.5 to 1.0 GHz, are experimentally investigated. The measurement procedure is described in detail. The results obtained for an LFD-2A photodiode are presented, and different ways of its matching to a transmitting line are analyzed.     

Identification and discrimination of rise time: is it categorical or noncategorical?

Previous studies have reported that rise time of sawtooth waveforms may be discriminated in either a categorical-like manner under some experimental conditions or according to Weber's law under other conditions. In the present experiments, rise time discrimination was examined with two experimental procedures: the traditional labeling and ABX tasks used in speech perception studies and an adaptive tracking procedure used in psychophysical studies. Rise time varied from 0 to 80 ms in 10-ms intervals for sawtooth signals of 1-s duration. Discrimination functions for subjects who simply discriminated the signals on any basis whatsoever as well as functions for subjects who practiced labeling the endpoint stimuli as " pluck " and "bow" before ABX discrimination were not categorical in the ABX task. In the adaptive tracking procedure, the Weber fraction obtained from the jnds of rise time was found to be a constant above 20-ms rise time. The results from the two discrimination paradigms were then compared by predicting a jnd for rise time from the ABX discrimination data by reference to the underlying psychometric function. Using this method of analysis, discrimination results from previous studies were shown to be quite similar to the discrimination results observed in this study. Taken together the results demonstrate clearly that rise time discrimination of sawtooth signals follows predictions derived from Weber's law.     

Formation mechanism of hydroxyacetone in glucose pyrolysis: A combined experimental and theoretical study

During fast pyrolysis of biomass, hydroxyacetone (HA, also known as 1-hydroxy-2-propanone) is a vital linear ketone product from fragmentation (ring scission) of cellulose. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are employed to reveal the HA formation mechanisms and pathways from fast pyrolysis of glucose that is the cellulose-based monosaccharide. Moreover, isotopic labeling fast pyrolysis experiments were conducted to confirm the theoretical calculation results from glucose. The results indicate that during glucose pyrolysis, HA is mainly derived from C1–C2–C3 and C4–C5–C6 segments, with C1 or C6 in the methyl group of HA. The HA from C1–C2–C3 is mainly generated via the 3-ketohexose intermediate, while the formation of the HA from C4–C5–C6 mainly involves the d-fructose intermediate. In addition, the formation of HA is parallel and competitive with the formation of levoglucosan (LG, the most important pyrolytic product of glucose), and the secondary decomposition of LG will result in trace of the HA from C4–C5–C6.     

Solid-state traveling-wave amplifiers and oscillators in the THz range: effect of electron collisions

Due to their high plasma frequencies, drifting semiconductor plasmas interacting with slow electromagnetic waves hold promise for terahertz amplifiers and oscillators. In these devices, the gain and the type of instabilities are influenced by electron collisions. To study the effect of collisions, we developed a two-wave model describing the interaction between drifting solid-state plasmas and electromagnetic waves. This paper analyzes the two-wave dispersion relation for representative examples. As the examples show, convective and absolute instabilities can occur at high and low collision frequencies depending on the relationship between the collision frequency and the coupling coefficient. Surprisingly, an absolute instability occurs when collision-dominated plasmas interact with backward waves. The model can be used to determine the potential of a particular configuration in a solid-state amplifier or oscillator.     

Thermal expansion and phase changes of 16Kh12V2FTaR steel in temperature range from 20 to 1000 °C

The article presents the results of investigation of thermal expansion of 16Kh12V2FTaR steel in the temperature range 20–1000 °C. Measurements were carried out by dilatometric method with the error (1.5–2)×10^?7 K^?1. The temperature dependences of thermal coefficient of linear expansion of steel have been obtained in ferrite-martensite and ferrite-perlite states, and reference tables have been calculated. Influence of samples cooling rate on martensite phase formation is shown.     

Empirical study of the scaling behavior of the amplitude–frequency distribution of the Hilbert–Huang transform and its application in sunspot time series analysis

Investigating long-range correlation by the Hurst exponent, H$H$, is crucial in the study of time series. Recently, empirical-mode-decomposition-based arbitrary-order Hilbert spectral analysis (EMD-HSA) has been proposed to numerically obtain without proof a scaling relationship, generated from the amplitude–frequency distribution, related to H$H$. We propose a formalism to empirically study EMD-HSA, to deduce its scaling exponent ξ(q)$\xi \left(q\right)$ from the perspective of EMD-based arbitrary-order Hilbert marginal spectrum (EMD-HMS), and to numerically compare the results with the expected H$H$. EMD-HSA and EMD-HMS experiments show that, by incompletely removing (quasi-)periodic trends, the sunspot series should have an H$H$ value around 0.12.     

