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Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology plays an important role in achieving higher levels of autonomous driving. These sensors, although robust in clear weather conditions, including night scenes, tend to degrade in adverse weather conditions like fog, rain and snowfall. An autonomous vehicle relying on LiDAR should be able to assess in a real-time manner its limitations and raise an alarm in such scenarios. In this paper, we present a comprehensive statistical data analysis of the effects of real-world adverse weather conditions on the properties of LiDAR point clouds. Namely, we analyze the effect on range, reflectance and resolution of objects in point clouds recorded by LiDAR in challenging weather conditions. Furthermore, based on the results of the analysis, we propose RangeWeatherNet, a lightweight deep convolutional network architecture for classification of weather and road conditions. The classification accuracy of our network outperforms the existing methods by a large margin (+11.8 %). The core network runs at 102 fps, which with the data preprocessing step, amounts to total 32 fps, which is higher than the usual LiDAR acquisition rate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach that uses deep learning for classification of weather conditions on LiDAR point clouds.

Object detection from point clouds, e.g. 3D LiDAR data, has many applications especially for autonomous driving systems. There have been several approaches to this complex problem, however, PointPillars architecture has the advantage that it can reuse the existing image-based convolution neural networks for object detection from 3D LiDAR data. The performance of the PointPillars architecture is further enhanced in this work by introduction of an additional Pillar Feature Extraction layer. It is observed that this modified PointPillars model trained to detect cars on KITTI dataset shows an improvement of 6.25% in the average precision for the easy cases in KITTI 3D detection benchmark, when tested on a GTX 1080i GPU.

Flash lamp annealing (FLA) is a modern annealing technique which, starting from microelectronics, has spread over new application areas like flexible electronics, photovoltaics or thin film deposition. Because of the short annealing time in the range of milliseconds and below, FLA allows the suppression of unwanted processes like diffusion, the annealing of temperature-sensible substrates, and the saving of process time and energy. In addition, it is predestined for roll-to-roll applications. However, the determination of the thermal cycle during FLA is challenging. The existing methods for a direct temperature measurement, mostly based on pyrometry, are elaborate and have to solve the problem to detect thermal radiation against the background of the intense flash light. An alternative way is simulation, but now an extended knowledge about the flash and the material system to be flashed is needed. In this work we describe a methodology to determine the thermal cycle during FLA without the need for a direct temperature measurement. This methodology is based on an optical-thermodynamic simulation and calibration experiments which can be implemented with reasonable effort under certain assumptions. The simulation considers not only the properties of the flash and the sample, but also the reflectivity of the chamber walls. Finally, the pros and cons of this methodology are shortly discussed.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is an infrequent, but severe, adverse drug-induced reaction which occurs due to massive T-cell stimulation resulting in cytotoxicity and eosinophil activation and recruitment. The incidence is 0.4 cases per 100, 0000 in the general population; the mortality rate is up to 10%. Therefore, we believe that recognizing this syndrome is of particular importance. The problem we notice is that DRESS is often seen and described in patients receiving rheumatologic or anticonvulsant drugs, but very rarely in psychiatric hospitals, where Clozapine is frequently used, and that is the importance of this paper. DRESS Syndrome must be recognized promptly, and causative drugs withdrawn. Indeed, it has been reported that the earlier the drug withdrawal, the better the prognosis. In this paper, we present three cases of Clozapine-induced DRESS. All cases were recorded in the Multicenter Drug Safety Surveillance Project (AMSP).

This paper proposes an approach of real time object distance measurement using stereo camera. A convolutional neural network (CNN) detects the objects. The distance to the objects is calculated from the disparity information or depth map. Experimental results show an improvement of runtime of at least 5% compared to fastest published methods.

Thermal processing in the millisecond range provides advanced, non-equilibrium annealing techniques which allow dedicated material modifications at the surface without affecting the substrate volume below. The process called flash lamp annealing (FLA) is one of the most diverse methods of short time annealing with applications ranging from the classical field of semiconductor doping to the treatment of layers on glass, polymers and other flexible substrates. It still continues to extend to other material classes and applications, and becomes of interest for an increasing number of users. Other phrases for FLA used throughout the literature are intense pulsed light sintering (IPL) or photonic curing. This review presents a short and comprehensive view of the current state of the art of FLA with a focus on functional coatings. After an introduction including historical aspects a look is taken to equipment issues as well as to the pioneering role which semiconductor processing in the framework of advanced chip technology played for the development of short time annealing. Mostly, examples of processing for photovoltaics, including doping aspects, hydrogen engineering, copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), silicon crystallization on glass, and transparent conductive oxides (TCO), including indium tin oxide (ITO), zinc oxide (also Al-doped AZO) as well as inkjet printing for flexible electronics will be presented.

