Machining qualification of solid wood of Fagus silvatica L. and Piceaexcelsa L.: cutting forces, power requirements and surface roughness

Fagus silvatica) and spruce (Picea excelsa). The machining process was carried out on a shaper with specific devices. The concerned variables were: cutting depth, feed rate and cutting speed. The mean chip thickness and cutting width were constant. The machining process was done in two different ways: conventional and climb cutting; thus it was possible to compare both working directions with the same machining parameters and watch their influence on the cutting forces, the power consumption and the surface roughness. The most important variables on the cutting forces are depth of cut, wood density and feed direction. With regard to power consumption, it was detected that the most important variables were cutting speed, feed direction, depth of cut and wood density. It was further demonstrated that the measured and calculated power have a very good correlation, and that the cutting forces can be determined by the calculated power. Thus, if cutting power is measured for a specific condition of wood and machine, the cutting forces can be estimated. The surface roughness was very homogeneous in all the tests. The better machining process was obtained when applying conventional cutting. Then the cutting forces, the power requirements and the roughness standard deviation reach smaller values.

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Fagus silvatica ) und Fichtenholz (Picea excelsa). Der Bearbeitungsprozess erfolgte auf einer speziellen Holzhobelmaschine. Die relevanten Variabeln waren: die Schnitttiefe, der Vorschub und die Schnittgeschwindigkeit. Die mittlere Spanst?rke und die Schnittbreite waren konstant. Die Bearbeitung wurde auf zwei verschiedene Arten durchgeführt: im Gleichlauf und im Gegenlauf, somit war es m?glich, beide Bearbeitungsrichtungen unter Beibehaltung der Parameter zu vergleichen und ihren Einfluss auf die Schnittkr?fte, den Leistungsbedarf und die Oberfl?chenrauhigkeit zu prüfen. Die wichtigsten Einflu?variabeln bezüglich der Schnittkr?fte waren die Schnitttiefe, die Materialdichte und die Vorschubrichtung. Den Leistungsbedarf betreffend kamen wir zu dem Ergebnis, da? sowohl die Vorschubrichtung, die Materialdichte als auch die Schnittkr?fte, -geschwindigkeit und -tiefe die Haupteinflu?faktoren waren. Es konnte gezeigt werden, da? die gemessene und berechnete Leistung gut korreliert sind, und da? die Schnittkr?fte mittels der berechneten Leistung bestimmbar sind. Es ist daher m?glich, durch Messen des Leistungsbedarfs einer Bearbeitung einer bestimmten Holzart auf einer definierten Maschine die Schnittkr?fte abzusch?tzen. Die Oberfl?chengüte war gleichbleibend in allen durchgeführten Versuchen. Die besten Versuchsergebnisse wurden in Gegenlaufbearbeitung erzielt. Die Schnittkr?fte, der Leistungsbedarf und die Standardabweichung der Oberfl?chenrauhigkeit erreichen hier jeweils ihre Minimalwerte.

     

Monitoring biodegradation of ethene and bioremediation of chlorinated ethenes at a contaminated site using compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA)

Chlorinated ethenes are commonly found in contaminated groundwater. Remediation strategies focus on transformation processes that will ultimately lead to nontoxic products. A major concern with these strategies is the possibility of incomplete dechlorination and accumulation of toxic daughter products (cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cDCE), vinyl chloride (VC)). Ethene mass balance can be used as a direct indicator to assess the effectiveness of dechlorination. However, the microbial processes that affect ethene are not well characterized and poor mass balance may reflect biotransformation of ethene rather than incomplete dechlorination. Microbial degradation of ethene is commonly observed in aerobic systems but fewer cases have been reported in anaerobic systems. Limited information is available on the isotope enrichment factors associated with these processes. Using compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) we determined the enrichment factors associated with microbial degradation of ethene in anaerobic microcosms (ε = -6.7‰ ± 0.4‰, and -4.0‰ ± 0.8‰) from cultures collected from the Twin Lakes wetland area at the Savannah River site in Georgia (United States), and in aerobic microcosms (ε = -3.0‰ ± 0.3‰) from Mycobacterium sp. strain JS60. Under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, CSIA can be used to determine whether biotransformation of ethene is occurring in addition to biodegradation of the chlorinated ethenes. Using δ(13)C values determined for ethene and for chlorinated ethenes at a contaminated field site undergoing bioremediation, this study demonstrates how CSIA of ethene can be used to reduce uncertainty and risk at a site by distinguishing between actual mass balance deficits during reductive dechlorination and apparent lack of mass balance that is related to biotransformation of ethene.     

