Damage may be a result of the direct effects of alcohol on the brain or may result indirectly, from a poor general health status or from severe liver disease. For example, thiamine deficiency is a common occurrence in people with alcoholism and results from poor overall nutrition.
In the case of a longitudinal wave, a wavelength measurement is made by measuring the distance from a compression to the next compression or from a rarefaction to the next rarefaction. On the diagram above, the distance from point A to point C or from point B to point D would be representative of the wavelength.
Once the period of a distant Cepheid has been measured, its luminosity can be determined from the known behavior of Cepheid variables. Then its absolute magnitude and apparent magnitude can be related by the distance modulus equation, and its distance can be determined.Cepheid variables can be used to measure distances from about 1kpc to 50 Mpc. For example, if an astronomer observed a Cepheid star with period of 34 days, comparing to previously measured Cepheids, its absolute magnitude is -5.65. If its apparent magnitude was +23.0, the astronomer could use the distance modulus equation: m - M = 5 log d - 5.