Thermographic imaging as alternative method in allergy diagnosis

Allergen sensitization is being diagnosed by commonly available methods in clinical practice—skin prick tests (SPTs) and specific immunoglobulin E test (sIgE). Recently, a new thermographic (TH) method for the assessment of SPT was developed, and it was demonstrated that the TH measurements of forearm temperature distribution during SPT, supported by a mathematical model, offer a new quantification method of allergen-induced skin reactions. The aim of this study is a comprehensive comparison of the TH method with SPT and sIgE techniques. The studies were performed for a group of 51 patients. The SPT and sIgE examinations were done in a routine way. For TH analyses, set of thermograms of both forearms were acquired after prick and analyzed with the use of developed software. All results were converted into categorized scale for comparison. The collected results indicate high correlation coefficients between methods equal to 0.76–0.99. Sensitivity and accuracy of TH assessment in respect of both SPT and sIgE methods is at good level (0.72–0.93). Acceptable level of specificity 0.60–0.88 was also achieved for most allergic responses. Excellent agreement between SPT and sIgE methods was observed which makes the TH assessment competitive. Due to higher precision and sensitivity of digital infrared technology, possibility of making error in diagnosis is significantly reduced. Additional advantage of the TH method relies on an estimation of the skin reactivity which allows highlighting the hypersensitivity patients and automatic correction of the diagnosis.     

An analysis of the applicability of the Scheil equation in the determination of segregation in monocrystals of the manganese-zinc ferrites Mn1?xZnxFe2O4

Theoretical assumptions concerning the segregation phenomenon of alloying components during formation of monocrystals of the manganese-zinc ferrite Mn_{1 x}Zn_xFe₂O₄ have been presented. Taking into account the case of the unidirectional solidification of the above ferrite by means of the Bridgman furnace, which is working in:

• Closed system.
• Open system, with adding of the pure component (melting at an elevated temperature).
• Open system, with adding of ferrite of a nominal composition.
• The method for calculation of alloying components segregation has been analysed. A possibility of modelling the segregation by means of the choice of the size of the melting zone has been considered for a given monocrystal.

     

Fine structure in the cosmic ray electron spectrum measured by the ATIC-2 and ATIC-4 experiments

A strong anomaly in form of a wide peak in the energy range 300–800 GeV was discovered in the first measurements of the electron spectrum in the energy range from 20 GeV to 3 TeV by the balloon-borne experiment ATIC [1]. The experimental data processing and analysis of the electron spectrum with different criteria for selection of electrons completely independent of the results reported in [1] is employed in the present paper. New independent analysis generally confirms the results of [1] but shows that the spectrum in the region of the anomaly is represented by a number of narrow peaks. Measured spectrum is compared to the spectrum of [1] and to the spectrum of the Fermi/LAT experiment.     

Structural and Optical Characterization of Ytterbium Doped Lutetium Double Phosphates

Powder samples of the ternary phosphates A₃Lu(PO₄)₂:Yb³⁺ (A = Na, Rb) have been synthesised by solid state reactions. The spectroscopic properties of Yb³⁺ in double phosphate host lattices were investigated using absorption, emission and excitation spectra at 4, 10 and 293 K in the VUV to IR range. The results obtained for both types of phosphates are compared. Together with the fundamental ²F_5/2 → ²F_7/2 emission in the IR range, a broad band emission with two peaks in the UV region were observed in Yb³⁺‐activated Na₃Lu(PO₄)₂. The second emission is due to a charge–transfer transition type. The influence of the alkali metal cation site of the host lattice on the luminescence properties was investigated. The tentative energy level scheme of the ground and excited ²F_J (J=7/2, 5/2) levels is described.     

Comparison of Fe and Ni opacity calculations for a better understanding of pulsating stellar envelopes

Opacity is an important ingredient of the evolution of stars. The calculation of opacity coefficients is complicated by the fact that the plasma contains partially ionized heavy ions that contribute to opacity dominated by H and He. Up to now, the astrophysical community has greatly benefited from the work of the contributions of Los Alamos [1], Livermore [2], [2a] and [2b] and the Opacity Project (OP) [3]. However unexplained differences of up to 50% in the radiative forces and Rosseland mean values for Fe have been noticed for conditions corresponding to stellar envelopes. Such uncertainty has a real impact on the understanding of pulsating stellar envelopes, on the excitation of modes, and on the identification of the mode frequencies. Temperature and density conditions equivalent to those found in stars can now be produced in laboratory experiments for various atomic species. Recently the photo-absorption spectra of nickel and iron plasmas have been measured during the LULI 2010 campaign, for temperatures between 15 and 40 eV and densities of ∼3 mg/cm³. A large theoretical collaboration, the “OPAC”, has been formed to prepare these experiments. We present here the set of opacity calculations performed by eight different groups for conditions relevant to the LULI 2010 experiment and to astrophysical stellar envelope conditions.     

A note on the Conley attractors of lower semicontinuous multifunctions

We discuss Conley-type approach to attractive sets for lower semicontinuous multifunctions. Since every iterated function system induces a Barnsley–Hutchinson multifunction which is l.s.c. in such a case it is much more natural to consider a multifunctions of that type then closed relations on compact spaces earlier considered by some authors. We use topological (Kuratowski’s) limit instead of commonly used Hausdorff metric.     

An effect of oxygen pressure on the process of monocrystallization of the MnaZnbFe2O4 manganese-zinc ferrites

The present paper relates theoretical assumptions concerning the pressure of oxygen required for the process of monocrystallization of the Mn_aZn_bFe₂O₄ manganese-zinc ferrites. A general analysis of the equilibrium diagram Zn Mn Fe O was carried out, taking into account the pseudobinary ZnFe₂O₄ MnFe₂O₄ system for the case of the formation of the above mentioned ferrite. At the same time, it was assumed that the base material (a polycrystal) for the unidirectional solidification in a Bridgman system would be formed of two compounds, i.e.f. ZnFe₂O₄ and MnFe₂O₄. It was stated that the monocrystallization of manganese-zinc ferrites should be carried out in the working chamber of a furnace at a pressure of oxygen amounting to from several tenth to several megapascals, the values of these pressures depending on the composition of the crystalline phase (the values of X_{2, MnFe2O4} and X_{1, Fe2O4} used in Equation (12)).     

Benchmarking compressed sensing,super‐resolution,and filter diagonalization

Signal processing techniques have been developed that use different strategies to bypass the Nyquist sampling theorem in order to recover more information than a traditional discrete Fourier transform. Here we examine three such methods: filter diagonalization, compressed sensing, and super‐resolution. We apply them to a broad range of signal forms commonly found in science and engineering in order to discover when and how each method can be used most profitably. We find that filter diagonalization provides the best results for Lorentzian signals, while compressed sensing and super‐resolution perform better for arbitrary signals. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.