DNA vaccination against Theiler''s murine encephalomyelitis virus leads to alterations in demyelinating disease

Using glycerinated spasmoneme of giant Zoothamnium sp., the physical properties of spasmoneme before and after Ca2+-induced contraction (pCa 4.5) were investigated. The volume change of spasmoneme contraction was measured under zero tension. The length and diameter decreased by about 50% of their initial value as a result of contraction, which means that contraction is nearly isotropic. Thus the volume of spasmoneme decreased drastically by 86% of its original value. The swollen ratio of extended and contracted spasmoneme were 0.07 and 0.37, respectively. Tension-extension relationships of extended and contracted spasmonemes were measured. By applying the theory of rubber elasticity, the number of segments of a chain in originally extended spasmoneme was only 3.3, i.e., the chain was almost a straight one. On the other hand, the number of segments of a chain in contracted spasmoneme was more than 100, i.e., the chain was essentially a random one. Furthermore, the total number of chains in single spasmoneme was the same in extended and contracted spasmoneme. This means that the interchain cross-links of chains were not influenced by addition or removal of Ca2+. Moreover, the molecular weight of a chain is estimated to be at most about 50 kd. By considering all these results, it is concluded that the contractile mechanism of spasmoneme originates in the intramolecular folding and unfolding induced by Ca2+ binding and detaching.     

Identification, characterization, and physiological actions of factor H as an adrenomedullin binding protein present in human plasma

A recently discovered adrenomedullin binding protein has been characterized as complement factor H, an important regulator of the complement cascade. This review will describe the evidence that led to the identification of factor H as an adrenomedullin binding protein and will address the implications that such binding has in the radioimmunoassay of AM in plasma. We will also describe the possible physiological implications of AM binding: namely, factor H suppresses the antimicrobial activity of AM, enhances AM-mediated induction of cyclic-AMP in rat fibroblasts, and augments the AM-mediated growth of a human cancer cell line. These initial studies suggest that factor H may be an important factor in the regulation of AM physiology. The elucidation of the mechanisms that modulate AM activity will be necessary for the understanding of the role of AM in normal and pathological conditions.     

无需外部开关的大功率LED驱动电路

随着新一代的LED实现了较高的功率和效率,这些元件的应用逐渐扩展到了新的领域,如手电筒或车辆应用等.大功率LED与白炽灯泡及荧光灯管等共同应用于环境照明中.     

Characterisation and modelling of the elastic properties of poly(lactic acid) nanofibre scaffolds

The aim of this study is to predict the elastic response of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) electrospun nanofibre scaffolds through mathematical models based on homogenisation and the differential replacement method (DRM). These models principally seek to determine and analyse the effects of the internal morphology of the nanofibres on the effective Young’s modulus of polymer nanofibre scaffolds. The microstructure of the nanofibres was first characterised by SEM, XRD, DSC, AFM, and TEM techniques. From this characterisation, strong evidence of a hierarchical core–shell structure was found. With the experimental data, it was possible to design and validate better models than those currently used. In addition, the effects of the electrospinning parameters, such as take-up velocity and thermal treatment, were analysed and correlated with the morphology and the elastic properties of the nanofibres and their scaffolds. To validate the models’ results, we conducted a series of uniaxial tensile tests on the PLA nanofibre scaffolds. Using the data from the nanofibre measurements, the homogenisation approximations and the model based on the DRM predicted an effective Young’s modulus of 667 and 835 MPa, respectively. The predicted data were in excellent agreement with the experimental results (685–880 MPa). These models will be useful in understanding and evaluating the structure–property relationships of oriented nanofibre scaffolds for medical or biological applications.     

Geometric Parameterization Technique for Continuation Power Flow Based on Quadratic Curve

The electricity sector, especially in emerging countries, has experienced several transformations, mainly resulting from the increase of electricity demand. This encourages more investment in the generation sector and causes increasing concerns with the development and improvement of tools for static voltage stability analysis of electrical power systems. This paper presents a new geometric parameterization technique for continuation power flow (CPF) that works based on the addition of a parabola that passes through three points in the plane formed by the variables of total real power losses and loading factor. This technique eliminates the Jacobian matrix singularity at the maximum loading point, which allows obtaining the solution trajectory (P–V curve) without any need to change the parameter, which is a very common procedure in the currently available CPFs. Intending to define a simple and efficient step size control procedure, the total real power losses values are normalized by its base case value. The results obtained by applying the proposed technique to the IEEE-300 bus system and two real large systems of 638 and 787 buses show its effectiveness.     

Adaptive local learning techniques for multiple-step-ahead wind speed forecasting

A massive deployment of wind energy in power systems is expected in the near future. However, a still open issue is how to integrate wind generators into existing electrical grids by limiting their side effects on network operations and control. In order to attain this objective, accurate short and medium-term wind speed forecasting is required.This paper discusses and compares a physical (white-box) model (namely a limited-area non hydrostatic model developed by the European consortium for small-scale modeling) with a family of local learning techniques (black-box) for short and medium term forecasting. Also, an original model integrating machine learning techniques with physical knowledge modeling (grey-box) is proposed.A set of experiments on real data collected from a set of meteorological sensors located in the south of Italy supports the methodological analysis and assesses the potential of the different forecasting approaches.