7 CFR 868.205 - Milling requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... FOR CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES United States Standards for Rough Rice Principles Governing... rough rice, the degree of milling shall be equal to, or better than, that of the interpretive line sample for “well-milled” rice. [42 FR 40869, Aug. 12, 1977. Redesignated at 54 FR 21413, May 18, 1989...

7 CFR 868.205 - Milling requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... FOR CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES United States Standards for Rough Rice Principles Governing... rough rice, the degree of milling shall be equal to, or better than, that of the interpretive line sample for “well-milled” rice. [42 FR 40869, Aug. 12, 1977. Redesignated at 54 FR 21413, May 18, 1989...

Investigating the size, shape and surface roughness dependence of polarization lidars with light-scattering computations on real mineral dust particles: Application to dust particles' external mixtures and dust mass concentration retrievals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehri, Tahar; Kemppinen, Osku; David, Grégory; Lindqvist, Hannakaisa; Tyynelä, Jani; Nousiainen, Timo; Rairoux, Patrick; Miffre, Alain

2018-05-01

Our understanding of the contribution of mineral dust to the Earth's radiative budget is limited by the complexity of these particles, which present a wide range of sizes, are highly-irregularly shaped, and are present in the atmosphere in the form of particle mixtures. To address the spatial distribution of mineral dust and atmospheric dust mass concentrations, polarization lidars are nowadays frequently used, with partitioning algorithms allowing to discern the contribution of mineral dust in two or three-component particle external mixtures. In this paper, we investigate the dependence of the retrieved dust backscattering (βd) vertical profiles with the dust particle size and shape. For that, new light-scattering numerical simulations are performed on real atmospheric mineral dust particles, having determined mineralogy (CAL, DOL, AGG, SIL), derived from stereogrammetry (stereo-particles), with potential surface roughness, which are compared to the widely-used spheroidal mathematical shape model. For each dust shape model (smooth stereo-particles, rough stereo-particles, spheroids), the dust depolarization, backscattering Ångström exponent, lidar ratio are computed for two size distributions representative of mineral dust after long-range transport. As an output, two Saharan dust outbreaks involving mineral dust in two, then three-component particle mixtures are studied with Lyon (France) UV-VIS polarization lidar. If the dust size matters most, under certain circumstances, βd can vary by approximately 67% when real dust stereo-particles are used instead of spheroids, corresponding to variations in the dust backscattering coefficient as large as 2 Mm- 1·sr- 1. Moreover, the influence of surface roughness in polarization lidar retrievals is for the first time discussed. Finally, dust mass-extinction conversion factors (ηd) are evaluated for each assigned shape model and dust mass concentrations are retrieved from polarization lidar measurements. From spheroids to stereo-particles, ηd increases by about 30%. We believe these results may be useful for our understanding of the spatial distribution of mineral dust contained in an aerosol external mixture and to better quantify dust mass concentrations from polarization lidar experiments.

Vegetation-climate feedbacks in the conversion of tropical savanna to grassland

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hoffmann, W.A.; Jackson, R.B.

2000-05-01

Tropical savannas have been heavily impacted by human activity, with large expanses transformed from a mixture of trees and grasses to open grassland and agriculture. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) CCM3 general circulation model, coupled with the NCAR Land Surface Model, was used to simulate the effects of this conversion on regional climate. Conversion of savanna to grassland reduced precipitation by approximately 10% in four of the five savanna regions under study; only the northern African savannas showed no significant decline. Associated with this decline was an increase in the frequency of dry periods within the wet season,more » a change that could be particularly damaging to shallow-rooted crops. The overall decline in precipitation is almost equally attributable to changes in albedo and roughness length. Conversion to grassland increased mean surface air temperature of all the regions by 0.5 C, primarily because of reductions in surface roughness length. Rooting depth, which decreases dramatically with the conversion of savanna to grassland, contributed little to the overall effect of savanna conversion, but deeper rooting had a small positive effect on latent heat flux with a corresponding reduction in sensible heat flux. The authors propose that the interdependence of climate and vegetation in these regions is manifested as a positive feedback loop in which anthropogenic impacts on savanna vegetation are exacerbated by declines in precipitation.« less

On the Stability of the Detonation Wave Front in the High Explosive Liquid Mixture Tetranitromethane/Nitrobenzene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedorov, A. V.; Mikhaylov, A. L.; Men'Shikh, A. V.; Nazarov, D. V.; Finyushin, S. A.; Davydov, V. A.

2010-10-01

We performed experimental studies on the stability of the detonation wave front in mixtures of the liquids tetranitromethane (TNM) and nitrobenzene (NB). Tetranitromethane is an oxygen-rich explosive and nitrobenzene was used as a solvent or dilutant. (NB is not classed as an explosive but as an explosive would be oxygen poor and fuel rich.) The primary diagnostic was a laser velocimetry method with high temporal resolution. Data obtained were compared with the detonation parameters of the TNM/NB mixtures. In previous experimental work [1,2] it was shown that the detonation wave front in liquid explosives may be either smooth or rough. Rough detonation fronts have been reported in nitromethane, as well as nitromethane mixed with a solvent. Smooth detonation fronts have been reported in tetranitromethane. Previously, we conducted studies on the structure of the detonation wave front in liquid explosives containing tetranitromethane [3-5]. Smooth, stable fronts were recorded in pure tetranitromethane and in a 46/54 mixture of tetranitromethane and nitromethane. A pulsating, unstable detonation wave front was recorded in a 74/26 mixture of tetranitromethane and nitrobenzene. The goal of the present work is to extend our research on the structure of the detonation wave front in mixtures of tetranitromethane diluted with less energetic nitrobenzene. To this end, the following TNM/NB mixtures were studied: 95/5, 90/10, 85/15, 80/20, 74/26, and 50/50.

Femtosecond laser ablated durable superhydrophobic PTFE films with micro-through-holes for oil/water separation: Separating oil from water and corrosive solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yong, Jiale; Fang, Yao; Chen, Feng; Huo, Jinglan; Yang, Qing; Bian, Hao; Du, Guangqing; Hou, Xun

2016-12-01

Separating the mixture of water and oil by the superhydrophobic porous materials has attracted increasing research interests; however, the surface microstructures and chemical composition of those materials are easily destroyed in a harsh environment, resulting in materials losing the superhydrophobicity as well as the oil/water separation function. In this paper, a kind of rough microstructures was formed on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) sheet by femtosecond laser treatment. The rough surfaces showed durable superhydrophobicity and ultralow water adhesion even after storing in various harsh environment for a long time, including strong acid, strong alkali, and high temperature. A micro-through-holes array was further generated on the rough superhydrophobic PTFE film by a subsequent mechanical drilling process. The resultant sample was successfully applied in the field of oil/water separation due to the inverse superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. The designed separation system is also very efficient to separate the mixtures of oil and corrosive acid/alkali solutions, exhibiting the strong potential for practical application.

Analysis of the coherent and turbulent stresses of a numerically simulated rough wall pipe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, L.; MacDonald, M.; Chung, D.; Hutchins, N.; Ooi, A.

2017-04-01

A turbulent rough wall flow in a pipe is simulated using direct numerical simulation (DNS) where the roughness elements consist of explicitly gridded three-dimensional sinusoids. Two groups of simulations were conducted where the roughness semi-amplitude h+ and the roughness wavelength λ+ are systematically varied. The triple decomposition is applied to the velocity to separate the coherent and turbulent components. The coherent or dispersive component arises due to the roughness and depends on the topological features of the surface. The turbulent stress on the other hand, scales with the friction Reynolds number. For the case with the largest roughness wavelength, large secondary flows are observed which are similar to that of duct flows. The occurrence of these large secondary flows is due to the spanwise heterogeneity of the roughness which has a spacing approximately equal to the boundary layer thickness δ.

Investigating Mixture Interactions of Astringent Stimuli Using the Isobole Approach

PubMed Central

Fleming, Erin E.; Ziegler, Gregory R.

2016-01-01

Abstract Astringents (alum, malic acid, tannic acid) representing 3 broad classes (multivalent salts, organic acids, and polyphenols) were characterized alone, and as 2- and 3-component mixtures using isoboles. In experiment 1, participants rated 7 attributes (“astringency,” the sub-qualities “drying,” “roughing,” and “puckering,” and the side tastes “bitterness,” “sourness,” and “sweetness”) using direct scaling. Quality specific power functions were calculated for each stimulus. In experiment 2, the same participants characterized 2- and 3-component mixtures. Multiple factor analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering on attribute ratings across stimuli indicate “astringency” is highly related to “bitterness” as well as “puckering,” and the subqualities “drying” and “roughing” are somewhat redundant. Moreover, power functions were used to calculate indices of interaction (I) for each attribute/mixture combination. For “astringency,” there was evidence of antagonism, regardless of the type of mixture. Conversely, for subqualities, the pattern of interaction depended on the mixture type. Alum/tannic acid and tannic acid/malic acid mixtures showed evidence of synergy for “drying” and “roughing”; alum/malic acid mixtures showed evidence of antagonism for “drying,” “roughing,” and “puckering.” Collectively, these data clarify some semantic ambiguity regarding astringency and its subqualities, as well as the nature of interactions of among different types of astringents. Present data are not inconsistent with the idea that astringency arises from multiple mechanisms, although it remains to be determined whether the synergy observed here might reflect simultaneous activation of these multiple mechanisms. PMID:27252355

Modeling photopolarimetric characteristics of comet dust as a polydisperse mixture of polyshaped rough spheroids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolokolova, L.; Das, H.; Dubovik, O.; Lapyonok, T.

2013-12-01

It is widely recognized now that the main component of comet dust is aggregated particles that consist of submicron grains. It is also well known that cometary dust obey a rather wide size distribution with abundant particles whose size reaches dozens of microns. However, numerous attempts of computer simulation of light scattering by comet dust using aggregated particles have not succeeded to consider particles larger than a couple of microns due to limitations in the memory and speed of available computers. Attempts to substitute aggregates by polydisperse solid particles (spheres, spheroids, cylinders) could not consistently reproduce observed angular and spectral characteristics of comet brightness and polarization even in such a general case as polyshaped (i.e. containing particles of a variety of aspect ratios) mixture of spheroids (Kolokolova et al., In: Photopolarimetry in Remote Sensing, Kluwer Acad. Publ., 431, 2004). In this study we are checking how well cometary dust can be modeled using modeling tools for rough spheroids. With this purpose we use the software package described in Dubovik et al. (J. Geophys. Res., 111, D11208, doi:10.1029/2005JD006619d, 2006) that allows for a substantial reduction of computer time in calculating scattering properties of spheroid mixtures by means of using pre-calculated kernels - quadrature coefficients employed in the numerical integration of spheroid optical properties over size and shape. The kernels were pre-calculated for spheroids of 25 axis ratios, ranging from 0.3 to 3, and 42 size bins within the size parameter range 0.01 - 625. This software package has been recently expanded with the possibility of simulating not only smooth but also rough spheroids that is used in present study. We consider refractive indexes of the materials typical for comet dust: silicate, carbon, organics, and their mixtures. We also consider porous particles accounting on voids in the spheroids through effective medium approach. The roughness of the spheroids is considered as a normal distribution of particle surface slopes and can be of different degree depending on the standard deviation of the distribution, σ, where σ=0 corresponds to smooth surface and σ=0.5 describes severely rough surface (see Young et al., J. Atm. Sci., 70, 330, 2012). We perform computations for two wavelengths, typical for blue (447nm) and red (640nm) cometary continuum filters. We compare phase angle dependence of polarization and brightness and their spectral change obtained with the rough-spheroid model with those observed for comets (e.g. Kolokolova et al., In: Comets 2, Arizona Press, 577, 2004) to see how well rough spheroids can reproduce cometary low albedo, red color, red polarimetric color, negative polarization at small phase angles and polarization maximum at medium phase angles.

Sensitivities of single nerve fibers in the hamster chorda tympani to mixtures of taste stimuli

PubMed Central

1980-01-01

Responses of three groups of neural fibers from the chorda tympani of the hamster to binary mixtures of taste stimuli applied to the tongue were analyzed. The groups displayed different sensitivities to six chemicals at concentrations that had approximately equal effects on the whole nerve. Sucrose-best fibers responded strongly only to sucrose and D-phenylalanine. NaCl-best and HCl-best fibers, responded to four electrolytes: equally to CaCl2 and nearly equally to HCl, but the former responded more to NaCl, and the latter responded more to NH4Cl. The groups of fibers dealt differently with binary mixtures. Sucrose- best fibers responded to a mixture of sucrose and D-phenylalanine as if one of the chemicals had been appropriately increased in concentration, but they responded to a mixture of either one and an electrolyte as if the concentration of sucrose or D-phenylalanine had been reduced. NaCl- best fibers responded to a mixture as if it were a "mixture" of two appropriate concentrations of one chemical, or somewhat less. But, responses of HCl-best fibers to mixtures were greater than that, approaching a sum of responses to components. These results explain effects on the whole nerve, suggest that the sensitivity of a mammalian taste receptor to one chemical can be affected by a second, which may or may not be a stimulus for that receptor, and suggest that some effects of taste mixtures in humans may be the result of peripheral processes. PMID:7190997

Improved wire chamber

DOEpatents

Atac, M.

1987-05-12

An improved gas mixture for use with proportional counter devices, such as Geiger-Mueller tubes and drift chambers. The improved gas mixture provides a stable drift velocity while eliminating wire aging caused by prior art gas mixtures. The new gas mixture is comprised of equal parts argon and ethane gas and having approximately 0.25% isopropyl alcohol vapor. 2 figs.

The effect of particle morphology on the physical stability of pharmaceutical powder mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swaminathan, Vidya

Pharmaceutical powder mixtures are composed of particles that physically interact, precluding the formation of random mixtures. Mixtures based on particle interactions are termed ordered mixtures. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the morphological characteristics of the components, surface texture and shape, along with size, on the formation of stable mixtures. Morphological parameters were obtained from image analysis measurements. Surface roughness was quantified using the ratio of the perimeter of the particle to that of an ideal shape (circle or square) having the same area; shape was described using the aspect ratio. The stability of mixtures of micronized aspirin with carriers of different surface roughness was determined by measuring the extent of drug adhering to the carrier after subjecting the mixtures to vibration. A lesser extent of segregation of drug from highly textured carriers relative to smoother textured carriers was observed. This was postulated to be due to a larger concentration of surface asperities on the coarser carriers which constitute potentially strong adhesion sites. The electrostatic charge on the powders was measured; differences in the response of the mixtures to the addition of magnesium stearate were attributed to electrostatic charge effects. The effect of varying the aspect ratio of the carrier and drug on segregation in polydisperse mixtures was determined from the coefficient of variation of the drug in the mixture as a function of mixing time. Reducing the size of the carrier resulted in poor homogeneity due to weak carrier-drug interactions. The variation in drug content resulting from a change in the shape of the carriers was smaller than that caused by size differences. The segregation rate constant in mixtures having dissimilarly shaped components was larger than in mixtures having components of similar shape. The effects of magnesium stearate concentration and lubrication time on the content uniformity of polydisperse mixtures were evaluated from a full factorial experiment. The segregation response of ordered and random mixtures to the addition of magnesium stearate was compared. The moisture sorption behavior of commercial magnesium stearate and the resulting morphological changes were evaluated.

Effect of roughness and porosity on geometry and kinematics of lock-exchange gravity currents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatto, Elena; Adduce, Claudia; Ferreira, Rui M. L.

2017-04-01

Gravity currents generated by lock-exchange are an important research tool to understand key features of flows driven by a density may be naturally caused by interaction of geophysical nature but may also be triggered by adverse anthropic actions, from oil spills to pollution related turbidity. Research on the fundamental geometrical and kinematic features of these currents is still necessary, especially when they propagate on complex geometries. The purpose of this work is to investigate the shape and the velocity of propagation of gravity currents over rough beds and over rough-porous beds. To attain this objective, different initial conditions were specified, namely smooth bed, rough bed composed of a single layer of 2 mm glass beads and rough and porous bed composed of 4 layers of the same beads. The dimensions of the channel are 300 × 19,6 × 40 cm in which a steel gate is inserted to define the lock. Two initial mixtures were tested: 1015 and 1030 kgm-3. The density is measured with a pycnometer on a high precision balance. The mixture is composed of fresh water, salt and rhodamine, to allow for visualization and measurements based on image analysis. A high-speed video system camera was used to record the motion of the current. The camera has a 50 mm lens and a sampling frequency of 100 fps. Gray-level images were obtained with 8 bit depth. Calibration of gray-levels was performed pixel by pixel to mixture concentrations. The current is examined in three positions: immediately after the gate ((x-x0)/x0 = 0 to 3), in the middle ((x-x0)/x0 = 5 to 8) and at the end of the channel((x - x0)/x0 = 10 to 13). It is shown that the celerity of the gravity current wave front varies with the different boundary conditions. Indeed, the current is faster for the smooth bed and slower for the rough bed conditions. No appreciable effects of porosity were registered on the wave celerity. The shape of the current varied slightly between the rough and the porous-rough tests, indicating a minor loss of mass to the porous bed. Acknowledgements This research was partially supported by Portuguese and European funds, within programs COMPETE2020 and PORL-FEDER, through project PTDC/ECM-HID/6387/2014 and Doctoral Grant SFRH/BD/97933/2013 granted by the National Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Mixtures of maximally entangled pure states

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Flores, M.M., E-mail: mflores@nip.up.edu.ph; Galapon, E.A., E-mail: eric.galapon@gmail.com

We study the conditions when mixtures of maximally entangled pure states remain entangled. We found that the resulting mixed state remains entangled when the number of entangled pure states to be mixed is less than or equal to the dimension of the pure states. For the latter case of mixing a number of pure states equal to their dimension, we found that the mixed state is entangled provided that the entangled pure states to be mixed are not equally weighted. We also found that one can restrict the set of pure states that one can mix from in order tomore » ensure that the resulting mixed state is genuinely entangled. Also, we demonstrate how these results could be applied as a way to detect entanglement in mixtures of the entangled pure states with noise.« less

Dual-task interference with equal task emphasis: graded capacity sharing or central postponement?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruthruff, Eric; Pashler, Harold E.; Hazeltine, Eliot

2003-01-01

Most studies using the psychological refractory period (PRP) design suggest that dual-task performance is limited by a central bottleneck. Because subjects are usually told to emphasize Task 1, however, the bottleneck might reflect a strategic choice rather than a structural limitation. To evaluate the possibility that central operations can proceed in parallel, albeit with capacity limitations, we conducted two dual-task experiments with equal task emphasis. In both experiments, subjects tended to either group responses together or respond to one task well before the other. In addition, stimulus-response compatibility effects were roughly constant across stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). At the short SOA, compatibility effects also carried over onto response times for the other task. This pattern of results is difficult to reconcile with the possibility that subjects share capacity roughly equally between simultaneous central operations. However, this pattern is consistent with the existence of a structural central bottleneck.

In vitro evaluation of single- and multi-strain probiotics: Inter-species inhibition between probiotic strains, and inhibition of pathogens.

PubMed

Chapman, C M C; Gibson, G R; Rowland, I

2012-08-01

Many studies comparing the effects of single- and multi-strain probiotics on pathogen inhibition compare treatments with different concentrations. They also do not examine the possibility of inhibition between probiotic strains with a mixture. We tested the ability of 14 single-species probiotics to inhibit each other using a cross-streak assay, and agar spot test. We then tested the ability of 15 single-species probiotics and 5 probiotic mixtures to inhibit Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli and S. typhimurium, using the agar spot test. Testing was done with mixtures created in two ways: one group contained component species incubated together, the other group of mixtures was made using component species which had been incubated separately, equalised to equal optical density, and then mixed in equal volumes. Inhibition was observed for all combinations of probiotics, suggesting that when used as such there may be inhibition between probiotics, potentially reducing efficacy of the mixture. Significant inter-species variation was seen against each pathogen. When single species were tested against mixtures, the multi-species preparations displayed significantly (p < 0.05 or less) greater inhibition of pathogens in 12 out of 24 cases. Despite evidence that probiotic species will inhibit each other when incubated together in vitro, in many cases a probiotic mixture was more effective at inhibiting pathogens than its component species when tested at approximately equal concentrations of biomass. This suggests that using a probiotic mixture might be more effective at reducing gastrointestinal infections, and that creating a mixture using species with different effects against different pathogens may have a broader spectrum of action that a single provided by a single strain. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transport properties of nonelectrolyte mixtures. IX. Viscosity coefficients for acetonitrile and for three mixtures of toluene+acetonitrile from 25 to 100°c at pressures up to 500 MPa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dymond, J. H.; Awan, M. A.; Glen, N. F.; Isdale, J. D.

1991-05-01

A two-coil self-centering falling-body viscometer has been used to measure viscosity coefficients for acetonitrile and three binary mixtures of toluene+ acetonitrile at 25, 50, 75, and 100°C and pressures up to 500 MPa. The results for acetonitrile can be interpreted by an approach based on hard-sphere theory, with a roughness factor of 1.46. The binary-mixture data are well represented by the Grunberg and Nissan equation with a mixing parameter which is pressure and temperature dependent but composition independent.

Wire chamber

DOEpatents

Atac, Muzaffer

1989-01-01

A wire chamber or proportional counter device, such as Geiger-Mueller tube or drift chamber, improved with a gas mixture providing a stable drift velocity while eliminating wire aging caused by prior art gas mixtures. The new gas mixture is comprised of equal parts argon and ethane gas and having approximately 0.25% isopropyl alcohol vapor.

Mask roughness induced LER: a rule of thumb -- paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McClinton, Brittany; Naulleau, Patrick

2010-03-12

Much work has already been done on how both the resist and line-edge roughness (LER) on the mask affect the final printed LER. What is poorly understood, however, is the extent to which system-level effects such as mask surface roughness, illumination conditions, and defocus couple to speckle at the image plane, and currently factor into LER limits. Here, we propose a 'rule-of-thumb' simplified solution that provides a fast and powerful method to obtain mask roughness induced LER. We present modeling data on an older generation mask with a roughness of 230 pm as well as the ultimate target roughness ofmore » 50 pm. Moreover, we consider feature sizes of 50 nm and 22 nm, and show that as a function of correlation length, the LER peaks at the condition that the correlation length is approximately equal to the resolution of the imaging optic.« less

Method for the simultaneous preparation of Radon-211, Xenon-125, Xenon-123, Astatine-211, Iodine-125 and Iodine-123

DOEpatents

Mirzadeh, Saed; Lambrecht, Richard M.

1987-01-01

A method for simultaneously preparing Radon-211, Astatine-211, Xenon-125, Xenon-123, Iodine-125 and Iodine-123 in a process that includes irradiating a fertile metal material then using a one-step chemical procedure to collect a first mixture of about equal amounts of Radon-211 and Xenon-125, and a separate second mixture of about equal amounts of Iodine-123 and Astatine-211.

Development and characterization of adjustable refractive index scattering epoxy acrylate polymer layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eiselt, Thomas; Preinfalk, Jan; Gleißner, Uwe; Lemmer, Uli; Hanemann, Thomas

2016-09-01

This work presents different polymer diffusing films for optical components. In optical applications it is sometimes important to have a film with an adjusted refractive index, scattering properties and a low surface roughness. These diffusing films can be used to increase the efficiency of optical components like organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study three different epoxy acrylate mixtures containing Syntholux 291 EA, bisphenol a glycerolate dimethacrylate, Sartomer SR 348 L are characterized and optimized with different additives. The adjustable refractive index of the material is achieved with a chemical doping by 9-vinylcarbazole. Titanium nanoparticles in the mixtures generate light scattering and increase the refractive index additionally. To prevent sedimentation and agglomeration of these nanoparticles, a stabilization agent [2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]acetic acid is added to the mixture. Other ingredients are a UV-starter and thermal starter for the radical polymerization. A high power stirrer (ultraturrax) is used to mix and disperse all chemical substances together to a homogenous mixture. The viscosity behavior of the mixtures is an important property for the selection of the production method and gets characterized. After the mixing, the monomer mixture is applied on glass substrates by blade coating or screen printing. To initiate the chain growing (polymerization) the produced films are irradiated for 10 minutes long with UV light (UV LED Spot Hönle, 405 nm). After this step a final post bake from the layers in the oven (150°C, 30 min.) is operated. Light transmission measurements (UV-Vis) of the polymer matrix and roughness measurements complement the characterization.

Linear simulation of the stationary eddies in a GCM. II - The 'Mountain' model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nigam, Sumant; Held, Isaac M.; Lyons, Steven W.

1988-01-01

Linear stationary wave theory is used to account for zonal asymmetries of the winter-averaged tropospheric circulation obtained in a GCM. The eddy zonal velocity field in the upper troposphere indicates that the orographic and thermal plus transient contributions are nearly equal in amplitude, while the eddy meridional velocity field (which is dominated by shorter zonal scales) shows the orographic contribution to be dominant. The two contributions are found to be roughly in phase over the east Asian coast, and they contribute roughly equal amounts to the low level Siberian high. Results indicate that the 300 mb extratropical response to tropical forcing reaches 50 gpm over Alaska, and that the responses to sensible heating and lower tropospheric transients are strongly anticorrelated.

Optimized piranha etching process for SU8-based MEMS and MOEMS construction

PubMed Central

Holmes, Matthew; Keeley, Jared; Hurd, Katherine; Schmidt, Holger; Hawkins, Aaron

2011-01-01

We demonstrate the optimization of the concentration, temperature and cycling of a piranha (H2O2:H2SO4) mixture that produces high yields while quickly etching hollow structures made using a highly crosslinked SU8 polymer sacrificial core. The effects of the piranha mixture on the thickness, refractive index and roughness of common micro-electromechanical systems and micro-opto-electromechanical systems fabrication materials (SiN, SiO2 and Si) were determined. The effectiveness of the optimal piranha mixture was demonstrated in the construction of hollow anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides. PMID:21423840

Optimized piranha etching process for SU8-based MEMS and MOEMS construction.

PubMed

Holmes, Matthew; Keeley, Jared; Hurd, Katherine; Schmidt, Holger; Hawkins, Aaron

2010-11-01

We demonstrate the optimization of the concentration, temperature and cycling of a piranha (H(2)O(2):H(2)SO(4)) mixture that produces high yields while quickly etching hollow structures made using a highly crosslinked SU8 polymer sacrificial core. The effects of the piranha mixture on the thickness, refractive index and roughness of common micro-electromechanical systems and micro-opto-electromechanical systems fabrication materials (SiN, SiO(2) and Si) were determined. The effectiveness of the optimal piranha mixture was demonstrated in the construction of hollow anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides.

Optimized piranha etching process for SU8-based MEMS and MOEMS construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, Matthew; Keeley, Jared; Hurd, Katherine; Schmidt, Holger; Hawkins, Aaron

2010-11-01

We demonstrate the optimization of the concentration, temperature and cycling of a piranha (H2O2:H2SO4) mixture that produces high yields while quickly etching hollow structures made using a highly crosslinked SU8 polymer sacrificial core. The effects of the piranha mixture on the thickness, refractive index and roughness of common micro-electromechanical systems and micro-opto-electromechanical systems fabrication materials (SiN, SiO2 and Si) were determined. The effectiveness of the optimal piranha mixture was demonstrated in the construction of hollow anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides.

The filter-feeding ciliates Colpidium striatum and Tetrahymena pyriformis display selective feeding behaviours in the presence of mixed, equally-sized, bacterial prey.

PubMed

Thurman, Jill; Parry, Jacqueline D; Hill, Philip J; Laybourn-Parry, Johanna

2010-10-01

This study examined whether two ciliates could discriminate between equally-sized bacterial prey in mixture and if so, how selectivity might benefit the ciliate population. Live Klebsiella aerogenes, K. ozaenae and Escherichia coli, expressing different coloured fluorescent proteins, were cultured in such a way as to provide populations containing equally-sized cells (to prevent size-selective grazing taking place) and these prey were fed to each ciliate in 50:50 mixtures. Colpidium striatum selected K. aerogenes over K. ozaenae which itself was selected over E. coli. Tetrahymena pyriformis showed no selectivity between K. aerogenes and E. coli but K. aerogenes was selected over K. ozaenae while E. coli was not. This apparent selection of K. aerogenes over K. ozaenae was sustained in ciliate populations with different feeding histories and when K. aerogenes comprised only 20% of the prey mixture, suggesting possible optimal foraging behaviour. The metabolic benefits for selecting K. aerogenes were identified as possibly being an increase in cell biovolume and yield for C. striatum and T. pyriformis, respectively. The mechanism by which these ciliates selected specific bacterial cells in mixture is currently unknown but the use of live fluorescent bacteria, in prey mixtures, offers an exciting avenue for further investigation of selective feeding by protozoa. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parental effects and the evolution of phenotypic memory.

PubMed

Kuijper, B; Johnstone, R A

2016-02-01

Despite growing evidence for nongenetic inheritance, the ecological conditions that favour the evolution of heritable parental or grandparental effects remain poorly understood. Here, we systematically explore the evolution of parental effects in a patch-structured population with locally changing environments. When selection favours the production of a mix of offspring types, this mix differs according to the parental phenotype, implying that parental effects are favoured over selection for bet-hedging in which the mixture of offspring phenotypes produced does not depend on the parental phenotype. Positive parental effects (generating a positive correlation between parental and offspring phenotype) are favoured in relatively stable habitats and when different types of local environment are roughly equally abundant, and can give rise to long-term parental inheritance of phenotypes. By contrast, unstable habitats can favour negative parental effects (generating a negative correlation between parental and offspring phenotype), and under these circumstances, even slight asymmetries in the abundance of local environmental states select for marked asymmetries in transmission fidelity. © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Effects of soil tillage on the microwave emission of soils

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, T. J.; Koopman, G. J.; Oneill, P. E.; Wang, J. R.

1985-01-01

In order to understand the interactions of soil properties and microwave emission better, a series of field experiments were conducted in 1984. Small plots were measured with a truck-mounted passive microwave radiometer operating at 1.4 GHz. These data were collected concurrent with ground observations of soil moisture and bulk density. Treatment effects studied included different soil moisture contents and bulk densities. Evaluations of the data have shown that commonly used models of the dielectric properties of wet soils do not explain the observations obtained in these experiments. This conclusion was based on the fact that the roughness parameters determined through optimization were significantly larger than those observed in similar investigations. These discrepancies are most likely due to the soil structure. Commonly used models assume a homogeneous three phase mixture of soil solids, air and water. Under tilled conditions the soil is actually a two phase mixture of aggregates and voids. Appropriate dielectric models for this tilled condition were evaluated and found to explain the observations. These results indicate that previous conclusions concerning the effects of surface roughness in tilled fields may be incorrect, and they may explain some of the inconsistencies encountered in roughness modeling.

Heteroprotein Complex Formation of Bovine Lactoferrin and Pea Protein Isolate: A Multiscale Structural Analysis.

PubMed

Adal, Eda; Sadeghpour, Amin; Connell, Simon; Rappolt, Michael; Ibanoglu, Esra; Sarkar, Anwesha

2017-02-13

Associative electrostatic interactions between two oppositely charged globular proteins, lactoferrin (LF) and pea protein isolate (PPI), the latter being a mixture of vicilin, legumin, and convicilin, was studied with a specific PPI/LF molar ratio at room temperature. Structural aspects of the electrostatic complexes probed at different length scales were investigated as a function of pH by means of different complementary techniques, namely, with dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), turbidity measurements, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Irrespective of the applied techniques, the results consistently displayed that complexation between LF and PPI did occur. In an optimum narrow range of pH 5.0-5.8, a viscous liquid phase of complex coacervate was obtained upon mild centrifugation of the turbid LF-PPI mixture with a maximum R h , turbidity and the ζ-potential being close to zero observed at pH 5.4. In particular, the SAXS data demonstrated that the coacervates were densely assembled with a roughly spherical size distribution exhibiting a maximum extension of ∼80 nm at pH 5.4. Equally, AFM image analysis showed size distributions containing most frequent cluster sizes around 40-80 nm with spherical to elliptical shapes (axis aspect ratio ≤ 2) as well as less frequent elongated to chainlike structures. The most frequently observed compact complexes, we identify as mainly leading to LF-PPI coacervation, whereas for the less frequent chain-like aggregates, we hypothesize that additionally PPI-PPI facilitated complexes exist.

Effect of surface roughness on liquid property measurements using mechanically oscillating sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jain, Mahaveer K.; Grimes, Craig A.

2002-01-01

The resonant frequency and quality factor Q of a liquid immersed magnetoelastic sensor are shown to shift linearly with the liquid viscosity and density product. Measurements using different grade oils, organic chemicals, and glycerol-water mixtures show that the surface roughness of the sensor in combination with the molecular size of the liquid play important roles in determining measurement sensitivity, which can be controlled through adjusting the surface roughness of the sensor surface. A theoretical model describing the sensor resonant frequency and quality factor Q as a function of liquid properties is developed using a novel equivalent circuit approach. Experimental results are in agreement with theory when the liquid molecule size is larger than the average surface roughness. However, when the molecular size of the liquid is small relative to the surface roughness features molecules are trapped, and the trapped molecules act both as a mass load and viscous load; the result is higher viscous damping of the sensor than expected. c2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

High-Density Renewable Fuels Based on the Selective Dimerization of Pinenes

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

spectrometry (GC/MS), revealing that the principal reaction was isomerization to a mixture of camphene, limonene , and R-pinene, with some β-pinene...ratio of R-pinene/ camphene/β-pinene/ limonene was roughly 3:5:2:4. Heating the mixture to the reflux temperature of heptane led to a vigorous...important product is p-cymene, which is derived from limonene . Pre- vious studies suggest that the mechanism for formation of p-cymene proceeds

Near-infrared reflectance spectra of mixtures of kaolin-group minerals: Use in clay mineral studies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crowley, James K.; Vergo, Norma

1988-01-01

Near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra for mixtures of ordered kaolinite and ordered dickite have been found to simulate the spectral response of disordered kaolinite. The amount of octahedral vacancy disorder in nine disordered kaolinite samples was estimated by comparing the sample spectra to the spectra of reference mixtures. The resulting estimates are consistent with previously published estimates of vacancy disorder for similar kaolin minerals that were modeled from calculated X-ray diffraction patterns. The ordered kaolinite and dickite samples used in the reference mixtures were carefully selected to avoid undesirable particle size effects that could bias the spectral results.NIR spectra were also recorded for laboratory mixtures of ordered kaolinite and halloysite to assess whether the spectra could be potentially useful for determining mineral proportions in natural physical mixtures of these two clays. Although the kaolinite-halloysite proportions could only be roughly estimated from the mixture spectra, the halloysite component was evident even when halloysite was present in only minor amounts. A similar approach using NIR spectra for laboratory mixtures may have applications in other studies of natural clay mixtures.

Development and freeze-thaw durability of high flyash-content concrete

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sajadi, J.

1987-01-01

Objectives were to investigate the effects on concrete strength, drying shrinkage, freeze-thaw durability, and air-void system parameters of replacing various amounts of portland cement with different types of fly ash and to compare selected characteristics of such fly-ash concretes and fly-ash concretes containing a high-range water-reducing admixture to those of a control mixture. It was concluded that concrete mixtures with 90-day compressive strengths equal to the control could be produced when large amounts of cement were replaced by fly ash. In addition, when the high-range water-reducing admixtures was employed, very large amounts of cement could be replaced by fly ashmore » to yield mixtures whose compressive strengths were equal to or greater than the strengths of the control mix at all ages. The maximum amount of cement that could be replaced for equal-strength mixtures depended upon the nature of the fly ash. Drying shrinkage of plain fly-ash concretes and fly-ash concretes containing the high-range water-reducing admixture were similar to those of the control mix. The optimum fly-ash content in a concrete is comparable in strength and durability to a conventional (control) concrete was influenced by the chemical and physical characteristics of the fly ash.« less

Electro-olfactogram and multiunit olfactory receptor responses to binary and trinary mixtures of amino acids in the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

PubMed Central

1989-01-01

In vivo electrophysiological recordings from populations of olfactory receptor neurons in the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, clearly showed that responses to binary and trinary mixtures of amino acids were predictable with knowledge obtained from previous cross-adaptation studies of the relative independence of the respective binding sites of the component stimuli. All component stimuli, from which equal aliquots were drawn to form the mixtures, were adjusted in concentration to provide for approximately equal response magnitudes. The magnitude of the response to a mixture whose component amino acids showed significant cross-reactivity was equivalent to the response to any single component used to form that mixture. A mixture whose component amino acids showed minimal cross-adaptation produced a significantly larger relative response than a mixture whose components exhibited considerable cross-reactivity. This larger response approached the sum of the responses to the individual component amino acids tested at the resulting concentrations in the mixture, even though olfactory receptor dose-response functions for amino acids in this species are characterized by extreme sensory compression (i.e., successive concentration increments produce progressively smaller physiological responses). Thus, the present study indicates that the response to sensory stimulation of olfactory receptor sites is more enhanced by the activation of different receptor site types than by stimulus interaction at a single site type. PMID:2703818

Specimen preparation for x-ray fluorescence analysis of solutions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eksperiandova, L.P.; Spolnik, Z.M.; Blank, A.B.

1995-12-31

Specimens for x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRFA) were prepared by adding dry gelatine (10%) to the analysis solution, homogenizing the mixture and cooling for 20 minutes. Thus, a compact resilient mass could be formed with the required shape and size; the roughness of the surface was determined by the roughness of the surface on which the specimen was formed, much the same as highly polished. Various calibration methods can be applied in the XRFA of a variety of materials if such specimens are used. 12 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.

Hydraulic resistance of submerged flexible vegetation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephan, Ursula; Gutknecht, Dieter

2002-12-01

The main research objective consisted in analysing the influence of roughness caused by aquatic vegetation (av), in particular submerged macrophytes, on the overall flow field. These plants are highly flexible and behave differently depending on the flow situation. They also react substantially to the flow field and thus, the roughness becomes variable and dynamic. Conventional flow formulas, such as the Manning or the Strickler formula, are one-dimensional and based on integral flow parameters. They are not suitable for quantifying the roughness of av, because the flow is complex and more dimensional due to the variable behaviour of the plants. Therefore, the present investigation concentrates on the definition of a characteristic hydraulic roughness parameter to quantify the resistance of av. Within this investigation laboratory experiments were carried out with three different types of av, chosen with respect to varying plant structures as well as stem lengths. Velocity measurements above these plants were conducted to determine the relationship between the hydraulic roughness and the deflected plant height. The deflected plant height is used as the geometric roughness parameter, whereas the equivalent sand roughness based on the universal logarithmic law modified by Nikuradse was used as hydraulic roughness parameter. The influence of relative submergence on the hydraulic roughness was also analysed. The analysis of the velocity measurements illustrates that equivalent sand roughness and zero plane displacement of the logarithmic law are correlated to the deflected plant height and are equally to this height.

Optimum mixture proportions for concretes containing fly ash and silica fume.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1991-01-01

Concretes with equal water/cement ratios and equal paste volumes of various combinations of cement, fly ash, and silica fume were tested to establish parameters for strength and chloride permeability. Comparative specimens with Type II and Type III c...

Theoretical Analysis of Spacing Parameters of Anisotropic 3D Surface Roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudzitis, J.; Bulaha, N.; Lungevics, J.; Linins, O.; Berzins, K.

2017-04-01

The authors of the research have analysed spacing parameters of anisotropic 3D surface roughness crosswise to machining (friction) traces RSm1 and lengthwise to machining (friction) traces RSm2. The main issue arises from the RSm2 values being limited by values of sampling length l in the measuring devices; however, on many occasions RSm2 values can exceed l values. Therefore, the mean spacing values of profile irregularities in the longitudinal direction in many cases are not reliable and they should be determined by another method. Theoretically, it is proved that anisotropic surface roughness anisotropy coefficient c=RSm1/RSm2 equals texture aspect ratio Str, which is determined by surface texture standard EN ISO 25178-2. This allows using parameter Str to determine mean spacing of profile irregularities and estimate roughness anisotropy.

Scattering of electromagnetic waves from a body over a random rough surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ripoll, J.; Madrazo, A.; Nieto-Vesperinas, M.

1997-02-01

A numerical study is made of the effect on the angular distribution of mean far field intensity due to the presence of an arbitrary body located over a random rough surface. It is found that the presence of the body decreases the coherent backscattering peak produced by the surface roughness. Also, for low dielectric constants, the reflected intensity is practically equal to the sum of the individual reflected intensities of the body and the surface respectively, namely, interaction between both bodies is almost negligible. The full interaction between object and surface only appears when both bodies are highly reflective. Results are compared with the case when the body is buried beneath the surface, and are illustrated with a 2-D calculation of a cylinder either partially immersed or above a 2-D rough profile.

Effect of sound on boundary layer stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saric, William S. (Principal Investigator); Spencer, Shelly Anne

1993-01-01

Experiments are conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel with a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate model that has a 67:1 elliptical leading edge. Boundary-layer measurements are made of the streamwise fluctuating-velocity component in order to identify the amplified T-S waves that are forced by downstream-travelling, sound waves. Measurements are taken with circular 3-D roughness elements placed at the Branch 1 neutral stability point for the frequency under consideration, and then with the roughness element downstream of Branch 1. These roughness elements have a principal chord dimension equal to 2(lambda)(sub TS)/pi, of the T-S waves under study and are 'stacked' in order to resemble a Gaussian height distribution. Measurements taken just downstream of the roughness (with leading-edge T-S waves, surface roughness T-S waves, instrumentation sting vibrations and the Stokes wave subtracted) show the generation of 3-D-T-S waves, but not in the characteristic heart-shaped disturbance field predicted by 3-D asymptotic theory. Maximum disturbance amplitudes are found on the roughness centerline. However, some near-field characteristics predicted by numerical modelling are observed.

Effect of sound on boundary layer stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saric, William S.; Spencer, Shelly Anne

1993-01-01

Experiments are conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel with a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate model that has a 67:1 elliptical leading edge. Boundary-layer measurements are made of the streamwise fluctuating-velocity component in order to identify the amplified T-S waves that are forced by downstream-traveling sound waves. Measurements are taken with circular 3-D roughness elements placed at the Branch 1 neutral stability point for the frequency under consideration, and then with the roughness element downstream of Branch 1. These roughness elements have a principal chord dimension equal to 2 lambda(sub TS)/pi of the T-S waves under study and are 'stacked' in order to resemble a Gaussian height distribution. Measurements taken just downstream of the roughness (with leading-edge T-S waves, surface roughness T-S waves, instrumentation sting vibrations, and the Stokes wave subtracted) show the generation of 3-D T-S waves, but not in the characteristic heart-shaped disturbance field predicted by 3-D asymptotic theory. Maximum disturbance amplitudes are found on the roughness centerline. However, some near-field characteristics predicted by numerical modeling are observed.

Binary gaseous mixture and single component adsorption of methane and argon on exfoliated graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, Brice Adam

Exfoliated graphite was used as a substrate for adsorption of argon and methane. Adsorption experiments were conducted for both equal parts mixtures of argon and methane and for each gas species independently. The purpose of this was to compare mixture adsorption to single component adsorption and to investigate theoretical predictions concerning the kinetics of adsorption made by Burde and Calbi.6 In particular, time to reach pressure equilibrium of a single dose at a constant temperature for the equal parts mixture was compared to time of adsorption for each species by itself. It was shown that mixture adsorption is a much more complex and time consuming process than single component adsorption and requires a much longer amount of time to reach equilibrium. Information about the composition evolution of the mixture during the times when pressure was going toward equilibrium was obtained using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Evidence for initial higher rate of adsorption for the weaker binding energy species (argon) was found as well as overall composition change which clearly indicated a higher coverage of methane on the graphite sample by the time equilibration was reached. Effective specific surface area of graphite for both argon and methane was also determined using the Point-B method.2

Using Optimisation Techniques to Granulise Rough Set Partitions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crossingham, Bodie; Marwala, Tshilidzi

2007-11-01

This paper presents an approach to optimise rough set partition sizes using various optimisation techniques. Three optimisation techniques are implemented to perform the granularisation process, namely, genetic algorithm (GA), hill climbing (HC) and simulated annealing (SA). These optimisation methods maximise the classification accuracy of the rough sets. The proposed rough set partition method is tested on a set of demographic properties of individuals obtained from the South African antenatal survey. The three techniques are compared in terms of their computational time, accuracy and number of rules produced when applied to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) data set. The optimised methods results are compared to a well known non-optimised discretisation method, equal-width-bin partitioning (EWB). The accuracies achieved after optimising the partitions using GA, HC and SA are 66.89%, 65.84% and 65.48% respectively, compared to the accuracy of EWB of 59.86%. In addition to rough sets providing the plausabilities of the estimated HIV status, they also provide the linguistic rules describing how the demographic parameters drive the risk of HIV.

Analysis of experimental characteristics of multistage steam-jet electors of steam turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aronson, K. E.; Ryabchikov, A. Yu.; Brodov, Yu. M.; Brezgin, D. V.; Zhelonkin, N. V.; Murmanskii, I. B.

2017-02-01

A series of questions for specification of physical gas dynamics model in flow range of steam-jet unit and ejector computation methodology, as well as functioning peculiarities of intercoolers, was formulated based on analysis of experimental characteristics of multistage team-jet steam turbines. It was established that coefficient defining position of critical cross-section of injected flow depends on characteristics of the "sound tube" zone. Speed of injected flow within this tube may exceed that of sound, and pressure jumps in work-steam decrease at the same time. Characteristics of the "sound tube" define optimal axial sizes of the ejector. According to measurement results, the part of steam condensing in the first-stage coolant constitutes 70-80% of steam amount supplied into coolant and is almost independent of air content in steam. Coolant efficiency depends on steam pressure defined by operation of steam-jet unit of ejector of the next stage after coolant of steam-jet stage, temperature, and condensing water flow. As a rule, steam entering content of steam-air mixture supplied to coolant is overheated with respect to saturation temperature of steam in the mixture. This should be taken into account during coolant computation. Long-term operation causes changes in roughness of walls of the ejector's mixing chamber. The influence of change of wall roughness on ejector characteristic is similar to the influence of reverse pressure of the steam-jet stage. Until some roughness value, injection coefficient of the ejector stage operating in superlimiting regime hardly changed. After reaching critical roughness, the ejector switches to prelimiting operating regime.

Selective targeting of G-protein-coupled receptor subtypes with venom peptides.

PubMed

Näreoja, K; Näsman, J

2012-02-01

The G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family is one of the largest gene superfamilies with approx. 370 members responding to endogenous ligands in humans and a roughly equal amount of receptors sensitive to external stimuli from the surrounding. A number of receptors from this superfamily are well recognized targets for medical treatment of various disease conditions, whereas for many others the potential medical benefit of interference is still obscure. A general problem associated with GPCR research and therapeutics is the insufficient specificity of available ligands to differentiate between closely homologous receptor subtypes. In this context, venom peptides could make a significant contribution to the development of more specific drugs. Venoms from certain animals specialized in biochemical hunting contain a mixture of molecules that are directed towards a variety of membrane proteins. Peptide toxins isolated from these mixtures usually exhibit high specificity for their targets. Muscarinic toxins found from mamba snakes attracted much attention during the 1990s. These are 65-66 amino acid long peptides with a structural three-finger folding similar to the α-neurotoxins and they target the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in a subtype-selective manner. Recently, several members of the three-finger toxins from mamba snakes as well as conotoxins from marine cone snails have been shown to selectively interact with subtypes of adrenergic receptors. In this review, we will discuss the GPCR-directed peptide toxins found from different venoms and how some of these can be useful in exploring specific roles of receptor subtypes. © 2011 The Authors. Acta Physiologica © 2011 Scandinavian Physiological Society.

Experimental study on thermal storage performance of binary mixtures of fatty acids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Quanying; Zhang, Jing; Liu, Chao; Liu, Sha; Sun, Xiangyu

2018-02-01

We selected five kinds of fatty acids including the capric acid, stearic acid, lauric acid, palmitic acid and myristic acid and mixed them to prepare10 kinds of binary mixtures of fatty acids according to the predetermined proportion,tested the phase change temperature and latent heat of mixtures by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC). In order to find the fatty acid mixture which has suitable phase change temperature, the larger phase change latent heat and can be used for phase change wall. The results showed that the phase change temperature and latent heats of the binary mixtures of fatty acids decreased compared with the single component;The phase change temperature of the binary mixtures of fatty acids containing capric acid were lower, the range was roughly 20∼30°C,and latent heat is large,which are ideal phase change materials for phase change wall energy storage;The phase change temperature of the binary mixtures consisting of other fatty acids were still high,didn’t meet the temperature requirements of the wall energy storage.

Effect of tetracalcium phosphate/monetite toothpaste on dentin remineralization and tubule occlusion in vitro.

PubMed

Medvecky, L; Stulajterova, R; Giretova, M; Mincik, J; Vojtko, M; Balko, J; Briancin, J

2018-03-01

To investigate the tubule occlusion and remineralization potential of a novel toothpaste with active tetracalcium phosphate/monetite mixtures under de/remineralization cycling. Dentin de/remineralization cycling protocol consisted of demineralization in 1% citric acid at pH 4.6 with following remineralization with toothpastes and soaking in artificial saliva. Effectiveness of toothpastes to promote remineralization was evaluated by measurement of microhardness recovery, analysis of surface roughness, thickness of coating and scanning electron microscopy. The novel tetracalcium phosphate/monetite dentifrice had comparable remineralization potential as commercial calcium silicate/phosphate (SENSODYNE ® ) and magnesium aluminum silicate (Colgate ® ) toothpastes and significantly higher than control saliva (p<0.02). Surface roughness was significantly lower after treatment with prepared and SENSODYNE ® dentifirice (p<0.05). The coatings on dentin surfaces was significantly thicker after applying toothpastes as compared to negative control (p<0.001). The new fluoride toothpaste formulation with bioactive tetracalcium phosphate/monetite calcium phosphate mixture effectively occluded dentin tubules and showed good dentin remineralization potential under de/remineralization cycling. It could replace professional powder preparation based on this mixture. It was demonstrated that prepared dentifrice had comparable properties with commercial fluoride calcium silicate/phosphate or magnesium aluminum silicate dentifrices. Copyright © 2017 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surface roughness in XeF{sub 2} etching of a-Si/c-Si(100)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stevens, A.A.E.; Beijerinck, H.C.W.

2005-01-01

Single wavelength ellipsometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been applied in a well-calibrated beam-etching experiment to characterize the dynamics of surface roughening induced by chemical etching of a {approx}12 nm amorphous silicon (a-Si) top layer and the underlying crystalline silicon (c-Si) bulk. In both the initial and final phase of etching, where either only a-Si or only c-Si is exposed to the XeF{sub 2} flux, we observe a similar evolution of the surface roughness as a function of the XeF{sub 2} dose proportional to D(XeF{sub 2}){sup {beta}} with {beta}{approx_equal}0.2. In the transition region from the pure amorphous to themore » pure crystalline silicon layer, we observe a strong anomalous increase of the surface roughness proportional to D(XeF{sub 2}){sup {beta}} with {beta}{approx_equal}1.5. Not only the growth rate of the roughness increases sharply in this phase, also the surface morphology temporarily changes to a structure that suggests a cusplike shape. Both features suggest that the remaining a-Si patches on the surface act effectively as a capping layer which causes the growth of deep trenches in the c-Si. The ellipsometry data on the roughness are corroborated by the AFM results, by equating the thickness of the rough layer to 6 {sigma}, with {sigma} the root-mean-square variation of the AFM's distribution function of height differences. In the AFM data, the anomalous behavior is reflected in a too small value of {sigma} which again suggests narrow and deep surface features that cannot be tracked by the AFM tip. The final phase morphology is characterized by an effective increase in surface area by a factor of two, as derived from a simple bilayer model of the reaction layer, using the experimental etch rate as input. We obtain a local reaction layer thickness of 1.5 monolayer consistent with the 1.7 ML value of Lo et al. [Lo et al., Phys. Rev. B 47, 648 (1993)] that is also independent of surface roughness.« less

Generalized Bose-Einstein Condensation in Superconductivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Llano, Manuel

2011-03-01

Unification of the BCS and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) theories is surveyed in detail via a generalized BEC (GBEC) finite-temperature statistical formalism. Its major difference with BCS theory is that it can be diagonalized exactly. Under specified conditions it yields the precise BCS gap equation for all temperatures as well as the precise BCS zero-temperature condensation energy for all couplings, thereby suggesting that a BCS condensate is a BE condensate in a ternary mixture of kinematically independent unpaired electrons coexisting with equally proportioned weakly-bound two-electron and two-hole Cooper pairs. Without abandoning the electron-phonon mechanism in moderately weak coupling it suffices, in principle, to reproduce the unusually high values of Tc (in units of the Fermi temperature TF) of 0.01-0.05 empirically reported in the so-called "exotic" superconductors of the Uemura plot, including cuprates, in contrast to the low values of Tc/TF ≤ 10-3 roughly reproduced by BCS theory for conventional (mostly elemental) superconductors. Replacing the characteristic phonon-exchange Debye temperature by a characteristic magnon-exchange one more than twice in size can lead to a simple interaction model associated with spin-fluctuation-mediated pairing.

Generalized Bose-Einstein Condensation in Superconductivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Llano, Manuel

Unification of the BCS and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) theories is surveyed in detail via a generalized BEC (GBEC) finite-temperature statistical formalism. Its major difference with BCS theory is that it can be diagonalized exactly. Under specified conditions it yields the precise BCS gap equation for all temperatures as well as the precise BCS zero-temperature condensation energy for all couplings, thereby suggesting that a BCS condensate is a BE condensate in a ternary mixture of kinematically independent unpaired electrons coexisting with equally proportioned weakly-bound two-electron and two-hole Cooper pairs. Without abandoning the electron-phonon mechanism in moderately weak coupling it suffices, in principle, to reproduce the unusually high values of Tc (in units of the Fermi temperature TF) of 0.01-0.05 empirically reported in the so-called "exotic" superconductors of the Uemura plot, including cuprates, in contrast to the low values of Tc/TF ≤ 10-3 roughly reproduced by BCS theory for conventional (mostly elemental) superconductors. Replacing the characteristic phonon-exchange Debye temperature by a characteristic magnon-exchange one more than twice in size can lead to a simple interaction model associated with spin-fluctuation-mediated pairing.

Reaction of fluorogenic reagents with proteins

PubMed Central

Swearingen, Kristian E.; Dickerson, Jane A.; Turner, Emily H.; Ramsay, Lauren M.; Wojcik, Roza; Dovichi, Norman J.

2009-01-01

The fluorogenic reagent Chromeo P465 is considered for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. The reagent was first used to label α-lactalbumin; the product was analyzed by capillary zone electrophoresis in a sub-micellar sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) buffer. The product generated a set of equally spaced but poorly resolved peaks that formed a broad envelope with a net mobility of 4 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1. The components of the envelope were presumably protein that had reacted with different numbers of labels. The mobility of these components decreased by roughly 1 % with the addition of each label. The signal increased linearly from 1.0 nM to 100 nM α-lactalbumin (r2 = 0.99), with a 3σ detection limit of 70 pM. We then considered the separation of a mixture of ovalbumin, α-chymotrypsinogen A, and αlactalbumin labeled with Chromeo P465; unfortunately, baseline resolution was not achieved with a borax/SDS buffer. Better resolution was achieved with N-cyclohexyl-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid/Tris/SDS/dextran capillary sieving electrophoresis; however, dye interactions with this buffer system produced a less than ideal blank. PMID:18479693

Amino acids derived from Titan tholins

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khare, B. N.; Sagan, C.; Ogino, H.; Nagy, B.; Er, C.; Schram, K. H.; Arakawa, E. T.

1986-01-01

An organic heteropolymer (Titan tholin) was produced by continuous dc discharge through a 0.9 N2/0.1 CH4 gas mixture at 0.2 mbar pressure, roughly simulating the cloudtop atmosphere of Titan. Treatment of this tholin with 6N HCl yielded 16 amino acids by gas chromatography after derivatization of N-trifluroacetyl isopropyl esters on two different capillary columns. Identifications were confirmed by GC/MS. Glycine, aspartic acid, and alpha- and beta-alanine were produced in greatest abundance; the total yield of amino acids was approximately 10(-2), approximately equal to the yield of urea. The presence of "nonbiological" amino acids, the absence of serine, and the fact that the amino acids are racemic within experimental error together indicate that these molecules are not due to microbial or other contamination, but are derived from the tholin. In addition to the HCN, HC2CN, and (CN)2 found by Voyager, nitriles and aminonitriles should be sought in the Titanian atmosphere and, eventually, amino acids on the surface. These results suggest that episodes of liquid water in the past or future of Titan might lead to major further steps in prebiological organic chemistry on that body.

Investigation of air solubility in jet A fuel at high pressures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rupprecht, S. D.; Faeth, G. M.

1981-01-01

The solubility and density properties of saturated mixtures of fuels and gases were measured. The fuels consisted of Jet A and dodecane, the gases were air and nitrogen. The test range included pressures of 1.03 to 10.34 MPa and temperatures of 298 to 373 K. The results were correlated successfully, using the Soave equation of state. Over this test range, dissolved gas concentrations were roughly proportional to pressure and increased slightly with increasing temperature. Mixture density was relatively independent of dissolved gas concentration.

Boundary of Phase Co-existence in Docosahexaenoic Acid System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lor, Chai; Hirst, Linda S.

2011-11-01

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a highly polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) that exhibits six double bonds in the hydrocarbon tail. It induces phase separation of the membrane into liquid order and liquid disorder in mixtures containing other lipids with more saturation and cholesterol. With the utilization of atomic force microscopy, phase co-existence is observed in lipid mixtures containing DHA on a single supported lipid bilayer. The boundary of phase co-existence with decreasing DHA concentration is explored. The elastic force, thickness, and roughness of the different phases are investigated.

The Eleventh Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation. Supporting Research Papers

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

value. 4. BAH + BAS is roughly equal to expenditures for housing and food for servicemembers.22 In the first phase of the formal model, we further...assume that taxes, housing, and food are the only basic living expenses. Then, in the next phase, we include estimates of noncash benefits not included...assumption 4 with assumption 2 implies that civilian housing and food expenses are also equal to military BAH and BAS. However, civilian housing and food

Americans misperceive racial economic equality.

PubMed

Kraus, Michael W; Rucker, Julian M; Richeson, Jennifer A

2017-09-26

The present research documents the widespread misperception of race-based economic equality in the United States. Across four studies ( n = 1,377) sampling White and Black Americans from the top and bottom of the national income distribution, participants overestimated progress toward Black-White economic equality, largely driven by estimates of greater current equality than actually exists according to national statistics. Overestimates of current levels of racial economic equality, on average, outstripped reality by roughly 25% and were predicted by greater belief in a just world and social network racial diversity (among Black participants). Whereas high-income White respondents tended to overestimate racial economic equality in the past, Black respondents, on average, underestimated the degree of past racial economic equality. Two follow-up experiments further revealed that making societal racial discrimination salient increased the accuracy of Whites' estimates of Black-White economic equality, whereas encouraging Whites to anchor their estimates on their own circumstances increased their tendency to overestimate current racial economic equality. Overall, these findings suggest a profound misperception of and unfounded optimism regarding societal race-based economic equality-a misperception that is likely to have any number of important policy implications.

Measuring Air Leaks into the Vacuum Space of Large Liquid Hydrogen Tanks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Youngquist, Robert; Starr, Stanley; Nurge, Mark

2012-01-01

Large cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks are composed of inner and outer shells. The outer shell is exposed to the ambient environment while the inner shell holds the liquid hydrogen. The region between these two shells is evacuated and typically filled with a powderlike insulation to minimize radiative coupling between the two shells. A technique was developed for detecting the presence of an air leak from the outside environment into this evacuated region. These tanks are roughly 70 ft (approx. equal 21 m) in diameter (outer shell) and the inner shell is roughly 62 ft (approx. equal 19 m) in diameter, so the evacuated region is about 4 ft (approx. equal 1 m) wide. A small leak's primary effect is to increase the boil-off of the tank. It was preferable to install a more accurate fill level sensor than to implement a boil-off meter. The fill level sensor would be composed of an accurate pair of pressure transducers that would essentially weigh the remaining liquid hydrogen. This upgrade, allowing boil-off data to be obtained weekly instead of over several months, is ongoing, and will then provide a relatively rapid indication of the presence of a leak.

Quantitative, equal carbon response HSQC experiment, QEC-HSQC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mäkelä, Valtteri; Helminen, Jussi; Kilpeläinen, Ilkka; Heikkinen, Sami

2016-10-01

Quantitative NMR has become increasingly useful and popular in recent years, with many new and emerging applications in metabolomics, quality control, reaction monitoring and other types of mixture analysis. While sensitive and simple to acquire, the low resolving power of 1D 1H NMR spectra can be a limiting factor when analyzing complex mixtures. This drawback can be solved by observing a different type of nuclei offering improved resolution or with multidimensional experiments, such as HSQC. In this paper, we present a novel Quantitative, Equal Carbon HSQC (QEC-HSQC) experiment providing an equal response across different type of carbons regardless of the number of attached protons, in addition to an uniform response over a wide range of 1JCH couplings. This enables rapid quantification and integration over multiple signals without the need for complete resonance assignments and simplifies the integration of overlapping signals.

The radio power reflected from rough and undulating ionospheric surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitehead, J. D.; From, W. R.; Smith, L. G.

1984-08-01

It is shown for both rough and undulating surfaces that the mean radio power reflected by the ionosphere averaged over a sufficiently long time is exactly the same as for a smooth flat surface at the same height provided the sounder is equally sensitive for echoes from all directions. When making radio wave absorption measurements under spread conditions the total integrated power over the whole time the direct echoes are being received must be used but the distance attenuation factor must be calculated from the time of arrival of the first echo.

Scattering by Spheroidal and Rough Particles.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

expanded polystyrene beads(Sincl.air-Koppers DylJ.te F 40) in the weight proportion 0.025 to 1.0, and molding the homogeaeous mixture in cement molds...stacking 7 expanded polystyrene (Sinclair-Koppers Dylite F 40) cylinders. The second group(/030 series) is prepared by coating the similar stack by

NMRI Measurements of Flow of Granular Mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakagawa, Masami; Waggoner, R. Allen; Fukushima, Eiichi

1996-01-01

We investigate complex 3D behavior of granular mixtures in shaking and shearing devices. NMRI can non-invasively measure concentration, velocity, and velocity fluctuations of flows of suitable particles. We investigate origins of wall-shear induced convection flow of single component particles by measuring the flow and fluctuating motion of particles near rough boundaries. We also investigate if a mixture of different size particles segregate into their own species under the influence of external shaking and shearing disturbances. These non-invasive measurements will reveal true nature of convecting flow properties and wall disturbance. For experiments in a reduced gravity environment, we will design a light weight NMR imager. The proof of principle development will prepare for the construction of a complete spaceborne system to perform experiments in space.

Distributed-Roughness Effects on Stability and Transition In Swept-Wing Boundary Layers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carrillo, Ruben B., Jr.; Reibert, Mark S.; Saric, William S.

1997-01-01

Boundary-layer stability experiments are conducted in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel on a 45 deg swept airfoil. The pressure distribution and test conditions are designed to suppress Tollmien-Schlichting disturbances and provide crossflow-dominated transition. The surface of the airfoil is finely polished to a near mirror finish. Under these conditions, submicron surface irregularities cause the naturally occurring stationary crossflow waves to grow to nonuniform amplitudes. Spanwise-uniform stationary crossflow disturbances are generated through careful control of the initial conditions with full-span arrays of micron-high roughness elements near the attachment line. Detailed hot-wire measurements are taken to document the stationary crossflow structure and determine growth rates for the total and individual-mode disturbances. Naphthalene flow visualization provides transition location information. Roughness spacing and roughness height are varied to examine the effects on transition location and all amplified wavelengths. The measurements show that roughness spacings that do not contain harmonics equal to the most unstable wavelength as computed by linear stability theory effectively suppress the most unstable mode. Under certain conditions, subcritical roughness spacing delays transition past that of the corresponding smooth surface.

Direct numerical simulation of flow over dissimilar, randomly distributed roughness elements: A systematic study on the effect of surface morphology on turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forooghi, Pourya; Stroh, Alexander; Schlatter, Philipp; Frohnapfel, Bettina

2018-04-01

Direct numerical simulations are used to investigate turbulent flow in rough channels, in which topographical parameters of the rough wall are systematically varied at a fixed friction Reynolds number of 500, based on a mean channel half-height h and friction velocity. The utilized roughness generation approach allows independent variation of moments of the surface height probability distribution function [thus root-mean-square (rms) surface height, skewness, and kurtosis], surface mean slope, and standard deviation of the roughness peak sizes. Particular attention is paid to the effect of the parameter Δ defined as the normalized height difference between the highest and lowest roughness peaks. This parameter is used to understand the trends of the investigated flow variables with departure from the idealized case where all roughness elements have the same height (Δ =0 ). All calculations are done in the fully rough regime and for surfaces with high slope (effective slope equal to 0.6-0.9). The rms roughness height is fixed for all cases at 0.045 h and the skewness and kurtosis of the surface height probability density function vary in the ranges -0.33 to 0.67 and 1.9 to 2.6, respectively. The goal of the paper is twofold: first, to investigate the possible effect of topographical parameters on the mean turbulent flow, Reynolds, and dispersive stresses particularly in the vicinity of the roughness crest, and second, to investigate the possibility of using the wall-normal turbulence intensity as a physical parameter for parametrization of the flow. Such a possibility, already suggested for regular roughness in the literature, is here extended to irregular roughness.

