Bubble-Rise Velocity in AC and DC Electrofluidized Beds

The behavior of a single injected bubble in a rectangular air-fluidized bed of glass microspheres has been studied experimentally for the ac and dc applied electric field cases. An empirical dimensionless equation for bubble-rise velocity and bubble volume is reviewed for application below a critical ac electric field strength for significant electromechanical effects. As observed previously, dc experiments in electrofluidized beds are more sensitive to time dependence and to hysteresis effects than are ac experiments, as densely spaced particles tend to become immobilized in the presence of dc electric fields.     

Six-Phase Voltage Source Inverter Driven Induction Motor

A six-phase six-step voltage-fed induction motor is presented. The inverter is a transistorized six-step voltage source inverter, while the motor is a modified standard three-phase squirrel-cage motor. The stator is rewound with two three-phase winding sets displaced from each other by 30 electrical degrees. A model for the system is developed to simulate the drive and predict its performance. The simulation results for steady-state conditions and experimental measurements show very good correlation. It is shown that this winding configuration results in the elimination of all air-gap flux time harmonics of the order (6v ±1, v = 1,3,5,...). Consequently, all rotor copper losses produced by these harmonics as well as all torque harmonics of the order (6v, v = 1,3,5,...) are eliminated. A comparison between-the measured instantaneous torque of both three-phase and six-phase six-step voltage-fed induction machines shows the advantage of the six-phase system over the three-phase system in eliminating the sixth harmonic dominant torque ripple.     

Radiochemical Investigation of Blade Cleaning Lubricants

Operation of an elastomeric blade requires the use of a boundary lubricant to remove residual xerographic toner from the photoreceptor efficiently. A radioactive tracer technique was used to study the behaviour of a number of lubricants used in the xerographic process. Both filming and nonfilming type lubricants were investigated using this technique. The results indicated that the lubricant film deposited on the photoreceptor must be in the thickness range of from 1 to 3 molecular layers for acceptable xerographic development and cleaning. Film thickness was shown to be dependent on the class of lubricant, the concentration of lubricant in toner, and the inclusion of a silica compound in the toner. Films are dynamic in nature, continuously being formed and removed during the xerographic process. Parameters affecting the filming mechanism are discussed.     

Modeling the influence of changes in aliphatic structure on char surface area during coal pyrolysis

The influence of changes in aliphatic structure on char surface area during coal pyrolysis was modeled, and the effect was introduced to a previous char surface area model for lignite pyrolysis established based on the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model. The modified model can predict not only the N₂ and CO₂ char surface area during rapid pyrolysis of three lignites but also the CO₂ char surface area of two high-volatile bituminous coals; the agreement of the modified model with experiments is improved at high temperatures. The decrease in aliphatic chain length can reduce adsorption positions around aromatic core, and decrease char surface area. When mass release is more than 55% at about 1,100 K, the predicted N₂ char surface area starts to decrease with further generation of volatiles, and the increase of predicted CO₂ char surface area with increasing generation of volatiles also become slow at the end of mass release.     

Wear Mechanisms of Chromia Refractories in Slagging Gasifiers

The hot-face refractory lining is a key component of gasification systems. The refractory liner protects the gasification system from the high-temperature corrosive gaseous and from the molten slag environment associated with the conversion of carbon feedstocks. This paper will discuss the effect of gasifier operating conditions and carbon feedstock slag/ash chemistry on the refractory service life. Particular attention is focused on the wear mechanism of chromia refractories, determined through postmortem analysis of spent refractory bricks from service in gasifiers. Also presented is the behavior of a phosphate-containing chromia refractory with improved resistance to structural spalling.     

Syntheses of Ring C Oxysterols: Inhibitors of Sterol Biosynthesis

Oxygenated derivates of cholesterol and lanosterol, known as oxysterols, have consistently displayed significant activity as inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG) CoA reductase, a key regulatory enzyme in sterol biosynthesis. We have developed the chemical syntheses of ring C oxysterols for evaluation as inhibitors of sterol biosynthesis. A key intermediate in the chemical synthesis was 3beta-benzoyloxy-9alpha, 1alpha-epoxy-5alpha-cholest-7-ene (1), whose structure was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis and is presented herein.     