Absolute frequency spectroscopy of CO2 lines at around 2.09 μm by combined use of an Er:fiber comb and a Ho:YLF amplifier

The low-frequency tail of an octave-spanning supercontinuum (SC) generated by an Er:fiber comb is enhanced by a multipass Ho:YLF amplifier and used in a sum-frequency-generation scheme to obtain absolute referencing of a single-mode Tm-Ho:YAG laser tunable around 2.09 μm. By tuning the comb repetition frequency, the probing laser is scanned across the absorption lines of a CO(2) gas sample and highly accurate absorption profiles are measured. This approach can be readily scaled to any wavelength above ~2 μm.     

Production of medical radioisotopes with high specific activity in?photonuclear reactions with γ-beams of high intensity and?large brilliance

We study the production of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine in (γ,xn+yp) photonuclear reactions or (γ,γ′) photoexcitation reactions with high-flux [(10¹³–10¹⁵)γ/s], small diameter ∼(100 μm)² and small bandwidth (ΔE/E≈10⁻³–10⁻⁴) γ beams produced by Compton back-scattering of laser light from relativistic brilliant electron beams. We compare them to (ion,xn+yp) reactions with (ion = p,d,α) from particle accelerators like cyclotrons and (n,γ) or (n,f) reactions from nuclear reactors. For photonuclear reactions with a narrow γ-beam the energy deposition in the target can be managed by using a stack of thin target foils or wires, hence avoiding direct stopping of the Compton and pair electrons (positrons). However, for ions with a strong atomic stopping only a fraction of less than 10⁻² leads to nuclear reactions resulting in a target heating, which is at least 10⁵ times larger per produced radioactive ion and often limits the achievable activity. In photonuclear reactions the well defined initial excitation energy of the compound nucleus leads to a small number of reaction channels and enables new combinations of target isotope and final radioisotope. The narrow bandwidth γ excitation may make use of the fine structure of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR) or fluctuations in γ-width leading to increased cross sections. Within a rather short period compared to the isotopic half-life, a target area of the order of (100 μm)² can be highly transmuted, resulting in a very high specific activity. (γ,γ′) isomer production via specially selected γ cascades allows to produce high specific activity in multiple excitations, where no back-pumping of the isomer to the ground state occurs. We discuss in detail many specific radioisotopes for diagnostics and therapy applications. Photonuclear reactions with γ-beams allow to produce certain radioisotopes, e.g. ⁴⁷Sc, ⁴⁴Ti, ⁶⁷Cu, ¹⁰³Pd, ^117m Sn, ¹⁶⁹Er, ^195m Pt or ²²⁵Ac, with higher specific activity and/or more economically than with classical methods. This will open the door for completely new clinical applications of radioisotopes. For example ^195m Pt could be used to verify the patient’s response to chemotherapy with platinum compounds before a complete treatment is performed. Also innovative isotopes like ⁴⁷Sc, ⁶⁷Cu and ²²⁵Ac could be produced for the first time in sufficient quantities for large-scale application in targeted radionuclide therapy.     

On the effects of a varied diffusion time in vivo: is the diffusion in white matter restricted?

The aim of this work was to study the diffusion-related signal attenuation curves (signal-vs.-b curves) measured perpendicular and parallel to the neuronal fibers of the corticospinal tract in vivo and to determine whether effects of restricted diffusion could be observed when varying the diffusion time (T_D). A biexponential model and a two-compartment model including exchange according to the Kärger formalism were employed to analyze the signal-vs.-b curves. To validate the two-compartment model, restricted diffusion with exchange was simulated for uniformly sized cylinders, using different diameters and exchange times. The model was shown to retrieve the simulated parameters well, also when the short gradient pulse approximation was not met. The in vivo measurements performed perpendicular to the tracts, using b values up to 28000 s/mm² and T_D values between 64 and 256 ms, did not show the effects of restricted diffusion as expected from previous ex vivo studies. The applied two-compartment model yielded an average axonal diameter of about 4 μm and an intracellular exchange time of about 300 ms, but did not fit statistically well to the data. In conclusion, this study indicates that if the diffusion is modeled as two compartments, of which one is restricted, exchange must be included in the model.     

The role of banks in the Brazilian interbank market: Does bank type matter?

This paper analyzes the Brazilian interbank network structure using a complex network-based approach. Results suggest a weak evidence of community structure, high heterogeneity of the network and that this market is characterized by money centers having exposures to many banks. Furthermore, we go beyond the structure of the network using information about the characteristics of the nodes and a non-parametric test in order to understand the role of the banks in the interbanking market.