Corroded surface roughness of copper analyzed by Fourier transform infrared mapping microscopy and optical profilometric study.

PubMed

Kasperek, J; Lefez, B; Beucher, E

2004-02-01

This study shows the effects of roughness on infrared spectra shapes of thin corrosion products on metallic substrates. The calculated spectra show that the baseline is mainly affected by increasing roughness and that such effects do not shift the position of the absorption bands. The model obtained has been used to extract data of artificial patina on a copper surface. Surface defects of copper substrates can be distinguished on the whole surface, from the morphological and chemical points of view, using optical profilometry and infrared microspectroscopy. An homogeneous layer of cuprite covers the surface except in the linear defects. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis indicates that a mixture of atacamite and clinoatacamite is mainly located in these scratches. The width of these particular areas is in good agreement with profilometric observations.

Investigation of using steel slag in hot mix asphalt for the surface course of flexible pavements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hien Q.; Lu, Dai X.; Le, Son D.

2018-04-01

The rapid development of heavy industry in Vietnam leads to the establishments of steel industry. Steel slag, a by-product of steelwork industry, under Vietnamese’s law, was considered as a deleterious solid waste which needed to be processed and landfilled. However, this has changed recently, and steel slag is now seen as a normal or non-deleterious solid waste, and has been studied for reuse in the construction industry. In this study, steel slag was used, as a replacement for mineral aggregate, in hot mix asphalt. Two hot mix asphalt mixtures with an equivalent nominal aggregate size of 12.5 (C12.5) and 19 mm (C19) were produced using steel slag. In addition, one conventional hot mix asphalt mixture of C19 was produced using mineral aggregate for comparison purpose. Investigation in laboratory condition and trial sections was carried out on Marshall tests, surface roughness, skid resistance, and modulus of the pavement before and after applying a new surface course of hot mix asphalt. The study showed that all steel slag asphalt mixtures passed the Marshall stability and flow test requirements. The skid resistance of steel slag hot mix asphalt mixtures for the surface course satisfied the Vietnamese specification for asphalt. Moreover, the pavement sections with the surface course of steel slag hot mix asphalt showed a considerable higher modulus than that of the conventional one. Only the roughness of the surface course paved with C19 did not pass the requirement of the specification.

Americans misperceive racial economic equality

PubMed Central

Kraus, Michael W.; Rucker, Julian M.; Richeson, Jennifer A.

2017-01-01

The present research documents the widespread misperception of race-based economic equality in the United States. Across four studies (n = 1,377) sampling White and Black Americans from the top and bottom of the national income distribution, participants overestimated progress toward Black–White economic equality, largely driven by estimates of greater current equality than actually exists according to national statistics. Overestimates of current levels of racial economic equality, on average, outstripped reality by roughly 25% and were predicted by greater belief in a just world and social network racial diversity (among Black participants). Whereas high-income White respondents tended to overestimate racial economic equality in the past, Black respondents, on average, underestimated the degree of past racial economic equality. Two follow-up experiments further revealed that making societal racial discrimination salient increased the accuracy of Whites’ estimates of Black–White economic equality, whereas encouraging Whites to anchor their estimates on their own circumstances increased their tendency to overestimate current racial economic equality. Overall, these findings suggest a profound misperception of and unfounded optimism regarding societal race-based economic equality—a misperception that is likely to have any number of important policy implications. PMID:28923915

Biodegradation and environmental behavior of biodiesel mixtures in the sea: An initial study.

PubMed

DeMello, Jared A; Carmichael, Catherine A; Peacock, Emily E; Nelson, Robert K; Samuel Arey, J; Reddy, Christopher M

2007-07-01

Biodiesel, a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) derived from animal fats or vegetable oils, is rapidly moving towards the mainstream as an alternative source of energy. However, the behavior of biodiesel, or blends of biodiesel with fossil diesel, in the marine environment have yet to be fully understood. Hence, we performed a series of initial laboratory experiments and simple calculations to evaluate the microbial and environmental fate of FAMEs. Aerobic seawater microcosms spiked with biodiesel or mixtures of biodiesel and fossil diesel revealed that the FAMEs were degraded at roughly the same rate as n-alkanes, and more rapidly than other hydrocarbon components. The residues extracted from these different microcosms became indistinguishable within weeks. Preliminary results from physical-chemical calculations suggest that FAMEs in biodiesel mixtures will not affect the evaporation rates of spilled petroleum hydrocarbons but may stabilize oil droplets in the water column and thereby facilitate transport.

Shrinkage simplex-centroid designs for a quadratic mixture model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasan, Taha; Ali, Sajid; Ahmed, Munir

2018-03-01

A simplex-centroid design for q mixture components comprises of all possible subsets of the q components, present in equal proportions. The design does not contain full mixture blends except the overall centroid. In real-life situations, all mixture blends comprise of at least a minimum proportion of each component. Here, we introduce simplex-centroid designs which contain complete blends but with some loss in D-efficiency and stability in G-efficiency. We call such designs as shrinkage simplex-centroid designs. Furthermore, we use the proposed designs to generate component-amount designs by their projection.

An effective medium approach to predict the apparent contact angle of drops on super-hydrophobic randomly rough surfaces.

PubMed

Bottiglione, F; Carbone, G

2015-01-14

The apparent contact angle of large 2D drops with randomly rough self-affine profiles is numerically investigated. The numerical approach is based upon the assumption of large separation of length scales, i.e. it is assumed that the roughness length scales are much smaller than the drop size, thus making it possible to treat the problem through a mean-field like approach relying on the large-separation of scales. The apparent contact angle at equilibrium is calculated in all wetting regimes from full wetting (Wenzel state) to partial wetting (Cassie state). It was found that for very large values of the roughness Wenzel parameter (r(W) > -1/ cos θ(Y), where θ(Y) is the Young's contact angle), the interface approaches the perfect non-wetting condition and the apparent contact angle is almost equal to 180°. The results are compared with the case of roughness on one single scale (sinusoidal surface) and it is found that, given the same value of the Wenzel roughness parameter rW, the apparent contact angle is much larger for the case of a randomly rough surface, proving that the multi-scale character of randomly rough surfaces is a key factor to enhance superhydrophobicity. Moreover, it is shown that for millimetre-sized drops, the actual drop pressure at static equilibrium weakly affects the wetting regime, which instead seems to be dominated by the roughness parameter. For this reason a methodology to estimate the apparent contact angle is proposed, which relies only upon the micro-scale properties of the rough surface.

The Relationship of the Silicon Surface Roughness and Gate Oxide Integrity in NH4OH/H2O2 Mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meuris, M.; Verhaverbeke, S.; Mertens, P. W.; Heyns, M. M.; Hellemans, L.; Bruynseraede, Y.; Philipossian, A.

1992-11-01

In this study some recent findings on the cleaning action of the NH4OH/H2O2 (SC1) step in a pre-gate oxidation cleaning (RCA cleaning) are given. An important parameter in this mixture is the NH4OH/H2O2 ratio. The Fe contamination on the silicon surface after this cleaning step is found to increase upon decreasing the NH4OH/H2O2 ratio. This can be attributed to the incorporation of Fe in the chemical oxide, grown by the hydrogen peroxide. The particle removal efficiency of the cleaning step is found to decrease upon decreasing the NH4OH/H2O2 ratio. On the other hand, using a lower NH4OH concentration results in a less severe silicon surface roughening. It is demonstrated in this study that the NH4OH/H2O2 ratio during the SC1 step of the cleaning is the determining parameter for the breakdown properties of a gate oxide. A (0.25/1/5) NH4OH/H2O2/H2O mixture at 75°C in our experimental conditions is suggested to be the best compromise between particle removal and surface roughness during the SC1 step.

Eco-friendly porous concrete using bottom ash aggregate for marine ranch application.

PubMed

Lee, Byung Jae; Prabhu, G Ganesh; Lee, Bong Chun; Kim, Yun Yong

2016-03-01

This article presents the test results of an investigation carried out on the reuse of coal bottom ash aggregate as a substitute material for coarse aggregate in porous concrete production for marine ranch applications. The experimental parameters were the rate of bottom ash aggregate substitution (30%, 50% and 100%) and the target void ratio (15%, 20% and 25%). The cement-coated granular fertiliser was substituted into a bottom ash aggregate concrete mixture to improve marine ranch applications. The results of leaching tests revealed that the bottom ash aggregate has only a negligible amount of the ten deleterious substances specified in the Ministry of Environment - Enforcement Regulation of the Waste Management Act of Republic Korea. The large amount of bubbles/air gaps in the bottom ash aggregate increased the voids of the concrete mixtures in all target void ratios, and decreased the compressive strength of the porous concrete mixture; however, the mixture substituted with 30% and 10% of bottom ash aggregate and granular fertiliser, respectively, showed an equal strength to the control mixture. The sea water resistibility of the bottom ash aggregate substituted mixture was relatively equal to that of the control mixture, and also showed a great deal of improvement in the degree of marine organism adhesion compared with the control mixture. No fatality of fish was observed in the fish toxicity test, which suggested that bottom ash aggregate was a harmless material and that the combination of bottom ash aggregate and granular fertiliser with substitution rates of 30% and 10%, respectively, can be effectively used in porous concrete production for marine ranch application. © The Author(s) 2015.

Toxicokinetics of the flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane alpha: effect of dose, timing, route, repeated exposure and metabolism

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) is an additive flame retardant in many household products. Three stereoisomers, alpha (a), beta (b), and gamma (g), comprise roughly 10%, 10%, and 80% of the mixture, respectively. a-HBCD is the major stereoisomer found in biota, including breast milk and blood in Nor...

Statistical mixture design selective extraction of compounds with antioxidant activity and total polyphenol content from Trichilia catigua.

PubMed

Lonni, Audrey Alesandra Stinghen Garcia; Longhini, Renata; Lopes, Gisely Cristiny; de Mello, João Carlos Palazzo; Scarminio, Ieda Spacino

2012-03-16

Statistical design mixtures of water, methanol, acetone and ethanol were used to extract material from Trichilia catigua (Meliaceae) barks to study the effects of different solvents and their mixtures on its yield, total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity. The experimental results and their response surface models showed that quaternary mixtures with approximately equal proportions of all four solvents provided the highest yields, total polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities of the crude extracts followed by ternary design mixtures. Principal component and hierarchical clustering analysis of the HPLC-DAD spectra of the chromatographic peaks of 1:1:1:1 water-methanol-acetone-ethanol mixture extracts indicate the presence of cinchonains, gallic acid derivatives, natural polyphenols, flavanoids, catechins, and epicatechins. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Method for preparing ceramic composite

DOEpatents

Alexander, Kathleen B.; Tiegs, Terry N.; Becher, Paul F.; Waters, Shirley B.

1996-01-01

A process for preparing ceramic composite comprising blending TiC particulates, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 particulates and nickle aluminide and consolidating the mixture at a temperature and pressure sufficient to produce a densified ceramic composite having fracture toughness equal to or greater than 7 MPa m.sup.1/2, a hardness equal to or greater than 18 GPa.

What Chemists Do

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olmsted, John, III

2010-01-01

An analysis is presented of the varieties of activities that have been recognized in the Nobel Prizes in chemistry. Five different varieties are identified: exploration, description, synthesis, theorizing, and measurement. Prizes in chemistry have been distributed roughly equally among these five categories. The number of awards in each category…

Fast Spatial Resolution Analysis of Quadratic Penalized Least-Squares Image Reconstruction With Separate Real and Imaginary Roughness Penalty: Application to fMRI.

PubMed

Olafsson, Valur T; Noll, Douglas C; Fessler, Jeffrey A

2018-02-01

Penalized least-squares iterative image reconstruction algorithms used for spatial resolution-limited imaging, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), commonly use a quadratic roughness penalty to regularize the reconstructed images. When used for complex-valued images, the conventional roughness penalty regularizes the real and imaginary parts equally. However, these imaging methods sometimes benefit from separate penalties for each part. The spatial smoothness from the roughness penalty on the reconstructed image is dictated by the regularization parameter(s). One method to set the parameter to a desired smoothness level is to evaluate the full width at half maximum of the reconstruction method's local impulse response. Previous work has shown that when using the conventional quadratic roughness penalty, one can approximate the local impulse response using an FFT-based calculation. However, that acceleration method cannot be applied directly for separate real and imaginary regularization. This paper proposes a fast and stable calculation for this case that also uses FFT-based calculations to approximate the local impulse responses of the real and imaginary parts. This approach is demonstrated with a quadratic image reconstruction of fMRI data that uses separate roughness penalties for the real and imaginary parts.

Psychiatric Diagnostic Interviews for Children and Adolescents: A Comparative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angold, Adrian; Erkanli, Alaattin; Copeland, William; Goodman, Robert; Fisher, Prudence W.; Costello, E. Jane

2012-01-01

Objective: To compare examples of three styles of psychiatric interviews for youth: the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) ("respondent-based"), the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA) ("interviewer-based"), and the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA) ("expert judgment"). Method: Roughly equal numbers of…

The Edmonton and Calgary aviation markets : a tale of two more cities

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-05-01

Passenger air traffic movements in Calgary and Edmonton were roughly equal in 1963 but, since : that time, the Calgary market has grown much larger than that of Edmonton. This Paper examines : a number of factors, as well as differences in the airpor...

The North-South Earnings Gap: Changes during the 1960's and 1970's.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirschman, Charles; Blankenship, Kim

1981-01-01

A study of earnings differences between northern and southern states shows that white-collar workers in both areas now receive roughly equal pay. Women, blacks and blue-collar workers in the South still receive significantly lower wages than their northern counterparts. (AM)

Impact of an equality constraint on the class-specific residual variances in regression mixtures: A Monte Carlo simulation study

PubMed Central

Kim, Minjung; Lamont, Andrea E.; Jaki, Thomas; Feaster, Daniel; Howe, George; Van Horn, M. Lee

2015-01-01

Regression mixture models are a novel approach for modeling heterogeneous effects of predictors on an outcome. In the model building process residual variances are often disregarded and simplifying assumptions made without thorough examination of the consequences. This simulation study investigated the impact of an equality constraint on the residual variances across latent classes. We examine the consequence of constraining the residual variances on class enumeration (finding the true number of latent classes) and parameter estimates under a number of different simulation conditions meant to reflect the type of heterogeneity likely to exist in applied analyses. Results showed that bias in class enumeration increased as the difference in residual variances between the classes increased. Also, an inappropriate equality constraint on the residual variances greatly impacted estimated class sizes and showed the potential to greatly impact parameter estimates in each class. Results suggest that it is important to make assumptions about residual variances with care and to carefully report what assumptions were made. PMID:26139512

Equalizer technology--Equal rights for disparate beads.

PubMed

Keidel, Eva-Maria; Ribitsch, Doris; Lottspeich, Friedrich

2010-06-01

One major limitation in proteomics is the detection and analysis of low-abundant proteins, i.e. in plasma. Several years ago, a technique to selectively enrich the relative concentration of low-abundant proteins was introduced by Boschetti and co-workers. It is based on a specific and saturable interaction of proteins to a high diversity of binding sites, realized by a hexapeptide library coupled to beads. This technology was commercialized as Equalizer beads or ProteoMiner. However, during application of ProteoMiner beads to plasma samples unexpected results questioned the proposed mode of action. Therefore, ProteoMiner beads were compared with chromatographic beads exhibiting completely different surface chemistry. Sepabeads FP-OD400 octadecyl, FP-DA400 diethylamine, FP-BU400 butyl, FP-HG400 hydroxyl and EXE056 epoxy were used. The results show that ProteoMiner or the different Sepabeads behave surprisingly similarly in the separation of complex protein mixtures. ProteoMiner beads interact with protein mixtures according to a general hydrophobic binding mechanism, where diversity in surface ligands plays only a negligible role.

Binary Mixtures of Particles with Different Diffusivities Demix.

PubMed

Weber, Simon N; Weber, Christoph A; Frey, Erwin

2016-02-05

The influence of size differences, shape, mass, and persistent motion on phase separation in binary mixtures has been intensively studied. Here we focus on the exclusive role of diffusivity differences in binary mixtures of equal-sized particles. We find an effective attraction between the less diffusive particles, which are essentially caged in the surrounding species with the higher diffusion constant. This effect leads to phase separation for systems above a critical size: A single close-packed cluster made up of the less diffusive species emerges. Experiments for testing our predictions are outlined.

.pi.-conjugated heavy-metal polymers for organic white-light-emitting diodes

DOEpatents

Vardeny, Zeev Valentine; Wojcik, Leonard; Drori, Tomer

2016-09-13

A polymer mixture emits a broad spectrum of visible light that appears white or near-white in the aggregate. The polymer mixture comprises two (or more) components in the active layer. A heavy atom, such as platinum and/or iridium, present in the backbone of the mixture acts via a spin-orbit coupling mechanism to cause the ratio of fluorescent to phosphorescent light emission bands to be of approximately equal strength. These two broad emissions overlap, resulting in an emission spectrum that appears to the eye to be white.

Technique for measuring gas conversion factors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, J. J.; Sprinkle, D. R. (Inventor)

1985-01-01

A method for determining hydrocarbon conversion factors for a flowmeter. A mixture of air, O2 and C sub x H sub y is burned and the partial paressure of O2 in the resulting gas is forced to equal the partial pressure of O2 in air. The flowrate of O2 flowing into the mixture is measured by flowmeter and the flowrate of C sub x H sub y flowing into the mixture is measured by the flowmeter conversion factor is to be determined. These measured values are used to calculate the conversion factor.

Method for preparing ceramic composite

DOEpatents

Alexander, K.B.; Tiegs, T.N.; Becher, P.F.; Waters, S.B.

1996-01-09

A process is disclosed for preparing ceramic composite comprising blending TiC particulates, Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} particulates and nickel aluminide and consolidating the mixture at a temperature and pressure sufficient to produce a densified ceramic composite having fracture toughness equal to or greater than 7 MPa m{sup 1/2}, a hardness equal to or greater than 18 GPa. 5 figs.

Improvement of sticking in tablet compaction for tocopherol acetate.

PubMed

Sakata, Yukoh; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki

2011-09-01

We have found that the addition of xylitol solution effectively improves the sticking observed in tablet compaction using a powder prescription including kneading mixtures comprising tocopherol acetate (TA)/Florite(®) RE (FLR) blends. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distribution states of TA and xylitol in kneaded mixtures comprising TA/FLR/xylitol blends and the particle states of these mixtures in order to derive an appropriate powder formulation for tablet compaction. Nitrogen gas adsorption analysis revealed that xylitol is distributed on the interparticle and intraparticle pores of FLR in the same manner as TA. Moreover, it was found that xylitol was distributed in an incomplete crystalline form because of its interaction with FLR particles in the kneaded mixtures comprising TA/FLR/xylitol blends. It was also observed that the surfaces of the particles of the kneaded mixtures comprising TA/FLR blends changed from rough to smooth because of kneading with xylitol. The occurrence of sticking can be prevented not only by the addition of xylitol but also by changing the particle states of TA/FLR/xylitol blends.

Covariance hypotheses for LANDSAT data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decell, H. P.; Peters, C.

1983-01-01

Two covariance hypotheses are considered for LANDSAT data acquired by sampling fields, one an autoregressive covariance structure and the other the hypothesis of exchangeability. A minimum entropy approximation of the first structure by the second is derived and shown to have desirable properties for incorporation into a mixture density estimation procedure. Results of a rough test of the exchangeability hypothesis are presented.

Encountering Drawing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregory, Nuala

2017-01-01

This article divides into two roughly equal parts, both of which aim to address the "act" rather than the "art" of drawing. The second part focuses on a theoretical discussion of drawing. The first bears on a number of themes including the role of drawing in colonial history, drawing and data collection, and drawing and memory.…

The Modification of Compounds by Attributive Adjectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg, Thomas

2011-01-01

This paper examines the modification of nominal compounds by attributive adjectives in English. It draws on a distinction between compound-external (i.e. syntactic) and compound-internal (i.e. morphological) modification. An analysis is presented of more than 1000 pertinent cases, which are roughly equally divided into two-, three- and four-noun…

Mycotoxins that affect the North American agri-food sector: state of the art and directions for the future

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This paper summarises workshop discussions at the 5th international MYCORED meeting in Ottawa, Canada (June 2012) with over 200 participants representing academics, government and industry scientists, government officials and farming organisations (present in roughly equal proportions) from 27 count...

Controlling Hazel, Aspen Suckers, and Mountain Maple with Picloram

Treesearch

Donald A. Perala

1971-01-01

Tests showed that picloram/2,4-D mixture was equal to or superior to 2,4-D alone or a 2,4,5-D/2,4,5-T mixture in controlling hazel, aspen suckers, and mountain maple for reforestation purposes. Survival of red pine planted 9 months after treatment was not influenced by residual soil effects of picloram. However, foliar application contributed to mortality of...

A Burke-Schumann Analysis of Dual-Flame Structure Supported by a Burning Droplet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nayagam, V.; Dietrich, D.; Williams, F. A.

2016-01-01

Droplet combustion experiments carried out onboard the International Space Station (ISS), using pure fuels and fuel mixtures, have shown that quasi-steady burning can be sustained by a non-traditional flame configuration, namely a "cool flame" burning in the "partial-burning" regime where both fuel and oxygen leak through the low-temperature controlled flame-sheet. Recent experiments involving large, bi-component fuel (n-decane and hexanol, 50/50 by volume) droplets at elevated pressures show that the visible, hot flame becomes extremely weak while the burning rate remains relatively high, suggesting the possibility of simultaneous presence of "cool" and "hot" flames of roughly equal importance. The radiant output from these bi-component droplets is relatively high and cannot be accounted for only by the presence of a visible hot-flame. In this analysis we explore the theoretical possibility of a dual-flame structure, where one flame lies close to the droplet surface called the "cool-flame," and other farther away from the droplet surface, termed the "hot-flame." A Burke-Schumann analysis of this dual-structure seems to indicate such flame structures are possible over a narrow range of initial conditions. Theoretical results can be compared against available experimental data for pure and bi-component fuel droplet combustion to test how realistic the model may be.

Study on Brewster angle thin film polarizer using hafnia-silica mixture as high-refractive-index material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Nuo; Zhu, Meiping; Sun, Jian; Chai, Yingjie; Kui, Yi; Zhao, Yuanan; Shao, Jianda

2018-02-01

Two kinds of polarizer coatings were prepared by electron beam evaporation, using HfO2-SiO2 mixture and HfO2 as the high-refractive-index materials, respectively. The HfO2-SiO2 mixture layer was implemented by coevaporating SiO2 and metal Hf, the materials were deposited at an oxygen atmosphere to achieve stoichiometric coatings. The certain HfO2 and SiO2 content ratio is controlled by adjusting the deposition rate of HfO2 and SiO2 using individual quartz crystal monitor. The spectral performance, surface and interfacial properties, as well as the laser-induced damage performance were studied and compared. Comparing with polarizer coating using HfO2 as high-refractive-index material, the polarizer coating using HfO2-SiO2 mixture as high-refractive-index material shows better performance with broader polarizing bandwidth, lower surface roughness, better interfacial property while maintaining high laser-induced damage threshold.

Ash chemistry and sintering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Skrifvars, B.J.; Backman, R.; Hupa, Mikko

1996-12-31

The thermal behavior of a fuel ash is one important factor to consider when fireside slagging and fouling problems in steam boilers are addressed. It is well known that different types of chemical reactions and melts in deposits play an important role in the build-up of problematic fireside deposits. Low viscous melts occur in steam boilers mainly when salt mixtures are present in the ash. Such are Merent mixtures of alkali and earth alkali sulfates, chlorides and carbonates. These mixtures do not melt at a certain temperature but form a melt in a temperature range which in some cases maymore » be several hundreds of degrees. The amount of melt is crucial for the deposit build-up. For some boilers it has been found that roughly 10 - 20 weight-% melt in an ash mixture would be enough to cause extensive deposit formation, while 60 - 80 weight-% melt would already cause the ash to be so wet it would flow down a vertical tube and not cause any further deposit growth.« less

Optimizing the use of natural gravel Brantas river as normal concrete mixed with quality fc = 19.3 Mpa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limantara, A. D.; Widodo, A.; Winarto, S.; Krisnawati, L. D.; Mudjanarko, S. W.

2018-04-01

The use of natural gravel (rivers) as concrete mixtures is rarely encountered after days of demands for a higher strength of concrete. Moreover, today people have found High-Performance Concrete which, when viewed from the rough aggregate consisted mostly of broken stone, although the fine grain material still used natural sand. Is it possible that a mixture of concrete using natural gravel as a coarse aggregate is capable of producing concrete with compressive strength equivalent to a concrete mixture using crushed stone? To obtain information on this, a series of tests on concrete mixes with crude aggregates of Kalitelu Crusher, Gondang, Tulungagung and natural stone (river gravel) from the Brantas River, Ngujang, Tulungagung in the Materials Testing Laboratory Tugu Dam Construction Project, Kab. Trenggalek. From concrete strength test results using coarse material obtained value 19.47 Mpa, while the compressive strength of concrete with a mixture of crushed stone obtained the value of 21.12 Mpa.

Direct numerical simulation of instabilities in parallel flow with spherical roughness elements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deanna, R. G.

1992-01-01

Results from a direct numerical simulation of laminar flow over a flat surface with spherical roughness elements using a spectral-element method are given. The numerical simulation approximates roughness as a cellular pattern of identical spheres protruding from a smooth wall. Periodic boundary conditions on the domain's horizontal faces simulate an infinite array of roughness elements extending in the streamwise and spanwise directions, which implies the parallel-flow assumption, and results in a closed domain. A body force, designed to yield the horizontal Blasius velocity in the absence of roughness, sustains the flow. Instabilities above a critical Reynolds number reveal negligible oscillations in the recirculation regions behind each sphere and in the free stream, high-amplitude oscillations in the layer directly above the spheres, and a mean profile with an inflection point near the sphere's crest. The inflection point yields an unstable layer above the roughness (where U''(y) is less than 0) and a stable region within the roughness (where U''(y) is greater than 0). Evidently, the instability begins when the low-momentum or wake region behind an element, being the region most affected by disturbances (purely numerical in this case), goes unstable and moves. In compressible flow with periodic boundaries, this motion sends disturbances to all regions of the domain. In the unstable layer just above the inflection point, the disturbances grow while being carried downstream with a propagation speed equal to the local mean velocity; they do not grow amid the low energy region near the roughness patch. The most amplified disturbance eventually arrives at the next roughness element downstream, perturbing its wake and inducing a global response at a frequency governed by the streamwise spacing between spheres and the mean velocity of the most amplified layer.

Methods and apparatuses for making cathodes for high-temperature, rechargeable batteries

DOEpatents

Meinhardt, Kerry D; Sprenkle, Vincent L; Coffey, Gregory W

2014-05-20

The approaches for fabricating cathodes can be adapted to improve control over cathode composition and to better accommodate batteries of any shape and their assembly. For example, a first solid having an alkali metal halide, a second solid having a transition metal, and a third solid having an alkali metal aluminum halide are combined into a mixture. The mixture can be heated in a vacuum to a temperature that is greater than or equal to the melting point of the third solid. When the third solid is substantially molten liquid, the mixture is compressed into a desired cathode shape and then cooled to solidify the mixture in the desired cathode shape.

Apparatuses for making cathodes for high-temperature, rechargeable batteries

DOEpatents

Meinhardt, Kerry D.; Sprenkle, Vincent L.; Coffey, Gregory W.

2016-09-13

The approaches and apparatuses for fabricating cathodes can be adapted to improve control over cathode composition and to better accommodate batteries of any shape and their assembly. For example, a first solid having an alkali metal halide, a second solid having a transition metal, and a third solid having an alkali metal aluminum halide are combined into a mixture. The mixture can be heated in a vacuum to a temperature that is greater than or equal to the melting point of the third solid. When the third solid is substantially molten liquid, the mixture is compressed into a desired cathode shape and then cooled to solidify the mixture in the desired cathode shape.

Transgenic cry1C(⁎) gene rough rice line T1C-19 does not change the host preferences of the non-target stored product pest, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), and its parasitoid wasp, Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae).

PubMed

Sun, Xiao; Yan, Miao-Jun; Zhang, Aijun; Wang, Man-Qun

2015-10-01

Rough rice grains are often stored for extended periods before they are used or consumed. However, during storage, the rough rice is vulnerable to insect infestation, resulting in significant economic loss. Previous studies have shown that volatiles cues, physical characteristics, and taste chemicals on the grains could be the important key behavior factors for storage insect pests to locate the hosts and select oviposition sites. It is also well known that the transgenic Bt rough rice line T1C-19, which expresses a cry1C(⁎) gene has a high resistance to Lepidoptera pests. However, there were no evidences to show the consequences of host preference for non-target insect pests after growing Bt transgenic rice. In this study, the potential key factors of Bt rough rice were investigated for their impacts on the behaviors of non-target pest lesser grain borer Rhyzopertha dominica, the main weevil pest of grain and its parasitic wasps Anisopteromalus calandrae, the natural enemy of the beetle. Both electronic nose and electronic tongue analyses showed that the parameters of Bt rough rice were analogous to those of the non-Bt rough rice. The volatile profiles of Bt and non-Bt rough rice examined by gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were similar. For most volatile compounds, there were no significantly quantitative differences in compound quantities between Bt and non-Bt rough rice. The densities of sclereids and trichomes on the rough rice husk surface were statistically equal in Bt and non-Bt rough rice. The non-target pest, R. dominica, and its parasitoid wasp, A. calandrae, were attracted to both rough rice and could not distinguish the transgenic T1C-19 from the isogenic rough rice. These results demonstrated that Bt rough rice has no negative impacts on the host preference behaviors of non-target stored product pest R. dominica and its parasitoid A. calandrae. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low temperature mobility in hafnium-oxide gated germanium p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beer, Chris; Whall, Terry; Parker, Evan; Leadley, David; De Jaeger, Brice; Nicholas, Gareth; Zimmerman, Paul; Meuris, Marc; Szostak, Slawomir; Gluszko, Grzegorz; Lukasiak, Lidia

2007-12-01

Effective mobility measurements have been made at 4.2K on high performance high-k gated germanium p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors with a range of Ge/gate dielectric interface state densities. The mobility is successfully modelled by assuming surface roughness and interface charge scattering at the SiO2 interlayer/Ge interface. The deduced interface charge density is approximately equal to the values obtained from the threshold voltage and subthreshold slope measurements on each device. A hydrogen anneal reduces both the interface state density and the surface root mean square roughness by 20%.

Phylogenetic mixtures and linear invariants for equal input models.

PubMed

Casanellas, Marta; Steel, Mike

2017-04-01

The reconstruction of phylogenetic trees from molecular sequence data relies on modelling site substitutions by a Markov process, or a mixture of such processes. In general, allowing mixed processes can result in different tree topologies becoming indistinguishable from the data, even for infinitely long sequences. However, when the underlying Markov process supports linear phylogenetic invariants, then provided these are sufficiently informative, the identifiability of the tree topology can be restored. In this paper, we investigate a class of processes that support linear invariants once the stationary distribution is fixed, the 'equal input model'. This model generalizes the 'Felsenstein 1981' model (and thereby the Jukes-Cantor model) from four states to an arbitrary number of states (finite or infinite), and it can also be described by a 'random cluster' process. We describe the structure and dimension of the vector spaces of phylogenetic mixtures and of linear invariants for any fixed phylogenetic tree (and for all trees-the so called 'model invariants'), on any number n of leaves. We also provide a precise description of the space of mixtures and linear invariants for the special case of [Formula: see text] leaves. By combining techniques from discrete random processes and (multi-) linear algebra, our results build on a classic result that was first established by James Lake (Mol Biol Evol 4:167-191, 1987).

Students with Disabilities: Opportunities and Challenges for Colleges and Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Barbara A.

2014-01-01

Data collected by the US Department of Education in 2008 indicate that US colleges and universities enrolled 707,000 students with disabilities, divided roughly equally between public and private institutions. The survey found that 31 percent of these students reported learning disabilities, 18 percent ADD or ADHD, 15 percent mental illness or…

Implicit Messages to Teen-Aged Viewers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abrahamsson, Ulla B.

Examples from the data of a study of television programing for adolescents in Sweden illustrate some of the differences in the ways programs address their male and female viewers. Whereas boy and girl characters in television programs are roughly equal in number, the distribution changes when only leading roles are considered. A marked imbalance…

The Language Situation in Fiji

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mangubhai, Francis; Mugler, France

2003-01-01

After Papua New Guinea (PNG), Fiji is the second largest island nation in the South-west Pacific and the hub of the region. Nearly all Fiji Islanders have either Fijian or Fiji Hindi as their first language, in roughly equal numbers, while the former colonial language, English, with very few native speakers, has retained an important role,…

Fusing Classroom Theory and Practical Experience: Syllabus Construction in a Broadcast Journalism Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reppert, James E.

This paper contends that it is essential that broadcast journalism courses possess a roughly equal balance between hands-on radio, television, and electronic news gathering assignments and analytical term papers. The importance of students writing and analyzing mass communication issues and personalities cannot be overstated in a highly…

A laser flash photolysis-resonance fluorescence kinetics study of the reaction Cl/2P/ + CH4 yields CH3 + HCl

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ravishankara, A. R.; Wine, P. H.

1980-01-01

The technique of laser flash photolysis-resonance fluorescence is employed to study the kinetics of the reaction Cl(2P) + CH4 yields CH3 + HCl over the temperature range 221-375 K. At temperatures less than or equal to 241 K the apparent bimolecular rate constant is found to be dependent upon the identity of the chemically inert gases in the reaction mixture. For Cl2/CH4/He reaction mixtures (total pressure = 50 torr) different bimolecular rate constants are measured at low and high methane concentrations. For Cl2/CH4/CCl/He and Cl2/CH4/Ar reaction mixtures, the bimolecular rate constant is independent of methane concentration, being approximately equal to the rate constant measured at low methane concentrations for Cl2/CH4/He mixtures. These rate constants are in good agreement with previous results obtained using the discharge flow-resonance fluorescence and competitive chlorination techniques. At 298 K the measured bimolecular rate constant is independent of the identity of the chemically inert gases in the reaction mixture and in good agreement with all previous investigations. The low-temperature results obtained in this investigation and all previous investigations can be rationalized in terms of a model which assumes that the Cl(2P 1/2) state reacts with CH4 much faster than the Cl(2P 3/2) state. Extrapolation of this model to higher temperatures, however, is not straightforward.

Correlation and prediction of the transport properties of refrigerants using two modified rough hard-sphere models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teja, A.S.; King, R.K.; Sun, T.F.

1999-01-01

Two methods are presented for the correlation and prediction of the viscosities and thermal conductivities of refrigerants R11, R12, R22, R32, R124, R125, R134a, R141b, and R152 and their mixtures. The first (termed RHS1) is a modified rough-hard-sphere method based on the smooth hard-sphere correlations of Assael et al. The method requires two or three parameters for characterizing each refrigerant but is able to correlate transport properties over wide ranges of pressure and temperature. The second method (RHS2) is also a modified rough-hard-sphere method, but based on an effective hard-sphere diameter for Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluids. The LJ parameters and themore » effective hard-sphere diameter required in this method are determined from a knowledge of the density-temperature behavior of the fluid at saturation. Comparisons with the rough-hard-sphere method of Assael and co-workers (RHS3) are shown. They also show that the RHS2 method can be used to correlate as well as predict the transport properties of refrigerants.« less

Phase formation in selected surface-roughened plasma-nitrided 304 austenite stainless steel.

PubMed

Singh, Gajendra Prasad; Joseph, Alphonsa; Raole, Prakash Manohar; Barhai, Prema Kanta; Mukherjee, Subroto

2008-04-01

Direct current (DC) glow discharge plasma nitriding was carried out on three selected surface-roughened AISI 304 stainless steel samples at 833 K under 4 mbar pressures for 24 h in the presence of N 2 :H 2 gas mixtures of 50 : 50 ratios. After plasma nitriding, the phase formation, case depth, surface roughness, and microhardness of a plasma-nitrided layer were evaluated by glancing angle x-ray diffractogram, optical microscope, stylus profilometer, and Vickers microhardness tester techniques. The case depth, surface hardness, and phase formation variations were observed with a variation in initial surface roughness. The diffraction patterns of the plasma-nitrided samples showed the modified intensities of the α and γ phases along with those of the CrN, Fe 4 N, and Fe 3 N phases. Hardness and case depth variations were observed with a variation in surface roughness. A maximum hardness of 1058 Hv and a case depth of 95 μm were achieved in least surface-roughened samples.

49 CFR 173.304b - Additional requirements for shipment of liquefied compressed gases in UN pressure receptacles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... or equal to 95 percent of the liquid phase at 50 °C. In addition, the UN pressure receptacle may not be liquid full at 60 °C. The test pressure of the pressure receptacle must be equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the liquid at 65 °C. (3) For high pressure liquefied gases or gas mixtures...

49 CFR 173.304b - Additional requirements for shipment of liquefied compressed gases in UN pressure receptacles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... or equal to 95 percent of the liquid phase at 50 °C. In addition, the UN pressure receptacle may not be liquid full at 60 °C. The test pressure of the pressure receptacle must be equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the liquid at 65 °C. (3) For high pressure liquefied gases or gas mixtures...

49 CFR 173.304b - Additional requirements for shipment of liquefied compressed gases in UN pressure receptacles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... or equal to 95 percent of the liquid phase at 50 °C. In addition, the UN pressure receptacle may not be liquid full at 60 °C. The test pressure of the pressure receptacle must be equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the liquid at 65 °C. (3) For high pressure liquefied gases or gas mixtures...

49 CFR 173.304b - Additional requirements for shipment of liquefied compressed gases in UN pressure receptacles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... or equal to 95 percent of the liquid phase at 50 °C. In addition, the UN pressure receptacle may not be liquid full at 60 °C. The test pressure of the pressure receptacle must be equal to or greater than the vapor pressure of the liquid at 65 °C. (3) For high pressure liquefied gases or gas mixtures...

Screening level mixture risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in STP effluents.

PubMed

Backhaus, Thomas; Karlsson, Maja

2014-02-01

We modeled the ecotoxicological risks of the pharmaceutical mixtures emitted from STP effluents into the environment. The classic mixture toxicity concept of Concentration Addition was used to calculate the total expected risk of the analytically determined mixtures, compare the expected impact of seven effluent streams and pinpoint the most sensitive group of species. The risk quotient of a single, randomly selected pharmaceutical is often more than a factor of 1000 lower than the mixture risk, clearly indicating the need to systematically analyse the overall risk of all pharmaceuticals present. The MCR, which is the ratio between the most risky compound and the total mixture risk, varies between 1.2 and 4.2, depending on the actual scenario and species group under consideration. The mixture risk quotients, based on acute data and an assessment factor of 1000, regularly exceed 1, indicating a potential risk for the environment, depending on the dilution in the recipient stream. The top 10 mixture components explain more than 95% of the mixture risk in all cases. A mixture toxicity assessment cannot go beyond the underlying single substance data. The lack of data on the chronic toxicity of most pharmaceuticals as well as the very few data available for in vivo fish toxicity has to be regarded as a major knowledge gap in this context. On the other hand, ignoring Independent Action or even using the sum of individual risk quotients as a rough approximation of Concentration Addition does not have a major impact on the final risk estimate. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of an equality constraint on the class-specific residual variances in regression mixtures: A Monte Carlo simulation study.

PubMed

Kim, Minjung; Lamont, Andrea E; Jaki, Thomas; Feaster, Daniel; Howe, George; Van Horn, M Lee

2016-06-01

Regression mixture models are a novel approach to modeling the heterogeneous effects of predictors on an outcome. In the model-building process, often residual variances are disregarded and simplifying assumptions are made without thorough examination of the consequences. In this simulation study, we investigated the impact of an equality constraint on the residual variances across latent classes. We examined the consequences of constraining the residual variances on class enumeration (finding the true number of latent classes) and on the parameter estimates, under a number of different simulation conditions meant to reflect the types of heterogeneity likely to exist in applied analyses. The results showed that bias in class enumeration increased as the difference in residual variances between the classes increased. Also, an inappropriate equality constraint on the residual variances greatly impacted on the estimated class sizes and showed the potential to greatly affect the parameter estimates in each class. These results suggest that it is important to make assumptions about residual variances with care and to carefully report what assumptions are made.

Phase equillibria and solidification behaviour in the vanillin- p-anisidine system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, N. B.; Das, S. S.; Gupta, Preeti; Dwivedi, M. K.

2008-12-01

Phase diagram of the vanillin- p-anisidine system has been studied by the thaw melt method. Congruent melting-type phase diagram exhibiting two eutectic points was obtained. Vanillin and p-anisidine react in 1:1 M ratio and form N-(4-methoxy phenyl)-4-hydroxy-3-methoxy phenyl methanimine (NHM) and water. Heats of fusion of pure components and the eutectic mixtures ( E1 and E2) were obtained from DSC studies. Jackson's roughness parameters ( α) were calculated. Excess Gibbs free energy ( GE), excess entropy ( SE) and excess enthalpy ( HE) of mixing of pre-, post- and eutectic mixtures were also calculated by using activity coefficient data. Linear velocities of solidification of components and eutectic mixtures were determined at different undercoolings. The values of excess thermodynamic functions and linear velocity data have indicated the non-ideal nature of the eutectic mixtures. Interaction energies in the gaseous state, calculated from computer simulation, have also indicated that the eutectics are non-ideal mixtures. Microstructural studies of vanillin, p-anisidine and NHM show the formation of broken lamellar type structures. However, for the eutectic E1, an irregular type and for the eutectic E2, a lamellar type structures were obtained. The effect of impurity on the microstructures of eutectic mixtures was also studied.

Profilometric analysis of two composite resins' surface repolished after tooth brush abrasion with three polishing systems.

PubMed

Uppal, Mudit; Ganesh, Arathi; Balagopal, Suresh; Kaur, Gurleen

2013-07-01

To evaluate the effect of three polishing protocols that could be implemented at recall on the surface roughness of two direct esthetic restorative materials. Specimens (n = 40) measuring 8 mm (length) × 5 mm (width) × 4 mm (height) were fabricated in an acrylic mold using two light-cured resin-based materials (microfilled composite and microhybrid composite). After photopolymerization, all specimens were finished and polished with one of three polishing protocols (Enhance, One Gloss, and Sof-Lex polishing systems). The average surface roughness of each treated specimen was determined using 3D optical profilometer. Next all specimens were brushed 60,000 times with nylon bristles at 7200 rpm using crosshead brushing device with equal parts of toothpaste and water used as abrasive medium. The surface roughness of each specimen was measured after brushing followed by repolishing with one of three polishing protocols, and then, the final surface roughness values were determined. The data were analyzed using one-way and two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD). Significant difference (P < 0.05) in surface roughness was observed. Simulated brushing following initial polishing procedure significantly roughened the surface of restorative material (P < 0.05). Polishing protocols can be used to restore a smooth surface on esthetic restorative materials following simulated tooth brushing.

Etidronate from Medicine to Endodontics: effects of different irrigation regimes on root dentin roughness

PubMed Central

TARTARI, Talita; DUARTE JUNIOR, Anivaldo Pereira; SILVA JÚNIOR, José Otávio Carrera; KLAUTAU, Eliza Burlamaqui; SILVA E SOUZA JUNIOR, Mario Honorato; SILVA E SOUZA, Patrícia de Almeida Rodrigues

2013-01-01

An increase in dentin roughness, associated with surface composition, contributes to bacterial adherence in recontaminations. Surface roughness is also important for micromechanical interlocking of dental materials to dentin, and understanding the characteristics of the surface is essential to obtain the adhesion of root canal sealers that have different physico-chemical characteristics. Objectives To evaluate the effects of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), ethylenediaminetetraacetic (EDTA), etidronic (HEBP), and citric acid (CA) associated with different irrigation regimens on root dentin roughness. Material and Methods Forty-five root halves of anterior teeth were used. The root parts were sectioned in thirds, embedded in acrylic resin and polished to a standard surface roughness. Initially, the samples of each third were randomly assigned into 3 groups and treated as follows: G1 - saline solution (control); G2 - 5% NaOCl+18% HEBP mixed in equal parts; and G3 - 2.5% NaOCl. After initial measuments, the G3 samples were distributed into subgroups G4, G5 and G6, which were subjected to 17% EDTA, 10% CA and 9% HEBP, respectively. Following the new measuments, these groups received a final flush with 2.5% NaOCl, producing G7, G8 and G9. The dentin surface roughness (Ra) was determined before and after treatments using a profilometer. The Wilcoxon test (α<0.05) was used to compare the values before and after treatments, and the Friedman test (α<0.05) to detect any differences among root thirds. Results (i) NaOCl did not affect the surface roughness; (ii) there was a significant increase in roughness after the use of chelating agents (P<0.01); and (iii) only the G3 group showed a difference in surface roughness between apical third and other thirds of the teeth (P<0.0043). Conclusion Only the irrigation regimens that used chelating agents altered the roughness of root dentin. PMID:24212986

Etidronate from medicine to endodontics: effects of different irrigation regimes on root dentin roughness.

PubMed

Tartari, Talita; Duarte Junior, Anivaldo Pereira; Silva Júnior, José Otávio Carrera; Klautau, Eliza Burlamaqui; Silva E Souza Junior, Mario Honorato; Silva E Souza Junior, Patrícia de Almeida Rodrigues

2013-01-01

An increase in dentin roughness, associated with surface composition, contributes to bacterial adherence in recontaminations. Surface roughness is also important for micromechanical interlocking of dental materials to dentin, and understanding the characteristics of the surface is essential to obtain the adhesion of root canal sealers that have different physico-chemical characteristics. To evaluate the effects of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), ethylenediaminetetraacetic (EDTA), etidronic (HEBP), and citric acid (CA) associated with different irrigation regimens on root dentin roughness. Forty-five root halves of anterior teeth were used. The root parts were sectioned in thirds, embedded in acrylic resin and polished to a standard surface roughness. Initially, the samples of each third were randomly assigned into 3 groups and treated as follows: G1 - saline solution (control); G2 - 5% NaOCl+18% HEBP mixed in equal parts; and G3 - 2.5% NaOCl. After initial measuments, the G3 samples were distributed into subgroups G4, G5 and G6, which were subjected to 17% EDTA, 10% CA and 9% HEBP, respectively. Following the new measuments, these groups received a final flush with 2.5% NaOCl, producing G7, G8 and G9. The dentin surface roughness (Ra) was determined before and after treatments using a profilometer. The Wilcoxon test (α<0.05) was used to compare the values before and after treatments, and the Friedman test (α<0.05) to detect any differences among root thirds. (i) NaOCl did not affect the surface roughness; (ii) there was a significant increase in roughness after the use of chelating agents (P<0.01); and (iii) only the G3 group showed a difference in surface roughness between apical third and other thirds of the teeth (P<0.0043). Only the irrigation regimens that used chelating agents altered the roughness of root dentin.

Investigation of efflorescence of inorganic aerosols using fluorescence spectroscopy.

PubMed

Choi, Man Yee; Chan, Chak K

2005-02-17

The phase transition is one of the most fundamental phenomena affecting the physical and chemical properties of atmospheric aerosols. Efflorescence, in particular, is not well understood, partly because the molecular interactions between the solute and water molecules of saturated or supersaturated solution droplets have not been well characterized. Recently, we developed a technique that combines the use of an electrodynamic balance and a fluorescence dye, 8-hydroxyl-1,3,6-pyrenetrisulfonate (pyranine), to study the distributions of solvated and free water in aqueous droplets (Choi, M. Y.; Chan, C. K.; Zhang, Y. H. J. Phys. Chem. A 2004, 108, 1133). We found that the equality of the amounts of solvated and free water is a necessary but not sufficient condition for efflorescence. For efflorescing compounds such as Na2SO4, (NH4)2SO4, and a mixture of NaCl and Na2SO4, the amount of free water decreases, while that of solvated water is roughly constant in bulk measurements and decreases less dramatically than that of free water in single-particle measurements as the relative humidity (RH) decreases. Efflorescence of the supersaturated droplets of these solutions occurs when the amounts of free and solvated water are equal, which is consistent with our previous observation for NaCl. For nonefflorescing compounds in single-particle levitation experiments such as MgSO4 and Mg(NO3)2, the amounts of free and solvated water are equal at a water-to-solute molar ratio of about 6, at which spectral changes due to the formation of contact ion pairs between magnesium and the anions occur as shown by Raman spectroscopy. Fluorescence imaging shows that the droplets of diluted Mg(NO3)2 (at 80% RH) and MgSO4 are homogeneous but those of NaCl, Na2SO4, (NH4)2SO4, and supersaturated Mg(NO3)2 (at 10% RH) are heterogeneous in terms of the solvated-to-free water distribution. The solvated-to-free water ratios in NaCl, Na2SO4, and (NH4)2SO4 droplets are higher in the outer regions by about half a radius deep than at the center of the droplets.

Effects of plaque lengths on stent surface roughness.

PubMed

Syaifudin, Achmad; Takeda, Ryo; Sasaki, Katsuhiko

2015-01-01

The physical properties of the stent surface influence the effectiveness of vascular disease treatment after stent deployment. During the expanding process, the stent acquires high-level deformation that could alter either its microstructure or the magnitude of surface roughness. This paper constructed a finite element simulation to observe the changes in surface roughness during the stenting process. Structural transient dynamic analysis was performed using ANSYS, to identify the deformation after the stent is placed in a blood vessel. Two types of bare metal stents are studied: a Palmaz type and a Sinusoidal type. The relationship between plaque length and the changes in surface roughness was investigated by utilizing three different length of plaque; plaque length longer than the stent, shorter than the stent and the same length as the stent. In order to reduce computational time, 3D cyclical and translational symmetry was implemented into the FE model. The material models used was defined as a multilinear isotropic for stent and hyperelastic for the balloon, plaque and vessel wall. The correlation between the plastic deformation and the changes in surface roughness was obtained by intermittent pure tensile test using specimen whose chemical composition was similar to that of actual stent material. As the plastic strain is achieved from FE simulation, the surface roughness can be assessed thoroughly. The study found that the plaque size relative to stent length significantly influenced the critical changes in surface roughness. It was found that the length of stent which is equal to the plaque length was preferable due to the fact that it generated only moderate change in surface roughness. This effect was less influential to the Sinusoidal stent.

Relationship between the cohesion of guest particles on the flow behaviour of interactive mixtures.

PubMed

Mangal, Sharad; Gengenbach, Thomas; Millington-Smith, Doug; Armstrong, Brian; Morton, David A V; Larson, Ian

2016-05-01

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects cohesion of small surface-engineered guest binder particles on the flow behaviour of interactive mixtures. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) - a model pharmaceutical binder - was spray-dried with varying l-leucine feed concentrations to create small surface-engineered binder particles with varying cohesion. These spray-dried formulations were characterised by their particle size distribution, morphology and cohesion. Interactive mixtures were produced by blending these spray-dried formulations with paracetamol. The resultant blends were visualised under scanning electron microscope to confirm formation of interactive mixtures. Surface coverage of paracetamol by guest particles as well as the flow behaviour of these mixtures were examined. The flow performance of interactive mixtures was evaluated using measurements of conditioned bulk density, basic flowability energy, aeration energy and compressibility. With higher feed l-leucine concentrations, the surface roughness of small binder particles increased, while their cohesion decreased. Visual inspection of the SEM images of the blends indicated that the guest particles adhered to the surface of paracetamol resulting in effective formation of interactive mixtures. These images also showed that the low-cohesion guest particles were better de-agglomerated that consequently formed a more homogeneous interactive mixture with paracetamol compared with high-cohesion formulations. The flow performance of interactive mixtures changed as a function of the cohesion of the guest particles. Interactive mixtures with low-cohesion guest binder particles showed notably improved bulk flow performance compared with those containing high-cohesion guest binder particles. Thus, our study suggests that the cohesion of guest particles dictates the flow performance of interactive mixtures. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Adsorption process to recover hydrogen from feed gas mixtures having low hydrogen concentration

DOEpatents

Golden, Timothy Christopher; Weist, Jr., Edward Landis; Hufton, Jeffrey Raymond; Novosat, Paul Anthony

2010-04-13

A process for selectively separating hydrogen from at least one more strongly adsorbable component in a plurality of adsorption beds to produce a hydrogen-rich product gas from a low hydrogen concentration feed with a high recovery rate. Each of the plurality of adsorption beds subjected to a repetitive cycle. The process comprises an adsorption step for producing the hydrogen-rich product from a feed gas mixture comprising 5% to 50% hydrogen, at least two pressure equalization by void space gas withdrawal steps, a provide purge step resulting in a first pressure decrease, a blowdown step resulting in a second pressure decrease, a purge step, at least two pressure equalization by void space gas introduction steps, and a repressurization step. The second pressure decrease is at least 2 times greater than the first pressure decrease.

A systematic analysis of eight decades of incipient motion studies, with special reference to gravel-bedded rivers

Treesearch

John M. Buffington; David R. Montgomery

1997-01-01

Data compiled from eight decades of incipient motion studies were used to calculate dimensionless critical shear stress values of the median grain size, T*c50. Calculated T*c50 values were stratified by initial motion definition, median grain size type (surface, subsurface, or laboratory mixture), relative roughness, and flow regime. A traditional Shields plot...

Stupidity, Sloth and Public Policy: Social Darwinism Rides Again.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Bernard C.

This paper identifies and analyzes some of the arguments employed by those who feel that "we have done enough" for the less fortunate members of society, who wish to curtail or end Federal involvement in social change, and who have lost sight of the dual goals of individualism and equality of opportunity. These arguments fall roughly into three…

Dynamics of Electron Transfer for a Nonsuperexchange Coherent Mechanism. I

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-13

observation. In the treatment three collective nuclear coordinates are introduced, permitting independent reorganization energies for each reactive center... nuclear coordinates are introduced, permitting independent reorganization energies for each reactive center. With certain approximations, namely, equal...numerically. One rough but simple analytical result for the latter is also given. tPresent address: Departmento de Quimica , Facultad de Ciencias

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Catherine; Corbett, Christianne; St. Rose, Andresse

2010-01-01

The number of women in science and engineering is growing, yet men continue to outnumber women, especially at the upper levels of these professions. In elementary, middle, and high school, girls and boys take math and science courses in roughly equal numbers, and about as many girls as boys leave high school prepared to pursue science and…

EFL Foreign Teacher Stress in Korea: Causes and Coping Mechanisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brundage, Gregory C.

2007-01-01

Survey study of 53 foreign EFL teachers in Jeonju City, South Korea looks at causes of teacher stress and coping mechanisms between the years of 2004 and 2006. Results show foreign EFL teachers report moderate levels of stress and attribute stresses in roughly equal measures to student misbehavior and school director/administrative sources. Survey…

Naratriptan hydrochloride in extemporaneosly compounded oral suspensions.

PubMed

Zhang, Y P; Trissel, L A; Fox, J L

2000-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmaceutical acceptability and chemical stability of naratriptan hydrochloride in three extemporaneously compounded suspension formulations. The naratriptan-hydrochloride oral suspensions were prepared from 2.5-mg commercial tablets yielding a nominal naratriptan concentration of 0.5 mg/mL. The suspension vehicles selected for testing were Syrpalta, an equal-parts mixture of Ora-Plus and Ora-Sweet, and an equal-parts mixture of Ora-Plus and Ora-Sweet SF. The tablets were crushed and thoroughly triturated to a fine powder using a porcelain mortar and pestle. The powder was incorporated into a portion of the Syrpalta or Ora-Plus suspension vehicle and mixed until homogeneous. The mixtures were then brought to volume with Syrpalta, Ora-Sweet or Ora-Sweet SF, as appropriate. The suspensions were packaged in amber, plastic, screw-cap prescription bottles and stored at 23 deg C for seven days and 4 deg C for 90 days. An adequate suspension was never achieved in Syrpalta. The crushed-tablet powder did not produce a uniformly dispersed mixture and exhibited clumping and a high rate of sedimentation. A distinct layer of the solid tablet material settled immediately after shaking. Over the next four hours, a densely packed, yellow, caked layer formed at the bottom of the containers, making resuspension difficult. During storage, the caking became worse. Chemical analysis was not performed. The Ora-Plus and Ora-Sweet or Ora-Sweet SF suspensions had a slight greenish cast and were resuspended without difficulty by shaking for approximately ten seconds, yielding easily poured and homogeneous mixtures throughout the study. Visible settling and layering did not begin for four hours with the Ora-Sweet suspension and 24 hours for the Ora-Sweet SF suspension. High pressure liquid chromatographic analysis found that the naratriptan concentration in both suspension-vehicle combinations exhibited little or no loss for seven days at 23 deg C and 90 days at 4 deg C. At least 96% of the inital concentration remained at all time points. Naratriptan hydrochloride extemporaneously prepared as oral suspensions from tablets in equal-parts mixtures of Ora-Plus suspension vehicle with Ora-Sweet and with Ora-Sweet SF syrups was pharmaceutically acceptable and chemically stable for at least seven days at 23 deg C and 90 days at 4 deg C. Syrpalta was unacceptable for use as a vehicle for naratriptan hydrochloride suspensions prepared from tablets.

Propagation of a turbidity current in confined geometries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silvestre, Nuno; Salgueiro, Dora; Franca, Mário J.; Ferreira, Rui M. L.

2017-04-01

Sedimentation in reservoirs due to turbidity currents originates problems of loss of storage capacity as well as clogging of outlets/intakes. These currents are driven by the difference in specific weight between the current itself and the surrounding fluid, due to the presence of particles in suspension. As a gravity current, the main properties of these phenomena has been investigated by several authors since the 1970´s. Despite driven by a simple mechanism, the propagation of these currents can become more complex owing to the influence of factors such as geometry, bed roughness and other non-uniform elements. However, the majority of conducted studies has been focused in characterising only the influence of density imbalance. The propagation of a density current in confined geometries and the influence of bed roughness is herein investigated, through laboratory experiments carried out at the Laboratory of Hydraulics and Environment of Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon. The density currents were generated with brine to allow for visualization and velocity measurement. The laboratory experiments comprised point and continuous release of a dense NaCl mixture with a tracer (Rhodamine WT), with a density equal to 1028 g/L, into a tank with resting freshwater (1000 g/L). The transport and the mixing processes were recorded with high-speed video. The mass distribution was obtained through a photometric methodology and the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to measure the instantaneous flow velocity fields and the depth of the density current. Both methodologies were used to measure different plan views of the phenomena, including profile and top views, for different regions, near-field and far-field. Different bed roughness were studied, including smooth and rough bed. The facility was designed with the objective to generate a complex 2D flow with an advancing wave front but also shocks reflected from the walls. As the image analysis technique provided high-resolution images, the front velocity in the far field was tracked with an algorithm that captured its geometry with great accuracy (including, for instance, the lobe and cleft formation). The temporal analysis of the velocity signal revealed great "oscillations" that are beyond the scale/influence of the irregularity of lobes and clefts. This sloshing effect is assessed and discussed. The results obtained provide data with high spatial and temporal resolution that can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in such flows. Thus, these results can be used for a proper modelling and the development of mitigation measures against the adverse effects of density currents. This research was partially supported by Portuguese and European funds, within programs COMPETE2020 and PORL-FEDER, through project PTDC/ECM-HID/6387/2014 granted by the National Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Refined BCF-type boundary conditions for mesoscale surface step dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Renjie; Ackerman, David M.; Evans, James W.

Deposition on a vicinal surface with alternating rough and smooth steps is described by a solid-on-solid model with anisotropic interactions. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of the model reveal step pairing in the absence of any additional step attachment barriers. We explore the description of this behavior within an analytic Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF)-type step dynamics treatment. Without attachment barriers, conventional kinetic coefficients for the rough and smooth steps are identical, as are the predicted step velocities for a vicinal surface with equal terrace widths. However, we determine refined kinetic coefficients from a two-dimensional discrete deposition-diffusion equation formalism which accounts for stepmore » structure. These coefficients are generally higher for rough steps than for smooth steps, reflecting a higher propensity for capture of diffusing terrace adatoms due to a higher kink density. Such refined coefficients also depend on the local environment of the step and can even become negative (corresponding to net detachment despite an excess adatom density) for a smooth step in close proximity to a rough step. Incorporation of these refined kinetic coefficients into a BCF-type step dynamics treatment recovers quantitatively the mesoscale step-pairing behavior observed in the KMC simulations.« less

Refined BCF-type boundary conditions for mesoscale surface step dynamics

DOE PAGES

Zhao, Renjie; Ackerman, David M.; Evans, James W.

2015-06-24

Deposition on a vicinal surface with alternating rough and smooth steps is described by a solid-on-solid model with anisotropic interactions. Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of the model reveal step pairing in the absence of any additional step attachment barriers. We explore the description of this behavior within an analytic Burton-Cabrera-Frank (BCF)-type step dynamics treatment. Without attachment barriers, conventional kinetic coefficients for the rough and smooth steps are identical, as are the predicted step velocities for a vicinal surface with equal terrace widths. However, we determine refined kinetic coefficients from a two-dimensional discrete deposition-diffusion equation formalism which accounts for stepmore » structure. These coefficients are generally higher for rough steps than for smooth steps, reflecting a higher propensity for capture of diffusing terrace adatoms due to a higher kink density. Such refined coefficients also depend on the local environment of the step and can even become negative (corresponding to net detachment despite an excess adatom density) for a smooth step in close proximity to a rough step. Incorporation of these refined kinetic coefficients into a BCF-type step dynamics treatment recovers quantitatively the mesoscale step-pairing behavior observed in the KMC simulations.« less

Molecular Biology of Proteins Acting in Immune Response Mechanisms

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

Studies of the bigsynthesis and processing of LAMP-i and LAMP-2 by pulse -labeling with [ S]methionine showed that the proteins were synthesized as...about Mr 90,000, and post-translationally processed by the addition of a heterogeneous mixture of complex-type oligosaccharides to form mature...centrifugation, and analysis of oligosaccharide processing (D’Souza et -l., 1986). Synthesis and glycosylation of the core polypeptide in the rough

Effect of applied voltage on surface properties of anodised titanium in mixture of β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) and calcium acetate (CA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuan, Lee Te; Rathi, Muhammad Fareez Mohamad; Abidin, Muhamad Yusuf Zainal; Abdullah, Hasan Zuhudi; Idris, Maizlinda Izwana

2015-07-01

Anodic oxidation is a surface modification method which combines electric field driven metal and oxygen ion diffusion for formation of oxide layer on the anode surface. This method has been widely used to modify the surface morphology of biomaterial especially titanium. This study aimed to investigate the effect of applied voltage on titanium. Specifically, the titanium foil was anodised in mixture of β-glycerophosphate disodium salt pentahydrate (β-GP) and calcium acetate monohydrate (CA) with different applied voltage (50-350 V), electrolyte concentration (0.04 M β-GP + 0.4 M CA), anodising time (10minutes) and current density (50 and 70 mA.cm-2) at room temperature. Surface oxide properties of anodised titanium were characterised by digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR camera), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). At lower applied voltage (≤150 V), surface of titanium foils were relatively smooth. With increasing applied voltage (≥250 V), the oxide layer became more porous and donut-shaped pores were formed on the surface of titanium foils. The AFM results indicated that the surface roughness of anodised titanium increases with increasing of applied voltage. The porous and rough surface is able to promote the osseointegration and reduce the suffering time of patient.

Surface roughness of polyvinyl siloxane impression materials following chemical disinfection, autoclave and microwave sterilization.

PubMed

Al Kheraif, Abdulaziz Abdullah

2013-05-01

Autoclave sterilization and microwave sterilization has been suggested as the effective methods for the disinfection of elastomeric impressions, but subjecting elastomeric impressions to extreme temperature may have adverse effects on critical properties of the elastomers. To evaluate the effect of chemical disinfection as well as autoclave and microwave sterilization on the surface roughness of elastomeric impression materials. The surface roughness of five commercially available polyvinyl siloxane impression materials (Coltene President, Affinis Perfect impression, Aquasil, 3M ESPE Express and GC Exafast) were evaluated after subjecting them to chemical disinfection, autoclaving and microwave sterilization using a Talysurf Intra 50 instrument. Twenty specimens from each material were fabricated and divided into four equal groups, three experimental and one control (n=25). The differences in the mean surface roughness between the treatment groups were recorded and statistically analyzed. No statistically significant increase in the surface roughness was observed when the specimens were subjected to chemical disinfection and autoclave sterilization, increase in roughness and discoloration was observed in all the materials when specimens were subjected to microwave sterilization. Chemical disinfection did not have a significant effect but, since it is less effective, autoclave sterilization can be considered effective and autoclaving did not show any specimen discoloration as in microwave sterilization. Microwave sterilization may be considered when impressions are used to make diagnostic casts. A significant increase in surface roughness may produce rougher casts, resulting in rougher tissue surfaces for denture and cast restorations. Autoclave sterilization of vinyl polysiloxane elastomeric impressions for 5 minutes at 134°C at 20 psi may be considered an effective method over chemical disinfection and microwave sterilization, because chemical disinfection does not eliminate all disease-causing microorganisms and microwave sterilization leads to a rougher impression surface.

Effect of resin infiltration and microabrasion on the microhardness, surface roughness and morphology of incipient carious lesions.

