In-situ Mössbauer spectroscopic study of the behaviour of tin(II) chloride during coal hydrogenation

In-situ Mössbauer spectroscopy has been used to study the catalytic role of SnCl₂ and its interaction with the IL6 coal during hydrogenation. The measurements have been recorded under three different atmospheres of nitrogen, hydrogen, and hydrogen in the presence of a heavy distillate solvent SRC-II. The study has shown that both tin and chlorine can enter the coal structure at an early stage of hydrogenation. The presence of chlorine has been shown to cause the cleavage of ether-oxygen linkages in the coal. Tin (II) sulphide is the predominant form of the catalyst after the hydrogenation and is the product of the scavenging of coal sulphur by tin. The study has also shown the formation of FeCl₂ · xH₂0 (x = 1, 2) as a result of the reaction between pyrrhotites (Fe_(1?x)S, formed by the decomposition of FeS₂) and hydrochloric acid in the nitrogen and the hydrogen atmospheres.     

Fractal image compression with simple classification scheme infrequency domain

In fractal image compression, the mean squared error (MSE) computations of the eight orientations of the domain blocks can be reduced into two groups of inner products in the frequency domain. A very simple classification scheme is presented for reducing the two groups of computations into one, which makes the encoder up to 4.7 times faster     

Image Analysis for Mapping Immeasurable Phenotypes in Maize [Life Sciences]

This work will allow bio-informaticians to analyze the ever-increasing gene sequence data, discover valuable knowledge in maize biology and related plant; development, and understand subtle variations among different phenotypes. Furthermore, successful measuring of visual phenotypes will advance plant research by finding the genes and/or environmental factors that cause a given visual phenotype. In what follows, the field of plant genetics is introduced (particularly quantitative trait loci and disease scoring) to the signal processing community, discuss the challenges involved, and present an image analysis system for precisely quantifying and mapping immeasurable phenotypes in maize     

New protein PCiP from edible golden oyster mushroom (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) activating murine macrophages and splenocytes

A new immunomodulatory protein (PCiP) was purified from an edible golden oyster mushroom (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) by extraction with 5% (v/v) cold acetic acid in the presence of 0.1% (v/v) 2‐mercaptoethanol, followed by ammonium sulfate fractionation, DE‐52 and MonoQ anion‐exchange chromatography. Electrophoresis assays demonstrated that the molecular mass of PCiP was approximately 15.0 kDa and its pI was around 5.2. PCiP is a simple protein without carbohydrate, and cannot agglutinate mouse red blood cells, suggesting PCiP is not a lectin. In addition, PCiP (5–20 µg mL^?1) alone activated murine splenocytes, and markedly increased their proliferation and gamma‐interferon (IFN‐γ secretion, but suppressed MTT metabolization, while murine splenocytes were simultaneously stimulated by the mitogen concanavalin A (ConA). Furthermore, PCiP (5–20 µg mL^?1) directly activated murine macrophages and increased the production of both the nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α by RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that PCiP could strengthen both the innate and adaptive responses of its host. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

TPX/siloxane blend membrane for oxygen enrichment

The effects of composition, molecular weight, and milling temperature on homogeneity, gas permeability, selectivity of oxygen/nitrogen, and mechanical strength of the TPX/siloxane blend membranes were studied. By adjusting the blending conditions and hence controlling the homogeneity, the gas permeability of TPX membrane was significantly improved without loss of oxygen/nitrogen selectivity. The oxygen permeability of 1.57 × 10^?8 cm³ (STP) cm/cm² s cm Hg and the oxygen/nitrogen permeation ratio of 6.92 can be obtained under the condition of TPX (MX-001)/siloxane (75,000 MW) = 9/1 at 65°C milling temperature. This membrane possesses 133 kg/cm² tensile strength and 92% elongation. The morphology of the blend membranes was studied.     

