Towards an Operational Model for Prevention and Treatment of Asthma Attacks

Asthma is one of the major chronic diseases in many countries. At present there is no cure for asthma, but medical advances can help to reduce the chances of attacks of the condition. Efficient care for asthma involves complexity, uncertainty, variability and the use of scarce resources, and these are the same conditions that indicate a possible use for the modelling approach of operational research. This paper is concerned with a pilot model that was developed through joint work by medical professionals and operational researchers. The development of the model is explained and illustrative results indicate the potential value of the modelling approach for the care of asthma in the community.     

Determination of tributyltin oxide in coastal marine sediments and mussels by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

We have devised a new method for bis(tributyltin)oxide (TBTO) determination in marine sediments and mussels. This technique involves an n-hexane/methylene chloride mixture extraction and extract purification with a sodium hydroxide wash in order to eliminate interfering compounds. TBTO is then extracted again by nitric acid and converted into an inorganic tin species; the analysis has been effected using Zeeman graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The method detection limit for the matrices examined is 0.004 μg TBTO g^?1 (wet weight) and is sufficient for the analysis in real samples. The percentage recovery of TBTO from sediments and mussels samples is higher than 85% and 95% respectively. This method has been applied to TBTO level determination in sediments and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) sampled in the harbour area in Taranto, where mussel culture activities are much developed; the TBTO levels obtained in sediments and mussels were in the range 15-47 ng g^?1 (wet weight) and 11-30 ng g^?1 (wet weight) respectively. Such values are comparable with those found in other harbour areas in the Mediterranean Sea.     

Certification of the sulphur content of three rapeseed reference materials

Summary The sulphur content of three rapeseed reference materials has been certified on the basis of measurements made by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, isotope-dilution mass spectrometry and ion chromatography. Their suitability for the calibration of x-ray fluorescence spectrometers used for measuring sulphur in rapeseed samples was established.     

Line Narrowing of a Tunable High Pressure CO2 Laser by Means of an Improved Non-Littrow Cavity

A model is reported to foresee ,for different mirror choices, the spectral properties of a high pressure, frequency tunable, CO₂ laser, operating with a non-Littrow grating mounting. The calculations show a larger frequency selectivity for not collimated plane cavities. The model is experimentally verified in a suitable high pressure laser. In particular narrowed linewidths less than 300MHz ( FWHM) are obtained.     

Arc erosion reduction on electrical contacts using transversecurrent injection

Electrical contact lifetime is often directly determined by arc erosion. A method for reducing are erosion was developed consisting of injecting from an external current source an additional electrical current flowing parallel to the contact surface. This method was examined in three are environments using the additional transverse electrical current with a density less than 1 A/mm²: 1) automobile ignition contacts; 2) pulsed air arc; and 3) low pressure (P=100 mTorr) arc in nitrogen, SEM and X-ray examination showed that application of a transverse current in a contact during arcing changed the phase composition and microstructure of the contact surface. Under optimal conditions, the microstructure which is formed is significantly more erosion resistant than without the transverse current injection     

Gain saturation in quantum-well heterostructures

The effect of radiation gain saturation in quantum-well heretostructures was investigated in the system GaAs—AlGaAs with regard to the spectral line broadening and the type of radiation polarization. Belarusian State University, 4, F. Skorina Ave., Minsk, 220050, Belarus. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 64, No. 6, pp. 797–800, November–December, 1997.     

Optimum parameters for the generalized ADI method

Summary. In the context of the generalized ADI method, we are concerned with the problem of finding in the set of rational functions r with numerator degree m and denominator degree n an element that minimizes where E,F are disjoint real intervals. By extending a recent analysis by Levin and Saff, we present an explicit formula for choosing the pair (m,n) for given m +n. Furthermore, we provide a characterization of and a Remes type algorithm for its determination. Extensive numerical computations furnish some comparison of with asymptotically optimal solutions based on Fejér-Walsh and Leja-Bagby points. Received September 6, 1996 / revised version received June 30, 1997     

Quark models and polarized electroproduction of the Roper resonance

We calculate the recoil polarization observables for neutral pion electroproduction on the proton. In particular, for theN(938)→N ^*(1440) transition, we study these observables for several quark models of the resonant amplitudes. We find that the polarization response functions, unlike the unpolarized cross section, have encouragingly large sensitivity to the presence of the Roper. Furthermore, these observables can clearly reveal the presence of a longitudinal coupling.