Electro-precipitation of magnetite nanoparticles: An electrochemical study

Nanoparticles of magnetites (Fe₃O₄) are synthesized with a new process based on electro-precipitation in ethanol medium. A mechanism pathway is proposed consisting of a Fe(OH)₃ precipitation followed by the reduction of iron hydroxide to magnetite in the presence of hydroxyl ions which are generated at the cathode.     

Cerebral blood flow study using SPECT in patients with memory disorders

INTRODUCTION: Global amnesia (AG) is a dysfunction of memory, in which there is a sudden incapacity to remember recent events and assimilate new information. The aetiology is currently under discussion. The main hypotheses under consideration are an ischemic mechanism and an epileptic mechanism. OBJECTIVE: To study the cerebral blood flow in patients with temporary global amnesia (AGT) or permanent global amnesia (AGP) using functional neuroimaging techniques. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Four patients were studied. Two had severe alterations of fixation memory which had been present for months. The other two had a sudden loss of recent memory, although space-person orientation and immediate memory remained normal. In all cases the cerebral blood flow (FSC), was assessed by single photon emission tomography (SPECT), using Tc-HMPAO as the radio tracer. RESULTS: We describe 4 patients, 2 men and 2 women aged between 42 and 64.2 with AGT and the others with AGP. On SPECT there was temporal hypoperfusion in all 4 patients. In 2 cases there was associated parietal hypoperfusion and in 1 case there was frontal hypoperfusion. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that AGT and AGP are of vascular origin and that SPECT is a useful diagnostic technique in patients with AG.     

Plasma-induced polymerisation of hydrophilic coatings onto macroporous hydrophobic scaffolds

Macroporous poly(methyl methacrylate) scaffolds with a well-interconnected pore architecture were coated with poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) following a particular protocol of plasma-induced polymerisation. Plasma-polymerised PHEA (plPHEA) was grafted onto two macroporous poly(methyl methacrylate) scaffolds with varying cross-linking density showing significant differences in the interpenetration of the coating and the PMMA substrate. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) proved that the surface of the pore structure in the whole volume of the sample was coated. The stability of the plPHEA coating was studied by extraction with distilled water at different temperatures. After the extraction, these samples were observed by SEM and analysed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and FTIR showing that only in very drastic conditions plPHEA suffers hydrolytic degradation.     

Corrosion of MCrAlY: Pt composites prepared by spark plasma sintering

Cyclic oxidation tests of sintered MCrAlY:Pt composites were carried out at temperatures of 1223 and 1273?K. Composite tablets were previously produced by spark plasma sintering. To assess an effect of platinum dispersed, microstructural characterisation was performed on the tablets before and after the cyclic oxidation treatment. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of the oxide layer showed that the presence of typical α-Al₂O₃ and NiAl₂O₄ spinel had structure columnar and equiaxial in both samples. Fine sintered microstructure and addition of Pt into the MCrAlY matrix enhanced the resistance of the material to cyclic oxidation.     

欧洲木结构建筑发展概述

1简介 本文简要介绍了欧洲现代木结构建筑从1990年代至今的发展历程.在这30多年中,多层木结构建筑、新型连接技术和木结构建筑工业化相继出现,促进了木结构建筑的发展,尤其是从2000年后,欧洲木结构建筑的发展更为迅速.     

Botanical features for identification of Gymnosporia arenicola dried leaf

Gymnosporia arenicola Jordaan (Celastraceae) is a shrub or small tree, which naturally occurs in coastal sand dunes of Southern Mozambique and South Africa. Its dried leaf is often used in traditional medicine for the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases. Hereby, we present results of studies carried out according to the pharmacopoeia standards for the identification of herbal drugs, in the whole, fragmented, and powdered plant material. These results were complemented with scanning electron microscopy and histochemical techniques. The leaf microscopic analysis revealed a typical dorsiventral mesophyll with a corresponding spongy parenchyma–palisade parenchyma ratio of 0.60, anomocytic and paracytic stomata, papillate cells with a diameter of 4.00 ± 0.40 µm, multicellular uniseriate nonglandular trichomes with a length of 27.00 ± 4.10 µm and cristalliferous idioblasts containing calcium oxalate cluster crystals with a diameter of 23.04 ± 5.84 µm. The present findings demonstrate that the G. arenicola leaf has both nonglandular trichomes and hypoderm, features not previously described in the corresponding botanical section (Gymnosporia sect. Buxifoliae Jordaan). The establishment of these new botanical markers for the identification of G. arenicola leaf is essential for quality, safety and efficacy reasons. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:1001–1009, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Study of albedo and carpelar membrane degradation for further application in enzymatic peeling of citrus fruits