Study of the Performance of Stainless Steel A-TIG Welds

The purpose of the present work was to investigate the effect of oxide fluxes on weld morphology, arc voltage, mechanical properties, angular distortion and hot cracking susceptibility obtained with TIG welding, which applied to the welding of 5 mm thick austenitic stainless steel plates. A novel variant of the autogenous TIG welding process, oxide powders (Al₂O₃, Cr₂O₃, TiO₂, SiO₂ and CaO) was applied on a type 304 stainless steel through a thin layer of the flux to produce a bead on plate welds. The experimental results indicated that the increase in the penetration is significant with the use of Cr₂O₃, TiO₂, and SiO₂. A-TIG welding can increase the weld depth to bead-width ratio, and tends to reduce the angular distortion of the weldment. It was also found that A-TIG welding can increase the retained delta-ferrite content of stainless steel 304 welds and, in consequence, the hot-cracking susceptibility of as-welded is reduced. Physically constricting the plasma column and reducing the anode spot are the possible mechanism for the effect of certain flux on A-TIG penetration.     

Kevlar fiber–epoxy adhesion and its effect on composite mechanical and fracture properties by plasma and chemical treatment

Kevlar 49 fibers were surface-modified by NH₃-, O₂-, and H₂O-plasma etching and chlo-rosulfonation and subsequent reaction with some reagents (glycine, deionized water, eth-ylendeiamine, and 1-butanol) to improve the adhesion to epoxy resin. After these treatments, the changes in fiber topography, chemical compositions of the fiber surfaces, and the surface functional groups introduced to the surface of fibers were identified by SEM, XPS, and static SIMS. Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) and T-peel strenght between the fiber and opoxy resin, as measured by the short-beam test and T-peel test, were remarkedly improved by gas plasma and chlorosulfonation (0.1% and 0.25% CISO₃H at 30 s). However, from the results of similar G_IC values of the treated and untreated fiber composites, it is clear that the fiber/matrix interfacial bond strength is only a minor contributor to G_IC. SEM was also used to study the surface topography of the fracture surfaces of composites in T-peel test. It could be seen from SEM observations that the improvement of fiber/matrix interfacial bond strength often accompanied a change in fracture mode from the interface of fiber/epoxy resins to the fiber fibrillation and the resins. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Increased prevalence of hypertension and long-term arsenic exposure

A possible role of endothelin (ET)-1 in mediating hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) was examined by comparing haemodynamic differences between ET-1-induced vasoconstriction and HPV in isolated perfused rat lungs. An ETA receptor antagonist (BQ123) was also employed to assess the effects of ET-1. The pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa) was significantly increased by alveolar hypoxia (3% O2) and by ET-1 (5 nM). The pulmonary microvascular pressure was not changed by hypoxia, but increased more than two-fold by ET-1 (P < 0.01). Hypoxia significantly increased pulmonary arterial resistance (P < 0.01) while ET-1 significantly increased pulmonary venous resistance (P < 0.01), and slightly increased arterial resistance. Lung weight was increased by ET-1 and decreased by hypoxia, accompanied by similar Ppa responses in both cases. BQ123 (10(-6) M and 10(-5) M) did not influence the changes in Ppa and lung weight induced by hypoxia or angiotensin II (0.3 micrograms). BQ123 did, however, suppress (P < 0.05) the increase in Ppa and lung weight induced by 5 nM ET-1. Thus, it appears unlikely that ET-1 is involved in changes in pulmonary vascular tone during acute HPV.     

Vacuum suction aid for microlens array formation using LIGA-like process

Microlens array fabrication using a vacuum suction process combed with the LIGA-like process is presented in this paper. The circular patterned array was designed on a photomask and transferred onto a substrate using photoresist patterning. Electroforming technology was used to convert the photoresist patterns into a metallic molds with an array of nozzles. Liquid JSR resist was spun onto the substrate joining the metallic mold to remove microlens array under vacuum conditions. The exposure energy and vacuum pressure were essential parameters in the microlens array manufacturing process. Microlens arrays with 50 μm in diameter at −50 cm-Hg vacuum pressure and 100 μm in diameter at −60 cm-Hg vacuum pressure were successfully formed. The produced microlens arrays presented smooth measured surface profiles coincident with the optical lens geometry.