PubMed

Yazkan, Basak; Ermis, R Banu

2018-02-15

The effects of resin infiltration and microabrasion on incipient carious lesions by surface microhardness, roughness and morphological assessments, and resistance to further acid attack of treated lesions were evaluated. Eighty artificially-induced incipient lesions were randomly divided into five groups (n = 16): resin infiltration with an adhesive resin (Excite F, Ivoclar Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein), resin infiltration with a resin infiltrant (Icon, DMG, Hamburg, Germany), microabrasion without polishing (Opalustre, Ultradent, South Jordan, UT, USA), microabrasion with polishing (Opalustre, Ultradent, Diamond Excel, FGM, Joinville, SC, Brazil), and distilled water (control group). All specimens were exposed to demineralization for another 10 d. Microhardness, roughness and morphological assessments were done at baseline, following initial demineralization, treatment and further demineralization. Data were analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman's and Bonferroni tests (p < .05). Enamel lesions treated with resin infiltrant and microabrasion demonstrated similar hardness values, with a nonsignificant difference compared with sound enamel. Resin infiltration demonstrated lower roughness values than those of microabrasion, and the values did not reach the values of sound enamel. Further demineralization for 10 d did not affect the hardness but increased the roughness of infiltrated and microabraded enamel surfaces. Polishing did not influence the roughness of microabraded enamel surfaces. After resin infiltration, porosities on enamel were sealed completely. The surface structure was similar to that of the enamel conditioning pattern for microabraded enamel lesions. Within the limitations of this study, the icon infiltration and microabrasion technique appeared to be effective for improving microhardness. Icon appeared to provide reduced roughness, although not equal to sound enamel. Further research is needed to elucidate their clinical relevance.

Text-Messaging Practices and Links to General Spelling Skill: A Study of Australian Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bushnell, Catherine; Kemp, Nenagh; Martin, Frances Heritage

2011-01-01

This study investigated 10- to 12-year-old Australian children's text-messaging practices and their relationship to traditional spelling ability. Of the 227 children tested, 82% reported sending text-messages; a median of 5 per day. Use of predictive and multi-press entry methods was roughly equal. Children produced a wide range of text-message…

Second Language Listening Instruction: Comparing a Strategies-Based Approach with an Interactive, Strategies/Bottom-Up Skills Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeldham, Michael

2016-01-01

This quasi-experimental study compared a strategies approach to second language listening instruction with an interactive approach, one combining a roughly equal balance of strategies and bottom-up skills. The participants were lower-intermediate-level Taiwanese university EFL learners, who were taught for 22 hours over one and a half semesters.…

Effective Student Teams for Collaborative Learning in an Introductory University Physics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harlow, Jason J. B.; Harrison, David M.; Meyertholen, Andrew

2016-01-01

We have studied the types of student teams that are most effective for collaborative learning in a large freshman university physics course. We compared teams in which the students were all of roughly equal ability to teams with a mix of student abilities, we compared teams with three members to teams with four members, and we examined teams with…

Thermal-Work Strain and Energy Expenditure during Marine Rifle Squad Operations in Afghanistan (August 2013)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-10

value of 1 is equal to 0.155 K•m2/W [2] and roughly equivalent (Itot,clo = 1.17 clo) to wearing an ensemble including men’s underwear briefs, khaki...sniper fire , securing weapon caches, and an IED explosion. In fact, mean mission physiological data were similar to mean data for non-mission days

Shock tube measurements of growth constants in the branched chain formaldehyde-carbon monoxide-oxygen system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brabbs, T. A.; Brokaw, R. S.

1982-01-01

Exponential free radical growth constants were measured for formaldehyde carbon monoxide-oxygen systems by monitoring the growth of oxygen atom concentration as manifested by CO flame band emission. Data were obtained over the temperature range of 1200 to 2000 K. The data were analyzed using a formaldehyde oxidation mechanism involving 12 elementary reaction steps. The computed growth constants are roughly in accord with experimental values, but are much more temperature dependent. The data was also analyzed assuming formaldehyde is rapidly decomposed to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Growth constants computed for the resulting carbon monoxide hydrogen oxygen mixtures have a temperature dependence similar to experiments; however, for most mixtures, the computed growth constants were larger than experimental values.

Change in surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials after exposure to different immersion regimes in a cola drink.

PubMed

Bajwa, Navroop Kaur; Pathak, Anuradha

2014-01-01

Context. An in vitro study carried out to evaluate and compare the effect of Cola drink on surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials. Purpose. To compare the effect of different immersion regimes in a Cola drink on surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials. Method. Two hundred samples were grouped into 4 equal groups of 50 samples each: Group I: conventional glass ionomer, Group II: resin modified glass ionomer, Group III: polyacid-modified resin composite, Group IV: Composite resin. Each group was further subdivided into 5 subgroups of 10 samples each. Subgroup A (Control Subgroup). Samples were kept immersed in artificial saliva. Subgroup B. Samples were immersed in Cola drink once a day. Subgroup C. Samples were immersed in Cola drink, 3 times a day. Subgroup D. Samples were immersed in Cola drink 5 times a day. Subgroup E. Samples were immersed in Cola drink 10 times a day. Each immersion lasted 5 minutes. The immersion protocol was repeated for 7 days. Results. Maximum surface roughness was seen in Group I conventional glass ionomer cement, followed by Group II resin modified glass ionomer, Group III polyacid modified resin composite, and Group IV composite resin samples. Conclusion. Resistance to change in surface roughness is more in resin based restorative materials as compared to glass ionomer based materials.

Change in Surface Roughness of Esthetic Restorative Materials after Exposure to Different Immersion Regimes in a Cola Drink

PubMed Central

Bajwa, Navroop Kaur; Pathak, Anuradha

2014-01-01

Context. An in vitro study carried out to evaluate and compare the effect of Cola drink on surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials. Purpose. To compare the effect of different immersion regimes in a Cola drink on surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials. Method. Two hundred samples were grouped into 4 equal groups of 50 samples each: Group I: conventional glass ionomer, Group II: resin modified glass ionomer, Group III: polyacid-modified resin composite, Group IV: Composite resin. Each group was further subdivided into 5 subgroups of 10 samples each. Subgroup A (Control Subgroup). Samples were kept immersed in artificial saliva. Subgroup B. Samples were immersed in Cola drink once a day. Subgroup C. Samples were immersed in Cola drink, 3 times a day. Subgroup D. Samples were immersed in Cola drink 5 times a day. Subgroup E. Samples were immersed in Cola drink 10 times a day. Each immersion lasted 5 minutes. The immersion protocol was repeated for 7 days. Results. Maximum surface roughness was seen in Group I conventional glass ionomer cement, followed by Group II resin modified glass ionomer, Group III polyacid modified resin composite, and Group IV composite resin samples. Conclusion. Resistance to change in surface roughness is more in resin based restorative materials as compared to glass ionomer based materials. PMID:25006464

Thermodynamic properties of model CdTe/CdSe mixtures

DOE PAGES

van Swol, Frank; Zhou, Xiaowang W.; Challa, Sivakumar R.; ...

2015-02-20

We report on the thermodynamic properties of binary compound mixtures of model groups II–VI semiconductors. We use the recently introduced Stillinger–Weber Hamiltonian to model binary mixtures of CdTe and CdSe. We use molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the volume and enthalpy of mixing as a function of mole fraction. The lattice parameter of the mixture closely follows Vegard's law: a linear relation. This implies that the excess volume is a cubic function of mole fraction. A connection is made with hard sphere models of mixed fcc and zincblende structures. We found that the potential energy exhibits a positive deviation frommore » ideal soluton behaviour; the excess enthalpy is nearly independent of temperatures studied (300 and 533 K) and is well described by a simple cubic function of the mole fraction. Using a regular solution approach (combining non-ideal behaviour for the enthalpy with ideal solution behaviour for the entropy of mixing), we arrive at the Gibbs free energy of the mixture. The Gibbs free energy results indicate that the CdTe and CdSe mixtures exhibit phase separation. The upper consolute temperature is found to be 335 K. Finally, we provide the surface energy as a function of composition. Moreover, it roughly follows ideal solution theory, but with a negative deviation (negative excess surface energy). This indicates that alloying increases the stability, even for nano-particles.« less

Composite resins in the 21st century.

PubMed

Willems, G; Lambrechts, P; Braem, M; Vanherle, G

1993-09-01

Human enamel and dentin should be used as the physiologic standards with which to compare composite resins, especially in the posterior region. The intrinsic surface roughness of composite resins must be equal to or lower than the surface roughness of human enamel on enamel-to-enamel occlusal contact areas (Ra = 0.64 microns). Roughness determines the biologic strength of composite resins. The nanoindentation hardness value of the filler particles (2.91 to 8.84 GPa) must not be higher than that of the hydroxyapatite crystals of human enamel (3.39 GPa). Composite resins intended for posterior use should have a Young's modulus at least equal to, and preferably higher than, that of dentin (18.500 MPa). The compressive strength of enamel (384 MPa) and dentin (297 MPa) and the fracture strength of a natural tooth (molar = 305 MPa; premolar = 248 MPa) offer excellent mechanical standards to select the optimal strength for posterior composite resins. The in vivo occlusal contact area wear rate of composite resins must be comparable to the attritional enamel wear rate (about 39 microns/y) in molars. Differential wear between enamel and composite resin on the same tooth is a new criterion for visualizing and quantifying the wear resistance of composite resins in a biologic way. Posterior resins must have a radiographic opacity that is slightly in excess of that of human enamel (198% Al). Based on these standard criteria, it can be concluded that in the 21st century the ultrafine compact-filled composite resins may be the materials of choice for restoring posterior cavities.

Galactic hydrostatic equilibrium with magnetic tension and cosmic-ray diffusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boulares, Ahmed; Cox, Donald P.

1990-01-01

Three gravitational potentials differing in the content of dark matter in the Galactic plane are used to study the structure of the z-distribution of mass and pressure in the solar neighborhood. A P(0) of roughly (3.9 + or - 0.6) x 10 to the -12th dyn/sq cm is obtained, with roughly equal contributions from magnetic field, cosmic ray, and kinetic terms. This boundary condition restricts both the magnitude of gravity and the high z-pressure. It favors lower gravity and higher values for the cosmic ray, magnetic field, and probably the kinetic pressures than have been popular in the past. Inclusion of the warm H(+) distribution carries a significant mass component into the z about 1 kpc regime.

Effects of food texture change on metabolic parameters: short- and long-term feeding patterns and body weight.

PubMed

Labouré, H; Saux, S; Nicolaidis, S

2001-03-01

A complete diet was prepared with cooked pieces of meat, beans, cream starch, and water and presented to the rats in two different textures: a blended purée and a rough mixture that required a lot of chewing. We hypothesized that this texture modification might change both anticipatory reflexes and feeding behavior. Feeding rate, meal size, intermeal intervals, and their correlation were monitored in response to each texture. The long-term (6 wk) effect on body weight was assessed. Periprandial plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, and lipid concentrations were assayed. Whole and background metabolism, respiratory quotient, and locomotion were measured using a computerized calorimeter of original design. In the short term, rats preferred the mixture. However, after 3 wk, they ingested more purée than mixture and gained more body weight per gram of food ingested as purée. Insulin response declined earlier with the mixture. During meals, glycerol and free fatty acid increased earlier with purée, whereas in the postprandial period, glycerol increased earlier with mixture. The metabolic rate, however, was not significantly affected. We concluded that texture, an everyday manipulation performed on food for human consumption, affects not only palatability of ingestants but also their metabolic management in the short and long term.

Electrochemical Polishing Applications and EIS of a Vitamin B{sub 4}-Based Ionic Liquid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wixtrom, Alex I.; Buhler, Jessica E.; Reece, Charles E.

2013-01-01

Modern particle accelerators require minimal interior surface roughness for Niobium superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. Polishing of the Nb is currently achieved via electrochemical polishing with concentrated mixtures of sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids. This acid-based approach is effective at reducing the surface roughness to acceptable levels for SRF use, but due to acid-related hazards and extra costs (including safe disposal of used polishing solutions), an acid-free method would be preferable. This study focuses on an alternative electrochemical polishing method for Nb, using a novel ionic liquid solution containing choline chloride, also known as Vitamin B{sub 4} (VB{sub 4}). Potentiostatic electrochemicalmore » impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was also performed on the VB4-based system. Nb polished using the VB4-based method was found to have a final surface roughness comparable to that achieved via the acid-based method, as assessed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). These findings indicate that acid-free VB{sub 4}-based electrochemical polishing of Nb represents a promising replacement for acid-based methods of SRF cavity preparation.« less

The effect of surface waviness on friction between Neolite and quarry tiles.

PubMed

Chang, Wen-Ruey; Grönqvist, Raoul; Hirvonen, Mikko; Matz, Simon

2004-06-22

Friction is widely used as an indicator of surface slipperiness in preventing accidents in slips and falls. Surface texture affects friction, but it is not clear which surface characteristics are better correlated with friction. Highly correlated surface characteristics could be used as potential interventions to prevent slip and fall accidents. The dynamic friction between quarry tiles and a commonly used sole testing material, Neolite, using three different mixtures of glycerol and water as contaminants at the interface was correlated with the surface parameters of the tile surfaces. The surface texture was quantified with various surface roughness and surface waviness parameters using three different cut-off lengths to filter the measured profiles for obtaining the profiles of either surface roughness or surface waviness. The correlation coefficients between the surface parameters and the measured friction were affected by the glycerol contents and cut-off lengths. Surface waviness parameters could potentially be better indicators of friction than commonly used surface roughness parameters, especially when they were measured with commonly used cut-off lengths or when the viscosity of the liquid contaminant was high.

Superhydrophobic perfluoropolymer/polystyrene blend films induced by nonsolvent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gengec, Nevin Atalay; Cengiz, Ugur; Erbil, H. Yildirim

2016-10-01

Statistical copolymers of perfluoroalkyl ethyl acrylate (Zonyl-TAN) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were synthesized in a CO2 polymerization system where a CO2-expanded monomer mixture was formed at 13 MPa, and 80 °C by using AIBN as initiator. Flat and superhydrophobic surfaces were subsequently prepared on glass slides by applying a phase separation process where the synthesized p(TAN-co-MMA) copolymer and polystyrene (PS) were dissolved in THF solvent. Ethanol was added as the non-solvent to introduce superhydrophobicity during film formation. Water contact angle on the flat p(TAN-co-MMA) copolymer was 118° and increased up to 170° with the formation of surface roughness. The ratio of the ethanol non-solvent in the blend solution has an important effect on the magnitude of surface roughness during the phase separation process. Both pits and protrusions of 1-10 μm in size were formed on the surface when non-solvent was used. Surface roughness increased with the increase in the ethanol ratio and the PS content of the blend solution.

Evaluation of modified titanium surfaces physical and chemical characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukaszewska-Kuska, Magdalena; Leda, Bartosz; Gajdus, Przemyslaw; Hedzelek, Wieslaw

2017-11-01

Development of dental implantology is focused, among other things, on devising active surface of the implant, conditioning acceleration of the implant's integration with the bone. Increased roughness, characteristic for group of implants with developed surface, altered topography and chemically modified implant's surface determines increased implants stability. In this study four different titanium surfaces modifications: turned (TS); aluminium oxide-blasted (Al2O3); resorbable material blasted (RBM); sandblast and then etched with a mixture of acids (SAE), were evaluated in terms of surfaces topography and chemical composition prior to in vivo analysis. Topography analysis revealed two groups: one with smooth, anisotropic, undeveloped TS surface and the second group with remaining surfaces presenting rough, isotropic, developed surfaces with added during blasting procedure aluminium for Al2O3 and calcium and phosphorus for RBM. Physical and chemical modifications of titanium surface change its microstructure (typical for SAE) and increase its roughness (highest for Al2O3-blasted and RBM surfaces). The introduced modifications develop titanium surface - 10 times for SAE surfaces, 16 times for Al2O3-blasted surfaces, and 20 times for RBM surfaces.

A Binary Eutectic Mixture of TNAZ and R-Salt Explosives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandstrom, Mary; Manner, Virginia; Pemberton, Steven; Lloyd, Joseph; Tappan, Bryce

2011-06-01

TNAZ is a high performing explosive that is melt castable. However, the casting process can be problematic since TNAZ has a high vapor pressure exacerbated by a fairly high melting temperature. In order to mitigate the ill effects of its high vapor pressure, including a lower melting explosive was explored by making a series of mixtures of TNAZ and R-Salt. Initially, a eutectic temperature and composition was theoretically determined. Then a phase diagram was constructed from a series and mixtures by differential scanning calorimetery (DSC). The vapor pressure of the eutectic composition was determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Cylinder testing of the eutectic composition was carried out in copper tubes, 5'' long with 1/2 ``inner diameter and 1/16'' thick walls. The detonation velocity was measured using wire switches along the cylinder length and the expanding wall velocity was measured using PDV gauges. A rough evaluation of JWL equation-of-state parameters has been carried out. A more detailed evaluation is in progress.

Honeybees Learn Odour Mixtures via a Selection of Key Odorants

PubMed Central

Reinhard, Judith; Sinclair, Michael; Srinivasan, Mandyam V.; Claudianos, Charles

2010-01-01

Background The honeybee has to detect, process and learn numerous complex odours from her natural environment on a daily basis. Most of these odours are floral scents, which are mixtures of dozens of different odorants. To date, it is still unclear how the bee brain unravels the complex information contained in scent mixtures. Methodology/Principal Findings This study investigates learning of complex odour mixtures in honeybees using a simple olfactory conditioning procedure, the Proboscis-Extension-Reflex (PER) paradigm. Restrained honeybees were trained to three scent mixtures composed of 14 floral odorants each, and then tested with the individual odorants of each mixture. Bees did not respond to all odorants of a mixture equally: They responded well to a selection of key odorants, which were unique for each of the three scent mixtures. Bees showed less or very little response to the other odorants of the mixtures. The bees' response to mixtures composed of only the key odorants was as good as to the original mixtures of 14 odorants. A mixture composed of the other, non-key-odorants elicited a significantly lower response. Neither an odorant's volatility or molecular structure, nor learning efficiencies for individual odorants affected whether an odorant became a key odorant for a particular mixture. Odorant concentration had a positive effect, with odorants at high concentration likely to become key odorants. Conclusions/Significance Our study suggests that the brain processes complex scent mixtures by predominantly learning information from selected key odorants. Our observations on key odorant learning lend significant support to previous work on olfactory learning and mixture processing in honeybees. PMID:20161714

Formation of stationary alternate bars in a steep channel with mixed-size sediment: a flume experiment

Treesearch

Thomas E. Lisle; Hiroshi Ikeda; Fujiko Iseya

1991-01-01

Abstract - Alternate bars were formed by sediment transport in a flume with Froude-modelled flow and relative roughness characteristic of gravel-boulder channels with steep slopes. The flume (0.3 m wide x 7.5 m long) was filled with a sand-gravel mixture, which was also fed into the top of the flume at a constant rate under constant discharge. Channel slope was set at...

Articulated Suspension Without Springs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickler, Donald B.

1990-01-01

Wheels negotiate bumps and holes with minimal tilting of vehicle body. In new suspension, wheel climbs obstacle as high as 1 1/2 times its diameter without excessive tilting of chassis. Provides highly stable ride over rough ground for such vehicles as wheelchairs, military scout cars, and police and fire robots. System of levers distributes weight to wheels. Sized to distribute equal or other desired portions of load among wheels.

Parent-Child Quality Time: Does Birth Order Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Joseph

2008-01-01

Using data from the American Time Use Survey, I find that a first-born child receives 20-30 more minutes of quality time each day with his or her parent than a second-born child of the same age from a similar family. The birth-order difference results from parents giving roughly equal time to each child at any point in time while the amount of…

Recovery of anhydrous hydrogen iodide

DOEpatents

O'Keefe, Dennis R.; McCorkle, Jr., Kenneth H.; de Graaf, Johannes D.

1982-01-01

Relatively dry hydrogen iodide can be recovered from a mixture of HI, I.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O. After the composition of the mixture is adjusted so that the amounts of H.sub.2 O and I.sub.2 do not exceed certain maximum limits, subjection of the mixture to superatmospheric pressure in an amount equal to about the vapor pressure of HI at the temperature in question causes distinct liquid phases to appear. One of the liquid phases contains HI and not more than about 1 weight percent water. Often the adjustment in the composition will include the step of vaporization, and the distinct layers appear following the increase in pressure of the vapor mixture. Adjustment in the composition may also include the addition of an extraction agent, such as H.sub.3 PO.sub.4, and even though the adjusted composition mixture contains a significant amount of such an agent, the creation of the distinct liquid phases is not adversely affected.

Near-infrared spectral reflectance of mineral mixtures - Systematic combinations of pyroxenes, olivine, and iron oxides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singer, R. B.

1981-01-01

Near-infrared spectral reflectance data are presented for systematic variations in weight percent of two component mixtures of ferromagnesium and iron oxide minerals used to study the dark materials on Mars. Olivine spectral features are greatly reduced in contrast by admixture of other phases but remain distinctive even for low olivine contents. Clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene mixtures show resolved pyroxene absorptions near 2 microns. Limonite greatly modifies pyroxene and olivine reflectance, but does not fully eliminate distinctive spectral characteristics. Using only spectral data in the 1 micron region, it is difficult to differentiate orthopyroxene and limonite in a mixture. All composite mineral absorptions were either weaker than or intermediate in strength to the end-member absorptions and have bandwidths greater than or equal to those for the end members. In general, spectral properties in an intimate mixture combine in a complex, nonadditive manner, with features demonstrating a regular but usually nonlinear variation as a function of end-member phase proportions.

Comparison of the thermal stabilization of proteins by oligosaccharides and monosaccharide mixtures: Measurement and analysis in the context of excluded volume theory.

PubMed

Beg, Ilyas; Minton, Allen P; Islam, Asimul; Hassan, Md Imtaiyaz; Ahmad, Faizan

2018-06-01

The thermal stability of apo α-lactalbumin (α-LA) and lysozyme was measured in the presence of mixtures of glucose, fructose, and galactose. Mixtures of these monosaccharides in the appropriate stoichiometric ratio were found to have a greater stabilizing effect on each of the two proteins than equal weight/volume concentrations of di- tri- and tetrasaccharides with identical subunit composition (sucrose, trehalose, raffinose, and stachyose). The excluded volume model for the effect of a single saccharide on the stability of a protein previously proposed by Beg et al. [Biochemistry 54 (2015) 3594] was extended to treat the case of saccharide mixtures. The extended model predicts quantitatively the stabilizing effect of all monosaccharide mixtures on α-LA and lysozyme reported here, as well as previously published results obtained for ribonuclease A [Biophys. Chem. 138 (2008) 120] to within experimental uncertainty. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Studies of Particle Packings in Mixtures of Pharmaceutical Excipients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bentham, Craig; Dutt, Meenakshi; Hancock, Bruno; Elliott, James

2005-03-01

Pharmaceutical powder blends used to generate tablets are complex multicomponent mixtures of the drug powder and excipients which facilitate the delivery of the required drug. The individual constituents of these blends can be noncohesive and cohesive powders. We study the geometric and mechanical characteristics of idealized mixtures of excipient particle packings, for a small but representative number of dry noncohesive particles, generated via gravitational compaction followed by uniaxial compaction. We discuss particle packings in 2- and 3- component mixtures of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) & lactose and MCC, starch & lactose, respectively. We have computed the evolution of the force and stress distributions in monodisperse and polydisperse mixtures comprised of equal parts of each excipient; comparisons are made with results for particles packings of pure blends of MCC and lactose. We also compute the stress-strain relations for these mixtures. In order to obtain insight into details of the particle packings, we calculate the coordination number, packing fraction, radial distribution functions and contact angle distributions for the various mixtures. The numerical experiments have been performed on spheroidal idealizations of the excipient grains using Discrete Element Method simulations (Dutt et al., 2004 to be published).

The effect of SF6 addition in a Cl2/Ar inductively coupled plasma for deep titanium etching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laudrel, E.; Tillocher, T.; Meric, Y.; Lefaucheux, P.; Boutaud, B.; Dussart, R.

2018-05-01

Titanium is a material of interest for the biomedical field and more particularly for body implantable devices. Titanium deep etching by plasma was carried out in an inductively coupled plasma with a chlorine-based chemistry for the fabrication of titanium-based microdevices. Bulk titanium etch rate was first studied in Cl2/Ar plasma mixture versus the source power and the self-bias voltage. The plasma was characterized by Langmuir probe and by optical emission spectroscopy. The addition of SF6 in the plasma mixture was investigated. Titanium etch rate was optimized and reached a value of 2.4 µm · min-1. The nickel hard mask selectivity was also enhanced. The etched titanium surface roughness was reduced significantly.

Insect adhesion on rough surfaces: analysis of adhesive contact of smooth and hairy pads on transparent microstructured substrates

PubMed Central

Zhou, Yanmin; Robinson, Adam; Steiner, Ullrich; Federle, Walter

2014-01-01

Insect climbing footpads are able to adhere to rough surfaces, but the details of this capability are still unclear. To overcome experimental limitations of randomly rough, opaque surfaces, we fabricated transparent test substrates containing square arrays of 1.4 µm diameter pillars, with variable height (0.5 and 1.4 µm) and spacing (from 3 to 22 µm). Smooth pads of cockroaches (Nauphoeta cinerea) made partial contact (limited to the tops of the structures) for the two densest arrays of tall pillars, but full contact (touching the substrate in between pillars) for larger spacings. The transition from partial to full contact was accompanied by a sharp increase in shear forces. Tests on hairy pads of dock beetles (Gastrophysa viridula) showed that setae adhered between pillars for larger spacings, but pads were equally unable to make full contact on the densest arrays. The beetles' shear forces similarly decreased for denser arrays, but also for short pillars and with a more gradual transition. These observations can be explained by simple contact models derived for soft uniform materials (smooth pads) or thin flat plates (hairy-pad spatulae). Our results show that microstructured substrates are powerful tools to reveal adaptations of natural adhesives for rough surfaces. PMID:24990289

Insect adhesion on rough surfaces: analysis of adhesive contact of smooth and hairy pads on transparent microstructured substrates.

PubMed

Zhou, Yanmin; Robinson, Adam; Steiner, Ullrich; Federle, Walter

2014-09-06

Insect climbing footpads are able to adhere to rough surfaces, but the details of this capability are still unclear. To overcome experimental limitations of randomly rough, opaque surfaces, we fabricated transparent test substrates containing square arrays of 1.4 µm diameter pillars, with variable height (0.5 and 1.4 µm) and spacing (from 3 to 22 µm). Smooth pads of cockroaches (Nauphoeta cinerea) made partial contact (limited to the tops of the structures) for the two densest arrays of tall pillars, but full contact (touching the substrate in between pillars) for larger spacings. The transition from partial to full contact was accompanied by a sharp increase in shear forces. Tests on hairy pads of dock beetles (Gastrophysa viridula) showed that setae adhered between pillars for larger spacings, but pads were equally unable to make full contact on the densest arrays. The beetles' shear forces similarly decreased for denser arrays, but also for short pillars and with a more gradual transition. These observations can be explained by simple contact models derived for soft uniform materials (smooth pads) or thin flat plates (hairy-pad spatulae). Our results show that microstructured substrates are powerful tools to reveal adaptations of natural adhesives for rough surfaces.

Direct Reconstruction of CT-Based Attenuation Correction Images for PET With Cluster-Based Penalties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Soo Mee; Alessio, Adam M.; De Man, Bruno; Kinahan, Paul E.

2017-03-01

Extremely low-dose (LD) CT acquisitions used for PET attenuation correction have high levels of noise and potential bias artifacts due to photon starvation. This paper explores the use of a priori knowledge for iterative image reconstruction of the CT-based attenuation map. We investigate a maximum a posteriori framework with cluster-based multinomial penalty for direct iterative coordinate decent (dICD) reconstruction of the PET attenuation map. The objective function for direct iterative attenuation map reconstruction used a Poisson log-likelihood data fit term and evaluated two image penalty terms of spatial and mixture distributions. The spatial regularization is based on a quadratic penalty. For the mixture penalty, we assumed that the attenuation map may consist of four material clusters: air + background, lung, soft tissue, and bone. Using simulated noisy sinogram data, dICD reconstruction was performed with different strengths of the spatial and mixture penalties. The combined spatial and mixture penalties reduced the root mean squared error (RMSE) by roughly two times compared with a weighted least square and filtered backprojection reconstruction of CT images. The combined spatial and mixture penalties resulted in only slightly lower RMSE compared with a spatial quadratic penalty alone. For direct PET attenuation map reconstruction from ultra-LD CT acquisitions, the combination of spatial and mixture penalties offers regularization of both variance and bias and is a potential method to reconstruct attenuation maps with negligible patient dose. The presented results, using a best-case histogram suggest that the mixture penalty does not offer a substantive benefit over conventional quadratic regularization and diminishes enthusiasm for exploring future application of the mixture penalty.

Enantioselective Toxicity and Biotransformation of Fipronil in the Fathead Minnow (Pimephales promelas)

EPA Science Inventory

Fipronil is a relatively new chiral phenylpyrazole insecticide used to control both agricultural and household invertebrate pests. Fipronil is applied as a racemate, or equal mixture, of its two enantiomers. As regulations on older pesticides increase, production and applicatio...

Development of UHPC Mixtures Utilizing Natural and Industrial Waste Materials as Partial Replacements of Silica Fume and Sand

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

In the exploratory study presented in this paper, an attempt was made to develop different mixtures of ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) using various locally available natural and industrial waste materials as partial replacements of silica fume and sand. Materials such as natural pozzolana (NP), fly ash (FA), limestone powder (LSP), cement kiln dust (CKD), and pulverized steel slag (PSS), all of which are abundantly available in Saudi Arabia at little or no cost, were employed in the development of the UHPC mixtures. A base mixture of UHPC without replacement of silica fume or sand was selected and a total of 24 trial mixtures of UHPC were prepared using different percentages of NP, FA, LSP, CKD, and PSS, partially replacing the silica fume and sand. Flow and 28-d compressive strength of each UHPC mixture were determined to finally select those mixtures, which satisfied the minimum flow and strength criteria of UHPC. The test results showed that the utilization of NP, FA, LSP, CKD, and PSS in production of UHPC is possible with acceptable flow and strength. A total of 10 UHPC mixtures were identified with flow and strength equal to or more than the minimum required. PMID:25197709

Physical properties of new binary antiferroelectric liquid crystal mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitas, Jakub; Jaworska-Gołąb, Teresa; Deptuch, Aleksandra; Tykarska, Marzena; Kurp, Katarzyna; Żurowska, Magdalena; Marzec, Monika

2018-02-01

Three newly prepared binary mixtures exhibiting chiral tilted smectic phases have been studied using differential scanning calorimetry, dielectric spectroscopy and electro-optic method, as well as X-ray diffraction. Broad temperature range of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases was detected in these mixtures and temperature dependence of spontaneous polarization, tilt angle and switching time were measured for all of them. It's occurred that all of the studied mixtures are orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals. Based on the X-ray diffraction results, the temperature dependence of layer thickness in the paraelectric, ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases was found. By using dielectric spectroscopy, Goldstone mode was identified in the ferroelectric phase, while antiphase fluctuations of azimuthal angle have been found in the antiferroelectric phase. Based on the results of the complementary methods, the transition temperatures were found as well as the order of the para-ferroelectric phase transition was determined as non-continuous one with critical parameter β equal to ca. 0.25.

Demixing in symmetric supersolid mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Piyush; Moroni, Saverio; Boninsegni, Massimo; Pollet, Lode

2013-09-01

The droplet crystal phase of a symmetric binary mixture of soft-core bosons is studied by computer simulation. At high temperature each droplet comprises on average equal numbers of particles of either component, but the two components demix below the supersolid transition temperature, i.e., droplets mostly consist of particles of one component. Clustering of droplets of the same component is also observed. Demixing is driven by quantum tunneling of particles across droplets over the system and does not take place in an insulating crystal. This effect provides an unambiguous experimental signature of supersolidity.

Catalysts for the production of hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and water

DOEpatents

Sapienza, R.S.; Slegeir, W.A.; Goldberg, R.I.

1985-11-06

A method of converting low H/sub 2//CO ratio syngas to carbonaceous products comprising reacting the syngas with water or steam at 200 to 350/sup 0/C in the presence of a metal catalyst supported on zinc oxide. Hydrocarbons are produced with a catalyst selected from cobalt, nickel or ruthenium and alcohols are produced with a catalyst selected from palladium, platinum, ruthenium or copper on the zinc oxide support. The ratio of the reactants are such that for alcohols and saturated hydrocarbons: (2n + 1) greater than or equal to x greater than or equal to O and for olefinic hydrocarbons: 2n greater than or equal to x greater than or equal to O where n is the number of carbon atoms in the product and x is the molar amount of water in the reaction mixture.

Developmental toxicity of PAH mixtures in fish early life stages. Part II: adverse effects in Japanese medaka.

PubMed

Le Bihanic, Florane; Clérandeau, Christelle; Le Menach, Karyn; Morin, Bénédicte; Budzinski, Hélène; Cousin, Xavier; Cachot, Jérôme

2014-12-01

In aquatic environments, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) mostly occur as complex mixtures, for which risk assessment remains problematic. To better understand the effects of PAH mixture toxicity on fish early life stages, this study compared the developmental toxicity of three PAH complex mixtures. These mixtures were extracted from a PAH-contaminated sediment (Seine estuary, France) and two oils (Arabian Light and Erika). For each fraction, artificial sediment was spiked at three different environmental concentrations roughly equivalent to 0.5, 4, and 10 μg total PAH g(-1) dw. Japanese medaka embryos were incubated on these PAH-spiked sediments throughout their development, right up until hatching. Several endpoints were recorded at different developmental stages, including acute endpoints, morphological abnormalities, larvae locomotion, and genotoxicity (comet and micronucleus assays). The three PAH fractions delayed hatching, induced developmental abnormalities, disrupted larvae swimming activity, and damaged DNA at environmental concentrations. Differences in toxicity levels, likely related to differences in PAH proportions, were highlighted between fractions. The Arabian Light and Erika petrogenic fractions, containing a high proportion of alkylated PAHs and low molecular weight PAHs, were more toxic to Japanese medaka early life stages than the pyrolytic fraction. This was not supported by the toxic equivalency approach, which appeared unsuitable for assessing the toxicity of the three PAH fractions to fish early life stages. This study highlights the potential risks posed by environmental mixtures of alkylated and low molecular weight PAHs to early stages of fish development.

Pairing of one-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixtures with unequal masses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rizzi, Matteo; Max Planck Institut fuer QuantenOptik, Hans Kopfermann Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching; Imambekov, Adilet

We have considered one-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixture with equal densities and unequal masses using numerical density matrix renormalization group. For the mass ratio of K-Rb mixture and attraction between bosons and fermions, we determined the phase diagram. For weak boson-boson interactions, there is a direct transition between two-component Luttinger liquid and collapsed phases as the boson-fermion attraction is increased. For strong enough boson-boson interactions, we find an intermediate 'paired' phase, which is a single-component Luttinger liquid of composite particles. We investigated correlation functions of such a 'paired' phase, studied the stability of 'paired' phase to density imbalance, and discussed various experimentalmore » techniques which can be used to detect it.« less

Effects of feedstock and co-culture of Lactobacillus fermentum and wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain during fuel ethanol fermentation by the industrial yeast strain PE-2.

PubMed

Reis, Vanda R; Bassi, Ana Paula G; Cerri, Bianca C; Almeida, Amanda R; Carvalho, Isis G B; Bastos, Reinaldo G; Ceccato-Antonini, Sandra R

2018-02-16

Even though contamination by bacteria and wild yeasts are frequently observed during fuel ethanol fermentation, our knowledge regarding the effects of both contaminants together is very limited, especially considering that the must composition can vary from exclusively sugarcane juice to a mixture of molasses and juice, affecting the microbial development. Here we studied the effects of the feedstock (sugarcane juice and molasses) and the co-culture of Lactobacillus fermentum and a wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain (rough colony and pseudohyphae) in single and multiple-batch fermentation trials with an industrial strain of S. cerevisiae (PE-2) as starter yeast. The results indicate that in multiple-cycle batch system, the feedstock had a minor impact on the fermentation than in single-cycle batch system, however the rough yeast contamination was more harmful than the bacterial contamination in multiple-cycle batch fermentation. The inoculation of both contaminants did not potentiate the detrimental effect in any substrate. The residual sugar concentration in the fermented broth had a higher concentration of fructose than glucose for all fermentations, but in the presence of the rough yeast, the discrepancy between fructose and glucose concentrations were markedly higher, especially in molasses. The biggest problem associated with incomplete fermentation seemed to be the lower consumption rate of sugar and the reduced fructose preference of the rough yeast rather than the lower invertase activity. Lower ethanol production, acetate production and higher residual sugar concentration are characteristics strongly associated with the rough yeast strain and they were not potentiated with the inoculation of L. fermentum.

The Carbon Budget of Coastal Waters of Eastern North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Najjar, R.; Boyer, E. W.; Burdige, D.; Butman, D. E.; Cai, W. J.; Canuel, E. A.; Chen, R. F.; Friedrichs, M. A.; Griffith, P. C.; Herrmann, M.; Kemp, W. M.; Kroeger, K. D.; Mannino, A.; McCallister, S. L.; McGillis, W. R.; Mulholland, M. R.; Salisbury, J.; Signorini, S. R.; Tian, H.; Tzortziou, M.; Vlahos, P.; Wang, A. Z.; Zimmerman, R. C.; Pilskaln, C. H.

2015-12-01

Observations and the output of numerical and statistical models are synthesized to construct a carbon budget of the coastal waters of eastern North America. The domain extends from the head of tide to (roughly) the continental shelf break and from southern Florida to southern Nova Scotia. The domain area is 2% tidal wetlands, 19% estuarine open water, and 78% shelf water. Separate budgets are constructed for inorganic and organic carbon; for tidal wetlands, estuaries, and shelf waters; and for three main subregions: the Gulf of Maine, the Mid-Atlantic Bight, and the South Atlantic Bight. Net primary production for the study region is about 150 Tg C yr-1, with 12% occurring in tidal wetlands and 7% in estuaries. Though respiration and photosynthesis are nearly balanced in most systems and regions, tidal wetlands and shelf waters are each found to be net autotrophic whereas estuaries are net heterotrophic. The domain as a whole is a sink of 5 Tg C yr-1 of atmospheric CO2, with tidal wetlands and shelf waters taking up 10 Tg C yr-1 (split roughly equally) and estuaries releasing 5 Tg C yr-1 to the atmosphere. Carbon burial is about 3 Tg C yr-1, split roughly equally among tidal wetlands, estuaries, and shelf waters. Rivers supply 6-7 Tg C yr-1 to estuaries, about 2/3 of which is organic. Tidal wetlands supply an additional 4 Tg C yr-1 to estuaries, about half of which is organic. Carbon in organic and inorganic forms is exported from estuaries to shelf waters and from shelf waters to the open ocean. In summary, tidal wetlands and estuaries, though small in area, contribute substantially to the overall carbon budget of the region.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Canavan, G.H.

Attack allocation optimizations produce stability indices for unsymmetrical forces that indicate significant regions of both stability and instability and that have their minimum values roughly when the two sides have equal forces. This note derives combined stability indices for unsymmetrical offensive force configurations. The indices are based on optimal allocations of offensive missiles between vulnerable missiles and value based on the minimization of first strike cost, which is done analytically. Exchanges are modeled probabalistically and their results are converted into first and second strike costs through approximations to the damage to the value target sets held at risk. The stabilitymore » index is the product of the ratio of first to second strike costs seen by the two sides. Optimal allocations scale directly on the opponent`s vulnerable missiles, inversely on one`s own total weapons, and only logarithmically on the attacker`s damage preference, kill probability, and relative target set. The defender`s allocation scales in a similar manner on the attacker`s parameters. First and second strike magnitudes increase roughly linearly for the side with greater forces and decrease linearly for the side with fewer. Conversely, the first and second strike magnitudes decrease for the side with greater forces and increase for the side with fewer. These trends are derived and discussed analytically. The resulting stability indices exhibit a minimum where the two sides have roughly equal forces. If one side has much larger forces than the other, his costs drop to levels low enough that he is relatively insensitive to whether he strikes first or second. These calculations are performed with the analytic attack allocation appropriate for moderate forces, so some differences could be expected for the largest of the forces considered.« less

Temozolomide stability in extemporaneously compounded oral suspensions.

PubMed

Trissel, Lawrence A; Zhang, Yanping; Koontz, Susannah E

2006-01-01

Temozolomide, commercially available in capsules, is an oral alkylating agent used to treat brain tumors. The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmaceutical acceptability and chemical stability of temozolomide in two extemporaneously compounded suspension formulations prepared from the capsules. The temozolomide oral suspensions were prepared from 100-mg commercial capsules yielding a nominal temozolomide concentration of 10 mg/mL. The suspension vehicles selected for testing were an equal parts mixture of Ora-Plus and Ora-Sweet and an equal parts mixture of Ora-Plus and Ora-Sweet SF. The suspensions were packaged in amber plastic screw-cap prescription bottles, which were stored at 23 deg C for 21 days or 4 deg C for 60 days. Stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis revealed that the temozolomide concentration in both suspension vehicle combinations exhibited little or no loss for 60 days at 4 deg C. At 23 deg C, temozolomide losses were somewhat greater. In the Ora-Sweet formulation, the loss was 6% at 7 days; in the Ora-Sweet SF formulation, losses were about 8% at 14 days and 10% to 11% at 21 days. Temozolomide extemporaneously prepared as oral suspensions from capsules in equal parts mixtures of Ora-Plus suspension vehicle with Ora-Sweet and with ora-Sweet SF syrups with added povidine k-30 and acidified with citric acid were pharmaceutically acceptable and chemically stable for at least 60 days at 4 deg C. Refrigerated storage is recommended. The suspensions should not be stored at room temperature longer than 1 week if Ora-Sweet is used or longer than 2 weeks if Ora-Sweet SF is used.

Effect of applied voltage on surface properties of anodised titanium in mixture of β-glycerophosphate (β-GP) and calcium acetate (CA)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chuan, Lee Te, E-mail: gd130079@siswa.uthm.edu.my; Rathi, Muhammad Fareez Mohamad, E-mail: cd110238@siswa.uthm.edu.my; Abidin, Muhamad Yusuf Zainal, E-mail: cd110221@siswa.uthm.edu.my

Anodic oxidation is a surface modification method which combines electric field driven metal and oxygen ion diffusion for formation of oxide layer on the anode surface. This method has been widely used to modify the surface morphology of biomaterial especially titanium. This study aimed to investigate the effect of applied voltage on titanium. Specifically, the titanium foil was anodised in mixture of β-glycerophosphate disodium salt pentahydrate (β-GP) and calcium acetate monohydrate (CA) with different applied voltage (50-350 V), electrolyte concentration (0.04 M β-GP + 0.4 M CA), anodising time (10minutes) and current density (50 and 70 mA.cm{sup −2}) at room temperature. Surfacemore » oxide properties of anodised titanium were characterised by digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR camera), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). At lower applied voltage (≤150 V), surface of titanium foils were relatively smooth. With increasing applied voltage (≥250 V), the oxide layer became more porous and donut-shaped pores were formed on the surface of titanium foils. The AFM results indicated that the surface roughness of anodised titanium increases with increasing of applied voltage. The porous and rough surface is able to promote the osseointegration and reduce the suffering time of patient.« less

Automatic image equalization and contrast enhancement using Gaussian mixture modeling.

PubMed

Celik, Turgay; Tjahjadi, Tardi

2012-01-01

In this paper, we propose an adaptive image equalization algorithm that automatically enhances the contrast in an input image. The algorithm uses the Gaussian mixture model to model the image gray-level distribution, and the intersection points of the Gaussian components in the model are used to partition the dynamic range of the image into input gray-level intervals. The contrast equalized image is generated by transforming the pixels' gray levels in each input interval to the appropriate output gray-level interval according to the dominant Gaussian component and the cumulative distribution function of the input interval. To take account of the hypothesis that homogeneous regions in the image represent homogeneous silences (or set of Gaussian components) in the image histogram, the Gaussian components with small variances are weighted with smaller values than the Gaussian components with larger variances, and the gray-level distribution is also used to weight the components in the mapping of the input interval to the output interval. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm produces better or comparable enhanced images than several state-of-the-art algorithms. Unlike the other algorithms, the proposed algorithm is free of parameter setting for a given dynamic range of the enhanced image and can be applied to a wide range of image types.

Striped gold nanoparticles: New insights from molecular dynamics simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Velachi, Vasumathi, E-mail: vasuphy@gmail.com; Cordeiro, M. Natália D. S., E-mail: ncordeir@fc.up.pt; Bhandary, Debdip

Recent simulations have improved our knowledge of the molecular-level structure and hydration properties of mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with equal and unequal alkyl thiols at three different arrangements, namely, random, patchy, and Janus. In our previous work [V. Vasumathi et al., J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 3199–3209 (2015)], we showed that the bending of longer thiols over shorter ones clearly depends on the thiols’ arrangements and chemical nature of their terminal groups. In addition, such a thiol bending revealed to have a strong impact on the structural and hydration properties of SAMs coated on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). In this paper,more » we extend our previous atomistic simulation study to investigate the bending of longer thiols by increasing the stripe thickness of mixed SAMs of equal and unequal lengths coated on AuNPs. We study also the effect of stripe thickness on the structural morphology and hydration of the coated SAMs. Our results show that the structural and hydration properties of SAMs are affected by the stripe thickness for mixtures of alkyl thiols with unequal chain length but not for equal length. Hence, the stability of the stripe configuration depends on the alkyl’s chain length, the length difference between the thiol mixtures, and solvent properties.« less

Time management for preclinical safety professionals.

PubMed

Wells, Monique Y

2010-08-01

A survey about time management in the workplace was distributed to obtain a sense of the level of job satisfaction among preclinical safety professionals in the current economic climate, and to encourage reflection upon how we manage time in our work environment. Roughly equal numbers of respondents (approximately 32%) identified themselves as management or staff, and approximately 27% indicated that they are consultants. Though 45.2% of respondents indicated that time management is very challenging for the profession in general, only 36.7% find it very challenging for themselves. Ten percent of respondents view time management to be exceedingly challenging for themselves. Approximately 34% of respondents indicated that prioritization of tasks was the most challenging aspect of time management for them. Focusing on an individual task was the second most challenging aspect (26%), followed equally by procrastination and delegation of tasks (12.4%). Almost equal numbers of respondents said that they would (35.2%) or might (33.3%) undertake training to improve their time management skills. Almost equal numbers of participants responded "perhaps" (44.6%) or "yes" (44.2%) to the question of whether management personnel should be trained in time management.

Archaeological Investigation at El Dorado Lake, Butler County, Kansas. Phase III.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-01-01

time during which deep disturbance predominated is estimated to be roughly equal to the number of years surface and shallow techniques have been... during excavation, but sampled. Measurements are therefore estimated from scale drawings of feature plans. However, the drawing of Feature 3 consists... roasting features with the limestones and/or deposited as refuse during separate disposal episodes. Fauna and Flora A total of 862 bones and bone

A Cross-Validation of easyCBM Mathematics Cut Scores in Washington State: 2009-2010 Test. Technical Report #1105

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Daniel; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2011-01-01

In this technical report, we document the results of a cross-validation study designed to identify optimal cut-scores for the use of the easyCBM[R] mathematics test in the state of Washington. A large sample, randomly split into two groups of roughly equal size, was used for this study. Students' performance classification on the Washington state…

A Cross-Validation of easyCBM[R] Mathematics Cut Scores in Oregon: 2009-2010. Technical Report #1104

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Daniel; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2011-01-01

In this technical report, we document the results of a cross-validation study designed to identify optimal cut-scores for the use of the easyCBM[R] mathematics test in Oregon. A large sample, randomly split into two groups of roughly equal size, was used for this study. Students' performance classification on the Oregon state test was used as the…

Selection of root-zone media for higher plant cultivation in space.

PubMed

Guo, Shuang-sheng; Ai, Wei-dang; Zhao, Cheng-jian; Han, Li-jun; Wang, Jian-xiao

2004-04-01

To investigate the cultivating effects of several mineral matters used as root-zone media for higher plant growth in space. Four kinds of artificial and natural mineral matters were used as plant root-zone media based on lots of investigation and analysis. Nutrient liquid was delivered into the media by a long capillary material, and roots of plants obtained nutrition and water from the media. The related parameters such as plant height and photosynthetic efficiency were measured and analyzed. The growing effect in a mixture of coarse and fine ceramic particles with equal quantity proportion was the best, that in fine ceramic particles was the second best, that in clinoptilolite particles was the third and that in diorite particles was the last. The mixture of coarse and fine ceramic particles with equal quantity possesses not only fine capillary action, but also good aerating ability, and therefore is capable of being utilized as an effective root-zone media for higher plants intended to be grown in space.

CAD/CAM milled complete removable dental prostheses: An in vitro evaluation of biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and surface roughness.

PubMed

Srinivasan, Murali; Gjengedal, Harald; Cattani-Lorente, Maria; Moussa, Mira; Durual, Stéphane; Schimmel, Martin; Müller, Frauke

2018-03-06

This study compared the biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and surface roughness of a pre-polymerized polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resin for CAD/CAM complete removable dental prostheses (CRDPs) and a traditional heat-polymerized PMMA resin. Two groups of resin substrates [Control (RC): conventional PMMA; Test (RA): CAD/CAM PMMA] were fabricated. Human primary osteoblasts and mouse embryonic-fibroblasts were cultured for biocompatibility assays. Mechanical properties and surface roughness were compared. ANOVA revealed no difference between the resin groups in the biocompatibility assays. RA demonstrated a higher elastic modulus (p=0.002), young's modulus (p=0.002), plastic energy (p=0.002), ultimate strength (p=0.0004), yield point (p=0.016), strain at yield point (p=0.037), and toughness (p<0.0001); while RC displayed a higher elastic energy (p<0.0001). Laser profilometry concluded a rougher surface profile (p<0.0001) for RA. This study concluded that the tested CAD/CAM resin was equally biocompatible and presented with improved mechanical properties than the traditional heat-polymerized PMMA resin used in the fabrication of CRDPs.

Survival potential of wild type cellulose deficient Salmonella from the feed industry.

PubMed

Vestby, Lene K; Møretrø, Trond; Ballance, Simon; Langsrud, Solveig; Nesse, Live L

2009-11-23

Biofilm has been shown to be one way for Salmonella to persist in the feed factory environment. Matrix components, such as fimbriae and cellulose, have been suggested to play an important role in the survival of Salmonella in the environment. Multicellular behaviour by Salmonella is often categorized according to colony morphology into rdar (red, dry and rough) expressing curli fimbriae and cellulose, bdar (brown, dry and rough) expressing curli fimbriae and pdar (pink, dry and rough) expressing cellulose. The aim of the study was to look into the distribution of morphotypes among feed and fish meal factory strains of Salmonella, with emphasis on potential differences between morphotypes with regards to survival in the feed factory environment. When screening a total of 148 Salmonella ser. Agona, Salmonella ser. Montevideo, Salmonella ser. Senftenberg and Salmonella ser. Typhimurium strains of feed factory, human clinical and reference collection origin, as many as 99% were able to express rough morphology (rdar or bdar). The dominant morphotype was rdar (74%), however as many as 55% of Salmonella ser. Agona and 19% of Salmonella ser. Senftenberg displayed the bdar morphology. Inconsistency in Calcofluor binding, indicating expression of cellulose, was found among 25% of all the strains tested, however Salmonella ser. Agona showed to be highly consistent in Calcofluor binding (98%). In biofilm, Salmonella ser. Agona strains with bdar mophology was found to be equally tolerant to disinfection treatment as strains with rdar morphotype. However, rdar morphology appeared to be favourable in long term survival in biofilm in a very dry environment. Chemical analysis showed no major differences in polysaccharide content between bdar and rdar strains. Our results indicate that cellulose is not a major component of the Salmonella biofilm matrix. The bdar morphotype is common among Salmonella ser. Agona strains isolated from the factory environment. The rdar and the bdar strains were found to be equally tolerant to disinfectants, while the rdar strain was found to be more tolerant to long-term desiccation and nutrient depletion in biofilm than the bdar strain. Cellulose does not appear to be a major component of the Salmonella biofilm matrix.

A model system to mimic environmentally active surface film roughness and hydrophobicity.

PubMed

Grant, Jacob S; Shaw, Scott K

2017-10-01

This work presents the development and initial assessment of a laboratory platform to allow quantitative studies on model urban films. The platform consists of stearic acid and eicosane mixtures that are solution deposited from hexanes onto smooth, solid substrates. We show that this model has distinctive capabilities to better mimic a naturally occurring film's morphology and hydrophobicity, two important parameters that have not previously been incorporated into model film systems. The physical and chemical properties of the model films are assessed using a variety of analytical instruments. The film thickness and roughness are probed via atomic force microscopy while the film composition, wettability, and water uptake are analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle goniometry, and quartz crystal microbalance, respectively. Simulated environmental maturation is achieved by exposing the film to regulated amounts of UV/ozone. Ultimately, oxidation of the film is monitored by the analytical techniques mentioned above and proceeds as expected to produce a utile model film system. Including variable roughness and tunable surface coverage results in several key advantages over prior model systems, and will more accurately represent native urban film behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Control of Stationary Cross-Flow Modes in a Mach 3.5 Boundary Layer Using Patterned Passive and Active Roughness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schuele, Chan Yong

2011-01-01

Spanwise-periodic roughness designed to excite selected wavelengths of stationary cross- ow modes was investigated in a 3-D boundary layer at Mach 3.5. The test model was a sharp-tipped 14deg right-circular cone. The model and integrated sensor traversing system were placed in the Mach 3.5 Supersonic Low Disturbance Tunnel (SLDT) equipped with a "quiet design" nozzle at the NASA Langley Research Center. The model was oriented at a 4:2deg angle of attack to produce a mean cross-fl ow velocity component in the boundary layer over the cone. Five removable cone tips have been investigated. One has a smooth surface that is used to document the baseline ("natural") conditions. Two had minute (20 - 40 micron) "dimples" that are equally spaced around the circumference, at a streamwise location that is just upstream of the linear stability neutral growth branch for cross- ow modes. The azimuthal mode numbers of the dimpled tips were selected to either enhance the most amplified wave numbers, or to suppress the growth of the most amplified wave numbers. Two of the cone tips had an array of plasma streamwise vortex generators that were designed to simulate the disturbances produced by the passive patterned roughness. The results indicate that the stationary cross-fl ow modes were highly receptive to the patterned roughness of both passive and active types. The patterned passive roughness that was designed to suppress the growth of the most amplified modes had an azimuthal wavelength that was 66% smaller that that of the most amplified stationary cross- ow mode. This had the effect to increase the transition Reynolds number from 25% to 50% depending on the measurement technique. The application of the research is on turbulent transition control on swept wings of supersonic aircraft. The plasma-based roughness has the advantage over the passive roughness of being able to be adaptable to different conditions that would occur during a flight mission.

Surface modification of epoxy resin using He/CF4 atmospheric pressure plasma jet for flashover withstanding characteristics improvement in vacuum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Sile; Wang, Shuai; Wang, Yibo; Guo, Baohong; Li, Guoqiang; Chang, Zhengshi; Zhang, Guan-Jun

2017-08-01

For enhancing the surface electric withstanding strength of insulating materials, epoxy resin (EP) samples are treated by atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) with different time interval from 0 to 300s. Helium (He) and tetrafluoromethane (CF4) mixtures are used as working gases with the concentration of CF4 ranging 0%-5%, and when CF4 is ∼3%, the APPJ exhibits an optimal steady state. The flashover withstanding characteristics of modified EP in vacuum are greatly improved under appropriate APPJ treatment conditions. The surface properties of EP samples are evaluated by surface roughness, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and water contact angle. It is considered that both physical and chemical effects lead to the enhancement of flashover strength. The physical effect is reflected in the increase of surface roughness, while the chemical effect is reflected in the graft of fluorine groups.

Electrochemical Polishing Applications and EIS of a Novel Choline Chloride-Based Ionic Liquid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wixtrom, Alex I.; Buhler, Jessica E.; Reece, Charles E.

2013-06-01

Minimal surface roughness is a critical feature for high-field superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities used to engineer particle accelerators. Current methods for polishing Niobium cavities typically utilize solutions containing a mixture of concentrated sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid. Polishing processes such as these are effective, yet there are many hazards and costs associated with the use (and safe disposal) of the concentrated acid solutions. An alternative method for electrochemical polishing of the cavities was explored using a novel ionic liquid solution containing choline chloride. Potentiostatic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to analyze the ionic polishing solution. Final surface roughness ofmore » the Nb was found to be comparable to that of the acid-polishing method, as assessed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). This indicates that ionic liquid-based electrochemical polishing of Nb is a viable replacement for acid-based methods for preparation of SRF cavities.« less

Combining retraction edge lithography and plasma etching for arbitrary contour nanoridge fabrication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yiping; Jansen, Henri; de Boer, Meint; Berenschot, Erwin; Bouwes, Dominique; Gironès, Miriam; Huskens, Jurriaan; Tas, Niels

2010-09-01

Edge lithography in combination with fluorine-based plasma etching is employed to avoid the dependence on crystal orientation in single crystal silicon to create monolithic nanoridges with arbitrary contours. This is demonstrated by using a mask with circular structures and Si etching at cryogenic temperature with SF6+O2 plasma mixtures. Initially, the explored etch recipe was used with Cr as the masking material. Although nanoridges with perfect vertical sidewalls have been achieved, Cr causes severe sidewall roughness due to line edge roughness. Therefore, an SU-8 polymer is used instead. Although the SU-8 pattern definition needs further improvement, we demonstrate the possibility of fabricating Si nanoridges of arbitrary contours providing a width below 50 nm and a height between 25 and 500 nm with smooth surface finish. Artifacts in the ridge profile are observed and are mainly caused by the bird's beak phenomenon which is characteristic for the used LOCOS process.

MitoQ Loaded Chitosan-Hyaluronan Composite Membranes for Wound Healing

PubMed Central

Tamer, Tamer M.; Collins, Maurice N.; Valachová, Katarina; Hassan, Mohamed A.; Omer, Ahmed M.; Mohy-Eldin, Mohamed S.; Švík, Karol; Jurčík, Rastislav; Ondruška, Ľubomír; Biró, Csaba; Albadarin, Ahmad B.; Šoltés, Ladislav

2018-01-01

Two self-associating biopolymers, namely chitosan (Ch) and a high-molar-mass hyaluronan (HA), were used to prepare membranes with the aim to protect and to enhance the healing of injured skin. A mitochondrially-targeted antioxidant—MitoQ—was incorporated into the mixture of biopolymers prior to their self-association. These three-component membranes were evaluated in detail utilising surface roughness measurements, contact angle measurements, hemocompatibility, and thrombogenicity analyses. Furthermore, in vivo application of Ch/HA/MitoQ membranes was assessed on injured rabbit and rat skin utilizing histological methods. The results showed that the prepared thrombogenic Ch/HA/MitoQ membranes had higher roughness, which allowed for greater surface area for tissue membrane interaction during the healing processes, and lower cytotoxicity levels than controls. MitoQ-loaded composite membranes displayed superior healing properties in these animal models compared to control membranes. PMID:29642447

MitoQ Loaded Chitosan-Hyaluronan Composite Membranes for Wound Healing.

PubMed

Tamer, Tamer M; Collins, Maurice N; Valachová, Katarina; Hassan, Mohamed A; Omer, Ahmed M; Mohy-Eldin, Mohamed S; Švík, Karol; Jurčík, Rastislav; Ondruška, Ľubomír; Biró, Csaba; Albadarin, Ahmad B; Šoltés, Ladislav

2018-04-07

Two self-associating biopolymers, namely chitosan (Ch) and a high-molar-mass hyaluronan (HA), were used to prepare membranes with the aim to protect and to enhance the healing of injured skin. A mitochondrially-targeted antioxidant-MitoQ-was incorporated into the mixture of biopolymers prior to their self-association. These three-component membranes were evaluated in detail utilising surface roughness measurements, contact angle measurements, hemocompatibility, and thrombogenicity analyses. Furthermore, in vivo application of Ch/HA/MitoQ membranes was assessed on injured rabbit and rat skin utilizing histological methods. The results showed that the prepared thrombogenic Ch/HA/MitoQ membranes had higher roughness, which allowed for greater surface area for tissue membrane interaction during the healing processes, and lower cytotoxicity levels than controls. MitoQ-loaded composite membranes displayed superior healing properties in these animal models compared to control membranes.

Vanadium K Xanes Studies of EET79001 Impact-Melt Glasses Revisited

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutton, S. R.; Rao, M. N.; Nyquist, L. E.; Ross, D. K.

2016-01-01

Some impact-melt glasses in shergottites are rich in Martian atmospheric noble gases and sulfur suggesting a possible association with regolith-derived secondary mineral assemblages in the shocked samples. Previously, we studied two glasses, # 506 (Lith C in Lith A) and # 507 (Lith C in Lith B) from EET79001 [1,2] and suggested that sulfur initially existed as sulfate in the glass precursor materials and, on shock-melting of the precursors, the sulfate was reduced to sulfides in the shock glasses. To examine the validity of this hypothesis, we used V K microXANES techniques to measure the valence states of vanadium in the Lith C glasses from Lith A and Lith B in EET79001 [3] to complement and com-pare with previous analogous measurements on,78 glass (Lith C in Lith A) [4,5]. We reported the preliminary results in [3]. Vanadium is ideal for addressing the redox issue because it has multiple valence states and is a well-studied element. Vanadium in basalts exists mostly as V(sup 3+), V(sup 4+) and V(sup 5+) in terrestrial samples, mainly as V(sup 3+) with minor V(sup 2+) and minor V(sup 4+) in lunar samples and as roughly equal mixtures of V(sup 3+) and V(sup 4+) in Martian meteorites. In this report, we discuss the application of the V K XANES results to decipher the nature of shock reduction occurring in the silicate glasses during the impact process.

3D Electric Waveforms of Solar Wind Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kellogg, P. J.; Goetz, K.; Monson, S. J.

2018-01-01

Electric fields provide the major coupling between the turbulence of the solar wind and particles. A large part of the turbulent spectrum of fluctuations in the solar wind is thought to be kinetic Alfvén waves; however, whistlers have recently been found to be important. In this article, we attempt to determine the mode identification of individual waveforms using the three-dimensional antenna system of the SWaves experiments on the STEREO spacecraft. Samples are chosen using waveforms with an apparent periodic structure, selected visually. The short antennas of STEREO respond to density fluctuations and to electric fields. Measurement of four quantities using only three antennas presents a problem. Methods to overcome or to ignore this difficulty are presented. We attempt to decide whether the waveforms correspond to the whistler mode or the Alfvén mode by using the direction of rotation of the signal. Most of the waveforms are so oblique—nearly linearly polarized—that the direction cannot be determined. However, about one third of the waveforms can be identified, and whistlers and Alfvén waves are present in roughly equal numbers. The selected waveforms are very intense but intermittent and are orders of magnitude stronger than the average, yet their accumulated signal accounts for a large fraction of the average. The average, however, is supposed to be the result of a turbulent mixture of many waves, not short coherent events. This presents a puzzle for future work.

The oxidation of copper catalysts during ethylene epoxidation.

PubMed

Greiner, M T; Jones, T E; Johnson, B E; Rocha, T C R; Wang, Z J; Armbrüster, M; Willinger, M; Knop-Gericke, A; Schlögl, R

2015-10-14

The oxidation of copper catalysts during ethylene epoxidation was characterized using in situ photoemission spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Gas chromatography, proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry and electron-ionization mass spectrometry were used to characterize the catalytic properties of the oxidized copper. We find that copper corrodes during epoxidation in a 1 : 1 mixture of oxygen and ethylene. The catalyst corrosion passes through several stages, beginning with the formation of an O-terminated surface, followed by the formation of Cu2O scale and eventually a CuO scale. The oxidized catalyst exhibits measurable activity for ethylene epoxidation, but with a low selectivity of <3%. Tests on pure Cu2O and CuO powders confirm that the oxides intrinsically exhibit partial-oxidation activity. Cu2O was found to form acetaldehyde and ethylene epoxide in roughly equal amounts (1.0% and 1.2% respectively), while CuO was found to form much less ethyl aldehyde than ethylene epoxide (0.1% and 1.0%, respectively). Metallic copper catalysts were examined in extreme dilute-O2 epoxidation conditions to try and keep the catalyst from oxidizing during the reaction. It was found that in feed of 1 part O2 to 2500 parts C2H4 (PO2 = 1.2 × 10(-4) mbar) the copper surface becomes O-terminated. The O-terminated surface was found to exhibit partial-oxidation selectivity similar to that of Cu2O. With increasing O2 concentration (>8/2500) Cu2O forms and eventually covers the surface.

Phase Separation Kinetics in Isopycnic Mixtures of H2O/CO2/Ethoxylated Alcohol Surfactants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lesemann, Markus; Paulaitis, Michael E.; Kaler, Eric W.

