SRI International Research Articles

A Python Instrument Control and Data Acquisition Suite for Reproducible Research

Tools that standardize and automate experimental data collection are needed for greater confidence in research results. The National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II) has generated an open-source Python data acquisition, management, and analysis software suite that automates X-ray experiments and collects an experimental record that facilitates complete reproducibility. Here, we show that the NSLS-II tools are not only useful for X-ray science at large-scale facilities by presenting an add-on package that adapts these tools for use in a small laboratory with common physics and electrical engineering instruments. The composite software suite eases and automates the execution of experiments, records extensive metadata, stores data in portable containers, and speeds up the analysis through tools for comprehensive searches. In total, this software suite increases the reproducibility of laboratory experiments. We demonstrate the software via the evaluation of two lock-in amplifiers—the miniature ADA2200 and the ubiquitous Stanford Research Systems (SRS) SR810. The frequency resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and dynamic reserve of the lock-in amplifiers are measured and presented. The usage of the software suite is described throughout these measurements so that the reader can implement the tools in their lab.

Book Review: The Star Gate Archives : Reports of the United States Government Sponsored Psi Program, 1972–1995. Volume 3: Psychokinesis compiled and edited by Edwin C. May and Sonali Bhatt Marwaha

The remote viewing research conducted at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and later at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was covered in The Star Gate Archives Volumes 1 and 2, both reviewed in this journal (see Mörck, 2018, 2019). Less well-known is the fact that much psychokinesis (PK) research was also carried out. This research “ . . . was never intended to be an academic exercise typical of most laboratories. Rather, the only interest was to determine the degree to which PK might be used as part of a defensive or even offensive weapon system” (p. 12). This sounds dramatic. To U.S. intelligence agencies, a proper threat assessment was deemed necessary due to research conducted in the Soviet Union. The research in America, at SRI, was initially directed by Harold Puthoff from 1972 on, and later, for about ten years, by one of the volume’s editors, Edwin May. In addition to research reports and reviews, Volume 3, like its predecessor volumes, includes nine appendixes, a list of abbreviations, an extensive glossary, an author index, and a subject index. The papers are arranged chronologically, but it is not necessarily a good idea to read them in that order.

The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor by Jennifer Rhee

655 BOOKS IN REVIEW This concern aside, Reddell’s book is a highly informative and thoughtprovoking read. It is a wonderful contribution to sf cinema, cinematic sound analysis, and, more generally, an understanding of the sf cinematic experience in various periods and countries. Reddell deftly articulates the profound intellectual and experimental dynamics that make up what is often considered to be a secondary element of the cinematic experience. Further, he greatly expands the examination of how, in concert with broader technological forces, the explorative and innovative nature of sound technologies circumscribes conceptions of possible futures and of potential interactions with the indeterminacy of the alien and of outer space.—Dylan Cree, Concordia University Distance and Intimacy. Jennifer Rhee. The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2018. 240pp. $108 hc, $27 pbk. The mechanisms we humans use officially and circumstantially to judge another’s humanness emerge from the realms of care work, domestic work, and emotional labor. Such work tends to operate under two interwoven rules: distance and intimacy. Both must be present to counterweigh the work of the healthcare assistant, the childcare provider, or the mental health counselor. Too little contact and we accuse our caregivers of bitter medicine; too much and we might feel the need to reciprocate the care we have received. Another way to frame the central problematic here might be to suggest that whoever gets to be the one in need is the one we describe as human. Now imagine that the caregiver is a robot giving off an electric hum and emoting according to cybernetic protocols. Jennifer Rhee’s The Robotic Imaginary explores the human as a conceptual category in search of the mechanisms of humanness and dehumanization. The book introduces many robots across its four chapters. Readers will meet ELIZA. Designed by Jospeh Weizenbaum in 1966, this screen-interface AI was used to emulate a therapist. It would first ask leading questions and later reference past user inputs to perform conversational acuity (33-37). Readers will meet Shakey, a robot designed by a team led by Nils Nilsson at the Stanford Research Institute between 1966 and 1972. Shakey uses a programmed map of a more-orless empty apartment along with basic sensory input to navigate. Shakey malfunctioned often and was a very early prototype for the robotic vacuum (7075 ). Readers will also meet Kismet, a robotic head programmed to learn from conversational inputs. Kismet’s speech patterns, inquisitiveness, and appearance are all designed so that conversation partners will underestimate the robot and treat it as a child, mentee, or dependant (101-105). The pattern of introducing uniquely likable robots designed for care, domestic, and emotional labor stops when the book returns in the fourth chapter to the subject with which it opens: drones. Rhee begins her study by comparing the dehumanizing experience of Yemenis living under the threat of drone strikes with a related yet distinct manner of dehumanization exhibited by drone operators in the United States. Rhee’s epigraphs include a statement by Yemeni Ezzaldeen Tuaiman, “They’re going to kill me next,” beside another made by drone operator Michael Haas, “Ever step 656 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 46 (2019) on ants and never give it another thought?” (1). Here two forms of dehumanization have taken effect, mediated by drone ballistics, flight tech, hardware, and software. Such dynamics are taken up in great detail in “Dying,” the book’s fourth chapter. But first Rhee offers a thoroughgoing elaboration of the cultural history of robotics and artificial intelligence, interspersed with excursions into robot aesthetics and cybernetic art. Rhee offers much more than a cultural history of robotics. The book focuses on history, but it does so in order to attend to the robotic imaginary, which Rhee defines as “the shifting inscriptions of humanness and dehumanizing erasures evoked by robots” (5). Robots call to mind certain figurations of both the human and the inhuman. For Rhee, the work of the robotic imaginary is simultaneously about forming humanizing connections between otherwise differentiated entities and dehumanizing divisions between otherwise similar entities. The robotic imaginary operates in the realm of metaphor and anti-metaphor, and such connections and disconnections...