Developing vehicle collision warning systems on mobile devices aiming to alert drivers about driving environments, and possible collision with other vehicles has become more and more popular. In these systems, robust and reliable vehicle detection is a critical step. This paper presents a vision-based vehicle detection system using a deep learning approach on mobile platforms. Our focus is on the mobile system with camera which is mounted on the vehicle. Integrating detection with tracking is also discussed to illustrate the benefits of deep learning for vehicle detection. Finally, we present the high efficient experimental results based on mobile device mounted on a car.

This paper proposed a monocular vehicle detection for forward collision warning system. We use the active-learning framework to train a cascade classifier and use a two steps vehicle detection. We used five test data to quantify our detection performance, analyzing the two-stage vehicle detection improvement, and the overall detection rate and the false detection rate. In a good light condition, the detection rate and the false detection rate can achieve 0.967 and 0.122, respectively. Our system can achieve up to 45 frames per second on Intel core I7-6700 CPU.

Today automotive headlights are using high current Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LED drivers are necessary to provide the appropriate voltage out of the car battery. Recent microcontroller-based solutions are costly and power hungry. This paper presents a power-efficient LED driver. The design is CISPR25 class-3 EMI compliant and supports ISO 7637-2 and ISO 16750-2 standards. In addition, the system includes a special feature of Dynamic Headroom Control (DHC) that aims at maximizing overall system efficiency by adjusting voltage at the boost controller by sensing the LEDs voltages. Experimental results show up to 88% power-efficiency.

With advances in technology, 3D video technology becomes possible and attractive. However, there are still many pre-recorded 2D videos/images which need to get transferred to 3D. Hence this paper presents a high quality view synthesis algorithm and architecture for 2D-to-3D video conversion. During the process of view synthesis, the monocular depth information together with the intermediate view is synthesized to the left-eye and right-eye view. The proposed view synthesis algorithm consists of two parts: 3D image warping and inpainting (hole filling). 3D image warping transforms a 2D camera image plane to a 3D coordinate plane. However the integer grid points of the reference are warped to irregularly spaced points in the virtual view, resulting in occlusion problems. Thus inpainting is needed to fix the virtual images. The proposed algorithm shows an improved PSNR gain of 0.2~1.5dB. We adopt hardware/software co-design to accomplish the proposed view synthesis algorithm. For this we implemented the image inpainting on a FPGA device and the remaining algorithm in software.

Three-dimensional topological insulators are fascinating materials with insulating bulk yet metallic surfaces that host highly mobile charge carriers with locked spin and momentum. Remarkably, surface currents with tunable direction and magnitude can be launched with tailored light beams. To better understand the underlying mechanisms, the current dynamics need to be resolved on the timescale of elementary scattering events (∼10 fs). Here, we excite and measure photocurrents in the model topological insulator Bi2Se3 with a time resolution of 20 fs by sampling the concomitantly emitted broadband terahertz (THz) electromagnetic field from 0.3 to 40 THz. Strikingly, the surface current response is dominated by an ultrafast charge transfer along the Se–Bi bonds. In contrast, photon-helicity-dependent photocurrents are found to be orders of magnitude smaller than expected from generation scenarios based on asymmetric depopulation of the Dirac cone. Our findings are of direct relevance for broadband optoelectronic devices based on topological-insulator surface currents., Surface currents in topological insulators can be controlled by light, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, Braun et al. report an ultrafast shift photocurrent at the surface of Ca-doped Bi2Se3, whereas injection currents are much smaller than expected from asymmetric depopulation of the Dirac cone.

3D vision is becoming increasingly important, in major motion pictures as well as in home entertainment. Depth map generation plays a major role in 2D-to-3D conversion and acts as a precursory stage to Depth Based Image Rendering (DIBR). This paper presents a novel algorithm for depth map generation using a block based approach. The algorithm is composed of 2 parts: Background depth map generation and moving object detection & filling. The proposed algorithm has been implemented both in software as well as in VLSI.