The enzymatic activity of four commercial enzymatic preparations (Peelzym I, II, III and IV) on citrus pectin, polygalacturonic acid and carboxymethylcellulose was determined (measured as the decrease in relative viscosity). In addition, the effectiveness of these preparations in the enzymatic degradation of the albedo and the segment membrane from Cimboa fruits was assessed. The highest activity on citrus pectin was shown by Peelzym II, although Peelzym I and IV activities were also elevated, 94.5 ± 6.2% and 88.7 ± 8.3% respectively of Peelzym II activity, and no relevant differences were found between them. Peelzym II also showed the highest activity for polygalacturonic acid, which was approximately 25% more than that of Peelzym I and IV, and more than double that of Peelzym III. Peelzym IV showed 40% more EM‐cellulase activity than Peelzym I, II and III. Segment membrane solution was degraded mainly by the enzymatic preparations Peelzym I and II. Thus, the most effective activities for the degradation of the carpelar membrane from Cimboa were those activities which act mainly on pectin and especially on polygalacturonic acid. However, the albedo was degraded to the greatest extent by Peelzym II and, in turn, the most important activities for albedo degradation were those which act on polygalacturonic acid. In addition, the concentration of the enzymatic preparation for the degradation of the carpelar membrane was lower than that required for albedo degradation. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Calculation of the Orientation Relationships of Directionally Solidified Eutectic Ceramics by a Modified Coincidence of Reciprocal Lattice Points Model (CRLP)

The Coincidence of Reciprocal Lattice Points (CRLP) method was used to predict, according to geometric considerations, the most favorable orientation relationships (ORs) between the component phases in a family of directionally solidified eutectic ceramics (DSEC) (NiO–YSZ, CoO–YSZ, NiO–CeO₂, NiO–GDC, CoO–CeO₂, and CoO–GDC) grown by the laser floating zone method. The ORs predicted by the CRLP model are consistent with those experimentally found in a previous work by means of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD). In this article, we also present a modification to the model with the aim of taking into account that the most stable ceramic–ceramic interfaces are usually formed between atomic planes with low Miller indices, due to their higher atomic density and bigger interplanar spacing. Thus, we introduce in the calculation of the overall coincidence volume a weighting factor which is a function of the interplanar spacing. This modified CRLP method has been applied to the aforementioned eutectic ceramics, and the results are presented and discussed in comparison with the traditional CRLP results and the experimental findings.     

Structural modifications and fibre processing of hydroxy-functionalised mesogenic polyazomethines

A number of semiflexible homopolyazomethines and copolyazomethines based on hydroxy-functionalised mesogenic cores have been synthesised and characterised. The reported polymers include structural modifications such as an alteration of the coaxiality, shortening of the flexible spacers or copolymerisation to attain materials with reduced melting temperatures and suitable processability. These structural alterations have been introduced by condensing different ,ω-bis-[(4-formyl-3-hydroxyphenyl)oxy]alkanes with 2-methyl-1,4-phenylenediamine and/or 4-methyl-1,3-phenylenediamine. Fibres have been melt extruded from those nematic polyazomethines with the most favourable thermal properties. As-spun and tension-annealed fibres have been investigated by thermal analysis (TGA and DSC), X-ray diffraction and SEM microscopy in an attempt to infer a relationship between microstructure and tensile properties. From the results presented here, copolymerisation incorporating flexible spacers of different lengths seems to be the best strategy to balance ease of processing and tensile properties. Some of the fibres have improved mechanical properties compared with those previously reported for this class of semiflexible polyazomethine. A nematic polyazomethine with a decamethylenic spacer has also been modified with low percentages of several metal ions [Fe(III), Zn(II), V(IV) and Ni(II)] in order to establish a comparison with previously reported Cu(II)-modified fibres.