Synthesis ofGEM-dibromocyclopropanoid fatty esters using phenyl (tribromomethyl) mercury

Thegem-dibromocyclopropanation of naturally occurring unsaturated hydroxy fatty esters, methyl ricinoleate (I) and methyl isoricinoleate (II), has been undertaken to provide compounds which might have potential utility. Phenyl(tribromomethyl)mercury reacts only with the carbon-carbon double bond of each substrate, leaving the OH group intact. The product, methyl 9,10-dibromomethylene-12-hydroxyoctadecanoate (III) and methyl 12,13-dibromomethylene-9-hydroxyoctadecanoate (IV), obtained from I and II, respectively, were characterized by elemental, infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses.     

Differential sensitivity of human myeloma cell lines and normal bone marrow colony forming cells to a recombinant diphtheria toxin-interleukin 6 fusion protein

The cytotoxicity of a recombinant interleukin 6 (IL-6)-diphtheria toxin (DT) fusion protein towards human myeloma cell lines was investigated. DAB389-IL-6 inhibited protein synthesis and methylcellulose colony formation by U266 myeloma cells. In the clonogenic assay, the fusion protein approached the level of cytotoxicity achieved by native DT. The specificity of killing by DAB389-IL-6 was demonstrated by inhibition of cytotoxicity by a molar excess of free rhIL-6. The effect of DAB389-IL-6 on colony formation by six OCI-My cell lines was assessed. Similar to U266 cells, colony growth by the OCI-My 5 and -My 2 cell lines was inhibited in a simple dose dependent manner. However, a biphasic effect was observed for the IL-6 dependent OCI-My 4 cells; DAB389-IL-6 stimulated colony formation at low (< or = 10(-11) M) concentrations, yet was inhibitory at higher doses. Three other cell lines whose growth was not altered by IL-6 were relatively unaffected by DAB389-IL-6, despite their sensitivity to native DT. Flow cytometric analysis for IL-6 receptor expression using phycoerythrin-conjugated IL-6 demonstrated specific binding sites on both DAB389-IL-6 sensitive and certain insensitive cell lines, suggesting that other factors in addition to the expression of IL-6 receptors are involved in killing by the fusion toxin. Despite evidence for a role of IL-6 in myeloid cell development, normal bone marrow was insensitive to the IL-6 fusion toxin. In cultures containing both normal bone marrow and U266 cells DAB389-IL-6 effectively inhibited the growth of U266 myeloma colonies but had little effect on normal bone marrow erythroid, granulocyte and mixed erythroid/granulocyte colony growth. From these experiments we conclude that DAB389-IL-6 is specifically cytotoxic towards a subset of IL-6-responsive human myeloma cell lines and may be useful, in some cases, in the selective elimination of tumour cells from mixed populations of normal and malignant cells.     

Evaluation of the real contact area in three-body dry friction by micro-thermal analysis

Many tribological properties and wear mechanisms occurring on the micro-and nanoscale are strongly controlled by the so-called real contact area (A_r) which is a small fraction of the nominal or apparent contact area (A_a). The determination of A_r is often based on either (i) a geometrical approach describing the real geometry of contacting surfaces or (ii) a mechanical approach involving contact mechanics and physical-mechanical properties. In addition some experimental methods have also been attempted but they generally do not take into account the presence of third body at the interface—i.e. the wear debris trapped within the contact. In this paper we propose an experimental approach to estimate the dynamic real contact area from the operating parameters (F_n, v, T) and the tribological responses (μ, F_t) in presence of third body. A scanning thermal microscope (SThM) is used for determining both the thermal conductivity of the third body and the relationship between the contact temperature and the thermal power really dissipated at the micro-asperity level. These results are combined with a thermal model of the macro-tribocontact for computing the real contact area and the real contact pressure. Validation of these results is carried out using a classical Greenwood Williamson model and finite element models built from the real AFM maps.     

Encapsulation of nanoparticles by polymerization compounding in a gas/solid fluidized bed reactor

For the first time, a fluidized bed reactor was used for encapsulating nanoparticles by the polymerization compounding approach using Ziegler–Natta catalysts. The polymerization reaction was carried out using a solvent-free process in a gas-phase reactor. This direct gas–solid reaction greatly simplified collecting the particles of interest after polymerization because none of the extra steps often found in encapsulation processes, such as filtering and drying, were performed in this work. The grafting of the catalyst to the original surface of particles was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Micrographs obtained by transmission electron microscopy confirmed the presence of a thin layer of polymer, in the order of a few nanometers, around the particles. The thickness of this coating was affected by the operating conditions of the process. The characterization of the modified particles with electron microscopy also revealed that zirconia nanoparticles tend to be coated in an agglomerated state, whereas aluminum particles were mostly individually encapsulated by the polymer. In addition, the effects of temperature and pressure were studied on the encapsulation process and a kinetic analysis was presented based on the available models in the literature. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009     

