Anisotropy of hygrothermal damage in fiber/polymer composites: Effective elasticity measures and estimates

Measured elasticity moduli of a highly (68%) glass-fiber reinforced epoxy matrix for different amounts of fiber/matrix interface weakening and debonding, due to different hygrothermal ageing stages, are compared to estimated ones. Ultrasonic measurements provide seven of the nine elasticity moduli of the orthotropic material samples, including all the moduli significantly affected by damage. Theoretical estimates combine homogenization modeling techniques and Finite Element (FE) calculations, the latter when the effect of observed partial debonding on effective moduli is to be specified. These estimates are performed under different assumptions for the composite structure, with special attention to the existence of a fiber–matrix interphase. Analytical comparisons for the undamaged composite establish that matching US measurements with estimates cannot be obtained, regardless of the chosen model, without the assumption of an interphase layer of modified resin coating the fibers. This coating resin, when in relevant concentration with regard to literature data about fiber coating thickness, typically conserves the epoxy moduli transversally to the fiber orientation, while, in the fiber direction its moduli approach those of the fibers. The comparison of the US measurements on damaged samples to FE calculations assuming progressive one-directional debonding shows that most of the composite stiffness loss can preferentially be due to an initial interphase weakening, while the fiber/matrix debonding seems more likely delayed to long H-ageing times. This is consistent with physical interpretation of damage by water pooling through silane bridges bonding epoxy to glass. The calculations also provide the effective stiffness, at different damage stages, of the “Undamaged Equivalent Inhomogeneity” for this damaged inclusion type.     

CMOS RF switched capacitor bandpass filter tuned by ring VCO

A new RF switched capacitor bandpass filter and its command circuit made up of a ring voltage controlled oscillator with ‘XOR’ gates are proposed. Implemented in a standard CMOS technology, this circuit is intended to be used in a subset of professional mobile phone applications [380–520 MHz]. Experiments carried out on a prototype show a tunable center frequency range of 260 MHz [240–500 MHz], with a quality factor that can be as high as 300.     

In situ measurement of the infrared absorption and extinction of chemical and biologically derived aerosols using flow-through photoacoustics

In an effort to establish a more reliable set of optical cross sections for a variety of chemical and biological aerosol simulants, we have developed a flow-through photoacoustic system that is capable of measuring absolute, mass-normalized extinction and absorption cross sections. By employing a flow-through design we avoid issues associated with closed aerosol photoacoustic systems and improve sensitivity. Although the results shown here were obtained for the tunable CO2 laser waveband region, i.e., 9.20-10.80 microm, application to other wavelengths is easily achievable. The aerosols considered are categorized as biological, chemical, and inorganic in origin, i.e., Bacillus atrophaeus endospores, dimethicone silicone oil (SF-96 grade 50), and kaolin clay powder (alumina and silicate), respectively. Results compare well with spectral extinction measured previously by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Comparisons with Mie theory calculations based on previously published complex indices of refraction and measured size distributions are also presented.     

Evaluation of a program to reduce motor-vehicle collisions among young adults in the county of Landes, France

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a prevention program called “Atout-Route”, based on the concept of commitment. The program was implemented in March 2000, to reduce the number of drivers under the age of 25 years involved in motor-vehicle collisions in the county of Landes (southwestern France). Using data from the regional observatory of road safety, we defined a target and three control groups similar on age or location. We used Poisson and quasi-Poisson regression to estimate whether the observed evolution of motor-vehicle collisions, after the program was implemented, was different in the targeted group than in the three control groups. The number of motor-vehicle collisions decreased everywhere and in every age group. The effect of the prevention program was not statistically significant (relative risk = 0.89; 95% confidence interval 0.74–1.07). Our results are compatible with a positive effect of the program. The possible dilution of its effect by national road safety actions implemented since 2000, and our early assessment are possible reasons for the non-significant observation.     

DTI segmentation by statistical surface evolution

We address the problem of the segmentation of cerebral white matter structures from diffusion tensor images (DTI). A DTI produces, from a set of diffusion-weighted MR images, tensor-valued images where each voxel is assigned with a 3 x 3 symmetric, positive-definite matrix. This second order tensor is simply the covariance matrix of a local Gaussian process, with zero-mean, modeling the average motion of water molecules. As we will show in this paper, the definition of a dissimilarity measure and statistics between such quantities is a nontrivial task which must be tackled carefully. We claim and demonstrate that, by using the theoretically well-founded differential geometrical properties of the manifold of multivariate normal distributions, it is possible to improve the quality of the segmentation results obtained with other dissimilarity measures such as the Euclidean distance or the Kullback-Leibler divergence. The main goal of this paper is to prove that the choice of the probability metric, i.e., the dissimilarity measure, has a deep impact on the tensor statistics and, hence, on the achieved results. We introduce a variational formulation, in the level-set framework, to estimate the optimal segmentation of a DTI according to the following hypothesis: Diffusion tensors exhibit a Gaussian distribution in the different partitions. We must also respect the geometric constraints imposed by the interfaces existing among the cerebral structures and detected by the gradient of the DTI. We show how to express all the statistical quantities for the different probability metrics. We validate and compare the results obtained on various synthetic data-sets, a biological rat spinal cord phantom and human brain DTIs.     

