Transient thermo-reflectance measurements of the thermal conductivity and interface resistance of metallized natural and isotopically-pure silicon

The transient thermoreflectance method has been used to measure the thermal conductivity of natural silicon and isotopically-pure silicon-28 layers that are epitaxially grown on natural silicon substrates. The measurements were performed at room temperature for both a low level (10¹⁶) and a higher level (2×10¹⁹) of Boron doping of the epitaxial layers. The results indicate a gain of approximately 55% in the thermal conductivity of Si²⁸ as compared to that of natural Si, at both low and higher levels of doping, and a loss of approximately 19% for both types of silicon due to the higher level of doping.     

Cytotoxic activity of platelets and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from oncology patients and healthy donors

Testicular germ cell tumour is said to be a model for curable neoplasm. However, the prognosis of primary extragonadal germ cell tumour does not appear to be as promising. Though similar in histology, the biology of primary extragonadal germ cell tumour is different as exemplified by the patients in this review. Eight patients with primary mediastinal germ cell tumours were treated with intensive cisplatin-based chemotherapy. All, except one, had non-seminomatous components. The poor prognosis of mediastinal germ cell tumour is due to a combination of poor treatment results with the cisplatin-based regimen and the development of non-germ cell and haematological malignancies.     

Interaction of tetravalent uranium with the chloride-fluoride melt NaCl−KCl−NaF

The method of measuring the oxidation-reduction potential of U(HI)/ U (IV) was used to investigate the interaction of uranium tetrachloride with a chloride-fluoride melt. The measurements were performed in a molten equimolar mixture of sodium and potassium chlorides, containing 3% by weight U and 8.0–18.5% by weight NaF, within the interval 973–1123°K. It was established that U⁺⁴ forms the fluoride complex UF^?2 in a melt of the investigated composition. An expression was found for the temperature dependence of the instability constant of this complex in a NaCl–KC1–NaF melt:

$$\overline {\log } K = 0.95 - \frac{{16 200}}{T} \pm 0.25.$$     

Physical modeling of phenomena of the interaction of hydraulic structures with water in the presence of an air curtain

Translated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel'stvo, No. 10, pp. 18–24, October, 1992.     

Quantitative stereological studies of a ''selection'' protocol of hepatocarcinogenesis following initiation in neonatal male and female rats

Understanding the reasons for infertility and the development of new techniques for its treatment is one of the fields within medicine which has undergone a dramatic development during the last two decades. In the past, gynecologists seemed more successful in the treatment of female problems than urologists and andrologists on the male side, while in the last couple of years this scenario has changed due to the development of both operative procedures to harvest spermatozoa from the epididymis and the testis and the ability to micro-inject single spermatozoa (ICSI) or even spermatides directly into metaphase II oocytes. It should, however, be emphasized that the successful development of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproduction technologies (ART), could not have taken place without the development of diagnostic innovations, such as immunoassays of hormones, high resolution ultrasound and various endoscopic techniques. Today, treatment of the infertile couple is less of a medico-technical problem and more a socio-economic dilemma. This communication is an attempt to summarize the more prominent steps in reproductive medicine during the last decades and one more general conclusion of global relevance which can be drawn, is that less money must be spent on diagnosis and more resources transferred to treatment options.