A self-alignment crowned pulley design for high speed paper media transport systems

Misalignment of mechanical rolling elements such as belt and pulley causes catastrophic malfunctions of high speed paper feeding systems like automated teller machines (ATMs), printers, and copy machines. A combination of a crown pulley and a belt can be an effective self-alignment mechanism for the systems. In this paper, an equation of motion of the belt and pulley system is driven, verification tests are carried out, and a design improvement strategy is suggested for high speed paper media transport systems.     

Vitreous humor in the pathologic scope: Insights from proteomic approaches

The vitreous humor (VH) is the largest component of the eye. It is a colorless, gelatinous, highly hydrated matrix that fills the posterior segment of the eye between the lens and retina in vertebrates. In VH, a diversity of proteins that can influence retinal physiology is present, including growth factors, hormones, proteins with transporter activity, and enzymes. More importantly, the protein composition of VH has been described as being altered in a number of disease states. Therefore, attempts aiming at establishing a map of VH proteins and detecting putative biomarkers for ocular illness or protein fluctuations with putative physiologic significance were conducted over the last two decades, using proteomic approaches. Proteomic strategies often involve gel-based or LC techniques as sample fractioning approaches, subsequently coupled with MS procedures. This set of studies resulted in the proteomic characterization of a range of ocular disease samples, with particular incidence on diabetic retinopathy. However, practical therapeutic applications arising from these studies are scarce at the moment. A pertinent example of therapeutic targets arising from VH proteomics has emerged concerning vasoproliferative factors present in the vitreous, which should be involved in neovascularization and subsequent fibrovascular proliferation of the retina, in ocular disease context. Therefore, this review attempts to sum up the information acquired from the proteomic approaches to ocular disease conducted in VH samples, highlighting its clinical potential for disclosing ocular disease mechanisms and engendering pharmacological therapeutic treatments.     

The use of remote-sensing techniques to monitor dense reservoir networks in the Brazilian semiarid region

Reservoirs are the main water source in the Brazilian semiarid region, especially in the crystalline-geology watersheds, forming high-density reservoir networks (HdRN). However, in most cases, the construction of these reservoirs has been done without technical supervision. The objective of this work was to map and evaluate the spatial distribution of the 25,000 km² Orós Reservoir Basin (ORB) HdRN, in semiarid Brazil, with the help of remote-sensing tools associated with geographic information systems (GIS). Using LANDSAT 5 images of the end of the 2011 rainy season of the ORB, the remote-sensing technique allowed the identification of 6002 polygons, which corresponded to only 4717 reservoirs (implying a misidentification of 21%). Between 2002 and 2011, a 17.5% increase (and 1.81% annual increase) in the number of reservoirs in the basin was observed, still lower than the annual increment from 1970 to 2002, when an average increase of 2.64% per year was observed, in other studies. The perimeter of the reservoirs ranged from 0.250 to 560 km and the individual water surface area ranged from 0.004 to 195.0 km², resulting in a total surface of 465.0 km². Analysing the surface area of the strategic reservoirs, results showed that the estimation of the surface area (from remote sensing with manual polygon adjustment) yielded values very close to those of the on-site monitored areas, with R² = 0.99 and normalized difference index ranging from ?0.02 to +0.09. The reservoir density in the ORB in 2011 was 0.19 reservoirs km^–2, higher than the recommended optimum density of 0.15 reservoirs km^–2 basin. Analysis of reservoir density by municipality recorded values ranging from 0.02 to 0.40 reservoirs km^–2. The sedimentary-geology municipalities presented a reservoir density on average 80% lower than the that of the crystalline-geology municipalities, indicating a strong relationship between geology and reservoir density. Neither population density nor rainfall explained the spatial distribution of reservoirs within the basin, both yielding R² lower than 0.1. This remote-sensing survey of reservoirs demonstrated two major flaws: the misidentification of shadows as reservoirs and the inability to identify the presence of macrophytes, which negatively affected the number and surface area of the target reservoirs. Despite these problems, remote sensing has been shown to be a technique of great potential in the planning and management of water resources in regions with dense reservoir networks.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic and chromaticity analysis on colorative mechanism of celadon glaze

The dependence of the color of a celadon glaze on the chemical composition and the electronic state of Fe was investigated by Mössbauer spectroscopic and chromaticity analysis. The amount of Fe₂O₃ was found to be the main factor influencing L* and b* values, whereas the amount of TiO₂ was found to affect all the parameters (L*, a*, b*). The effect of MnO on the color was significant only by interaction terms. The amount of P₂O₅ was found to be the main factor of the b* value. According to the Mössbauer analysis results, as the amount of divalent iron ions increases, the a* and b* values decreased; on the other hand, the L* value increased. As the amount of titanium increased, Fe²⁺ was found to be destabilized relative to Fe³⁺ due to the structural instability of Fe-O-Ti network.     

Evaluation of crack-Growth resistance curve for a particulate ceramic–Metal composite

A technique is described to evaluate the crack growth resistance behaviour in brittle ceramic-base materials. In this method, the crack increment measurements during the stable crack propagation process are not required. The crack growth resistance curves are studied for a particulate ceramic–metal composite in the system lanthanium chromite–chromium. Experiments were performed with standard fracture mechanics single-edge notched beam specimens in a temperature range from room temperature up to 1100°C. Effect of temperature on crack growth resistance behaviour is discussed.     

Electrochemical study of AISI 304 stainless steel during the exposure at the disinfectant solutions with fungal suspensions

The effect of fungal suspensions on the disinfectant solution (Actisept with sodium dichloroisocyanurate as active substance, which releases 140 ppm active chlorine) and the corrosion behavior of type AISI 304 stainless steel (SS) were evaluated through linear polarization. The work presents a study of biocide Actisept solution as reference solution and the mixed solutions: reference biocide Actisept solution with three fungal suspensions (10 vol%), Aspergillus niger, Candida mycoderma, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The fungal suspension has an important influence on the synergistic effect of the SS corrosion in the following order: Saccharomyces cerevisiae > Candida mycoderma > Aspergillus niger. The E_corr values from the mixed solutions decreased with immersion time of the samples. In the case of Aspergillus niger, the corrosion rate was lower than that of any other type of fungal suspension tested, because the arrangement in solutions, the size and composition of Aspergillus niger spores were more favorable to protect the spores of the chemical and the electrical stressing. The results showed that there is a synergistic effect between the active substances from the disinfectant, fungal suspensions and applied potential, thus this effect can be taken into consideration for the hygienic and safety food industry.     

Estimation of the number of trays for natural gas triethylene glycol dehydration column

The paper deals with the tray-to-tray method for determining the required number of trays in columns with intensive entrainment of liquid when the operating line of the “dry working regime” is not straight and with a small concentration of diffusing component in gas. Presented calculations show that the number of transfer units for gas and liquid should be calculated using the AIChE method accompanied with longitudinal mixing according to Gilbert properly transformed for case of diffusion through stagnant film. The suggested method can be applied for TEG dehydration absorbers-columns for dehydration of natural gas using triethylene glycol with system factor SF = 0.5.