An XPS study of the surfaces on Fe-Cr,Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloys after mechanical polishing

Using an XPS technique, the composition and thickness of the surface film and the composition of the underlying alloy surface on Fe-Cr, Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloys were studied after polishing with silicon carbide paper in trichloro-ethylene and cyclohexane. The compositions of the underlying alloy surface after polishing were almost the same as those of the bulk alloys but the film compositions depended on the alloying addition and environment during polishing. The cationic fractions in the surface films on the Fc-Cr alloys polished in both solvents were almost the same as the corresponding atomic fractions of the bulk alloys. In contrast, iron ions were apt to be concentrated in the surface films on the Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloys, and the weights of nickel ions were different in the surface films on the Fe-Ni alloys polished in different solvents. Chloride ions were found in the surface films due to the reaction of the metal surface with trichloro-ethylene. The amount of chloride ions was particularly large in the surface films on the Fe-Ni alloys. Heating the alloy specimens under the vacuum of the spectrometer resulted in almost complete reduction of the surface films on the Fe-Co and Fe-Ni alloys, and in the change in the compositions of all alloy surfaces.     

Epoxyquinomicins A, B, C and D, new antibiotics from Amycolatopsis. II. Effect on type II collagen-induced arthritis in mice

The anti-arthritic effects of epoxyquinomicins on type II collagen-induced arthritis in DBA/1J mice were examined. Prophylactic treatment with epoxyquinomicins A, B, C and D (1-4 mg/kg) had potent inhibitory effects on type II collagen-induced arthritis. In contrast to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), epoxyquinomicin C (1-30 mg/kg) had neither an anti-inflammatory effect on carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats nor an analgesic effect on acetic acid-induced writhing in mice. These results suggest that the mode of action of epoxyquinomicins is different from that of NSAIDs and that epoxyquinomicins may become useful drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.     

Trace gas measurement with an integrated porous tube collector/long-path absorbance detector

Porous membrane tubes filled with an absorbing solution that change colors upon selective reactions with specific gases provide high sensitivity inexpensive gas sensors. These can be routinely used for ambient monitoring in a fully automated manner. We consider both stopped and continuous flow operations and show the superiority of the stopped flow mode theoretically and experimentally. Light throughput through various membrane tubes is presented, and superior performance of such tubes over Teflon AF is shown. Sensors for NO2 and for O3 were based on Griess-Saltzman and indigotrisulfonate chemistries, respectively. A computer-controlled two-LED absorbance measurement system (one wavelength monitors the signal, the other references the system) that also governs automated reagent refilling was implemented. Sub-parts-per-billion-volume detection limits are attainable within a few minutes for both gases. Comparative data with a commercial UV-photometry-based ozone monitor showed excellent agreement with the response pattern of the present instrument. Low cost, ready applicability to the measurement of different gases by merely changing the light source and chemistry, and high sensitivity makes this instrument attractive for both pedagogic and practical purposes.     

Effects of passive smoking on the regulation of rat aortic cholesteryl ester hydrolases by signal transduction

The effects of exogenous oxidative stress due to passive smoking on cholesteryl ester (CE)-metabolizing enzymes and their regulatory kinases were examined by exposing rats to cigarette smoke (CS) for a 1-h period twice a day for 8, 12, or 20 wk. An oxidatively modified low density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) with a high lipid peroxide was identified in three CS groups after all three exposure periods. The rat aortic acid and neutral CE hydrolases (ACEH and NCEH) were activated to similar extents by both cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and protein kinase C (PKC) in the presence of their respective cofactors. The aortic PKC activity in the three CS groups exhibited significant reductions of 72, 84, and 75% as compared with the respective controls, which coincided with the reductions in the ACEH activities (86, 71, and 80%, respectively), whereas the PKA activities increased to 121, 197, and 252% in the three CS groups, respectively. Reflecting the increase of the PKA activity, the NCEH activity exhibited increases of 112% at 8 wk and 140% until 12 wk of exposure and decreased by 50% of the control value at 20 wk of exposure, suggesting inactivation of NCEH itself. The activation of acyl-CoA:cholesterol O-acyl-transferase activity was associated with an increase of free cholesterol in aorta. The vitamin E diet prevented the formation of Ox-LDL and the oxidative inactivation of most enzymes, especially PKC, until 12 wk, but was less effective by 20 wk. The oxidative inactivation of PKC, particularly its activated form that translocated to the membrane fraction, was confirmed in the in vitro exposure to active oxygen generators at an optimal concentration; this inactivation was prevented by catalase and superoxide dismutase. These results suggested that the formation of Ox-LDL and alterations in CE-metabolizing enzymes caused by passive smoking could contribute to a twofold increase in the aortic CE content, thereby contributing to one of the mechanisms for atherosclerosis associated with smoking.     

Clinical assessment applications of ambulatory biosensors.