Fluorescence Lifetime Spectroscopy of the Cornea using a Multichannel Scaler

An interface based on Multichannel scaler (MCS; SR430; Stanford Research Systems, USA) has been tested for enabling fluorescence lifetime measurements of pO2-sensitive fluorophores with a custom-made confocal scanning microfluorometer (CSMF) for transcorneal pO2 measurements. SR430 served as a transient photon counter. A trigger pulse, coincident with the rising edge of an excitation pulse for fluorescence, was coupled to accumulate emission pulses detected by a photomultiplier tube (PMT; R928 HA, Hamamatsu, Inc). The pulse started the photon counting and segmented the photon count data into consecutive time bins (ranging from 1 up to 32k), the width of which could be varied from 5 ns to 10.486 ms. With no dead time between bins, photon counting with the fluorescence decay is seamless. Silica-bound Ruthenium phenanthroline, dispersed in silicone rubber, was employed as a fluorophore sensitive to pO2. The test interface for CSMF-MCS system showed sensitive pO2 measurements and hence is suitable to measure local pO2 at any depth across the cornea.

人間の脳と体に遠隔的・電磁的方法で影響を与えるCIA秘密プログラムの危険性 (An Existence of the Still Hidden CIA Program to Manipulate the Human Brain and Organism with Remote Electromagnetic Means)