1999-01-01

Ternary mixtures of H2O and CO2 with ethoxylated alcohol (C(sub i)E(sub j)) surfactants form three coexisting liquid phases at conditions where two of the phases have equal densities (isopycnic phases). Isopycnic phase behavior has been observed for mixtures containing C8E5, C10E6, and C12E6 surfactants, but not for those mixtures containing either C4E1 or C8E3 surfactants. Pressure-temperature (PT) projections for this three-phase equilibrium were determined for H2O/CO2/C8E5 and H2O/CO2/C10E6 mixtures at temperatures from approximately 25 to 33 C and pressures between 90 and 350 bar. Measurements of the microstructure in H2O/CO2/C12E6 mixtures as a function of temperature (25-31 C), pressure (63.1-90.7 bar), and CO2 composition (0-3.9 wt%) have also been carried out to show that while micellar structure remains essentially un-changed, critical concentration fluctuations increase as the phase boundary and plait point are approached. In this report, we present our first measurements of the kinetics of isopycnic phase separation for ternary mixtures of H2O/CO2/C8E5.

Optical Characteristics of a Gas Discharge Plasma Based on a Mixture of Mercury Diiodide Vapor, Nitrogen, and Helium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinina, A. A.; Malinin, A. N.

2016-09-01

The results of studies of spectral, temporal, and energy characteristics of radiation in a gas discharge plasma based on a mixture of mercury diiodide vapor with helium and nitrogen in the spectral range of 350-800 nm are presented. Plasma was produced by a barrier discharge in a device with a cylindrical aperture. The electrodes 0.2 m in length were placed at a distance of 0.015 m. The amplitude of the pump pulses, their duration, and frequency were equal to 20-30 kV, 150 ns, and 1-20 kHz, respectively. Radiation of mercury monoiodide exciplex molecules was revealed in the visible spectra region. Dependences of the plasma optical characteristics on the partial pressures of the mixture components were established.

Blind source separation by sparse decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zibulevsky, Michael; Pearlmutter, Barak A.

2000-04-01

The blind source separation problem is to extract the underlying source signals from a set of their linear mixtures, where the mixing matrix is unknown. This situation is common, eg in acoustics, radio, and medical signal processing. We exploit the property of the sources to have a sparse representation in a corresponding signal dictionary. Such a dictionary may consist of wavelets, wavelet packets, etc., or be obtained by learning from a given family of signals. Starting from the maximum a posteriori framework, which is applicable to the case of more sources than mixtures, we derive a few other categories of objective functions, which provide faster and more robust computations, when there are an equal number of sources and mixtures. Our experiments with artificial signals and with musical sounds demonstrate significantly better separation than other known techniques.

Uniform phases in fluids of hard isosceles triangles: One-component fluid and binary mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-Ratón, Yuri; Díaz-De Armas, Ariel; Velasco, Enrique

2018-05-01

We formulate the scaled particle theory for a general mixture of hard isosceles triangles and calculate different phase diagrams for the one-component fluid and for certain binary mixtures. The fluid of hard triangles exhibits a complex phase behavior: (i) the presence of a triatic phase with sixfold symmetry, (ii) the isotropic-uniaxial nematic transition is of first order for certain ranges of aspect ratios, and (iii) the one-component system exhibits nematic-nematic transitions ending in critical points. We found the triatic phase to be stable not only for equilateral triangles but also for triangles of similar aspect ratios. We focus the study of binary mixtures on the case of symmetric mixtures: equal particle areas with aspect ratios (κi) symmetric with respect to the equilateral one, κ1κ2=3 . For these mixtures we found, aside from first-order isotropic-nematic and nematic-nematic transitions (the latter ending in a critical point): (i) a region of triatic phase stability even for mixtures made of particles that do not form this phase at the one-component limit, and (ii) the presence of a Landau point at which two triatic-nematic first-order transitions and a nematic-nematic demixing transition coalesce. This phase behavior is analogous to that of a symmetric three-dimensional mixture of rods and plates.

Dirichlet Process Gaussian-mixture model: An application to localizing coalescing binary neutron stars with gravitational-wave observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Pozzo, W.; Berry, C. P. L.; Ghosh, A.; Haines, T. S. F.; Singer, L. P.; Vecchio, A.

2018-06-01

We reconstruct posterior distributions for the position (sky area and distance) of a simulated set of binary neutron-star gravitational-waves signals observed with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. We use a Dirichlet Process Gaussian-mixture model, a fully Bayesian non-parametric method that can be used to estimate probability density functions with a flexible set of assumptions. The ability to reliably reconstruct the source position is important for multimessenger astronomy, as recently demonstrated with GW170817. We show that for detector networks comparable to the early operation of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, typical localization volumes are ˜104-105 Mpc3 corresponding to ˜102-103 potential host galaxies. The localization volume is a strong function of the network signal-to-noise ratio, scaling roughly ∝ϱnet-6. Fractional localizations improve with the addition of further detectors to the network. Our Dirichlet Process Gaussian-mixture model can be adopted for localizing events detected during future gravitational-wave observing runs, and used to facilitate prompt multimessenger follow-up.

Nano- and Micro-Scale Oxidative Patterning of Titanium Implant Surfaces for Improved Surface Wettability.

PubMed

Kim, In-hye; Son, Jun Sik; Choi, Seok Hwa; Kim, Kyo-han; Kwon, Tae-yub

2016-02-01

A simple and scalable surface modification treatment is demonstrated, in which nano- and microscale features are introduced into the surface of titanium (Ti) substrates by means of a novel and eco-friendly oxidative aqueous solution composed of hydrogen peroxide (H202) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). By immersing mirror-polished Ti discs in an aqueous mixture of 30 wt% H2O2/5 wt% NaHCO3 at 23 +/- 3 degrees C for 4 h, it was confirmed that this mixture is capable of generating microscale topographies on Ti surfaces. It also simultaneously formed nanochannels that were regularly arranged in a comb-like pattern on the Ti surface, thus forming a hierarchical surface structure. Further, these nano/micro-textured Ti surfaces showed great surface roughness and excellent wettability when compared with control Ti surfaces. This study demonstrates that a H2O2/NaHCO3 mixture can be effectively utilized to create reproducible nano/microscale topographies on Ti implant surfaces, thus providing an economical new oxidative solution that may be used effectively and safely as a Ti surface modification treatment.

Compression-ignition engine performance with undoped and doped fuel oils and alcohol mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Charles S; Foster, Hampton H

1939-01-01

Several fuel oils, doped fuel oils, and mixtures of alcohol and fuel oil were tested in a high-speed, single-cylinder, compression-ignition engine to determine power output, fuel consumption, and ignition and combustion characteristics. Fuel oils or doped fuel oils of high octane number had shorter ignition lags, lower rates of pressure rise, and gave smoother engine operation than fuel oils or doped fuel oils of low octane number. Higher engine rotative speeds and boost pressures resulted in smoother engine operation and permitted the use of fuel oils of relatively low octane number. Although the addition of a dope to a fuel oil decreased the ignition lag and the rate of pressure rise, the ensuing rate of combustion was somewhat slower than for the undoped fuel oil so that the effectiveness of combustion was practically unchanged. Alcohol used as an auxiliary fuel, either as a mixture or by separate injection, increased the rates of pressure rise and induced roughness. In general, the power output decreased as the proportion of alcohol increased and, below maximum power, varied with the heating value of the total fuel charge.

Population annealing simulations of a binary hard-sphere mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callaham, Jared; Machta, Jonathan

2017-06-01

Population annealing is a sequential Monte Carlo scheme well suited to simulating equilibrium states of systems with rough free energy landscapes. Here we use population annealing to study a binary mixture of hard spheres. Population annealing is a parallel version of simulated annealing with an extra resampling step that ensures that a population of replicas of the system represents the equilibrium ensemble at every packing fraction in an annealing schedule. The algorithm and its equilibration properties are described, and results are presented for a glass-forming fluid composed of a 50/50 mixture of hard spheres with diameter ratio of 1.4:1. For this system, we obtain precise results for the equation of state in the glassy regime up to packing fractions φ ≈0.60 and study deviations from the Boublik-Mansoori-Carnahan-Starling-Leland equation of state. For higher packing fractions, the algorithm falls out of equilibrium and a free volume fit predicts jamming at packing fraction φ ≈0.667 . We conclude that population annealing is an effective tool for studying equilibrium glassy fluids and the jamming transition.

The Residual Strength of a Ship after an Internal Explosion

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-05-01

uafcd by the presence of small holes, and is roughly equal to three times the critical buckling load. With regards to application , however, the...not be described by a single measure of failure. Several promising approaches to EPFM are being developed, however, which offer some insights into the...toughness so determined is a material property, and indicates that the rigid-plastic equation is valid for certain applications . From a global energy

Learning Strategies Used by High School Students Learning English as a Second Language

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-02-01

Discussion 34 REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES Z1 A Teachers Interview Guide 43 B Student Interview Guide 55 C Classroom Observation Guide 67 ix LIST OF TABLES...and teacher interviews were performed individually. There were only 3.7 strategies per classroom observation . Because roughly equal amounts of time...FOR SPEAKING AND UNDERSTANDING ENGLISH Classroom Observation Guide The purpose of this observation guide is to describe an approach for cot- lecting

Laser Dew-Point Hygrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Shigeaki; Toyooka, Satoru

1995-01-01

A rough-surface-type automatic dew-point hygrometer was developed using a laser diode and an optical fiber cable. A gold plate with 0.8 µ m average surface roughness was used as a surface for deposition of dew to facilitate dew deposition and prevent supersaturation of water vapor at the dew point. It was shown experimentally that the quantity of dew deposited can be controlled to be constant at any predetermined level, and is independent of the dew point to be measured. The dew points were measured in the range from -15° C to 54° C in which the temperature ranged from 0° C to 60° C. The measurement error of the dew point was ±0.5° C which was equal to below ±2% in relative humidity in the above dew-point range.

Emission characteristics of plasma based on xenon-rubidium bromide mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heneral, A. A.; Avtaeva, S. V.

2017-10-01

Luminescence spectra of a longitudinal pulse-periodic discharge in xenon mixture with rubidium bromide vapors (Xe-RbBr) are studied experimentally at low pressures. The conditions leading to the appearance of intense bands of ultraviolet radiation of exciplex XeBr* molecules in the spectral interval between 200 and 400 nm are found. The highest yield of UV radiation of XeBr* molecules is achieved when the temperature of discharge-tube walls is equal to 750°C. A maximum power of UV radiation from the entire plasma volume as high as 4.8 W is obtained.

Neurons and Objects: The Case of Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Nelken, Israel; Bar-Yosef, Omer

2008-01-01

Sounds are encoded into electrical activity in the inner ear, where they are represented (roughly) as patterns of energy in narrow frequency bands. However, sounds are perceived in terms of their high-order properties. It is generally believed that this transformation is performed along the auditory hierarchy, with low-level physical cues computed at early stages of the auditory system and high-level abstract qualities at high-order cortical areas. The functional position of primary auditory cortex (A1) in this scheme is unclear – is it ‘early’, encoding physical cues, or is it ‘late’, already encoding abstract qualities? Here we argue that neurons in cat A1 show sensitivity to high-level features of sounds. In particular, these neurons may already show sensitivity to ‘auditory objects’. The evidence for this claim comes from studies in which individual sounds are presented singly and in mixtures. Many neurons in cat A1 respond to mixtures in the same way they respond to one of the individual components of the mixture, and in many cases neurons may respond to a low-level component of the mixture rather than to the acoustically dominant one, even though the same neurons respond to the acoustically-dominant component when presented alone. PMID:18982113

49 CFR 178.337-8 - Openings, inlets, and outlets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... used to transport chlorine. The requirements for inlets and outlets on chlorine cargo tanks are in... dioxide, helium, krypton, neon, nitrogen, and xenon, or mixtures thereof. (6) In addition to the internal... equalization of pressure. (b) Inlets and discharge outlets on chlorine tanks. The inlet and discharge outlets...

49 CFR 178.337-8 - Openings, inlets, and outlets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... used to transport chlorine. The requirements for inlets and outlets on chlorine cargo tanks are in... dioxide, helium, krypton, neon, nitrogen, and xenon, or mixtures thereof. (6) In addition to the internal... equalization of pressure. (b) Inlets and discharge outlets on chlorine tanks. The inlet and discharge outlets...

Enantioselective toxicity and bioaccumulation of fipronil in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) following water and sediment exposures

EPA Science Inventory

Fipronil is a widely used, broad-spectrum pesticide that is applied as an equal mixture of two enantiomers. As regulations on older pesticides become more stringent, production and application of fipronil is expected to grow, leading to increased inputs into aquatic environments ...

The assessment of surface roughness and microleakage of eroded tooth-colored dental restorative materials

PubMed Central

Hussein, Thulfiqar Ali; Bakar, Wan Zaripah Wan; Ghani, Zuryati Ab; Mohamad, Dasmawati

2014-01-01

Objectives: To investigate the effect of acidic solution on surface roughness and microleakage of tooth-colored restorative materials. Materials and Methods: A 160 box-shaped cavities were prepared on the buccal surfaces of 160 human molars, and assigned to four groups: Group A restored with Ketac™ Molar Easymix, Group B with Fuji II™ LC, Group C with Ketac™ N100, and Group D with Filtek™ Z250, and subdivided into study and control groups (n = 20). Study groups were immersed in lemon juice (pH = 2.79) for 24 h, whilst controlgroups in deionized distilled water. All samples were immersed in 2% methylene blue dye, sectioned into two equal halves for surface roughness, and microleakage tests. Data were analyzed using Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests at P < 0.05. Results: There was a significant difference in surface roughness of Ketac™ Molar, Fuji II™ LC, and Ketac™ N100. No significant difference was found in microleakage of Ketac™ Molar and Fuji II™ LC; however, there were significant differences in the gingival margin of Ketac™ N100, and the occlusal margin of Filtek™ Z250. Conclusions: All glass ionomer cements were eroded after exposure to the acidic drink. Filtek™ Z250 and Ketac™ Molar Easymix showed more microleakage. All materials showed more microleakage at the gingival margins. PMID:25506139

Surface temperatures and glassy state investigations in tribology, part 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winer, W. O.; Sanborn, D. M.

1978-01-01

The research in this report is divided into two categories: (1) lubricant rheological behavior, and (2) thermal behavior of a simulated elastohydrodynamic contact. The studies of the lubricant rheological behavior consists of high pressure, low shear rate viscosity measurements, viscoelastic transition measurements, by volume dilatometry, dielectric transitions at atmospheric pressure and light scattering transitions. Lubricant shear stress-strain behavior in the amorphous glassy state was measured on several fluids. It appears clear from these investigations that many lubricants undergo viscoplastic transitions in typical EHD contacts and that the lubricant has a limiting maximum shear stress it can support which in turn will determine the traction in the contact except in cases of very low slide-roll ratio. Surface temperature measurements were made for a naphthenic mineral oil and a polyphenyl ether. The maximum surface temperature in these experiments was approximately symmetrical about the zero slide-roll ration except for absolute values of slide-roll ratio greater than about 0.9. Additional surface temperature measurements were made in contacts with rough surfaces where the composite surface roughness was approximately equal to the EHD film thickness. A regression analysis was done to obtain a predictive equation for surface temperatures as a function of pressure, sliding speed, and surface roughness. A correction factor for surface roughness effects to the typical flash temperature analysis was found.

Corrosion of 310 stainless steel in H2-H2O-H2S gas mixtures: Studies at constant temperature and fixed oxygen potential

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rao, D. B.; Jacob, K. T.; Nelson, H. G.

1981-01-01

Corrosion of SAE 310 stainless steel in H2-H2O-H2S gas mixtures was studied at a constant temperature of 1150 K. Reactive gas mixtures were chosen to yield a constant oxygen potential of approximately 6 x 10 to the minus 13th power/cu Nm and sulfur potentials ranging from 0.19 x 10 to the minus 2nd power/cu Nm to 33 x 10 to the minus 2nd power/cu Nm. The kinetics of corrosion were determined using a thermobalance, and the scales were analyzed using metallography, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Two corrosion regimes, which were dependent on sulfur potential, were identified. At high sulfur potentials (p sub S sub 2 less than or equal to 2.7 x 10 to the minus 2nd power/cu Nm) the corrosion rates were high, the kinetics obeyed a linear rate equation, and the scales consisted mainly of sulfide phases similar to those observed from pure sulfication. At low sulfur potentials (P sub S sub 2 less than or equal to 0.19 x 10 to the minus 2nd power/cu Nm) the corrosion rates were low, the kinetics obeyed a parabolic rate equation, and scales consisted mainly of oxide phases.

Temperature-Dependent Effect of Boric Acid Additive on Surface Roughness and Wear Rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekinci, Şerafettin

Wear and friction hold an important place in engineering. Currently, scientific societies are struggling to control wear by means of studies on lubricants. Boric acid constitutes an important alternative with its good tribological properties similar to MO2S and graphite alongside with low environmental impacts. Boric acid can be used as a solid lubricant itself whereas it can be added or blended into mineral oils in order to yield better mechanical and tribological properties such as low shear stress due to the lamellar structure and low friction, wear and surface roughness rates. In this study, distinguishing from the literature, boric acid addition effect considering the temperature was investigated for the conventional ranges of internal combustion engines. Surface roughness, wear and friction coefficient values were used in order to determine tribological properties of boric acid as an environmentally friendly additive and mineral oil mixture in the present study. Wear experiments were conducted with a ball on disc experimental setup immersed in an oil reservoir at room temperature, 50∘C and 80∘C. The evolution of both the friction coefficient and wear behavior was determined under 10N load, at 2m/s sliding velocity and a total sliding distance of 9000m. Surface roughness was determined using atomic-force microscopy (AFM). Wear rate was calculated utilizing scanning electron microscope (SEM) visuals and data. The test results showed that wear resistance increased as the temperature increased, and friction coefficient decreased due to the presence of boric acid additive.

Parabolic single-crystal diamond lenses for coherent x-ray imaging

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Terentyev, Sergey; Blank, Vladimir; Polyakov, Sergey

2015-09-14

We demonstrate parabolic single-crystal diamond compound refractive lenses designed for coherent x-ray imaging resilient to extreme thermal and radiation loading expected from next generation light sources. To ensure the preservation of coherence and resilience, the lenses are manufactured from the highest-quality single-crystalline synthetic diamond material grown by a high-pressure high-temperature technique. Picosecond laser milling is applied to machine lenses to parabolic with a similar or equal to 1 mu m precision and surface roughness. A compound refractive lens comprised of six lenses with a radius of curvature R = 200 mu m at the vertex of the parabola and amore » geometrical aperture A = 900 mu m focuses 10 keV x-ray photons from an undulator source at the Advanced Photon Source facility to a focal spot size of similar or equal to 20 x 90 mu m(2) with a gain factor of similar or equal to 50 - 100. (C) 2015 Author(s).« less

DE-1 and COSMOS 1809 observations of lower hybrid waves excited by VLF whistler mode waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, T. F; Inan, U. S.; Lauben, D.; Sonwalkar, V. S.; Helliwell, R. A.; Sobolev, Ya. P.; Chmyrev, V. M.; Gonzalez, S.

1994-01-01

Past work demostrates that strong lower hybrid (LH) waves can be excited by electromagnetic whistler mode waves throughout large regions of the topside ionosphere and magnetosphere. The effects of the excited LH waves upon the suprathermal ion population in the topside ionosphere and magnetosphere depend upon the distribution of LH wave amplitude with wavelength lambda. The present work reports plasma wave data from the DE-1 and COSMOS 1809 spacecraft which suggests that the excited LH wave spectrum has components for which lambda less than or equal to 3.5 m when excitation occurs at a frequency roughly equal to the local lower hybrid resonance frequency. This wavelength limit is a factor of approximately 3 below that reported in past work and suggests that the excited LH waves can interact with suprathermal H(+) ions with energy less than or equal to 6 eV. This finding supports recent work concerning the heating of suprathermal ions above thunderstorm cells.

Enzymatic synthesis of 6-O-glucosyl-poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) in organic solvents and their binary mixture.

PubMed

Gumel, A M; Annuar, M S M; Heidelberg, T

2013-04-01

The effects of organic solvents and their binary mixture in the glucose functionalization of bacterial poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates catalyzed by Lecitase™ Ultra were studied. Equal volume binary mixture of DMSO and chloroform with moderate polarity was more effective for the enzyme catalyzed synthesis of the carbohydrate polymer at ≈38.2 (±0.8)% reactant conversion as compared to the mono-phasic and other binary solvents studied. The apparent reaction rate constant as a function of medium water activity (aw) was observed to increase with increasing solvent polarity, with optimum aw of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.7 (±0.1) observed in hydrophilic DMSO, binary mixture DMSO:isooctane and hydrophobic isooctane, respectively. Molecular sieve loading between 13 to 15gL(-1) (±0.2) and reaction temperature between 40 to 50°C were found optimal. Functionalized PHA polymer showed potential characteristics and biodegradability. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Properties of RBSN and RBSN-SiC composites. [Reaction Bonded Silicon Nitride

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lightfoot, A.; Ker, H. L.; Haggerty, J. S.; Ritter, J. E.

1990-01-01

Strengths, fracture toughnesses, hardnesses, and dimensional changes have been measured for RBSN and RBSN/SiC composites. Samples were made from mixtures of Si and either Si- or C-rich SiC powders. For pure, 75 pct dense RBSN dispersed with octanol, strengths up to 858 MPa have been achieved. Improved strengths result from a combination of microstructural perfection and increased fracture toughness. The mechanical properties of the composites were approximately equal to those of methanol processed RBSN but not quite equal to those of the octanol-processed RBSN. Results are discussed in terms of observed microstructural features.

Plasma-grafting polymerization on carbon fibers and its effect on their composite properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Huanxia; Li, Wei

2015-11-01

Interfacial adhesion between matrix and fibers plays a crucial role in controlling the performance of composites. Carbon fibers have the major constraint of chemical interness and hence have limited adhesion with the matrix. Surface treatment of fibers is the best solution to this problem. In this work, carbon fibers were activated by plasma and grafting polymerization. The grafting ratio of polymerization was obtained by acid-base titration. The chemical and physical changes induced by the treatments on carbon fiber surface was examined using contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) technique. The interfacial adhesion of CF/EP (carbon fiber/epoxy) composites were analyzed by a single fiber composite (SFC) for filament fragmentation test. Experimental results show that the grafting rate was not only the function of the plasma-treat time but also the concentration of the grafting polymerization. The oxygen-containing groups (such as Csbnd O, Cdbnd O, and Osbnd Cdbnd O) and the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the plasma-grafting carbon fiber increased more significantly than the carbon fiber without plasma treatment grafted with MAH. This demonstrates that the surfaces of the carbon fiber samples are more active, hydrophilic, and rough after plasma-grafting treatments using a DBD operating in ambient argon mixture with oxygen. With DBD (dielectric barrier discharges) operating in ambient argon mixture with oxygen, the more active, hydrophilic, and rough surface was obtained by the plasma-grafting treatments.

Excess protons in water-acetone mixtures. II. A conductivity study.

PubMed

Semino, Rocío; Longinotti, M Paula

2013-10-28

In the present work we complement a previous simulation study [R. Semino and D. Laria, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 194503 (2012)] on the disruption of the proton transfer mechanism in water by the addition of an aprotic solvent, such as acetone. We provide experimental measurements of the mobility of protons in aqueous-acetone mixtures in a wide composition range, for water molar fractions, xw, between 0.05 and 1.00. Furthermore, new molecular dynamics simulation results are presented for rich acetone mixtures, which provide further insight into the proton transport mechanism in water-non-protic solvent mixtures. The proton mobility was analyzed between xw 0.05 and 1.00 and compared to molecular dynamics simulation data. Results show two qualitative changes in the proton transport composition dependence at xw ∼ 0.25 and 0.8. At xw < 0.25 the ratio of the infinite dilution molar conductivities of HCl and LiCl, Λ(0)(HCl).Λ(0)(LiCl)(-1), is approximately constant and equal to one, since the proton diffusion is vehicular and equal to that of Li(+). At xw ∼ 0.25, proton mobility starts to differ from that of Li(+) indicating that above this concentration the Grotthuss transport mechanism starts to be possible. Molecular dynamics simulation results showed that at this threshold concentration the probability of interconversion between two Eigen structures starts to be non-negligible. At xw ∼ 0.8, the infinite molar conductivity of HCl concentration dependence qualitatively changes. This result is in excellent agreement with the analysis presented in the previous simulation work and it has been ascribed to the interchange of water and acetone molecules in the second solvation shell of the hydronium ion.

Chiral domain formation from the mixture of achiral rod-like liquid crystal and tri boomerang-shaped molecule

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Ji-Hoon; Yoon, Tae-Hoon

2013-08-01

Spontaneous formation of chiral domains such as a helical filament and a bent-broom texture was observed from the mixture of a rod-like liquid crystal octylcyano-biphenyl (8CB) and a tri boomerang-shaped 2,4,6-triphenoxy-1,3,5-triazine (triphenoxy) molecule. Although the constituent molecules were achiral, their mixture showed the chiral domains with the equal fraction of the opposite handedness. No tilt of 8CB molecules in the smectic layer was observed, implying the chirality is not due to the polar packing and tilt of the molecules. In addition, the splay and bend elastic constant of 8CB was decreased after doping triphenoxy. A structural conformation of triphenoxy and an orientational coupling between 8CB and triphenoxy are considered to be related to the chiral domain formation.

Transport properties of nonelectrolyte liquid mixtures—VII. Viscosity coefficients for isooctane and for equimolar mixtures of isooctane + n-octane and isooctane + n-dodecane from 25 to 100°C at pressures up to 500 MPa or to the freezing pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dymond, J. H.; Glen, N. F.; Isdale, J. D.

1985-05-01

Changes in the high-pressure self-centering falling-body viscometer system, and the new automated data logging system, are described. Viscosity coefficient measurements made with an estimated accuracy of ± 2 % are reported for isooctane and for equimolar mixtures of isooctane + n-octane and isooctane + n-dodecane at 25, 50, 75, and 100°C at pressures up to 500 MPa or to the freezing pressure. The pressure dependence of the results is found to be represented equally well by the recent equation of Makita and by a free-volume form of equation. The Grunberg and Nissan equation gives a good fit to the mixture viscosity coefficient data.

Quantifying the effect of intervertebral cartilage on neutral posture in the necks of sauropod dinosaurs.

PubMed

Taylor, Michael P

2014-01-01

Attempts to reconstruct the neutral neck posture of sauropod dinosaurs, or indeed any tetrapod, are doomed to failure when based only on the geometry of the bony cervical vertebrae. The thickness of the articular cartilage between the centra of adjacent vertebrae affects posture. It extends (raises) the neck by an amount roughly proportional to the thickness of the cartilage. It is possible to quantify the angle of extension at an intervertebral joint: it is roughly equal, in radians, to the cartilage thickness divided by the height of the zygapophyseal facets over the centre of rotation. Applying this formula to published measurements of well-known sauropod specimens suggests that if the thickness of cartilage were equal to 4.5%, 10% or 18% of centrum length, the neutral pose of the Apatosaurus louisae holotype CM 3018 would be extended by an average of 5.5, 11.8 or 21.2 degrees, respectively, at each intervertebral joint. For the Diplodocus carnegii holotype CM 84, the corresponding angles of additional extension are even greater: 8.4, 18.6 or 33.3 degrees. The cartilaginous neutral postures (CNPs) calculated for 10% cartilage-the most reasonable estimate-appear outlandish. But it must be remembered that these would not have been the habitual life postures, because tetrapods habitually extend the base of their neck and flex the anterior part, yielding the distinctive S-curve most easily seen in birds.

Nanostructural surface engineering of grafted polymers on inorganic oxide substrates for membrane separations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshida, Wayne Hiroshi

Nanostructural engineering of inorganic substrates by free radical graft polymerization was studied with the goal of developing new membrane materials for pervaporation. Graft polymerization consisted of modification of surface hydroxyls with vinyl trimethoxysilane, followed by solution graft polymerization reaction using either vinyl acetate (VAc) or vinyl pyrrolidone (VP). The topology of the modified surfaces was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) on both atomically smooth silicon wafer substrates and microporous inorganic membrane supports in order to deduce the effects of modification on the nanostructural properties of the membrane. While unmodified wafers showed a root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of 0.21 +/- 0.03 nm, roughness increased to 3.15 +/- 0.23 nm upon silylation. Under poor solvent conditions (i.e., air), surfaces modified with higher poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) or poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) polymer graft yields displayed lateral inhomogeneities in the polymer layer. Although RMS surface roughness was nearly identical (0.81--0.85 nm) for PVAc-modified surfaces grafted at different monomer concentrations, the skewness of the height distribution decreased from 2.22 to 0.78 as polymer graft yield increased from 0.8 to 3.5 mg/m2. The polymer-modified surfaces were used to create inorganic pervaporation membranes consisting of a single macromolecular separation layer formed by graft polymerization. PVAc grafted silica membranes (500A native pore size) were found selective for MTBE in the separation of 0.1--1% (v/v) MTBE from water, achieving MTBE enrichment factors as high as 371 at a permeate flux of 0.38 l/m2 hr and a Reynolds number of 6390; however, these membranes could not separate anhydrous organic mixtures. Pervaporative separation of methanol/MTBE mixtures was possible with PVAc and PVP-modified alumina supports of 50A native pore size, where the separation layer consisted of grafted polymer chains with estimated radius of gyration 4.5--6.8 times larger than the membrane pore radius. Methanol separation factors for the PVP and PVAc-grafted alumina pervaporation membranes reached values of 26 and 100 (respectively) at total permeate fluxes of 0.055--1.26 kg/m 2 hr and 0.55--6.19 kg/m2 hr. The present study demonstrated that selective pervaporation membranes for separation of both organic/organic and organic/aqueous mixtures can be effectively designed by careful selection of the surface-grafted polymer chain density and the ratio of the polymer chain size to the native support pore size.

40 CFR 790.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... substance or mixture is able to represent or substitute for another in a test or series of tests, and that... submitted to EPA and ends after an amount of time equal to that which had been required to develop data or after five years, whichever is later. Sponsor means the person or persons who design, direct and finance...

40 CFR 790.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... substance or mixture is able to represent or substitute for another in a test or series of tests, and that... submitted to EPA and ends after an amount of time equal to that which had been required to develop data or after five years, whichever is later. Sponsor means the person or persons who design, direct and finance...

40 CFR 790.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... substance or mixture is able to represent or substitute for another in a test or series of tests, and that... submitted to EPA and ends after an amount of time equal to that which had been required to develop data or after five years, whichever is later. Sponsor means the person or persons who design, direct and finance...

ENANTIOMER FRACTIONS OF CHLORDANE COMPOUNDS IN SEDIMENT SAMPLES FROM U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SITES IN LAKES, RIVERS AND RESERVOIRS

EPA Science Inventory

The environmental behavior of the enantiomers of cis- and trans-chlordane has been the topic of much research since the first chiral separations on cyclodextrin gas chromatography (GC) columns. When chlordane is manufactured, it is always a racemic mixture (equal portion of two e...

40 CFR 89.317 - NOX converter check.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... Figure 2 in appendix B of this subpart is a reference for the following paragraphs. (b) Follow good... most common operating range. (e) Introduce into the NOX generator analyzer-system an NO-in-nitrogen (N2) mixture with an NO concentration equal to approximately 80 percent of the most common operating range. The...

40 CFR 89.317 - NOX converter check.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... Figure 2 in appendix B of this subpart is a reference for the following paragraphs. (b) Follow good... most common operating range. (e) Introduce into the NOX generator analyzer-system an NO-in-nitrogen (N2) mixture with an NO concentration equal to approximately 80 percent of the most common operating range. The...

Surface Modification of Polyimide for Improving Adhesion Strength by Inductively Coupled Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byun, Tae Joon; Kim, Sung Il; Kim, Youn Joon; Choi, Yoon Suk; Choi, In Sik; Setsuhara, Yuichi; Geon Han, Jeon

2009-08-01

This study examined the effect of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment using an argon and helium gas mixture on the adhesion between polyimide and a copper film. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) of the ICP revealed the emission intensity of helium and argon at various intensities with the helium mixing ratio. The treated polyimide surface was analyzed using a contact angle analyzer, Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The contact angle and RMS roughness ranged from 66 to 31° and 2.3 to 4.1 nm, respectively. XPS showed an increase in C-O bonding. The highest peel strength was 0.43 kgf/cm at a 40% of helium mixing ratio, which contained the highest level of activate species. Overall, an ICP treatment of a polyimide surface with a 40% helium gas mixture improves the adhesion strength between copper and polyimide significantly.

Field trials with tank mixtures of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis and Bacillus sphaericus formulations against Culex pipiens larvae in septic tanks in Antalya, Turkey.

PubMed

Cetin, Huseyin; Dechant, Peter; Yanikoglu, Atila

2007-06-01

Efficacy of tank mixtures of commercial Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) water-dispersable granule (WDG) formulations was evaluated in septic tanks, against Culex pipiens L. (Diptera: Culicidae) larvae. VectoLex WDG (Bs) + VectoBac WDG (Bti) were evaluated at various ratios from 488 g/ha VectoLex + 250 g/ha VectoBac up to 3,000 g/ha of each. All applications and ratios delivering VectoLex WDG at a rate equal to or greater than 988 g/ha provided more than 90% control for 28 days after treatment. The lowest dose provided this level of control for at least 7 days after treatment, with greater than 80% control after 2 wk. These results suggest that a retreatment interval of 2 wk is recommended with the lowest dose and retreatment intervals of 4 or more wk are recommended with the doses equal to or higher than 988 g/ha VectoLex + 250 g/ha VectoBac.

Influence of the Structure of a Solid-Fuel Mixture on the Thermal Efficiency of the Combustion Chamber of an Engine System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Futko, S. I.; Koznacheev, I. A.; Ermolaeva, E. M.

2014-11-01

On the basis of thermodynamic calculations, the features of the combustion of a solid-fuel mixture based on the glycidyl azide polymer were investigated, the thermal cycle of the combustion chamber of a model engine system was analyzed, and the efficiency of this chamber was determined for a wide range of pressures in it and different ratios between the components of the combustible mixture. It was established that, when the pressure in the combustion chamber of an engine system increases, two maxima arise successively on the dependence of the thermal efficiency of the chamber on the weight fractions of the components of the combustible mixture and that the first maximum shifts to the side of smaller concentrations of the glycidyl azide polymer with increase in the pressure in the chamber; the position of the second maximum is independent of this pressure, coincides with the minimum on the dependence of the rate of combustion of the mixture, and corresponds to the point of its structural phase transition at which the mole fractions of the carbon and oxygen atoms in the mixture are equal. The results obtained were interpreted on the basis of the Le-Chatelier principle.

D-optimal experimental designs to test for departure from additivity in a fixed-ratio mixture ray.

PubMed

Coffey, Todd; Gennings, Chris; Simmons, Jane Ellen; Herr, David W

2005-12-01

Traditional factorial designs for evaluating interactions among chemicals in a mixture may be prohibitive when the number of chemicals is large. Using a mixture of chemicals with a fixed ratio (mixture ray) results in an economical design that allows estimation of additivity or nonadditive interaction for a mixture of interest. This methodology is extended easily to a mixture with a large number of chemicals. Optimal experimental conditions can be chosen that result in increased power to detect departures from additivity. Although these designs are used widely for linear models, optimal designs for nonlinear threshold models are less well known. In the present work, the use of D-optimal designs is demonstrated for nonlinear threshold models applied to a fixed-ratio mixture ray. For a fixed sample size, this design criterion selects the experimental doses and number of subjects per dose level that result in minimum variance of the model parameters and thus increased power to detect departures from additivity. An optimal design is illustrated for a 2:1 ratio (chlorpyrifos:carbaryl) mixture experiment. For this example, and in general, the optimal designs for the nonlinear threshold model depend on prior specification of the slope and dose threshold parameters. Use of a D-optimal criterion produces experimental designs with increased power, whereas standard nonoptimal designs with equally spaced dose groups may result in low power if the active range or threshold is missed.

Hydrodynamical Modeling of Large Circumstellar Disks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurfürst, P.; Krtǐcka, J.

2016-11-01

Direct centrifugal ejection from a critically or near-critically rotating surface forms a gaseous equatorial decretion disk. Anomalous viscosity provides the efficient mechanism for transporting the angular momentum outwards. The outer part of the disk can extend up to a very large distance from the parent star. We study the evolution of density, radial and azimuthal velocity, and angular momentum loss rate of equatorial decretion disks out to very distant regions. We investigate how the physical characteristics of the disk depend on the distribution of temperature and viscosity. We also study the magnetorotational instability, which is considered to be the origin of anomalous viscosity in outflowing disks. We use analytical calculations to study the stability of outflowing disks submerged to the magnetic field. At large radii the instability disappears in the region where the disk orbital velocity is roughly equal to the sound speed. Therefore, the disk sonic radius can be roughly considered as an outer disk radius.

Angles in the Sky?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behr, Bradford

2005-09-01

Tycho Brahe lived and worked in the late 1500s before the telescope was invented. He made highly accurate observations of the positions of planets, stars, and comets using large angle-measuring devices of his own design. You can use his techniques to observe the sky as well. For example, the degree, a common unit of measurement in astronomy, can be measured by holding your fist at arm's length up to the sky. Open your fist and observe the distance across the sky covered by the width of your pinky fingernail. That is, roughly, a degree! After some practice, and knowing that one degree equals four minutes, you can measure elapsed time by measuring the angle of the distance that the Moon appears to have moved and multiplying that number by four. You can also figure distances and sizes of things. These are not precise measurements, but rough estimates that can give you a "close-enough" answer.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kitai, M S; Semchishen, A V; Semchishen, V A

The optical quality of the eye cornea surface after performing the laser vision correction essentially depends on the characteristic roughness scale (CRS) of the ablated surface, which is mainly determined by the absorption coefficient of the cornea at the laser wavelength. Thus, in the case of using an excimer ArF laser (λ = 193 nm) the absorption coefficient is equal to 39000 cm{sup -1}, the darkening by the dissociation products takes place, and the depth of the roughness relief can be as large as 0.23 mm. Under irradiation with the Er : YAG laser (λ = 2940 nm) the clearingmore » is observed due to the rupture of hydrogen bonds in water, and the relief depth exceeds 1 μm. It is shown that the process of reepithelization that occurs after performing the laser vision correction leads to the improvement of the optical quality of the cornea surface. (interaction of laser radiation with matter)« less

Correlation of surface site formation to nanoisland growth in the electrochemical roughening of Pt(111)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobse, Leon; Huang, Yi-Fan; Koper, Marc T. M.; Rost, Marcel J.

2018-03-01

Platinum plays a central role in a variety of electrochemical devices and its practical use depends on the prevention of electrode degradation. However, understanding the underlying atomic processes under conditions of repeated oxidation and reduction inducing irreversible surface structure changes has proved challenging. Here, we examine the correlation between the evolution of the electrochemical signal of Pt(111) and its surface roughening by simultaneously performing cyclic voltammetry and in situ electrochemical scanning tunnelling microscopy (EC-STM). We identify a `nucleation and early growth' regime of nanoisland formation, and a `late growth' regime after island coalescence, which continues up to at least 170 cycles. The correlation analysis shows that each step site that is created in the `late growth' regime contributes equally strongly to both the electrochemical and the roughness evolution. In contrast, in the `nucleation and early growth' regime, created step sites contribute to the roughness, but not to the electrochemical signal.

Additive and synergistic antiandrogenic activities of mixtures of azol fungicides and vinclozolin.

PubMed

Christen, Verena; Crettaz, Pierre; Fent, Karl

2014-09-15

Many pesticides including pyrethroids and azole fungicides are suspected to have an endocrine disrupting property. At present, the joint activity of compound mixtures is only marginally known. Here we tested the hypothesis that the antiandrogenic activity of mixtures of azole fungicides can be predicted by the concentration addition (CA) model. The antiandrogenic activity was assessed in MDA-kb2 cells. Following assessing single compounds activities mixtures of azole fungicides and vinclozolin were investigated. Interactions were analyzed by direct comparison between experimental and estimated dose-response curves assuming CA, followed by an analysis by the isobole method and the toxic unit approach. The antiandrogenic activity of pyrethroids deltamethrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate and permethrin was weak, while the azole fungicides tebuconazole, propiconazole, epoxiconazole, econazole and vinclozolin exhibited strong antiandrogenic activity. Ten binary and one ternary mixture combinations of five antiandrogenic fungicides were assessed at equi-effective concentrations of EC25 and EC50. Isoboles indicated that about 50% of the binary mixtures were additive and 50% synergistic. Synergism was even more frequently indicated by the toxic unit approach. Our data lead to the conclusion that interactions in mixtures follow the CA model. However, a surprisingly high percentage of synergistic interactions occurred. Therefore, the mixture activity of antiandrogenic azole fungicides is at least additive. Mixtures should also be considered for additive antiandrogenic activity in hazard and risk assessment. Our evaluation provides an appropriate "proof of concept", but whether it equally translates to in vivo effects should further be investigated. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Soybeans vs. textured soy proteins as meat extenders. Cooking losses, palatability, and thiamin content of freshly cooked and frozen meat loaves.

PubMed

Ali, F S; Perry, A K; Van Duyne, F O

1982-10-01

The effects of replacing 30 percent of the ground beef in meat loaves with boiled ground soybeans or textured soy protein (TSP) were studied. The substitutions were equally effective in increasing yields of freshly cooked, raw frozen and cooked, and cooked, frozen, and reheated meat loaves. Scores for several palatability characteristics, including general desirability, were higher for meat loaves containing soybeans than for loaves containing TSP. The mixtures and loaves contained similar amounts of protein and thiamin. Cooking losses and mean palatability scores indicated advantages for freezing raw loaf mixtures rather than cooked loaves.

Use of ALS data for digital terrain extraction and roughness parametrization in floodplain areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idda, B.; Nardinocchi, C.; Marsella, M.

2009-04-01

In order to undertake structural and land planning actions aimed at improving risk thresholds and vulnerability associated to floodplain inundation, the evaluation of the area concerning the channel overflowing from his natural embankments it is of essential importance. Floodplain models requires the analysis of historical floodplains extensions, ground's morphological structure and hydraulic measurements. Within this set of information, a more detailed characterization about the hydraulic roughness, which controls the velocity to the hydraulic flow, is a interesting challenge to achieve a 2D spatial distribution into the model. Remote sensing optical and radar sensors techniques can be applied to generate 2D and 3D map products useful to perimeter floodplains extension during the main event and extrapolate river cross-sections. Among these techniques, it is unquestionable the enhancement that the Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) have brought for its capability to extract high resolution and accurate Digital Terrain Models. In hydraulic applications, a number of studies investigated the use of ALS for DTM generation and approached the quantitative estimations of the hydraulic roughness. The aim of this work is the generation of a digital terrain model and the estimation of hydraulic parameters useful for floodplains models from Airborne Laser Scanner data collected in a test area, which encloses a portion of a drainage basin of the Mela river (Sicily, Italy). From the Airborne Laser Scanner dataset, a high resolution Digital Elevation Model was first created, then after applying filtering and classification processes, a dedicated procedure was implemented to assess automatically a value for the hydraulic roughness coefficient (in Manning's formulation) per each point interested in the floodplain. The obtained results allowed to generate maps of equal roughness, hydraulic level depending, based on the application of empirical formulas for specific-type vegetation at each classified ALS point.

An approximate JKR solution for a general contact, including rough contacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciavarella, M.

2018-05-01

In the present note, we suggest a simple closed form approximate solution to the adhesive contact problem under the so-called JKR regime. The derivation is based on generalizing the original JKR energetic derivation assuming calculation of the strain energy in adhesiveless contact, and unloading at constant contact area. The underlying assumption is that the contact area distributions are the same as under adhesiveless conditions (for an appropriately increased normal load), so that in general the stress intensity factors will not be exactly equal at all contact edges. The solution is simply that the indentation is δ =δ1 -√{ 2 wA‧ /P″ } where w is surface energy, δ1 is the adhesiveless indentation, A‧ is the first derivative of contact area and P‧‧ the second derivative of the load with respect to δ1. The solution only requires macroscopic quantities, and not very elaborate local distributions, and is exact in many configurations like axisymmetric contacts, but also sinusoidal waves contact and correctly predicts some features of an ideal asperity model used as a test case and not as a real description of a rough contact problem. The solution permits therefore an estimate of the full solution for elastic rough solids with Gaussian multiple scales of roughness, which so far was lacking, using known adhesiveless simple results. The result turns out to depend only on rms amplitude and slopes of the surface, and as in the fractal limit, slopes would grow without limit, tends to the adhesiveless result - although in this limit the JKR model is inappropriate. The solution would also go to adhesiveless result for large rms amplitude of roughness hrms, irrespective of the small scale details, and in agreement with common sense, well known experiments and previous models by the author.

Wetting Transition of Nonpolar Neutral Molecule System on a Neutral and Atomic Length Scale Roughness Substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Shiqi

2018-03-01

One recently proposed new method for accurately determining wetting temperature is applied to the wetting transition occurring in a single component nonpolar neutral molecule system near a neutral planar substrate with roughness produced by cosinusoidal modulation(s). New observations are summarized into five points: (i) for a planar substrate superimposed with one cosinusoidal modulation, with increasing of the periodicity length or the surface attraction force field, or decreasing of the amplitude, wetting temperature T_W drops accordingly and the three parameters show multiplication effect; moreover, both the periodicity length and amplitude effect curves display pole phenomena and saturation phenomena, and the T_W saturation occurs at small (for case of large amplitude) or large (for case of small amplitude) periodicity length side, respectively. (ii) In the case of the planar substrate superimposed with two cosinusoidal modulations with equal periodicity length, the initial phase difference is critical issue that influences the T_W, which decreases with the initial phase difference. (iii) In the case of the planar substrate superimposed with two cosinusoidal modulations with zero phase difference, change of the T_W with one periodicity length under the condition of another periodicity length unchanged is non-monotonous. (iv) When the parameters are chosen such that the T_W draws ever closer to the bulk critical temperature, wetting transition on the roughness substrate eventually does not occur. (v) The present microscopic calculation challenges traditional macroscopic theory by confirming that the atomic length scale roughness always renders the surface less hydrophilic and whereas the mesoscopical roughness renders the surface more hydrophilic. All of these observations summarized can be reasonably explained by the relative strength of the attraction actually enjoyed by the surface gas molecules to the attraction the gas molecules can get when in bulk.

Device and method for determining freezing points

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathiprakasam, Balakrishnan (Inventor)

1986-01-01

A freezing point method and device (10) are disclosed. The method and device pertain to an inflection point technique for determining the freezing points of mixtures. In both the method and device (10), the mixture is cooled to a point below its anticipated freezing point and then warmed at a substantially linear rate. During the warming process, the rate of increase of temperature of the mixture is monitored by, for example, thermocouple (28) with the thermocouple output signal being amplified and differentiated by a differentiator (42). The rate of increase of temperature data are analyzed and a peak rate of increase of temperature is identified. In the preferred device (10) a computer (22) is utilized to analyze the rate of increase of temperature data following the warming process. Once the maximum rate of increase of temperature is identified, the corresponding temperature of the mixture is located and earmarked as being substantially equal to the freezing point of the mixture. In a preferred device (10), the computer (22), in addition to collecting the temperature and rate of change of temperature data, controls a programmable power supply (14) to provide a predetermined amount of cooling and warming current to thermoelectric modules (56).

Development of an Atmospheric Dispersion Model for Heavier-Than-Air Gas Mixtures. Volume 3. DEGADIS User’s Manual.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-05-01

interpolates between a pair of points based on a list of supplied values (C-2). () ALP estimates the ambient wind profile power a by minimizing the integral...Typical Values of Surface Roughness 7 1.2. Representative Konin-Obukhov Lengths arnd Power Law Exponents for Different Atmospheric Stabilities 8 IV.1...a constant in power law wind profile 0 constant in a correlation r gama function 𔄁 ratio of (p - pa)/Cc 6 constant in a correlation y AMonin-Obukhov

Equivalence of truncated count mixture distributions and mixtures of truncated count distributions.

PubMed

Böhning, Dankmar; Kuhnert, Ronny

2006-12-01

This article is about modeling count data with zero truncation. A parametric count density family is considered. The truncated mixture of densities from this family is different from the mixture of truncated densities from the same family. Whereas the former model is more natural to formulate and to interpret, the latter model is theoretically easier to treat. It is shown that for any mixing distribution leading to a truncated mixture, a (usually different) mixing distribution can be found so that the associated mixture of truncated densities equals the truncated mixture, and vice versa. This implies that the likelihood surfaces for both situations agree, and in this sense both models are equivalent. Zero-truncated count data models are used frequently in the capture-recapture setting to estimate population size, and it can be shown that the two Horvitz-Thompson estimators, associated with the two models, agree. In particular, it is possible to achieve strong results for mixtures of truncated Poisson densities, including reliable, global construction of the unique NPMLE (nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator) of the mixing distribution, implying a unique estimator for the population size. The benefit of these results lies in the fact that it is valid to work with the mixture of truncated count densities, which is less appealing for the practitioner but theoretically easier. Mixtures of truncated count densities form a convex linear model, for which a developed theory exists, including global maximum likelihood theory as well as algorithmic approaches. Once the problem has been solved in this class, it might readily be transformed back to the original problem by means of an explicitly given mapping. Applications of these ideas are given, particularly in the case of the truncated Poisson family.

Friction of atomically stepped surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dikken, R. J.; Thijsse, B. J.; Nicola, L.

2017-03-01

The friction behavior of atomically stepped metal surfaces under contact loading is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. While real rough metal surfaces involve roughness at multiple length scales, the focus of this paper is on understanding friction of the smallest scale of roughness: atomic steps. To this end, periodic stepped Al surfaces with different step geometry are brought into contact and sheared at room temperature. Contact stress that continuously tries to build up during loading, is released with fluctuating stress drops during sliding, according to the typical stick-slip behavior. Stress release occurs not only through local slip, but also by means of step motion. The steps move along the contact, concurrently resulting in normal migration of the contact. The direction of migration depends on the sign of the step, i.e., its orientation with respect to the shearing direction. If the steps are of equal sign, there is a net migration of the entire contact accompanied by significant vacancy generation at room temperature. The stick-slip behavior of the stepped contacts is found to have all the characteristic of a self-organized critical state, with statistics dictated by step density. For the studied step geometries, frictional sliding is found to involve significant atomic rearrangement through which the contact roughness is drastically changed. This leads for certain step configurations to a marked transition from jerky sliding motion to smooth sliding, making the final friction stress approximately similar to that of a flat contact.

Flow resistance in open channels with fixed movable bed

USGS Publications Warehouse

Simoes, Francisco J.

2010-01-01

In spite of an increasingly large body of research by many investigators, accurate quantitative prediction of open channel flow resistance remains a challenge. In general, the relations between the elements influencing resistance (turbulence, boundary roughness, and channel shape features, such as discrete obstacles, bars, channel curvature, recirculation areas, secondary circulation, etc.) and mean flow variables are complex and poorly understood. This has resulted in numerous approaches to compute friction using many and diverse variables and equally diverse prescriptions for their use. In this paper, a new resistance law for surface (grain) resistance, the resistance due to the flow viscous effects on the channel boundary roughness elements, is presented for the cases of flow in the transition (5 < Re* <70) and fully rough (Re* ≥ 70) turbulent flow regimes, where Re* is the Reynolds number based on shear velocity and sediment particle mean diameter. It is shown that the new law is sensitive to bed movement without requiring previous knowledge of sediment transport conditions. Comparisons between computation and measurements, as well as comparisons with other well-known existing roughness predictors, are presented to demonstrate its accuracy and range of application. It is shown that the method accurately predicts total friction losses in channels and natural rivers with plane beds, regardless of sediment transport conditions. This work is useful to hydraulic engineers involved with the derivation of depth-discharge relations in open channel flow and with the estimation of sediment transport rates for the case of bedload transport.

Medical savings accounts make waves.

PubMed

Gardner, J

1995-02-27

MSAs: the theory. Medical savings account legislation would allow consumers to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for day-to-day healthcare costs. The accounts are to be backed up by a catastropic policy with a deductible roughly equal to the maximum amount allowed in the MSA. The aim is to reduce healthcare cost inflation by making consumers more aware of the costs of healthcare than they are under comprehensive policies and enabling them to shop for the lowest-cost, highest-quality care.

Estimates of the effectiveness of automatic control in alleviating wake vortex induced roll excursions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tinling, B. E.

1977-01-01

Estimates of the effectiveness of a model following type control system in reducing the roll excursion due to a wake vortex encounter were obtained from single degree of freedom computations with inputs derived from the results of wind tunnel, flight, and simulation experiments. The analysis indicates that the control power commanded by the automatic system must be roughly equal to the vortex induced roll acceleration if effective limiting of the maximum bank angle is to be achieved.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Information on Limitations and Assumptions of DOE’s Five-Lab Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-09-01

the potential consequences of climate change , the United States and other countries have entered into international negotiations and agreements. In...energy savings estimated to roughly equal or exceed costs. In view of the study’s potential influence on U.S. climate change policy, as requested, we...the study’s results, (3) the study’s role in the formulation of the Oct. 󈨥 climate change proposal and the Kyoto Conference’s emission-reduction goals for the U.S.

Epoxy Resins Toughened with Surface Modified Epoxidized Natural Rubber Fibers by One-Step Electrospinning.

PubMed

Kim, Joo Ran; Kim, Jung J

2017-04-27

Epoxidized natural rubber fibers (ERFs) are developed through one-step electrospinning and directly deposited into epoxy resins without collecting and distributing of fibers. The shape of ERFs shows rough surface due to different evaporation rate of solvent mixture consisting of chloroform and dichloromethane and the average diameter of ERFs is 6.2 µm. The increase of ERFs loading from 0 to 20 wt % into the epoxy resin increases the fracture strain significantly from 1.2% to 13% and toughness from 0.3 MPa to 1.9 MPa by a factor of 7. However, the tensile strength and Young's modulus decrease about 34% from 58 MPa to 34 MPa and from 1.4 GPa to 0.9 GPa, respectively. Due to the crosslinking reactions between oxirane groups of ERFs and amine groups in the resin, surface roughness and the high aspect ratio of ERFs, ERFs result in more effective toughening effect with the minimum loss of tensile properties in epoxy resins.

Surface roughness effects on the solar reflectance of cool asphalt shingles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akbari, Hashem; Berdahl, Paul; Akbari, Hashem

2008-02-17

We analyze the solar reflectance of asphalt roofing shingles that are covered with pigmented mineral roofing granules. The reflecting surface is rough, with a total area approximately twice the nominal area. We introduce a simple analytical model that relates the 'micro-reflectance' of a small surface region to the 'macro-reflectance' of the shingle. This model uses a mean field approximation to account for multiple scattering effects. The model is then used to compute the reflectance of shingles with a mixture of different colored granules, when the reflectances of the corresponding mono-color shingles are known. Simple linear averaging works well, with smallmore » corrections to linear averaging derived for highly reflective materials. Reflective base granules and reflective surface coatings aid achievement of high solar reflectance. Other factors that influence the solar reflectance are the size distribution of the granules, coverage of the asphalt substrate, and orientation of the granules as affected by rollers during fabrication.« less

Reactive ion etching effects on carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 phase change material in CF4/Ar plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Lanlan; Song, Sannian; Song, Zhitang; Li, Le; Guo, Tianqi; Liu, Bo; Wu, Liangcai; Cheng, Yan; Feng, Songlin

2016-10-01

Recently, carbon-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 (CGST) has been proved to be a high promising material for future phase change memory technology. In this article, reactive ion etching (RIE) of phase change material CGST films is studied using CF4/Ar gas mixture. The effects on gas-mixing ratio, RF power, gas pressure on the etch rate, etch profile and roughness of the CGST film are investigated. Conventional phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) films are simultaneously studied for comparison. Compared with GST film, 10 % more CF4 is needed for high etch rate and 10% less CF4 for good anisotropy of CGST due to more fluorocarbon polymer deposition during CF4 etching. The trends of etch rates and roughness of CGST with varying RF power and chamber pressure are similar with those of GST. Furthermore, the etch rate of CGST are more easily to be saturated when higher RF power is applied.

Epoxy Resins Toughened with Surface Modified Epoxidized Natural Rubber Fibers by One-Step Electrospinning

PubMed Central

Kim, Joo Ran; Kim, Jung J.

2017-01-01

Epoxidized natural rubber fibers (ERFs) are developed through one-step electrospinning and directly deposited into epoxy resins without collecting and distributing of fibers. The shape of ERFs shows rough surface due to different evaporation rate of solvent mixture consisting of chloroform and dichloromethane and the average diameter of ERFs is 6.2 µm. The increase of ERFs loading from 0 to 20 wt % into the epoxy resin increases the fracture strain significantly from 1.2% to 13% and toughness from 0.3 MPa to 1.9 MPa by a factor of 7. However, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus decrease about 34% from 58 MPa to 34 MPa and from 1.4 GPa to 0.9 GPa, respectively. Due to the crosslinking reactions between oxirane groups of ERFs and amine groups in the resin, surface roughness and the high aspect ratio of ERFs, ERFs result in more effective toughening effect with the minimum loss of tensile properties in epoxy resins. PMID:28772822

Structural changes of a-CNx thin films induced by thermal annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aziz, Siti Aisyah Abd; Awang, Rozidawati

2018-04-01

In this work, amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) thin films were deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) technique at different RF powers of 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 W for 30 min. These films were prepared using a mixture of acetylene (C2H2) at 20 sccm and nitrogen (N2) gases at 50 sccm. The films were then annealed at 400 °C in a quartz tube furnace in argon (Ar) gas. The chemical bondings of the film were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FTIR) while surface morphology and film roughness were determined by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The FTIR analysis reveals that annealing resulted in the loss of C-H and C-N bonds and formation of graphitic sp2C cluster with the dissociation of N and C in the films. AFM indicates that the film surface becomes less rough which effectually enhances structural modifications and the rearrangement of the microstructure of the films after annealing.

Universal calculational recipe for solvent-mediated potential: based on a combination of integral equation theory and density functional theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Shiqi

2004-07-01

A universal formalism, which enables calculation of solvent-mediated potential (SMP) between two equal or non-equal solute particles with any shape immersed in solvent reservior consisting of atomic particle and/or polymer chain or their mixture, is proposed by importing a density functional theory externally into OZ equation systems. Only if size asymmetry of the solvent bath components is moderate, the present formalism can calculate the SMP in any complex fluids at the present development stage of statistical mechanics, and therefore avoids all of limitations of previous approaches for SMP. Preliminary calculation indicates the reliability of the present formalism.

Durable underwater superoleophobic PDDA/halloysite nanotubes decorated stainless steel mesh for efficient oil-water separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hou, Kun; Zeng, Yicheng; Zhou, Cailong; Chen, Jiahui; Wen, Xiufang; Xu, Shouping; Cheng, Jiang; Lin, Yingguang; Pi, Pihui

2017-09-01

A durable underwater superoleophobic mesh was conveniently prepared by layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly of poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on a stainless steel mesh. The hierarchical structure and roughness of the PDDA/HNTs coating surface were controlled by adjusting the number of layer deposition cycles. When the PDDA/HNTs coating with 10 deposition cycles was decorated on the mesh with pore size of about 54 μm, the underwater superoleophobic mesh was obtained. The as-prepared underwater superoleophobic PDDA/HNTs decorated mesh exhibits outstanding oil-water separation performance with a separation efficiency of over 97% for various oil/water mixtures, which allowed water to pass through while repelled oil completely. In addition, the as-prepared decorated mesh still maintained high separation efficiency above 97% after repeated 20 separation times for hexane/water mixture or chloroform/water mixture. More importantly, the as-prepared decorated mesh is durable enough to resist chemical and mechanical challenges, such as strong alkaline, salt aqueous and sand abrasion. Therefore, the as-prepared decorated mesh has practical utility in oil-water separation due to its stable oil-water performance, remarkable chemical and mechanical durability and the facile and eco-friendly preparation process.

Rapid capillary electrophoresis approach for the quantification of ewe milk adulteration with cow milk.

PubMed

Trimboli, Francesca; Morittu, Valeria Maria; Cicino, Caterina; Palmieri, Camillo; Britti, Domenico

2017-10-13

The substitution of ewe milk with more economic cow milk is a common fraud. Here we present a capillary electrophoresis method for the quantification of ewe milk in ovine/bovine milk mixtures, which allows for the rapid and inexpensive recognition of ewe milk adulteration with cow milk. We utilized a routine CE method for human blood and urine proteins analysis, which fulfilled the separation of skimmed milk proteins in alkaline buffer. Under this condition, ovine and bovine milk exhibited a recognizable and distinct CE protein profiles, with a specific ewe peak showing a reproducible migration zone in ovine/bovine mixtures. Based on ewe specific CE peak, we developed a method for ewe milk quantification in ovine/bovine skimmed milk mixtures, which showed good linearity, precision and accuracy, and a minimum amount of detectable fraudulent cow milk equal to 5%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of grinding and polishing on roughness and strength of zirconia.

PubMed

Khayat, Waad; Chebib, Najla; Finkelman, Matthew; Khayat, Samer; Ali, Ala

2018-04-01

The clinical applications of high-translucency monolithic zirconia restorations have increased. Chairside and laboratory adjustments of these restorations are inevitable, which may lead to increased roughness and reduced strength. The influence of grinding and polishing on high-translucency zirconia has not been investigated. The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the roughness averages (Ra) of ground and polished zirconia and investigate whether roughness influenced strength after aging. High-translucency zirconia disks were milled, sintered, and glazed according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Specimens were randomized to 4 equal groups. Group G received only grinding; groups GPB and GPK received grinding and polishing with different polishing systems; and group C was the (unground) control group. All specimens were subjected to hydrothermal aging in an autoclave at 134°C at 200 kPa for 3 hours. Roughness average was measured using a 3-dimensional (3D) optical interferometer at baseline (Ra1), after grinding and polishing (Ra2), and after aging (Ra3). A biaxial flexural strength test was performed at a rate of 0.5 mm/min. Statistical analyses were performed using commercial software (α=.05). Group G showed a significantly higher mean value of Ra3 (1.96 ±0.32 μm) than polished and glazed groups (P<.001), which showed no statistically significant difference among them (GPB, 1.12 ±0.31 µm; GPK, 0.88 ±0.31 µm; C: 0.87 ±0.25 μm) (P>.05). Compared with baseline, the roughness of groups G and GPB increased significantly after surface treatments and after aging, whereas aging did not significantly influence the roughness of groups GPK or C. Group G showed the lowest mean value of biaxial flexural strength (879.01 ±157.99 MPa), and the highest value was achieved by group C (962.40 ±113.84 MPa); no statistically significant differences were found among groups (P>.05). Additionally, no significant correlation was detected between the Ra and flexural strength of zirconia. Grinding increased the roughness of zirconia restorations, whereas proper polishing resulted in smoothness comparable with glazed surfaces. The results provide no evidence that grinding and polishing affect the flexural strength of zirconia after aging. Copyright © 2017 Editorial Council for the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modifications of surfactant distributions and surface morphologies in latex films due to moisture exposure

Treesearch

Guizhen H. Xu; Jinping Dong; Steven J. Severtson; Carl J. Houtman; Larry E. Gwin

2009-01-01

Migration of surfactants in water-based, pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) films exposed to static and cyclic relative humidity conditions was investigated using confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Studied PSA films contain monomers n-butyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, and methacrylic acid and an equal mass mixture of anionic and nonionic...

Compressible Flow Phenomena at Inception of Lateral Density Currents Fed by Collapsing Gas-Particle Mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, Greg A.; Sweeney, Matthew R.

2018-02-01

Many geological flows are sourced by falling gas-particle mixtures, such as during collapse of lava domes, and impulsive eruptive jets, and sustained columns, and rock falls. The transition from vertical to lateral flow is complex due to the range of coupling between particles of different sizes and densities and the carrier gas, and due to the potential for compressible flow phenomena. We use multiphase modeling to explore these dynamics. In mixtures with small particles, and with subsonic speeds, particles follow the gas such that outgoing lateral flows have similar particle concentration and speed as the vertical flows. Large particles concentrate immediately upon impact and move laterally away as granular flows overridden by a high-speed jet of expelled gas. When a falling flow is supersonic, a bow shock develops above the impact zone, and this produces a zone of high pressure from which lateral flows emerge as overpressured wall jets. The jets form complex structures as the mixtures expand and accelerate and then recompress through a recompression zone that mimics a Mach disk shock in ideal gas jets. In mixtures with moderate to high ratios of fine to coarse particles, the latter tend to follow fine particles through the expansion-recompression flow fields because of particle-particle drag. Expansion within the flow fields can lead to locally reduced gas pressure that could enhance substrate erosion in natural flows. The recompression zones form at distances, and have peak pressures, that are roughly proportional to the Mach numbers of impacting flows.