Background The prevalence of thyroid nodules ranges between 2% and 60% depending on the population studied. However, minimally invasive procedures like radiofrequency ablation (rfA) are increasingly used to treat tumors of parenchymatous organs, and seem to be suitable for singular thyroid nodules as well. Their successful clinical application depends on the induction of sufficiently large lesions and a knowledge of the energy parameters required for complete thermal ablation. The aim of this study was to establish a dose-response relationship for rfA of thyroid nodules. Material and Methods Thermal lesions were induced in healthy porcine thyroid glands ex vivo ( n = 110) and in vivo ( n = 10) using a bipolar radiofrequency system; rf was applied in a power range of 10–20 watts. During the ablation, continuous temperature measurement at a distance of 5 and 10 mm from the applicator was performed. The transversal and axial lesion diameters were measured, and the volume was calculated. Furthermore, enzyme histochemical analysis of the thyroid tissue was performed. Results The inducible lesion volumes were between 0.91 ± 0.71cm 3 at 20W and 2.80 ± 0.85cm 3 at 14W. The maximum temperatures after rf ablation were between 44.0 ± 9.7°C and 61.6 ± 13.9°C at a distance of 5mm and between 30.0 ± 8.6°C and 53.5 ± 8.6°C at a distance of 10mm from the applicator. The histochemical analysis demonstrates a complete loss of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase (NADPH) dehydrogenase activity in thermal lesions as a sign of irreversible cell damage. Conclusion This study is the first to demonstrate a dose-response relationship for rfA of thyroid tissue. rfA is suitable for singular thyroid nodules and induces reproducible, clinically relevant lesions with irreversible cell damage in an appropriate application time.

Alternative minimally invasive treatment options such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) are at present under investigation for achieving a nonsurgical targeted cytoreduction in benign and malignant thyroid lesions. So far, studies have not been able to show a secure advantage for neither LITT nor RFA. The aim of this study was to compare the two ablation procedures in terms of their effectiveness. Thermal lesions were induced in porcine thyroid glands either by LITT or bipolar RFA ex vivo (n = 110 each) and in vivo (n = 10 each) using power settings between 10 and 20 W. Temperature spread during application was documented in 5- and 10-mm distance of the applicator. Postinterventional lesion diameters were measured and lesion size was calculated. Furthermore, enzyme histochemical analysis of the thyroid tissue was performed in vivo. Lesion volumes induced by LITT ranged between 0.74 ± 0.18 cm(3) (10 W) and 3.80 ± 0.41 cm(3) (20 W) with a maximum of 5.13 ± 0.16 cm(3) at 18 W. The inducible lesion volumes by RFA were between 2.43 ± 0.68 cm(3) (10 W) and 0.91 ± 0.71 cm(3) (20 W) with a maximum of 2.80 ± 0.85 cm(3) at 14 W. The maximum temperatures were 112.9 ± 9.2°C (LITT) and 61.6 ± 13.9°C (RFA) at a distance of 5 mm and 73.2 ± 6.7°C (LITT) and 53.5 ± 8.6°C (RFA) at a distance of 10 mm. The histochemical analysis demonstrates a complete loss of NADPH dehydrogenase activity in thermal lesions as a sign of irreversible cell damage both for LITT and RFA. This study is the first to compare the effectiveness of laser-induced thermotherapy and radiofrequency ablation of thyroid tissue. LITT as well as RFA are suitable for singular thyroid nodules and induces reproducible clinically relevant lesions in an appropriate application time. The maximum inducible lesion volumes by LITT are significantly larger than by RFA with the devices used herein.

In this paper, we propose an improved dynamic gamma correction method to enhance contrast and image quality for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) with Multi-Phosphor White Light Emitting Diodes (MPW LED). In order to reduce the hardware cost and improve the contrast and the edge strength, the proposed gamma correction method uses content-based analysis to reduce computational complexity. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed gamma correction method has better visual assessment. Absolute Mean Brightness Error (AMBE), contrast enhancement, and similar Edge Loss Rate (ELR) quality are superior to the traditional methods.

Stereo vision has been used in many different applications such as robot, entertainment, and car electronics. Disparity-based distance estimation requires a large amount of computational resources because of high block-matching computations, especially on the high-resolution image pair. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for computing the distance between our own driving car and the front car for vehicle collision avoidance applications. Our system is designed to focus on the collision avoidance with the front end object which includes horizontal displacement. Therefore, the target of the front end of system is to find out the position and movement of these objects.