The English version of this paper can be found at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3287484. Japanese Abstract:スターゲイトプログラムの開示情報の中に、依然として秘匿されているCIAプロジェクトが存在する証拠がある。それは人間の脳を遠隔的・電磁的に操作する技術開発に関するもので、スターゲイトプログラムとは違い、一般には公開されていない。CIAは1960年初頭のMKULTRAサブプロジェクト119以降、人間の脳を外部から読み取る技術や人間を電磁的に操作する方法に継続的な関心を示していた。その結果として、1970年代前半に実施されたSRIの遠隔的・電磁的感知能力の実験に当初から資金援助していたが、この補助金は数年で停止されている。SRIと米軍はこれらの実験の延長線上として遠隔透視能力の開発を20年以上に亘って続けたが、CIAはその能力開発よりも、人間の遠隔的・電磁的感知能力自体に関心を持っていた。それは彼らの活動領域の差から生み出されており、米軍が遠隔透視能力を通して戦場で敵の居場所を見付けたかったのに対して、CIAは電磁的感知能力自体を尋問や工作に利用したかった。彼らは1970年代中に人間を遠隔的・電磁的に操作する基礎技術の開発に成功したはずであり、その後の社会全体の技術発展と共に、現在では人類全体に脅威を与えるレベルにまで発展している。 English Abstract: There are letters disclosed under the STARGATE declassification, which indicated that the CIA had covert programs to manipulate the brain function interacted with the external electromagnetic stimuli, which is still hidden to the public eyes. The CIA has had an intention to read and activate the human being from the outside and paid attention to the related studies and developments since MKULTRA Subproject 119 in the early 1960s. They naturally supported the earlier experiments on the remote electromagnetic sensing conducted by SRI, Stanford Research Institute, though halting their subsidies within several years. The problem was SRI’s focus on the remote viewing, which was not necessarily the primary goal for the agency that would like to deploy the electromagnetic technologies into their information gathering to interrogate or manipulate their subjects. It is more or less the fact that the brain is synchronized to the external electromagnetic stimuli and the issue was to what extent the intelligence community has developed these methodologies. The CIA already acquired the basic technological foundation to manipulate the human brain electromagnetically in the 1970s, which has progressed to the critical level from then to now, considering the tremendous technological development of the overall society.

Failure and Success of the Project STARGATE to Develop the Remote Viewing Capacity

STARGATE is a code name for the aggregation of various programs to develop the remote viewing capability. It was originally assumed to be the paranormal phenomenon, though attracting academic interests in the early 1970s. The Stanford Research Institute, SRI, obtained the cooperation from several psychics and started the serious research on this capability, which was eventually subsidized by the US Defense outlets. Their main program was called “GRILL FLAME” purposed to train the soldier to possess the remote viewing capability, which was failed and ceased until the early 1990s. It was declassified with their earlier experiments supported partly by the CIA as well, though the majority was conducted under the US Defense involvement. Their failure should be destined due to their focus on the remote viewing rather than on the overall phenomenon that the brain is affected by the external electromagnetic stimuli. This extrasensory function was confirmed through the various studies in the early 1970s and there were several implications that the CIA realized the overall phenomenon could be deployed to their information gathering rather than focusing on the remote viewing.

Hot Air Won't Fly: The New Climate Consensus That Carbon Pricing Isn't Cutting It

Jeffrey Ball, a writer whose work focuses on energy and the environment, is the scholar-in-residence at Stanford University's Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance and a lecturer at Stanford Law School. He also is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Fortune, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, New Republic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Ball, previously The Wall Street Journal's environment editor, focuses his Stanford research on improving the effectiveness of clean-energy investment, particularly in China. Download : Download high-res image (131KB) Download : Download full-size image

An Existence of the Still Hidden CIA Program to Manipulate the Human Brain and Organism With Remote Electromagnetic Means

この論文の日本語版は、:https://ssrn.com/abstract=3308226. There are letters disclosed under the STARGATE declassification, which indicated that the CIA had covert programs to manipulate the brain function interacted with the external electromagnetic stimuli, which is still hidden to the public eyes. The CIA has had an intention to read and activate the human being from the outside and paid attention to the related studies and developments since MKULTRA Subproject 119 in the early 1960s. They naturally supported the earlier experiments on the remote electromagnetic sensing conducted by SRI, Stanford Research Institute, though halting their subsidies within several years. The problem was SRI’s focus on the remote viewing, which was not necessarily the primary goal for the agency that would like to deploy the electromagnetic technologies into their information gathering to interrogate or manipulate their subjects. It is more or less the fact that the brain is synchronized to the external electromagnetic stimuli and the issue was to what extent the intelligence community has developed these methodologies. The CIA already acquired the basic technological foundation to manipulate the human brain electromagnetically in the 1970s, which has progressed to the critical level from then to now, considering the tremendous technological development of the overall society.

Preparation of Polybenzimidazole Hollow-Fiber Membranes for Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration by Changing the Spinning Air Gap.

