Dynamic mechanical analysis of novel composites from commingled polypropylene fiber and banana fiber

Polypropylene (PP)/banana fiber (BF) composites were fabricated from PP fiber and short BF by novel commingling method. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of the composites was performed with reference to BF loading and fiber surface treatments. By the incorporation of BF into the PP matrix, the storage modulus and loss modulus have been found to increase, whereas damping factor has been found to decrease. Glass transition temperature was found to increase with increase in BF loading. The viscoelastic properties of the composites were also found to depend on fiber surface treatments. The activation energy of the composites for the glass transition has been found to be increased by the increase in BF loading. Surface treatment of the BF further increased the activation energy of the composites, indicating a stronger interface for treated fiber composites. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs of the BF showed the physical changes induced by the surface treatments. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to ascertain the existence of the type of interfacial bonds. The use of theoretical equations to predict the storage modulus has also been discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Sunflower oil coating on the nanoparticles of iron(III) oxides

High-temperature solution phase reaction of iron(III)-furoate in sunflower oil, in the presence of trichloroacetic acid and 1,2-hexadecylamine leads to iron(III) oxide (amorphous and γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles with sizes about 1.3 nm in diameter (method “A”), and about 5.5 nm (amorphous Fe2O3) from the “sunflower oil/oxadiazol” system (method “B”).     

“马迪尔”已叩开中国的大门——法国里莫集团的中国之行

法国里莫酒业集团，始建于1789年，在国际葡萄酒界久享盛名，是一家集葡萄栽培、酿造、技术输出为一体的大型跨国集团，盛产各种名贵干红、干白、玫瑰红葡萄酒，是世界上最大的葡萄酒出口企业和跨国集团之一，同时也是法国和欧洲最大的用单一葡萄酿酒的生产型企业。畅销全球104个国家和地区，年出口5800万瓶。在世界各地平均每22支已开瓶的葡萄酒中即有一支为本集团出品，平均每秒钟都有人在饮用本集团出品的优质葡萄酒。 里莫集团拥有世界上最先进的生产流水线，葡萄种植面积达52500亩，葡萄园1000多个，有1000多年的种植史，且拥有先进的葡萄酒酿造及品质控制和保障中心。严格按照国际OIV标准，从葡萄的种植、采摘、加工到酒的酿制、装瓶检验全过程采用电脑自动化控制，每一瓶葡萄酒的品质在保质期内承诺百分之百的质量保证。其酿造的“马迪尔”、“马妮尔”葡萄酒，拥有一项世界第一，三项国际金奖的称号，是葡萄酒中难得一见的珍品。 目前，里莫集团在亚洲的销售网络已遍及日本、韩国、香港、澳门、新加坡、马来西亚、泰国等国家。近年来，法国里莫酒业集团非常关注中国的快速发展，并在中国建立了营销机构——杭州马迪尔酒业有限公司，已叩开了进入中国市场的大门。[编者按]     

Analysis and design of digital predictive controller for PFC Cuk converter

A digital predictive control strategy for Power Factor Correction (PFC) is presented in this paper. The duty cycles required to achieve unity power factor in one half line period are calculated in advance by using a predictive algorithm and implemented using low cost PIC Microcontroller. A single stage PFC circuit controlled by these pre-calculated duty cycles can achieve sinusoidal current waveform. The output voltage of PFC circuit is regulated by an outer PI controller. A low frequency, small signal model of the rectifier is developed in order to design a PI voltage controller. A prototype of front end AC–DC converter followed by DC–DC Cuk converter controlled by a PIC Microcontroller is developed. Both the simulation and experimental results reveal that the proposed digital predictive strategy provides low THD, high power factor and better performance due to its lower calculation requirement and simple implementation.     

Synthesis and characterization of cobalt ferrocyanides loaded on organic anion exchanger

Transition metal ferrocyanides have important applications in the selective removal of radioactive caesium from low level and intermediate level radioactive liquid waste streams. The microcrystalline nature of these materials renders them useless for application in column mode operations. Special preparation procedures have been developed to prepare granular solids by in situ precipitation of metal ferrocyanides on organic anion exchangers, which is suitable for column mode operations. The elemental compositions of the metal ferrocyanides precipitated inside the pores of anion exchanger were determined by analysing the dissolved samples using ICP-AES system and flame photometer. From the XRD and EDX analyses and the elemental composition of the synthesized materials, the nature of the compound formed inside the anion exchanger was found to be cobalt ferrocyanide. From SEM analysis of the samples, the particle size of the cobalt ferrocyanide precipitated inside the anion exchanger was found to be much less than that of cobalt ferrocyanide precipitated outside. The efficiency of these materials for removal of Cs was evaluated by measuring the distribution coefficient (Kd), ion exchange capacity and kinetics of Cs uptake. The Kd of the materials loaded on anion exchanger was found to be of the order of 10⁵ ml/g. The Cs uptake kinetics of the materials loaded on anion exchanger was slower than that of precipitated materials. The ion exchange capacity of the cobalt ferrocyanide loaded on anion exchanger was found to be much higher than that of the precipitated cobalt ferrocyanide.     

