We demonstrate power scaling of an Nd:YAG picosecond master oscillator power amplifier system to over 200 W. The ‘z-slab’ amplifier design is a power scalable, edge-pumped zigzag slab amplifier architecture, and it is demonstrated here in two alternative multi-stage implementations at 1064 nm using a picosecond seed laser. In a simple design, an average power of 225 W was generated with up to 4...

We have measured the absolute dissociation probability of SF 6 gas irradiated by CO 2 laser pulses varying in duration from 0.5 nsec to 100 nsec. We find a threshold for dissociation of ~ 1.4 J/cm 2, independent of pulse duration. For fixed energy density, the dissociation probability increases as the pulse duration decreases, but not nearly to the degree expected from theory. We have also dete...

We investigated levels of plasma progesterone (P4), 17β-estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), and corticosterone (CORT) during gestation and post-birth periods in wild-collected female copperhead snakes (Viperidae; Agkistrodon contortrix). We also sought to determine whether CORT levels at (or near) birth dramatically increase and were correlated with duration of labor and litter size. Specifically...

With large and growing datasets and complex models, there is an increasing need for scalable Bayesian inference. We describe two lines of work to address this need. In the first part, we develop new algorithms for inference in hierarchical Bayesian time series models based on the hidden Markov model (HMM), hidden semi-Markov model (HSMM), and their Bayesian nonparametric extensions. The HMM is ...

Previous studies on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring as a potential screening test for hypertension in pregnancy have not carefully considered sampling requirements. We have examined the impact of duration and frequency of blood pressure sampling in the reproducibility of mean values in pregnancy. We analyzed 2430 blood pressure series sampled every 20 minutes during the day and every 30 mi...

aim : to determine the associated factors of reflux duration, using quantile regression model. background : reflux is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal disorders.  statistical tools are widely used to assess the associated factors on reflux severity and frequency. patients and methods : a door to door questionnaire has been used to evaluate gastrointestinal symptoms including reflux an...

Methodological Considerations To the Editor: With great interest, we have read the article of Fan and colleagues1 on the effects of biatrial pacing in the prevention of postoperative atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery. By measuring P-wave duration from 12-lead surface ECGs and calculating P-wave dispersion, they found that biatrial pacing resulted in a more significant red...

OBJECTIVES The main objective of this study is to assess the Breastfeeding Duration, Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration and other related factors among children aged less than 5 years old in rural areas of Northern Iran. METHODS This is a descriptive cross-sectional conducted on 2520 children aged 6-60 months (male: 1309, female: 1211) chosen by cluster random sampling from 20 out of 118 villag...

I read with interest the paper by Nieuwenhuijsen et al. (1995) concerning the exposure levels of airborne dust and aeroallergens in bakeries and similar workplaces. The authors describe a study where personal total inhalable dust samples were obtained during tasks which were "expected to be associated with levels of exposure greater than the shift averages". In total, 31 tasks were identified a...