Investigation of electrochromic properties of poly(3,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)dithieno[3,2-b;2′,3′-d]thiophene)

Electropolymerization of 3,5-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)dithieno[3,2-b;2′,3′-d]thiophene BMPhDTT, having strong electron-donating methoxy groups, was performed, utilizing potentiodynamic method. The homopolymer was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV–vis spectroscopy. Spectroelectrochemical and electrochromic properties of the homopolymer film were investigated and a PBMPhDTT/PEDOT device was constructed to understand its characteristics in detail. It was revealed that the potential range of 0.0–2.0 V is suitable for operating the device between yellow and blue colors. It indicated a good open circuit memory and stability.     

Using a chemical equilibrium model to predict amendments required to precipitate phosphorus as struvite in liquid swine manure

Precipitation of phosphate minerals from liquid swine manure is an established means of reducing the orthophosphate (OP) concentration. This project investigated the usefulness of a chemical equilibrium model, Visual Minteq, for prescribing the amendments needed to maximize struvite precipitation from liquid swine manure and thus reduce the OP phosphorus concentration. The actual concentrations of Mg(2+), Ca(2+), K(+), OP, NH(4)(+), alkalinity and pH from a liquid swine manure system were used as inputs to the model. The model was modified to remove species with extremely low formation rates, because they would not significantly precipitate in the reaction occurring in a short retention-time process such as those envisioned for swine manure struvite-formation reactors. Using the model's output, a series of 19-L reactors were used to verify the results. Verification results demonstrated that Visual Minteq can be used to pre-determine the concentration of amendments required to maximize struvite recovery.     

Characterization of cryogenic heat treated Vanadis 4 PM cold work tool steel

The amount of retained austenite in the quenched cold work tool steel sample is 17.7%, in the condition of sub-zero heat treated and double tempered samples following by quenching is 1.9% determined by XRD analysis. The types of carbides (MC, M₇C₃, M₂₃C₆) present in the structure was determined by XRD and SEM-EDS analysis. The hardness of test samples were 865 HV(0.1) for quenched sample and 785 HV(0.1) forth sample subjected to sub-zero treatment and double tempered after the quenching.     

The effect of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on bacterial translocation in the splenectomized rat

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We created a study group in order to investigate the effects of splenectomy and filgrastim. Filgrastim is an immunomodulator granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), that affects bacterial translocation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We created 3 study groups with 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats; the first group included sham splenectomy, the second group was splenectomy, and the third group was splenectomy+ filgrastim group. RESULTS: The mean bacterial colony count of the cecum were 2.5 x 10(9) in group 1, 1.2 x 10(10) in group 2 and 3.5 x 10(9) in group 3. The differences between these groups were accepted as statistically significant. The mean counts of the terminal ileum were 1.1 x 10(9) in group 1, 5.5 x 10(10) in group 2 and 2.5 x 10(10) in group 3. The p values of group 1-2 were 0.036 (statistically significant) and 0.123 in groups 2-3) were not statistically significant. The mean counts of the liver were 0.2 x 10(4), 1 x 10(10) and 3.4 x 10(5), respectively. In comparison of the groups the p values of the first and last 2 groups were found to be 0.047 (statistically significant). The mean counts of the mesenteric lymph node were 0.7 x 10(3), 1 x 10(10) and 0.9 x 10(6) respectively. The p values were 0.343 for the first and the last 2 groups both. As they were above 0.05, they were not statistically significant. The degrees of liver Kupffer cell hyperplasia were (+) 40%, (+2) 50% and (+3) 10% (group 1), (+) 10%, (+2) 40% and (+3) 50% (group 2), (+2) 60% and (+3) 40% (group 3) (p = 0.0039). The rates of the absence of pathology in mesenteric lymph nodes were 70% (group 1), 90% (group 2) and 100% (group 3) (p = 0.049). These findings were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: We found that splenectomy has activated the whole predisposing factors of bacterial translocation and created the latter itself. In addition, we showed that filgrastim, a recently widespread used G-CSF, decreases bacterial translocation significantly.     

Understanding the Potential In Vitro Modes of Action of Bis(β-diketonato) Oxovanadium(IV) Complexes

To understand the potential in vitro modes of action of bis(β-diketonato) oxovanadium(IV) complexes, nine compounds of varying functionality have been screened using a range of biological techniques. The antiproliferative activity against a range of cancerous and normal cell lines has been determined, and show these complexes are particularly sensitive against the lung carcinoma cell line, A549. Annexin V (apoptosis) and Caspase-3/7 assays were studied to confirm these complexes induce programmed cell death. While gel electrophoresis was used to determine DNA cleavage activity and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the Comet assay was used to determine induced genomic DNA damage. Additionally, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based DNA melting and fluorescent intercalation displacement assays have been used to determine the interaction of the complexes with double strand (DS) DNA and to establish preferential DNA base-pair binding (AT versus GC).     

