Radar detection of the nucleus and coma of comet hyakutake

Radar observations of comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) made at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California have detected echoes from the nucleus and from large grains in the inner coma. The nucleus of this bright comet was estimated to be only 2 to 3 kilometers in diameter. Models of the coma echo indicate backscatter from porous, centimeter-size grains ejected anisotropically at velocities of tens of meters per second. The radar observations suggest that a comet's activity may be a poor indicator of its size and provide evidence that large grains constitute an important component of the mass loss from a typical active comet.     

管道涂敷施工前表面处理研究

通常情况下,管道涂敷商在涂敷新涂层之前,都要将管道表面处理到Sa 2.5级或者近白级,但是在施工现场却很难达到这一标准.讨论了旧涂层去除的常规方法、表面处理以及可预见的结果,并讨论了当前在表面处理方面的研究成果以及在涂层涂敷过程中二次生锈的各种影响.     

Broadband modulation of light by using an electro-optic polymer

A major challenge to increasing bandwidth in optical telecommunications is to encode electronic signals onto a lightwave carrier by modulating the light up to very fast rates. Polymer electro-optic materials have the necessary properties to function in photonic devices beyond the 40-GHz bandwidth currently available. An appropriate choice of polymers is shown to effectively eliminate the factors contributing to an optical modulator's decay in the high-frequency response. The resulting device modulates light with a bandwidth of 150 to 200 GHz and produces detectable modulation signal at 1.6 THz. These rates are faster than anticipated bandwidth requirements for the foreseeable future.     

Fossil Evidence for a Late Cretaceous Origin of "Hoofed" Mammals

Seventeen of eighteen orders of living placental mammals are not known before 65 million years ago. The monophyly of each order is well established, but interrelations have been less certain. A superordinal grouping of up to seven extant orders plus a variety of extinct orders, all included within Ungulata ("hoofed" mammals), can be linked to Late Cretaceous mammals from the 85-million-year-old Bissekty Formation, Uzbekistan (and, less certainly, North America and Europe), thus pushing the origin of this major clade back by 20 million years. Ungulatomorphs are not closely related to primates, rodents, or rabbits.     

Equine neural angiostrongylosis

Verminous encephalomyelitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae was diagnosed in 2 foals at necropsy. The principal clinical feature was tetraparesis, although history and neurological examination revealed progressive and multifocal neurological disease. At presentation, a tentative diagnosis of parasitic larval migration involving the central nervous system (CNS), presumably due to Strongylus vulgaris, was proposed. Dissection of the spinal cord in one case resulted in recovery of intact larvae of both sexes of A. cantonensis. In both foals, histopathology of the brain and spinal cord revealed nematode sections which were consistent with A. cantonensis larvae.     

Pour-on method of administering chlormadinone acetate for estrus synchronization in heifers

Experiments with chlormadinone (Bovisynchron) on 380 heifers and 60 cows showed that the drug was absorbed following pour-on application. A volume of 2 ml was rubbed into the skin of the back anterior to the sacrum, once daily for 15 days. Residual amounts were removed 24 hours after the final application by washing the hair coat with dimethyl sulphoxide solution. Insemination was performed at the same time as after oral administration. The pour-on method was particularly suitable for heifers and cows out at pasture.