High-performance polybenzimidazole (PBI) hollow-fiber membranes (HFMs) were fabricated through a continuous dry-jet wet spinning process at SRI International. By adjusting the spinning air gap from 4″ (10.2 cm) to 0.5″ (1.3 cm), the HFM pore sizes were enlarged dramatically without any significant change of the fiber dimensional size and barrier layer thickness. When fabricated with an air gap of 2.5″ (6.4 cm) and a surface modified by NaClO solution, the PBI HFM performance was comparable to that of a commercial reverse osmosis (RO) HFM product from Toyobo in terms of salt (NaCl) rejection and water permeability. The PBI RO HFM was positively surface charged in acidic conditions (pH < 7), which enhanced salt rejection via the Donnan effect. With an air gap of 1.5″ (3.8 cm), the PBI HFM rejected MgSO4 and Na2SO4 above 95%, a result that compares favorably with that achieved by nanofiltration. In addition, the PBI HFM has a defect-free structure with an ultra-thin barrier layer and porous sublayer. We believe PBI HFMs are ideal for water purification and can be readily commercialized.

Low-Noise Fundamental-Mode Orthogonal Fluxgate Magnetometer Built With an Amorphous Ribbon Core

Room temperature operating magnetometers able to detect a few pT magnetic field would play a crucial role in such areas as bio-magnetic field detection and very tiny ferromagnetic contaminats detection in battery production lines. We have already reported fundamental mode orthogonal fluxgate having a noise density $\sim 3$ pT$/ \surd $ Hz at 1 Hz using a Co-based amorphous wire (made by Unitika) core sensor head [1]. However, the supply of the amorphous wire is limited. In this paper, we present that the narrow amorphous ribbon core is an alternative to the wire core if the dc bias current for the fundamental mode operation [2] is properly adjusted. In a particular case of as-cast Metglas 2714A ribbon of 1 mm width, the dc bias current elevated to 200 mA, which is to be 40 mA for the wire core sensor head, reduces the noise down to a few pT$/ \surd $ Hz. In the experiment, we made several sensor heads listed in Table I using the above mentioned ribbon. A 1 mm width ribbon which is made by slitting a wider sample is bent in a U-shape or more likely in a hair-pin shape and inserted into a cylindrical pickup coil of length 30 mm, bore diameter of 2 mm and having 500 turn copper winding. The driving and signal processing electronics used is the one developed for the wire core sensor head. The only difference is that an adopter circuit is inserted between the ribbon core sensor head and the driving electronics to supply a large dc bias current from the battery and to moderately $( \approx 2\mathrm {x})$ amplify the ac excitation current; the ac excitation current for ribbon core sensor heads is 24 mArms while that for wire core one is 12 mArms. The driving frequency is 100 kHz and the magnetometer is configured to operate in a closed loop (feedback) using $\mathrm {a}10 \mathrm {k}\Omega $ feedback resistor. The sensitivity increases slightly with increase in length of the core, because the demagnetization effect becomes smaller for longer cores. The sensitivity of the magnetometer with the wire core sensor head is about one half of that of the magnetometer with the ribbon core sensor head because the number of turns of the pickup coil used for the wire core is 1000. It should be noted that the sensitivity of the closed loop system is $R/ n[\mathrm {V} /\text{A}$/m] where $R$ is the feedback resistance and $n$ is the winding density per meter of the pickup coil. The noise spectral density of the magnetometer was measured by placing the sensor head in a five shell cylindrical shield and by using an FFT analyzer (Stanford Research Systems SR780). Results are listed in Table I from which we can conclude that the noise level obtained with a ribbon core sensor head is comparable to that obtained with a wire core sensor head. Fig. 1 shows the noise spectral density of the ribbon core sensor head R19 for three different dc bias currents. It is interesting to see that the noise level is dramatically reduced by increasing the dc bias current. This is probably related to the nature of the as-cast Metglas 2714A ribbon such that weak magnetic anisotropies are distributed randomly in the ribbon plane. It is also interesting to compare the magnetic field produced by the dc bias current at surfaces of the ribbon core and of the wire core. For the wire core, the radius is about $60 \mu \mathrm {m}$ and the bias current is 40 mA, hence the magnetic field is about 106 A/m. For the ribbon core, because the thickness $( < 20 \mu \mathrm {m})$ is negligible compared to the width (1 mm), the magnetic field at the surface of the ribbon is quite uniform along the width direction, hence the magnetic field can be calculated by dividing the current (220 mA) by the peripheral length which is twice the width, yielding 110 A/m which is similar to the one for the wire. One may expect that necessary dc bias current can be reduced by making the width of the ribbon narrower. A very weak magnetic field of rectangular waveform of 15 pT in peak-to-peak is well detected with a short averaging. Details on the adapter circuit will be explained.

