The Use of Cooling Holes to Decrease the Amount of Thermal Damage on a Plastic Gear Tooth

A new method was developed to decrease the amount of thermal damage on the contact surface of a plastic gear tooth. The main aim of this method is to decrease the amount of thermal damage on the tooth surface by reducing the heat accumulated in the tooth under working conditions. For this reason, air-cooling holes on the plastic gear tooth were drilled in different locations, with the intention of lowering the tooth temperature by transferring the heat away from the tooth through these holes via convection. Using three the different configurations of holes, the air and temperature at the tooth contact zone were measured and compared.     

Phenolic acid contents of kale (Brassica oleraceae L. var. acephala DC.) extracts and their antioxidant and antibacterial activities

Nine phenolic acids were identified and quantified by HPLC–MS in leaves and 10 in seeds of kale (black cabbage). The free, ester (methanol-soluble), glycoside and ester-bound (methanol-insoluble) phenolic acid contents of the leaves were 487, 532, 4989 and 6402 ng/g fresh weight, respectively. Ferulic and caffeic acids (total contents; 4269 and 4887 ng/g, respectively) were the most abundant. The seed contents of these fractions were 1993, 1477, 1231 and 4909 ng/g dry weight (DW), respectively, and sinapic acid was the most abundant (5037 ng/g DW). The fractions’ total phenolic contents, determined colorimetrically, were highly correlated with their DPPH scavenging capacity, and in antimicrobial activity assays, with nine test organisms representing a wide array of taxa, all of the fractions were effective against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis and (most strongly) Moraxella catarrhalis. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of kale phenolics in free and conjugated forms are discussed.     

Bond strength/disbonding behavior and dimensional stability of wood materials with different adhesives

In this study, we aimed to describe the effects of adhesives [poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), Desmodur vinyl trie ketonol acetate, and urea formaldehyde (UF)] on wooden materials (Scotch pine and oriental beech) cut tangentially and radially impregnated with Protim Solignum, chromate copper arsenate (CCA), and Celcure AC 500 and exposed to humidity and water and heat‐resistance, heating, and cooling tests. For the adhesives, the highest swelling (4.3%) was obtained for oriental beech bonded with UF and cut radially, and the lowest swelling (1%) was obtained for Scotch pine bonded with PVAc and cut radially. For the control samples, the humidity‐resistance, water‐resistance, heat‐resistance, and heating and cooling tests decreased the bonding strength. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Determination of some physical and mechanical properties of laminated veneer lumber impregnated with boron compounds

The viability of producing environment‐friendly blends of HDPE and LDPE with a commercial biodegradable masterbatch containing starch and polyethylene was studied. The service life of these blends was simulated by means of a thermo‐oxidative treatment, and their further disposal in landfill was modeled using an accelerated soil burial test. Characterization was carried out in terms of their calorimetric and thermogravimetric properties. Thermo‐oxidative treatment causes an increase in the crystalline content of both components of the blends, and promotes a segregation of the crystallite sizes of polyethylene. The soil burial test leads to changes in the crystalline content of the biodegradable material, which is influenced by the polyolefinic matrix used. The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of these blends was studied using the Hirata and the Broido models. Thermogravimetric results reveal that the thermo‐oxidative treatment causes a decrease in the activation energy of the thermal decomposition process of both components in the blends, regardless of the type of polyethylene used. The thermo‐oxidative treatment mainly modifies the thermal properties of starch during the degradation process in soil, especially in the LDPE blends. Synergetic degradation of these blends is a complex process that is dependent on the polyolefinic matrix used and mainly causes morphological changes. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Asymptotic Performance Analysis of Distributed Space-Time Codes

We study the asymptotic behavior of a cooperative scheme operating in amplify-and-forward (AF) mode for a large number of relays. An optimal code design rule is derived through the investigation of pair wise error probability (PEP) expression. The design rule turns out to be a Euclidean-distance-type metric including some scaling terms due to path loss and shadowing effects associated with underlying relay links and AF operation mode. Since the design criterion is channel dependent, it does not allow itself for a practical code design. However, we demonstrate that classical Euclidean distance can be used as a sub-optimal solution for realizing cooperative diversity advantages which we further verify through our simulation study     

Effect of Impurities on Water Triple-Point Cells

Water triple-point cells are the basis for the definition of the kelvin and for the realization of the International Temperature Scale of 1990. The temperature differences between the cells are mainly caused by impurities arising in the cell water from the dissolution of the cell envelope (borosilicate glass or quartz). In order to investigate the effects of such impurities on the realized triple-point temperature, water triple-point cells doped with known amounts of Si and Na impurities ( \(0.1\,{\upmu }\hbox {mol}{\cdot }\hbox {mol}^{{-1}}\) to \(1\,{\upmu }\hbox {mol}{\cdot }\hbox {mol}^{{-1}}\) of Si and \(0.2\,{\upmu }\hbox {mol}{\cdot }\hbox {mol}^{{-1}}\) to \(2\,{\upmu }\hbox {mol}{\cdot }\hbox {mol}^{{-1}}\) of Na) were manufactured at VSL by adding gravimetric mixtures of a Si standard reference material and ultra high-purity water to the cell high-purity water. Water samples were taken from the manufactured cells, partitioned into three samples, and distributed to different laboratories for isotope and impurity analysis (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, ICPMS). The results of two independent ICPMS analyses were compared with impurity calculations based on the gravimetric data of the prepared mixtures and manufactured cells. One undoped cell manufactured by UME and one undoped cell manufactured by VSL were intercompared at both VSL and SMD to demonstrate the equivalence of the manufacturing processes of UME and VSL. The triple-point temperatures realized by the doped cells and the undoped cell manufactured by VSL were measured at SMD. The results showed that, in doped cells, the equilibration time after the last freezing is directly dependent on the impurity concentration, and the temperature depression of doped triple-point-of-water cells is significantly greater than the values predicted by Raoult’s law for an ideal dilute solution.     

Coplanar waveguide active bandpass filter

A novel microwave active bandpass filter has been designed in a coplanar waveguide. The approach uses a GaAs FET to link two end-coupled resonators. The realised active filter not only compensates for the losses as compared to a passive filter but also provides an overall gain of 17.54 dB. Flexibility in tuning the filter response through the bias voltage and its superior performance at the harmonics over the passive filters are among the advantages of the design     

Some properties of set yoghurt made from caprine milk and bovine–caprine milk mixtures fortified by ultrafiltration or the addition of skim milk powder

Set yoghurt was produced from caprine milk (A), 70% caprine-30% bovine (B) and 50% caprine–50% bovine milk (C) mixtures, and stored for 14 days at ±4°C. Two methods of fortification, namely ultrafiltration (UF) and the addition of bovine skim milk powder (SMP), were applied to the milk mixtures. Some chemical, physical, microbiological and sensory properties of the six samples were analysed on the 1st, 7th and 14th days of storage. The effects of milk type, concentration method and storage period on the physicochemical and microbiological properties of the samples were investigated statistically.     

Accelerated versus standard corneal collagen cross-linking in pediatric keratoconus patients: 24 months follow-up results

Purpose

To compare the 24 month visual, refractive, topographic and aberrometric results of the accelerated and standard corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) in pediatric keratoconus patients.