Wear and failure of mechanical seals may be critical in certain applications and should be avoided. Large relative misalignment between the seal faces is the most likely cause for intermittent contact and the increased friction that eventually brings failure. Adjustment of the seal clearance is probably the most readily implemented method of reducing the relative misalignment and eliminating se...

Abundance trends of Hawaiian monk seals Monachus schauinslandi at 6 subpopulations throughout the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) have fluctuated considerably during the past 5 decades. Direct human impacts have been widely accepted as the primary cause of previous monk seal population declines and, consequently, much conservation effort has focused on minimizing these threats. Yet climate...

Fault sealing is one of the key factors controlling hydrocarbon accumulations and trap volumetrics and can be a significant influence on reservoir performance during production. Fault seal is, therefore, a major exploration and production uncertainty. We introduce a systematic framework in which the geologic risk of faults trapping hydrocarbons may be assessed. A fault may seal if deformation p...

This paper describes a new electronic official seal stamping based on Group Signature, USB Key. Bill/Contract in Ecommerce must be seal stamped to gain tamper proof and nonrepudiation. The seal stamping control is designed based on the certificate-based public key. This technique is more efficient for generating and verifying individual/group signatures in terms of computational efforts and com...

The purpose of this study is to assess the possibility of implementing an online advertising strategy using a well-known third-party privacy seal located on the order page of an unfamiliar online retailer. An online experiment was conducted with 223 participants using a 2 (third-party seal: present vs. absent)×2 (purchase-decision involvement: low vs. high)×2 (disposition to trust: low vs. high...

The colostrum trypsin inhibitor (CTI) gene and transcript were cloned from the Cape fur seal mammary gland and CTI identified by in silico analysis of the Pacific walrus and polar bear genomes (Order Carnivora), and in marine and terrestrial mammals of the Orders Cetartiodactyla (yak, whales, camel) and Perissodactyla (white rhinoceros). Unexpectedly, Weddell seal CTI was predicted to be a pseu...

Previous studies have shown that hemostatic thrombi formed in response to penetrating injuries have a core of densely packed, fibrin-associated platelets overlaid by a shell of less-activated, loosely packed platelets. Here we asked, first, how the diverse elements of this structure combine to stem the loss of plasma-borne molecules and, second, whether antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants th...

In aquatic-mating pinnipeds, acoustic communication plays an important role in male competition and mate attraction. Vocal repertoire size and composition during the breeding season varies between species and is presumed to be a product of interspecific differences in sexual selection. In this study, we examine seasonal and diel patterns in acoustic repertoire size, composition and call activit...

Packaging protects food products from environmental influences, assuring quality and safety throughout shelf life if properly performed. Packaging quality depends on the quality of the packaging material and of the closure or seal. A common problem possibly jeopardizing seal quality is the presence of seal contamination, which can cause a decreased seal strength, an increased packaging failure ...