| maximum permissible dose | <radiobiology> Defined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection as the greatest dose of radiation which, in the light of present knowledge, is not expected to cause detectable bodily injury to a person at any time during his lifetime. This dose has been reduced with each Commission report. The MPD is given in terms of acute or chronic exposure of the whole body or of organs, systems, or regions of the body, and differs for persons who are occupationally exposed versus the public at large. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| maximum permissible exposure level | The highest level of exposure to a substance, usually noxious, in the environment or during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, that a body can tolerate without injury. (12 Dec 1998) |
| permissible exposure limit | An occupational health standard to safeguard workers against dangerous contaminants in the workplace. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum | 1. The greatest possible or actual effect or quantity. 2. The acme of a disease or process. (18 Nov 1997) |
| maximum breathing capacity | The volume of air breathed when an individual breathes as deeply and as quickly as possible for a given time (e.g., 15 sec.). Synonym: maximum breathing capacity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum occipital point | The point on the squama of the occipital bone farthest from the glabella. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum temperature | In bacteriology, denoting a temperature above which growth will not take place. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum urea clearance | The urea clearance when the urine flow exceeds 2 ml/min; normal value is about 75 ml blood/min per 1.73 m2 body surface area. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum velocity | The maximum rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction that can be achieved by progressively increasing the substrate concentration at a given enzyme concentration; in cases of substrate inhibition, Vmax is an extrapolated value in the absence of such inhibition; Cf.: Michaelis-Menten equation. The maximum initial rate of shortening of a myocardial fibre that can be obtained under zero load; used to evaluate the contractility of the fibre. (05 Mar 2000) |
| maximum voluntary ventilation | The volume of air breathed when an individual breathes as deeply and as quickly as possible for a given time (e.g., 15 sec.). Synonym: maximum breathing capacity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| tubular maximum | transport maximum |
| Abbe limit | <physics> Ernst Abbe's specification for the limit of resolution of a diffraction-limited micro-scope. According to Abbe, a detail with a particular spacing in the specimen is resolved when the numerical aperture of the objective lens is large enough to capture the first-order diffraction pattern produced by the detail at the wavelength employed. See: Rayleigh criterion, Sparrow limit. (05 Aug 1998) |
| beta limit | <radiobiology> if the plasma pressure in a tokamak becomes too high, the so-called ballooning modes become unstable and lead to a loss of confinement (sometimes catastrophic, sometimes not). The exact value at which this occurs depends strongly on the magnetic field B, the plasma minor radius a, and the toroidal plasma current I, such that maximum value of the normalised beta, beta_N=betaBa/I, is around 4% (with B in Teslas, a in metres, and I in Mega-amperes). The exact value depends on details of the plasma shape, the plasma profiles, and the safety factor. Synonym: troyon limit. (09 Oct 1997) |
| visibility, limit of | <microscopy> For the normal eye, the limit of visibility is considerably below the limits of resolution. It depends largely on contrast and intensity of illumination. (05 Aug 1998) |
| central limit theorem | The sum (or average) of n realizations of the same process, provided only that it has a finite variance, will approach the gaussian distribution as n becomes indefinitely large. This theory provides a broad warrant for the use of normal theory even for nongaussian data. In the form stated here, it constitutes the classical version; more general versions allow serious relaxation of the usual assumptions. (05 Mar 2000) |