Additive and synergistic antiandrogenic activities of mixtures of azol fungicides and vinclozolin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christen, Verena; Crettaz, Pierre; Fent, Karl, E-mail: karl.fent@fhnw.ch

Objective: Many pesticides including pyrethroids and azole fungicides are suspected to have an endocrine disrupting property. At present, the joint activity of compound mixtures is only marginally known. Here we tested the hypothesis that the antiandrogenic activity of mixtures of azole fungicides can be predicted by the concentration addition (CA) model. Methods: The antiandrogenic activity was assessed in MDA-kb2 cells. Following assessing single compounds activities mixtures of azole fungicides and vinclozolin were investigated. Interactions were analyzed by direct comparison between experimental and estimated dose–response curves assuming CA, followed by an analysis by the isobole method and the toxic unit approach.more » Results: The antiandrogenic activity of pyrethroids deltamethrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate and permethrin was weak, while the azole fungicides tebuconazole, propiconazole, epoxiconazole, econazole and vinclozolin exhibited strong antiandrogenic activity. Ten binary and one ternary mixture combinations of five antiandrogenic fungicides were assessed at equi-effective concentrations of EC{sub 25} and EC{sub 50}. Isoboles indicated that about 50% of the binary mixtures were additive and 50% synergistic. Synergism was even more frequently indicated by the toxic unit approach. Conclusion: Our data lead to the conclusion that interactions in mixtures follow the CA model. However, a surprisingly high percentage of synergistic interactions occurred. Therefore, the mixture activity of antiandrogenic azole fungicides is at least additive. Practice: Mixtures should also be considered for additive antiandrogenic activity in hazard and risk assessment. Implications: Our evaluation provides an appropriate “proof of concept”, but whether it equally translates to in vivo effects should further be investigated. - Highlights: • Humans are exposed to pesticide mixtures such as pyrethroids and azole fungicides. • We assessed the antiandrogenicity of pyrethroids and azole fungizides. • Many azole fungicides showed significant antiandrogenic activity . • Many binary mixtures of antiandrogenic azole fungicides showed synergistic interactions. • Concentration addition of pesticides in mixtures should be considered.« less

Analog laboratory experiments on the influence of substrate roughness on the run out distance of pyroclastic flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roche, O.; Chedevile, C.

2012-12-01

We carried out scaled experiments on gas-particles flows propagating on a rough substrate in order to investigate the emplacement of pyroclastic flows. The flows were generated from the release of non-fluidized or gas-fluidized columns of fine (80 μm) glass beads of height of 30 cm into a 3 m-long horizontal channel. The base of the channel was either smooth or was made rough by gluing a monodisperse layer of spherical particles of diameter of 80 μm to 3 mm. We defined the substrate roughness as the size of the glued particles, which corresponded to up to several tens of centimeters when scaled to the natural system. The flow front kinematics and the detailed interactions between the base of the flow and the rough substrate were investigated from high speed videos. We measured systematically the run out distance of the flows, and experiments were repeated 8-10 times for each configuration to obtain a mean value. The run out distance increased with the substrate roughness for both initially non-fluidized and fluidized flows. The run out had a minimum value for a smooth base and was about twice that value for the highest roughness of 3 mm. Analysis of the flow kinematics revealed that the increase in run out was caused by higher front velocities essentially at late stages of emplacement, during which the head of the flows stretched considerably. High speed videos made at the base of the flows showed that their head first slid over the substrate before aggregates of particles fell into the interstices between the particles forming the rough substrate, at a mean speed of several centimeters per second. In contrast, complementary experiments on flows of coarse beads of 350 μm showed that the substrate roughness did not influence their run out, and at the flow base their particles bumped into those of the substrate before falling individually into the interstices. These observations suggest that the positive correlation between the flow run out and the substrate roughness for flows of fine particles could result from two mechanisms. The first was the reduction of the contact area between the flow base and the substrate as the roughness increased because of the reduced number of particles per unit length. The second, main mechanism was auto-fluidization generated as the fine particles falling into the interstices expulsed the air upward at a velocity much larger than the minimum fluidization velocity. This promoted at least partial fluidization or additional pore pressure in case of initially non-fluidized or fluidized flows, respectively. This experimental investigation provides some counterintuitive results and has implication for hazards assessment. Other things being equal, the run out distance of fines-rich pyroclastic flows is expected to increase with the roughness of the terrain on which they propagate.

Toxicity and photoactivation of PAH mixtures in marine sediment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Swartz, R.; Ferraro, S.; Lamberson, J.

1995-12-31

The toxicity and toxicological photoactivation of mixtures of sediment-associated fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and acenaphthene were determined using standard 10 d sediment toxicity tests with the marine amphipod, Rhepoxynius abronius. The four PAHs were spiked into sediment in a concentration series of either single compounds or an equitoxic mixture. Spiked sediment was stored at 4 C for 28 d before testing. Toxicity tests were conducted under fluorescent lighting. Survivors after 10 d in PAH-contaminated sediment were exposed for 1 h to UV light in the absence of sediment and then tested for their ability to bury in clean sediment. The 10more » d LC50s for single PAHs were 3.3, 2.2, 2.8, and 2.3 mg/g oc for fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and acenaphthene, respectively. These LC50s were used to calculate the sum of toxic units ({Sigma}TU) of the four PAHs in the equitoxic mixture treatments. The {Sigma}TU LC50 was then calculated for the mixture treatments. If the toxicological interaction of the four PAHs in the mixture was additive, the {Sigma}TU LC50 should equal 1.0. The observed {Sigma}TU LC50 in the mixture was 1.55, indicating the interaction was slightly less than additive. UV enhancement of toxic effects of individual PAHs was correctly predicted by photophysical properties, i.e. pyrene and fluoranthene were photoactivated and phenanthrene and acenaphthene were not. UV effects in the mixture of four PAHs can be explained by the photoactivation of pyrene and fluoranthene alone.« less

Development of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods in pharmaceutical application with new selective signal excitation methods for 13 C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance using 1 H T1rho relaxation time.

PubMed

Nasu, Mamiko; Nemoto, Takayuki; Mimura, Hisashi; Sako, Kazuhiro

2013-01-01

Most pharmaceutical drug substances and excipients in formulations exist in a crystalline or amorphous form, and an understanding of their state during manufacture and storage is critically important, particularly in formulated products. Carbon 13 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is useful for studying the chemical and physical state of pharmaceutical solids in a formulated product. We developed two new selective signal excitation methods in (13) C solid-state NMR to extract the spectrum of a target component from such a mixture. These methods were based on equalization of the proton relaxation time in a single domain via rapid intraproton spin diffusion and the difference in proton spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame ((1) H T1rho) of individual components in the mixture. Introduction of simple pulse sequences to one-dimensional experiments reduced data acquisition time and increased flexibility. We then demonstrated these methods in a commercially available drug and in a mixture of two saccharides, in which the (13) C signals of the target components were selectively excited, and showed them to be applicable to the quantitative analysis of individual components in solid mixtures, such as formulated products, polymorphic mixtures, or mixtures of crystalline and amorphous phases. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Combining Mixture Components for Clustering*

PubMed Central

Baudry, Jean-Patrick; Raftery, Adrian E.; Celeux, Gilles; Lo, Kenneth; Gottardo, Raphaël

2010-01-01

Model-based clustering consists of fitting a mixture model to data and identifying each cluster with one of its components. Multivariate normal distributions are typically used. The number of clusters is usually determined from the data, often using BIC. In practice, however, individual clusters can be poorly fitted by Gaussian distributions, and in that case model-based clustering tends to represent one non-Gaussian cluster by a mixture of two or more Gaussian distributions. If the number of mixture components is interpreted as the number of clusters, this can lead to overestimation of the number of clusters. This is because BIC selects the number of mixture components needed to provide a good approximation to the density, rather than the number of clusters as such. We propose first selecting the total number of Gaussian mixture components, K, using BIC and then combining them hierarchically according to an entropy criterion. This yields a unique soft clustering for each number of clusters less than or equal to K. These clusterings can be compared on substantive grounds, and we also describe an automatic way of selecting the number of clusters via a piecewise linear regression fit to the rescaled entropy plot. We illustrate the method with simulated data and a flow cytometry dataset. Supplemental Materials are available on the journal Web site and described at the end of the paper. PMID:20953302

Method and apparatus for synthesizing hydrocarbons

DOEpatents

Colmenares, C.A.; Somorjai, G.A.; Maj, J.J.

1983-06-21

A method and apparatus for synthesizing a mixture of hydrocarbons having five carbons or less is disclosed. An equal molar ratio of CO and H/sub 2/ gases is caused to pass through a ThO/sub 2/ catalyst having a surface area of about 80 to 125 m/sup 2//g. The catalyst further includes Na present as a substitutional cation in an amount of about 5 to 10 atom %. At a temperature of about 340 to 360/sup 0/C, and at pressures of about 20 to 50 atm, CH/sub 3/OH is produced in an amount of about 90 wt % of the total hydrocarbon mixture, and comprised 1 mole % of the effluent gas.

Method and apparatus for synthesizing hydrocarbons

DOEpatents

Colmenares, C.A.; Somorjai, G.A.; Maj, J.J.

1985-04-16

A method and apparatus for synthesizing a mixture of aliphatic alcohols having five carbons or less is disclosed. An equal molar ratio of CO and H/sub 2/ gases is caused to pass through a ThO/sub 2/ catalyst having a surface area of about 80 to 125 m/sup 2//g. The catalyst further optionally includes Na ions present as substitutional cations in an amount of about 5 to 10 atom %. At a temperature of about 570 to 630/sup 0/K, and at pressures of about 20 to 50 atm, methanol and isobutanol are the predominant products and are produced in amounts of about 90 wt % of the total hydrocarbon mixture. 6 figs.

Surfactant-based critical phenomena in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaler, Eric W.; Paulaitis, Michael E.

1994-01-01

The objective of this research project is to characterize by experiment and theoretically both the kinetics of phase separation and the metastable structures produced during phase separation in a microgravity environment. The particular systems we are currently studying are mixtures of water, nonionic surfactants, and compressible supercritical fluids at temperatures and pressures where the coexisting liquid phases have equal densities (isopycnic phases). In this report, we describe experiments to locate equilibrium isopycnic phases and to determine the 'local' phase behavior and critical phenomena at nearby conditions of temperature, pressure, and composition. In addition, we report the results of preliminary small angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments to characterize microstructures that exist in these mixtures at different fluid densities.

The study of the modes of Ta-Zr powder mixture non-vacuum electron-beam cladding on the surface of the cp-titanium plates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samoylenko, V. V.; Lozhkina, E. A.; Polyakov, I. A.; Lenivtseva, O. G.; Ivanchik, I. S.; Matts, O. E.

2016-11-01

The effect of the modes of non-vacuum electron-beam cladding of Ta-Zr powder mixtures on the structure and properties of the layers formed on the surface of cp-titanium were studied. The mode of the electron-beam alloying of titanium with zirconium and tantalum, which ensured the formation of a defect-free layer with a high content of alloying elements was selected. Metallographic examination indicated the presence of a dendritic- and plate-type structure of cladded layers. The microhardness of the layers, formed at the optimum mode, was not changed in the cross section and was equal to 450 HV.

Detection and classification of resolved multiplet members of the solar 5 minute oscillations through solar diameter-type observations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hill, H.A.

1985-03-15

Individual modes of low-degree 5 minute oscillations have been identified in solar diameter observations. These modes have n-values in the range 12< or =n< or =27 and l-values in the range 0< or =l< or =6, where n and l represent the radial order and the spherical harmonic degree of the eigenfunction respectively. In total, 184 modes belonging to 83 multiplets have been resolved and classified. The study of these modes has been accomplished without superposed-frequency analysis. It has been possible to estimate observationally the number of mode identifications that are incorrect because of coincidental frequency alignment of real ormore » aliased peaks of two different modes; these results indicate that roughly-equal15 of the 184 modes identified are incorrectly classified. The firstorder rotational splitting in m is consistent with that found by Hill, Bos, and Goode (1982); the resolved members of the multiplets yield, for example, a rotational splitting that is first order in m of -1.80 +- 0.03 ..mu..Hz for n = 17, l = 2. The observed second-order effect in m is sufficiently small that relatively little deviation from a Zeeman pattern occurs. The observed width of the individual modes is roughly-equal1 ..mu..Hz. The observed symmetry properties confirm both the detection of multiplets and the axial symmetry of the Sun as seen by these oscillations.« less

How Different Are Our Perceptions of Equal-Tempered and Microtonal Intervals? A Behavioural and EEG Survey.

PubMed

Bailes, Freya; Dean, Roger T; Broughton, Mary C

2015-01-01

For listeners familiar with Western twelve-tone equal-tempered (12-TET) music, a novel microtonal tuning system is expected to present additional processing challenges. We aimed to determine whether this was the case, focusing on the extent to which our perceptions can be considered bottom-up (psychoacoustic and primarily perceptual) and top-down (dependent on familiarity and cognitive processing). We elicited both overt response ratings, and covert event-related potentials (ERPs), so as to compare subjective impressions of sounds with the neurophysiological processing of the acoustic signal. We hypothesised that microtonal intervals are perceived differently from 12-TET intervals, and that the responses of musicians (n = 10) and non-musicians (n = 10) are distinct. Two-note chords were presented comprising 12-TET intervals (consonant and dissonant) or microtonal (quarter tone) intervals, and ERP, subjective roughness ratings, and liking ratings were recorded successively. Musical experience mediated the perception of differences between dissonant and microtone intervals, with non-musicians giving similar ratings for each, and musicians preferring dissonant over the less commonly used microtonal intervals, rating them as less rough. ERP response amplitude was greater for consonant intervals than other intervals. Musical experience interacted with interval type, suggesting that musical expertise facilitates the sensory and perceptual discrimination of microtonal intervals from 12-TET intervals, and an increased ability to categorize such intervals. Non-musicians appear to have perceived microtonal intervals as instances of neighbouring 12-TET intervals.

Bifurcation parameters of a reflected shock wave in cylindrical channels of different roughnesses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penyazkov, O.; Skilandz, A.

2018-03-01

To investigate the effect of bifurcation on the induction time in cylindrical shock tubes used for chemical kinetic experiments, one should know the parameters of the bifurcation structure of a reflected shock wave. The dynamics and parameters of the shock wave bifurcation, which are caused by reflected shock wave-boundary layer interactions, are studied experimentally in argon, in air, and in a hydrogen-nitrogen mixture for Mach numbers M = 1.3-3.5 in a 76-mm-diameter shock tube without any ramp. Measurements were taken at a constant gas density behind the reflected shock wave. Over a wide range of experimental conditions, we studied the axial projection of the oblique shock wave and the pressure distribution in the vicinity of the triple Mach configuration at 50, 150, and 250 mm from the endwall, using side-wall schlieren and pressure measurements. Experiments on a polished shock tube and a shock tube with a surface roughness of 20 {μ }m Ra were carried out. The surface roughness was used for initiating small-scale turbulence in the boundary layer behind the incident shock wave. The effect of small-scale turbulence on the homogenization of the transition zone from the laminar to turbulent boundary layer along the shock tube perimeter was assessed, assuming its influence on a subsequent stabilization of the bifurcation structure size versus incident shock wave Mach number, as well as local flow parameters behind the reflected shock wave. The influence of surface roughness on the bifurcation development and pressure fluctuations near the wall, as well as on the Mach number, at which the bifurcation first develops, was analyzed. It was found that even small additional surface roughness can lead to an overshoot in pressure growth by a factor of two, but it can stabilize the bifurcation structure along the shock tube perimeter.

Sensitivity of the immature rat uterotrophic assay to mixtures of estrogens.

PubMed Central

Tinwell, Helen; Ashby, John

2004-01-01

We have evaluated whether mixtures of estrogens, present in the mix at doses that are individually inactive in the immature rat uterotrophic assay, can give a uterotrophic response. Seven chemicals were evaluated: nonylphenol, bisphenol A (BPA), methoxychlor, genistein (GEN), estradiol, diethylstilbestrol, and ethinyl estradiol. Dose responses in the uterotrophic assay were constructed for each chemical. The first series of experiments involved evaluating binary mixtures of BPA and GEN at dose levels that gave moderate uterotrophic responses when tested individually. The mixtures generally showed an intermediate or reduced uterotrophic effect compared with when the components of the mixture were tested alone at the dose used in the mixture. The next series of experiments used a multicomponent (complex) mixture of all seven chemicals evaluated at doses that gave either weakly positive or inactive uterotrophic responses when tested individually in the assay. Doses that were nominally equi-uterotrophic ranged over approximately six orders of magnitude for the seven chemicals. Doses of agents that gave a weak uterotrophic response when tested individually gave a marginally enhanced positive response in the assay when tested combined as a mixture. Doses of agents that gave a negative uterotrophic response when tested individually gave a positive response when tested as a mixture. These data indicate that a variety of different estrogen receptor (ER) agonists, present individually at subeffective doses, can act simultaneously to evoke an ER-regulated response. However, translating these findings into the process of environmental hazard assessment will be difficult. The simple addition of the observed, or predicted, activities for the components of a mixture is confirmed here to be inappropriate and to overestimate the actual effect induced by the mixture. Equally, isobole analysis is only suitable for two- or three-component mixtures, and concentration addition requires access to dose-response data and EC50 values (concentration giving 50% of the maximum response) for the individual components of the mixture--requirements that will rarely be fulfilled for complex environmental samples. Given these uncertainties, we conclude that it may be most expedient to select and bioassay whole environmental mixtures of potential concern. PMID:15064164

Wave-current generated turbulence over hemisphere bottom roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barman, Krishnendu; Roy, Sayahnya; Debnath, Koustuv

2018-03-01

The present paper explores the effect of wave-current interaction on the turbulence characteristics and the distribution of eddy structure over artificially crammed rough bed prepared with hemispheres. The effect of the surface wave on temporal and spatial-averaged mean velocity, intensity, Reynolds shear stress over, within cavity and above the hemispherical bed are discussed. Detailed three-dimensional time series velocity components were measured in a tilting flume using 3-D Micro-Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) at a Reynolds number, 62 × 103. This study reports the fractional contributions of burst-sweep cycles dominating the total shear stress near hemispherical rough surface both for current only flow as well as for wave-induced cases. Wavelet analysis of the fluctuating velocity signal shows that the superimposed wave of frequency 1 Hz is capable of modulating the energy containing a range of velocity fluctuations at the mid-depth of the cavity region (formed due to the crammed arrangement of the hemispheres). As a result, the large-scale eddies (with large values of wavelet coefficients) are concentrated at a pseudo-frequency which is equal to the wave oscillating frequency. On the other hand, it is observed that the higher wave frequency (2 Hz) is incapable of modulating the eddy structures at that particular region.

Visual and digital comparative tooth colour assessment methods and atomic force microscopy surface roughness.

PubMed

Grundlingh, A A; Grossman, E S; Shrivastava, S; Witcomb, M J

2013-10-01

This study compared digital and visual colour tooth colour assessment methods in a sample of 99 teeth consisting of incisors, canines and pre-molars. The teeth were equally divided between Control, Ozicure Oxygen Activator bleach and Opalescence Quick bleach and subjected to three treatments. Colour readings were recorded at nine intervals by two assessment methods, VITA Easyshade and VITAPAN 3D MASTER TOOTH GUIDE, giving a total of 1782 colour readings. Descriptive and statistical analysis was undertaken using a GLM test for Analysis of Variance for a Fractional Design set at a significance of P < 0.05. Atomic force micros copy was used to examine treated ename surfaces and establish surface roughness. Visual tooth colour assessment showed significance for the independent variables of treatment, number of treatments, tooth type and the combination tooth type and treatment. Digital colour assessment indicated treatment and tooth type to be of significance in tooth colour change. Poor agreement was found between visual and digital colour assessment methods for Control and Ozicure Oxygen Activator treatments. Surface roughness values increased two-fold for Opalescence Quick specimens over the two other treatments, implying that increased light scattering improved digital colour reading. Both digital and visual colour matching methods should be used in tooth bleaching studies to complement each other and to compensate for deficiencies.

Theory and computer simulation of hard-core Yukawa mixtures: thermodynamical, structural and phase coexistence properties.

PubMed

Mkanya, Anele; Pellicane, Giuseppe; Pini, Davide; Caccamo, Carlo

2017-09-13

We report extensive calculations, based on the modified hypernetted chain (MHNC) theory, on the hierarchical reference theory (HRT), and on Monte Carlo simulations, of thermodynamical, structural and phase coexistence properties of symmetric binary hard-core Yukawa mixtures (HCYM) with attractive interactions at equal species concentration. The obtained results are throughout compared with those available in the literature for the same systems. It turns out that the MHNC predictions for thermodynamic and structural quantities are quite accurate in comparison with the MC data. The HRT is equally accurate for thermodynamics, and slightly less accurate for structure. Liquid-vapor (LV) and liquid-liquid (LL) consolute coexistence conditions as emerging from simulations, are also highly satisfactorily reproduced by both the MHNC and HRT for relatively long ranged potentials. When the potential range reduces, the MHNC faces problems in determining the LV binodal line; however, the LL consolute line and the critical end point (CEP) temperature and density turn out to be still satisfactorily predicted within this theory. The HRT also predicts with good accuracy the CEP position. The possibility of employing liquid state theories HCYM for the purpose of reliably determining phase equilibria in multicomponent colloidal fluids of current technological interest, is discussed.

Theory and computer simulation of hard-core Yukawa mixtures: thermodynamical, structural and phase coexistence properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mkanya, Anele; Pellicane, Giuseppe; Pini, Davide; Caccamo, Carlo

2017-09-01

We report extensive calculations, based on the modified hypernetted chain (MHNC) theory, on the hierarchical reference theory (HRT), and on Monte Carlo simulations, of thermodynamical, structural and phase coexistence properties of symmetric binary hard-core Yukawa mixtures (HCYM) with attractive interactions at equal species concentration. The obtained results are throughout compared with those available in the literature for the same systems. It turns out that the MHNC predictions for thermodynamic and structural quantities are quite accurate in comparison with the MC data. The HRT is equally accurate for thermodynamics, and slightly less accurate for structure. Liquid-vapor (LV) and liquid-liquid (LL) consolute coexistence conditions as emerging from simulations, are also highly satisfactorily reproduced by both the MHNC and HRT for relatively long ranged potentials. When the potential range reduces, the MHNC faces problems in determining the LV binodal line; however, the LL consolute line and the critical end point (CEP) temperature and density turn out to be still satisfactorily predicted within this theory. The HRT also predicts with good accuracy the CEP position. The possibility of employing liquid state theories HCYM for the purpose of reliably determining phase equilibria in multicomponent colloidal fluids of current technological interest, is discussed.

Measures to reduce construction time of high-rise buildings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolchedantsev, Leonid; Adamtsevich, Aleksey; Stupakova, Olga; Drozdov, Alexander

2018-03-01

The organizational and technological solutions for high-rise buildings construction efficiency increase are considered, primarily - decrease of typical floor construction time and improvement of bearing structures concrete quality. The essence of offered technology is: a concrete mixing station and a polygon mainly for load-bearing wall panels with starter bars casting are located on the building site; for reinforced concrete components manufacturing and butt joints grouting the warmed-up concrete mixtures are used. The results of researches and elaborations carried out by the SPSUACE in area of a preliminary warming-up of concrete mixtures are presented. The possibility and feasibility of their usage in high-rise buildings and of excess height buildings construction including cast-in-place and precast execution are shown. The essence of heat-vibro treating of concrete mixture is revealed as a kind of prior electroresistive curing, and the achieved results are: accelerated concrete strength gain, power inputs decrease, concrete quality improvement. It is shown that the location of a concrete mixing station on the building site enables to broaden possibilities of the "thermos" method use and to avoid concrete mixtures warming up in medium-mass structures erection (columns, girders) during the high-rise buildings construction. It is experimentally proved that the splice between precast elements encased with warmed-up concrete mixture is equal with conjugated elements in strength.

Coevolution of bed surface patchiness and channel morphology: 2. Numerical experiments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nelson, Peter A.; McDonald, Richard R.; Nelson, Jonathan M.; Dietrich, William E.

2015-01-01

In gravel bed rivers, bed topography and the bed surface grain size distribution evolve simultaneously, but it is not clear how feedbacks between topography and grain sorting affect channel morphology. In this, the second of a pair of papers examining interactions between bed topography and bed surface sorting in gravel bed rivers, we use a two-dimensional morphodynamic model to perform numerical experiments designed to explore the coevolution of both free and forced bars and bed surface patches. Model runs were carried out on a computational grid simulating a 200 m long, 2.75 m wide, straight, rectangular channel, with an initially flat bed at a slope of 0.0137. Over five numerical experiments, we varied (a) whether an obstruction was present, (b) whether the sediment was a gravel mixture or a single size, and (c) whether the bed surface grain size feeds back on the hydraulic roughness field. Experiments with channel obstructions developed a train of alternate bars that became stationary and were connected to the obstruction. Freely migrating alternate bars formed in the experiments without channel obstructions. Simulations incorporating roughness feedbacks between the bed surface and flow field produced flatter, broader, and longer bars than simulations using constant roughness or uniform sediment. Our findings suggest that patches are not simply a by-product of bed topography, but they interact with the evolving bed and influence morphologic evolution.

A multiscale analysis of coral reef topographic complexity using lidar-derived bathymetry

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zawada, D.G.; Brock, J.C.

2009-01-01

Coral reefs represent one of the most irregular substrates in the marine environment. This roughness or topographic complexity is an important structural characteristic of reef habitats that affects a number of ecological and environmental attributes, including species diversity and water circulation. Little is known about the range of topographic complexity exhibited within a reef or between different reef systems. The objective of this study was to quantify topographic complexity for a 5-km x 5-km reefscape along the northern Florida Keys reef tract, over spatial scales ranging from meters to hundreds of meters. The underlying dataset was a 1-m spatial resolution, digital elevation model constructed from lidar measurements. Topographic complexity was quantified using a fractal algorithm, which provided a multi-scale characterization of reef roughness. The computed fractal dimensions (D) are a measure of substrate irregularity and are bounded between values of 2 and 3. Spatial patterns in D were positively correlated with known reef zonation in the area. Landward regions of the study site contain relatively smooth (D ??? 2.35) flat-topped patch reefs, which give way to rougher (D ??? 2.5), deep, knoll-shaped patch reefs. The seaward boundary contains a mixture of substrate features, including discontinuous shelf-edge reefs, and exhibits a corresponding range of roughness values (2.28 ??? D ??? 2.61). ?? 2009 Coastal Education and Research Foundation.

Recent progresses of neural network unsupervised learning: I. Independent component analyses generalizing PCA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szu, Harold H.

1999-03-01

The early vision principle of redundancy reduction of 108 sensor excitations is understandable from computer vision viewpoint toward sparse edge maps. It is only recently derived using a truly unsupervised learning paradigm of artificial neural networks (ANN). In fact, the biological vision, Hubel- Wiesel edge maps, is reproduced seeking the underlying independent components analyses (ICA) among 102 image samples by maximizing the ANN output entropy (partial)H(V)/(partial)[W] equals (partial)[W]/(partial)t. When a pair of newborn eyes or ears meet the bustling and hustling world without supervision, they seek ICA by comparing 2 sensory measurements (x1(t), x2(t))T equalsV X(t). Assuming a linear and instantaneous mixture model of the external world X(t) equals [A] S(t), where both the mixing matrix ([A] equalsV [a1, a2] of ICA vectors and the source percentages (s1(t), s2(t))T equalsV S(t) are unknown, we seek the independent sources approximately equals [I] where the approximated sign indicates that higher order statistics (HOS) may not be trivial. Without a teacher, the ANN weight matrix [W] equalsV [w1, w2] adjusts the outputs V(t) equals tanh([W]X(t)) approximately equals [W]X(t) until no desired outputs except the (Gaussian) 'garbage' (neither YES '1' nor NO '-1' but at linear may-be range 'origin 0') defined by Gaussian covariance G equals [I] equals [W][A] at the fixed point (partial)E/(partial)wi equals 0 resulted in an exact Toplitz matrix inversion for a stationary covariance assumption. We generalize AR by a nonlinear output vi(t+1) equals tanh(wiTX(t)) within E equals <[x(t+1) - vi(t+1)]2>, and the gradient descent (partial)E/(partial)wi equals - (partial)wi/(partial)t. Further generalization is possible because of specific image/speech having a specific histogram whose gray scale statistics departs from that of Gaussian random variable and can be measured by the fourth order cumulant, Kurtosis K(vi) equals - 3 2 (K greater than or equal to 0 super-G for speeches, K less than or equal to 0 sub-G for images). Thus, the stationary value at (partial)K/(partial)wi equals plus or minus 4 PTLwi/(partial)t can de-mix unknown mixtures of noisy images/speeches without a teacher. This stationary statistics may be parallel implemented using the 'factorized pdf code: (rho) (v1, v2) equals (rho) (v1) (rho) (v2)' occurred at a maximal entropy algorithm improved by the natural gradient of Amari. Real world applications are given in Part II, (Wavelet Appl-VI, SPIE Proc. Vol. 3723) such as remote sensing subpixel composition, speech segmentation by means of ICA de-hyphenation, and cable TV bandwidth enhancement by simultaneously mixing sport and movie entertainment events.

Effects of oxide additions and temperature on sinterability of milled silicon nitride

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arias, A.

1980-01-01

Specimens of milled alpha-Si3N4 with 0 to 5.07 equivalent percent of oxide additions were pressureless sintered at 1650 to 1820 C for 4 hours in nitrogen while covered with powdered Si3N4 + SiO2. Densities of less than or equal to 97.5 percent resulted with approximately 2.5 equivalent percent of MgO, CeO2, Y2O3, and three mixtures involving these oxides. Densities of greater than or equal to 94 percent were obtained with approximately 0.62 equivalent percent of the same additives. At most temperatures, best sinterability (density maxima) was obtained with 1.2 to 2.5 equivalent percent additive.

Organic solids produced by electrical discharge in reducing atmospheres - Tholin molecular analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khare, B. N.; Sagan, C.; Zumberge, J. E.; Sklarew, D. S.; Nagy, B.

1981-01-01

The complex dark brown solid of a class called tholins, produced on passage of an electrical discharge through a roughly equimolar mixture of methane and ammonia with 2.6% water vapor, is analyzed by vacuum pyrolysis followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Pyrolyzates include a wide range of aliphatic and aromatic nitriles, alkanes, alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, pyrrole, and pyridine. This tholin is remarkably stable to 950 C. It and its degradation products are candidate constituents of planetary aerosols in the outer solar system and of the grains in the interstellar medium.

About properties of ZrO2 thermal protective coatings obtained from spherical powder mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berdnik, O. B.; Tsareva, I. N.; Tarasenko, Yu P.

2017-05-01

It is developed the technology of high-energy plasma spraying of the zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) thermal protective coating on the basis of ZrO2 tetragonal and cubic phases with the spheroidal grain shape and the columnar substructure, with the total porosity P = 4 %, the hardness HV = 12 GPa, the roughness parameter R a ˜ 6 μm, the thickness 0.3-3 mm. As a sublayer it is used the heat-resistant coating of “Ni-Co-Cr-Al-Y” system with an intermetallic phase composition and the layered microstructure of the grains.

Probing cluster surface morphology by cryo spectroscopy of N2 on cationic nickel clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dillinger, Sebastian; Mohrbach, Jennifer; Niedner-Schatteburg, Gereon

2017-11-01

We present the cryogenic (26 K) IR spectra of selected [Nin(N2)m]+ (n = 5-20, m = 1 - mmax), which strongly reveal n- and m-dependent features in the N2 stretching region, in conjunction with density functional theory modeling of some of these findings. The observed spectral features allow us to refine the kinetic classification [cf. J. Mohrbach, S. Dillinger, and G. Niedner-Schatteburg, J. Chem. Phys. 147, 184304 (2017)] and to define four classes of structure related surface adsorption behavior: Class (1) of Ni6+, Ni13+, and Ni19+ are highly symmetrical clusters with all smooth surfaces of equally coordinated Ni atoms that entertain stepwise N2 adsorption up to stoichiometric N2:Nisurface saturation. Class (2) of Ni12+ and Ni18+ are highly symmetrical clusters minus one. Their relaxed smooth surfaces reorganize by enhanced N2 uptake toward some low coordinated Ni surface atoms with double N2 occupation. Class (3) of Ni5+ and Ni7+ through Ni11+ are small clusters of rough surfaces with low coordinated Ni surface atoms, and some reveal semi-internal Ni atoms of high next-neighbor coordination. Surface reorganization upon N2 uptake turns rough into rough surface by Ni atom migration and turns octahedral based structures into pentagonal bipyramidal structures. Class (4) of Ni14+ through Ni17+ and Ni20+ are large clusters with rough and smooth surface areas. They possess smooth icosahedral surfaces with some proximate capping atom(s) on one hemisphere of the icosahedron with the other one largely unaffected.

BCS to BEC evolution for mixtures of fermions with unequal masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Melo, Carlos A. R. Sa

2009-03-01

I discuss the zero and finite temperature phase diagrams of a mixture of fermions with unequal masses with and without population imbalance, which may correspond for example to mixtures of ^6Li and ^40K, ^6Li and ^87Sr, or ^40K and ^87Sr in the context of ultracold atoms. At zero temperature and when excess fermions are present, at least three phases may occur as the interaction parameter is changed from the BCS to the BEC regime. These phases correspond to normal, phase separation, or superfluid with coexistence between paired and excess fermions. The zero temperature phase diagram of population imbalance versus interaction parameter presents a remarkable asymmetry between the cases involving excess lighter or heavier fermions [1, 2], in sharp contrast with the symmetric phase diagram corresponding to the case of equal masses. At finite temperatures, the phase separation region of the phase diagram competes with superfluid regions possessing gapless elementary excitations [3] for certain ranges of the interaction parameter depending on the mass ratio. Furthermore, a phase transition may take place between two superfluid phases which are topologically distinct. The precise location of such transition is sensitive to the mass ratio between the two species of fermions. Signatures of this possible topological transition are present in the momentum distribution or structure factor, which may be measured experimentally in time-of-flight or through Bragg scattering, respectively. Lastly, throughout the evolution from BCS to BEC, I discuss the critical current and sound velocity for unequal mass systems as a function of interaction parameter and mass ratio. These quantities may also be measured via the same techniques already used in mixtures of fermions with equal masses. [1] M. Iskin, and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 100404 (2006). [2] M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, Phys. Rev. A 76, 013601 (2007). [3] Li Han, and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, arXiv:0812.xxxx

Influence of Ice Particle Surface Roughening on the Global Cloud Radiative Effect

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yi, Bingqi; Yang, Ping; Baum, Bryan A.; LEcuyer, Tristan; Oreopoulos, Lazaros; Mlawer, Eli J.; Heymsfield, Andrew J.; Liou, Kuo-Nan

2013-01-01

Ice clouds influence the climate system by changing the radiation budget and large-scale circulation. Therefore, climate models need to have an accurate representation of ice clouds and their radiative effects. In this paper, new broadband parameterizations for ice cloud bulk scattering properties are developed for severely roughened ice particles. The parameterizations are based on a general habit mixture that includes nine habits (droxtals, hollow/solid columns, plates, solid/hollow bullet rosettes, aggregate of solid columns, and small/large aggregates of plates). The scattering properties for these individual habits incorporate recent advances in light-scattering computations. The influence of ice particle surface roughness on the ice cloud radiative effect is determined through simulations with the Fu-Liou and the GCM version of the Rapid Radiative Transfer Model (RRTMG) codes and the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model (CAM, version 5.1). The differences in shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiative effect at both the top of the atmosphere and the surface are determined for smooth and severely roughened ice particles. While the influence of particle roughening on the single-scattering properties is negligible in the LW, the results indicate that ice crystal roughness can change the SW forcing locally by more than 10 W m(exp -2) over a range of effective diameters. The global-averaged SW cloud radiative effect due to ice particle surface roughness is estimated to be roughly 1-2 W m(exp -2). The CAM results indicate that ice particle roughening can result in a large regional SW radiative effect and a small but nonnegligible increase in the global LW cloud radiative effect.

Getting the temperature right: Understanding thermal emission from airless bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandfield, J.; Greenhagen, B. T.; Hayne, P. O.; Williams, J. P.; Paige, D. A.

2016-12-01

Thermal infrared measurements are crucial for understanding a wide variety of processes present on airless bodies throughout the solar system. Although these data can be complex, they also contain an enormous amount of useful information. By building a framework for understanding thermal infrared datasets, significant advances are possible in the understanding of regolith development, detection of H2O and OH-, characterizing the nature and magnitude of Yarkovsky and YORP effects, and determination of the properties of newly identified asteroids via telescopic measurements. Airless bodies can have both extremely rough and insulating surfaces. For example, these two properties allow for sunlit and shaded or buried lunar materials separated by just a few centimeters to vary by 200K. In this sense, there is no "correct" temperature interpretable from orbital, or even in-situ, measurements. The surface contains a wide mixture of temperatures in the field of view, and rougher surfaces greatly enhance this anisothermality. We have used the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner Radiometer to characterize these effects by developing new targeting and analysis methods, including extended off-nadir observations and combined surface roughness and thermal modeling (Fig. 1). These measurements and models have shown up to 100K brightness temperature differences from measurements that differ only in the viewing angle of the observation. In addition, the thermal emission near 3 μm can be highly dependent on the surface roughness, resulting in more extensive and prominent lunar 3 μm H2O and OH-absorptions than indicated in data corrected by isothermal models. The datasets serve as a foundation for the derivation and understanding of surface spectral and thermophysical properties. Roughness and anisothermality effects are likely to dominate infrared measurements from many spacecraft, including LRO, Dawn, BepiColombo, OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa-2, and Europa Clipper.

Cohort Changes in the Socio-demographic Determinants of Gender Egalitarianism

PubMed Central

Pampel, Fred

2011-01-01

Arguments about the spread of gender egalitarian values through the population highlight several sources of change. First, structural arguments point to increases in the proportion of women with high education, jobs with good pay, commitment to careers outside the family, and direct interests in gender equality. Second, value shift arguments contend that gender norms change with social and economic development among women and men in diverse positions – traditional and non-traditional alike. Third, diffusion arguments suggest that structural change leads to adoption of new ideas and values supportive of gender equality by non-traditional and innovative groups in society, but that the new ideas later diffuse to other groups through cultural processes. Using the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2006 and comparing the determinants of gender egalitarianism across 86 cohorts born from roughly 1900 through 1985, multilevel models support the diffusion arguments. PMID:21869848

Calcium phosphate coatings modified with zinc- or copper- incorporation on Ti-40Nb alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komarova, E. G.; Sedelnikova, M. B.; Sharkeev, Yu P.; Kazakbaeva, A. A.; Glukhov, I. A.; Khimich, M. A.

2017-05-01

The influence of the microarc oxidation parameters and electrolyte composition on the structure, properties and composition of CaP coatings modified with Zn- or Cu- incorporation on the Ti-40mas.%Nb (Ti-40Nb) alloy was investigated. The linear growth of thickness, roughness, and size of structural elements with process voltage increasing has been revealed. It was shown that the CaP coatings have the low contact angles with liquids and, consequently, high free surface energy. This indicates a high hydrophilicity of the coatings. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the coatings have X-ray amorphous structure. The increase of the process voltage leads to the formation of such crystalline phases as CaHPO4 and β-Ca2P2O7 in the coatings. The maximum Ca/P atomic ratio was equal to 0.4, and Zn or Cu contents was equal to 0.3 or 0.2 at.%, respectively.

Different efflux rates may determine the cellular accumulation of various bis(guanylhydrazones).

PubMed Central

Alhonen-Hongisto, L; Fagerström, R; Laine, R; Elo, H; Jänne, J

1984-01-01

Three bis(guanylhydrazones) (those of methylglyoxal, glyoxal and ethylglyoxal) were compared for their affinity for the putative polyamine carrier and for their cellular retention in L1210 mouse leukaemia cells. All the bis(guanylhydrazones) inhibited equally effectively the uptake of spermidine by the tumour cells, indicating that the compounds had roughly equal affinity for the polyamine carrier. The fact that methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) and glyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) were much more effectively concentrated in the animal cells than was ethylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) was obviously attributable to the finding that the efflux rate of ethylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) greatly exceeded that of the other bis(guanylhydrazones). The rate of efflux of the drugs was slowed down if the tumour cells were treated with 2-difluoromethylornithine before exposure to the bis(guanylhydrazones). These results suggest that intracellular binding of the bis(guanylhydrazones) determines their cellular accumulation. PMID:6431972

Picosecond solvation dynamics—A potential viewer of DMSO—Water binary mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banik, Debasis; Kundu, Niloy; Kuchlyan, Jagannath; Roy, Arpita; Banerjee, Chiranjib; Ghosh, Surajit; Sarkar, Nilmoni

2015-02-01

In this work, we have investigated the composition dependent anomalous behavior of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-water binary mixture by collecting the ultrafast solvent relaxation response around a well known solvation probe Coumarin 480 (C480) by using a femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion spectrometer. Recent molecular dynamics simulations have predicted two anomalous regions of DMSO-water binary mixture. Particularly, these studies encourage us to investigate the anomalies from experimental background. DMSO-water binary mixture has repeatedly given evidences of its dual anomalous nature in front of our systematic investigation through steady-state and time-resolved measurements. We have calculated average solvation times of C480 by two individual well-known methods, among them first one is spectral-reconstruction method and another one is single-wavelength measurement method. The results of both the methods roughly indicate that solvation time of C480 reaches maxima in the mole fraction of DMSO XD = 0.12-0.17 and XD = 0.27-0.35, respectively. Among them, the second region (XD = 0.27-0.35) is very common as most of the thermodynamic properties exhibit deviation in this range. Most probably, the anomalous solvation trend in this region is fully guided by the shear viscosity of the medium. However, the first region is the most interesting one. In this region due to formation of strongly hydrogen bonded 1DMSO:2H2O complexes, hydration around the probe C480 decreases, as a result of which solvation time increases.

Bioinspired nanoparticle spray-coating for superhydrophobic flexible materials with oil/water separation capabilities.

PubMed

Geraldi, Nicasio R; Dodd, Linzi E; Xu, Ben B; Wood, David; Wells, Gary G; McHale, Glen; Newton, Michael I

2018-02-02

Much of the inspiration for the creation of superhydrophobic surfaces has come from nature, from plants such as the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), where the micro-scale papillae epidermal cells on the surfaces of the leaves are covered with nano-scale epicuticular wax crystalloids. The combination of the surface roughness and the hydrophobic wax coating produces a superhydrophobic wetting state on the leaves, allowing them to self-clean and easily shed water. Here, a simple scaled-up carbon nanoparticle spray coating is presented that mimics the surface of sacred lotus leaves and can be applied to a wide variety of materials, complex structures, and flexible substrates, rendering them superhydrophobic, with contact angles above 160°. The sprayable mixture is produced by combining toluene, polydimethylsiloxane, and inherently hydrophobic rapeseed soot. The ability to spray the superhydrophobic coating allows for the hydrophobisation of complex structures such as metallic meshes, which allows for the production of flexible porous superhydrophobic materials that, when formed into U-shaped channels, can be used to direct flows. The porous meshes, whilst being superhydrophobic, are also oleophilic. Being both superhydrophobic and oleophilic allows oil to pass through the mesh, whilst water remains on the surface. The meshes were tested for their ability to separate mixtures of oil and water in flow conditions. When silicone oil/water mixtures were passed over the meshes, all meshes tested were capable of separating more than 93% of the oil from the mixture.

Research on Crack-Filling Heat Treatment and Hydrogen Permeation Test of Self-healing Tritium Permeation Barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Dawei; Wang, Yan; Zhang, Ying; Ouyang, Taoyuan; Zhou, Tong; Fang, Xuanwei; Suo, Jinping

2018-04-01

A TiC + mixture (TiC/Al2O3 (1:1 wt.%)) +Al2O3 self-healing triple layer coating (TLC) was designed and manufactured by our group, and the crack-filling heat treatment process had been roughly explored in the past. In this work, the accelerating test with a thick TiC + mixture (TiC/Al2O3 (1:1 wt.%)) double-layer coating (DLC) was carried out. The DLC coating warped when the heat treatment temperature was lower than 550 °C, which was rare in similar researches, and it crushed into fan-shaped pieces when the treatment temperature was higher than 650 °C. The two different spalling failures were explained by weight gain, porosity and stress analyses. The heating rate had a significant effect. The bonding strength and hydrogen permeation of the TLC samples were also tested. Remaining at 650 °C for 40 h was proved to be an optimal crack-filling heat treatment process, considering the hydrogen resistance.

Effects of an environmentally-relevant mixture of pyrethroid insecticides on spontaneous activity in primary cortical networks on microelectrode arrays.

PubMed

Johnstone, Andrew F M; Strickland, Jenna D; Crofton, Kevin M; Gennings, Chris; Shafer, Timothy J

2017-05-01

Pyrethroid insecticides exert their insecticidal and toxicological effects primarily by disrupting voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) function, resulting in altered neuronal excitability. Numerous studies of individual pyrethroids have characterized effects on mammalian VGSC function and neuronal excitability, yet studies examining effects of complex pyrethroid mixtures in mammalian neurons, especially in environmentally relevant mixture ratios, are limited. In the present study, concentration-response functions were characterized for five pyrethroids (permethrin, deltamethrin, cypermethrin, β-cyfluthrin and esfenvalerate) in an in vitro preparation containing cortical neurons and glia. As a metric of neuronal network activity, spontaneous mean network firing rates (MFR) were measured using microelectorde arrays (MEAs). In addition, the effect of a complex and exposure relevant mixture of the five pyrethroids (containing 52% permethrin, 28.8% cypermethrin, 12.9% β-cyfluthrin, 3.4% deltamethrin and 2.7% esfenvalerate) was also measured. Data were modeled to determine whether effects of the pyrethroid mixture were predicted by dose-addition. At concentrations up to 10μM, all compounds except permethrin reduced MFR. Deltamethrin and β-cyfluthrin were the most potent and reduced MFR by as much as 60 and 50%, respectively, while cypermethrin and esfenvalerate were of approximately equal potency and reduced MFR by only ∼20% at the highest concentration. Permethrin caused small (∼24% maximum), concentration-dependent increases in MFR. Effects of the environmentally relevant mixture did not depart from the prediction of dose-addition. These data demonstrate that an environmentally relevant mixture caused dose-additive effects on spontaneous neuronal network activity in vitro, and is consistent with other in vitro and in vivo assessments of pyrethroid mixtures. Published by Elsevier B.V.

[Antiulcer activity of dibunol in experimental stomach and duodenal ulcers].

PubMed

Shatalov, V N; Korman, D B; Krutova, T V; Sokolov, L K; Andrianova, O P

1988-01-01

The antiulcer effect of two medicinal forms (oil solution, liniment) of dibunol in rats with different models of the stomach and duodenum ulcers was studied. The therapeutic activity of dibunol was evaluated by determining the index of ulcer formation as well as during the morphological and histochemical studies. The two medicinal forms of dibunol possessed equal antiulcer activity by all studied criteria. One should note a characteristic property of dibunol--its ability to produce pronounced epithelialization of ulceroerosive and ulceronecrotic lesions of the mucosa without rough scarring.

Effects of Frequency Spreads on Beam Breakup Instabilities in Linear Accelerators

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-05-11

i - 1)A/(N - 1), i = 1, ....N. In keeping with the above model [ cf . Eq. (4)], we assume that there is an equal probability (1/N) for each of these...solution (5), which contains two approximations to (10) and (11) [ cf ., N 4 - limit, and then asymptotic analysis], could accurately model the numerical...that the transition time Tl = 0(1) is the time when the phase mixing factor A0 t is roughly balanced by the BBU exponentiation factoro 1.64W I / 3 [ cf

Interpretation of quantum yields exceeding unity in photoelectrochemical systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Szklarczyk, M.; Allen, R.E.

1986-10-20

In photoelectrochemical systems involving light shining on a semiconductor interfaced with an electrolyte, the quantum yield as a function of photon frequency ..nu.. is observed to exhibit a peak at h..nu..roughly-equal2E/sub g/, where E/sub g/ is the band gap of the semiconductor. The maximum in this peak is sometimes found to exceed unity. We provide an interpretation involving surface states and inelastic electron-electron scattering. The theory indicates that the effect should be observable for p-type semiconductors, but not n-type.

Sex-typing behavior and sex-typing pressure in child/parent interaction.

PubMed

Jacklin, C N; DiPietro, J A; Maccoby, E E

1984-10-01

The sex-typing of children and the sex-typing pressure of parents was investigated during free play in a home visit. There were 30 male and 24 female 45-month-olds observed with their mothers and fathers in separate free-play sessions during which an array of both sex-stereotyped and neutral toys were available. Behavioral observations were recorded for a variety of parent, child, and dyadic behaviors, including initiations of sex-typed play, total sex-typed play, and rough-and-tumble play. Children initiated sex-typed play and played with sex-appropriate toys. Father-child and mother-daughter dyads were more likely to engage in thematic play appropriate to the child's sex, while in mother-son dyads equal amounts of masculine and feminine play occurred. In addition father-son dyads displayed the highest levels of rough-and tumble play and arousal of child by parent. The results suggest that fathers are the discriminating influence on sex-appropriate play.

Very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs from 2MASS and DENIS.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chester, T.

2MASS (Two Micron All Sky Survey) and DENIS (DEep Near-Infrared survey of the Southern sky) will provide a sample of very low mass stars that is complete to a distance of 50 pc, even for the latest M star currently known. This compares with the current completeness out to 5 - 10 pc. This sample will contain 1,000 to 10,000 times more M stars than currently cataloged. This catalog will be free from proper motion selection effects and will not be limited by the completeness of optical magnitude studies. Evidence from several square degrees of proto-camera data processed and examined to date, shows that roughly 1 source is found in every square degree that has no counterpart on a POSS I plate. The first of these sources was found to be a binary system with component stars of roughly equal brightness having an M6 - M7 combined spectrum. The author discusses the effectiveness of these surveys for detecting brown dwarfs.

Canopy and leaf composition drive patterns of nutrient release from pruning residues in a coffee agroforest.

PubMed

Tully, Katherine L; Lawrence, Deborah

2012-06-01

In a coffee agroforest, the crop is cultivated under the shade of fruit-bearing and nitrogen (N)-fixing trees. These trees are periodically pruned to promote flowering and fruiting as well as to make nutrients stored in tree biomass available to plants. We investigated the effect of canopy composition and substrate quality on decomposition rates and patterns of nutrient release from pruning residues in a coffee agroforest located in Costa Rica's Central Valley. Initial phosphorus (P) release was enhanced under a canopy composed solely of N-fixing, Erythrina poeppigiana compared to a mixed canopy of Erythrina and Musa acuminata (banana). Both initial and final N release were similar under the two canopy types. However, after five months of decomposition, a higher proportion of initial N had been released under the single canopy. Although patterns of decomposition and nutrient release were not predicted by initial substrate quality, mass loss in leaf mixtures rates were well predicted by mean mass loss of their component species. This study identifies specific pruning regimes that may regulate N and P release during crucial growth periods, and it suggests that strategic pruning can enhance nutrient availability. For example, during the onset of rapid fruit growth, a two-species mixture may release more P than a three-species mixture. However, by the time of the harvest, the two- and three-species mixtures have released roughly the same amount of N and P. These nutrients do not always follow the same pattern, as N release can be maximized in single-species substrates, while P release is often facilitated in species mixtures. Our study indicates the importance of management practices in mediating patterns of nutrient release. Future research should investigate how canopy composition and farm management can also mediate on-farm nutrient losses.

Dynamics of dense granular flows of small-and-large-grain mixtures in an ambient fluid.

PubMed

Meruane, C; Tamburrino, A; Roche, O

2012-08-01

Dense grain flows in nature consist of a mixture of solid constituents that are immersed in an ambient fluid. In order to obtain a good representation of these flows, the interaction mechanisms between the different constituents of the mixture should be considered. In this article, we study the dynamics of a dense granular flow composed of a binary mixture of small and large grains immersed in an ambient fluid. In this context, we extend the two-phase approach proposed by Meruane et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 648, 381 (2010)] to the case of flowing dense binary mixtures of solid particles, by including in the momentum equations a constitutive relation that describes the interaction mechanisms between the solid constituents in a dense regime. These coupled equations are solved numerically and validated by comparing the numerical results with experimental measurements of the front speed of gravitational granular flows resulting from the collapse, in ambient air or water, of two-dimensional granular columns that consisted of mixtures of small and large spherical particles of equal mass density. Our results suggest that the model equations include the essential features that describe the dynamics of grains flows of binary mixtures in an ambient fluid. In particular, it is shown that segregation of small and large grains can increase the front speed because of the volumetric expansion of the flow. This increase in flow speed is damped by the interaction forces with the ambient fluid, and this behavior is more pronounced in water than in air.

Are individual NOEC levels safe for mixtures? A study on mixture toxicity of brominated flame-retardants in the copepod Nitocra spinipes.

PubMed

Breitholtz, Magnus; Nyholm, Jenny Rattfelt; Karlsson, Jenny; Andersson, Patrik L

2008-07-01

In aquatic ecosystems organisms are exposed to mixtures of pollutants. Still, risk assessment focuses almost exclusively on effect characterization of individual substances. The main objective of the current study was therefore to study mixture toxicity of a common group of industrial substances, i.e., brominated flame-retardants (BFRs), in the harpacticoid copepod Nitocra spinipes. Initially, 10 BFRs with high hydrophobicity but otherwise varying chemical characteristics were selected based on multivariate chemical characterization and tested individually for effects on mortality and development using a partial life cycle test (six days) where silica gel is used as a carrier of the hydrophobic substances. Based on these findings, six of the 10 BFRs were mixed in a series of NOEC proportions (which were set to 0.008, 0.04, 0.2, 1, and five times the NOEC concentrations for each individual BFR), loaded on silica gel and tested in a full life cycle test (26 days). Significantly increased mortality was observed in N. spinipes after six and 26 days exposure at a NOEC proportion that equals the NOEC LDR value (x1) for each BFR in the mixture (p=0.0015 and p=0.0105, respectively). At the NOECx5 proportion all animals were dead. None of the other NOEC proportions caused significant negative responses related to development and reproduction. This shows that low concentrations of individual substances can cause toxicity if exposed in mixtures, which highlights the need to consider mixture toxicity to a greater extent in regulatory work.

Base-Calling Algorithm with Vocabulary (BCV) Method for Analyzing Population Sequencing Chromatograms

PubMed Central

Fantin, Yuri S.; Neverov, Alexey D.; Favorov, Alexander V.; Alvarez-Figueroa, Maria V.; Braslavskaya, Svetlana I.; Gordukova, Maria A.; Karandashova, Inga V.; Kuleshov, Konstantin V.; Myznikova, Anna I.; Polishchuk, Maya S.; Reshetov, Denis A.; Voiciehovskaya, Yana A.; Mironov, Andrei A.; Chulanov, Vladimir P.

2013-01-01

Sanger sequencing is a common method of reading DNA sequences. It is less expensive than high-throughput methods, and it is appropriate for numerous applications including molecular diagnostics. However, sequencing mixtures of similar DNA of pathogens with this method is challenging. This is important because most clinical samples contain such mixtures, rather than pure single strains. The traditional solution is to sequence selected clones of PCR products, a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive procedure. Here, we propose the base-calling with vocabulary (BCV) method that computationally deciphers Sanger chromatograms obtained from mixed DNA samples. The inputs to the BCV algorithm are a chromatogram and a dictionary of sequences that are similar to those we expect to obtain. We apply the base-calling function on a test dataset of chromatograms without ambiguous positions, as well as one with 3–14% sequence degeneracy. Furthermore, we use BCV to assemble a consensus sequence for an HIV genome fragment in a sample containing a mixture of viral DNA variants and to determine the positions of the indels. Finally, we detect drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains carrying frameshift mutations mixed with wild-type bacteria in the pncA gene, and roughly characterize bacterial communities in clinical samples by direct 16S rRNA sequencing. PMID:23382983

Impact of High-Temperature, High-Pressure Synthesis Conditions on the Formation of the Grain Structure and Strength Properties of Intermetallic Ni3Al

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ovcharenko, V. E.; Ivanov, K. V.; Boyangin, E. N.; Krylova, T. A.; Pshenichnikov, A. P.

2018-01-01

The impact of the preliminary load on 3Ni+Al powder mixture and the impact of the duration of the delay in application of compacting pressure to synthesis product under the conditions of continuous heating of the mixture up to its self-ignition on the grain size and strength properties of the synthesized Ni3Al intermetallide material have been studied. The grain structure of the intermetallide synthesized under pressure was studied by means of metallography, transmission electron microscopy and EBSD analysis, with the dependence of ultimate tensile strength on the grain size in the synthesized intermetallide having been investigated at room temperature and at temperatures up to 1000°C. It is shown that an increase in the pressure preliminarily applied to the initial mixture compact results in reduced grain size of the final intermetallide, whereas an increase in pre-compaction time makes the grain size increased. A decrease in the grain size increases the ultimate tensile strength of the intermetallide. The maximum value of the ultimate tensile strength in the observed anomalous temperature dependence of this strength exhibits a shift by 200°C toward higher temperatures, and the ultimate strength of the synthesized intermetallide at 1000°C increases roughly two-fold.

Reclamation of skid roads with fiber mats and native vegetation: effects on erosion

Treesearch

shawn T. Grushecky; David w. McGill; William Grafton; John Edwards; Lisa Tager

2007-01-01

A research study was established to test the effectiveness of fiber mats and native seed mixtures in reducing soil erosion from newly-constructed skid roads in the Elk River Watershed in central West Virginia. Twelve road sections of equal grade were paired with a randomly-selected section receiving a fiber mat and native grass seed while the other road section was not...

Size and weight graded multi-ply laminar electrodes

DOEpatents

Liu, Chia-Tsun; Demczyk, Brian G.; Rittko, Irvin R.

1984-01-01

An electrode is made comprising a porous backing sheet, and attached thereto a catalytically active layer having an electrolyte permeable side and a backing layer contacting side, where the active layer comprises a homogeneous mixture of active hydrophobic and hydrophilic agglomerates with catalyst disposed equally throughout the active layer, and where the agglomerate size increases from the electrolyte permeable side to the backing sheet contacting side.

Review of Laboratory Program on Degradation Mechanisms in Soil of Wastewater From Nitroguanidine Manufacture

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-03-01

in./hr) (3). Nutrients (organic nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, nitrate/I nitrite-nitrogen, potassium , and phosphorus) in SFAAP soils are generally...A mixture con- taining equal portions of these was diluted with 0.085 percent potassium chloride. The 30 percent solution was filtered and the...01 L (d) Cyanamide - Spectrophotometric determination after complexation with pentacyanoamine ferrate reagent. Detection limit was approximately 100

Thermodynamics of hydrogen-helium mixtures at high pressure and finite temperature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hubbard, W. B.

1972-01-01

A technique is reviewed for calculating thermodynamic quantities for mixtures of light elements at high pressure, in the metallic state. Ensemble averages are calculated with Monte Carlo techniques and periodic boundary conditions. Interparticle potentials are assumed to be coulombic, screened by the electrons in dielectric function theory. This method is quantitatively accurate for alloys at pressures above about 10 Mbar. An alloy of equal parts hydrogen and helium by mass appears to remain liquid and mixed for temperatures above about 3000 K, at pressures of about 15 Mbar. The additive volume law is satisfied to within about 10%, but the Gruneisen equation of state gives poor results. A calculation at 1300 K shows evidence of a hydrogen-helium phase separation.

Development and validation of a metal mixture bioavailability model (MMBM) to predict chronic toxicity of Ni-Zn-Pb mixtures to Ceriodaphnia dubia.

PubMed

Nys, Charlotte; Janssen, Colin R; De Schamphelaere, Karel A C

2017-01-01

Recently, several bioavailability-based models have been shown to predict acute metal mixture toxicity with reasonable accuracy. However, the application of such models to chronic mixture toxicity is less well established. Therefore, we developed in the present study a chronic metal mixture bioavailability model (MMBM) by combining the existing chronic daphnid bioavailability models for Ni, Zn, and Pb with the independent action (IA) model, assuming strict non-interaction between the metals for binding at the metal-specific biotic ligand sites. To evaluate the predictive capacity of the MMBM, chronic (7d) reproductive toxicity of Ni-Zn-Pb mixtures to Ceriodaphnia dubia was investigated in four different natural waters (pH range: 7-8; Ca range: 1-2 mM; Dissolved Organic Carbon range: 5-12 mg/L). In each water, mixture toxicity was investigated at equitoxic metal concentration ratios as well as at environmental (i.e. realistic) metal concentration ratios. Statistical analysis of mixture effects revealed that observed interactive effects depended on the metal concentration ratio investigated when evaluated relative to the concentration addition (CA) model, but not when evaluated relative to the IA model. This indicates that interactive effects observed in an equitoxic experimental design cannot always be simply extrapolated to environmentally realistic exposure situations. Generally, the IA model predicted Ni-Zn-Pb mixture toxicity more accurately than the CA model. Overall, the MMBM predicted Ni-Zn-Pb mixture toxicity (expressed as % reproductive inhibition relative to a control) in 85% of the treatments with less than 20% error. Moreover, the MMBM predicted chronic toxicity of the ternary Ni-Zn-Pb mixture at least equally accurately as the toxicity of the individual metal treatments (RMSE Mix  = 16; RMSE Zn only  = 18; RMSE Ni only  = 17; RMSE Pb only  = 23). Based on the present study, we believe MMBMs can be a promising tool to account for the effects of water chemistry on metal mixture toxicity during chronic exposure and could be used in metal risk assessment frameworks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of silica fume on compressive strength of oil-polluted concrete in different marine environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahrabadi, Hamid; Sayareh, Sina; Sarkardeh, Hamed

2017-12-01

In the present research, effect of silica fume as an additive and oil polluted sands as aggregates on compressive strength of concrete were investigated experimentally. The amount of oil in the designed mixtures was assumed to be constant and equal to 2% of the sand weight. Silica fume accounting for 10%, 15% and 20% of the weight is added to the designed mixture. After preparation and curing, concrete specimens were placed into the three different conditions: fresh, brackish and saltwater environments (submerged in fresh water, alternation of exposed in air & submerged in sea water and submerged in sea water). The result of compressive strength tests shows that the compressive strength of the specimens consisting of silica fume increases significantly in comparison with the control specimens in all three environments. The compressive strength of the concrete with 15% silica fume content was about 30% to 50% higher than that of control specimens in all tested environments under the condition of using polluted aggregates in the designed mixture.

Bio-degradation of oily food waste employing thermophilic bacterial strains.

PubMed

Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar; Selvam, Ammaiyappan; Chan, Man Ting; Wong, Jonathan W C

2018-01-01

The objective of this work was to isolate a novel thermophilic bacterial strain and develop a bacterial consortium (BC) for efficient degradation oily food waste. Four treatments were designed: 1:1 mixture of pre-consumption food wastes (PrCFWs) and post-consumption food wastes (PCFWs) (T-1), 1:2 mixture of PrCFWs and PCFWs mixture (T-2), PrCFWs (T-3) and PCFWs (T-4). Equal quantity of BC was inoculated into each treatment to compare the oil degradation efficiency. Results showed that after 15days of incubation, a maximum oil reduction of 65.12±0.08% was observed in treatment T-4, followed by T-2 (55.44±0.12%), T-3 (54.79±0.04%) and T-1 (52.52±0.02%), while oil reduction was negligible in control. Results indicate that the development of oil utilizing thermophilic BC was more cost-effective in solving the degradation of oily food wastes and conversion into a stable end product. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ab initio study of the structural properties of acetonitrile-water mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jinfan; Sit, Patrick H.-L.

2015-08-01

Structural properties of acetonitrile and acetonitrile-water mixtures are studied using Density Functional Theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Stable molecular clusters consisted of several water and acetonitrile molecules are identified to provide microscopic understanding of the interaction among water and acetonitrile molecules. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the liquid structure at the finite temperature. Three mixing compositions in which the mole fraction of acetonitrile equals 0.109, 0.5 and 0.891 are studied. These compositions correspond to three distinct structural regimes. At the 0.109 and 0.891 mole fraction of acetonitrile, the majority species are mostly connected among themselves and the minority species are either isolated or forming small clusters without disrupting the network of the majority species. At the 0.5 mole fraction of acetonitrile, large water and acetonitrile clusters persist throughout the simulation, exhibiting the microheterogeneous behavior in acetonitrile-water mixtures in the mid-range mixing ratio.

Peptide de novo sequencing of mixture tandem mass spectra

PubMed Central

Hotta, Stéphanie Yuki Kolbeck; Verano‐Braga, Thiago; Kjeldsen, Frank

2016-01-01

The impact of mixture spectra deconvolution on the performance of four popular de novo sequencing programs was tested using artificially constructed mixture spectra as well as experimental proteomics data. Mixture fragmentation spectra are recognized as a limitation in proteomics because they decrease the identification performance using database search engines. De novo sequencing approaches are expected to be even more sensitive to the reduction in mass spectrum quality resulting from peptide precursor co‐isolation and thus prone to false identifications. The deconvolution approach matched complementary b‐, y‐ions to each precursor peptide mass, which allowed the creation of virtual spectra containing sequence specific fragment ions of each co‐isolated peptide. Deconvolution processing resulted in equally efficient identification rates but increased the absolute number of correctly sequenced peptides. The improvement was in the range of 20–35% additional peptide identifications for a HeLa lysate sample. Some correct sequences were identified only using unprocessed spectra; however, the number of these was lower than those where improvement was obtained by mass spectral deconvolution. Tight candidate peptide score distribution and high sensitivity to small changes in the mass spectrum introduced by the employed deconvolution method could explain some of the missing peptide identifications. PMID:27329701

Production of saturated and unsaturated silahydrocarbon mixtures using rhodium catalyst, and to products produced thereby

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Onopchenki, A.; Sabourin, E.T.

