Forced transverse vibrations of a submerged tensioned string

For a submerged cable, the classical equation of a vibrating string must be modified to account for added mass and damping effects. This can be done with the aid of Morison's formulae. The resulting equation is non-linear. It is solved for the case when one end of the string is forced into sinusoidal transverse motion. The first harmonic approximations for both resonant and non-resonant responses are obtained by the method of matched asymptotic expansions under the assumption that the non-dimensional damping coefficient is small.     

On the maximum cardinality of a consistent set of arcs in a random tournament

For any tournament T on n vertices, let h(T) denote the maximum number of edges in the intersection of T with a transitive tournament on the same vertex set. Sharpening a previous result of Spencer, it is proved that, if T_n denotes the random tournament on n vertices, then, $\text{P}$$\text{(h(T}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{) ≤}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(}{}_2{}^{\mathrm{n}}\text{) + 1.73n}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{) → 1}$ as n → ∞.     

Inclusive ηp and ηn charged-current neutrino reactions below 6 GeV

Results are presented of a study of inclusive ηp and ηn interactions from threshold to 6 GeV. The data show a rapid approach to the distributions expected in the naive quark-parton model. The charged-current η deuteron total cross section is fit by the expression σ_T(ηd) = (0.76 ± 0.03) × 10^?38E_η cm² per GeV per nucleon. For E_η > 1.5 GeV, we measure σ_T(ηn)/σ_T(ηp) = (2.02 ± 0.23). The distributions in the scaling variables x and y are given and discussed.     

Bin packing can be solved within 1 + ε in linear time

For any listL ofn numbers in (0, 1) letL* denote the minimum number of unit capacity bins needed to pack the elements ofL. We prove that, for every positive ε, there exists anO(n)-time algorithmS such that, ifS(L) denotes the number of bins used byS forL, thenS(L)/L*≦1+ε for anyL providedL* is sufficiently large. The work of this author was supported by NSF Grant MCS 70-04997.     

Mineralization procedure for use with the fluorometric determination of zinc in biological samples

Several minerelization procedures have been evaluated for use in conjunction with a method to determine zinc in milk, eggs, water and whole diets, based on the formation and extraction into diethyl ether, of Zn-5,7-dibromo-8-quinolinol. The results were compared with the known contents of standard samples or those obtained by flame atomic-absorption spectrometry. The most satisfactory procedure employed digestion with acid mixtures to destroy organic matter, and yielded a detection limit of 0.3 mg/kg for Zn.     

Quantitation of 35S promoter in maize DNA extracts from genetically modified organisms using real-time polymerase chain reaction, part 2: interlaboratory study

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Network of GMO Working Laboratories have proposed development of a modular strategy for stepwise validation of complex analytical techniques. When applied to the quantitation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food products, the instrumental quantitation step of the technique is separately validated from the DNA extraction step to better control the sources of uncertainty and facilitate the validation of GMO-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. This paper presents the results of an interlaboratory study on the quantitation step of the method standardized by CEN for the detection of a regulatory element commonly inserted in GMO maize-based foods. This is focused on the quantitation of P35S promoter through using the quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR). Fifteen French laboratories participated in the interlaboratory study of the P35S quantitation operating procedure on DNA extract samples using either the thermal cycler ABI Prism 7700 (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) or Light Cycler (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). Attention was focused on DNA extract samples used to calibrate the method and unknown extract samples. Data were processed according to the recommendations of ISO 5725 standard. Performance criteria, obtained using the robust algorithm, were compared to the classic data processing after rejection of outliers by the Cochran and Grubbs tests. Two laboratories were detected as outliers by the Grubbs test. The robust precision criteria gave values between the classical values estimated before and after rejection of the outliers. Using the robust method, the relative expanded uncertainty by the quantitation method is about 20% for a 1% Bt176 content, whereas it can reach 40% for a 0.1% Bt176. The performances of the quantitation assay are relevant to the application of the European regulation, which has an accepted tolerance interval of about +/-50%. These data were fitted to a power model (r2 = 0.96). Thanks to this model, it is possible to propose an estimation of uncertainty of the QRT-PCR quantitation step and an uncertainty budget depending on the analytical conditions.     

A Model for Community Nursing in a Rural County

A model for the working day of the community nurse is proposed. This takes into account the attachment of the nurse to the patients registered with assigned general practices and the effect that this will have on her travelling time, visiting time and administrative duties. It also leads to a method of dividing the country into nursing team regions, assessing the level of nursing service thereby provided.