Porous structures printed by fused deposition of granules processed from a novel polyamide/alumina-based system

Alumina ceramic porous structures were shaped by the fused deposition of alumina/polyamide 612 composite granules using an FDM 3D printer with a modified extruder to process granulated powder instead of a filament. The composite granules were prepared via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). Firstly, in order to determine the proportion of polymer/solvent to be used in the TIPS process, different volume fractions of PA612 in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were studied (0.01 to 0.20), and the granules obtained were characterized by SEM, DSC, and Raman spectroscopy. Secondly, the addition of different ceramic loadings to the PA612/DMSO solution was studied with the aim of determining the amount to be used for preparing the composite granules by TIPS. In particular, the effect of the alumina content on the morphology and size of the obtained composite granules was studied. In addition, rheological properties (oscillatory and rotational tests) of the feed materials were studied. Finally, the printing conditions, including the nozzle temperature and nozzle diameter, and the extrusion process, were optimized in order to obtain porous structures with good quality. Alumina porous structures were successfully printed, debinded, and sintered. Adequate bonding between layers was achieved, and no defects at interfaces were detected.     

A confidence-based framework for business to consumer (B2C) mobile commerce adoption

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been considered to be fundamental in determining the acceptance of new technology in the past decades. The two beliefs, ease of use and usefulness, in the model may not, however, fully explain the consumers’ behavior in an emerging environment, such as mobile commerce (m-commerce). This paper aims to develop a framework for m-commerce adoption in consumer decision-making processes. In this paper TAM has been adopted and extended to analyze successful m-commerce adoption. The key elements of the proposed confidence-based framework for B2C m-commerce adoption include psychological and behavioral factors. Psychological factors include history-based confidence, institution-based confidence and personality-based confidence. Behavioral factors include perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the mobile application and technology.     

Period And Priority Assignment Method For Dcs Design

Distributed control systems (DCS) used in industry environments consist of sensors, actuators, and controllers that are connected with a fieldbus. It is difficult to design the DCS while guaranteeing the time‐critical requirements because of both communication delays due to the fieldbus and computation delays due to many tasks executed in one node. This paper proposes a priority assignment method and a period assignment method that find the shortest periods of control loops and guarantee the end‐to‐end constraints such as precedence constraints and timing constraints. Also, a DCS design method is presented by using the proposed two assignment methods. The presented design method considers the worst‐case response times of tasks and messages simultaneously and is applicable to a practical DCS, which consists of several constraints. The design method is validated by examples.     

Oscillation and convergence behaviours exhibited in an ‘unstable’ second‐order digital filter with saturation‐type non‐linearity

This letter explains the oscillatory behaviours exhibited in a second‐order digital filter with saturation‐type non‐linearity via the Hopf bifurcation theorem. It is shown that depending on the bifurcation parameter, the state variables may converge to zero even when the eigenvalues of the system matrix are outside the unit circle. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. abstract     

Preparation and evaluation of poly(2-hydroxyethyl aspartamide)-hexadecylamine-iron oxide for MR imaging of lymph nodes

The purpose of this study was to synthesize biocompatible poly(2-hydroxyethyl aspartamide)–C₁₆-iron oxide (PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide) nanoparticles and to evaluate their efficacy as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging of lymph nodes. The PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by coprecipitation method. The core size of the PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide nanoparticles was about 5 to 7 nm, and the overall size of the nanoparticles was around 20, 60, and 150 nm in aqueous solution. The size of the nanoparticles was controlled by the amount of C₁₆. The 3.0-T MRI signal intensity of a rabbit lymph node was effectively reduced after intravenous administration of PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide with the size of 20 nm. The in vitro and in vivo toxicity tests revealed the high biocompatibility of PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide nanoparticles. Therefore, PHEA-C₁₆-iron oxide nanoparticles with 20-nm size can be potentially useful as T2-weighted MR imaging contrast agents for the detection of lymph nodes.     

Microbiological quality of fresh vegetables and fruits sold in Singapore

The aim of this study was to characterise the microbiological quality of selected common fresh vegetables and fruits commercially sold in Singapore in order to provide insight into any potential health hazards associated with consumption of these commodities. A total of 125 samples, collected from major supermarkets and local markets, were tested for aerobic mesophilic and psychrotrophic bacterial counts. One hundred samples were analysed for enumeration of yeasts and moulds, enumeration of coliforms and detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp. Aerobic mesophilic counts ranged from 1.6 to 9.1 log cfu/g, with the lowest and the highest counts recorded for orange and bean sprouts, respectively. The highest level of coliforms was found in bean sprouts and fresh-cut salad, with 50% of samples containing more than 5 log cfu/g. Like coliform counts, the highest counts of yeasts and moulds were obtained in bean sprouts and fresh-cut salads. Fresh-cut salads also had the highest mean psychrotrophic plate count of 4.9 log cfu/g. Although no E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella spp. was detected in the fruits and vegetables analysed in this study, high bacterial counts, especially in bean sprouts and fresh-cut salad, imply that effective control measures should be implemented to improve the microbiological quality of fresh produce sold in Singapore.     

Dialysis Disequilibrium Syndrome Revisited

An aggressive dialysis in a grossly azotemic patient, especially one with severe metabolic acidosis, can lead to dialysis disequilibrium syndrome (DDS). Mild forms present as nausea, vomiting, restlessness, and headache. Severe manifestations include seizures, obtundation, coma, and even death. This clinical picture is caused by cerebral edema induced by one or more of the following mechanisms:

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Facile synthesis and characterization of novel coronene chromophores and their application to LCD color filters

New coronene derivatives, diphenylcoronene tetracarboxdiimide and monophenylbenzoperylene tetracarboxdiimide, were synthesized from N,N′-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-1,7-dibromoperylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxdiimide via a one-step reaction. The suggested synthetic route is the simplest and most economical among the methods to extend the aromatic systems along the short molecular axis of perylene. The synthesized molecules exhibited superior stability and color strength as yellow chromophores. They were characterized by significant hypsochromic shifts of the absorption compared to perylene tetracarboxdiimide and high fluorescence quantum yields.