Post-translational N-glycosylation of a truncated form of a peptide processing enzyme

Peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) catalyzes the carboxyl-terminal amidation of bioactive peptides through a two-step reaction involving the monooxygenase and lyase domains. PAM undergoes endoproteolytic cleavage in neuroendocrine cells in the lyase domain. To determine which of the two possible paired basic sites is utilized, truncated PAM proteins ending at these sites were stably expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells. While characterizing the truncation mutants, it became apparent that N-glycosylation occurred post-translationally at the single site localized near the carboxyl terminus of the lyase domain. The post-translational N-glycosylation of this site does not require the newly synthesized protein to remain tightly bound to membranes. Both malfolded, secretion incompetent proteins and fully active, secreted proteins were subject to post-translational N-glycosylation.     

Direct Assessments of the Processing Time Hypothesis for the Missing-Letter Effect.

When participants search for a target letter while reading, they make more omissions if the target letter is embedded in frequently used words or in the most frequent meaning of a polysemic word. According to the processing time hypothesis, this occurs because familiar words and meanings are identified faster, leaving less time for letter identification. Contrary to the predictions of the processing time hypothesis, with a rapid serial visual presentation procedure, participants were slower at detecting target letters for more frequent words or the most frequent meaning of a word (Experiments 1 and 2) or at detecting the word itself instead of a target letter (Experiment 3). In Experiments 4 and 5, participants self-initiated the presentation of each word, and the same pattern of results was observed as in Experiments 1 and 3. Positive correlations were also found between omission rate and response latencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predominance and characteristics of Burkitt lymphoma among children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in northeastern Brazil

The purpose of this paper was to define the histologic distribution, clinical features, and treatment response of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in northeastern Brazil. We reviewed medical records and histopathologic studies of 98 children treated for NHL from 1980 to 1987 at a major pediatric cancer center in Recife, Brazil. Treatment outcome was evaluated in relation to tumor burden (stage and serum LDH) and type of therapy (LSA2L2 vs other multiagent chemotherapy). There was a striking predominance of the small noncleaved cell (Burkitt) subtype, which occurred in 92 of the 98 children and adolescents diagnosed with NHL. Subsequent analyses focused on these patients. The majority (n = 84) had advanced (stage III/IV) disease at diagnosis. The abdomen was the most common site of disease (84 cases); jaw involvement was rare (three cases). Five-year event-free survival (excluding treatment refusals) was significantly better for patients with limited vs advanced stage disease (75 +/- 14% vs 42 +/- 6%; P < 0.04). Elevated serum LDH (>500 U/l) was associated with a poorer outcome (P = 0.008). The type of chemotherapy did not affect EFS (P = 0.95). Only 39% of patients are long-term survivors, reflecting the high rate of septic deaths (25% of patients) and parental refusal/abandonment of therapy (10%). Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was detected in tumor cells from eight of the 11 cases studied. In clinical presentation, these cases resemble sporadic Burkitt lymphoma, yet in their apparent responsiveness to LSA2L2 therapy and association with EBV, they do not. Childhood NHL in northeastern Brazil is predominantly of the Burkitt subtype, and is associated with clinical features that appear to distinguish it from the endemic and sporadic forms of this tumor. These cases may represent a third or intermediate subtype of Burkitt lymphoma.     

Do noncontingent vouchers increase drug use?

Data from 2 contingency management trials, targeting opiate or cocaine use, were used to investigate whether noncontingent vouchers inadvertently reinforce drug use. The control group in each trial received noncontingent vouchers matched in value and frequency to those received by experimental groups, but independent of urinalysis. Vouchers were offered thrice weekly for 8 weeks (opiates) or 12 weeks (cocaine). Both dose-response and temporal associations of noncontingent voucher receipt with drug-positive urines were assessed. Drug use was unrelated to frequency of noncontingent voucher delivery and noncontingent voucher receipt when being drug positive was unassociated with risk of subsequent drug use, with one exception: cocaine use in the cocaine study (relative risk = 1.05, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.09). Overall, results do not indicate a causal relationship between noncontingent voucher receipt and increased drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Minimal schedulability interval for real-time systems of periodic tasks with offsets

We consider real-time systems in highly safety context where tasks have to meet strict deadlines. Tasks are periodic, may have offsets, share critical resources and be precedence constrained. Off-line scheduling should be of great help for such systems, but methods proposed in the literature cannot deal with them. Our aim is to extend and improve the well-known cyclicity result of Leung and Merill to every scheduling algorithm and to systems of interacting tasks with offsets. One of the main benefit of our result is to enable the use of off-line scheduling methods for those real-time critical systems.