Edwin M. Kinderman

Edwin M. Kinderman, 101, died on April 5 in Palo Alto, Calif. “World War II put Ed’s academic career on hold when he was hired as a chemist for the Manhattan Project. While on the project, he worked in a radiation lab at the University of California, Berkeley, and a uranium separation plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. After the war, Ed continued to teach at the University of Portland from 1945 to 1949, after which General Electric hired him to work at the Hanford Site in Richland, Wash. There, he helped produce plutonium to be used in American nuclear weapons. He left Richland in 1956 to move to Palo Alto and work in the physical chemistry department of Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) in Menlo Park. He continued to work at SRI until his mid-80s, capping his tenure of more than 40 years there. An avid volunteer, he was

Synthesis, physico-chemical properties of 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohyd-razides

The value of the class of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives to create a low-toxic and highly active substances is huge. There are a lot of facts about the high biological activity among a number of substances. The 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazides derivatives causes of particular interest in this direction.&#x0D; The aim of the work was to synthesize 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazides and their derivatives, studying of their physico-chemical properties.&#x0D; 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)-N'-R-acetohydrazides were synthesized by of 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)acetohydrazides with aldehydes and ketones in the i-propanol with the addition of hydrochloric acid.&#x0D; The melting point was determined by an automatic device for determining the melting point OptiMelt Stanford Research Systems MPA100 (US). The elemental composition of compounds found in elemental analyzer Elementar Vario L cube (CHNS) (standard ‒ sulfonamides). Chromatography-mass spectral studies conducted on gas-liquid chromatograph Agilent 1260 Infinity HPLC with equipped mass spectrometer Agilent 6120, 1H-NMR-spectra were registered on spectrometer Mercury 400&#x0D; A series of new 2-((4-amino-5-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)-N'-R-acetohydrazides derivatives were synthesized, R-2-chloro-6-fluorobenzylidene, 3-nitrobenzylidene, 4-hydroxybenzylidene, 2-nitrobenzylidene, 2,4-dimethylbenzylidene, 3,5-dimethoxybenzylidene, 3-bromo-4-fluorobenzylidene, 2,3-dimethoxybenzylidene, 2-bromobenzylidene, 2-fluorobenzylidene, 4-(dimethylamino)benzylidene, pyridin-2-ylmethylene, 5-nitrofuran-2-ylmethylene, 4-methoxybenzylidene, 2-hydroxybenzylidene, 4-methoxyphenyl)ethylidene, 1-(thiophen-2-yl)ethylidene. The structure of these compounds was established by modern physico-chemical analysis methods (elemental analysis, 1H-NMR spectroscopy). Individuality was proved by HPLC-MS.

Synthesis and physical-chemical properties of some 5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol derivatives