Effect of CeO2 addition on densification and microstructure of Al2O3-YSZ composites

Alumina (Al₂O₃) and alumina-yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composites containing 3 and 5 mass% ceria (CeO₂) were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at temperatures of 1350-1400 °C for 300 s under a pressure of 40 MPa. Densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of the Al₂O₃ based composites were investigated. Fully dense composites with a relative density of approximately 99% were obtained. The grain growth of alumina was inhibited significantly by the addition of 10 vol% zirconia, and formation of elongated CeAl₁₁O₁₈ grains was observed in the ceria containing composites sintered at 1400 °C. Al₂O₃-YSZ composites without CeO₂ had higher hardness than monolithic Al₂O₃ sintered body and the hardness of Al₂O₃-YSZ composites decreased from 20.3 GPa to 18.5 GPa when the content of ZrO₂ increased from 10 to 30 vol%. The fracture toughness of Al₂O₃ increased from 2.8 MPa m^1/2 to 5.6 MPa m^1/2 with the addition of 10 vol% YSZ, and further addition resulted in higher fracture toughness values. The highest value of fracture toughness, 6.2 MPa m^1/2, was achieved with the addition of 30 vol% YSZ.     

Physiological response to firefighting activities of various work cycles using extended duration and prototype SCBA

Firefighters’ self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) protects the respiratory system during firefighting but increases the physiological burden. Extended duration SCBA (>30 min) have increased air supply, potentially increasing the duration of firefighting work cycles. To examine the effects of SCBA configuration and work cycle (length and rest), 30 firefighters completed seven trials using different SCBA and one or two bouts of simulated firefighting following work cycles common in the United States. Heart rate, core temperature, oxygen consumption, work output and self-reported perceptions were recorded during all activities. Varying SCBA resulted in few differences in these parameters. However, during a second bout, work output significantly declined while heart rates and core temperatures were elevated relative to a single bout. Thirty seven per cent of the subjects were unable to complete the second bout in at least one of the two-bout conditions. These firefighters had lower fitness and higher body mass than those who completed all assigned tasks.

Practitioner Summary: The effects of extended duration SCBA and work/rest cycles on physiological parameters and work output have not been examined. Cylinder size had minimal effects, but extended work cycles with no rest resulted in increased physiological strain and decreased work output. This effect was more pronounced in firefighters with lower fitness.     

Detection and classification of vehicles from omnidirectional videos using multiple silhouettes

To detect and classify vehicles in omnidirectional videos, we propose an approach based on the shape (silhouette) of the moving object obtained by background subtraction. Different from other shape-based classification techniques, we exploit the information available in multiple frames of the video. We investigated two different approaches for this purpose. One is combining silhouettes extracted from a sequence of frames to create an average silhouette, the other is making individual decisions for all frames and use consensus of these decisions. Using multiple frames eliminates most of the wrong decisions which are caused by a poorly extracted silhouette from a single video frame. The vehicle types we classify are motorcycle, car (sedan) and van (minibus). The features extracted from the silhouettes are convexity, elongation, rectangularity and Hu moments. We applied two separate methods of classification. First one is a flowchart-based method that we developed and the second is K-nearest neighbour classification. 60% of the samples in the dataset are used for training. To ensure randomization in the experiments, threefold cross-validation is applied. The results indicate that using multiple silhouettes increases the classification performance.     

Modeling and visualization of lifecycle building performance assessment

Lifecycle building performance assessment (LBPA) ensures that buildings perform and operate as intended during building lifecycle. Such assessment activities are typically multi-phase and multi-disciplinary, and generate large amounts of information that need efficient management. During the lifecycle of one building, multiple assessment methods are employed semi-concurrently and with a great deal of information overlap between successive phases. This information is semantically rich and context-dependent, reflecting the local perspective that it exists within. Usage of separate and disconnected tools for each method results in information fragmentation and redundancy, posing problems for well-informed decision making. The objective of this research is to develop an integral reference model, CLIP (Computational support for Lifecycle Integral Performance assessment), that aims to improve the efficiency and quality of existing performance assessment practices. The model provides flexible, modular, and extensible data structures and algorithms for the representation, transformation, integration, and visualization of performance information. The initial results support the CLIP model’s ability to deal with the local volatility and variation in the processes and information content that is being managed, while requiring further refinement and extension work to achieve a customized solution to fit in different contextual settings.     

Multiple bulk-reaction asymptotics and the electrochemical pickling of steel

Asymptotic methods are used to explore the role of multiple homogeneous chemical reactions, water protolysis, and the disassociation of sulfuric acid in a recent numerical model for the industrial electrochemical pickling of steel. The analysis demonstrates the surprising result that, even though the asymptotic structure of the solution differs from that found when either one or both of the chemical reactions are neglected, the overall current density remains unchanged. Most importantly from an industrial perspective, the asymptotic model provides results of practical value for process design at a fraction of the computational cost of the earlier numerical model.