1986-02-25

This patent describes a process for the production of a mixture of saturated and unstaurated silahydrocarbons. This process contacts an admixture consisting of (A) at least one alpha-olefin containing from 2 to about 20 carbon atoms per molecule, and (B) at least one alkylsilane selected from the group consisting of (i) a dialkylsilane (ii) a trialkylsilane (iii) mixtures thereof, with a catalyst consisting of a homogeneous monomeric rhodium-containing catalyst having a basicity substantially equal to or less than that provided by a rhodium-containing catalyst having a triphenyl phosphine ligand or a heterogeneous rhodium-containing catalyst in a halogen-free inert solvent. Themore » process conducted at a temperature of from about 30/sup 0/ to about 200/sup 0/C., a weight ratio of olefin to alkylsilane of from about 0.5 to about 20 to one and a catalyst concentration of from about 1 x 10-/sup 5/ to about 1 x 10-/sup 2/ millimoles of catalyst per millimole alkylsilane, to produce a mixture containing saturated silane hydrocarbons and an unsaturated silahydrocarbon. Inclusive with the proviso that the molecular weight of the unsaturated silane hydrocarbon is above 300.« less

Bladed Terrain on Pluto: Possible Origins and Evolutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Jeffrey M.; Howard, Alan D.; Umurhan, Orkan M.; White, Oliver L.; Schenk, Paul; Beyer, Ross A.; McKinnon, William B.; Spencer, John R.; Singer, Kelsi N.; Grundy, William N.;

Bladed Terrain on Pluto: Possible Origins and Evolutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, J. M.; Howard, A. D.; Umurhan, O. M.; White, O. L.; Schenk, P.; Beyer, R. A.; McKinnon, W. B.; Spencer, J. R.; Singer, K. N.; Grundy, W. M.; Nimmo, F.; Young, L. A.; Stern, A.; Weaver, H. A., Jr.; Olkin, C.; Ennico Smith, K.; Collins, G. C.

2016-12-01

Pluto's Bladed Terrain (centered roughly 20°N, 225°E) covers the flanks and crests of the informally named Tartarus Dorsa with numerous roughly aligned blade-like ridges oriented North-South; it may also stretch considerably farther east onto the non-close approach hemisphere but that inference is tentative. Individual ridges are typically several hundred meters high, and are spaced 5 to 10 km crest to crest, separated by V-shaped valleys. Many ridges merge at acute angles to form Y-shape junctions in plan view. The principle composition of the blades themselves we suspect is methane or a methane-rich mixture. (Methane is spectroscopically strongly observed on the optical surfaces of blades.) Nitrogen ice is very probably too soft to support their topography. Cemented mixtures of volatile and non-volatile ices may also provide a degradable but relief supporting "bedrock" for the blades, perhaps analogous to Callisto. Currently we are considering several hypotheses for the origins of the deposit from which Bladed Terrain has evolved, including aeolian disposition, atmospheric condensation, updoming and exhumation, volcanic intrusions or extrusions, crystal growth, among others. We are reviewing several processes as candidate creators or sculptors of the blades. Perhaps they are primary depositional patterns such as dunes, or differential condensation patterns (like on Callisto), or fissure extrusions. Or alternatively perhaps they are the consequence of differential erosion (such as sublimation erosion widening and deepening along cracks), variations in substrate properties, mass wasting into the subsurface, or sculpted by a combination of directional winds and solar isolation orientation. We will consider the roles of the long-term increasing solar flux and short periods of warm thick atmospheres. Hypotheses will be ordered based on observational constrains and modeling to be presented at the conference.

Rough Sets and Stomped Normal Distribution for Simultaneous Segmentation and Bias Field Correction in Brain MR Images.

PubMed

Banerjee, Abhirup; Maji, Pradipta

2015-12-01

The segmentation of brain MR images into different tissue classes is an important task for automatic image analysis technique, particularly due to the presence of intensity inhomogeneity artifact in MR images. In this regard, this paper presents a novel approach for simultaneous segmentation and bias field correction in brain MR images. It integrates judiciously the concept of rough sets and the merit of a novel probability distribution, called stomped normal (SN) distribution. The intensity distribution of a tissue class is represented by SN distribution, where each tissue class consists of a crisp lower approximation and a probabilistic boundary region. The intensity distribution of brain MR image is modeled as a mixture of finite number of SN distributions and one uniform distribution. The proposed method incorporates both the expectation-maximization and hidden Markov random field frameworks to provide an accurate and robust segmentation. The performance of the proposed approach, along with a comparison with related methods, is demonstrated on a set of synthetic and real brain MR images for different bias fields and noise levels.

Health care on equal terms? Assessing horizontal equity in health care use in Northern Sweden.

PubMed

San Sebastián, Miguel; Mosquera, Paola A; Ng, Nawi; Gustafsson, Per E

2017-08-01

The Swedish health care system has successively moved toward increased market-orientation, which has raised concerns as to whether Sweden still offers health on equal terms. To explore this issue, this study aimed (i) to assess if the principles of horizontal equity (equal access for equal need regardless of socio-economic factors) are met in Northern Sweden 2006-14; and (ii) to explore the contribution of different factors to the inequalities in access along the same period. Data came from cross sectional surveys known in 2006, 2010 and 2014 targeting 16-84-year-old residents in the four northern-most counties in Sweden. The horizontal inequity index was calculated based on variables representing (i) the individual socioeconomic status, (ii) the health care needs, (iii) non-need factors as well as (iv) health care utilization: general practitioner (GP), specialist doctors, hospitalization. Decomposition analysis of the concentration index for need-standardized health care utilization was applied. Adjusting for needs, there was a higher use of GP services by rich people during the two last surveys, a roughly equal use of specialists, and hospitalization concentrated among the poor but with a clear time trend toward equality. The pro-rich inequalities in GP use were to a large part explained by the income gap. While health care utilization can be considered equitable regarding specialist and hospital use, the increasing pro-rich trend in the use of GP is a concern. Further studies are required to investigate the reasons and a constant monitoring of socioeconomic differences in health care access is recommended. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Histogram equalization with Bayesian estimation for noise robust speech recognition.

PubMed

Suh, Youngjoo; Kim, Hoirin

2018-02-01

The histogram equalization approach is an efficient feature normalization technique for noise robust automatic speech recognition. However, it suffers from performance degradation when some fundamental conditions are not satisfied in the test environment. To remedy these limitations of the original histogram equalization methods, class-based histogram equalization approach has been proposed. Although this approach showed substantial performance improvement under noise environments, it still suffers from performance degradation due to the overfitting problem when test data are insufficient. To address this issue, the proposed histogram equalization technique employs the Bayesian estimation method in the test cumulative distribution function estimation. It was reported in a previous study conducted on the Aurora-4 task that the proposed approach provided substantial performance gains in speech recognition systems based on the acoustic modeling of the Gaussian mixture model-hidden Markov model. In this work, the proposed approach was examined in speech recognition systems with deep neural network-hidden Markov model (DNN-HMM), the current mainstream speech recognition approach where it also showed meaningful performance improvement over the conventional maximum likelihood estimation-based method. The fusion of the proposed features with the mel-frequency cepstral coefficients provided additional performance gains in DNN-HMM systems, which otherwise suffer from performance degradation in the clean test condition.

Exciplex emission from a boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dye equipped with a dicyanovinyl appendage.

PubMed

Nano, Adela; Ziessel, Raymond; Stachelek, Patrycja; Alamiry, Mohammed A H; Harriman, Anthony

2014-01-13

The photophysical properties of a prototypic donor-acceptor dyad, featuring a conventional boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dye linked to a dicyanovinyl unit through a meso-phenylene ring, have been recorded in weakly polar solvents. The absorption spectrum remains unperturbed relative to that of the parent Bodipy dye but the fluorescence is extensively quenched. At room temperature, the emission spectrum comprises roughly equal contributions from the regular π, π* excited-singlet state and from an exciplex formed by partial charge transfer from Bodipy to the dicyanovinyl residue. This mixture moves progressively in favor of the locally excited π, π* state on cooling and the exciplex is no longer seen in frozen media; the overall emission quantum yield changes dramatically near the freezing point of the solvent. The exciplex, which has a lifetime of approximately 1 ns at room temperature, can also be seen by transient absorption spectroscopy, in which it decays to form the locally excited triplet state. Under applied pressure (P<170 MPa), formation of the exciplex is somewhat hindered by restricted rotation around the semirigid linkage and again the emission profile shifts in favor of the π, π* excited state. At higher pressure (170

Ground-water resources and contamination at Kwajalein Island, Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1990-91

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunt, Charles D.

1996-01-01

Kwajalein Island is the largest of the many low, sandy islets that form Kwajalein Atoll in the western North Pacific Ocean. Salinity and water-level surveys at exploratory monitoring wells in 1990 and 1991 delineated a freshwater lens nearly 40 feet thick floating on saltwater within the carbonate sand and gravel aquifer. A transition zone of mixture between the freshwater and saltwater is as thick as 90 feet. Maximum water-table height is only 1.5 feet above sea level. The freshwater lens thinned and thickened by 5 feet during the year-long field study in response to seasonal rainfall and pumping. Freshwater is produced by airstrip rain catchments and shallow, horizontal wells up to 1,400 feet long. Catchment and ground-water yields are roughly equal on average, but catchment is the principal source during the wet season, whereas the dry season requires sustained pumping. The salinity of pumped water has remained below drinking-water standards since wells were installed in 1971, except during the drought of 1983-84, the most severe drought in the rainfall record dating back to 1945. Wet-season rains at the end of the drought reduced salinity to low levels in just a few months. The operating history of the combined catchment/well water supply indicates that it is capable of producing at least 300,000 gallons per day in all but the driest years, and more in wet years. Several sites are contaminated by fuels, solvents, or metals, but most are at the periphery of the freshwater flow system where contaminants are carried toward the shore. However, three interior sites have greater potential to contaminate nearby water-supply wells.

Intelligent electric vehicle charging: Rethinking the valley-fill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, Keenan; Temple, William G.; Zhang, K. Max

This study proposes an intelligent PEV charging scheme that significantly reduces power system cost while maintaining reliability compared to the widely discussed valley-fill method of aggregated charging in the early morning. This study considers optimal PEV integration into the New York Independent System Operator's (NYISO) day-ahead and real-time wholesale energy markets for 21 days in June, July, and August of 2006, a record-setting summer for peak load. NYISO market and load data is used to develop a statistical Locational Marginal Price (LMP) and wholesale energy cost model. This model considers the high cost of ramping generators at peak-load and the traditional cost of steady-state operation, resulting in a framework with two competing cost objectives. Results show that intelligent charging assigns roughly 80% of PEV load to valley hours to take advantage of low steady-state cost, while placing the remaining 20% equally at shoulder and peak hours to reduce ramping cost. Compared to unregulated PEV charging, intelligent charging reduces system cost by 5-16%; a 4-9% improvement over the flat valley-fill approach. Moreover, a Charge Flexibility Constraint (CFC), independent of market modeling, is constructed from a vehicle-at-home profile and the mixture of Level 1 and Level 2 charging infrastructure. The CFC is found to severely restrict the ability to charge vehicles during the morning load valley. This study further shows that adding more Level 2 chargers without regulating PEV charging will significantly increase wholesale energy cost. Utilizing the proposed intelligent PEV charging method, there is a noticeable reduction in system cost if the penetration of Level 2 chargers is increased from 70/30 to 50/50 (Level 1/Level 2). However, the system benefit is drastically diminished for higher penetrations of Level 2 chargers.

Microstructure and dielectric parameters of epitaxial SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boikov, Yu. A.; Claeson, T.

2001-05-01

Epitaxial films of ferroelectric barium titanate are desirable in a number of applications but their properties are inferior to those of bulk material. Relations between microstructure and dielectric properties may give better understanding of limitations. Trilayer heterostructures SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 were grown by laser ablation on (100)LaAlO3 and (100)MgO substrates. The BaTiO3 layer was granular in structure. When grown on (100)SrRuO3/(100)LaAlO3, it was preferentially a-axis oriented due to tensile mechanical stress. Using (100)MgO as a substrate, on the other hand, produced a mixture of about equal value of a-axis and c-axis oriented grains of BaTiO3. The dielectric permittivity, ɛ, of the BaTiO3 layer was almost twice as large, at T>200 K and f=100 kHz, for the LaAlO3 substrate as compared to the MgO one. Its maximum value (ɛ/ɛ0≈6200) depended on temperature of growth, grain size, and electric field and compares well with optimal values commonly used for ceramic material. The maximum in the ɛ(T) shifted from about 370 to 320 K when the grain size in the BaTiO3 film decreased from 100 to 40 nm. At T<300 K, hysteresis loops in polarization versus electric field were roughly symmetric. The BaTiO3 films grown on (100)SrRuO3/(100)MgO exhibit the largest remnant polarizations and coercive fields in the temperature range 100-380 K.

Laser-polarized noble gases: a powerful probe for biology, medicine, and subatomic physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cates, Gordon

2010-03-01

For over a decade, laser-polarized noble gases such as ^3He and ^129Xe have proven useful for a wide range of scientific inquiries. These include investigations of pulmonary disease using the polarized gas as a signal source for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), measurements of various aspects of nucleon structure, and tests of fundamental symmetries. Early efforts were often limited by expensive and bulky laser systems, but ongoing advancements in solid-state lasers have enabled increasingly large volumes of polarized gas to be produced with steadily improved polarization. Equally important have been advances in the fundamental understanding of spin exchange. This has led, for example, to the introduction of hybrid mixtures of alkali metals that can increase the efficiency of spin exchange by an order of magnitude. As a consequence of these advances, the figure of merit for polarized nuclear targets has increased by roughly three orders of magnitude in comparison to early accelerator-based experiments. And in MRI applications, it has become possible to pursue increasingly sophisticated imaging protocols that provide a wide range of diagnostic information. Even the earliest noble-gas MR images of the gas space of the human lung provided unprecedented resolution. More recent work includes the use of diffusion-sensitizing pulse sequences to study lung microstructure, and tagging techniques that enable the visualization (in real-time MRI movies) of gas flow during breathing. The range of applications of laser-polarized noble gases is continuing to grow, and it is notable that with an improved understanding of the underlying physics, it is quite likely that the capabilities of this useful technology will expand for some time to come.

Straight-Chain Alkyl Isocyanides Open the Distal Histidine Gate in Crystal Structures of Myoglobin†

PubMed Central

Smith, Rober D.; Blouin, George C.; Johnson, Kenneth A.; Phillips, George N.; Olson, John S.

2014-01-01

Crystal structures of methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl isocyanide bound to sperm whale myoglobin (Mb) reveal two major conformations. In the in conformer, His(E7) is in a “closed” position, forcing the ligand alkyl chain to point inward. In the out conformer, His(E7) is in an “open” position, allowing the ligand side chain to point outward. A progressive increase in the population of the out conformer is observed with increasing ligand length in P21 crystals of native Mb at pH 7.0. This switch from in to out with increasing ligand size also occurs in solution as measured by the decrease in the relative intensity of the low (~2075 cm 1) versus high frequency (~2125 cm 1) isocyano bands. In contrast, all four isocyanides in P6 crystals of wild type recombinant Mb occupy the in conformation. However, mutating either His64 to Ala, creating a “hole” to solvent, or Phe46 to Val, freeing rotation of His64, causes bound butyl isocyanide to point completely outward in P6 crystals. Thus, the unfavorable hindrance caused with crowding a large alkyl side chain into the distal pocket appears to be roughly equal to that for pushing open the His(E7) gate and is easily affected by crystal packing. This structural conclusion supports the “side path” kinetic mechanism for O2 release, in which the dissociated ligand first moves toward the protein interior and then encounters steric resistance, which is roughly equal to that for escaping to solvent through the His(E7) channel. PMID:20481504

Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil spiked with model mixtures of petroleum hydrocarbons and heterocycles using biosurfactants from Rhodococcus ruber IEGM 231.

PubMed

Ivshina, Irina; Kostina, Ludmila; Krivoruchko, Anastasiya; Kuyukina, Maria; Peshkur, Tatyana; Anderson, Peter; Cunningham, Colin

2016-07-15

Removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil using biosurfactants (BS) produced by Rhodococcus ruber IEGM 231 was studied in soil columns spiked with model mixtures of major petroleum constituents. A crystalline mixture of single PAHs (0.63g/kg), a crystalline mixture of PAHs (0.63g/kg) and polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASHs), and an artificially synthesized non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) containing PAHs (3.00g/kg) dissolved in alkanes C10-C19 were used for spiking. Percentage of PAH removal with BS varied from 16 to 69%. Washing activities of BS were 2.5 times greater than those of synthetic surfactant Tween 60 in NAPL-spiked soil and similar to Tween 60 in crystalline-spiked soil. At the same time, amounts of removed PAHs were equal and consisted of 0.3-0.5g/kg dry soil regardless the chemical pattern of a model mixture of petroleum hydrocarbons and heterocycles used for spiking. UV spectra for soil before and after BS treatment were obtained and their applicability for differentiated analysis of PAH and PASH concentration changes in remediated soil was shown. The ratios A254nm/A288nm revealed that BS increased biotreatability of PAH-contaminated soils. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analytical and numerical studies of Bose-Fermi mixtures in a one-dimensional harmonic trap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dehkharghani, A. S.; Bellotti, F. F.; Zinner, N. T.

2017-07-01

In this paper we study a mixed system of bosons and fermions with up to six particles in total. All particles are assumed to have the same mass. The two-body interactions are repulsive and are assumed to have equal strength in both the Bose-Bose and the Fermi-Boson channels. The particles are confined externally by a harmonic oscillator one-body potential. For the case of four particles, two identical fermions and two identical bosons, we focus on the strongly interacting regime and analyze the system using both an analytical approach and density matrix renormalization group calculations using a discrete version of the underlying continuum Hamiltonian. This provides us with insight into both the ground state and the manifold of excited states that are almost degenerate for large interaction strength. Our results show great variation in the density profiles for bosons and fermions in different states for strongly interacting mixtures. By moving to slightly larger systems, we find that the ground state of balanced mixtures of four to six particles tends to separate bosons and fermions for strong (repulsive) interactions. On the other hand, in imbalanced Bose-Fermi mixtures we find pronounced odd-even effects in systems of five particles. These few-body results suggest that question of phase separation in one-dimensional confined mixtures are very sensitive to system composition, both for the ground state and the excited states.

Comparison of fatty acid profile in the chicken meat after feeding with narasin, nicarbazin and salinomycin sodium and phyto-additive substances.

PubMed

Angelovičová, Mária; Kunová, Simona; Čapla, Jozef; Zajac, Peter; Bučko, Ondřej; Angelovič, Marek

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was an experimental investigation and a statistical evaluation of the influence of various additives in feed mixtures of broiler chickens on fatty acids content and their ratio in breast and thigh muscles. First feed additive consisted of narasin, nicarbasin and salinomycin sodium, and other five additives were of phytogenic origin. In vivo experiment was realized on the poultry experimental station with deep litter breeding system. A total of 300 one-day-old hybrid chickens Cobb 500 divided into six groups were used for the experiment. The experimental period was divided into four phases, i.e. Starter, Grower 1, Grower 2 and Final, according to the application of commercial feed mixture of soy cereal type. Additive substances used in feed mixtures were different for each group. Basic feed mixtures were equal for all groups. Fatty acid profile of breast and thigh muscles was measured by the method of FT IR Nicolet 6700. Investigated additive substances in the feed mixtures did not have statistically significant effect on fatty acid content and omega-6/omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratio in breast and thigh muscles. Strong statistically significant relation between omega-6 PUFAs and total PUFAs were proved by experiment. A relation between omega-3 PUFAs and total PUFAs was found only in the group with Biocitro additive.

Effect of different polishing systems on the surface roughness of nano-hybrid composites.

PubMed

Patel, Brijesh; Chhabra, Naveen; Jain, Disha

2016-01-01

The study aimed to investigate the influence of different polishing systems on the surface roughness of nano-hybrid composite resins. Different shapes of polishing systems are available according to the site of work. To minimize variability, a new system with single shape is developed that can be utilized in both anterior as well as posterior teeth. Seventy composite discs were fabricated using Teflon well (10 mm × 3 mm). Two main group of nano-hybrid composite Group I - Filtek Z350 and Group II - Tetric N-Ceram were used (n = 35 for each group). Both groups were further divided into four subgroups. Subgroup a - OneGloss (n = 10), Subgroup b - PoGo (n = 10), Subgroup c - Sof-Lex spiral (n = 10), Subgroup d - Mylar strip (control, n = 5). Samples were polished according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Surface roughness test was performed using contact profilometer. The obtained data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance test. Tetric N-Ceram produced smoother surfaces than Filtek Z350 (P < 0.05). Mylar strip and "PoGo" created equally smooth surfaces, while significantly rougher surfaces were obtained after applications of "Sof-Lex spiral" and "OneGloss" (P < 0.05). Polishing ability of Tetric N-Ceram is better than Filtek Z350 XT. "PoGo" seems to be a better polishing system than "OneGloss" and "Sof-Lex Spiral."

Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope for hard X-ray imaging of fast ignition experiments.

PubMed

Friesen, H; Tiedje, H F; Hey, D S; Mo, M Z; Beaudry, A; Fedosejevs, R; Tsui, Y Y; Mackinnon, A; McLean, H S; Patel, P K

2013-02-01

A Kirkpatrick-Baez X-ray microscope has been developed for use on the Titan laser facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Fast Ignition experiments. It was developed as a broadband alternative to narrow band Bragg crystal imagers for imaging Kα emission from tracer layers. A re-entrant design is employed which allows for alignment from outside the chamber. The mirrors are coated with Pt and operate at a grazing incident angle of 0.5° providing higher resolution than an equal brightness pinhole and sufficient bandwidth to image thermally shifted characteristic Kα emission from heated Cu tracer layers in Fast Ignition experiments. The superpolished substrates (<1 Å rms roughness) had a final visible wavelength roughness of 1.7 Å after coating, and exhibited a reflectivity corresponding to an X-ray wavelength roughness of 7 ± 1 Å. A unique feature of this design is that during experiments, the unfiltered direct signal along with the one-dimensional reflections are retained on the detector in order to enable a live indication of alignment and incident angle. The broad spectral window from 4 to 9 keV enables simultaneous observation of emission from several spectral regions of interest, which has been demonstrated to be particularly useful for cone-wire targets. An experimentally measured resolution of 15 μm has been obtained at the center of the field of view.

TH-CD-206-01: Expectation-Maximization Algorithm-Based Tissue Mixture Quantification for Perfusion MRI

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Han, H; Xing, L; Liang, Z

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of estimating the tissue mixture perfusions and quantifying cerebral blood flow change in arterial spin labeled (ASL) perfusion MR images. Methods: The proposed perfusion MR image analysis framework consists of 5 steps: (1) Inhomogeneity correction was performed on the T1- and T2-weighted images, which are available for each studied perfusion MR dataset. (2) We used the publicly available FSL toolbox to strip off the non-brain structures from the T1- and T2-weighted MR images. (3) We applied a multi-spectral tissue-mixture segmentation algorithm on both T1- and T2-structural MR images to roughly estimate the fraction of eachmore » tissue type - white matter, grey matter and cerebral spinal fluid inside each image voxel. (4) The distributions of the three tissue types or tissue mixture across the structural image array are down-sampled and mapped onto the ASL voxel array via a co-registration operation. (5) The presented 4-dimensional expectation-maximization (4D-EM) algorithm takes the down-sampled three tissue type distributions on perfusion image data to generate the perfusion mean, variance and percentage images for each tissue type of interest. Results: Experimental results on three volunteer datasets demonstrated that the multi-spectral tissue-mixture segmentation algorithm was effective to initialize tissue mixtures from T1- and T2-weighted MR images. Compared with the conventional ASL image processing toolbox, the proposed 4D-EM algorithm not only generated comparable perfusion mean images, but also produced perfusion variance and percentage images, which the ASL toolbox cannot obtain. It is observed that the perfusion contribution percentages may not be the same as the corresponding tissue mixture volume fractions estimated in the structural images. Conclusion: A specific application to brain ASL images showed that the presented perfusion image analysis method is promising for detecting subtle changes in tissue perfusions, which is valuable for the early diagnosis of certain brain diseases, e.g. multiple sclerosis.« less

Stable Stratification Effects on Flow and Pollutant Dispersion in Boundary Layers Entering a Generic Urban Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomas, J. M.; Pourquie, M. J. B. M.; Jonker, H. J. J.

2016-05-01

Large-eddy simulations (LES) are used to investigate the effect of stable stratification on rural-to-urban roughness transitions. Smooth-wall turbulent boundary layers are subjected to a generic urban roughness consisting of cubes in an in-line arrangement. Two line sources of pollutant are added to investigate the effect on pollutant dispersion. Firstly, the LES method is validated with data from wind-tunnel experiments on fully-developed flow over cubical roughness. Good agreement is found for the vertical profiles of the mean streamwise velocity component and mean Reynolds stress. Subsequently, roughness transition simulations are done for both neutral and stable conditions. Results are compared with fully-developed simulations with conventional double-periodic boundary conditions. In stable conditions, at the end of the domain the streamwise velocity component has not yet reached the fully-developed state even though the surface forces are nearly constant. Moreover, the internal boundary layer is shallower than in the neutral case. Furthermore, an investigation of the turbulence kinetic energy budget shows that the buoyancy destruction term is reduced in the internal boundary layer, above which it is equal to the undisturbed (smooth wall) value. In addition, in stable conditions pollutants emitted above the urban canopy enter the canopy farther downstream due to decreased vertical mixing. Pollutants emitted below the top of the urban canopy are 85 % higher in concentration in stable conditions mostly due to decreased advection. If this is taken into account concentrations remain 17 % greater in stable conditions due to less rapid internal boundary-layer growth. Finally, it is concluded that in the first seven streets the vertical advective pollutant flux is significant, in contrast to the fully-developed case.

The effect of home bleaching agents on the surface roughness of five different composite resins: A SEM evaluation.

PubMed

Cengiz, Esra; Kurtulmus-Yilmaz, Sevcan; Ulusoy, Nuran; Deniz, Sule Tugba; Yuksel-Devrim, Ece

2016-05-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hydrogen peroxide (HP) and carbamide peroxide (CP) on the surface roughness of five different composite resins using profilometer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Thirty-six specimens (1 mm thick, 10 mm in diameter) of five composite resins were fabricated. Each composite group was equally divided into three subgroups as control, CP and HP. In control group, specimens were stored in daily refreshed distilled water during the 14-day testing period. In other groups, 10% HP (Opalescence Treswhite) and 10% CP (Opalescence PF) were applied and surface roughness values (Ra) of each specimen were measured with a profilometer at the end of 14 days. Additionally, SEM analysis was performed to evaluate the surface deformations of composite resins. Data were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Ra values of composite groups exposed to bleaching agents were statistically higher than control group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between Ra values after HP and CP application within each composite group while SEM micrographs showed higher surface alterations at HP group compared to CP. Among the composite resins tested, Ceram-X Mono revealed the lowest Ra values after CP and HP applications as seen at SEM images. Home bleaching agents increased the surface roughness of all composites. Except CP applied Ceram-X mono specimens, Ra values of all composite resins evaluated in this study exceeded the critical limit of 0.2 μm. Ceram-X mono was the least affected composite material after bleaching application. SCANNING 38:277-283, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Roughness characterization of the galling of metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubert, C.; Marteau, J.; Deltombe, R.; Chen, Y. M.; Bigerelle, M.

2014-09-01

Several kinds of tests exist to characterize the galling of metals, such as that specified in ASTM Standard G98. While the testing procedure is accurate and robust, the analysis of the specimen's surfaces (area=1.2 cm) for the determination of the critical pressure of galling remains subject to operator judgment. Based on the surface's topography analyses, we propose a methodology to express the probability of galling according to the macroscopic pressure load. After performing galling tests on 304L stainless steel, a two-step segmentation of the S q parameter (root mean square of surface amplitude) computed from local roughness maps (100 μ m× 100 μ m) enables us to distinguish two tribological processes. The first step represents the abrasive wear (erosion) and the second one the adhesive wear (galling). The total areas of both regions are highly relevant to quantify galling and erosion processes. Then, a one-parameter phenomenological model is proposed to objectively determine the evolution of non-galled relative area A e versus the pressure load P, with high accuracy ({{A}e}=100/(1+a{{P}2}) with a={{0.54}+/- 0.07}× {{10}-3} M P{{a}-2} and with {{R}2}=0.98). From this model, the critical pressure of galling is found to be equal to 43MPa. The {{S}5 V} roughness parameter (the five deepest valleys in the galled region's surface) is the most relevant roughness parameter for the quantification of damages in the ‘galling region’. The significant valleys’ depths increase from 10 μm-250 μm when the pressure increases from 11-350 MPa, according to a power law ({{S}5 V}=4.2{{P}0.75}, with {{R}2}=0.93).

3D Micro-topography of Transferred Laboratory and Natural Ice Crystal Surfaces Imaged by Cryo and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magee, N. B.; Boaggio, K.; Bancroft, L.; Bandamede, M.

2015-12-01

Recent work has highlighted micro-scale roughness on the surfaces of ice crystals grown and imaged in-situ within the chambers of environmental scanning electron microscopes (ESEM). These observations appear to align with theoretical and satellite observations that suggest a prevalence of rough ice in cirrus clouds. However, the atmospheric application of the lab observations are indeterminate because the observations have been based only on crystals grown on substrates and in pure-water vapor environments. In this work, we present details and results from the development of a transfer technique which allows natural and lab-grown ice and snow crystals to be captured, preserved, and transferred into the ESEM for 3D imaging. Ice crystals were gathered from 1) natural snow, 2) a balloon-borne cirrus particle capture device, and 3) lab-grown ice crystals from a diffusion chamber. Ice crystals were captured in a pre-conditioned small-volume (~1 cm3) cryo-containment cell. The cell was then sealed closed and transferred to a specially-designed cryogenic dewer (filled with liquid nitrogen or crushed dry ice) for transport to a new Hitachi Field Emission, Variable Pressure SEM (SU-5000). The cryo-cell was then removed from the dewer and quickly placed onto the pre-conditioned cryo transfer stage attached to the ESEM (Quorum 3010T). Quantitative 3D topographical digital elevation models of ice surfaces are reported from SEM for the first time, including a variety of objective measures of statistical surface roughness. The surfaces of the transported crystals clearly exhibit signatures of mesoscopic roughening that are similar to examples of roughness seen in ESEM-grown crystals. For most transported crystals, the habits and crystal edges are more intricate that those observed for ice grown directly on substrates within the ESEM chamber. Portions of some crystals do appear smooth even at magnification greater than 1000x, a rare observation in our ESEM-grown crystals. The transported crystals hint at some significant differences in roughness morphology, but they do provide evidence that crystals grown in air/water mixtures and with minimal substrate influence also exhibit mesoscopic roughness with similarity to that observed in ESEM-grown crystals.

The influence of surface roughness and solution concentration on pool boiling process in Diethanolamine aqueous solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khoshechin, Mohsen; Salimi, Farhad; Jahangiri, Alireza

2018-04-01

In this research, the effect of surface roughness and concentration of solution on bubble departing frequency and nucleation site density for pool boiling of water/diethanolamine (DEA) binary solution were investigated experimentally. In this investigation, boiling heat transfer coefficient, bubble departing frequency and nucleation site density have been experimentally investigated in various concentrations and heat fluxes. Microstructured surfaces with a wide range of well-defined surface roughness were fabricated, and a heat flux between 1.5-86 kW/m2 was achieved under atmospheric conditions. The Results indicated that surface roughness and concentration of solution increase the bubble departing frequency and nucleation site density with increasing heat flux. The boiling heat transfer coefficient in mixtures of water/DEA increases with increasing concentration of DEA in water. The experimental results were compared with predictions of several used correlations in the literatures. Results showed that the boiling heat transfer coefficients of this case study are much higher than the predicted values by major existing correlations and models. The excellent agreement for bubble departing frequency found between the models of Jackob and Fritz (1966) and experimental data and also the nucleation site density were in close agreement with the model of Paul (1983) data. f bubble departure frequency, 1/s or Hz N Number of nucleation sites per area per time R c Minimum cavity size, m D c critical diameter, m g gravitational acceleration, m/s2 ρ density, kg/m3 T temperature, °c ΔT temperature difference, °c d d vapor bubble diameter, m h fg enthalpy of vaporization, J/kg R Roughness, μm Ja Jakob number cp specific heat, J/kg °c Pr Prandtl number Ar Archimedes number h Heat transfer coefficient, J/(m2 °c) tg time it takes to grow a bubble, s q/A heat flux (kW/m2) tw time required to heat the layer, s gc Correction coefficient of incompatible units R a Surface roughness A heated surface area d departure ONB onset of nucleate boiling w surface wall s saturation v vapor l liquid θ groove angle (o) γ influence parameter of heating surface material σ surface tension, N/m.

An in situ polymerization approach for the synthesis of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nanofibrous membranes for oil-water separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Yanwei; Si, Yang; Raza, Aikifa; Yang, Liping; Mao, Xue; Ding, Bin; Yu, Jianyong

2012-11-01

Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nanofibrous membranes exhibiting robust oil-water separation performance were prepared by a facile combination of electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers and a novel in situ polymerized fluorinated polybenzoxazine (F-PBZ) functional layer that incorporated silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs). By employing the F-PBZ/SiO2 NPs modification, the pristine hydrophilic CA nanofibrous membranes were endowed with a superhydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 161° and a superoleophilicity with the oil contact angle of 3°. Surface morphological studies have indicated that the wettability of resultant membranes could be manipulated by tuning the surface composition as well as the hierarchical structures. The quantitative hierarchical roughness analysis using the N2 adsorption method has confirmed the major contribution of SiO2 NPs on enhancing the porous structure, and a detailed correlation between roughness and solid-liquid interface pinning is proposed. Furthermore, the as-prepared membranes exhibited fast and efficient separation for oil-water mixtures and excellent stability over a wide range of pH conditions, which would make them a good candidate in industrial oil-polluted water treatments and oil spill cleanup, and also provided a new insight into the design and development of functional nanofibrous membranes through F-PBZ modification.Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nanofibrous membranes exhibiting robust oil-water separation performance were prepared by a facile combination of electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers and a novel in situ polymerized fluorinated polybenzoxazine (F-PBZ) functional layer that incorporated silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs). By employing the F-PBZ/SiO2 NPs modification, the pristine hydrophilic CA nanofibrous membranes were endowed with a superhydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 161° and a superoleophilicity with the oil contact angle of 3°. Surface morphological studies have indicated that the wettability of resultant membranes could be manipulated by tuning the surface composition as well as the hierarchical structures. The quantitative hierarchical roughness analysis using the N2 adsorption method has confirmed the major contribution of SiO2 NPs on enhancing the porous structure, and a detailed correlation between roughness and solid-liquid interface pinning is proposed. Furthermore, the as-prepared membranes exhibited fast and efficient separation for oil-water mixtures and excellent stability over a wide range of pH conditions, which would make them a good candidate in industrial oil-polluted water treatments and oil spill cleanup, and also provided a new insight into the design and development of functional nanofibrous membranes through F-PBZ modification. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Detailed synthesis and structural confirmation of BAF-tfa, FT-IR results, OCA results and Movie S1. See DOI: 10.1039/c2nr33063f

Free-Flow Open-Chamber Electrophoresis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharnez, Rizwan; Sammons, David W.

1994-01-01

Free-flow open-chamber electrophoresis variant of free-flow electrophoresis performed in chamber with open ends and in which velocity of electro-osmotic flow adjusted equal to and opposite mean electrophoretic velocity of sample. Particles having electrophoretic mobilities greater than mean mobility of sample particles move toward cathode, those with mobilities less move toward anode. Technique applied to separation of components of mixtures of biologically important substances. Sensitivity enhanced by use of tapered chamber.

Collective modes across the soliton-droplet crossover in binary Bose mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cappellaro, Alberto; Macrı, Tommaso; Salasnich, Luca

2018-05-01

We study the collective modes of a binary Bose mixture across the soliton to droplet crossover in a quasi-one-dimensional waveguide with a beyond-mean-field equation of state and a variational Gaussian ansatz for the scalar bosonic field of the corresponding effective action. We observe a sharp difference in the collective modes in the two regimes. Within the soliton regime, modes vary smoothly upon the variation of particle number or interaction strength. On the droplet side, collective modes are inhibited by the emission of particles. This mechanism turns out to be dominant for a wide range of particle numbers and interactions. In a small window of particle number range and for intermediate interactions, we find that monopole frequency is likely to be observed. We focus on the spin-dipole modes for the case of equal intraspecies interactions and equal equilibrium particle numbers in the presence of a weak longitudinal confinement. We find that such modes might be unobservable in the real-time dynamics close to the equilibrium as their frequency is higher than the particle emission spectrum by at least one order of magnitude in the droplet phase. Our results are relevant for experiments with two-component Bose-Einstein condensates for which we provide realistic parameters.

Flame quenching by a variable-width rectangular-slot burner as a function of pressure for various propane-oxygen-nitrogen mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berlad, Abraham L

1954-01-01

Flame quenching by a variable-width rectangular-slot burner as a function of pressure for various propane-oxygen-nitrogen mixtures was investigated. It was found that for cold gas temperatures of 27 degrees C, pressures of 0.1 ro 1.0 atmosphere, and volumetric oxygen reactions of the oxidant of 0.17, 0.21, 0.30, 0.50, and 0.70, the relation between pressure p and quenching distance d is approximately given by d (unity) p (superscript -r) with r = 1, for equivalence ratios approximately equal to one. The quenching equation of Simon and Belles was tested. For equivalence ratios less than or equal to unity, this equation may by used, together with one empirical constant, to predict the observed quenching distance within 4.2 percent. The equation in it's present form does not appear to be suitable for values of the equivalence ratio greater than unity. A quantitative theoretical investigation has also been made of the error implicit in the assumption that flame quenching by plane parallel plates of infinite extent is equivalent to that of a rectangular burner. A curve is presented which relates the magnitude of this error to the length-to-width ratio of the rectangular burner.

The discriminative stimulus effects of a nicotine-ethanol compound in rats: Extinction with the parts differs from the whole.

PubMed

Troisi, Joseph R; Dooley, Thomas F; Craig, Elizabeth M

2013-12-01

Nicotine and ethyl alcohol (EtOH) interact neurophysiologically and induce internal sensory states that contribute to their coabuse. Evaluating the combined internal sensory effects of nicotine and alcohol may be important for understanding this nexus. With rats, this investigation used an operant drug discrimination procedure to establish discriminative stimulus control with a mixture of nicotine plus EtOH (NE) at doses of nicotine (0.3 mg/kg) and EtOH (1.0 g/kg) that have previously been shown to be equally salient (Gauvin & Holloway, 1993). In Experiment (Exp) 1 the NE compound mixture continued to evoke responding despite extinction of responding with nicotine and EtOH alone. In Exp 2 the NE mixture was reliably discriminated from the nicotine and EtOH elements. Experiment 3 showed that the discriminative functions of the NE mixture emerged when the nicotine and EtOH elements were combined following their initial establishment as separate discriminative stimuli; however, nicotine evoked more control than EtOH. Extinction of responding with the NE mixture impacted rates of responding with nicotine and EtOH alone. The results of the all three studies parallel findings with exteroceptive Pavlovian literature in showing that extinction of responding with the elemental parts does not appear to impact the whole-but, extinction with the whole appears to affect its parts. The multielement discriminative function of a NE mixture appears to be a "unique cue" that differs qualitatively from nicotine or EtOH alone. Associative factors related to compound conditioning (i.e., configural learning) play an important role in mediating the discriminative functions of drug mixtures.

Singlet oxygen feedback delayed fluorescence of protoporphyrin IX in organic solutions.

PubMed

Vinklárek, Ivo S; Scholz, Marek; Dědic, Roman; Hála, Jan

2017-04-12

Delayed fluorescence (DF) of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) has been recently proposed as a tool for monitoring of mitochondrial oxygen tension in vivo as well as for observation of the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT) [E. G. Mik, Anesth. Analg., 2013, 117, 834-346; F. Piffaretti et al., J. Biomed. Opt., 2012, 17, 115007]. However, the efficiency of the mechanism of thermal activation (E-type DF), which was considered in the papers, is limited due to a large energy gap between the first excited singlet and the first triplet state of PpIX at room or body temperatures. Moreover, the energy gap is roughly equal to other porphyrinoid photosensitizers that generate DF mostly through the Singlet Oxygen Feedback-Induced mechanism (SOFDF) under certain conditions [M. Scholz and R. Dědic, Singlet Oxygen: Applications in Biosciences and Nanosciences, 2016, vol. 2, pp. 63-81]. The mechanisms of delayed fluorescence of PpIX dissolved either in dimethylformamide (DMF) or in the mixture of DMF with ethylene glycol (EG) were investigated at atmospheric partial pressure of oxygen by means of a simultaneous time-resolved detection of 1 O 2 phosphorescence and PpIX DF which makes a direct comparison of the kinetics and lifetimes of both the luminescence channels possible. Samples of PpIX (100 μM) exhibit concave DF kinetics, which is a typical footprint of the SOFDF mechanism. The dramatic decrease in the DF intensity after adding a selective 1 O 2 quencher sodium azide (NaN 3 , 10 mM) proves that >90% of DF is indeed generated through SOFDF. Moreover, the analysis of the DF kinetics in the presence of NaN 3 implies that the second significant mechanism of DF generation is the triplet-triplet annihilation (P-type DF). The bimolecular mechanism of DF was further confirmed by the decrease of the DF intensity in the more viscous mixture DMF/EG and by the increase of the ratio of DF to the prompt fluorescence (PF) intensity with the increasing excitation intensity. These results show the significant role of the SOFDF mechanism in the DF of PpIX at high concentrations and at atmospheric partial pressure of oxygen and should be considered when developing diagnostic tools for clinical applications.

High-temperature catalyst for catalytic combustion and decomposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mays, Jeffrey A. (Inventor); Lohner, Kevin A. (Inventor); Sevener, Kathleen M. (Inventor); Jensen, Jeff J. (Inventor)

2005-01-01

A robust, high temperature mixed metal oxide catalyst for propellant composition, including high concentration hydrogen peroxide, and catalytic combustion, including methane air mixtures. The uses include target, space, and on-orbit propulsion systems and low-emission terrestrial power and gas generation. The catalyst system requires no special preheat apparatus or special sequencing to meet start-up requirements, enabling a fast overall response time. Start-up transients of less than 1 second have been demonstrated with catalyst bed and propellant temperatures as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The catalyst system has consistently demonstrated high decomposition effeciency, extremely low decomposition roughness, and long operating life on multiple test particles.

Characterization of Weak Convergence of Probability-Valued Solutions of General One-Dimensional Kinetic Equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perversi, Eleonora; Regazzini, Eugenio

2015-05-01

For a general inelastic Kac-like equation recently proposed, this paper studies the long-time behaviour of its probability-valued solution. In particular, the paper provides necessary and sufficient conditions for the initial datum in order that the corresponding solution converges to equilibrium. The proofs rest on the general CLT for independent summands applied to a suitable Skorokhod representation of the original solution evaluated at an increasing and divergent sequence of times. It turns out that, roughly speaking, the initial datum must belong to the standard domain of attraction of a stable law, while the equilibrium is presentable as a mixture of stable laws.

Acid effects on the measurement of mercury by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Adeloju, S.B.; Mann, T.F.

1987-07-01

The influence of nitric, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids on the measurement of mercury by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry has been investigated. Small pre-reduction peaks associated with the instability of mercury were observed in solutions containing less than or equal to 12.5, < 2 and less than or equal to 12.5% v/v of each acid, respectively. Mercury was found to be most stable in greater than or equal to 2% v/v hydrochloric acid and the measured absorbance was not greatly influenced by varying concentration of the acid. The mercury absorbance measurements were more sensitive in solutions containing less than ormore » equal to 6.3% v/v hydrochloric acid than in similar concentrations of nitric and sulfuric acids. The use of the three acids as a digestion mixture result in serious interference from nitrogen oxides. The interference was removed by use of expelling agents such as urea and sulfamic acid or overcome by use of excess stannous chloride, prior to the reduction of mercury(II) ions. The determination of mercury in NBS albacore tuna using both of these approaches to overcome the interference problem proved to be successful.« less

Comparative in vitro inhibition of urinary tract pathogens by single- and multi-strain probiotics.

PubMed

Chapman, C M C; Gibson, G R; Todd, S; Rowland, I

2013-09-01

Multi-species probiotic preparations have been suggested as having a wide spectrum of application, although few studies have compared their efficacy with that of individual component strains at equal concentrations. We therefore tested the ability of 4 single probiotics and 4 probiotic mixtures to inhibit the urinary tract pathogens Escherichia coli NCTC 9001 and Enterococcus faecalis NCTC 00775. We used an agar spot test to test the ability of viable cells to inhibit pathogens, while a broth inhibition assay was used to assess inhibition by cell-free probiotic supernatants in both pH-neutralised and non-neutralised forms. In the agar spot test, all probiotic treatments showed inhibition, L. acidophilus was the most inhibitory single strain against E. faecalis, L. fermentum the most inhibitory against E. coli. A commercially available mixture of 14 strains (Bio-Kult(®)) was the most effective mixture, against E. faecalis, the 3-lactobacillus mixture the most inhibitory against E. coli. Mixtures were not significantly more inhibitory than single strains. In the broth inhibition assays, all probiotic supernatants inhibited both pathogens when pH was not controlled, with only 2 treatments causing inhibition at a neutral pH. Both viable cells of probiotics and supernatants of probiotic cultures were able to inhibit growth of two urinary tract pathogens. Probiotic mixtures prevented the growth of urinary tract pathogens but were not significantly more inhibitory than single strains. Probiotics appear to produce metabolites that are inhibitory towards urinary tract pathogens. Probiotics display potential to reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections via inhibition of colonisation.

Dual-use technology programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johns, Lionel S.

1994-10-01

The paper presents the Clinton Administration's commitment to American industrial competitiveness through a strategic focus on research and development and to dual-use technologies in particular. Working in partnership with industry, the dual-use approach is essential for giving our armed forces the world's best, most technically advanced military equipment at affordable cost. The President has set a goal of shifting from a dominant role for military technologies in our Federal R&D investments to a roughly equal balance between military on the one hand and civilian and dual-use on the other. We have already made significant progress toward this goal.

Effect of anode oxide films on glow discharge spatial structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulamov, E. N.; Islamov, R. S.; Zabelin, Alexandre M.

1994-04-01

A self-consistent calculation of voltage fall on the anode film as a function of its resistance has been performed in the presence of anode current spots under elevated-pressure glow discharge in nitrogen and N2:He equals 1:1 mixture. It has been shown that resistance of anode oxide films in industrial lasers with continuous copper anode can reach the values when total suppression of anode current structures takes place.

Fluxes of carbon, water and energy over Brazilian cerrado: an analysis using eddy covariance and stable isotopes

Treesearch

A. C. Miranda; H. S. Miranda; J. Lloyd; J. Grace; R. J. Francey; J. A. Mcintyre; P. Meir; P. Riggan; R. Lockwood; J. Brass

1997-01-01

We present the energy and mass balance of cerrado sensu stricto (a Brazilian form of savanna), in which a mixture of shrubs, trees and grasses forms a vegetation with a leaf area index of 1·0 in the wet season and 0·4 in the dry season. In the wet season the available energy was equally dissipated between sensible heat and...

Surface chemistry of a pine-oil cleaner and other terpene mixtures with ozone on vinyl flooring tiles.

PubMed

Ham, Jason E; Wells, J Raymond

2011-04-01

Indoor environments are dynamic reactors where consumer products (such as cleaning agents, deodorants, and air fresheners) emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can subsequently interact with indoor oxidants such as ozone (O(3)), hydroxyl radicals, and nitrate radicals. Typically, consumer products consist of mixtures of VOCs and semi-VOCs which can react in the gas-phase or on surfaces with these oxidants to generate a variety of oxygenated products. In this study, the reaction of a pine-oil cleaner (POC) with O(3) (100ppb) on a urethane-coated vinyl flooring tile was investigated at 5% and 50% relative humidity. These results were compared to previous α-terpineol+O(3) reactions on glass and vinyl surfaces. Additionally, other terpene and terpene alcohol mixtures were formulated to understand the emission profiles as seen in the POC data. Results showed that the α-terpineol+O(3) reaction products were the prominent species that were also observed in the POC/O(3) surface experiments. Furthermore, α-terpineol+O(3) reactions generate the largest fraction of oxygenated products even in equal mixtures of other terpene alcohols. This finding suggests that the judicial choice of terpene alcohols for inclusion in product formulations may be useful in reducing oxidation product emissions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peptide de novo sequencing of mixture tandem mass spectra.

PubMed

Gorshkov, Vladimir; Hotta, Stéphanie Yuki Kolbeck; Verano-Braga, Thiago; Kjeldsen, Frank

2016-09-01

The impact of mixture spectra deconvolution on the performance of four popular de novo sequencing programs was tested using artificially constructed mixture spectra as well as experimental proteomics data. Mixture fragmentation spectra are recognized as a limitation in proteomics because they decrease the identification performance using database search engines. De novo sequencing approaches are expected to be even more sensitive to the reduction in mass spectrum quality resulting from peptide precursor co-isolation and thus prone to false identifications. The deconvolution approach matched complementary b-, y-ions to each precursor peptide mass, which allowed the creation of virtual spectra containing sequence specific fragment ions of each co-isolated peptide. Deconvolution processing resulted in equally efficient identification rates but increased the absolute number of correctly sequenced peptides. The improvement was in the range of 20-35% additional peptide identifications for a HeLa lysate sample. Some correct sequences were identified only using unprocessed spectra; however, the number of these was lower than those where improvement was obtained by mass spectral deconvolution. Tight candidate peptide score distribution and high sensitivity to small changes in the mass spectrum introduced by the employed deconvolution method could explain some of the missing peptide identifications. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Strategies for obtaining long constant-pressure test times in shock tubes

DOE PAGES

Campbell, Matthew Frederick; Parise, T.; Tulgestke, A. M.; ...

2015-09-22

Several techniques have been developed for obtaining long, constant-pressure test times in reflected shock wave experiments in a shock tube, including the use of driver inserts, driver gas tailoring, helium gas diaphragm interfaces, driver extensions, and staged driver gas filling. Here, we detail these techniques, including discussion on the most recent strategy, staged driver gas filling. Experiments indicate that this staged filling strategy increases available test time by roughly 20 % relative to single-stage filling of tailored driver gas mixtures, while simultaneously reducing the helium required per shock by up to 85 %. This filling scheme involves firstly mixing amore » tailored helium–nitrogen mixture in the driver section as in conventional driver filling and, secondly, backfilling a low-speed-of-sound gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide from a port close to the end cap of the driver section. Using this staged driver gas filling, in addition to the other techniques listed above, post-reflected shock test times of up to 0.102 s (102 ms) at 524 K and 1.6 atm have been obtained. Spectroscopically based temperature measurements in non-reactive mixtures have confirmed that temperature and pressure conditions remain constant throughout the length of these long test duration trials. Finally, these strategies have been used to measure low-temperature n-heptane ignition delay times.« less

Variability of human brain and muscle optical pathlength in different experimental conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrari, Marco; Wei, Qingnong; De Blasi, Roberto A.; Quaresima, Valentina; Zaccanti, Giovanni

1993-09-01

Pathlength can be evaluated by measuring the time taken from a picosecond (psec) near infrared (IR) laser pulse to cross tissue. Differential pathlength factor (DPF) is calculated by dividing the mean pathlength by the inter-fiber distance. Data on DPF variability on humans are scarce. We investigated the forehead and forearm DPF in resting conditions and dynamically during brain hypoxic hypoxia, muscle ischemia and voluntary isometric exercise. At 3 cm inter optode spacing DPF at 800 nm was 4.3 +/- 0.2 (n equals 14, mean +/- SD) on the forearm, and 6.5 +/- 0.5 (n equals 8) on the forehead. Brain, muscle, and breast DPF values were almost constant over the inter optode spacing 2.5 - 4 cm. DPF was roughly constant in the central region of forehead. DPF drastically decreased under the fronto- temporal junction for the presence of muscle in the optical field. DPF decreased 5 - 10% during forearm ischemia with and without maximal voluntary contraction and during brain hypoxic hypoxia.

Enzymatic saccharification of pretreated wheat straw: comparison of solids-recycling, sequential hydrolysis and batch hydrolysis.

PubMed

Pihlajaniemi, Ville; Sipponen, Satu; Sipponen, Mika H; Pastinen, Ossi; Laakso, Simo

2014-02-01

In the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose materials, the recycling of the solid residue has previously been considered within the context of enzyme recycling. In this study, a steady state investigation of a solids-recycling process was made with pretreated wheat straw and compared to sequential and batch hydrolysis at constant reaction times, substrate feed and liquid and enzyme consumption. Compared to batch hydrolysis, the recycling and sequential processes showed roughly equal hydrolysis yields, while the volumetric productivity was significantly increased. In the 72h process the improvement was 90% due to an increased reaction consistency, while the solids feed was 16% of the total process constituents. The improvement resulted primarily from product removal, which was equally efficient in solids-recycling and sequential hydrolysis processes. No evidence of accumulation of enzymes beyond the accumulation of the substrate was found in recycling. A mathematical model of solids-recycling was constructed, based on a geometrical series. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Surface treatment of polypropylene (PP) film by 50 Hz dielectric barrier discharge produced in air and argon/air mixture at atmospheric pressure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Joshi, Ujjwal Man, E-mail: umjoshi@gmail.com; Subedi, Deepak Prasad, E-mail: deepaksubedi2001@yahoo.com

Thin films of polypropylene (PP) are treated for improving hydrophilicity using non-thermal plasma generated by 50 Hz line frequency dielectric barrier discharge produced in air and argon/air mixture at atmospheric pressure. PP samples before and after the treatments are studied using contact angle measurements, surface free energy calculations and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Distilled water (H{sub 2}O), glycerol (C{sub 3}H{sub 8}O{sub 3}) and diiodomethane (CH{sub 2}I{sub 2}) are used as test liquids. The contact angle measurements between test liquids and PP samples are used to determine total surface free energy using sessile drop technique. PP films show a remarkable increase inmore » surface free energy after plasma treatment. SEM analysis of the plasma-treated PP films shows that plasma treatment introduces greater roughness on the surface leading to the increased surface free energy. Furthermore, it is found that introducing a small quantity of argon can enhance the surface treatment remarkably.« less

Recycling supercapacitors based on shredding and mild thermal treatment.

PubMed

Jiang, Guozhan; Pickering, Stephen J

2016-02-01

Supercapacitors are widely used in electric and hybrid vehicles, wind farm and low-power equipment due to their high specific power density and huge number of charge-discharge cycles. Waste supercapacitors should be recycled according to EU directive 2002/96/EC on waste electric and electronic equipment. This paper describes a recycling approach for end-of-life supercapacitors based on shredding and mild thermal treatment. At first, supercapacitors are shredded using a Retsch cutting mill. The shredded mixture is then undergone thermal treatment at 200°C to recycle the organic solvent contained in the activated carbon electrodes. After the thermal treatment, the mixture is roughly separated using a fluidized bed method to remove the aluminium foil particles and paper particles from the activated carbon particles, which is subsequently put into water for a wet shredding into fine particles that can be re-used. The recycled activated carbon has a BET surface area of up to 1200m(2)/g and the recycled acetonitrile has a high purity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental comparison of laser energy losses in high-quality laser-oxygen cutting of low-carbon steel using radiation from fibre and CO{sub 2} lasers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Golyshev, A A; Malikov, A G; Orishich, A M

We report a comparative experimental study of laseroxygen cutting of low-carbon steel using a fibre laser with a wavelength of 1.07 μm and a CO{sub 2} laser with a wavelength of 10.6 μm at the sheet thickness of 3 – 16 mm. For the two lasers we have measured the dependence of the cutting speed on the radiation power and determined the cutting speed at which the surface roughness is minimal. The coefficient of laser radiation absorption in the laser cutting process is measured for these lasers at different values of the cutting speed and radiation power. It is foundmore » that the minimal roughness of the cut surface is reached at the absorbed laser energy per unit volume of the removed material, equal to 11 – 13 J mm{sup -3}; this value is the same for the two lasers and does not depend on the sheet thickness. (laser technologies)« less

ASCA observation of NGC 4636: Dark matter and metallicity gradient

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mushotzky, R. F.; Loewenstein, M.; Awaki, H.; Makishima, K.; Matsushita, K.; Matsumoto, H.

1994-01-01

We present our analysis of ASCA PV phase observation of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4636. Solid state imaging spectrometer (SIS) spectra in six concentric annuli centered on NGC 4636 are used to derive temperature, metallicity, and column density profiles for the hot interstellar medium. Outside of the central 3 min the temperature is roughly constant at approximately 0.85 keV, while the metallicity decreases from greater than 0.36 solar at the center to less than 0.12 solar at R approximately 9 min. The implications of this gradient for elliptical galaxy formation and the enrichment of intracluster gas are discussed. We derive a detailed mass profile consistent with the stellar velocity dispersion and with ROSAT position sensitive proportional counter (PSPC) and ASCA SIS X-ray temperature profiles. We find that NGC 4636 becomes dark matter dominated at roughly the de Vaucouleurs radius, and, at r approximately 100 kpc, the ratio of dark to luminous matter density is approximately 80 and solar mass/solar luminosity approximately equal to 150. Evidence for the presence of a cooling flow is also discussed.

Experimental research on micro-pit defects of SUS 430 stainless steel strip in cold rolling process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Changsheng; Li, Miao; Zhu, Tao; Huo, Gang

2013-05-01

In order to improve surface glossiness of stainless steel strip in tandem cold rolling, experimental research on micro-pit defects of SUS 430 ferrite stainless steel was investigated in laboratory. The surface morphology of micro-pit defects was observed by SEM. The effects of micro-pit defects on rolling reduction, roll surface roughness and emulsion parameters were analyzed. With the pass number increasing, the quantity and surface of micro-pit defects were reduced, uneven peak was decreased and gently along rolling direction, micro-pit defects had equally distributed tendency along tranverse direction. The micro-pit defects were increased with the roll surface roughness increase. The defects ratio was declined with larger gradient at pass number 1 to 3, but gentle slope at pass number 4 to 5. The effects of temperature 55° and 63°, concentration 3% and 6% of emulsion on micro-pit effects had not obvious difference. Maintain of micro-pit was effected by rolling oil or air in the micro-pit, the quality of oil was much more than the air in the micro-pit in lubrication rolling.

Brushing-Induced Surface Roughness of Two Nickel Based Alloys and a Titanium Based Alloy: A Comparative Study - In Vitro Study

PubMed Central

Acharya, B L Guruprasanna; Nadiger, Ramesh; Shetty, Bharathraj; Gururaj, G; Kumar, K Naveen; Darshan, D D

2014-01-01

Background: Alloys with high nickel content have been increasingly used in dentistry. Alloys have high corrosion rates when exposed to chemical or physical forces that are common intra orally. Titanium is the most biocompatible materials for crowns, fixed partial dentures and implants in the present use, but paradoxically the self-protective oxide film on the titanium can be affected by excessive use of the most common preventive agents in dentistry. Therefore, this study is undertaken in order to draw attention toward the potential effect of prophylactic brushing in a saline medium. Materials and Methods: Forty-five wax patterns in equal dimensions of 10 mm × 10 mm × 2 mm were cast in titanium (Grade II) and nickel-chromium. Of the 45 wax patterns, 15 wax patterns were used for preparing cast titanium samples and 30 wax patterns were used for preparing cast nickel-chromium samples and polished. These samples were divided into three groups of 15 samples each. They are brushed for 48 h each clinically simulating 2 years of brushing in a saline tooth paste medium. The surface roughnesses of the samples were evaluated using profilometer, scanning electron microscopes and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The statistical analysis of the Rz and Ra surface roughness values were calculated. Significant difference of surface roughness was present in the titanium samples compared to that of the machine-readable cataloguing and Wirolloy (nickel-chromium) samples after the study. To know the difference in the values of all samples before and after, Student’s paired t-test was carried out. Results showed that there is a significant change in the Rz and Ra values of titanium samples. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that, prophylactic brushing with the fluoridated toothpaste have an effect on the surface roughness of titanium and also to a certain extent, on nickel-chromium. Therefore, careful consideration must be given to the selection of the toothbrushes and toothpastes with the medium abrasives in patients with these restorations. How to cite the article: Acharya BL, Nadiger R, Shetty B, Gururaj G, Kumar KN, Darshan DD. Brushing induced surface roughness of two nickel based alloys and a titanium based alloy: A comparative study - In vitro study. J Int Oral Health 2014;6(3):36-49. PMID:25083031

Investigation of HCCI Combustion of Diethyl Ether and Ethanol Mixtures Using Carbon 14 Tracing and Numerical Simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mack, J H; Dibble, R W; Buchholz, B A

2004-01-16

Despite the rapid combustion typically experienced in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), components in fuel mixtures do not ignite in unison or burn equally. In our experiments and modeling of blends of diethyl ether (DEE) and ethanol (EtOH), the DEE led combustion and proceeded further toward completion, as indicated by {sup 14}C isotope tracing. A numerical model of HCCI combustion of DEE and EtOH mixtures supports the isotopic findings. Although both approaches lacked information on incompletely combusted intermediates plentiful in HCCI emissions, the numerical model and {sup 14}C tracing data agreed within the limitations of the single zone model. Despitemore » the fact that DEE is more reactive than EtOH in HCCI engines, they are sufficiently similar that we did not observe a large elongation of energy release or significant reduction in inlet temperature required for light-off, both desired effects for the combustion event. This finding suggests that, in general, HCCI combustion of fuel blends may have preferential combustion of some of the blend components.« less

Niaouli oils from different sources: analysis and influence on cutaneous permeation of estradiol in vitro.

PubMed

Monti, D; Tampucci, S; Chetoni, P; Burgalassi, S; Bertoli, A; Pistelli, L

2009-07-01

Previous studies in vitro had identified niaouli essential oil (NEO) as a valuable transdermal permeation promoter for estradiol (ES). Subsequent considerations on the complex issue of NEO provenance and composition stimulated the present investigation, which was aimed at defining the composition of NEOs obtained from four different sources, at evaluating their influence on transdermal permeation of ES through hairless mouse skin, and at formulating and evaluating simpler terpene mixtures mimicking the NEOs' composition. While all oils contained 1,8-cineol (eucalyptol) as the main component, appreciable variations in composition could be evidenced, originating differences on the ES cutaneous permeation. Two artificial mixtures containing the same proportions of the main terpenes present in each oil (except the commercially unavailable gamma-terpineol) proved equal or significantly superior in activity when compared with the original oils. It is felt that this study might contribute to the formulation of terpene mixtures acting more efficiently and reproducibly with respect to natural NEOs, whose complex and variable composition, depending on growing place, season, and extraction process, is well documented in the relevant literature.

Diffusion relaxation times of nonequilibrium isolated small bodies and their solid phase ensembles to equilibrium states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tovbin, Yu. K.

2017-08-01

The possibility of obtaining analytical estimates in a diffusion approximation of the times needed by nonequilibrium small bodies to relax to their equilibrium states based on knowledge of the mass transfer coefficient is considered. This coefficient is expressed as the product of the self-diffusion coefficient and the thermodynamic factor. A set of equations for the diffusion transport of mixture components is formulated, characteristic scales of the size of microheterogeneous phases are identified, and effective mass transfer coefficients are constructed for them. Allowing for the developed interface of coexisting and immiscible phases along with the porosity of solid phases is discussed. This approach can be applied to the diffusion equalization of concentrations of solid mixture components in many physicochemical systems: the mutual diffusion of components in multicomponent systems (alloys, semiconductors, solid mixtures of inert gases) and the mass transfer of an absorbed mobile component in the voids of a matrix consisting of slow components or a mixed composition of mobile and slow components (e.g., hydrogen in metals, oxygen in oxides, and the transfer of molecules through membranes of different natures, including polymeric).

Laser Interferometric Measurements of the Physical Properties for He, ne Gases and Their Mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdel-Moniem, N. M.; El-Masry, M. M.; El-Bradie, B.; El-Mekawy, F. M.

2010-04-01

A Mach-Zehner interferometer MZI illuminated with He-Ne Laser 632.8nm is used for measuring the refractive index for He, Ne gases and their mixture HeNe. The measurements are carried out at different pressures and temperatures. The error factors of the refractive index measurements for He, Ne and HeNe gases are equal to ±1.7×10-5, ±9.5×10-6 and ±7.25×10-5 respectively. Some calculations of the electrical properties are carried out such as the optical permittivity dielectric susceptibility and specific refractivity from the determination of the refractive index. Also, the molecular radii of the gases under investigation are computed then the transport coefficients (diffusion. viscosity and thermal conductivity) are calculated. All of these calculations are carried out at different pressures and temperatures. The experimental results of refractive index for the above mixture are compared with the results estimated using one of the mixing rules and a good agreement is achieved. Also, some physical parameters are compared with other values in another literatures.

The control of hypertension by use of coconut water and mauby: two tropical food drinks.

