Voltage sensitivity of the osteoclast calcium receptor

We demonstrated previously that osteoclasts possess a divalent cation-sensitive "receptor", the Ca2+ receptor. Activation of the Ca2+ receptor by the surrogate cation Ni2+ was shown to elicit an increase in cytosolic [Ca2+] to a peak value followed by an exponential decline. In the present study we examined the influence of surface membrane voltage on the kinetics of Ca2+ receptor inactivation. The K+ ionophore, valinomycin was applied to intercept the declining phase of the cytosolic [Ca2+] transient elicited by application of between 50 microM- and 5 mM-[Ni2+]. This resulted in a sustained elevation of cytosolic [Ca2+] or even a 'hump' followed by a gradual decline. Such a kinetic alteration persisted in a Ca(2+)-free solution, but was abolished in high extracellular [K+] (105 mM). Thus, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge, a modulatory effect of membrane potential on the function of the osteoclast Ca2+ receptor.     

Agility and production flow layouts: An analytical decision analysis

The term ‘agile manufacturing’ has referred to operational aspects of a manufacturing company concerning their ability to produce customized products at mass production prices and with short lead times. A core issue faced within agile manufacturing is the need for appropriate and supporting production and operations systems. Many design dimensions of agility and agile manufacturing exist. To help attain this goal for integrating the many design dimensions, operations infrastructure and capacity must be carefully planned to manage production flow, and thus production layout planning takes on an increasingly important role. Given the importance of these dimensions in response to agility, this paper seeks to make a contribution by providing insights into a decision aid for evaluating production flow layouts that support and enhance the agile manufacture of products. Layout design has a significant impact on the performance of a manufacturing or service industry system and has been an active research area for many decades. Strategic evaluation of production layouts requires consideration of both qualitative and quantitative factors (managerial, organizational, and technical). This paper makes use of the Analytical Network Process (ANP) which captures interdependencies among different criteria, sub-criteria and dimensions, an evident characteristic of production flow layouts in complex agile manufacturing environments. An application case study exemplifying the practical usefulness of this type of model describes how management, after implementation of the model, made a mid-course correction related to the production layout initially selected.     

The Oseen model for internal separated flows

Summary The flow field studied in this paper is the viscous laminar, separated flow downstream of a sudden expansion in a two-dimensional duct. The flow is modelled by the Oseen equations and a solution is sought for the downstream flow given the conditions at the sudden expansion. First, the exact solution to a high-Reynolds-number limit equation suggested by Kumar and Yajnik [6] is obtained. Next, the solution to the full equations is sought in terms of an eigenfunction-expansion procedure which leads to a non-standard eigenvalue problem. A detailed study is made of the latter and a number of expansion procedures are considered for the boundary-value problem. Specific calculations of the separated flow are presented for Reynolds numbers R=10 ⁿ , n=0–5. It is found that as R the solution of the full equation does indeed agree with the solution of the high-Reynolds-number limit equation. In particular it is found that the length of the recirculating region x _r scales with R as R.     

Quantification of multiple bioagents with wireless, remote-query magnetoelastic microsensors

This paper presents a micromagnetoelastic sensor array for simultaneously monitoring multiple biological agents. Magnetoelastic sensors, made of low-cost amorphous ferromagnetic ribbons, are analogous and complementary to piezoelectric acoustic wave sensors, which track parameters of interest via changes in resonance behavior. Magnetoelastic sensors are excited with magnetic ac fields, and, in turn, they generate magnetic fluxes that can be detected with a sensing coil from a distance. As a result, these sensors are highly attractive, not only due to their small size and low cost, but also because of their passive and wireless nature. Magnetoelastic sensors have been applied for monitoring pressure, temperature, liquid density, and viscosity, fluid How velocity and direction, and with chemical/biological responsive coatings that change mass or elasticity, various biological and chemical agents. In this paper, we report the fabrication and application of a six-sensor array for simultaneous measurement of Escherichia coli O157:H7, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, and ricin. In addition, the sensor array also monitors temperature and pH so the measurements are independent from these two parameters.     

Unstructured Grid-Based Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Broadband Electromagnetic Simulations

A parallel, unstructured, high-order discontinuous Galerkin method is developed for the time-dependent Maxwell's equations, using simple monomial polynomials for spatial discretization and a fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme for time marching. Scattering results for a number of validation cases are computed employing polynomials of up to third order. Accurate solutions are obtained on coarse meshes and grid convergence is achieved, demonstrating the capabilities of the scheme for time-domain electromagnetic wave scattering simulations.     

Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Resonance Imaging of Hexagonal SiC and Alumina Tiles

Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) is an NDE technique that evaluates a sample based on its predicted resonant behavior, but RUS is limited by lack of spatial resolution and small specimen size. Air-coupled ultrasonic resonance imaging (ACURI) is a new NDE technique that is based on RUS but introduces a spatial resolution by generating an image of the flexural vibration modes. This paper presents experimental results of ACURI applied to hexagonal silicon carbide tiles. Frequency sweep scans demonstrate the ability of air-coupled transducers to detect resonance modes. Several mode shapes are imaged and compared to Finite Element simulations with good agreement. Visual comparison allows for easy detection of material differences such as density variations.     

Antioxidant effect of turmeric powder,nitrite and ascorbic acid on stored chicken mince

This investigation was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant effect of turmeric (turmeric 1000 ppm, turmeric 5000 ppm), nitrite (nitrite 200 ppm) and ascorbic acid (ascorbic acid 500 ppm) on raw minced chicken stored at 4 ± 1 °C. Physicochemical properties [pH, water activity, cooking loss, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA)] were evaluated on 0, 2, 4 and 6th day of storage. Highly significant differences (P < 0.01) in pH, TBA value, PV and FFA value were noticed between treatments and between storage periods. TBA values were observed to be lowest for nitrite 200 ppm and then turmeric 5000 ppm, and there was no significant difference between nitrite 200 ppm and turmeric 5000 ppm, and both were superior to ascorbic acid 500 ppm and turmeric 1000 ppm. Among different treatments, PV was found to be lowest in turmeric 5000 ppm and highest in nitrite 200 ppm. FFA value was found to be lowest in turmeric 5000 ppm and highest in ascorbic acid 500 ppm among all treated samples. It can be concluded that turmeric has potential to replace synthetic antioxidants presently used in meat processing with many added advantages.     

Rolling element bearing design through genetic algorithms

The design of rolling element bearings has been a challenging task in the field of mechanical engineering. While most of the real aspects of the design are never disclosed by bearing manufacturers, the common engineer is left with no other alternative than to refer to standard tables and charts containing the bearing performance characteristics. This paper presents a more viable method to solve this problem using genetic algorithms (GAs). Since the algorithm is basically a guided random search, it weakens the chances of getting trapped in local maxima or minima. The method used has yielded improved performance parameters than those catalogued in standard tables.