Patients in the emergency medical service (EMS) may have increased endogenous catecholamines because of pain or fear and may benefit from sedation similar to premedication in the hospital. During a simulated EMS scene call, 72 healthy male volunteers were either transported by paramedics from a third-floor apartment through a staircase with subsequent EMS transport with sirens (three stress groups of n = 12; total, n = 36) or asked to sit on a chair for 5 min and lie down on a stretcher for 15 min (three control groups of n = 12; total, n = 36). Catecholamine plasma samples were measured in the respective stress and control groups at baseline and after placebo IV (n = 12) or 25 (n = 12) or 50 (n = 12) microg/kg of midazolam IV throughout the experiment, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance; P0.05 was considered significant. The Placebo Stress versus Control group, but not the 50 microg/kg Stress Midazolam group, had both significantly increased epinephrine (73 +/- 5 pg/mL versus 45 +/- 5 pg/mL; P0.001) and norepinephrine (398 +/- 34 pg/mL versus 278 +/- 23 pg/mL; P0.01) plasma levels after staircase transport. After EMS transport, the Placebo Stress versus Control group had significantly increased epinephrine (51 +/- 4 pg/mL versus 37 +/- 4 pg/mL; P0.05) but not norepinephrine (216 +/- 24 pg/mL versus 237 +/- 18 pg/mL) plasma levels, whereas no significant differences in catecholamine plasma levels occurred between groups after either 25 or 50 microg/kg of midazolam. In conclusion, simulated EMS patients may be subject to more stress during staircase transport than during transport in an EMS vehicle. Titrating sedation with 25 microg/kg of midazolam significantly reduced endogenous catecholamines but not heart rate.Simulated emergency medical service patients were more likely to be stressed when being transported by paramedics through a staircase than in an ambulance. Accordingly, it may be beneficial to inject sedative drugs before initiating transport to ensure patient comfort and safety.

With the semiconductor manufacturing development following the trend into very-deep sub-micron technologies and thus making Moore's law a reality, the decrease in node size introduces new defect mechanisms in manufacturing. Still, the strict quality requirements especially related to the automotive industry stay the same. Traditional fault models like stuck-at and transition delay models which have been used for the digital logic of System-on-Chip designs may be successful in detecting most of the manufacturing defects, but not all of them. In this paper, the new Cell Aware fault model, which has been introduced by Mentor Graphics ® , is being evaluated for usage in the automotive design process of Freescale™. Using a state-of-the-art microcontroller product manufactured in a CMOS 55nm process technology, the fault model is evaluated for test coverage and test cost (pattern count) and compared against the traditional fault models used by Freescale. The analysis is carried out by performing several experiments, especially focusing on reducing the test pattern count overhead.

1Department of Electronic Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 10608, Taiwan 2Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA 3Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Hochschule Darmstadt-University of Applied Sciences, Birkenweg 8, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany 4Department of Electrical Engineering, National Ilan University, Yilan 260, Taiwan 5Division for Biomedical & Industrial IC Technology, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan

Short Time Annealing on a microsecond to nanosecond scale presents new challenges to temperature measurement. Pyrometers are widely used owing to their commercial availability, short response time, easy handling and contactless operation. However, they hold a source for considerable measurement errors. False readings are easily gained producing large errors during temperature measurement. This chapter intends to give the reader an overview on characteristic features associated with Radiation Thermometry in a broader sense and more specifically with Pyrometry.

3D vision is becoming increasingly important, in major motion pictures as well as in home entertainment. Depth map generation plays a major role in 2D-to-3D conversion and acts as a precursory stage to Depth Based Image Rendering (DIBR). This paper presents a novel algorithm for depth map generation using a block based approach. The algorithm is composed of 2 parts: Background depth map generation and moving object detection and filling. The quality of generated depth maps is adequate, considering the block based approach. The proposed algorithm is suitable for VLSI implementation.

Perceptual video coding is more intuitive than traditional compression methods such as temporal, spatial, and statistical redundancy. With the popularity of wireless multiplication devices, the transmission of video is an important issue. In order to decrease the transmission time and get better performance, the proposed perceptual evaluation model can save not only bit-rates but also maintain video quality. From the experimental results, by adjusting the quantization parameters (QP) by associating visual properties, it can save about 6%~21% bit-rates without any noticeable difference in the visual qualities.

The aim of our web-based VHDL Code Generator, named DiaHDL, is, to translate a component diagram to synthesizable VHDL code [1][2]. In this live demonstration we present the special Graphical User Interface (GUI) of this web-based tool that allows the user to select digital components, customize their parameters und generate the VHDL code. This is done for an FPGA design for image processing, a JPEG encoder. We show the complete design flow from component entry to bit stream generation for programming a Xilinx FPGA device, using the proposed GUI of DiaHDL tool together with Xilinx ISE tool, a standard HDL synthesis tool.

