Temperature Profile of Anatase-TiO2Powder Compact during Microwave Heating

Anatase-TiO₂ cylindrical pellets were microwave sintered and partially transformed to rutile-TiO₂.The rutile concentration profile was determined as a function of location within the pellet. The rutile distribution in the microwavesintered pellets was different from that in pellets sintered by conventional fast firing. Temperature profiles within the pellets were estimated using the irreversible nature of the anatase-rutile transformation. The estimated temperature profile within each pellet was not uniform. In the axial direction, maximum temperature occurred in the middle of the pellet. In the radial direction, maximum temperature occurred at 1 mm below the surface of the cylinder wall. Analysis of the temperature profile indicated that, although heat flow occurred in the microwave-sintered pellet, the temperature profile did not change during a microwave exposure of 5–90 min.     

Permeation and separation of organic liquid mixtures through liquid-crystalline polymer networks

A side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP) was synthesized by the addition of the mesogenic monomer to poly(methyl siloxane) in presence of a Pt-catalyst. When an aqueous solution of 10wt% ethanol was permeated through a LCP membrane by pervaporation at various temperatures, the permeation rate increased with increasing temperature and drastically changed at glass-nematic (Tg) and nematic-isotropic (TNI) transition temperatures of the LCP membrane. The LCP membrane exhibited the waterpermselectivity in the glassy and liquid-crystalline states. The ethanol concentration in the permeate increased with increasing permeation temperature and the LCP membrane changed from the waterpermselectivity to the ethanol-permselectivity around TNI. These results suggested that the permselectivity was influenced by the change of the LCP membrane structure, that is, its state transformation. It was found that a balance of the orientation of mesogenic groups and flexibility of siloxane chains is very important for the permeability and selectivity.     

IL-1 beta enhances neurite regeneration from transected-nerve terminals of adult rat DRG

We clarified the roles of IL-1 beta in peripheral neural regeneration after axotomy in a three-dimensional collagen gel culture system ranging from a single neurone to a dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explant with its associated nerve bundles. Application of 30 U/ml IL-1 beta to the culture systems clearly enhanced neural regeneration. This regeneration was evident in transected nerve terminals of DRG explants with or without associated nerve bundles, but not in dissociated single neurones. Neural survival was not affected by IL-1 beta in any of these culture systems. These results suggest that IL-1 beta stimulates surrounding non-neuronal cells to secrete neurotrophic factors, thus enhancing neurite regeneration from transected nerve terminals in cultured adult DRG explants.     

A far-infrared spectroscopic study of low temperature soft phonon mode in Tris-Sarcosine Calcium Chloride(TSCC)

Temperature dependences of the soft phonon frequency and the damping constant in Tris-Sarcosine Calcium Chloride (TSCC) single crystal have been investigated between 5K and 100K by using a Fourier-transform far-infrared spectrometer. It has been observed that the soft phonon frequency decreases gradually and the damping constant increases as the transition temperature is approached from below The damping constant varies from 7cm^-1 a 90K to less than 0.5cm^-1 at 5K. It has been found that the damping constant is approximately proportional to temperature below about 60K.     

An empirical approach for structure-based prediction of carbohydrate-binding sites on proteins

A computer program system was developed to predict carbohydrate-bindingsites on three-dimensional (3D) protein structures. The programssearch for binding sites by referring to the empirical rulesderived from the known 3D structures of carbohydrate–proteincomplexes. A total of 80 non-redundant carbohydrate–proteincomplex structures were selected from the Protein Data Bankfor the empirical rule construction. The performance of theprediction system was tested on 50 known complex structuresto determine whether the system could detect the known bindingsites. The known monosaccharide-binding sites were detectedamong the best three predictions in 59% of the cases, whichcovered 69% of the polysaccharide-binding sites in the targetproteins, when the performance was evaluated by the overlapbetween residue patches of predicted and known binding sites. Received April 24, 2003; revised June 2, 2003; accepted June 10, 2003.     

Air bubbles in the subclavian or internal jugular veins: a common finding on contrast-enhanced CT

BACKGROUND: Foot complications in diabetes incur huge human and medical costs. There is a high incidence of complicated diabetes mellitus in Far North Queensland, particularly in the indigenous communities. METHODS: An audit of 51 patients admitted to Cairns Base Hospital from July 1992 to December 1994 with diabetic foot complications requiring surgical intervention was performed. RESULTS: The majority of surgical procedures were for serious infections in neuropathic feet precipitated by minor trauma. Surgical procedures included debridement/drainage, minor amputation, major amputation and arterial bypass. Half of the patients required more than one procedure and/or multiple admissions. Average length of stay was 48 days. Indigenous patients were overrepresented in this audited group. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention or minimization of diabetic foot complications can be achieved only through improvement in education and vigilance at all levels of the treatment process from community to hospital. Special attention to the needs of indigenous communities with a high incidence of diabetes must be a feature of any future initiatives.     

A comparison of the grade of laryngeal visualisation;--the McCoy compared with the Macintosh and the Miller blade in adults

Effectiveness in visualization of the vocal cord during orotracheal intubation with McCoy (McC) compared with Macintosh (Min) and Miller (Mil) blades were investigated. After an institutional review board approval, 117 patients for elective surgery under general anesthesia requiring tracheal intubation were investigated. Five board certified anesthesiologists tried to visualize the vocal cord of a patient three times with the three different types of laryngoscope. Total of 351 intubation attempts were studied. The view obtained at laryngoscopy with each of the three blades was recorded as follows. Grade 1. If most of the glottis is visible. Grade 2. If only the posterior extremity of the glottis is visible. Grade 3. If no part of the glottis can be seen. Grade 4. If not even the epiglottis can be exposed. Eight-two Grade 1 views were obtained with McC, 72 with Mil and 47 with Min, respectively. Thirty-three Grade 2 views were obtained with McC, 36 with Min and 24 with Mil. Two Grade 3 views with McC, 34 with Min and 14 with Mil were obtained. Seven Grade 4 views were obtained with Mil. The grades of laryngeal visualization with McC were significantly lower than those with Min and Mil.     

Titania NOx sensors for exhaust monitoring

Oxide semiconductors have been examined to develop NO_x sensors for exhaust monitoring. Titania doped with trivalent elements, such as Al³⁺, Sc³⁺, Ga³⁺ or In³⁺, has a good sensitivity and selectivity to NO between 450 and 550 °C, and shows rapid response. A sensor probe for monitoring exhaust NO_x has been fabricated. Many kinds of interference gases, such as C₃H₆, CO and SO₂, have been found to have only a slight influence on the sensor response to NO. The influence of O₂ and H₂O is also negligible, except for the cases of 0% H₂O and fuel-rich conditions. In accordance with these results, the sensor probe operates satisfactority in the exhaust gas of various combustion conditions without interference from the various kinds of gas species in the exhaust gases.     

Numerical investigation of zoomable holographic projection without a zoom lens

Holographic projection is for laser displays and has the merits of being aberration free, producing high‐contrast images, having the ability of color reconstruction with one spatial light modulator, and so on. In this paper, we propose a zoomable holographic projection without using a zoom lens and verify the proposed method by using numerical simulation. Although such a system can be readily realized to use the features of holography, which is capable of recording a large image exceeding the hologram size, the required calculation is very time consuming. For acceleration, we used shifted Fresnel diffraction for setting different sampling rates on a hologram and projected image. The proposed method can project any zoom‐in and zoom‐out image between zeroth‐order and first‐order lights, and the processing time and required memory for the zoom are constant.