A high temperature apparatus for measurement of the Seebeck coefficient

A high temperature Seebeck coefficient measurement apparatus with various features to minimize typical sources of error is designed and built. Common sources of temperature and voltage measurement error are described and principles to overcome these are proposed. With these guiding principles, a high temperature Seebeck measurement apparatus with a uniaxial 4-point contact geometry is designed to operate from room temperature to over 1200 K. This instrument design is simple to operate, and suitable for bulk samples with a broad range of physical types and shapes.     

A taxonomy for and analysis of multi-person-display ecosystems

Interactive displays are increasingly being distributed in a broad spectrum of everyday life environments: they have very diverse form factors and portability characteristics, support a variety of interaction techniques, and can be used by a variable number of people. The coupling of multiple displays creates an interactive “ecosystem of displays”. Such an ecosystem is suitable for particular social contexts, which in turn generates novel settings for communication and performance and challenges in ownership. This paper aims at providing a design space that can inform the designers of such ecosystems. To this end, we provide a taxonomy that builds on the size of the ecosystem and on the degree of individual engagement as dimensions. We recognize areas where physical constraints imply certain kinds of social engagement, versus other areas where further work on interaction techniques for coupling displays can open new design spaces.     

A rapid computational filter for predicting the rate of human renal clearance

In silico models that predict the rate of human renal clearance for a diverse set of drugs, that exhibit both active secretion and net re-absorption, have been produced using three statistical approaches. Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Random Forests (RF) have been used to produce continuous models whereas Classification And Regression Trees (CART) has only been used for a classification model. The best models generated from either PLS or RF produce significant models that can predict acids/zwitterions, bases and neutrals with approximate average fold errors of 3, 3 and 4, respectively, for an independent test set that covers oral drug-like property space. These models contain additional information on top of any influence arising from plasma protein binding on the rate of renal clearance. Classification And Regression Trees (CART) has been used to generate a classification tree leading to a simple set of Renal Clearance Rules (RCR) that can be applied to man. The rules are influenced by lipophilicity and ion class and can correctly predict 60% of an independent test set. These percentages increase to 71% and 79% for drugs with renal clearances of < 0.1 ml/min/kg and > 1 ml/min/kg, respectively. As far as the authors are aware these are the first set of models to appear in the literature that predict the rate of human renal clearance and can be used to manipulate molecular properties leading to new drugs that are less likely to fail due to renal clearance.     

Tactical combat movements: inter-individual variation in performance due to the effects of load carriage

An examination into the effects of carried military equipment on the performance of two tactical combat movement simulations was conducted. Nineteen Airfield Defence Guards performed a break contact (five 30-m sprints) and a fire and movement simulation (16 6-m bounds) in five load conditions (10–30 kg). Heavier loads significantly increased movement duration on the break contact (0.8%/kg load) and fire and movement (1.1%/kg). Performance deterioration was observed from the beginning to the end of the series of movements (bounds or sprints) with deterioration becoming significantly greater in heavier load conditions. Inter-individual variation between slower and faster participants showed a range in load effects; 0.6, 0.8%/kg for fast and 1.0, 1.4%/kg for slow (break contact, fire and movement, respectively). Velocity profiles revealed that the initial acceleration and peak velocity were the primary determinants of performance. As the duration of these tactical combat movements reflects periods of heightened vulnerability, these findings highlight important implications for commanders.

Practitioner Summary: Increasing amounts of carried military equipment impairs the performance of tactical combat movements. Examination of inter-individual variation in velocity profiles identified that the initial acceleration and the peak velocity achieved during sprints and bounds are key determinants of overall performance.     

Electrolyte/Structure?Dependent Cocktail Mediation Enabling High?Rate/Low?Plateau Metal Sulfide Anodes for Sodium Storage

As promising anodes for sodium-ion batteries, metal sulfides ubiquitously suffer from low-rate and high-plateau issues, greatly hindering their application in f...     

Integration of Low-Impact Development into the International Stormwater BMP Database

Low impact development (LID) strategies are being encouraged in many communities as an approach to reduce potential adverse impacts of development on receiving streams. Many questions exist regarding how well various LID strategies perform in different settings, just as similar questions have been raised regarding performance of traditional stormwater best management practices (BMPs). Whereas historical focus on BMP performance has been water quality concentrations or loads, characterization of volume reduction benefits for both conventional and LID practices is increasingly an objective of researchers and stormwater managers. More than a decade ago, Urban Water Resources Research Council (UWRRC) members worked to develop a set of standardized monitoring and reporting protocols for traditional BMPs and to establish a master database for the purpose of evaluating BMP performance and the factors affecting performance. This effort culminated in the International Stormwater BMP Database (www.bmpdatabase.org), which contains data for more than 360 BMPs and continues to operate as a clearinghouse for stormwater BMP data and performance analyses. During 2008–2009, the International Stormwater BMP Database project expanded to better integrate LID into the database and develop a set of metrics that can be used to characterize BMP performance with regard to surface runoff volume reduction. This paper provides a condensed overview and progress report on the LID-focused effort, including the following topics: (1)?monitoring guidance for LID at the overall site development level, (2)?an overview of recent changes to the International Stormwater BMP Database to better accommodate LID studies, (3)?a summary of LID studies currently included in the database, and (4)?a proposed approach for evaluating performance of LID studies with regard to reducing surface runoff volumes.     