The VHDL generator tools aim is to translate designed component diagram to synthesizable VHDL code. The tools is web based, its provides a graphical user interface that allows the user to select a digital component, customize their parameter and generate the VHDL code. The Reliability inception in this VHDL code generator is a probability method for measurement the tools in complicated parameter to be simplified. To support the VHDL generator code tools, development of Graphic User Interface (GUI) is presented. Beginning with designing ideas of the interface within the tools based on principles of good interface design, the implementation of the design for the tools is to provide interface which address the needs of its users. Designing an interface for users its requires to deal with a number of issue. The User interaction mechanism with the tools is being the main concern to improve the tools interface for being able performed effectively with the user. The research study, it's to develop graphic user interface of DiaHDL tools, which is able to provide both functional and aesthetic visualization in design. The Graphical user interface is able to represent information into pleasing visualization.

Background and Objective The prevalence of thyroid nodules ranges between 2% and 60% depending on the population studied. However, minimally invasive procedures like laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) are increasingly used to treat tumors of parenchymatous organs and seem to be suitable for singular thyroid nodules as well. Their successful clinical application depends on the induction of sufficiently large lesions and a knowledge of the energy parameters required for complete thermal ablation. The aim of this study was to establish a dose–response relationship for LITT of thyroid nodules. Materials and Methods Thermal lesions were induced in healthy porcine thyroid glands ex vivo (n = 110) and in vivo (n = 10) using an Nd:YAG laser (1,064 nm). Laser energy was applied for 300 seconds in a power range of 10–20 W. During the ablation, continuous temperature measurement at a distance of 5 and 10 mm from the applicator was performed. The lesions were longitudinally and transversally measured, and the volume was calculated. Furthermore, enzyme histochemical analysis of the thyroid tissue was performed. Results The maximum inducible lesion volumes were between 0.74 ± 0.18 cm3 at a laser power of 10 W and 3.80 ± 0.41 cm3 at 20 W. The maximum temperatures after ablation were between 72.9 ± 2.9°C (10 W) and 112.9 ± 9.2°C (20 W) at a distance of 5 mm and between 49.5 ± 2.2°C (10 W) and 73.2 ± 6.7°C (20 W) at a distance of 10 mm from the applicator. The histochemical analysis demonstrates a complete loss of NADPH dehydrogenase activity in thermal lesions as a sign of irreversible cell damage. Conclusions This study is the first to demonstrate a dose–response relationship for LITT of thyroid tissue. LITT is suitable for singular thyroid nodules and induces reproducible clinically relevant lesions with irreversible cell damage in an appropriate application time. Lasers Surg. Med. 41:479–486, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The application of steady flow injection to control flow separation on the suction side of an ultra high lift low pressure turbine airfoil is presented. The blade lift coefficient of the ultra high lift airfoil at 1.46 Zweifel coefficient is considerably higher than those of conventional airfoils. Blade Reynolds numbers and blade dimensions are comparable to the first stages of aero engine low pressure turbines. The ultra high lift vane row is installed into a three stage low Mach number turbine test rig. Steady flow injection through suction side streamwise holes is investigated: with an angle to the surface of 45 deg. The pitch to diameter ratio is 10. The variation of the blowing ratio allows a closer study of the influence and effects occuing due to flow injection. Results show that steady flow injection can almost completely eliminate separation on the suction side. For four different blowing ratios blade pressure distribution and exit flow area traverse shows rising stage loading. A maximum of one percent change in flow exit angle was measured. The experimental results reveal that the injection jets only locally suppress the separation. This results in a spanwise variation in lift and trailing edge shed vortical structures.Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Introduction: Because of their minimal invasive access and low complication rate, thermoablative thechniques, increasingly used for the treatment of tumors in parenchymatous organs, are also interesting for patients bearing thyroid gland lesions necessitating surgery. Aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the dose-effect-relations of Laserinduced Thermotherapy (LITT) and Radiofrequencyinduced Thermotherapy (RFITT) in thyroid tissue to demonstrate the necessary parameters for a safe clinical use for the first time and to lay the foundations for a reasoned choice of procedure. Materials and methods: In porcine thyroid glands thermoablation was performed either by LITT or RFITT using power settings between 10 W and 20 W. Temperature spread during application was documented in 5 mm and 10 mm distance of the applicator. Postinterventional lesion diameters were measured and lesion sizes calculated. Results: Lesion volumes ranged between 0,4 ccm and 3 ccm and showed different characteristics in their spread for both techniques. A lesion volume plateau was observed in both techniques. Endtemperatures ranged between 75 °C and 117 °C in 5 mm distance and 52°C and 85°C in 10 mm distance of the applicator. Conclusion: Both techniques allow definitive and reproducible induction of clinical relevant lesions in thyroid tissue. Both methods differ in their respective complexity. Optimal energy doses and application times for a safe ablation in the clinical application of both techniques were documented for the first time.