PubMed

Alleyne, T; Roache, S; Thomas, C; Shirley, A

2005-01-01

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of regular consumption of two tropical food drinks, coconut (Cocos nucifera) water and mauby (Colubrina arborescens), on the control of hypertension. Twenty-eight hypertensive subjects were assigned to four equal groups and their systolic and diastolic blood pressures recorded for two weeks before and then for another two weeks while receiving one of four interventions. One group (the control) received bottled drinking water, the second group received coconut water, the third received mauby and the fourth group, a mixture of coconut water and mauby. Significant decreases in the mean systolic blood pressure were observed for 71%, 40% and 43% respectively of the groups receiving the coconut water, mauby and the mixture (p < or = 0.05). For these groups, the respective proportions showing significant decreases in the mean diastolic pressure were 29%, 40% and 57%. For the group receiving the mixture, the largest decreases in mean systolic and mean diastolic pressure were 24 mmHg and 15 mmHg respectively; these were approximately double the largest values seen with the single interventions.

Iron-phosphate ceramics for solidification of mixed low-level waste

DOEpatents

Aloy, Albert S.; Kovarskaya, Elena N.; Koltsova, Tatiana I.; Macheret, Yevgeny; Medvedev, Pavel G.; Todd, Terry

2000-01-01

A method of immobilizing mixed low-level waste is provided which uses low cost materials and has a relatively long hardening period. The method includes: forming a mixture of iron oxide powders having ratios, in mass %, of FeO:Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 :Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4 equal to 25-40:40-10:35-50, or weighing a definite amount of magnetite powder. Metallurgical cinder can also be used as the source of iron oxides. A solution of the orthophosphoric acid, or a solution of the orthophosphoric acid and ferric oxide, is formed and a powder phase of low-level waste and the mixture of iron oxide powders or cinder (or magnetite powder) is also formed. The acid solution is mixed with the powder phase to form a slurry with the ratio of components (mass %) of waste:iron oxide powders or magnetite:acid solution=30-60:15-10:55-30. The slurry is blended to form a homogeneous mixture which is cured at room temperature to form the final product.

Preliminary Investigation of Performance and Starting Characteristics of Liquid Fluorine : Liquid Oxygen Mixtures with Jet Fuel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothenberg, Edward A; Ordin, Paul M

1954-01-01

The performance of jet fuel with an oxidant mixture containing 70 percent liquid fluorine and 30 percent liquid oxygen by weight was investigated in a 500-pound-thrust engine operating at a chamber pressure of 300 pounds per square inch absolute. A one-oxidant-on-one-fuel skewed-hole impinging-jet injector was evaluated in a chamber of characteristic length equal to 50 inches. A maximum experimental specific impulse of 268 pound-seconds per pound was obtained at 25 percent fuel, which corresponds to 96 percent of the maximum theoretical specific impulse based on frozen composition expansion. The maximum characteristic velocity obtained was 6050 feet per second at 23 percent fuel, or 94 percent of the theoretical maximum. The average thrust coefficient was 1.38 for the 500-pound thrust combustion-chamber nozzle used, which was 99 percent of the theoretical (frozen) maximum. Mixtures of fluorine and oxygen were found to be self-igniting with jet fuel with fluorine concentrations as low as 4 percent, when low starting propellant flow rated were used.

Characterizing plant cell wall derived oligosaccharides using hydrophilic interaction chromatography with mass spectrometry detection.

PubMed

Leijdekkers, A G M; Sanders, M G; Schols, H A; Gruppen, H

2011-12-23

Analysis of complex mixtures of plant cell wall derived oligosaccharides is still challenging and multiple analytical techniques are often required for separation and characterization of these mixtures. In this work it is demonstrated that hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering and mass spectrometry detection (HILIC-ELSD-MS(n)) is a valuable tool for identification of a wide range of neutral and acidic cell wall derived oligosaccharides. The separation potential for acidic oligosaccharides observed with HILIC is much better compared to other existing techniques, like capillary electrophoresis, reversed phase and porous-graphitized carbon chromatography. Important structural information, such as presence of methyl esters and acetyl groups, is retained during analysis. Separation of acidic oligosaccharides with equal charge yet with different degrees of polymerization can be obtained. The efficient coupling of HILIC with ELSD and MS(n)-detection enables characterization and quantification of many different oligosaccharide structures present in complex mixtures. This makes HILIC-ELSD-MS(n) a versatile and powerful additional technique in plant cell wall analysis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Composition of precipitation in remote areas of the world

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galloway, J.N.; Likens, G.E.; Keene, W.C.

1982-10-20

The Global Precipitation Chemistry Project collects precipitation by event to determine composition and processes controlling it in five remote areas. Compositions (excluding sea-salt) at St. Georges, Bermuda, were primarily controlled by anthropogenic processes; composition and acidities at San Carlos, Venezuela, Katherine, Australia, Poker Flat, Alaska, and Amsterdam Island were controlled by unknown mixtures of natural or anthropogenic processes. Precipitation was acidic; average volume-weighted pH values were 4.8 for Bermuda; 5.0, Alaska; 4.9, Amsterdam Island; 4.8, Australia; 4.8, Venezuela. Acidities at Bermuda and Alaska were from long-range transport of sulfate aerosol; at Venezuela, Australia, and Amsterdam Island, from mixtures of weakmore » organic and strong mineral acids, primarily H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/. Relative proportions of weak to strong acids were largest at Venezuela and lowest at Amsterdam Island. Weak and strong acids were from mixtures of natural and anthropogenic processes. Once contributions from human activities were removed, the lower limit of natural contributions was probably greater than or equal to pH 5.« less

Effect of the addition of rocuronium to 2% lignocaine in peribulbar block for cataract surgery.

PubMed

Patil, Vishalakshi; Farooqy, Allauddin; Chaluvadi, Balaraju Thayappa; Rajashekhar, Vinayak; Malshetty, Ashwini

2017-01-01

Peribulbar anesthesia is associated with delayed orbital akinesia compared with retrobulbar anesthesia. To test the hypothesis that rocuronium added to a mixture of local anesthetics (LAs) could improve speed of onset of akinesia in peribulbar block (PB), we designed this study. This study examined the effects of adding rocuronium 5 mg to 2% lignocaine with adrenaline to note orbital and eyelid akinesia in patients undergoing cataract surgery. In a prospective, randomized, double-blind study, 100 patients were equally randomized to receive a mixture of 0.5 ml normal saline, 6 ml lidocaine 2% with adrenaline and hyaluronidase 50 IU/ml (Group I), a mixture of rocuronium 0.5 ml (5 mg), 6 ml lidocaine 2% with adrenaline and hyaluronidase 50 IU/ml (Group II). Orbital akinesia was assessed on a 0-8 score (0 = no movement, 8 = normal) at 2 min intervals for 10 min. Time to adequate anesthesia was also recorded. Results are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Rocuronium group demonstrated significantly better akinesia scores than control group at 2 min intervals post-PB (significant P value obtained). No significant complications were recorded. Rocuronium added to a mixture of LA improved the quality of akinesia in PB and reduced the need for supplementary injections. The addition of rocuronium 5 mg to a mixture of lidocaine 2% with adrenaline and hyaluronidase 50 IU/ml shortened the onset time of peribulbar anesthesia in patients undergoing cataract surgery without causing adverse effects.

Storage effect on viability and biofunctionality of human adipose tissue-derived stromal cells.

PubMed

Falah, Mizied; Rayan, Anwar; Srouji, Samer

2015-09-01

In our recent studies, the transplantation of human adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ASCs) has shown promise for treatment of diseases related to bone and joint disorders. For the current clinical applications, ASCs were formulated and suspended in PlasmaLyte A supplemented with heparin, glucose and human serum albumin, balanced to pH 7.4 with sodium bicarbonate. This cell solution constitutes 20% of the overall transplanted mixture and is supplemented with hyaluronic acid (60%) and OraGraft particles (20%). We intended to investigate the effect of this transplantation mixture on the viability and biofunctionality of ASCs in bone formation. Freshly harvested cells were resuspended and incubated in the indicated mixture for up to 48 h at 4°C. Cell viability was assessed using trypan blue and AlamarBlue, and cell functionality was determined by quantifying their adhesion rate in vitro and bone formation in an ectopic mouse model. More than 80% of the ASCs stored in the transplantation mixture were viable for up to 24 h. Cell viability beyond 24 h in storage decreased to approximately 50%. In addition, an equal degree of bone formation was observed between the cells transplanted following incubation in transplantation mixture for up to 24 h and zero-time non-incubated cells (control). The viability and functionality of ASCs stored in the presented formulation will make such cell therapy accessible to larger and more remote populations. Copyright © 2015 International Society for Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metal-PAH mixtures in the aquatic environment: a review of co-toxic mechanisms leading to more-than-additive outcomes.

PubMed

Gauthier, Patrick T; Norwood, Warren P; Prepas, Ellie E; Pyle, Greg G

2014-09-01

Mixtures of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occur ubiquitously in aquatic environments, yet relatively little is known regarding their combined toxicities. Emerging reports investigating the additive mortality in metal-PAH mixtures have indicated that more-than-additive effects are equally as common as strictly-additive effects, raising concern for ecological risk assessment typically based on the summation of individual toxicities. Moreover, the current separation of focus between in vivo and in vitro studies, and fine- and coarse-scale endpoints, creates uncertainty regarding the mechanisms of co-toxicity involved in more-than-additive effects on whole organisms. Drawing from literature on metal and PAH toxicity in bacteria, protozoa, invertebrates, fish, and mammalian models, this review outlines several key mechanistic interactions likely to promote more-than-additive toxicity in metal-PAH mixtures. Namely, the deleterious effects of PAHs on membrane integrity and permeability to metals, the potential for metal-PAH complexation, the inhibitory nature of metals to the detoxification of PAHs via the cytochrome P450 pathway, the inhibitory nature of PAHs towards the detoxification of metals via metallothionein, and the potentiated production of reactive oxygenated species (ROS) in certain metal (e.g. Cu) and PAH (e.g., phenanthrenequinone) mixtures. Moreover, the mutual inhibition of detoxification suggests the possibility of positive feedback among these mechanisms. The individual toxicities and interactive aspects of contaminant transport, detoxification, and the production of ROS are herein discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Protective effect of ginger and zinc chloride mixture on the liver and kidney alterations induced by malathion toxicity.

PubMed

Baiomy, Ahmed A; Attia, Hossam F; Soliman, Mohamed M; Makrum, Omar

2015-03-01

This study was carried out on four groups of male Wistar rats, 10 rats per group. Group I got open access to food intake and water with normal balanced diet. Group II was administered 400 mg ginger per kg body weight (BW) and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) (300 mg/L) diluted in tap water for 4 months. Group III was administered malathion at a dose of 50 mg/kg BW/day in 0.2 mL corn oil via gavages for 4 months. This dose equal to 1/50 of the LD50. Group IV was given a mixture of 400 mg ginger per kg BW and ZnCl2 (300 mg/L) diluted in tap water in addition to 100 mg malathion/kg BW for 4 months. The liver showed histopathological changes include congestion, edema, and leucocytic infiltrations which were ameliorated by the addition of ginger and ZnCl2 mixture. The kidney showed cloudy swelling and hydropic degeneration of the renal tubules. These changes were ameliorated by the addition of ginger and ZnCl2 mixture. Ki67 immunoreactivity was localized in the cytoplasm and nuclear membrane. Its expression was estimated as the percentage of cells positively stained by the antibody in the different groups. In conclusion, malathion was toxic to the liver and kidney and must be avoided and protected by the addition of ginger and zinc mixture. © The Author(s) 2015.

Why the SL9 Plumes Were All About the Same Height

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zahnle, K.; MacLow, M.-M.; Cuzzi, Jeffery N. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Several of the SL9 ejecta plumes were observed by the HST to reach approximately the same height, about 3000 km above the jovian cloud tops. The duration of the infrared events, which were produced by the plume falling back on the atmosphere, measures time aloft and hence provides a second, more sensitive measure of plume height; the light curves indicate that the largest impacts produced modestly higher plumes. Evidently these plumes were launched with about the same vertical velocity, roughly 10-13 kilometers per second. As the impactors themselves were not all the same, nor the impacts equally luminous, nor the plumes equally opaque, the similar plume heights has been seen as a puzzle needing explanation. A second, closely related matter that needs to addressed quantitatively is the popular contention that a big plume requires a big impact. This view is misleading at best, yet plume heights can be used to constrain impact parameters. Dimensional analysis indicates that plume height goes as z alpha v (sup 2) (sub ej) alpha E/pH (sup 2), where v (sub ej) is the ejection velocity, E the explosion energy, and p and H the ambient pressure and scale height at termination. Using a semi-analytic model for the deceleration, disintegration, and destruction of intruding bodies by an ever-vigilant atmosphere, we find that the ratio E/pH(sup 2) is roughly constant for fragments with diameters of order 100 m to 1000 m. Constancy of v(sub ej) is in part due to the greater role of radiative ablation on the flight of smaller objects. We conclude that similar plume heights is a direct consequence of smaller impactors exploding at higher altitudes, in such a way that the different explosions were geometrically similar.

Considerations in the Design of Future Planetary Laser Altimeters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, D. E.; Neumann, G. A.; Mazarico, E.; Zuber, M. T.; Sun, X.

2017-12-01

Planetary laser altimeters have generally been designed to provide high accuracy measurements of the nadir range to an uncooperative surface for deriving the shape of the target body, and sometimes specifically for identifying and characterizing potential landing sites. However, experience has shown that in addition to the range measurement, other valuable observations can be acquired, including surface reflectance and surface roughness, despite not being given high priority in the original altimeter design or even anticipated. After nearly 2 decades of planetary laser altimeter design, the requirements are evolving and additional capabilities are becoming equally important. The target bodies, once the terrestrial planets, are now equally asteroids and moons that in many cases do not permit simple orbital operations due to their small mass, radiation issues, or spacecraft fuel limitations. In addition, for a number of reasons, it has become necessary to perform shape determination from a much greater range, even thousands of kilometers, and thus ranging is becoming as important as nadir altimetry. Reflectance measurements have also proved important for assessing the presence of ice, water or CO2, and laser pulse spreading informed knowledge of surface roughness; all indicating a need for improved instrument capability. Recently, the need to obtain accurate range measurement to laser reflectors on landers or on a planetary surface is presenting new science opportunities but for which current designs are far from optimal. These changes to classic laser altimetry have consequences for many instrument functions and capabilities, including beam divergence, laser power, number of beams and detectors, pixelation, energy measurements, pointing stability, polarization, laser wavelengths, and laser pulse rate dependent range. We will discuss how a new consideration of these trades will help make lidars key instruments to execute innovative science in future planetary missions.

Characteristics of the Martian atmosphere surface layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clow, G. D.; Haberle, R. M.

1990-01-01

Elements of various terrestrial boundary layer models are extended to Mars in order to estimate sensible heat, latent heat, and momentum fluxes within the Martian atmospheric surface ('constant flux') layer. The atmospheric surface layer consists of an interfacial sublayer immediately adjacent to the ground and an overlying fully turbulent surface sublayer where wind-shear production of turbulence dominates buoyancy production. Within the interfacial sublayer, sensible and latent heat are transported by non-steady molecular diffusion into small-scale eddies which intermittently burst through this zone. Both the thickness of the interfacial sublayer and the characteristics of the turbulent eddies penetrating through it depend on whether airflow is aerodynamically smooth or aerodynamically rough, as determined by the Roughness Reynold's number. Within the overlying surface sublayer, similarity theory can be used to express the mean vertical windspeed, temperature, and water vapor profiles in terms of a single parameter, the Monin-Obukhov stability parameter. To estimate the molecular viscosity and thermal conductivity of a CO2-H2O gas mixture under Martian conditions, parameterizations were developed using data from the TPRC Data Series and the first-order Chapman-Cowling expressions; the required collision integrals were approximated using the Lenard-Jones potential. Parameterizations for specific heat and binary diffusivity were also determined. The Brutsart model for sensible and latent heat transport within the interfacial sublayer for both aerodynamically smooth and rough airflow was experimentally tested under similar conditions, validating its application to Martian conditions. For the surface sublayer, the definition of the Monin-Obukhov length was modified to properly account for the buoyancy forces arising from water vapor gradients in the Martian atmospheric boundary layer. It was found that under most Martian conditions, the interfacial and surface sublayers offer roughly comparable resistance to sensible heat and water vapor transport and are thus both important in determining the associated fluxes.

Time-Dependent Wetting Behavior of PDMS Surfaces with Bioinspired, Hierarchical Structures.

PubMed

Mishra, Himanshu; Schrader, Alex M; Lee, Dong Woog; Gallo, Adair; Chen, Szu-Ying; Kaufman, Yair; Das, Saurabh; Israelachvili, Jacob N

2016-03-01

Wetting of rough surfaces involves time-dependent effects, such as surface deformations, nonuniform filling of surface pores within or outside the contact area, and surface chemistries, but the detailed impact of these phenomena on wetting is not entirely clear. Understanding these effects is crucial for designing coatings for a wide range of applications, such as membrane-based oil-water separation and desalination, waterproof linings/windows for automobiles, aircrafts, and naval vessels, and antibiofouling. Herein, we report on time-dependent contact angles of water droplets on a rough polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface that cannot be completely described by the conventional Cassie-Baxter or Wenzel models or the recently proposed Cassie-impregnated model. Shells of sand dollars (Dendraster excentricus) were used as lithography-free, robust templates to produce rough PDMS surfaces with hierarchical, periodic features ranging from 1 × 10(-7) to 1 × 10(-4) m. Under saturated vapor conditions, we found that in the short term (<1 min), the contact angle of a sessile water droplet on the templated PDMS, θ(SDT) = 140 ± 3°, was accurately described by the Cassie-Baxter model (predicted θ(SDT) = 137°); however, after 90 min, θ(SDT) fell to 110°. Fluorescent confocal microscopy confirmed that the initial reduction in θ(SDT) to 110° (the Wenzel limit) was primarily a Cassie-Baxter to Wenzel transition during which pores within the contact area filled gradually, and more rapidly for ethanol-water mixtures. After 90 min, the contact line of the water droplet became pinned, perhaps caused by viscoelastic deformation of the PDMS around the contact line, and a significant volume of water began to flow from the droplet to pores outside the contact region, causing θ(SDT) to decrease to 65° over 48 h on the rough surface. The system we present here to explore the concept of contact angle time dependence (dynamics) and modeling of natural surfaces provides insights into the design and development of long- and short-lived coatings.

CO2 diffusion in champagne wines: a molecular dynamics study.

PubMed

Perret, Alexandre; Bonhommeau, David A; Liger-Belair, Gérard; Cours, Thibaud; Alijah, Alexander

2014-02-20

Although diffusion is considered as the main physical process responsible for the nucleation and growth of carbon dioxide bubbles in sparkling beverages, the role of each type of molecule in the diffusion process remains unclear. In the present study, we have used the TIP5P and SPC/E water models to perform force field molecular dynamics simulations of CO2 molecules in water and in a water/ethanol mixture respecting Champagne wine proportions. CO2 diffusion coefficients were computed by applying the generalized Fick's law for the determination of multicomponent diffusion coefficients, a law that simplifies to the standard Fick's law in the case of champagnes. The CO2 diffusion coefficients obtained in pure water and water/ethanol mixtures composed of TIP5P water molecules were always found to exceed the coefficients obtained in mixtures composed of SPC/E water molecules, a trend that was attributed to a larger propensity of SPC/E water molecules to form hydrogen bonds. Despite the fact that the SPC/E model is more accurate than the TIP5P model to compute water self-diffusion and CO2 diffusion in pure water, the diffusion coefficients of CO2 molecules in the water/ethanol mixture are in much better agreement with the experimental values of 1.4 - 1.5 × 10(-9) m(2)/s obtained for Champagne wines when the TIP5P model is employed. This difference was deemed to rely on the larger propensity of SPC/E water molecules to maintain the hydrogen-bonded network between water molecules and form new hydrogen bonds with ethanol, although statistical issues cannot be completely excluded. The remarkable agreement between the theoretical CO2 diffusion coefficients obtained within the TIP5P water/ethanol mixture and the experimental data specific to Champagne wines makes us infer that the diffusion coefficient in these emblematic hydroalcoholic sparkling beverages is expected to remain roughly constant whathever their proportions in sugars, glycerol, or peptides.

Development of an alternating magnetic-field-assisted finishing process for microelectromechanical systems micropore x-ray optics.

PubMed

Riveros, Raul E; Yamaguchi, Hitomi; Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki; Takagi, Utako; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Kato, Fumiki; Sugiyama, Susumu; Yamasaki, Noriko; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa

2010-06-20

X-ray astronomy research is often limited by the size, weight, complexity, and cost of functioning x-ray optics. Micropore optics promises an economical alternative to traditional (e.g., glass or foil) x-ray optics; however, many manufacturing difficulties prevent micropore optics from being a viable solution. Ezoe et al. introduced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micropore optics having curvilinear micropores in 2008. Made by either deep reactive ion etching or x-ray lithography, electroforming, and molding (LIGA), MEMS micropore optics suffer from high micropore sidewall roughness (10-30nmrms) which, by current standards, cannot be improved. In this research, a new alternating magnetic-field-assisted finishing process was developed using a mixture of ferrofluid and microscale abrasive slurry. A machine was built, and a set of working process parameters including alternating frequency, abrasive size, and polishing time was selected. A polishing experiment on a LIGA-fabricated MEMS micropore optic was performed, and a change in micropore sidewall roughness of 9.3+/-2.5nmrms to 5.7+/-0.7nmrms was measured. An improvement in x-ray reflectance was also seen. This research shows the feasibility and confirms the effects of this new polishing process on MEMS micropore optics.

Polyimide surface modification by using microwave plasma for adhesion enhancement of Cu electroless plating.

PubMed

Cho, Sang-Jin; Nguyen, Trieu; Boo, Jin-Hyo

2011-06-01

Microwave (MW) plasma was applied to the surface of polyimide (PI) films as a treatment to enhance the adhesion between copper deposition layer and PI surface for electroless plating. The influences of nitrogen MW plasma treatment on chemical composition of the PI surface were investigated by using X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The wettability was also investigated by water contact angle measurement. The surface morphologies of PI films before and after treatment were characterized with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact angle results show that was dramatically decreased to 16.1 degrees at the optimal treatment condition from 72.1 degrees (untreated PI). However, the root mean square (RMS) roughness of treated PI film was almost unchanged. The AFM roughness was stayed from 1.0 to 1.2 with/without plasma treatment. XPS data show a nitrogen increase when PI films exposed to N2 MW plasma. Electroless copper depositions were carried out with the free-formaldehyde method using glyoxylic acid as the reducing reagent and mixture palladium chloride, tin chloride as activation solution. Adhesion property between polyimide surface and copper layer was investigated by tape test.

Fabrication of nano-structured super-hydrophobic film on aluminum by controllable immersing method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Ruomei; Liang, Shuquan; Pan, Anqiang; Yuan, Zhiqing; Tang, Yan; Tan, Xiaoping; Guan, Dikai; Yu, Ya

2012-06-01

Aluminum alloy surface can be etched easily in acid environment, but the microstructure of alloy surface hardly meets the customers' demand. In this work, a facile acidic-assistant surface oxidation technique has been employed to form reproducible super-hydrophobic surfaces on aluminum alloy plates. The samples immersed in three different acid solutions at ambient temperatures are studied and the results demonstrated that the aqueous mixture solution of oxalic acid and hydrochloric is easier to produce better faces and better stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and water contact angle measurement are used to investigate the morphologies, microstructures, chemical compositions and hydrophobicity of the produced films on aluminum substrates. The surfaces, configured of a labyrinth structure with convexity and concavity, are in different roughness and gloss because of the different recipe acid solutions used. Better roughness of the surface can be obtained by adjusting the concentration of Clˉ and oxalate ions in acid solutions. The present research work provides a new strategy for the controllable preparation super-hydrophobic films of general materials on aluminum alloy for practical industrial applications.

The role of interparticle heterogeneities in the selenization pathway of Cu-Zn-Sn-S nanoparticle thin films: A real-time study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, Nathaniel J.; Mainz, Roland; Walker, Bryce C.

2015-06-10

Real-time energy dispersive x-ray diffraction (EDXRD) analysis has been utilized to observe the selenization of Cu-Zn-Sn-S nanoparticle films coated from three nanoparticle populations: Cu- and Sn-rich particles roughly 5 nm in size, Zn-rich nanoparticles ranging from 10 to 20 nm in diameter, and a mixture of both types of nanoparticles (roughly 1:1 by mass), which corresponds to a synthesis recipe yielding CZTSSe solar cells with reported total-area efficiencies as high as 7.9%. The EDXRD studies presented herein show that the formation of copper selenide intermediates during the selenization of mixed-particle films can be primarily attributed to the small, Cu- andmore » Sn-rich particles. Moreover, the formation of these copper selenide phases represents the first stage of the CZTSSe grain growth mechanism. The large, Zn-rich particles subsequently contribute their composition to form micrometer-sized CZTSSe grains. In conclusion, these findings enable further development of a previously proposed selenization pathway to account for the roles of interparticle heterogeneities, which in turn provides a valuable guide for future optimization of processes to synthesize high quality CZTSSe absorber layers.« less

Effect of different polishing systems on the surface roughness of nano-hybrid composites

PubMed Central

Patel, Brijesh; Chhabra, Naveen; Jain, Disha

2016-01-01

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the influence of different polishing systems on the surface roughness of nano-hybrid composite resins. Background: Different shapes of polishing systems are available according to the site of work. To minimize variability, a new system with single shape is developed that can be utilized in both anterior as well as posterior teeth. Materials and Methods: Seventy composite discs were fabricated using Teflon well (10 mm × 3 mm). Two main group of nano-hybrid composite Group I — Filtek Z350 and Group II — Tetric N-Ceram were used (n = 35 for each group). Both groups were further divided into four subgroups. Subgroup a — OneGloss (n = 10), Subgroup b - PoGo (n = 10), Subgroup c — Sof-Lex spiral (n = 10), Subgroup d - Mylar strip (control, n = 5). Samples were polished according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Surface roughness test was performed using contact profilometer. The obtained data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance test. Result: Tetric N-Ceram produced smoother surfaces than Filtek Z350 (P < 0.05). Mylar strip and “PoGo” created equally smooth surfaces, while significantly rougher surfaces were obtained after applications of “Sof-Lex spiral” and “OneGloss” (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Polishing ability of Tetric N-Ceram is better than Filtek Z350 XT. “PoGo” seems to be a better polishing system than “OneGloss” and “Sof-Lex Spiral.” PMID:26957791

An anti-bacterial approach to nanoscale roughening of biomimetic rice-like pattern PP by thermal annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafari Nodoushan, Emad; Ebrahimi, Nadereh Golshan; Ayazi, Masoumeh

2017-11-01

In this paper, we introduced thermal annealing treatment as an effective way of increasing the nanoscale roughness of a semi-crystalline polymer surface. Annealing treatment applied to a biomimetic microscale pattern of rice leaf to achieve a superhydrophobic surface with a hierarchical roughness. Resulted surfaces was characterized by XRD, AFM and FE-SEM instruments and showed an increase of roughness and cristallinity within both time and temperature of treatment. These two parameters also impact on measured static contact angle up to 158°. Bacterial attachment potency has an inverse relationship with the similarity of surface pattern dimensions and bacterial size and due to that, thermal annealing could be an effective way to create anti-bacterial surface beyond its effect on water repellency. Point in case, the anti-bacterial properties of produced water-repellence surfaces of PP were measured and counted colonies of both gram-negative (E. coli) and gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria reduced with the nature of PP and hierarchical pattern on that. Anti-bacterial characterization of the resulted surface reveals a stunning reduction in adhesion of gram-positive bacteria to the surface. S. aureus reduction rates equaled to 95% and 66% when compared to control blank plate and smooth surface of PP. Moreover, it also could affect the other type of bacteria, gram-negative (E. coli). In the latter case, adhesion reduction rates calculated 66% and 53% when against to the same controls, respectively.

Ultralean low swirl burner

DOEpatents

Cheng, R.K.

1998-04-07

A novel burner and burner method has been invented which burns an ultra lean premixed fuel-air mixture with a stable flame. The inventive burning method results in efficient burning and much lower emissions of pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen than previous burners and burning methods. The inventive method imparts weak swirl (swirl numbers of between about 0.01 to 3.0) on a fuel-air flow stream. The swirl, too small to cause recirculation, causes an annulus region immediately inside the perimeter of the fuel-air flow to rotate in a plane normal to the axial flow. The rotation in turn causes the diameter of the fuel-air flow to increase with concomitant decrease in axial flow velocity. The flame stabilizes where the fuel-air mixture velocity equals the rate of burning resulting in a stable, turbulent flame. 11 figs.

Ultralean low swirl burner

DOEpatents

Cheng, Robert K.

1998-01-01

A novel burner and burner method has been invented which burns an ultra lean premixed fuel-air mixture with a stable flame. The inventive burning method results in efficient burning and much lower emissions of pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen than previous burners and burning methods. The inventive method imparts weak swirl (swirl numbers of between about 0.01 to 3.0) on a fuel-air flow stream. The swirl, too small to cause recirculation, causes an annulus region immediately inside the perimeter of the fuel-air flow to rotate in a plane normal to the axial flow. The rotation in turn causes the diameter of the fuel-air flow to increase with concomitant decrease in axial flow velocity. The flame stabilizes where the fuel-air mixture velocity equals the rate of burning resulting in a stable, turbulent flame.

Investigation on the quality of bio-oil produced through fast pyrolysis of biomass-polymer waste mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jourabchi, S. A.; Ng, H. K.; Gan, S.; Yap, Z. Y.

2016-06-01

A high-impact poly-styrene (HIPS) was mixed with dried and ground coconut shell (CS) at equal weight percentage. Fast pyrolysis was carried out on the mixture in a fixed bed reactor over a temperature range of 573 K to 1073 K, and a nitrogen (N2) linear velocity range of 7.8x10-5 m/s to 6.7x10-2 m/s to produce bio-oil. Heat transfer and fluid dynamics of the pyrolysis process inside the reactor was visualised by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The CFD modelling was validated by experimental results and they both indicated that at temperature of 923 K and N2 linear velocity of 7.8x10-5 m/s, the maximum bio-oil yield of 52.02 wt% is achieved.

Exclusion probabilities and likelihood ratios with applications to mixtures.

PubMed

Slooten, Klaas-Jan; Egeland, Thore

2016-01-01

The statistical evidence obtained from mixed DNA profiles can be summarised in several ways in forensic casework including the likelihood ratio (LR) and the Random Man Not Excluded (RMNE) probability. The literature has seen a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of likelihood ratios and exclusion probabilities, and part of our aim is to bring some clarification to this debate. In a previous paper, we proved that there is a general mathematical relationship between these statistics: RMNE can be expressed as a certain average of the LR, implying that the expected value of the LR, when applied to an actual contributor to the mixture, is at least equal to the inverse of the RMNE. While the mentioned paper presented applications for kinship problems, the current paper demonstrates the relevance for mixture cases, and for this purpose, we prove some new general properties. We also demonstrate how to use the distribution of the likelihood ratio for donors of a mixture, to obtain estimates for exceedance probabilities of the LR for non-donors, of which the RMNE is a special case corresponding to L R>0. In order to derive these results, we need to view the likelihood ratio as a random variable. In this paper, we describe how such a randomization can be achieved. The RMNE is usually invoked only for mixtures without dropout. In mixtures, artefacts like dropout and drop-in are commonly encountered and we address this situation too, illustrating our results with a basic but widely implemented model, a so-called binary model. The precise definitions, modelling and interpretation of the required concepts of dropout and drop-in are not entirely obvious, and we attempt to clarify them here in a general likelihood framework for a binary model.

Detection and Resolution of Cryptosporidium Species and Species Mixtures by Genus-Specific Nested PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis, Direct Sequencing, and Cloning ▿

PubMed Central

Ruecker, Norma J.; Hoffman, Rebecca M.; Chalmers, Rachel M.; Neumann, Norman F.

2011-01-01

Molecular methods incorporating nested PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the 18S rRNA gene of Cryptosporidium species were validated to assess performance based on limit of detection (LoD) and for detecting and resolving mixtures of species and genotypes within a single sample. The 95% LoD was determined for seven species (Cryptosporidium hominis, C. parvum, C. felis, C. meleagridis, C. ubiquitum, C. muris, and C. andersoni) and ranged from 7 to 11 plasmid template copies with overlapping 95% confidence limits. The LoD values for genomic DNA from oocysts on microscope slides were 7 and 10 template copies for C. andersoni and C. parvum, respectively. The repetitive nested PCR-RFLP slide protocol had an LoD of 4 oocysts per slide. When templates of two species were mixed in equal ratios in the nested PCR-RFLP reaction mixture, there was no amplification bias toward one species over another. At high ratios of template mixtures (>1:10), there was a reduction or loss of detection of the less abundant species by RFLP analysis, most likely due to heteroduplex formation in the later cycles of the PCR. Replicate nested PCR was successful at resolving many mixtures of Cryptosporidium at template concentrations near or below the LoD. The cloning of nested PCR products resulted in 17% of the cloned sequences being recombinants of the two original templates. Limiting-dilution nested PCR followed by the sequencing of PCR products resulted in no sequence anomalies, suggesting that this method is an effective and accurate way to study the species diversity of Cryptosporidium, particularly for environmental water samples, in which mixtures of parasites are common. PMID:21498746

Slip and barodiffusion phenomena in slow flows of a gas mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhdanov, V. M.

2017-03-01

The slip and barodiffusion problems for the slow flows of a gas mixture are investigated on the basis of the linearized moment equations following from the Boltzmann equation. We restrict ourselves to the set of the third-order moment equations and state two general relations (resembling conservation equations) for the moments of the distribution function similar to the conditions used by Loyalka [S. K. Loyalka, Phys. Fluids 14, 2291 (1971), 10.1063/1.1693331] in his approximation method (the modified Maxwell method). The expressions for the macroscopic velocities of the gas mixture species, the partial viscous stress tensors, and the reduced heat fluxes for the stationary slow flow of a gas mixture in the semi-infinite space over a plane wall are obtained as a result of the exact solution of the linearized moment equations in the 10- and 13-moment approximations. The general expression for the slip velocity and the simple and accurate expressions for the viscous, thermal, diffusion slip, and baroslip coefficients, which are given in terms of the basic transport coefficients, are derived by using the modified Maxwell method. The solutions of moment equations are also used for investigation of the flow and diffusion of a gas mixture in a channel formed by two infinite parallel plates. A fundamental result is that the barodiffusion factor in the cross-section-averaged expression for the diffusion flux contains contributions associated with the viscous transfer of momentum in the gas mixture and the effect of the Knudsen layer. Our study revealed that the barodiffusion factor is equal to the diffusion slip coefficient (correct to the opposite sign). This result is consistent with the Onsager's reciprocity relations for kinetic coefficients following from nonequilibrium thermodynamics of the discontinuous systems.

[Early Greek medicine and Plato's cosmology].

PubMed

Rhee, Kee-Bag

2004-06-01

The purpose of this paper is to show the influence of Early greek medicine on Plato's Cosmology. Alcmaeon holds that health depends on proportion (equality; isonomia) or proportioned mixture of opposing factors. This notion dominated nearly all greek medicine, and also influenced Plato's cosmology greatly. Generally each greek doctors believed that man consisted of opposing factors, though these are designated differently. Alcmaeon takes powers - hot and dry, cold and hot, vitter, sweet and the rest as those factors. On the other hand, Philistion of Locri adopts the four element theory of Empedocles. He conceives that human body as a mixture of the four elements, and health consists in proportion of these opposing four element, basically as Alcmaeon. This notion is accepted by Plato. Only Plato differs from Philistion in that he doesn't consider the four elements as the ultimate factors. In Timaeus Plato explain that the Demiourgos constructed the four elements through introducing 'proportion' into the primitive materials (the oppositives) by means of shapes and numbers. And Plato thinks that the cosmic body and soul was constructed basically in the same way as the four elements. This is true of the human body and soul. Also Plato explicates diseases from standpoint of proportion or symmetry. Moreover according to Philebus, the good states (i.e. 'health', 'music', 'season' etc) in the cosmos arises out of the right mixture of the limit and the unlimited. In the other word this mixture is proportioned mixture of the oppositives by aid of ratios. In short Plato believes that both the cosmos itself and the good states s proportioned mixture of the oppositives. Thus Plato' cosmology is fundamentally based upon Alcmaeon's or Philistion's concept of Health.

Ultra-Smooth Nanostructured Diamond Films Deposited from He/H2/CH4/N2 Microwave Plasmas

PubMed Central

Konovalov, Valery V.; Melo, Andrew; Catledge, Shane A.; Chowdhury, Shafiul

2008-01-01

Addition of He to a high CH4 content (10.7 vol%) H2/CH4/N2 feedgas mixture for microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition produced hard (56–72 GPa), ultra-smooth nanostructured diamond films on Ti-6Al-4V alloy substrates. Upon increase in He content up to 71 vol%, root mean squared (RMS) surface roughness of the film decreased to 9–10 nm and average diamond grain size to 5–6 nm. Our studies show that increased nanocrystallinity with He addition in plasma is related to plasma dilution, enhanced fragmentation of carbon containing species, and enhanced formation of CN radical. PMID:16573106

An investigation of green iridescence on the mollusc Patella granatina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brink, D. J.; van der Berg, N. G.

2005-01-01

In this paper we investigate the relatively rare phenomenon of iridescence on the outer surface of seashells (not the well known pearly inner surfaces). Using reflection spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy we show that rows of iridescent green spots on the mollusc Patella granatina are caused by a thin-film stack buried about 100 µm below the rough outer surface of the shell. The high-density layers in the stack seem to be made of crystalline aragonite, but according to Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry measurements the low-density layers as well as the bulk of the shell wall are a mixture of porous aragonite and organic materials such as carotenoids.

Preparation and characterisation of titania/hydroxyapatite composite coatings obtained by sol-gel process.

PubMed

Milella, E; Cosentino, F; Licciulli, A; Massaro, C

2001-06-01

In the present work a titania network encapsulating a hydroxyapatite particulate phase is proposed as a bioceramic composite coating. The coating on a titanium substrate was produced starting from a sol containing a mixture of titania colloidal particles and hydroxyapatite submicron particles using the dip-coating technique. The microstructure, the morphology and the surface chemical composition of the coating were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Adhesion tests were also performed. These analyses showed that the obtained coating was chemically clean, homogeneous, rough, porous, with a low thickness and well-defined phase composition as well as a good adhesion to the substrate.

Microwave remote sensing of sea ice in the AIDJEX Main Experiment. [Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, W. J.; Wayenberg, J.; Ramseyer, J. B.; Ramseier, R. O.; Vant, M. R.; Weaver, R.; Redmond, A.; Arsenault, L.; Gloersen, P.; Zwally, H. J.

1978-01-01

A microwave remote sensing program of sea ice in the Beaufort Sea was conducted during the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX). Several types of both passive and active sensors were used to perform surface and aircraft measurements during all seasons of the year. In situ observations were made of physical properties (salinity, temperature, density, surface roughness), dielectric properties, and passive microwave measurements were made of first-year, multiyear, and first-year/multiyear mixtures. Airborne passive microwave measurements were performed with the electronically scanning microwave radiometer while airborne active microwave measurements were performed by synthetic aperture radar, X- and L-band radar, and a scatterometer.

Effects of corexit oil dispersants and the WAF of dispersed oil on DNA damage and repair in cultured human bronchial airway cells, BEAS-2B

PubMed Central

Major, Danielle; Derbes, Rebecca S.; Wang, He; Roy-Engel, Astrid M.

2016-01-01

Large quantities of dispersants were used as a method to disperse the roughly 210 million gallons of spilled crude oil that consumed the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known if the oil-dispersant and oil-dispersant mixtures on human airway BEAS-2B epithelial cells. Here we present the cytotoxic and genotoxic in vitro effects on the human lung cells BEAS-2B following exposure to and oil-dispersant mixtures on human airway BEAS-2B epithelial cells. Here we present the cytotoxic and genotoxic in vitro effects on the human lung cells BEAS-2B following exposure to Corexit dispersants EC9500 and EC9527, Water Accommodated Fraction (WAF) -crude, WAF-9500 + Oil, and WAF-9527 + Oil. Cellular cytotoxicity to WAF-dispersed oil samples was observed at concentrations greater than 1000 ppm with over 70% of observed cellular death. At low concentration exposures (100 and 300 ppm) DNA damage was evidenced by the detection of single strand breaks (SSBs) and double strand breaks (DSBs) as measured by alkaline and neutral comet assay analyses. Immunoblot analyses of the phosphorylated histone H2A.X (ɣ-H2A.X) and tumor suppressor p53 protein confirmed activation of the DNA damage response due to the exposure-induced DNA breaks. Although, many xenobiotics interfere with DNA repair pathways, in vitro evaluation of the nucleotide excision repair (NER) and DSB repair pathways appear to be unaffected by the oil-dispersant mixtures tested. Overall, this study supports that oil-dispersant mixtures induce genotoxic effects in culture. PMID:27563691

In vitro neurotoxic hazard characterization of different tricresyl phosphate (TCP) isomers and mixtures.

PubMed

Duarte, Daniel J; Rutten, Joost M M; van den Berg, Martin; Westerink, Remco H S

2017-03-01

Exposure to tricresyl phosphates (TCPs), via for example contaminated cabin air, has been associated with health effects including the so-called aerotoxic syndrome. While TCP neurotoxicity is mainly attributed to ortho-isomers like tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (ToCP), recent exposure and risk assessments indicate that ToCP levels in cabin air are very low. However, the neurotoxic potential of non-ortho TCP isomers and TCP mixtures is largely unknown. We therefore measured effects of exposure (up to 48h) to different TCP isomers, mixtures and the metabolite of ToCP (CBDP: cresyl saligenin phosphate) on cell viability and mitochondrial activity, spontaneous neuronal electrical activity, and neurite outgrowth in primary rat cortical neurons. The results demonstrate that exposure to TCPs (24-48h, up to 10μM) increases mitochondrial activity, without affecting cell viability. Effects of acute TCP exposure (30min) on neuronal electrical activity are limited. However, electrical activity is markedly decreased for the majority of TCPs (10μM) following 48h exposure. Additional preliminary data indicate that exposure to TCPs (48h, 10μM) did not affect the number of neurites per cell or average neurite length, except for TmCP and the analytical TCP mixture (Sigma) that induced a reduction of average neurite length. The combined neurotoxicity data demonstrate that the different TCPs, including ToCP, are roughly equipotent and a clear structure-activity relation is not apparent for the studied endpoints. The no-observed-effect-concentrations (1μM) are well above current exposure levels indicating limited neurotoxic health risk, although exposures may have been higher in the past. Moreover, prolonged and/or repeated exposure to TCPs may exacerbate the observed neurotoxic effects, which argues for additional research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estimating normal mixture parameters from the distribution of a reduced feature vector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guseman, L. F.; Peters, B. C., Jr.; Swasdee, M.

1976-01-01

A FORTRAN computer program was written and tested. The measurements consisted of 1000 randomly chosen vectors representing 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10 subclasses in equal portions. In the first experiment, the vectors are computed from the input means and covariances. In the second experiment, the vectors are 16 channel measurements. The starting covariances were constructed as if there were no correlation between separate passes. The biases obtained from each run are listed.

The Effect of Caffeine on Endurance Time to Exhaustion at High Altitude

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-04-27

decaffeinated tea, and Sweet and Low (Parve Co.). The caffeine drink was a mixture of the placebo, Equal (G.D. Searle & Co.), and anhydrous caffeine...DISCUSSION: It is well established that exposure to altitude affects a multitude of physiological processes which include and transcend the ventilatory...affected a multitude of physiological processes both at rest and during exercise, it is not clear what the mechanism(s) was which caused the improvement in

Phase behavior of the mixtures of poly(oxyethylene) (10) stearyl ether (Brij-76), 1-butanol, isooctane, and mixed polar solvents II. Water and ethylene glycol (EG) or tetraethylene glycol (TEG).

PubMed

Nandy, Debdurlav; Mitra, Rajib K; Paul, Bidyut K

2007-06-01

The phase diagrams of the pseudo-quaternary systems poly(oxyethylene) (10) stearyl ether (Brij-76)/1-butanol/isooctane/water (with equal amounts of oil and water in the presence of two nonaqueous polar solvents (NPS), ethylene glycol (EG), and tetraethylene glycol (TEG)), have been constructed at 30 degrees C. Regular fish-tail diagrams were obtained up to psi (weight fraction of EG or TEG in the mixture of polar solvents) equal to 0.5, confirming the establishment of hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) of the systems. The maximum solubilization capacity passed through a minimum at psi=0.2. No HLB was obtained at higher psi. The usual fish-tail diagrams were also obtained in temperature-induced phase mapping at fixed W(1) (weight fraction of 1-butanol in total amphiphile). Solubilization capacity and HLB temperature (T(HLB)) decreased with increasing psi at a fixed W(1), the effect being more pronounced for TEG than EG. A correlation between HLB temperature (T(HLB)) and HLB number (N(HLB)) of mixed amphiphiles (Brij-76+Bu) in pseudo-quaternary systems (in the presence of water and partial substitution of water with both NPS) has been established. The novelty of the work with respect to possible applications has been discussed.

H2S Loss through Nalophan™ Bags: Contributions of Adsorption and Diffusion

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Hydrogen-sulfide (H2S) is a molecule of small dimensions typically present in the odor emissions from different plants. The European Standard EN 13725:2003 set a maximum storage time allowed of 30 hours, during which the sampling bag has to maintain the mixture of odorants with minimal changes. This study investigates the H2S losses through Nalophan bags and it shows that nonnegligible losses of H2S can be observed. The percent H2S loss after 30 hrs with respect to the initial concentration is equal to 33%  ± 3% at a relative humidity of 20% and equal to 22%  ± 1% at a relative humidity of 60%. The average quantity of adsorbed H2S at 30 h is equal to 2.17 105 gH2S/gNalophan at a storage humidity of 20% and equal to 1.79 105 gH2S/gNalophan at a storage humidity of 60%. The diffusion coefficients of H2S through Nalophan, for these two humidity conditions tested, are comparable (i.e., 7.5 10−12 m2/sec at 20% humidity and 6.6 10−12 m2/sec at 60% humidity). PMID:28740857

Interpretation of temporal features in an unusual X-ray and microwave bursts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mackinnon, A. L.; Costa, J. E. R.; Kaufmann, P.; Dennis, B. R.

1986-01-01

Observations are briefly discussed of an event in which microwave and hard X-ray emissions were not correlated in the accepted way. Two impulsive peaks of roughly equal intensity were observed at three different microwave frequencies. The hard X-ray peaks accompanying these, however, differ in intensity by almost two orders of magnitude. Various possible interpretations of this burst are discussed, in the context of familiar models of these emissions. The most likely explanation is that the electron spectrum in the first burst has a break at about 350 keV. General implications for interpretation of X-rays and microwaves are discussed.

Brownian Emitters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsekov, Roumen

2016-06-01

A Brownian harmonic oscillator, which dissipates energy either by friction or via emission of electromagnetic radiation, is considered. This Brownian emitter is driven by the surrounding thermo-quantum fluctuations, which are theoretically described by the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. It is shown how the Abraham-Lorentz force leads to dependence of the half-width on the peak frequency of the oscillator amplitude spectral density. It is found that for the case of a charged particle moving in vacuum at zero temperature, its root-mean-square velocity fluctuation is a universal constant, equal to roughly 1/18 of the speed of light. The relevant Fokker-Planck and Smoluchowski equations are also derived.

Interlayer Crosstalk Reduction by Controlling Backward Reflectivity in Multilayer Optical Discs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ushiyama, Junko; Miyauchi, Yasushi; Shintani, Toshimichi; Sugiyama, Toshinori; Miyamoto, Harukazu; Kurokawa, Takahiro

2008-05-01

A method is proposed to reduce interlayer crosstalk in multilayer optical discs by controlling backward reflectivity of information layers, which can lead to wider tolerances of disc fabrication accuracy. Reduction of the backward reflectivity reduces the signal from the ghost spot even if thicknesses of spacer layers are equal. Experimental results showed that the ratio of the signals obtained by the readout spot and the ghost spot is less by about one order for a disc with controlled backward reflectivity than for a conventional disc. A rough estimate of the crosstalk caused by the ghost spot agrees qualitatively with the experimental results.

High-Q silicon-on-insulator slot photonic crystal cavity infiltrated by a liquid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caër, Charles; Le Roux, Xavier; Cassan, Eric, E-mail: eric.cassan@u-psud.fr

We report the experimental realization of a high-Q slot photonic crystal cavity in Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) configuration infiltrated by a liquid. Loaded Q-factor of 23 000 is measured at telecom wavelength. The intrinsic quality factor inferred from the transmission spectrum is higher than 200 000, which represents a record value for slot photonic crystal cavities on SOI, whereas the maximum of intensity of the cavity is roughly equal to 20% of the light transmitted in the waveguide. This result makes filled slot photonic crystal cavities very promising for silicon-based light emission and ultrafast nonlinear optics.

Power Radiated from ITER and CIT by Impurities

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Cummings, J.; Cohen, S. A.; Hulse, R.; Post, D. E.; Redi, M. H.; Perkins, J.

1990-07-01

The MIST code has been used to model impurity radiation from the edge and core plasmas in ITER and CIT. A broad range of parameters have been varied, including Z{sub eff}, impurity species, impurity transport coefficients, and plasma temperature and density profiles, especially at the edge. For a set of these parameters representative of the baseline ITER ignition scenario, it is seen that impurity radiation, which is produced in roughly equal amounts by the edge and core regions, can make a major improvement in divertor operation without compromising core energy confinement. Scalings of impurity radiation with atomic number and machine size are also discussed.

Polychlorinated biphenyl toxicity to Japanese quail as related to degree of chlorination

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hill, E.F.; Heath, R.G.; Spann, J.W.; Williams, J.D.

1974-01-01

To learn if the percentage of chlorine in a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) alone determines toxicity, Japanese quail were fed diets containing Aroelor 1248, 1254, or 1260 at levels that added equal amounts of chlorine to the feed. The experiment comprised two consecutive 5-day periods; three sublethal concentrations of chlorine were evaluated during the first period and three lethal concentrations during the second period. Evaluations utilized comparisons of mortality, time to death, weight change, and food consumption. Sublethal concentrations produced no detectable effects. Lethal concentrations with equal Chlorine showed Aroelor 1248 to be less toxic at the highest chlorine concentrations, but at lower concentrations Aroelor 1254 was more toxic than Aroclor 1260. Although chlorine percentage of a PCB is positively correlated with its avian toxicity, PCB toxicity is apparently not simply a function of chlorination.

Precision of proportion estimation with binary compressed Raman spectrum.

PubMed

Réfrégier, Philippe; Scotté, Camille; de Aguiar, Hilton B; Rigneault, Hervé; Galland, Frédéric

2018-01-01

The precision of proportion estimation with binary filtering of a Raman spectrum mixture is analyzed when the number of binary filters is equal to the number of present species and when the measurements are corrupted with Poisson photon noise. It is shown that the Cramer-Rao bound provides a useful methodology to analyze the performance of such an approach, in particular when the binary filters are orthogonal. It is demonstrated that a simple linear mean square error estimation method is efficient (i.e., has a variance equal to the Cramer-Rao bound). Evolutions of the Cramer-Rao bound are analyzed when the measuring times are optimized or when the considered proportion for binary filter synthesis is not optimized. Two strategies for the appropriate choice of this considered proportion are also analyzed for the binary filter synthesis.

Investigation of Self Consolidating Concrete Containing High Volume of Supplementary Cementitious Materials and Recycled Asphalt Pavement Aggregates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patibandla, Varun chowdary

The use of sustainable technologies such as supplementary cementitiuous materials (SCMs), and/or recycled materials is expected to positively affect the performance of concrete mixtures. However, it is important to study and qualify such mixtures and check if the required specifications of their intended application are met before they can be implemented in practice. This study presents the results of a laboratory investigation of Self Consolidating concrete (SCC) containing sustainable technologies. A total of twelve concrete mixtures were prepared with various combinations of fly ash, slag, and recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). The mixtures were divided into three groups with constant water to cementitiuous materials ratio of 0.37, and based on the RAP content; 0, 25, and 50% of coarse aggregate replaced by RAP. All mixtures were prepared to achieve a target slump flow equal to or higher than 500 mm (24in). A control mixture for each group was prepared with 100% Portland cement whereas all other mixtures were designed to have up to 70% of portland cement replaced by a combination of supplementary cementitiuous materials (SCMs) such as class C fly ash and granulated blast furnace slag. The properties of fresh concrete investigated in this study include flowability, deformability; filling capacity, and resistance to segregation. In addition, the compressive strength at 3, 14, and 28 days, the tensile strength, and the unrestrained shrinkage up to 80 days was also investigated. As expected the inclusion of the sustainable technologies affected both fresh and hardened concrete properties. Analysis of the experimental data indicated that inclusion of RAP not only reduces the ultimate strength, but it also affected the compressive strength development rate. Moreover, several mixes satisfied compressive strength requirements for pavements and bridges; those mixes included relatively high percentages of SCMs and RAP. Based on the results obtained in this study, it is not recommended to replace the coarse aggregate in SCC by more than 25% RAP.

Application of a set of complementary techniques to understand how varying the proportion of two wastes affects humic acids produced by vermicomposting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fernández-Gómez, Manuel J., E-mail: manuelj.fernandez@eez.csic.es; Nogales, Rogelio; Plante, Alain

2015-01-15

Highlights: • A set of techniques was used to characterize humic acids content of vermicomposts. • The properties of the humic acids produced from different waste mixtures were similar. • This set of techniques allowed distinguishing the humic acids of each vermicomposts. • Increasing humic acid contents in initial mixtures would produce richer vermicomposts. - Abstract: A better understanding of how varying the proportion of different organic wastes affects humic acid (HA) formation during vermicomposting would be useful in producing vermicomposts enriched in HAs. With the aim of improving the knowledge about this issue, a variety of analytical techniques [UV–visiblemore » spectroscopic, Fourier transform infrared, fluorescence spectra, solid-state cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CPMAS) {sup 13}C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, and thermal analysis] was used in the present study to characterize HAs isolated from two mixtures at two different ratios (2:1 and 1:1) of tomato-plant debris (TD) and paper-mill sludge (PS) before and after vermicomposting. The results suggest that vermicomposting increased the HA content in the TD/PS 2:1 and 1:1 mixtures (15.9% and 16.2%, respectively), but the vermicompost produced from the mixture with a higher amount of TD had a greater proportion (24%) of HAs. Both vermicomposting processes caused equal modifications in the humic precursors contained in the different mixtures of TD and PS, and consequently, the HAs in the vermicomposts produced from different waste mixtures exhibited analogous characteristics. Only the set of analytical techniques used in this research was able to detect differences between the HAs isolated from each type of vermicompost. In conclusion, varying the proportion of different wastes may have a stronger influence on the amount of HAs in vermicomposts than on the properties of HAs.« less

Folk medicinal plant mixtures: Establishing a protocol for further studies.

PubMed

Gras, Airy; Parada, Montse; Rigat, Montse; Vallès, Joan; Garnatje, Teresa

2018-03-25

Most ethnobotanical research bases its analyses on individual taxa catalogues and their uses, rather than on mixtures. However, mixtures constitute an important chapter of our different lines of research and they represent a large volume of information. The relevance of these data in folk medicine could be explained as a response to the cure of multicausal etiology diseases or by a possible polyvalent effect of the mixture as opposed to the effect of each taxon alone. The main goals are: i) to perform qualitative and quantitative analyses of these mixtures; ii) to carry out a comparison among the mixtures in two Catalan territories and their floristic composition; iii) to assess the worth of families association; and, iv) to evaluate whether the plants claimed to be used in mixtures have contraindications or possible negative interactions according to phytopharmaceutical literature. The ultimate goal is to test a protocol that can be implemented in similar studies. We have used data on medicinal plant mixtures obtained from two extensive ethnobotanical field studies carried out in two Catalan districts, Alt Empordà and Ripollès. The quantitative analyses by means of descriptive statistics were carried out with Excel. New contributions like the implementation of the Shannon index to quantify the diversity of families in plant combinations, the creation of a new index to calculate the taxon importance in mixtures, or the use of a social network analysis to study the connection between botanical families have been employed in this work. In total, a set of 484 mixtures from Alt Empordà and Ripollès (Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula) have been analysed: 462 for human use and 22 for veterinary. Thymus vulgaris and Rosmarinus officinalis are among the most commonly used species in mixtures. The aerial part of the plant is the most used, and the anticatarrhal usage is the most frequent in both territories. A wide diversity of families has been observed in mixtures and reflects a strong bond between the number of taxa and the number of families in each mixture, being almost equal to one. The Shannon diversity index applied to mixtures has the maximum value at 0.86. No exclusive plants are used in mixtures, as reflected on the index of taxon usefulness in mixtures (ITUM), proposed in the present work. The association of families is strong between Lamiaceae (12.12%) and Asteraceae with Lamiaceae (11.69%). Finally, the informant consensus factor (0.85) reflects the strong consistency of data reported by the interviewees. The present analysis has confirmed that it is possible to study the data of plants in mixtures as thoroughly as when they are considered in isolation in an ethnofloristic catalogue, and maybe this kind of ethnobotanical investigation could be a first step for future pharmacological studies that may result in a relevant complement to the current phytotherapy market. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sustained release of diltiazem HCl tableted after co-spray drying and physical mixing with PVAc and PVP.

PubMed

Al-Zoubi, Nizar; Al-Obaidi, Ghada; Tashtoush, Bassam; Malamataris, Stavros

2016-01-01

In this work, aqueous diltiazem HCl and polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP) solutions were mixed with Kollicoat SR 30D and spray dried to microparticles of different drug:excipient ratio and PVP content. Co-spray dried products and physical mixtures of drug, Kollidon SR and PVP were tableted. Spray drying process, co-spray dried products and compressibility/compactability of co-spray dried and physical mixtures, as well as drug release and water uptake of matrix-tablets was evaluated. Simple power equation fitted drug release and water uptake (R(2) > 0.909 and 0.938, respectively) and correlations between them were examined. Co-spray dried products with PVP content lower than in physical mixtures result in slower release, while at equal PVP content (19 and 29% w/w of excipient) in similar release (f2 > 50). Increase of PVP content increases release rate and co-spray drying might be an alternative, when physical mixing is inadequate. Co-spray dried products show better compressibility/compatibility but higher stickiness to the die-wall compared to physical mixtures. SEM observations and comparison of release and swelling showed that distribution of tableted component affects only the swelling, while PVP content for both co-spray dried and physical mixes is major reason for release alterations and an aid for drug release control.

Smoothing single-crystalline SiC surfaces by reactive ion etching using pure NF{sub 3} and NF{sub 3}/Ar mixture gas plasmas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tasaka, Akimasa, E-mail: aki-tasaka-load@yahoo.co.jp; Kotaka, Yuki; Oda, Atsushi

2014-09-01

In pure NF{sub 3} plasma, the etching rates of four kinds of single-crystalline SiC wafer etched at NF{sub 3} pressure of 2 Pa were the highest and it decreased with an increase in NF{sub 3} pressure. On the other hand, they increased with an increase in radio frequency (RF) power and were the highest at RF power of 200 W. A smooth surface was obtained on the single-crystalline 4H-SiC after reactive ion etching at NF{sub 3}/Ar gas pressure of 2 Pa and addition of Ar to NF{sub 3} plasma increased the smoothness of SiC surface. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that the numbermore » of pillars decreased with an increase in the Ar-concentration in the NF{sub 3}/Ar mixture gas. The roughness factor (R{sub a}) values were decreased from 51.5 nm to 25.5 nm for the As-cut SiC, from 0.25 nm to 0.20 nm for the Epi-SiC, from 5.0 nm to 0.7 nm for the Si-face mirror-polished SiC, and from 0.20 nm to 0.16 nm for the C-face mirror-polished SiC by adding 60% Ar to the NF{sub 3} gas. Both the R{sub a} values of the Epi- and the C-face mirror-polished wafer surfaces etched using the NF{sub 3}/Ar (40:60) plasma were similar to that treated with mirror polishing, so-called the Catalyst-Referred Etching (CARE) method, with which the lowest roughness of surface was obtained among the chemical mirror polishing methods. Etching duration for smoothing the single-crystalline SiC surface using its treatment was one third of that with the CARE method.« less

Studying the specific features pertinent to combustion of chars obtained from coals having different degrees of metamorphism and biomass chars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bestsennyi, I. V.; Shchudlo, T. S.; Dunaevskaya, N. I.; Topal, A. I.

2013-12-01

Better conditions for igniting low-reaction coal (anthracite) can be obtained, higher fuel burnout ratio can be achieved, and the problem of shortage of a certain grade of coal can be solved by firing coal mixtures and by combusting coal jointly with solid biomass in coal-fired boilers. Results from studying the synergetic effect that had been revealed previously during the combustion of coal mixtures in flames are presented. A similar effect was also obtained during joint combustion of coal and wood in a flame. The kinetics pertinent to combustion of char mixtures obtained from coals characterized by different degrees of metamorphism and the kinetics pertinent to combustion of wood chars were studied on the RSK-1D laboratory setup. It was found from the experiments that the combustion rate of char mixtures obtained from coals having close degrees of metamorphism is equal to the value determined as a weighted mean rate with respect to the content of carbon. The combustion rate of char mixtures obtained from coals having essentially different degrees of metamorphism is close to the combustion rate of more reactive coal initially in the process and to the combustion rate of less reactive coal at the end of the process. A dependence of the specific burnout rate of carbon contained in the char of two wood fractions on reciprocal temperature in the range 663—833 K is obtained. The combustion mode of an experimental sample is determined together with the reaction rate constant and activation energy.

Efficacy and Safety of a Lidocaine and Ropivacaine Mixture for Scalp Nerve Block and Local Infiltration Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Awake Craniotomy.

PubMed

Chaki, Tomohiro; Sugino, Shigekazu; Janicki, Piotr K; Ishioka, Yoshiya; Hatakeyama, Yosuke; Hayase, Tomo; Kaneuchi-Yamashita, Miki; Kohri, Naonori; Yamakage, Michiaki

2016-01-01

Mixtures of various local anesthetics, such as lidocaine and ropivacaine, have been widely used. However, their efficacy and safety for scalp nerve blocks and local infiltration during awake craniotomy have not been fully elucidated. We prospectively investigated 53 patients who underwent awake craniotomy. Scalp block was performed for the blockade of the supraorbital, supratrochlear, zygomaticotemporal, auriculotemporal, greater occipital, and lesser occipital nerves with a mixture containing equal volumes of 2% lidocaine and 0.75% ropivacaine, including 5 μg/mL of epinephrine. Infiltration anesthesia was applied at the site of skin incision using the same mixture. The study outcomes included changes in heart rate and blood pressure after head pinning and skin incision, and incidence of severe pain on emergence from anesthesia. Total doses and plasma concentrations of lidocaine and ropivacaine were measured at different time points after performing the block. The heart rate and blood pressure after head pinning were marginally, but significantly, increased when compared with baseline values. There were no significant differences in heart rate and blood pressure before and after the skin incision. Nineteen percent of the patients (10/53) complained of incisional pain at emergence from anesthesia. The highest observed blood concentrations of lidocaine and ropivacaine were 1.9±0.9 and 1.1±0.4 μg/mL, respectively. No acute anesthetic toxicity symptom was observed. Scalp block with a mixture of lidocaine and ropivacaine seems to provide effective and safe anesthetic management in patients undergoing awake craniotomy.

Application of a set of complementary techniques to understand how varying the proportion of two wastes affects humic acids produced by vermicomposting.

PubMed

Fernández-Gómez, Manuel J; Nogales, Rogelio; Plante, Alain; Plaza, César; Fernández, José M

2015-01-01

A better understanding of how varying the proportion of different organic wastes affects humic acid (HA) formation during vermicomposting would be useful in producing vermicomposts enriched in HAs. With the aim of improving the knowledge about this issue, a variety of analytical techniques [UV-visible spectroscopic, Fourier transform infrared, fluorescence spectra, solid-state cross-polarization magic-angle spinning (CPMAS) (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, and thermal analysis] was used in the present study to characterize HAs isolated from two mixtures at two different ratios (2:1 and 1:1) of tomato-plant debris (TD) and paper-mill sludge (PS) before and after vermicomposting. The results suggest that vermicomposting increased the HA content in the TD/PS 2:1 and 1:1 mixtures (15.9% and 16.2%, respectively), but the vermicompost produced from the mixture with a higher amount of TD had a greater proportion (24%) of HAs. Both vermicomposting processes caused equal modifications in the humic precursors contained in the different mixtures of TD and PS, and consequently, the HAs in the vermicomposts produced from different waste mixtures exhibited analogous characteristics. Only the set of analytical techniques used in this research was able to detect differences between the HAs isolated from each type of vermicompost. In conclusion, varying the proportion of different wastes may have a stronger influence on the amount of HAs in vermicomposts than on the properties of HAs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Activated-Carbon Sorbent With Integral Heat-Transfer Device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Jack A.; Yavrouian, Andre

1996-01-01

Prototype adsorption device used, for example, in adsorption heat pump, to store natural gas to power automobile, or to separate components of fluid mixtures. Device includes activated carbon held together by binder and molded into finned heat-transfer device providing rapid heating or cooling to enable rapid adsorption or desorption of fluids. Concepts of design and fabrication of device equally valid for such other highly thermally conductive devices as copper-finned tubes, and for such other high-surface-area sorbents as zeolites or silicates.

Microaerosol Administration of Synthetic β-γ-Dipalmitoyl-L-α-Lecithin in the Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Preliminary Report

PubMed Central

Robillard, E.; Alarie, Y.; Dagenais-Perusse, P.; Baril, E.; Guilbeault, A.