There are engaged scientists practically from all over the world to the 1,2,4-triazole system research but the greatest attention deserve the achievements of domestic scientists who managed from the very beginning to register new original medicines in Ukraine. There is no doubt that the original attempt of combining various typical fragments with the nucleus of 1,2,4-triazole is gaining popularity among researchers.&#x0D; The purpose of our work was to synthesized and investigate a row of new 5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiols by a Sulfur atom, to study the physical-chemical properties of previously unsubscribed compounds.&#x0D; The chemical names of the compounds are given in accordance with the IUPAC nomenclature (1979) and the IUPAC recommendations (1993). Investigations of the physical-chemical properties of the obtained compounds were carried out according to the methods which are given in the State Pharmacopoeia of Ukraine. The melting point was determined on an automatic device for determining the melting point OptiMelt Stanford Research Systems MPA100 (USA). The elemental structure of the new compounds was established on the element analyzer Elementar Vario L cube (CHNS) (standard - sulfanilamide). The data of elemental analysis correspond to the calculated. The 1Н NMR-spectra of the compounds were recorded using a «Mercury 400» spectrometer, the solvent DMSO-d6, the internal standard – tetramethylsilane (TMS) and decrypted using the SpinWorks computer program. Chromate-mass spectra were recorded on an Agilent 6890N/5973N/FID spectrometer produced by Agilent Technologies with a Dean microflow switch.&#x0D; By the experiment results there were obtained eleven previously unidentified individual compounds light yellow and white color which are soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in water. The crystallization process was carried out in isopropanol.&#x0D; Using a complex approach with the use of modern physical-chemical methods of analysis we confirmed the structure of 5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol, 3-alkylthio-5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole, 1,4-bis((5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-yl)thio)propane and 1,4-bis((5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-yl)thio)butane.&#x0D; The individuality of the synthesized compounds was confirmed chromatographically, the constants peaks of the pseudo molecular ions of the synthesized compounds coincide with the calculated values of the molecular masses.&#x0D; We first synthesized 5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazol-3-thiol which was further used as a starting material in the synthesis of new 3-alkylthio-5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazole, 1,4-bis((5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)propane and 1,4-bis((5-(3-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)thio)butane. Complex physical-chemical methods of analysis confirmed the structure of synthesized compounds.

Synthesis and structural features of 5-(4-(tert-butyl) phenyl)-4-((R)amino)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiols

Chemistry of heterocyclic compounds is one of the most popular sector in organic chemistry. Scientists allocate among them a class of derivatives of 1,2,4-triazole. This class of compounds attracts attention his broad spectrum of biological activity. There are antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-tubercular, antimicrobial, antioxidant, actoprotective, anti-cancer and other activities. The derivatives of 1,2,4-triazole have one more important advantage. It is low toxicity. This properties do this class of derivatives promising for researches their chemical structure and biological activity and purposeful search of biologically active substances.&#x0D; The purpose of the work is synthesis of 5-(4-(tert-butyl)phenyl)-4-((R)amino)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles-3-thiols from appropriate ylidene derivatives of 4-amino-5-(4 (tert-butyl)phenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles-3-thiol and research of their physical and chemical properties.&#x0D; The objects of research were 10 new compounds, derivatives of 4-amino-5-(4-(tert-butyl)phenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles-3-thiol. These compounds are the crystal substances which are odorless, insoluble in water and soluble in organic solvents. Investigation of the physical and chemical properties of this compounds was carried out according to the methods listed in the State Pharmacopoeia of Ukraine. The melting temperature of synthesized compounds was determined by device OptiMelt Stanford Research Systems MPA100. The structure of the compound was confirmed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy (Mercury 400) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Agilent 1260 Infinity HPLC).&#x0D; 10 new compounds, derivatives of 4-amino-5-(4-(tert-butyl)phenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles-3-thiol, were synthesized in a study. The chemical structure of the new compounds was confirmed by modern instrumental methods of analysis. Results of the done work can be use in the future search of biologically active substances.

Noise Properties of the Faraday Effect Measurement Systems

Nowadays, nanomagnetic devices have a main role in computer industries. To observe magnetic features of the nanomagnetic device, Magneto-optical effects such as Kerr effect and Faraday effect can be used. We report the fabrication of the Faraday effect measurement setup for characterization of nanomagnetic elements. With achievement of low noise measurement configuration by precision electronic measurements, Faraday effect was observed. The essence of the experiment is to measure a light intensity that is transmitted from the transparent magnetic material. Light intensity is measured by a photodiode detector (Hamamatsu S5870) which produced the laser-induced photocurrent. Using transimpedance amplifier, the signal is converted to the voltage which is measured by the lock in amplifier (Stanford Research SR810). By performing the measurement at different lock-in frequencies and different analyzer angles, we systematically analyzed various random noise sources and their effect to the signal to noise ratio. The interestingly, the noise characteristics of the measured photocurrent exhibit a 1/f noise behavior with a scaling exponent practically 1.