Accurate closed-form formulas for the electromagnetic parameters of squared coaxial lines

This article presents a set of accurate closed-form formulas for the electromagnetic parameters (inductance (L), capacitance (C) and characteristic impedance (Z_c)) for squared coaxial lines with circular and square inner conductor. The analytical expressions, deduced from rigorous analysis by the finite element method (FEM), method of moments (MoM) and curves fitting techniques, can be easily implemented in CAD simulation tools, to design components for wireless communication. This study presents accurate and suitable general expressions for all squared coaxial lines with a wide range of outer to inner conductors ratio between 1.2 and 10. As an application, we present the design of 60 GHz branch line couplers.     

Exploring deep insights into the interaction mechanism of a quinazoline derivative with mild steel in HCl: electrochemical,DFT, and molecular dynamic simulation studies

A novel quinazoline derivative, 3-cyclopropyl-3,4-dihydroquinoline-2(1H)-One (CPHQ), was successfully designed and synthesized. Then, its corrosion inhibition behavior on carbon steel (CS) surface in 1.0?M HCl at different temperatures was investigated using chemical, electrochemical and theoretical techniques. The experiments confirmed that the studied inhibitor shows inhibition efficiency as high as 95% even at very low concentration of 5?×?10^?3 M. To ascertain the nature of adsorption of CPHQ molecules on CS surface, Langmuir adsorption isotherm model was best fitted. From potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) calculations, it was concluded that the CPHQ acted as a mixed type corrosion inhibitor. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies revealed that increase in CPHQ concentration, resulted in an increase in the polarization resistance with a simultaneous decrease in the double-layer capacitance values. PDP tests were also performed to understand the corrosion behavior of CS as a function of temperature without and with varying concentrations of CPHQ, at temperatures 303, 313, 323, and 333?K. It can be concluded that the corrosion inhibition effect was dependent on the concentration of the inhibitor and the solution temperature. In order to understand the basic insights of the action mode of CPHQ molecules, Density Functional Theory (DFT) method, and Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulations were also employed on the optimized structure of CPHQ.     

Sulfonylguanidine Derivatives as Potential Antimelanoma Agents

Sulfonylguanidines are interesting bioactive compounds with a broad range of applications in the treatment of different pathologies. 2-Aminobenzazole-based structures are well employed in the development of new anticancer drugs. Two series of novel N-benzazol-2-yl-N′-sulfonyl guanidine derivatives were synthesized with the sulfonylguanidine in either an extra- or intracyclic frame. They were evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against malignant melanoma tumor cells, thus allowing structure-activity relationships to be defined. Additionally, NCI-60 screening was performed for the best analogue to study its efficiency against a panel of other cancer cell lines. The stability profile of this promising compound was then validated. During the synthetic process, an unexpected new deamidination of the sulfonylguanidine towards sulfonamide function was also identified.     

Synthesis of Novel Tetra(µ3-Methoxo) Bridged with [Cu(II)-O-Cd(II)] Double-Open-Cubane Cluster: XRD/HSA-Interactions,Spectral and Oxidizing Properties

A new double-open-cubane core Cd(II)-O-Cu(II) bimetallic ligand mixed cluster of type [Cl₂Cu₄Cd₂(NNO)₆(NN)₂(NO₃)₂].CH₃CN was made available in EtOH/CH₃CN solution. The 1-hydroxymethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazole (NNOH) and 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (NNH) act as N,O-polydentate anion ligands in coordinating the Cu(II) and Cd(II) centers. The structure of the cluster in the solid state was proved by XRD study and confirmed in the liquid state by UV-vis analysis. The XRD result supported the construction of two octahedral and one square pyramid geometries types around the four Cu(II) centers and only octahedral geometry around Cd(II) two centers. Interestingly, NNOH ligand acts as a tetra-µ³-oxo and tri-µ²-oxo ligand; meanwhile, the N-N in NNH acts as classical bidentate anion/neutral ligands. The interactions in the lattice were detected experimentally by the XRD-packing result and computed via Hirschfeld surface analysis (HSA). The UV-vis., FT-IR and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), supported the desired double-open cubane cluster composition. The oxidation potential of the desired cluster was evaluated using a 3,5-DTB-catechol 3,5-DTB-quinone as a catecholase model reaction.