1964-01-01

Synthetic L-α-lecithin was administered by inhalation to 11 infants suffering from respiratory distress. The L-α-lecithin was delivered by microaerosolization, at a concentration of 0.25% in a mixture of equal volumes of propylene glycol and water. This was done with the aim of decreasing the alveolar surface tension. In eight of the treated infants who survived, the respiratory distress was alleviated. The results are inconclusive but they justify further investigation. PMID:14104151

A source with a 10{sup 13} DT neutron yield on the basis of a spherical plasma focus chamber

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zavyalov, N. V.; Maslov, V. V.; Rumyantsev, V. G., E-mail: rumyantsev@expd.vniief.ru

2013-03-15

Results from preliminary experimental research of neutron emission generated by a spherical plasma focus chamber filled with an equal-component deuterium-tritium mixture are presented. At a maximum current amplitude in the discharge chamber of {approx}1.5 MA, neutron pulses with a full width at half-maximum of 75-80 ns and an integral yield of {approx}1.3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 13} DT neutrons have been recorded.

Fabrication of Thin Electrolytes for Second-Generation Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-05-05

stabilized zirconia but are equally applicable to components, have been developed. Halogen com- other oxide electrolytes. pounds such as ZrCl4 and YC13...substrates. They used ZrCl4 and an oxygen source reactant. EVD is a two-step YC13 vapor mixtures as the metal compound sources process. The first step...thin zirconia layers on ited film. In this step oxygen ions formed on the porous alumina substrates. ZrCl4 and YC13 vapor water vapor side of the

Space colonization - Some physiological perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winkler, L. H.

1978-01-01

Physiological criteria determining the design of the habitat for a space colony with 10,000 people are discussed. Centrifugally generated earth-normal gravity, maximum ionizing radiation dose standards less than or equal to 0.5 rem/year (obtained with passive shielding), and an atmosphere with reduced nitrogen partial pressures were established as design requirements for the habitat. However, further research is needed to determine whether humans experience complete adaptation to weightlessness and whether there are long-term effects of breathing various atmospheric mixtures and pressures.

Inhibition of the cataleptic effect of tetrahydrocannabinol by other constituents of Cannabis sativa L.

PubMed

Formukong, E A; Evans, A T; Evans, F J

1988-02-01

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) induced catalepsy in mice, whereas a cannabis oil (6.68% w/w THC), four cannabinoids and a synthetic mixture did not. Cannabinol (CBN) and olivetol inhibited THC-induced catalepsy in the mornings and the evenings, but cannabidiol (CBD) exhibited this effect only in the evenings. A combination of CBN and CBD inhibited THC-induced catalepsy equal to that of CBN alone in the mornings, but this inhibition was greater than that produced by CBN alone in the evenings.

Combustion Mechanisms of Very High Burn Rate (VHBR) Propellant. Phase II.

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-09-01

potassium salt of B10H1 2-. The Kraton slate and the Hycar slate both contain RDX as the oxidizer, while the PEG slate contains HMX and TAGN in the... polyacrylate (Hycar), hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene, and a mixture of styrene and ethylene-butylene (Kraton). As might be expected, when all else is equal...proprietary formulations of Teledyne-McCormick-Selph (TMS), designated H498 and H466. In H498, a potassium cation is utilized, while in H466, an

Root interaction between Bromud tectorum and Poa pratensis: a three-dimensional analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bookman, P.A.; Mack, R.N.

1982-06-01

The spatial distribution of roots of two alien grasses, Bromus tectorum and Poa pratensis, grown singly and in a mixture, was examined using a double-labelling radioisotope technique. Interactions between the root systems of these plants led to a restricted B. tectorum rooting volume in P. pratensis neighborhoods greater than or equal to30-d-old. The roots of B. tectorum failed to develop laterally. The altered B. tectorum root systems may contribute to its inability to persist in established P. pratensis swards.

Transpiration Cooled Throat for Hydrocarbon Rocket Engines

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-12-01

entering the oxidizer circuit. Maximum dew point requirement was -500F. The purge pressure provided an oxidizer injector cold-flow pressure of 80 psia...energy bal- ance with the core gas is assumed wherein the heat flux to the annular liquid RP-I layer is equal’ 50 042 0 I- C3 I C30 ME1 M1 49 410 CI... gas generator mixture ratio MW molecular weight NASA/L.RC NASA Lewis Research Center NBP normal boiling point Ni chemical symbol for nickel nom

Rapid formation of rock armour for soil - rock fragment mixture during simulated rainfall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poultney, E.; McGrath, G. S.; Hinz, C.

2009-04-01

Preventing erosion is an important issue in disturbed semi-arid and arid landscapes. This is in particular of highest importance for mining companies while undertaking land rehabilitation. An onsite investigation of the impact of surface rock fragments on erosion was conducted at Telfer goldmine in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia. The study site is a waste rock dump designed to mimic the concave slope of a natural mesa to both discourage erosion and blend in with its natural surroundings. Four treatments were used to construct the slope: two are topsoil mixed with rock fragments, and two are unmixed topsoil. A field study investigating erosion rills, particle size distribution, rock fragment coverage surface roughness and vegetation was carried out to determine changes down and across slope. The treatments constructed by mixing topsoil and rock fragments are more stable and show rock fragment distributions that more closely resemble patterns found on natural mesas surrounding Telfer. A controlled study using trays of topsoil mixed with rock fragment volumes of 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% were used to investigate how varying mixtures of rock fragments and topsoil erode using rainfall intensities between 20 and 100 mm h-1. Two runs of 25 minutes each were used to assess the temporal evolution of rock armouring. Surface coverage results converged for the 50%, 60% and 70% mixtures after the first run to coverage of about 90%, suggesting that fine sediment proportion does not affect rate and degree of rock armouring.

Characteristics of surface-wave plasma with air-simulated N2 O2 gas mixture for low-temperature sterilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, L.; Nonaka, H.; Zhou, H. Y.; Ogino, A.; Nagata, T.; Koide, Y.; Nanko, S.; Kurawaki, I.; Nagatsu, M.

2007-02-01

Sterilization experiments using low-pressure air discharge plasma sustained by the 2.45 GHz surface-wave have been carried out. Geobacillus stearothermoplilus spores having a population of 3.0 × 106 were sterilized for only 3 min using air-simulated N2-O2 mixture gas discharge plasma, faster than the cases of pure O2 or pure N2 discharge plasmas. From the SEM analysis of plasma-irradiated spores and optical emission spectroscopy measurements of the plasmas, it has been found that the possible sterilization mechanisms of air-simulated plasma are the chemical etching effect due to the oxygen radicals and UV emission from the N2 molecules and NO radicals in the wavelength range 200-400 nm. Experiment suggested that UV emission in the wavelength range less than 200 nm might not be significant in the sterilization. The UV intensity at 237.0 nm originated from the NO γ system (A 2Σ+ → X 2Π) in N2-O2 plasma as a function of the O2 percentage added to N2-O2 mixture gas has been investigated. It achieved its maximum value when the O2 percentage was roughly 10-20%. This result suggests that air can be used as a discharge gas for sterilization, and indeed we have confirmed a rapid sterilization with the actual air discharge at a sample temperature of less than 65 °C.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pavlou, A. T.; Betzler, B. R.; Burke, T. P.

Uncertainties in the composition and fabrication of fuel compacts for the Fort St. Vrain (FSV) high temperature gas reactor have been studied by performing eigenvalue sensitivity studies that represent the key uncertainties for the FSV neutronic analysis. The uncertainties for the TRISO fuel kernels were addressed by developing a suite of models for an 'average' FSV fuel compact that models the fuel as (1) a mixture of two different TRISO fuel particles representing fissile and fertile kernels, (2) a mixture of four different TRISO fuel particles representing small and large fissile kernels and small and large fertile kernels and (3)more » a stochastic mixture of the four types of fuel particles where every kernel has its diameter sampled from a continuous probability density function. All of the discrete diameter and continuous diameter fuel models were constrained to have the same fuel loadings and packing fractions. For the non-stochastic discrete diameter cases, the MCNP compact model arranged the TRISO fuel particles on a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. This lattice-based fuel compact was compared to a stochastic compact where the locations (and kernel diameters for the continuous diameter cases) of the fuel particles were randomly sampled. Partial core configurations were modeled by stacking compacts into fuel columns containing graphite. The differences in eigenvalues between the lattice-based and stochastic models were small but the runtime of the lattice-based fuel model was roughly 20 times shorter than with the stochastic-based fuel model. (authors)« less

Chemical tapering of polymer optical fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashid, Affa Rozana Abdul; Afiqah Nasution, Amna; Hanim Suranin, Aisyah; Athirah Taib, Nur; Maisarah Mukhtar, Wan; Dasuki, Karsono Ahmad; Annuar Ehsan, Abang

2017-11-01

Polymer optical fibers (POFs) have significant advantages over numerous sensing applications. The key element in developing sensor is by removing the cladding of the fiber. The use of organic solvent is one of the methods to create tapered POF in order to expose the core region. In this study, the etching chemicals involved is acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), and acetone-methanol mixture. The POF is immersed in 100%, 80%, and 50% of acetone and MIBK dilution. In addition, the mixture of acetone and methanol is also used for POF etching by the ratio 2:1 of the volume. Acetone has shown to be the most reactive solvent towards POF due to its fastest etching rate compared to MIBK and acetone-methanol mixture. The POF is immersed and lifted from the solution for a specific time, depending on the power loss properties for the purpose of producing unclad POF. In comparison to silica fiber optic, the advantages of POF in terms of its simple technique and easy handling enable it to produce unclad POF without damaging the core region. The surface roughness of the POF is investigated under the microscope after being immersed into different solvent. This method of chemical tapering of POF can be used as the fundamental technique for sensor development. Next, the unclad fiber is immersed into ethanol solutions in order to determine the reaction of unclad POF towards its surrounding. The findings show that this particular sensor is sensitive towards concentration changes ranging between 10 wt% to 50 wt%.

Temperature dependency of virus and nanoparticle transport and retention in saturated porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasidharan, Salini; Torkzaban, Saeed; Bradford, Scott A.; Cook, Peter G.; Gupta, Vadakattu V. S. R.

2017-01-01

The influence of temperature on virus (PRD1 and ΦX174) and carboxyl-modified latex nanoparticle (50 and 100 nm) attachment was examined in sand-packed columns under various physiochemical conditions. When the solution ionic strength (IS) equaled 10 and 30 mM, the attachment rate coefficient (katt) increased up to 109% (p < 0.0002) and the percentage of the sand surface area that contributed to attachment (Sf) increased up to 160% (p < 0.002) when the temperature was increased from 4 to 20 °C. Temperature effects at IS = 10 and 30 mM were also dependent on the system hydrodynamics; i.e., enhanced retention at a lower pore water velocity (0.1 m/day). Conversely, this same temperature increase had a negligible influence on katt and Sf values when IS was 1 mM or > 50 mM. An explanation for these observations was obtained from extended interaction energy calculations that considered nanoscale roughness and chemical heterogeneity on the sand surface. Interaction energy calculations demonstrated that the energy barrier to attachment in the primary minimum (ΔΦa) decreased with increasing IS, chemical heterogeneity, and temperature, especially in the presence of small amounts of nanoscale roughness (e.g., roughness fraction of 0.05 and height of 20 nm in the zone of influence). Temperature had a negligible effect on katt and Sf when the IS = 1 mM because of the large energy barrier, and at IS = 50 mM because of the absence of an energy barrier. Conversely, temperature had a large influence on katt and Sf when the IS was 10 and 30 mM because of the presence of a small ΔΦa on sand with nanoscale roughness and a chemical (positive zeta potential) heterogeneity. This has large implications for setting parameters for the accurate modeling and transport prediction of virus and nanoparticle contaminants in ground water systems.

Wind-tunnel Modelling of Dispersion from a Scalar Area Source in Urban-Like Roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pascheke, Frauke; Barlow, Janet F.; Robins, Alan

2008-01-01

A wind-tunnel study was conducted to investigate ventilation of scalars from urban-like geometries at neighbourhood scale by exploring two different geometries a uniform height roughness and a non-uniform height roughness, both with an equal plan and frontal density of λ p = λ f = 25%. In both configurations a sub-unit of the idealized urban surface was coated with a thin layer of naphthalene to represent area sources. The naphthalene sublimation method was used to measure directly total area-averaged transport of scalars out of the complex geometries. At the same time, naphthalene vapour concentrations controlled by the turbulent fluxes were detected using a fast Flame Ionisation Detection (FID) technique. This paper describes the novel use of a naphthalene coated surface as an area source in dispersion studies. Particular emphasis was also given to testing whether the concentration measurements were independent of Reynolds number. For low wind speeds, transfer from the naphthalene surface is determined by a combination of forced and natural convection. Compared with a propane point source release, a 25% higher free stream velocity was needed for the naphthalene area source to yield Reynolds-number-independent concentration fields. Ventilation transfer coefficients w T / U derived from the naphthalene sublimation method showed that, whilst there was enhanced vertical momentum exchange due to obstacle height variability, advection was reduced and dispersion from the source area was not enhanced. Thus, the height variability of a canopy is an important parameter when generalising urban dispersion. Fine resolution concentration measurements in the canopy showed the effect of height variability on dispersion at street scale. Rapid vertical transport in the wake of individual high-rise obstacles was found to generate elevated point-like sources. A Gaussian plume model was used to analyse differences in the downstream plumes. Intensified lateral and vertical plume spread and plume dilution with height was found for the non-uniform height roughness.

Formation of peptides from amino acids by single or multiple additions of ATP to suspensions of nucleoproteinoid microparticles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakashima, T.; Fox, S. W.

1981-01-01

The synthesis of peptides from individual amino acids or pairs of amino acids and ATP in the presence of catalysis by nucleoproteinoid microparticles is investigated. Experiments were performed with suspensions formed from the condensation of lysine-rich and acidic proteinoids with polyadenylic acid, to which were added glycine, phenylalanine, proline, lysine or glycine-phenylalanine mixtures, and ATP either at once or serially. Peptide yields are found to be greatest for equal amounts of acidic and basic proteinoids. The addition of imidazole is found to alter the preference of glycine-phenylalanine mixtures to form mixed heteropeptides rather than homopeptides. A rapid ATP decay in the peptide synthesis reaction is observed, and a greater yield is obtained for repeated small additions than for a single addition of ATP. The experimental system has properties similar to modern cells, and represents an organizational unit ready for the evolution of associated biochemical pathways.

Design guidelines for adapting scientific research articles: An example from an introductory level, interdisciplinary program on soft matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langbeheim, Elon; Safran, Samuel A.; Yerushalmi, Edit

2013-01-01

We present design guidelines for using Adapted Primary Literature (APL) as part of current interdisciplinary topics to introductory physics students. APL is a text genre that allows students to comprehend a scientific article, while maintaining the core features of the communication among scientists, thus representing an authentic scientific discourse. We describe the adaptation of a research paper by Nobel Laureate Paul Flory on phase equilibrium in polymer-solvent mixtures that was presented to high school students in a project-based unit on soft matter. The adaptation followed two design strategies: a) Making explicit the interplay between the theory and experiment. b) Re-structuring the text to map the theory onto the students' prior knowledge. Specifically, we map the theory of polymer-solvent systems onto a model for binary mixtures of small molecules of equal size that was already studied in class.

Quantum-coherent mixtures of causal relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maclean, Jean-Philippe W.; Ried, Katja; Spekkens, Robert W.; Resch, Kevin J.

2017-05-01

Understanding the causal influences that hold among parts of a system is critical both to explaining that system's natural behaviour and to controlling it through targeted interventions. In a quantum world, understanding causal relations is equally important, but the set of possibilities is far richer. The two basic ways in which a pair of time-ordered quantum systems may be causally related are by a cause-effect mechanism or by a common-cause acting on both. Here we show a coherent mixture of these two possibilities. We realize this nonclassical causal relation in a quantum optics experiment and derive a set of criteria for witnessing the coherence based on a quantum version of Berkson's effect, whereby two independent causes can become correlated on observation of their common effect. The interplay of causality and quantum theory lies at the heart of challenging foundational puzzles, including Bell's theorem and the search for quantum gravity.

Quantum-coherent mixtures of causal relations

PubMed Central

MacLean, Jean-Philippe W.; Ried, Katja; Spekkens, Robert W.; Resch, Kevin J.

2017-01-01

Understanding the causal influences that hold among parts of a system is critical both to explaining that system's natural behaviour and to controlling it through targeted interventions. In a quantum world, understanding causal relations is equally important, but the set of possibilities is far richer. The two basic ways in which a pair of time-ordered quantum systems may be causally related are by a cause-effect mechanism or by a common-cause acting on both. Here we show a coherent mixture of these two possibilities. We realize this nonclassical causal relation in a quantum optics experiment and derive a set of criteria for witnessing the coherence based on a quantum version of Berkson's effect, whereby two independent causes can become correlated on observation of their common effect. The interplay of causality and quantum theory lies at the heart of challenging foundational puzzles, including Bell's theorem and the search for quantum gravity. PMID:28485394

Quantum-coherent mixtures of causal relations.

PubMed

MacLean, Jean-Philippe W; Ried, Katja; Spekkens, Robert W; Resch, Kevin J

2017-05-09

Understanding the causal influences that hold among parts of a system is critical both to explaining that system's natural behaviour and to controlling it through targeted interventions. In a quantum world, understanding causal relations is equally important, but the set of possibilities is far richer. The two basic ways in which a pair of time-ordered quantum systems may be causally related are by a cause-effect mechanism or by a common-cause acting on both. Here we show a coherent mixture of these two possibilities. We realize this nonclassical causal relation in a quantum optics experiment and derive a set of criteria for witnessing the coherence based on a quantum version of Berkson's effect, whereby two independent causes can become correlated on observation of their common effect. The interplay of causality and quantum theory lies at the heart of challenging foundational puzzles, including Bell's theorem and the search for quantum gravity.

Formation and stability of twisted ribbons in mixtures of rod-like fd-virus and non-adsorbing polymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dogic, Z.; Didonna, B.; Bryning, M.; Lubensky, T. C.; Yodh, A. G.; Janmey, P. A.

2003-03-01

We are investigating the behavior of mixtures of monodisperse fd-virus rods and non-adsorbing polymer. We observe the formation of isolated smectic disks. The single smectic disk is of a monolayer of aligned rods while its thickness equal to the length of a single rod. As disks coalesce they undergo shape transformations from flat structures to elongated twisted ribbons. A theoretical model is formulated wherein the chirality of the molecule favors the formation of the elongated ribbon structure while the line tension favors formation of untwisted disks. To check the validity of the theoretical model line tension and twist constants are experimentally measured. The line tension is deduced from thermal fluctuations of the interface. The twist constant is determined by unwinding the twisted ribbons using optical tweezers. This work is partially supported by NSF grants DMR-0203378, the PENN MRSEC, DMR-0079909, and NASA grant NAG8-2172.

Advanced spectrophotometric chemometric methods for resolving the binary mixture of doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride.

PubMed

Katsarov, Plamen; Gergov, Georgi; Alin, Aylin; Pilicheva, Bissera; Al-Degs, Yahya; Simeonov, Vasil; Kassarova, Margarita

2018-03-01

The prediction power of partial least squares (PLS) and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) methods have been studied for simultaneous quantitative analysis of the binary drug combination - doxylamine succinate and pyridoxine hydrochloride. Analysis of first-order UV overlapped spectra was performed using different PLS models - classical PLS1 and PLS2 as well as partial robust M-regression (PRM). These linear models were compared to MCR-ALS with equality and correlation constraints (MCR-ALS-CC). All techniques operated within the full spectral region and extracted maximum information for the drugs analysed. The developed chemometric methods were validated on external sample sets and were applied to the analyses of pharmaceutical formulations. The obtained statistical parameters were satisfactory for calibration and validation sets. All developed methods can be successfully applied for simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of doxylamine and pyridoxine both in laboratory-prepared mixtures and commercial dosage forms.

Testing the monogamy relations via rank-2 mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Eylee; Park, DaeKil

2016-10-01

We introduce two tangle-based four-party entanglement measures t1 and t2, and two negativity-based measures n1 and n2, which are derived from the monogamy relations. These measures are computed for three four-qubit maximally entangled and W states explicitly. We also compute these measures for the rank-2 mixture ρ4=p | GHZ4>< GHZ4|+(1 -p ) | W4>< W4| by finding the corresponding optimal decompositions. It turns out that t1(ρ4) is trivial and the corresponding optimal decomposition is equal to the spectral decomposition. Probably, this triviality is a sign of the fact that the corresponding monogamy inequality is not sufficiently tight. We fail to compute t2(ρ4) due to the difficulty in the calculation of the residual entanglement. The negativity-based measures n1(ρ4) and n2(ρ4) are explicitly computed and the corresponding optimal decompositions are also derived explicitly.

Rats’ preferences for high fructose corn syrup vs. sucrose and sugar mixtures

PubMed Central

Ackroff, Karen; Sclafani, Anthony

2011-01-01

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has replaced sucrose in many food products, which has prompted research comparing these two sweeteners in rodents. The present study examined the relative palatability of HFCS and sucrose for rats, offering 11% carbohydrate solutions to match the content of common beverages for human consumption. The animals initially preferred HFCS to sucrose but after separate experience with each solution they switched to sucrose preference. Approximating the composition of HFCS with a mixture of fructose and glucose (55:45) yielded a solution that was less attractive than sucrose or HFCS. However, HFCS contains a small amount of glucose polymers, which are very attractive to rats. A 55:42:3 mixture of fructose, glucose and glucose polymers (Polycose) was equally preferred to HFCS and was treated similarly to HFCS in comparisons vs. sucrose. Post-oral effects of sucrose, which is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, may be responsible for the shift in preference with experience. This shift, and the relatively small magnitude of differences in preference for HFCS and sucrose, suggest that palatability factors probably do not contribute to any possible difference in weight gain responses to these sweeteners. PMID:21236278

An evaluation of risk estimation procedures for mixtures of carcinogens

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hwang, J.S.; Chen, J.J.

1999-12-01

The estimation of health risks from exposure to a mixture of chemical carcinogens is generally based on the combination of information from several available single compound studies. The current practice of directly summing the upper bound risk estimates of individual carcinogenic components as an upper bound on the total risk of a mixture is known to be generally too conservative. Gaylor and Chen (1996, Risk Analysis) proposed a simple procedure to compute an upper bound on the total risk using only the upper confidence limits and central risk estimates of individual carcinogens. The Gaylor-Chen procedure was derived based on anmore » underlying assumption of the normality for the distributions of individual risk estimates. IN this paper the authors evaluated the Gaylor-Chen approach in terms the coverages of the upper confidence limits on the true risks of individual carcinogens. In general, if the coverage probabilities for the individual carcinogens are all approximately equal to the nominal level, then the Gaylor-Chen approach should perform well. However, the Gaylor-Chen approach can be conservative or anti-conservative if some of all individual upper confidence limit estimates are conservative or anti-conservative.« less

An easy-to-use calculating machine to simulate steady state and non-steady-state preparative separations by multiple dual mode counter-current chromatography with semi-continuous loading of feed mixtures.

PubMed

Kostanyan, Artak E; Shishilov, Oleg N

2018-06-01

Multiple dual mode counter-current chromatography (MDM CCC) separation processes with semi-continuous large sample loading consist of a succession of two counter-current steps: with "x" phase (first step) and "y" phase (second step) flow periods. A feed mixture dissolved in the "x" phase is continuously loaded into a CCC machine at the beginning of the first step of each cycle over a constant time with the volumetric rate equal to the flow rate of the pure "x" phase. An easy-to-use calculating machine is developed to simulate the chromatograms and the amounts of solutes eluted with the phases at each cycle for steady-state (the duration of the flow periods of the phases is kept constant for all the cycles) and non-steady-state (with variable duration of alternating phase elution steps) separations. Using the calculating machine, the separation of mixtures containing up to five components can be simulated and designed. Examples of the application of the calculating machine for the simulation of MDM CCC processes are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spacecraft nitrogen generation. [liquid hydrazine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marshall, R. D.; Carlson, J. N.; Powell, J. D.; Kacholia, K. K.

1974-01-01

Two spacecraft nitrogen (N2) generation systems based on the catalytic dissociation of hydrazine (N2H4) were evaluated. In the first system, liquid N2H4 is catalytically dissociated to yield an N2 and hydrogen (H2) gas mixture. Separation of the N2/H2 gas mixture to yield N2 and a supply of H2 is accomplished using a polymer-electrochemical N2/H2 separator. In the second system, the N2/H2 gas mixture is separated in a two-stage palladium/silver (Pd/Ag) N2/H2 separator. The program culminated in the successful design, fabrication, and testing of a N2H4 catalytic dissociator, a polymer-electrochemical N2/H2 separator, and a two-stage Pd/Ag N2/H2 separator. The hardware developed was sized for an N2 delivery rate of 6.81 kg/d (15lb/day). Experimental results demonstrated that both spacecraft N2 generation systems are capable of producing 6.81 kg/d (15lb/day) of 99.9% pure N2 at a pressure greater than or equal to 1035 kN/m(2) (150 psia).

Rats' preferences for high fructose corn syrup vs. sucrose and sugar mixtures.

PubMed

Ackroff, Karen; Sclafani, Anthony

2011-03-28

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has replaced sucrose in many food products, which has prompted research comparing these two sweeteners in rodents. The present study examined the relative palatability of HFCS and sucrose for rats, offering 11% carbohydrate solutions to match the content of common beverages for human consumption. The animals initially preferred HFCS to sucrose but after separate experience with each solution they switched to sucrose preference. Approximating the composition of HFCS with a mixture of fructose and glucose (55:45) yielded a solution that was less attractive than sucrose or HFCS. However, HFCS contains a small amount of glucose polymers, which are very attractive to rats. A 55:42:3 mixture of fructose, glucose and glucose polymers (Polycose) was equally preferred to HFCS and was treated similarly to HFCS in comparisons vs. sucrose. Post-oral effects of sucrose, which is 50% fructose and 50% glucose, may be responsible for the shift in preference with experience. This shift, and the relatively small magnitude of differences in preference for HFCS and sucrose, suggest that palatability factors probably do not contribute to any possible difference in weight gain responses to these sweeteners. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of Plenoptic PIV for 3D Velocity Measurements Over Roughness Elements in a Refractive Index Matched Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurow, Brian; Johnson, Kyle; Kim, Taehoon; Blois, Gianluca; Best, Jim; Christensen, Ken

2014-11-01

The application of Plenoptic PIV in a Refractive Index Matched (RIM) facility housed at Illinois is presented. Plenoptic PIV is an emerging 3D diagnostic that exploits the light-field imaging capabilities of a plenoptic camera. Plenoptic cameras utilize a microlens array to measure the position and angle of light rays captured by the camera. 3D/3C velocity fields are determined through application of the MART algorithm for volume reconstruction and a conventional 3D cross-correlation PIV algorithm. The RIM facility is a recirculating tunnel with a 62.5% aqueous solution of sodium iodide used as the working fluid. Its resulting index of 1.49 is equal to that of acrylic. Plenoptic PIV was used to measure the 3D velocity field of a turbulent boundary layer flow over a smooth wall, a single wall-mounted hemisphere and a full array of hemispheres (i.e. a rough wall) with a k/ δ ~ 4.6. Preliminary time averaged and instantaneous 3D velocity fields will be presented. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1235726.

Intrinsic to extrinsic phonon lifetime transition in a GaAs-AlAs superlattice.

PubMed

Hofmann, F; Garg, J; Maznev, A A; Jandl, A; Bulsara, M; Fitzgerald, E A; Chen, G; Nelson, K A

2013-07-24

We have measured the lifetimes of two zone-center longitudinal acoustic phonon modes, at 320 and 640 GHz, in a 14 nm GaAs/2 nm AlAs superlattice structure. By comparing measurements at 296 and 79 K we separate the intrinsic contribution to phonon lifetime determined by phonon-phonon scattering from the extrinsic contribution due to defects and interface roughness. At 296 K, the 320 GHz phonon lifetime has approximately equal contributions from intrinsic and extrinsic scattering, whilst at 640 GHz it is dominated by extrinsic effects. These measurements are compared with intrinsic and extrinsic scattering rates in the superlattice obtained from first-principles lattice dynamics calculations. The calculated room-temperature intrinsic lifetime of longitudinal phonons at 320 GHz is in agreement with the experimentally measured value of 0.9 ns. The model correctly predicts the transition from predominantly intrinsic to predominantly extrinsic scattering; however the predicted transition occurs at higher frequencies. Our analysis indicates that the 'interfacial atomic disorder' model is not entirely adequate and that the observed frequency dependence of the extrinsic scattering rate is likely to be determined by a finite correlation length of interface roughness.

Surface characterization and adhesion and friction properties of hydrophobic leaf surfaces.

PubMed

Burton, Zachary; Bhushan, Bharat

2006-01-01

Super-hydrophobic surfaces as well as low adhesion and friction are desirable for various industrial applications. Certain plant leaves are known to be hydrophobic in nature. These leaves are hydrophobic due to the presence of microbumps and a thin wax film on the surface of the leaf. The purpose of this study is to fully characterize the leaf surface and to separate out the effects of the microbumps and the wax on the hydrophobicity. Furthermore, the adhesion and friction properties of the leaves, with and without wax, are studied. Using an optical profiler and an atomic/friction force microscope (AFM/FFM), measurements on the hydrophobic leaves, both with and without wax, were made to fully characterize the leaf surface. Using a model that predicts contact angle as a function of roughness, the roughness factor for the hydrophobic leaves has been calculated, which is used to calculate the contact angle for a flat leaf surface. It is shown that both the microbumps and the wax play an equally important role in the hydrophobic nature as well as adhesion and friction of the leaf. This study will be useful in developing super-hydrophobic surfaces.

An algorithm for simulating fracture of cohesive-frictional materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nukala, Phani K; Sampath, Rahul S; Barai, Pallab

Fracture of disordered frictional granular materials is dominated by interfacial failure response that is characterized by de-cohesion followed by frictional sliding response. To capture such an interfacial failure response, we introduce a cohesive-friction random fuse model (CFRFM), wherein the cohesive response of the interface is represented by a linear stress-strain response until a failure threshold, which is then followed by a constant response at a threshold lower than the initial failure threshold to represent the interfacial frictional sliding mechanism. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for simulating fracture of such disordered frictional granular materials using the CFRFM. We note that,more » when applied to perfectly plastic disordered materials, our algorithm is both theoretically and numerically equivalent to the traditional tangent algorithm (Roux and Hansen 1992 J. Physique II 2 1007) used for such simulations. However, the algorithm is general and is capable of modeling discontinuous interfacial response. Our numerical simulations using the algorithm indicate that the local and global roughness exponents ({zeta}{sub loc} and {zeta}, respectively) of the fracture surface are equal to each other, and the two-dimensional crack roughness exponent is estimated to be {zeta}{sub loc} = {zeta} = 0.69 {+-} 0.03.« less

Interfacial contact stiffness of fractal rough surfaces.

PubMed

Zhang, Dayi; Xia, Ying; Scarpa, Fabrizio; Hong, Jie; Ma, Yanhong

2017-10-09

In this work we describe a theoretical model that predicts the interfacial contact stiffness of fractal rough surfaces by considering the effects of elastic and plastic deformations of the fractal asperities. We also develop an original test rig that simulates dovetail joints for turbo machinery blades, which can fine tune the normal contact load existing between the contacting surfaces of the blade root. The interfacial contact stiffness is obtained through an inverse identification method in which finite element simulations are fitted to the experimental results. Excellent agreement is observed between the contact stiffness predicted by the theoretical model and by the analogous experimental results. We demonstrate that the contact stiffness is a power law function of the normal contact load with an exponent α within the whole range of fractal dimension D(1 < D < 2). We also show that for 1 < D < 1.5 the Pohrt-Popov behavior (α = 1/(3 - D)) is valid, however for 1.5 < D < 2, the exponent α is different and equal to 2(D - 1)/D. The diversity between the model developed in the work and the Pohrt-Popov one is explained in detail.

Deployable reflector antenna performance optimization using automated surface correction and array-feed compensation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, Lyle C.; Bailey, M. C.; Mitchell, John L.

1992-01-01

Methods for increasing the electromagnetic (EM) performance of reflectors with rough surfaces were tested and evaluated. First, one quadrant of the 15-meter hoop-column antenna was retrofitted with computer-driven and controlled motors to allow automated adjustment of the reflector surface. The surface errors, measured with metric photogrammetry, were used in a previously verified computer code to calculate control motor adjustments. With this system, a rough antenna surface (rms of approximately 0.180 inch) was corrected in two iterations to approximately the structural surface smoothness limit of 0.060 inch rms. The antenna pattern and gain improved significantly as a result of these surface adjustments. The EM performance was evaluated with a computer program for distorted reflector antennas which had been previously verified with experimental data. Next, the effects of the surface distortions were compensated for in computer simulations by superimposing excitation from an array feed to maximize antenna performance relative to an undistorted reflector. Results showed that a 61-element array could produce EM performance improvements equal to surface adjustments. When both mechanical surface adjustment and feed compensation techniques were applied, the equivalent operating frequency increased from approximately 6 to 18 GHz.

A Parameterized Inversion Model for Soil Moisture and Biomass from Polarimetric Backscattering Coefficients

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong-Loi, My-Linh; Saatchi, Sassan; Jaruwatanadilok, Sermsak

2012-01-01

A semi-empirical algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture, root mean square (RMS) height and biomass from polarimetric SAR data is explained and analyzed in this paper. The algorithm is a simplification of the distorted Born model. It takes into account the physical scattering phenomenon and has three major components: volume, double-bounce and surface. This simplified model uses the three backscattering coefficients ( sigma HH, sigma HV and sigma vv) at low-frequency (P-band). The inversion process uses the Levenberg-Marquardt non-linear least-squares method to estimate the structural parameters. The estimation process is entirely explained in this paper, from initialization of the unknowns to retrievals. A sensitivity analysis is also done where the initial values in the inversion process are varying randomly. The results show that the inversion process is not really sensitive to initial values and a major part of the retrievals has a root-mean-square error lower than 5% for soil moisture, 24 Mg/ha for biomass and 0.49 cm for roughness, considering a soil moisture of 40%, roughness equal to 3cm and biomass varying from 0 to 500 Mg/ha with a mean of 161 Mg/ha

High school physics enrollments by socioeconomic status and type of class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, Susan C.

2016-01-01

Since September, we have been examining the relationship between high school physics enrollments by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. We have seen that the number of seniors and the number of physics teachers is roughly evenly divided into each type of school: those where students are typically better off economically than their peers at other schools in the area, those where students' economic status is typical for the area, and those where students are worse off. We have seen that even though the number of seniors and the number of physics teachers is roughly equal, the number of students taking physics is not. As we see in the figure, the enrollments in various types of physics classes are not equivalent either. While the total number of students taking Physics First or conceptual physics is about the same, the number of students in advanced classes—honors, AP, or second-year physics—is heavily skewed toward the better off schools. It is hard to know the direction of any cause and effect, but it is clear the students attending better off schools are more likely to take physics and are more likely to take more advanced physics classes in high school.

Parameterization of albedo, thermal inertia, and surface roughness of desert scrub/sandy soil surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.; Mccumber, M.

1986-01-01

Spectral albedo, A sub n, for the direct solar beam is defined as A sub n (r sub i,s, theta sub 0) = r sub i exp(-s tan theta sub 0)1-I(s) where I(s) is the integral over all reflection angles describing the interception by the absorbing plants of the flux reflected from the soil, r sub i soil reflectance, assumed Lambertian, S the projection on a vertical plane of plants per unit surface area, and theta sub 0 is the solar zenith angle. Hemispheric reflectance for the direct solar beam equals 1-I(s) times the reflectance to the zenith. The values of s of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 respectively quantify sparse, moderately dense, and very dense desert scrub. Thin plants are assumed to be of negligible thermal inertia, and thus directly yield the absorbed insolation to the atmosphere. Surface thermal inertia is therefore effectively reduced. The ratio of surface roughness height to plant height is parameterized for sparse, moderately dense, and very dense desert-scrub as a function of s based on data expressing the dependence of this ratio on plant silhouette.

Effect of intercropping period management on runoff and erosion in a maize cropping system.

PubMed

Laloy, Eric; Bielders, C L

2010-01-01

The management of winter cover crops is likely to influence their performance in reducing runoff and erosion during the intercropping period that precedes spring crops but also during the subsequent spring crop. This study investigated the impact of two dates of destruction and burial of a rye (Secale cereale L.) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) cover crop on runoff and erosion, focusing on a continuous silage maize (Zea mays L.) cropping system. Thirty erosion plots with various intercrop management options were monitored for 3 yr at two sites. During the intercropping period, cover crops reduced runoff and erosion by more than 94% compared with untilled, post-maize harvest plots. Rough tillage after maize harvest proved equally effective as a late sown cover crop. There was no effect of cover crop destruction and burial dates on runoff and erosion during the intercropping period, probably because rough tillage for cover crop burial compensates for the lack of soil cover. During two of the monitored maize seasons, it was observed that plots that had been covered during the previous intercropping period lost 40 to 90% less soil compared with maize plots that had been left bare during the intercropping period. The burial of an aboveground cover crop biomass in excess of 1.5 t ha(-1) was a necessary, yet not always sufficient, condition to induce a residual effect. Because of the possible beneficial residual effect of cover crop burial on erosion reduction, the sowing of a cover crop should be preferred over rough tillage after maize harvest.

Assessing artificial neural networks and statistical methods for infilling missing soil moisture records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumedah, Gift; Walker, Jeffrey P.; Chik, Li

2014-07-01

Soil moisture information is critically important for water management operations including flood forecasting, drought monitoring, and groundwater recharge estimation. While an accurate and continuous record of soil moisture is required for these applications, the available soil moisture data, in practice, is typically fraught with missing values. There are a wide range of methods available to infilling hydrologic variables, but a thorough inter-comparison between statistical methods and artificial neural networks has not been made. This study examines 5 statistical methods including monthly averages, weighted Pearson correlation coefficient, a method based on temporal stability of soil moisture, and a weighted merging of the three methods, together with a method based on the concept of rough sets. Additionally, 9 artificial neural networks are examined, broadly categorized into feedforward, dynamic, and radial basis networks. These 14 infilling methods were used to estimate missing soil moisture records and subsequently validated against known values for 13 soil moisture monitoring stations for three different soil layer depths in the Yanco region in southeast Australia. The evaluation results show that the top three highest performing methods are the nonlinear autoregressive neural network, rough sets method, and monthly replacement. A high estimation accuracy (root mean square error (RMSE) of about 0.03 m/m) was found in the nonlinear autoregressive network, due to its regression based dynamic network which allows feedback connections through discrete-time estimation. An equally high accuracy (0.05 m/m RMSE) in the rough sets procedure illustrates the important role of temporal persistence of soil moisture, with the capability to account for different soil moisture conditions.

Modifying the properties of finely ground limestone by tumbling granulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macho, Oliver; Eckert, Maroš; Tomášová, Barbora; Peciar, Peter; Ščasný, Martin; Fekete, Roman; Peciar, Marián

2016-06-01

Calcium carbonate in the form of finely ground limestone is a material that has found its application in a wide range of industries, in the chemical, rubber, agricultural, and paper industries, is used for desulfurization of boilers and other. In civil engineering, ground limestone is used for the production of building materials, plaster and mortar mixtures, as a filler in concrete mixtures, in road construction, and as an essential component of mastic asphalt. This paper deals with examining the modification of the properties of finely ground limestone by the tumbling agglomeration method. It has been shown that the components of concrete with a round grain have a positive effect on the pumping of concrete in comparison with an elongated grain or the rough surface of crushed stone. The experiments will be carried out on a granulation plate using a variety of granulation liquid. The agglomerates and their properties were compared with untreated finely ground limestone, with a focus on detecting changes in compressibility, density and particle size. The output of this paper is a description and graphical representation of the changes in the properties of ground limestone before and after the agglomeration process.

Optimization of Reversed-Phase Peptide Liquid Chromatography Ultraviolet Mass Spectrometry Analyses Using an Automated Blending Methodology

PubMed Central

Chakraborty, Asish B.; Berger, Scott J.

2005-01-01

The balance between chromatographic performance and mass spectrometric response has been evaluated using an automated series of experiments where separations are produced by the real-time automated blending of water with organic and acidic modifiers. In this work, the concentration effects of two acidic modifiers (formic acid and trifluoroacetic acid) were studied on the separation selectivity, ultraviolet, and mass spectrometry detector response, using a complex peptide mixture. Peptide retention selectivity differences were apparent between the two modifiers, and under the conditions studied, trifluoroacetic acid produced slightly narrower (more concentrated) peaks, but significantly higher electrospray mass spectrometry suppression. Trifluoroacetic acid suppression of electrospray signal and influence on peptide retention and selectivity was dominant when mixtures of the two modifiers were analyzed. Our experimental results indicate that in analyses where the analyzed components are roughly equimolar (e.g., a peptide map of a recombinant protein), the selectivity of peptide separations can be optimized by choice and concentration of acidic modifier, without compromising the ability to obtain effective sequence coverage of a protein. In some cases, these selectivity differences were explored further, and a rational basis for differentiating acidic modifier effects from the underlying peptide sequences is described. PMID:16522853

Etching of germanium-tin using ammonia peroxide mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Yuan; Ong, Bin Leong; Wang, Wei; Zhang, Zheng; Pan, Jisheng; Gong, Xiao; Tok, Eng-Soon; Liang, Gengchiau; Yeo, Yee-Chia

2015-12-01

The wet etching of germanium-tin (Ge1-xSnx) alloys (4.2% < x < 16.0%) in ammonia peroxide mixture (APM) is investigated. Empirical fitting of the data points indicates that the etch depth of Ge1-xSnx is proportional to the square root of the etch time t and decreases exponentially with increasing x for a given t. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that increasing t increases the intensity of the Sn oxide peak, whereas no obvious change is observed for the Ge oxide peak. This indicates that an accumulation of Sn oxide on the Ge1-xSnx surface decreases the amount of Ge atoms exposed to the etchant, which accounts for the decrease in etch rate with increasing etch time. Atomic force microscopy was used to examine the surface morphologies of the Ge0.918Sn0.082 samples. Both root-mean-square roughness and undulation periods of the Ge1-xSnx surface were observed to increase with increasing t. This work provides further understanding of the wet etching of Ge1-xSnx using APM and may be used for the fabrication of Ge1-xSnx-based electronic and photonic devices.

Lipase immobilization for catalytic applications obtained using fumed silica deposited with MAPLE technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloisi, Francesco; Califano, Valeria; Perretta, Giuseppe; Nasti, Libera; Aronne, Antonio; Di Girolamo, Rocco; Auriemma, Finizia; De Rosa, Claudio; Vicari, Luciano R. M.

2016-06-01

Lipases are enzymes used for catalyzing reactions of acylglycerides in biodiesel production from lipids, where enzyme immobilization on a substrate is required. Silica nanoparticles in different morphologies and configurations are currently used in conjunction with biological molecules for drug delivery and catalysis applications, but up to date their use for triglycerides has been limited by the large size of long-chain lipid molecules. Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE), a laser deposition technique using a frozen solution/suspension as a target, is widely used for deposition of biomaterials and other delicate molecules. We have carried out a MAPLE deposition starting from a frozen mixture containing fumed silica and lipase in water. Deposition parameters were chosen in order to increase surface roughness and to promote the formation of complex structures. Both the target (a frozen thickened mixture of nanoparticles/catalyst in water) and the deposition configuration (a small target to substrate distance) are unusual and have been adopted in order to increase surface contact of catalyst and to facilitate access to long-chain molecules. The resulting innovative film morphology (fumed silica/lipase cluster level aggregation) and the lipase functionality (for catalytic biodiesel production) have been studied by FESEM, FTIR and transesterification tests.

Visualizing the 17th century underpainting in Portrait of an Old Man by Rembrandt van Rijn using synchrotron-based scanning macro-XRF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alfeld, Matthias; Siddons, D. Peter; Janssens, Koen; Dik, Joris; Woll, Arthur; Kirkham, Robin; van de Wetering, Ernst

2013-04-01

In 17th century Old Master Paintings, the underpainting generally refers to the first sketch of a composition. The underpainting is applied to a prepared ground using a monochrome, brown oil paint to roughly indicate light, shade and contours. So far, methods to visualize the underpainting—other than in localized cross-sections—have been very limited. Neither infrared reflectography nor neutron induced autoradiography have proven to be practical, adequate visualization tools. Thus, although of fundamental interest in the understanding of a painting's genesis, the underpainting has virtually escaped all imaging efforts. In this contribution we will show that 17th century underpainting may consist of a highly heterogeneous mixture of pigments, including copper pigments. We suggest that this brown pigment mixture is actually the recycled left-over of a palette scraping. With copper as the heaviest exclusive elemental component, we will hence show in a case study on a Portrait of an Old Man attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn how scanning macro-XRF can be used to efficiently visualize the underpainting below the surface painting and how this information can contribute to the discussion of the painting's authenticity.

Factors that influence the efficiency of a fluidized-bed-type tribo-electrostatic separator for mixed granular plastics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dascalescu, L.; Fati, O.; Bilici, M.; Rahou, F.; Dragan, C.; Samuila, A.; Iuga, A.

2011-06-01

Fluidized bed devices have already been used as tribochargers for various industrial electrostatic separation processes. In the present paper, the authors investigate the behaviour of polyamide - polycarbonate granular plastic mixtures in a parallelepiped bed, the height of which is roughly 2 times its length or width, so that the collisions between granules become the prevailing tribocharging mechanism. Two of the opposite walls of the tribocharging chamber consist of metallic plates connected to two DC high-voltage supplies of opposite polarities, so that the charged particles are attracted to the electrodes and separated while still in the fluidized state. The collecting hoppers are designed as Faraday cups connected to two electrometers, thus allowing the instantaneous measurement of the charge carried by the separated particles. Experimental design methodology was employed for the optimization of the tribo-aero-electrostatic separation process, the input variables being the high-voltage applied to the electrodes and the duration of the tribocharging. Higher voltages applied to the electrode system do not necessarily lead to larger quantities of collected products but improve the purity of the concentrates. The composition of the mixture influences the outcome of the process.

Design and assembly of a catalyst bed gas generator for the catalytic decomposition of high concentration hydrogen peroxide propellants and the catalytic combustion of hydrocarbon/air mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lohner, Kevin A. (Inventor); Mays, Jeffrey A. (Inventor); Sevener, Kathleen M. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

A method for designing and assembling a high performance catalyst bed gas generator for use in decomposing propellants, particularly hydrogen peroxide propellants, for use in target, space, and on-orbit propulsion systems and low-emission terrestrial power and gas generation. The gas generator utilizes a sectioned catalyst bed system, and incorporates a robust, high temperature mixed metal oxide catalyst. The gas generator requires no special preheat apparatus or special sequencing to meet start-up requirements, enabling a fast overall response time. The high performance catalyst bed gas generator system has consistently demonstrated high decomposition efficiency, extremely low decomposition roughness, and long operating life on multiple test articles.

Geological and geochemical record of 3400-million-year-old terrestrial meteorite impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowe, Donald R.; Byerly, Gary R.; Asaro, Frank; Kyte, Frank T.

1989-01-01

Beds of sand-sized spherules in the 3400-million-year-old Fig Tree Group, Barberton Greenstone belt, South Africa, formed by the fall of quenched liquid silicate droplets into a range of shallow- to deep-water depositional environments. The regional extent of the layers, their compositional complexity, and lack of included volcanic debris suggest that they are not products of volcanic activity. The layers are greatly enriched in iridium and other platinum group elements in roughly chondritic proportions. Geochemical modeling based on immobile element abundances suggests that the original average spherule composition can be approximated by a mixture of fractionated tholeiitic basalt, komatiite, and CI carbonaceous chondrite. The spherules are thought to be the products of large meteorite impacts on the Archean earth.

Heterogeneous fuel for hybrid rocket

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stickler, David B. (Inventor)

1996-01-01

Heterogeneous fuel compositions suitable for use in hybrid rocket engines and solid-fuel ramjet engines, The compositions include mixtures of a continuous phase, which forms a solid matrix, and a dispersed phase permanently distributed therein. The dispersed phase or the matrix vaporizes (or melts) and disperses into the gas flow much more rapidly than the other, creating depressions, voids and bumps within and on the surface of the remaining bulk material that continuously roughen its surface, This effect substantially enhances heat transfer from the combusting gas flow to the fuel surface, producing a correspondingly high burning rate, The dispersed phase may include solid particles, entrained liquid droplets, or gas-phase voids having dimensions roughly similar to the displacement scale height of the gas-flow boundary layer generated during combustion.

Porous and Microporous Honeycomb Composites as Potential Boundary-Layer Bleed Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, D. O.; Willis, B. P.; Schoenenberger, M.

1997-01-01

Results of an experimental investigation are presented in which the use of porous and microporous honeycomb composite materials is evaluated as an alternate to perforated solid plates for boundary-layer bleed in supersonic aircraft inlets. The terms "porous" and "microporous," respectively, refer to bleed orifice diameters roughly equal to and much less than the displacement thickness of the approach boundary-layer. A Baseline porous solid plate, two porous honeycomb, and three microporous honeycomb configurations are evaluated. The performance of the plates is characterized by the flow coefficient and relative change in boundary-layer profile parameters across the bleed region. The tests were conducted at Mach numbers of 1.27 and 1.98. The results show the porous honeycomb is not as efficient at removing mass compared to the baseline. The microporous plates were about equal to the baseline with one plate demonstrating a significantly higher efficiency. The microporous plates produced significantly fuller boundary-layer profiles downstream of the bleed region for a given mass flow removal rate than either the baseline or the porous honeycomb plates.

High-Performance Polymers Having Low Melt Viscosities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jensen, Brian J.

2005-01-01

High-performance polymers that have improved processing characteristics, and a method of making them, have been invented. One of the improved characteristics is low (relative to corresponding prior polymers) melt viscosities at given temperatures. This characteristic makes it possible to utilize such processes as resin-transfer molding and resin-film infusion and to perform autoclave processing at lower temperatures and/or pressures. Another improved characteristic is larger processing windows that is, longer times at low viscosities. Other improved characteristics include increased solubility of uncured polymer precursors that contain reactive groups, greater densities of cross-links in cured polymers, improved mechanical properties of the cured polymers, and greater resistance of the cured polymers to chemical attack. The invention is particularly applicable to poly(arylene ether)s [PAEs] and polyimides [PIs] that are useful as adhesives, matrices of composite materials, moldings, films, and coatings. PAEs and PIs synthesized according to the invention comprise mixtures of branched, linear, and star-shaped molecules. The monomers of these polymers can be capped with either reactive end groups to obtain thermosets or nonreactive end groups to obtain thermoplastics. The synthesis of a polymeric mixture according to the invention involves the use of a small amount of a trifunctional monomer. In the case of a PAE, the trifunctional monomer is a trihydroxy- containing compound for example, 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (THB). In the case of a PI, the trifunctional monomer is a triamine for example, triamino pyrimidine or melamine. In addition to the aforementioned trifunctional monomer, one uses the difunctional monomers of the conventional formulation of the polymer in question (see figure). In cases of nonreactive end caps, the polymeric mixtures of the invention have melt viscosities and melting temperatures lower than those of the corresponding linear polymers of equal molecular weights. The lower melting temperatures and melt viscosities provide larger processing windows. In cases of reactive end caps, the polymeric mixtures of the invention have lower melt viscosities before curing and the higher cross-link densities after curing (where branching in the uncured systems would become cross-links in the cured systems), relative to the corresponding linear polymers of equal molecular weights. The greater cross-link densities afford increased resistance to chemical attack and improved mechanical properties.

Percolation transition in carbon composite on the basis of fullerenes and exfoliated graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berezkin, V. I.; Popov, V. V.

2018-01-01

The electrical conductivity of a carbon composite on the basis of C60 fullerenes and exfoliated graphite is investigated in the range of relative contents of components from 0 to 100%. The samples are obtained by the thermal treatment of the initial dispersed mixtures in vacuum in the diffusion-adsorption process and their further cold pressing. The resistivity of the samples gradually increases with an increase in the fraction of fullerenes, and a sharp transition from the conductive state to the dielectric one is observed after achieving certain concentrations of C60. The interpretation of the results within the percolation theory makes it possible to evaluate the percolation threshold (expressed as a relative content of graphite) as equal to 4.45 wt % and the critical conductivity index as equal to 1.85 (which is typical for three-dimensional twocomponent disordered media including those having pores).

Phosphatidylglycerol Synthesis in Spinach Chloroplasts: Characterization of the Newly Synthesized Molecule

PubMed Central

Sparace, Salvatore A.; Mudd, J. Brian

1982-01-01

Intact chloroplasts from spinach (Spinacia oleracea L., hybrid 424) readily incorporate [14C]glycerol-3-phosphate and [14C]acetate into diacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol, diacylglycrol, free fatty acids (only when acetate is the precursor), phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylcholine, and most notably phosphatidylglycerol. The fraction of phosphatidylglycerol synthesized is greatly increased by the presence of manganese chloride in the reaction mixture. Glycerol-3-phosphate-labeled phosphatidylglycerol is equally labeled in the two glycerol moieties of the molecule. Acetate-labeled phosphatidylglycerol is equally labeled in both acyl groups. Position one contains primarily oleate, linoleate and small amounts of palmitate. Position two contains primarily palmitate. No radioactive trans-Δ3-hexadecenoate was detected. The labeling patterns indicate that the radioactive phosphatidylglycerol is the product of de novo chloroplast lipid biosynthesis and furthermore, phosphatidylglycerol may be a substrate for fatty acid desaturation. Images Fig. 1 PMID:16662664

The production and certification of a plutonium equal-atom reference material: NBL CRM 128

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crawford, D.W.; Gradle, C.G.; Soriano, M.D.

This report describes the design, production, and certification of the New Brunswick Laboratory plutonium equal-atom certified reference material (CRM), NBL CRM 128. The primary use of this CRM is for the determination of bias corrections encountered in the operation of a mass spectrometer. This reference material is available to the US Department of Energy contractor-operated and government-operated laboratories, as well as to the international nuclear safeguards community. The absolute, or unbiased, certified value for the CRM's Pu-242/Pu-239 ratio is 1.00063 {plus minus} 0.00026 (95% confidence interval) as of October 1, 1984. This value was obtained through the quantitative blending ofmore » high-purity, chemically and isotopically characterized separated isotopes, as well as through intercomparisons of CRM samples with calibration mixtures using thermal ionization mass spectrometry. 32 tabs.« less

Calculations of the Performance of a Compression-Ignition Engine-Compressor Turbine Combination I : Performance of a Highly Supercharged Compression-Ignition Engine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, J. C.; Mendelson, Alexander

1945-01-01

Small high-speed single-cylinder compression-ignition engines were tested to determine their performance characteristics under high supercharging. Calculations were made on the energy available in the exhaust gas of the compression-ignition engines. The maximum power at any given maximum cylinder pressure was obtained when the compression pressure was equal to the maximum cylinder pressure. Constant-pressure combustion was found possible at an engine speed of 2200 rpm. Exhaust pressures and temperatures were determined from an analysis of indicator cards. The analysis showed that, at rich mixtures with the exhaust back pressure equal to the inlet-air pressure, there is excess energy available for driving a turbine over that required for supercharging. The presence of this excess energy indicates that a highly supercharged compression-ignition engine might be desirable as a compressor and combustion chamber for a turbine.

Observations of Morphodynamics During a Winter Storm at the Mouth of the Misa River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calantoni, J.; Sheremet, A.; Brocchini, M.; Postacchini, M.

2016-02-01

The shallow mouth of the Misa River, Senigallia, Italy is exposed to wind and waves from the Adriatic Sea and is vulnerable to morphodynamic activity during even moderate storm events. Sediment loads and transport patterns may be strongly influenced by the confluence of fine cohesive suspended sediment contained in the discharge from the river mixing with coarser sandy material stirred up by waves impinging on the river mouth. Observations of rapid changes in bed elevation along a transect extending offshore of the river mouth were made using a combination of instruments deployed from 23-27 January 2014 at two locations in roughly 5 m water depth and 6 m water depth. Additionally, an up looking ADCP was located farther offshore in approximately 7 m water depth. The deposited sediment quickly consolidated into a hardened mixture of sand, mud, and venerids over the base of our instrument frames. At the 5 m water depth location over 0.4 m of deposition was observed roughly during a 6-hour period. Similarly, at the 6 m water depth location nearly 0.2 m of deposition was observed roughly over a 6-hour period with approximately a two-hour time lag. The onset of deposition was concurrent with a change in direction of the mean currents at both locations and a change in direction of wave skewness observed at the 5 m water depth location. We hypothesize that sandbar migration was responsible for the observed changes in bed elevation at both locations. Our analysis will focus on sediment transport modeling to explain rates of deposition and time lag of the observed changes in bed elevation at the 5 m and 6 m water depth locations.

Roughness of human enamel surface submitted to different prophylaxis methods.

PubMed

Castanho, Gisela Muassab; Arana-Chavez, Victor E; Fava, Marcelo

2008-01-01

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate alterations in the surface roughness and micromorphology of human enamel submitted to three prophylaxis methods. Sixty-nine caries-free molars with exposed labial surfaces were divided into three groups. Group I was treated with a rotary instrument set at a low speed, rubber cup and a mixture of water and pumice; group II with a rotary instrument set at a low speed, rubber cup and prophylaxis paste Herjos-F (Vigodent S/A Indústria e Comércio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); and group III with sodium bicarbonate spray Profi II Ceramic (Dabi Atlante Indústrias Médico Odontológicas Ltda, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil). All procedures were performed by the same operator for 10 s, and samples were rinsed and stored in distilled water Pre and post-treatment surface evaluation was completed using a surface profilometer (Perthometer S8P, Marh, Perthen, Germany) in 54 samples. In addition, the other samples were coated with gold and examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results of this study were statistically analyzed with the paired t-test (Student), the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Dunn (5%) test. The sodium bicarbonate spray led to significantly rougher surfaces than the pumice paste. The use of prophylaxis paste showed no statistically significant difference when compared with the other methods. Based on SEM analysis, the sodium bicarbonate spray presented an irregular surface with granular material and erosions. Based on this study, it can be concluded that there was an increased enamel surface roughness when teeth were treated with sodium bicarbonate spray when compared with teeth treated with pumice paste.

In vitro wear, surface roughness and hardness of propanal-containing and diacetyl-containing novel composites and copolymers based on bis-GMA analogs.

PubMed

Prakki, Anuradha; Cilli, Renato; Mondelli, Rafael Francisco Lia; Kalachandra, Sid

2008-03-01

To evaluate the effect of two additives, aldehyde or diketone, on the wear, roughness and hardness of bis-GMA-based composites/copolymers containing TEGDMA, propoxylated bis-GMA (CH(3)bis-GMA) or propoxylated fluorinated bis-GMA (CF(3)bis-GMA). Fifteen experimental composites and 15 corresponding copolymers were prepared combining bis-GMA and TEGDMA, CH(3)bis-GMA or CF(3)bis-GMA, with aldehyde (24 mol% and 32 mol%) or diketone (24 mol% and 32 mol%) totaling 30 groups. For composites, hybrid treated filler (barium aluminosilicate glass/pyrogenic silica; 60 wt%) was added to monomer mixtures. Photopolymerization was affected by 0.2 wt% each of camphorquinone and N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine. Wear (W) test was conducted in a toothbrushing abrasion machine (n=6) and quantified using a profilometer. Surface roughness (R) changes, before and after abrasion test, were determined using a rugosimeter. Microhardness (H) measurements were performed for dry and wet samples using a Knoop microindenter (n=6). Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (alpha=0.05). Incorporation of additives led to improved W and H values for bis-GMA/TEGDMA and bis-GMA/CH(3)bis-GMA systems. Additives had no significant effect on the W and H changes of bis-GMA/CF(3)bis-GMA. With regard to R changes, additives produced decreased values for bis-GMA/CH(3)bis-GMA and bis-GMA/CF(3)bis-GMA composites. Bis-GMA/TEGDMA and bis-GMA/CH(3)bis-GMA copolymers with additives became smoother after abrasion test. The findings correlate with additives ability to improve degree of conversion of some composites/copolymers thereby enhancing mechanical properties.

High accuracy thermal conductivity measurements near the lambda transition of helium with very high temperature resolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fairbank, William M.; Lipa, John A.

1989-01-01

Over the past few years extensive thermal conductivity measurements near the lambda point of helium were made. The original goal of measuring the thermal conductivity with a resolution of t = T/T sub lambda -1 of 3 x 10(-8) was reached, but with somewhat less accuracy than was hoped. Subtle effects in the apparatus near the transition were observed which reduced the ability to interpret the results. Nevertheless, for resolution of t is greater than or equal to 10(-7) reliable data was obtained, extending previous measurements by more than an order of magnitude. Deviations from theoretical predictions were observed for t is less than or equal to 3 x 10(-6) leading to the question of the validity of the present renormalization group analysis of transport properties, at least for the case of helium. This anomaly led to closer examination of the boundary effects in the measurements. During the experiments a totally unexpected effect in the very dilute He-3 - He-4 mixtures was observed which led to the explanation of the anomalous results. The concentration dependence of the thermal conductivity near T sub lambda in the superfluid phase was found to deviate strongly from the predictions. The results gave an independent verification of this behavior and caused reanalysis of the Khalatnikov theory of hydrodynamics of the mixtures. An alternative solution was found which is in better agreement with the experiment.

Estimation of the chemical rank for the three-way data: a principal norm vector orthogonal projection approach.

PubMed

Hong-Ping, Xie; Jian-Hui, Jiang; Guo-Li, Shen; Ru-Qin, Yu

2002-01-01

A new approach for estimating the chemical rank of the three-way array called the principal norm vector orthogonal projection method has been proposed. The method is based on the fact that the chemical rank of the three-way data array is equal to one of the column space of the unfolded matrix along the spectral or chromatographic mode. A vector with maximum Frobenius norm is selected among all the column vectors of the unfolded matrix as the principal norm vector (PNV). A transformation is conducted for the column vectors with an orthogonal projection matrix formulated by PNV. The mathematical rank of the column space of the residual matrix thus obtained should decrease by one. Such orthogonal projection is carried out repeatedly till the contribution of chemical species to the signal data is all deleted. At this time the decrease of the mathematical rank would equal that of the chemical rank, and the remaining residual subspace would entirely be due to the noise contribution. The chemical rank can be estimated easily by using an F-test. The method has been used successfully to the simulated HPLC-DAD type three-way data array and two real excitation-emission fluorescence data sets of amino acid mixtures and dye mixtures. The simulation with added relatively high level noise shows that the method is robust in resisting the heteroscedastic noise. The proposed algorithm is simple and easy to program with quite light computational burden.

Characteristics of the Martian atmosphere surface layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clow, G. D.; Haberle, R. M.

1991-01-01

Researchers extend elements of various terrestrial boundary layer models to Mars in order to estimate sensible heat, latent heat, and momentum fluxes within the Martian atmospheric surface layer. To estimate the molecular viscosity and thermal conductivity of a CO2-H2O gas mixture under Martian conditions, parameterizations were developed. Parameterizations for specific heat and and binary diffusivity were also determined. The Prandtl and Schmidt numbers derived from these thermophysical properties were found to range from 0.78 - 1.0 and 0.47 - 0.70, respectively, for Mars. Brutsaert's model for sensible and latent heat transport within the interfacial sublayer for both aerodynamically smooth and rough airflow was experimentally tested under similar conditions, validating its application to Martian conditions. For the surface sublayer, the researchers modified the definition of the Monin-Obukhov length to properly account for the buoyancy forces arising from water vapor gradients in the Martian atmospheric boundary layer. This length scale was then utilized with similarity theory turbulent flux profiles with the same form as those used by Businger et al. and others. It was found that under most Martian conditions, the interfacial and surface sublayers offer roughly comparable resistance to sensible heat and water vapor transport and are thus both important in determining the associated fluxes.

An in situ polymerization approach for the synthesis of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nanofibrous membranes for oil-water separation.

PubMed

Shang, Yanwei; Si, Yang; Raza, Aikifa; Yang, Liping; Mao, Xue; Ding, Bin; Yu, Jianyong

2012-12-21

Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic nanofibrous membranes exhibiting robust oil-water separation performance were prepared by a facile combination of electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers and a novel in situ polymerized fluorinated polybenzoxazine (F-PBZ) functional layer that incorporated silica nanoparticles (SiO(2) NPs). By employing the F-PBZ/SiO(2) NPs modification, the pristine hydrophilic CA nanofibrous membranes were endowed with a superhydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 161° and a superoleophilicity with the oil contact angle of 3°. Surface morphological studies have indicated that the wettability of resultant membranes could be manipulated by tuning the surface composition as well as the hierarchical structures. The quantitative hierarchical roughness analysis using the N(2) adsorption method has confirmed the major contribution of SiO(2) NPs on enhancing the porous structure, and a detailed correlation between roughness and solid-liquid interface pinning is proposed. Furthermore, the as-prepared membranes exhibited fast and efficient separation for oil-water mixtures and excellent stability over a wide range of pH conditions, which would make them a good candidate in industrial oil-polluted water treatments and oil spill cleanup, and also provided a new insight into the design and development of functional nanofibrous membranes through F-PBZ modification.