Recent developments in aqueous ammonia-based post-combustion CO2 capture technologies

Abstract Aqueous ammonia (NH3) is a promising alternative solvent for the capture of industrial CO2 emissions, given its high chemical stability and CO2 removal capacity, and low material costs and regeneration energy. NH3 also has potential for capturing multiple flue gas components, including NOx, SOx and CO2, and producing value-added chemicals. However, its high volatility and low reactivity towards CO2 limit its economic viability. Considerable efforts have been made to advance aqueous NH3-based post-combustion capture technologies in the last few years: in particular, General Electric's chilled NH3 process, CSIRO's mild-temperature aqueous NH3 process and SRI International's mixed-salts (NH3 and potassium carbonate) technology. Here, we review these research activities and other developments in the field, and outline future research needed to further improve aqueous NH3-based CO2 capture technologies.

Non – Linear Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic Analysis of Instabilities in Electrochemical Systems

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is one of the principle technique which is capable of in situ analysis of electrode – electrolyte interface and of probing electrochemical reaction mechanism. Typically, small amplitude perturbations are employed and the response is analyzed assuming that the system behavior is linear and stable [1, 2]. If large amplitude perturbations are employed, the resulting current will have significant higher harmonic signals, which can provide more information about the system examined [3]. This is often referred to as nonlinear EIS (NLEIS). In this work, we present NLEIS analysis of an unstable system, where potential drifts and concentration changes are introduced. The classical Fe2+/Fe3+ redox couple is chosen for experimental and numerical analyses. A setup comprising of three instruments (Potentiostat, Lock-in amplifier and signal analyzer from Stanford Research System) to acquire the NLEIS data with the help of an in-house developed software was established. The applied perturbation frequency was varied from 100 kHz to 125 mHz and the amplitude was varied from 20 mV to 100 mV. The current magnitude and phase at fundamental and higher harmonics were measured using FFT analyzer. Instabilities were introduced by continuously changing the dc potential or the active species concentrations, during the NLEIS measurements. All the solution contained 100 mM Na2SO4 as supporting electrolyte. The initial concentration of Fe2+/Fe3+ species was 5 mM each. Figure 1 shows the experimental results with fixed as well as changing concentrations. In case of experiments denoted as ‘changing concentration’, the active species concentrations at any time ‘t’, min, were given by C = (200+ 3 t)-1 M. The governing equations were solved without linearization, using numerical methods. Both mass transfer and reaction kinetics effects were taken into consideration and the experimental results were compared with the numerical solutions. Keywords: nonlinear EIS, system instabilities, potential drift, mass transfer effect References [1]. Orazem, M., Tribollet, B., Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, John Wiley & Sons, NJ, (2008) [2]. Wilson, J. R., Sase, M., Kawada, T. Adler , S.B., Electrochem. Solid-state Lett. 10 (5) (2007) B81-B86. [3]. Fathima Fasmin and Ramanathan Srinivasan, J Electrochem. Soc., 164 (7) H443-H455 (2017) Figure 1

Risks to the Public

column Share on Risks to the Public Author: Peter G. Neumann SRI International Computer Science Lab, Menlo Park CA SRI International Computer Science Lab, Menlo Park CAView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering NotesVolume 43Issue 2April 2018 pp 8–11https://doi.org/10.1145/3203094.3203102Published:25 May 2018Publication History 2citation59DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations2Total Downloads59Last 12 Months4Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

The Role of Aging, Drug Dependence, and Hepatitis C Comorbidity in Alcoholism Cortical Compromise

