Bcl-xL protects adult septal cholinergic neurons from axotomized cell death

Bcl-xL suppresses apoptotic cell death induced by diverse stimuli in cell lines in vitro. To examine the mechanism by which axotomized cholinergic neurons die in vivo, lentiviral vectors expressing Bcl-xL, human nerve growth factor (hNGF), or green fluorescent protein were injected into the septum 3 weeks before transection of the fimbria fornix. Three weeks after transection, Bcl-xL- and hNGF-injected animals showed significantly higher numbers of spared cholinergic neurons compared with control (green fluorescent protein) injected animals. These results provide evidence that adult axotomized cholinergic neurons die of apoptotic death that can be prevented by local delivery of hNGF or intracellular delivery of Bcl-xL.     

Load dependent fretting wear properties of 3Y-TZP nanoceramics

Despite the fact that the processing of nanoceramics composites have been triggered to a great extent, the evaluation of their potential in engineering application is rather limited. To this end, the present work reports the results obtained with fretting wear (mode I, linear tangential displacement sliding) of Y-TZP nanoceramics, optimally densified using spark plasma sintering route. The tribological experiments were conducted by varying normal load (2–10N) for 100,000 fretting cycles with relative displacement stroke of 50 μm at a frequency of 8 Hz. Based on the investigation of the topographical features of worn surfaces, the mechanism of material removal has been proposed. An important finding is that TZP nanoceramic/steel tribocouple exhibit an increase in COF from 0.2 to 0.5 as well as severe wear damage with increase in load from 2N to 5N and above, under the selected experimental conditions.     

Face detection and tracking in a video by propagating detection probabilities

This paper presents a new probabilistic method for detecting and tracking multiple faces in a video sequence. The proposed method integrates the information of face probabilities provided by the detector and the temporal information provided by the tracker to produce a method superior to the available detection and tracking methods. The three novel contributions of the paper are: 1) Accumulation of probabilities of detection over a sequence. This leads to coherent detection over time and, thus, improves detection results. 2) Prediction of the detection parameters which are position, scale, and pose. This guarantees the accuracy of accumulation as well as a continuous detection. 3) The representation of pose is based on the combination of two detectors, one for frontal views and one for profiles. Face detection is fully automatic and is based on the method developed by Schneiderman and Kanade (2000). It uses local histograms of wavelet coefficients represented with respect to a coordinate frame fixed to the object. A probability of detection is obtained for each image position and at several scales and poses. The probabilities of detection are propagated over time using a Condensation filter and factored sampling. Prediction is based on a zero order model for position, scale, and pose; update uses the probability maps produced by the detection routine. The proposed method can handle multiple faces, appearing/disappearing faces as well as changing scale and pose. Experiments carried out on a large number of sequences taken from commercial movies and the Web show a clear improvement over the results of frame-based detection (in which the detector is applied to each frame of the video sequence).     

Optimization of luminescence properties of Tb~(3+)-doped a-Sr_2P_2O_7 phosphor synthesized by combustion method

In this paper, thermoluminescence(TL)properties of rare earth Tb~(3+)-doped α-Sr_2 P_2 O_7 were examined after β-irradiation and photoluminescence(PL)properties of samples were examined for proper excitation.All the samples were synthesized by high-temperature combustion method. The X-ray diffraction(XRD)and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy characterization confirms the formation of pure α-phase with crystallized in orthorhombic structure of samples.The PL emission spectra of all samples exhibit characteristic green emission peaks of Tb~(3+) where the peak at545 nm has the highest emission intensity for Tb~(3+) concentration of 5.0 mol%. The TL glow curves of β-irradiated Tb~(3+)-doped α-Sr_2 P_2 O_7 phosphors were recorded at different heating rates of 2, 4, and 6 K·s~(-1). TL curves of all sample exhibit combination of two peaks: peak at420 K shifts toward higher temperature, while peak at525 K remains unaffected with the increase in Tb~(3+)concentration as well as fading effect. The activation energy and kinetic parameters of the samples were evaluated using thermoluminescence peak shape method.     

Design of Compound Die for Production of Cutting Blades for Nonactive Rotary Paddy Weeder

Press working is a chip-less manufacturing process on sheet metal through the application of immense force with the help of press tools for short interval and hence results in shearing or deformation of the work material. It is a chip-less manufacturing process by which various components are made from sheet metal. A compound die is one that is used for cutting operations only, and the operation is completed by a single-press stroke. In this article, a die was designed to serve the purpose of cutting down the blades for paddy weeder and clearances to be provided in the die were calculated so as to reduce the material consumption with reduction in production cycle time. The die thus designed served for the purpose with 73% reduction in production time, with enhanced quality and helped in enabling mass production by eliminating several processes such as marking, cutting done with the help of a cutter, shaping, and so on.     

