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...

In cut-to-length mechanized forest harvest operations, trees are cut, delimbed, and bucked to standard lengths directly in the harvest block. This in-stand processing, generates harvesting residue composed of tree limbs, tops, and foliage, which is frequently placed on machine operating trails to prolong trail trafficability and protect forest soils against heavy loadings. These so-called brush...

PURPOSE To assess the plaque removal efficacy of an oscillating-rotating power brush relative to a newly-introduced sonic power brush. METHODS This study used a randomized, examiner-blind, single-center, two-treatment, parallel group 4-week design. Subjects with pre-existing plaque scores of at least 1.75 on the Turesky Modification of the Quigley-Hein Plaque Index (TMQHPI) were evaluated for...

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...

OBJECTIVE Liquid-based cytology (LBC) for cervical screening is becoming increasingly used. Together with SurePath LBC, various collecting devices can be utilized, among which the Cervex-Brush is the most widely used. The new Rovers Cervex-Brush Combi combines the advantages of the Cervex-Brush with the EndoCervex-Brush increasing sampling of the endocervical canal. The objective of this study ...