The Inspiratory Maneuver: A Simple Method to Assess the Superficial Lamina Propria During Endoscopy

We describe a simple means of assessing the condition of the superficial lamina propria during endoscopy, which we use in our practice as an adjunct to careful stroboscopic examination. An intake of breath against partially adducted vocal folds serves to draw the mucosa inferomedially into the glottis, which reveals areas of diminished mobility, the relationship of mucosal lesions to deeper tissues of the vocal folds, and subtle submucosal lesions. This is possible because of the unique geometry of the glottis that renders the vector forces of airflow different at inspiration and expiration. Because the integrity of the superficial lamina propria is essential to healthy phonation, we have found the inspiratory maneuver useful across a wide variety of mucosal pathologic conditions.     

Experiment and prediction of a cavity type separated flow

A detail study involving flow visualization, Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) measurements and numerical prediction is presented. The visualization experiments revealed striking results of a pulsatile motion in the separated flow region associated with the formation and passage of large eddy structures. Measurements of mean velocities and turbulence intensity profiles across the separated flow field, provided information about the separated shear layer development and the recirculating flow pattern. The numerical predictions, obtained with a two-layer turbulence model in conjunction with the SIMPLE algorithm, failed to reproduce the coherent eddies and the pulsatile motion, but the mean velocities are reasonably reproduced.     

Determination of chlorinated hydrocarbons in single and multi component test gases

Summary For comparing the efficiency of active and diffusive sampling methods two diffusive samplers with different properties were used to determine chlorinated hydrocarbons (CH₂Cl₂, CHCl₃, CCl₄) in single and multi component test gas mixtures. One of the chosen diffusive samplers can also be used for active sampling.In general, good correlations of all tested methods could be observed in the direct comparison of active and diffusive sampling and in the determination of the efficiencies.During the application of active and diffusive sampling methods in multi component test gases of the analytes possible interferences could not be ascertained.     

Development of an instrument for the dynamic generation of test gases

Summary A test generator for the dynamic generation of test gases was developed.This device utilizes the saturation vapour pressure principle and enables the calibration of sensitive analytical methods (e. g. gas chromatography) with substance concentrations in the range of maximum acceptable concentrations (MAK- resp. TRK-values).The test gases are producible from liquid and solid substances with finite vapour pressure. The test gas concentration can be calculated from instrumental conditions and the vapour pressure of the substance at a known temperature.Beside the possibility of the continuous and automatic calibration of the measuring monitors the test gas generator is a successful instrument to study interference and adsorption processes. The produced gas stream volumina are infinitely variable to be adjusted to the sampling volumina of different sampling systems (e.g. personal pumps for personal-air-sampling).Component concentrations are determined with a standard deviation of less than 2.3%. In recent research programs the test gas generation from benzene, toluene, xylene, methanol, methanal and phenol has been demonstrated.

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Entwicklung einer Apparatur zur Erzeugung von Prüfgasen

Zusammenfassung Es wurde ein Prüfgasgenerator entwickelt und gebaut, der zur dynamischen Erzeugung von Prüfgasen nach dem Sättigungsdampfdruckprinzip dient. Das Gerät ist für die Kalibrierung hochempfindlicher Bestimmungsverfahren der Gasspurenanalyse (z.B. Gas-Chromatographie) konzipiert und erlaubt die Herstellung von Arbeitsstoffkonzentrationen im Bereich der Maximalen Arbeitsplatzkonzentrationen und Technischen Richtkonzentrationen (MAK- und TRK-Werte).Die Prüfgase lassen sich von festen und flüssigen Arbeitsstoffen mit einem endlichen Dampfdruck produzieren, wobei die Errechnung der Prüfgaskonzentration über die Betriebsbedingungen des Gerätes und dem Dampfdruck der Substanz bei gegebener Temperatur erfolgt. Neben der kontinuierlichen und automatisierbaren Kalibriermöglichkeit von Meßgeräten eignet sich der Prüfgasgenerator insbesondere für Untersuchungen zur Querempfindlichkeit von Analysenverfahren für Belegungsstudien an Adsorptionsmaterialien.Die produzierten Gasströme lassen sich stufenlos an die Probenahmevolumina der verschiedenen Probenahmesysteme (z. B. Körperpumpen für das personal-air-sampling) angleichen. Beimengungskonzentrationen verschiedener Arbeitsstoffe zum Grundgas wiesen relative Standardabweichungen von maximal 2,3% auf. Das Gerät wurde bislang erfolgreich bei der Herstellung von Prüfgasen mit Benzol, Toluol, Xylol, Methanol, Methanal und Phenol eingesetzt.

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Dedicated to Prof. Dr. H. Hartkamp on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Dynamic operation of liquid crystal cell with inherently nanogroove-featured aligned carbon nanotube sheets

The use of a highly aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet as a multifunctional constituent for liquid crystal (LC) displays and electro-optic LC applications is assessed. The CNT sheet can perform a dual function: one is an alignment layer for LCs, replacing the commonly used rubbed polyimide film, and the other is a transparent conductive layer, taking the place of indium tin oxide. The hydrophobic treatment improved the adhesion quality between aligned CNT bundles and the glass substrate, which helps to preserve the inherently aligned nanogroove morphology of transparent CNT sheets. The test LC display cells, comprising 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl molecules sandwiched between CNT-sheet-on-glass substrates, demonstrate the operation characteristics comparable to that of the conventional cell under temperature variation and ac electric field of 1?kHz. The results offer a possibility of deploying multifunctional CNT-sheet alignment layers in LC-based devices, especially in the future flexible display applications.     

Sectionally Semicomplemented Distributive Nearlattices

A nearlattice S is a meet semilattice together with the property that any two elements possessing a common upper bound have a supremum. Here the authors have introduced the notion of sectionally semicomplemented distributive nearlattices and given several characterizations of them. The skeleton SCon(S) of Con(S), the congruence lattice, consists of all those nearlattice congruences which are the pseudocomplements of members of Con(S). The relationship between skeletal congruences and kernel of skeletal congruences leads to numerous characterizations of sectionally semicomplemented distributive nearlattices and semiboolean algebras. For example we prove, for a distributive nearlattice S with 0, the following conditions are equivalent:

Precision measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters at INO-ICAL detector

A magnetized Iron CALorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based neutrino observatory (INO) is used to study neutrino oscillation sensitivity using atmospheric muon neutrino source. The ICAL detector will be able to detect muon tracks and hadron showers produced by neutrino interactions with the iron target. We have performed precision measurement analysis for the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters with the muon neutrino events, generated by Monte Carlo NUANCE event generator. A marginalized χ² analysis based on reconstructed neutrino energy and muon zenith angle binning scheme has been performed to determine the sensitivity for the atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters, \(\sin ^{2}\theta _{23}\) and \(| {\Delta } m^{2}_{23}|\).