The prevalence of alcohol misuse increased substantially over a decade in adults, particularly in those aged 65 years or older. Ramifications for brain structural integrity are significant, especially in older adults. To combine cross-sectional, longitudinal data to test age-alcoholism interactions and examine the association between prevalent comorbidities (drug dependence and hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection) and cortical volume deficits in alcohol dependence. During 14 years, 826 structural magnetic resonance images were acquired in 222 individuals with alcohol dependence and 199 age-matched control participants (aged 25-75 years at initial study), parcellated with a common atlas, and adjusted for brain volume. Longitudinal data were available on 116 participants with alcoholism and 96 control participants. DSM-IV criteria determined alcohol and drug diagnoses; serology testing determined HCV status. The study was conducted at SRI International and Stanford University School of Medicine from April 11, 2003, to March 3, 2017. Magnetic resonance imaging-derived regional cortical volumes corrected for supratentorial volume and sex. Of the 222 participants with alcoholism, 156 (70.3%) were men; mean (SD) age was 48.0 (10.0) years; the mean age for the 199 control participants was 47.6 (14.0) years. Participants with alcohol dependence had volume deficits in frontal (t = -5.732, P < .001), temporal (t = -3.151, P = .002), parietal (t = -5.063, P < .001), cingulate (t = -3.170, P = .002), and insular (t = -4.920, P < .001) cortices; deficits were prominent in frontal subregions and were not sex dependent. Accelerated aging occurred in frontal cortex (t = -3.019, P < .02) and precentral (t = -2.691, P < .05) and superior gyri (t = -2.763, P < .05) and could not be attributed to the amount of alcohol consumed, which was greater in younger-onset than older-onset participants with alcoholism (t = 6.1191, P < .001). Given the high drug-dependence incidence (54.5%) in the alcoholism group, analysis examined drug subgroups (cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, opiates) compared with drug-dependence-free alcoholism and control groups. Although the alcohol plus cocaine (t = -2.310, P = .04) and alcohol plus opiate (t = -2.424, P = .04) groups had smaller frontal volumes than the drug-dependence-free alcoholism group, deficits in precentral (t = -2.575, P = .01), supplementary motor (t = -2.532, P = .01), and medial (t = -2.800, P = .01) volumes endured in drug-dependence-free participants with alcoholism compared with control participants. Those with HCV infection had greater deficits than those without HCV infection in frontal (t = 3.468, P = .01), precentral (t = 2.513, P = .03), superior (t = 2.533, P = .03), and orbital (t = 2.506, P = .03) volumes, yet total frontal (t = 2.660, P = .02), insular (t = 3.526, P = .003), parietal (t = 2.414, P = .03), temporal (t = 3.221, P = .005), and precentral (t = 3.180, P = .01) volume deficits persisted in the uninfected participants with alcoholism compared with control participants with known HCV status. Drug dependence and HCV infection compounded deleterious effects of alcohol dependence on frontal cortical volumes but could not account for the frontally distributed volume deficits in the drug-free participants with alcoholism. We speculate that age-alcohol interactions notable in frontal cortex put older adults at heightened risk for age-associated neurocompromise even if alcohol misuse is initiated later in life.

The speakers in the room corpus

The speakers in the room (SITR) corpus is a collaboration between Lab41 and SRI International, designed to be a freely available data set for speech and acoustics research in noisy room conditions. The main focus of the corpus is on distant microphone collection in a series of four rooms of different sizes and configurations. There are both foreground speech and background adversarial sounds, played through high-quality speakers in each room to create multiple, realistic acoustic environments. The foreground speech is played from a randomly rotating speaker to emulate head motion. Foreground speech consists of files from LibriVox audio collections and the background distractor sounds will consist of babble, music, HVAC, TV/radio, dogs, vehicles, and weather sounds drawn from the MUSAN collection. Each room has multiple sessions to exhaustively cover the background foreground combinations, and the audio is collected with twelve different microphones (omnidirectional lavalier, studio cardioid, and piezoelectric) placed strategically around the room. The resulting data set was designed to enable acoustic research on event detection, background detection, source separation, speech enhancement, source distance, sound localization, as well as speech research on speaker recognition, speech activity detection, speech recognition, and language recognition.