Characterization of La0.58Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ–Ce0.8Gd0.2O2 composite cathode for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

La_0.58Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3?δ–Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O₂ (LSCF–GDC) composite cathodes with various weight ratios 90%, 70% and 50% of LSCF were prepared. Mechanical properties, thermal expansion properties and electrical properties were measured for potential applications in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with graded cathodes. LSCF and GDC as pure cathode and electrolyte materials were characterized as reference. The absence of new phases as confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated the excellent compatibility between the cathode and electrolyte materials. Mechanical properties such as hardness and fracture toughness were measured by the micro-indentation technique, while hardness and elastic modulus were measured by the nano-indentation technique. Thermal expansion behavior was recorded by a dilatometer. Electrical conductivity was measured by the four probe DC method. The 50% LSCF–GDC composite has the lowest relative density among all the samples. Thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) and electrical conductivity increased with addition of LSCF contents in the composite, while mechanical properties depended more on the density than the LSCF content.     

Impact & Analysis of Inverted-T shaped Fin on the Performance parameters of 14-nm heterojunction FinFET

Silicon - A new high-performance inverted-T shaped 14 nm heterojunction FinFETs has been proposed that originate from the rectangular fin structures. The rationale for proposing this...     

Engineering the C-region of human insulin-like growth factor-1: implications for receptor binding

Recombinant wild-type human IGF-1 and a C-region mutant in which residues 28-37 have been replaced by a 4-glycine bridge (4-Gly IGF-1) were secreted and purified from yeast. An IGF-1 analogue in which residues 29-41 of the C-region have been deleted (mini IGF-1) was created by site-directed mutagenesis and also expressed. All three proteins adopted the insulin-fold as determined by circular dichroism. The significantly raised expression levels of mini IGF-1 allowed the recording of two-dimensional NMR spectra. The affinity of 4-Gly IGF-1 for the IGF-1 receptor was approximately 100-fold lower than that of wild-type IGF-1 and the affinity for the insulin receptor was approximately 10-fold lower. Mini IGF-1 showed no affinity for either receptor. Not only does the C-region of IGF-1 contribute directly to the free energy of binding to the IGF-1 receptor, but also the absence of flexibility in this region eliminates binding altogether. As postulated for the binding of insulin to its own receptor, it is proposed that binding of IGF-1 to the IGF-1 receptor also involves a conformational change in which the C-terminal B-region residues detach from the body of the molecule to expose the underlying A-region residues.     

Heat transfer and friction factor correlations for a duct having dimple-shape artificial roughness for solar air heaters

The heat transfer coefficient between the absorber plate and air can be considerably increased by using artificial roughness on the underside of the absorber plate of a solar air heater duct. Under the present work, an experimental study has been carried out to investigate the effect of roughness and operating parameters on heat transfer and friction factor in a roughened duct provided with dimple-shape roughness geometry. The investigation has covered the range of Reynolds number (Re) from 2000 to 12,000, relative roughness height (e/D) from 0.018 to 0.037 and relative pitch (p/e) from 8 to 12. Based on the experimental data, values of Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f_r) have been determined for different values of roughness and operating parameters. In order to determine the enhancement in heat transfer and increment in friction factor values of Nusselt number and friction factor have been compared with those of smooth duct under similar flow conditions. Correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor have been developed for solar air heater duct provided such artificial roughness geometry.     

Analytical thermal hydraulic model for oscillatory condensation of steam in presence of air

An analytical thermal hydraulic model has been developed from fundamental conservation laws, for the process of oscillatory condensation of steam in a pool of water, in presence of non-condensable gas (air). The oscillatory condensation phenomena addressed here is steam chugging, with an emphasis laid on studying the effect of small amount of air present in steam, on the phenomena. The objective of developing the model is to present an approximation of the real phenomena and to obtain an analytical solution. At the outset, a parametric study was conducted by using the developed model to capture and identify the salient features of steam chugging and compare the wave shapes obtained with those available in open literature. Subsequently, the effect of presence of air in steam was studied in detail using the non-condensable gas model. An attempt has been made to show numerically that the presence of a small amount of air in steam would effectively stabilize condensation and prevent inception of chugging. Typical results are presented in this paper to bring out the difference in oscillatory behavior due to presence and absence of non-condensable gas.