Increasing the potency of a cytotoxin with an arginine graft

Variants and homologs of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase A) can exhibit cytotoxic activity. This toxicity relies on cellular internalization of the enzyme. Residues Glu49 and Asp53 form an anionic patch on the surface of RNase A. We find that replacing these two residues with arginine does not affect catalytic activity or affinity for the cytosolic ribonuclease inhibitor (RI) protein. This 'arginine graft' does, however, increase toxicity towards human cancer cells. Appending a nonaarginine domain to this cationic variant results in an additional increase in cytotoxicity, providing one of the most cytotoxic known variants of RNase A. These findings correlate the potency of a ribonuclease with its deliverance of ribonucleolytic activity to the cytosol, and indicate a rational means to enhance the efficacy of ribonucleases and other cytotoxic proteins.     

Effect of layering pattern on the water absorption behavior of banana glass hybrid composites

Hybridization of Banana fibers with glass fibers has been found to reduce the water absorption behavior of the composites in an earlier work by us. Banana fibers were hybridized with glass and different layering patterns were followed in the preparation of the composites. The effect of the various layering patterns on the water absorption of the composites was studied. It was found that water diffusion occurs in the composite depending on the layering pattern as well as the temperature. In all the experiments, it has been found that composites with an intimate mixture of glass and banana show the maximum water uptake except for temperature of 90°C. At 90°C the maximum water uptake is found to be for composites where there is one layer of banana and another layer of glass. The water uptake follows the same trend as that in all other temperatures till a time span of 4900 min is reached. The kinetics of diffusion was found to be Fickian in nature. The various thermodynamic parameters like sorption coefficient, diffusion coefficient. Enthalpy change, entropy change, and activation energy of the various composites were calculated. From all the calculations it has been concluded that layering pattern is an important parameter which controls the water absorption of the composites. The layering pattern Cg‐b‐g was found to have the lowest water uptake. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Flux-Weakening Regime Operation of an Interior Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive

The interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous motor is compatible with extended-speed-range constant-power operation by means of flux-weakening control. Flux weakening uses stator current components to counter the fixed-amplitude magnetic airgap flux generated by the rotor magnets, performing a role similar to field weakening in a separately excited dc motor. The nature of current regulator saturation caused by the finite inverter dc source voltage is described, marked by premature torque and power degradation at high speeds in the absence of flux-weakening control. This is followed by presentation of a new flux-weakening control algorithm developed as a modification of an established feedforward IPM torque control algorithm described previously in the literature. Attractive features of this new algorithm include smooth drive transitions into and out of the flux-weakening mode, fast response, as well as automatic adjustment to changes in the dc source voltage. Simulation and empirical test results from a 3-hp laboratory IPM motor drive are used to confirm the constant-power operating envelope achieved using the new flux-weakening control algorithm.     

A POLE Splice Site Deletion Detected in a Patient with Biclonal CLL and Prostate Cancer: A Case Report

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is considered a clonal B cell malignancy. Sporadically, CLL cases with multiple productive heavy and light-chain rearrangements were detected, thus leading to a bi- or oligoclonal CLL disease with leukemic cells originating either from different B cells or otherwise descending from secondary immunoglobulin rearrangement events. This suggests a potential role of clonal hematopoiesis or germline predisposition in these cases. During the screening of 75 CLL cases for kappa and lambda light-chain rearrangements, we could detect a single case with CLL cells expressing two distinct kappa and lambda light chains paired with two separate immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable regions. Furthermore, this patient also developed a prostate carcinoma. Targeted genome sequencing of highly purified light-chain specific CLL clones from this patient and from the prostate carcinoma revealed the presence of a rare germline polymorphism in the POLE gene. Hence, our data suggest that the detected SNP may predispose for cancer, particularly for CLL.