Ambulatory biosensor assessment includes a diverse set of rapidly developing and increasingly technologically sophisticated strategies to acquire minimally disruptive measures of physiological and motor variables of persons in their natural environments. Numerous studies have measured cardiovascular variables, physical activity, and biochemicals such as cortisol in psychopathology and treatment research. The physiological concomitants of many behavior and medical disorders and the benefits of a multimethod assessment strategy provide strong rationales for clinical applications of ambulatory biosensor measurement. A number of psychometric dimensions of evaluation are important in clinical applications of biosensor measurement, including accuracy and validity, reliability and consistency, clinical utility, incremental validity and utility, sensitivity to change, generalizability, cost benefits, and the conditional nature of dimensions of biomeasure evaluation. The authors review ambulatory biosensor methods and make recommendations for use of the technology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech recognition in living rooms: Integrated speech enhancement and recognition system based on spatial,spectral and temporal modeling of sounds

Research on noise robust speech recognition has mainly focused on dealing with relatively stationary noise that may differ from the noise conditions in most living environments. In this paper, we introduce a recognition system that can recognize speech in the presence of multiple rapidly time-varying noise sources as found in a typical family living room. To deal with such severe noise conditions, our recognition system exploits all available information about speech and noise; that is spatial (directional), spectral and temporal information. This is realized with a model-based speech enhancement pre-processor, which consists of two complementary elements, a multi-channel speech–noise separation method that exploits spatial and spectral information, followed by a single channel enhancement algorithm that uses the long-term temporal characteristics of speech obtained from clean speech examples. Moreover, to compensate for any mismatch that may remain between the enhanced speech and the acoustic model, our system employs an adaptation technique that combines conventional maximum likelihood linear regression with the dynamic adaptive compensation of the variance of the Gaussians of the acoustic model. Our proposed system approaches human performance levels by greatly improving the audible quality of speech and substantially improving the keyword recognition accuracy.     

Characteristics of porous polymer composite columns prepared by radiation cast-polymerization

Porous polymer composite columns having porous structure were prepared by radiation cast-polymerization of hydrophilic monomers at low temperature and their characteristics were studied. The porosity of the polymer increased with decreasing monomer concentration. The elution time of water in the polymer column increased with increasing monomer concentration and with decreasing irradiation temperature. The elution time was dependent on the degree of hydration of the polymer. The polymer with a degree of hydration of 0.2 to 0.4 gave the minimum elution time. The elution time decreased with the addition of porous inorganic substances.     

Detection of back-side pit on a ferrous plate by magnetic flux leakage method with analyzing magnetic field vector

We have developed a magnetic flux leakage (MFL) system using magnetic resistive (MR) sensors for detecting two dimensional magnetic field components, and an induction coil that generates low magnetic field strengths and extremely low frequencies. The signal at each scanned measurement point (i) was divided by the signal strength M_mes,i and phase α_i by a lock-in amplifier. Using the strength M_mes,i and phase α_i, we calculated the imaginary part of the signal using the common phase β. By optimization of the common phase β to the imaginary part, the analyzed scanning data curve was shown to be effective in estimating the size (depth and diameter) of back-side pits on a ferrous plate. Comparing the two dimensional magnetic field components of leakage, the imaginary part of the y-component parallel to the induced magnetic field was found to be suitable for detecting the back-side pits.     

Microstructure and electrochemical behavior of Ti-coatedZr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass

In this study, pure Ti was coated on Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ bulk metallic glass (BMG) using a physical vapour deposition (PVD) technique with magnetron sputtering. Microstructures of Ti coating, BMG substrate and interface were investigated by conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM and HREM). The electrochemical behavior of Ti-coated Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG was studied by potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in Hanks' solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the surface morphology of the coating after electrochemical testing. HRTEM observation reveals that the sputtering Ti coating consists of α-Ti nano-scale particles with the size about 10 nm. The polarization curves revealed that the open-circuit potential shifted to a more positive potential and the passive current density was lower after Ti coating was applied in comparison with that of the monolithic Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements showed that the Bode plots of Ti-coated Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG presented one time constant for 1 h and 12 h immersion and two time constants after 24 h immersion. The good bonding condition between Ti coating and Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG substrate may be responsible for the high corrosion resistance of Ti-coated Zr₅₅Al₁₀Ni₅Cu₃₀ BMG.     

Preparation and characterization of Mg–Al layered double hydroxides intercalated with benzenesulfonate and benzenedisulfonate

Mg–Al layered double hydroxides (Mg–Al LDHs) intercalated with benzenesulfonate (BS^–) and benzenedisulfonate (BDS^2–) ions were prepared by coprecipitation and characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, and chemical analyses. The intercalated BS^– and BDS^2– maintained their intrinsic molecular structures within the Mg–Al LDH interlayers. At low intercalation levels, the benzene ring of BS^– in BS · Mg–Al LDH was inclined at 30° relative to the plane of the brucite-like layers of Mg–Al LDH. With increasing BS^– content, the benzene ring adopted an additional configuration perpendicular to the Mg–Al LDH layers. In BDS-intercalated Mg–Al LDH, the benzene ring of BDS^2– was tilted at 26° relative to the plane of the Mg–Al LDH layers. Intercalation levels of BDS^2– were smaller than those of BS^– despite the greater charge density of BDS^2–, which was likely attributable to a greater degree of electrostatic repulsion between intercalated anions.