199 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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May 16, 1993
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LT_PULSE.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Ray Berry.
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STAR WARS SCIENCE PROTECTS CHICKEN PIES
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By SARAH LUBMAN
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Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LOS ANGELES
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April 14 1993
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OK, so maybe it wouldn't work zapping missiles in space. How about
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soot and bread mold?
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That's the thinking behind the purple light flashing regularly from
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an experimental switching device in a California lab facility.
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Martin Gundersen, a physics professor at the University of Southern
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California, is trying to turn the "pulsed power" technology
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originally developed for Star Wars into a commercial antipollution
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weapon.
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There's no shortage of ideas on using pulsed power. Labs across the
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country are using it on chicken pot pies, mussels and tumors. But
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now that defense funding is dwindling, there is a shortage of money.
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Pulsed power, a way of storing and rapidly releasing electrical
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energy in powerful bursts, has been a vital military tool since
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World War II in most radar, certain laser weapons and electrical
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guns, and simulated nuclear blasts. In the 1980s heyday of the
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Strategic Defense Initiative, pulsed power was once envisioned as a
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potential space death-ray laser to destroy enemy missiles. That
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turned out to be problematic and costly; SDI has since moved on to
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weapons that destroy missiles by bashing into them.
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'Fundamental Technology Issues'
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"One of the good things about SDI was that it got a lot of
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scientists looking into fundamental technology issues that are more
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significant than getting huge lasers into space," says Mr.
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Gundersen, who has a kindly manner and eyebrows that seem to have
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a life of their own. He joined USC in 1980 to do laser research
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funded mostly by the Pentagon. Now, the professor and a few of his
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graduate students tinker with an antipollution pulsed-power device
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called a plasma discharge cell.
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The experiment looks like a thick tangle of high-tech plumbing atop
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a metal platform roughly the size of ping-pong table. The cell,
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Page 1
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powered by an electrical switch, releases thousands of simultaneous
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bursts of energy a second that are visible as flashes of neon-purple
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light. A high-speed photograph of the process looks like a starry
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sky, showing a cloud of tiny white dots of energy frozen against a
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black surface.
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Scientists have proved that the chemical reaction produced by the
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intense energy pulses can dissolve toxic solvents, as well as
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harmful sulfur oxides found in factory smoke. The principle is
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simple: Electrons generated by the sudden power burst run into
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molecules of noxious compounds, literally breaking them up. In
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theory, power plants could reduce pollution by installing pulsed-
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power devices to create intense electrical discharges that would
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reduce emissions before they reach the air.
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"Through a miracle of physics and chemistry, you can get rid of
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soot," Mr. Gundersen says. He and other scientists say the pollution
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reducing technology could be commercially available in several
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years, if it's made more efficient.
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Scientists are already deploying pulsed power against bread mold.
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Maxwell Laboratories Inc. in San Diego formed its Foodco Corp. unit
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in 1988 to explore the potential uses of pulsed power for food
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processing. The company, partly owned by the Kraft General Foods
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unit of Philip Morris Cos. and Tetralaval of Sweden, uses pulsed
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power to pasteurize liquids without heating them, and to kill
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bacteria on packaging and solid foods.
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Chicken-Pot Pies
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Sixteen chicken-pot pies, most of them moldy, sit on a metal cart in
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Foodco's microbiology lab. But mold hasn't attacked four or five
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pies that have been treated by a light-sterilization method dubbed
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Pure-Bright. The technology works on processed foods such as pies by
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zapping them, through their plastic packaging, with 20 to 30 pulses
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of light lasting a few hundredths of a second each.
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The combination of the type of light and pulse frequency kills
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bacteria, extending the shelf life of foods 'for weeks or months,"
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says Alan C. Kolb, Maxwell's chief executive officer. If regulators
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approve, commercial use could come in a year to 16 months, Foodco
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says.
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A big advantage to pulsed power, some scientists say, is its ability
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to perform the same tasks as radiation without the harmful side
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effects. Pulsed-power advocates note that irradiation of foods
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requires extra protection for technicians and has alarmed some
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consumer groups; they also contend pulsed power can wipe out
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bacteria without the physical and chemical changes radiation causes.
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(However, Dr. Elsa Murano, a microbiologist researching irradiation
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at lowa State University, says irradiation facilities require
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protective concrete walls, but that the technology doesn't change
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food "in any way different from cooking or freezing.")
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That principle is fueling experiments with pulsed-power laser beams
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for cancer treatment and other medical applications. At the Baylor
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Research Institute in Dallas, scientists are working with lasers to
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wipe out tumors.
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Page 2
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Other promising uses for pulsed power include spot welding, powering
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electric vehicles, reducing diesel-engine exhaust fumes, and even
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pest control. There's an experiment under way in Springfield,
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Calif., to see if pulsed power can stem a growing invasion of zebra
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mussels by creating underwater shock waves to crush their shells.
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Despite growing interest, though, pulsed-power researchers face a
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bureaucratic hurdle over reduced and reallocated funding.
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So some scientists are starting to venture out of their laboratories
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and into the public eye in search of capital. A workshop on the
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commercial applications of pulsed power, the first of its kind, is
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slated for August.
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But the uncharted move from lab to consumer may be the most
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difficult experiment of all. "There's such a gap between people who
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do research and people who are more entrepreneurial in spirit," says
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USC's Mr. Gundersen, who plans to attend the workshop and hopes a
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few venture capitalists will show up.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
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as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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Page 3
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