We have measured the influence of shot noise on hysteretic Josephson junctions initially in the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime. The escape threshold current into the resistive state decreases monotonically with increasing average current through the scattering conductor, which is another tunnel junction. Escape is predominantly determined by excitation due to the wideband shot noise. This...

This paper presents a meta-heuristic, which is based on the Threshold Accepting combined with modified Nearest Neighbor and Exchange procedures, to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem with Backhauls and Time Windows (VRPBTW). The VRPBTW assumes that trucks initially start from the depot, deliver goods to the linehaul customers, successively pickup goods from the backhaul consumers, and finally re...

To determine the degree to which intramuscular pressure (IMP) and muscle force are correlated in an intact compartment, a custom pressure transducer was inserted into the rabbit tibialis anterior (TA) while activating the muscle via the peroneal nerve and measuring TA muscle force distal to the ankle retinaculum. In general, IMP was more variable compared with muscle force throughout the entire...

Bois noir, an economically important disease of grapevine yellows that causes significant economic losses in wine production, is associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ and transmitted to grapevines by cixiids Hyalesthes obsoletus Reptalus panzeri. Polyphagous planthopper Dictyophara europaea, commonly found natural habitats, harbors phytoplasmas from distinct groups alternative vector ...

Copper films of different thicknesses between 0.2 and 2 microns were electroplated on adhesion-promoting TiW and Ta barrier layers on <100> single crystal 6-inch silicon wafers. The residual stress was measured after each processing step using a wafer curvature technique employing Stoney’s equation. Large gradients in the stress distributions were found across each wafer. Controlled Cu grain gr...

Takayasu’s arteritis (TA), also known as "pulseless disease", is the third most common vasculitis in childhood. It is a chronic, idiopathic, granulomatous vasculitis that involves large vessels. It occurs most commonly in females with a 4:1 ratio over males; the average age of appearance is 26 years. Its cause is unknown. Here we report the case of a 7-year-old girl, with type III TA according ...