This study is devoted to the performance of the CLIMET CI-8060, a white-light optical particle counter (OPC). Designed for clean-room monitoring, the off-the-shelf performance of this instrument is rather poor for outdoor studies. Modifications of this instrument are described turning this low-cost instrument into an OPC with excellent performance. The modifications include a reduction of the flow rate to 1.4 l/min, an altered design of the inlet nozzle, a buffer chamber to assure continuous flow, and a 16-channel pulse height analyzer. The modified version has been checked thouroughly. The counting efficiency is very close to 100% for particle sizes between 0.295 and 0.801 μm. The loss of giant particles is also marginal, as comparative tests with a cascade impactor show. The sizing calibration has been redetermined experimentally, using latex spheres, and theoretically, applying a software package by Jungert [1988] using the Mie theory. With the help of the established relationship between experimental and theoretical response for latex, calibration tables for any other particle material are obtained (in particular for ambient aerosols and H 2 O for fog and cloud condensation studies). The modified counter has been used for monitoring the growth of hygroscopic aerosols in humid conditions, using two different inlet lines, one of them drying the aerosol before entering the OPC, the other one preserving ambient conditions. This system allows to observe haze and fog formation and cloud condensation processes in situ at a one-minute time resolution.

This randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effects of simulated emergency medical service (EMS) transport related stress on hemodynamic variables, and catecholamine plasma levels. A total of 32 healthy male volunteers were randomized to being carried by paramedics from a third-floor apartment through a staircase with subsequent high-speed EMS transport with lights and sirens (stress; n=16); or sitting on a chair for 5 min, and lying on a stretcher for 15 min (control; n= 16). Blood samples and hemodynamic variables were taken in the apartment before transfer, at the ground floor, and at the end of EMS transport in the stress group, and at corresponding time points in the control group. The stress versus control group had both significantly (P0.05) higher meanSEM epinephrine (71 7 versus 37 3p g/ml), and norepinephrine (397 29 versus 29928 pg/ml) plasma levels after transport through the staircase. After EMS transport, the stress versus control group had significantly higher epinephrine (486 versus 32 2p g/ml), but not norepinephrine (214 20 versus 264 31 pg/ml) plasma levels. Heart rate increased significantly from 72 2t o 84 3 bpm after staircase transport, but not during and after EMS transport. In conclusion, volunteers being carried by paramedics through a staircase had a significant discharge of both epinephrine and norepinephrine resulting in increased heart rate, but only elevated epinephrine plasma levels during EMS transport. Transport through a staircase may reflect more stress than emergency EMS transport. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

We have investigated in-diffusion of phosphorus into monocrystalline silicon by depositing a phosphorus source on the surface followed by millisecond flash lamp annealing (FLA) to form shallow emitters for solar cells. By varying both the energy density of a 20 ms flash in the range from 62 to 132 J/cm(2) and the sample preheating, it is observed that FLA treatments can in-diffuse a high concentration of phosphorus atoms becoming electrically active. The most promising emitters are obtained after FLA in the energy range from 110 to 128 J/cm(2) including preheating at 300 degrees C with a peak concentration of 4 - 6 x 10(20) cm(-3). The emitter junction depth for these treatments is in the range of 100 nm to 200 nm, respectively.

This study explores the possibilities of using a Climet CI-8060 optical particle counter as a fog and cloud droplet counter in ambient conditions. Intercomparisons with an AERAS cascade impactor (modified for fog measurements) show that the performance of the instrument is excellent and yields accurate droplet size distributions in the range of 0.54 to 25 μm in one-minute time resolution. The CI-8060 was applied successfully in a field experiment investigating in-cloud scavenging of air pollutants. It is shown that the cloud droplet size distribution is a key parameter for the depletion of pollution by wet deposition. Being aware of the fact that commercial instruments built particularly for the purpose of cloud droplet sizing exist, the CI-8060 has some advantages: it is inexpensive, and it is rugged and easy to use in the field.