Rotatable Aggregation‐Induced‐Emission/Aggregation‐Caused‐Quenching Ratio Strategy for Real‐Time Tracking Nanoparticle Dynamics

Real‐time tracking of the dynamics change of self‐assembled nanostructures in physiological environments is crucial to improving their delivery efficiency and therapeutic effects. However, such tracking is impeded by the complex biological microenvironment leading to inhomogeneous distribution. A rotatable fluorescent ratio strategy is introduced that integrates aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) and aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) into one nanostructured system, termed AIE and ACQ fluorescence ratio (AAR). Following this strategy, an advanced probe, PEG^5k‐TPE₄‐ICGD₄ (PTI), is developed to track the dynamics change. The extremely sharp fluorescent changes (up to 4008‐fold) in AAR allowed for the clear distinguishing and localization of the intact state and diverse dissociated states. The spatiotemporal distribution and structural dynamics of the PTI micelles can be tracked, quantitatively analyzed in living cells and animal tissue by the real‐time ratio map, and be used to monitor other responsive nanoplatforms. With this method, the dynamics of nanoparticle in different organelles are able to be investigated and validated by transmission electron microscopy. This novel strategy is generally applicable to many self‐assembled nanostructures for understanding delivery mechanism in living systems, ultimately to enhance their performance in biomedical applications.     

Noninvasive optical polarimetric glucose sensing using a true phasemeasurement technique

The focus of this paper was to describe the development and testing of a noninvasive true phase optical polarimetry sensing system to monitor in vivo glucose concentrations. To demonstrate the applicability of this optical sensor for glucose measurement, we first calibrated the system and then tested it in vitro using both a glass test cell filled with glucose solution in the physiologic range, with a path length of 0.9 cm to approximate one centimeter path length present in the anterior chamber of the eye, and then on an excised human eye. Our technique used helium neon laser light which was coupled through a rotating linear polarizer along with two stationary linear polarizers and two detectors to produce reference and signal outputs whose amplitudes varied sinusoidally with a frequency of twice the angular velocity of the rotating polarizer, and whose phase was proportional to the rotation of the linear polarization vector passing through the glucose solution.     

高折射率浸没式光刻不一定是最后赢家

ASML和Nikon最新一代的浸没式光刻设备其数值孔径(NA)已经接近了使用水作为浸没液体所能达到的光学理论极限了。在SEMICON West大会上,Nikon发布了它的最新一代浸没式光刻设备NSR-S610C,其数值孔径达到了1．3;而     

Copper‐Based Nanostructured Coatings on Natural Cellulose: Nanocomposites Exhibiting Rapid and Efficient Inhibition of a Multi‐Drug Resistant Wound Pathogen,A. baumannii,and Mammalian Cell Biocompatibility In Vitro

This paper describes a layer‐by‐layer (LBL) electrostatic self‐assembly process for fabricating highly efficient antimicrobial nanocoatings on a natural cellulose substrate. The composite materials comprise a chemically modified cotton substrate and a layer of sub‐5 nm copper‐based nanoparticles. The LBL process involves a chemical preconditioning step to impart high negative surface charge on the cotton substrate for chelation controlled binding of cupric ions (Cu²⁺), followed by chemical reduction to yield nanostructured coatings on cotton fibers. These model wound dressings exhibit rapid and efficient killing of a multidrug resistant bacterial wound pathogen, A. baumannii, where an 8‐log reduction in bacterial growth can be achieved in as little as 10 min of contact. Comparative silver‐based nanocoated wound dressings–a more conventional antimicrobial composite material–exhibit much lower antimicrobial efficiencies; a 5‐log reduction in A. baumannii growth is possible after 24 h exposure times to silver nanoparticle‐coated cotton substrates. The copper nanoparticle–cotton composites described herein also resist leaching of copper species in the presence of buffer, and exhibit an order of magnitude higher killing efficiency using 20 times less total metal when compared to tests using soluble Cu²⁺. Together these data suggest that copper‐based nanoparticle‐coated cotton materials have facile antimicrobial properties in the presence of A. baumannii through a process that may be associated with contact killing, and not simply due to enhanced release of metal ion. The biocompatibility of these copper‐cotton composites toward embryonic fibroblast stem cells in vitro suggests their potential as a new paradigm in metal‐based wound care and combating pathogenic bacterial infections.