Gamma-emitting radionuclides in the shallow marine sediments off the Sindh coast, Arabian Sea

Determination of gamma emitting radionuclides in shallow marine sediments off the Sindh coast has been carried out using a gamma spectrometry technique. The activity concentration measured in various sediment samples off the Sindh coast has been found to vary from 15.93 +/- 5.22 to 30.53 +/- 4.70 Bq kg(-1) for 226Ra, from 11.72 +/- 1.22 to 33.94 +/- 1.86 Bq kg(-1) for 228Ra and from 295.22 +/- 32.83 to 748.47 +/- 28.75 Bq kg(-1) for 40K. The calculated mean values of radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate and effective dose are 98 Bq kg(-1), 49 nGy h(-1) and 0.06 mSv y(-1), respectively. No artificial radionuclide was detected in the samples measured from the study area. As no data on radioactivity of the coastal environment of Pakistan are available, the data presented here will serve as baseline information on radionuclide concentration in shallow sea sediments off the Sindh coast. The data will also be useful for tracking pollution inventories from unusual radiological events (if any) in the territorial waters of the study area. Further, the information presented will contribute to modelling of a regional radioactivity database from the perspectives of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Asia-Pacific Marine Radioactivity Database and Global Marine Radioactivity Database.     

Fatigue crack monitoring of riveted aluminium strap joints by Lamb wave analysis and acoustic emission measurement techniques

Statistics show that fatigue crack development comes first and foremost as a damage source in aerospace metallic structures. Currently, widespread methods are available to inspect these structures, but they are quite time-consuming, costly and require the structural system to be idle. Next, attempts to develop damage detection integrated systems are paramount for the safety and cost of such structures. This paper describes an investigation into the feasibility of using an integrated system based on Lamb waves in order to assess the integrity of riveted aluminium joints during cyclical loading. In this experimental analysis, Lamb waves are excited and received outside the joint area using piezoelectric transducers coupled onto the plates. The detected damage is cracks in joint resulting from fatigue loading. The collected signals on the piezoelectric transducers are analysed using Hilbert transform and time–frequency analysis. It is shown that the final interpretation of Lamb wave analysis may provide a means of sizing the defects and following the crack development. In addition to that, an acoustic emission system is used jointly with the Lamb wave analysis in order to discuss results and damage development. Finally, it is demonstrated that both methods can work together and the results obtained are in good agreement.     

Meaningful Learning for Deep Facial Emotional Features

Neural Processing Letters - Facial expression is an important aspect to recognize emotions between humans. However, this task remains difficult for machines. Several approaches have been developed...     

An Efficient Digital Confidentiality Scheme Based on Commutative Chaotic Polynomial

Multimedia Tools and Applications - One of the most critical aspects of this technologically progressive era is the propagation of information through an unsecured communication channel. The...     

Learning a Deep Predictive Coding Network for a Semi-Supervised 3D-Hand Pose Estimation

In this paper we present a CNN based approach for a real time 3D-hand pose estimation from the depth sequence. Prior discriminative approaches have achieved remarkable success but are facing two main challenges: Firstly, the methods are fully supervised hence require large numbers of annotated training data to extract the dynamic information from a hand representation. Secondly, unreliable hand detectors based on strong assumptions or a weak detector which often fail in several situations like complex environment and multiple hands. In contrast to these methods, this paper presents an approach that can be considered as semi-supervised by performing predictive coding of image sequences of hand poses in order to capture latent features underlying a given image without supervision. The hand is modelled using a novel latent tree dependency model (LDTM) which transforms internal joint location to an explicit representation. Then the modeled hand topology is integrated with the pose estimator using data dependent method to jointly learn latent variables of the posterior pose appearance and the pose configuration respectively. Finally, an unsupervised error term which is a part of the recurrent architecture ensures smooth estimations of the final pose. Experiments on three challenging public datasets, ICVL, MSRA, and NYU demonstrate the significant performance of the proposed method which is comparable or better than state-of-the-art approaches.      

Micro‐morphological,environmental and phytochemical investigation of herbal medicines by using LM and SEM: A quality control tool

The use of quality control tool for authentication of Jadwar (Delphinium denudatum Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson), a folk herbal drug used for the treatment of different ailments, was studied. People face problems of adulteration for this drug at global, regional, national and local levels. Two different plant species are commercially marketed in the Indo‐Pak Subcontinent under the same trade name of Jadwar. One is D. denudatum Wall. ex Hook.f. & Thomson and the other is Aconitum heterophyllum Wall. ex Royle. To focus on this problem, a marketable available drug sample of Jadwar was authenticated by using basic microscopy tools (LM) and advanced chemo‐taxonomic markers. Authentication, quality and standardization of this drug was achieved using morphology, organoleptography, UV and IR analyses, scanning electron microscopy of pollen and anatomical investigations. The techniques used for authentication marked the clear difference between the studied plants. Microscopic studies, chemotaxonomic investigation and other techniques used in this project provided the basis for the authentication of this species.