HDPE hollow‐fiber membrane via thermally induced phase separation. II. Factors affecting the water permeability of the membrane

Some major factors of the melt spinning of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) and a liquid paraffin (LP) blend, which affect the water permeability of HDPE hollow‐fiber membrane obtained therefrom, were investigated. The water permeability of the membrane was found to increase as the membrane thickness decreases and as the melt‐flow‐rate value of HDPE and the LP content of the blend increases. The dependence of the water permeability on the major factors is also discussed in connection with the morphology of the membrane. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 75: 1235–1242, 2000     

Photopolymerization of acrylonitrile in concentrated aqueous zinc halide solutions

Crosslinked polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was obtained with a high yield from the photoinduced polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) in concentrated aqueous zinc chloride solution. It was found that the presence of zinc chloride results in the promotion of the radical generation in the photoinitiation process as well as an increase in the rate of propagation. Any attempt to isolate the polymer from the reaction mixture was not successful due to the insolubility of the polymer to any conventional solvents to polyacrylonitrile (PAN); therefore, the reaction mixtures, consisting of PAN, zinc chloride, and water—which are referred to as the polymer hybrid system—was used without further purification. The effect of other zinc halides on the polymerization such as zinc bromide and zinc iodide was also investigated in connection with the photoinitiation mechanism, which reveals that the complex (Zn⁺⁺(AN)_x(OH⁻)_yCl) is the species that is responsible for the photoinitiation. It was found that the transparent, stretchable polymer hybrid systems are electric conductive and turn to black upon heating to 160°C due to the conversion of the nitrile group of PAN to tetrahydronaphthyridine rings. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 2588–2594, 2000     

A new modeling approach of pressure waves at the inlet of internal combustion engines

This paper presents a new model used to describe the propagation of pressure waves at the inlet systems of internal combustion engine. In the first part, an analogy is made between the compressible air in a pipe and a mechanical ideal mass damper spring system. A new model is then presented and the parameters of this model are determined by the use of an experimental setup (shock tube test bench). With this model, a transfer function is defined in order to link directly the pressure and the air mass flow rate. In the second part, the model is included into an internal combustion engine simulation code. The results obtained with this code are compared to experimental ones which are measured on a one-cylinder engine test bench. This last one is driven by an electric motor in order to study only the effect of the pressure waves on the engine behavior. A good agreement is obtained between the experimental results and the numerical ones and the new approach is an alternative method for modeling the pressure wave phenomena in an internal combustion engine manifold.     

Biogenic amine formation and bacterial contribution in Natto products

Twenty-one Natto products currently distributed in Korea were analysed for biogenic amine contents and tested to determine physicochemical and bacterial contributions to biogenic amine formation. Among them, nine products (about 43%) had β-phenylethylamine or tyramine contents greater than the toxic dose (30mg/kg and 100mg/kg, respectively) of each amine, although no products showed total amounts of biogenic amines above the harmful level (1000mg/kg), which indicates that the amounts of biogenic amines in some Natto products are not within the safe level for human health. From four different Natto products, that contained noticeable levels of β-phenylethylamine and tyramine, 80 bacterial strains were isolated. All the strains were identified to be Bacillus subtilis and highly capable of producing β-phenylethylamine and tyramine. Therefore, it seems likely that the remarkable contents of β-phenylethylamine and tyramine in Natto predominantly resulted from the strains highly capable of producing those amines present in the food.     

A high-coverage nanoparticle monolayer for the fabrication of a subwavelength structure on InP substrates

Subwavelength structures (SWSs) were fabricated on the Indium Phosphide (InP) substrate by utilizing the confined convective self-assembly (CCSA) method followed by reactive ion etching (RIE). The surface condition of the InP substrate was changed by depositing a 30-nm-thick SiO2 layer and subsequently treating the surface with O2 plasma to achieve better surface coverage. The surface coverage of nanoparticle monolayer reached 90% by using O2 plasma-treated SiO2/InP substrate among three kinds of starting substrates such as the bare InP, SiO2/InP and O2 plasma-treated SiO2/InP substrate. A nanoparticle monolayer consisting of polystyrene spheres with diameter of 300 nm was used as an etch mask for transferring a two-dimensional periodic pattern onto the InP substrate. The fabricated conical SWS with an aspect ratio of 1.25 on the O2 plasma-treated SiO2/InP substrate exhibited the lowest reflectance. The average reflectance of the conical SWS was 5.84% in a spectral range between 200 and 900 nm under the normal incident angle.     

Improvement in the Bias Stability of Zinc-Tin OxideThin-Film Transistors by Hafnium Doping

The influence of hafnium (Hf) doping on negative-bias temperature instability in zinc-tin oxide thin-film transistors was studied. Hafnium-zinc-tin oxide TFTs exhibited a turn-on voltage (V _ON) that shifted from 0 V to ?1 V with negligible changes in the subthreshold swing and field-effect mobility after 3 h of total stresses. The enhanced improvement of the V _ON shift (ΔV _ON) was attributed to the reduction in the interface trap density, which may result from the suppression of oxygen-vacancy-related defects by the Hf ions.     

Bacterial contribution to histamine and other biogenic amine content in Juk (Korean Traditional Congee) cooked with seafood

Eight representative types of juk (Korean traditional congee) cooked with seafood, and plain juk were analyzed for biogenic amine content. Results revealed that while plain juk contains no biogenic amines, juk prepared with seafood has a high level of histamine, ranging from 120 to 170 mg/kg. The seafood used in juk preparation contained different concentrations of histamine, ranging from 60 to 300 mg/kg. No other biogenic amines were detected in most juk and seafood samples. The bacterial contribution to the biogenic amine content in selected seafood was evaluated by analyzing the bacterial distribution and ability to produce biogenic amines. Strains of Achromobacter, Staphylococcus, and Micrococcus that are capable of producing biogenic amines are the dominant genera in the seafood tested. Therefore, this study suggests that the levels of dominant bacteria need to be controlled to reduce the amounts of biogenic amines in seafood and, thereby, in juk prepared with seafood.     

The ability of zinc to inhibit the sporulation and viability of Clostridium sporogenes and growth of other bacteria

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of zinc on the sporulation and viability of Clostridium sporogenes and on the growth of other bacteria. When 0.5% ZnCl₂ was added to a sporulation medium, it completely inhibited C. sporogenes (PA 3679) sporulation for up to 3 weeks. At concentrations of 0.5% and 1.0%, ZnCl₂ not only completely inactivated the vegetative cell viability (>7.0 Log reduction) but also significantly reduced the spore viability (<2.1 Log reduction) of C. sporogenes. Taken together, it was concluded that zinc blocks C. sporogenes sporulation by damaging (or killing) vegetative cells and probably by interfering with the biosynthesis of spore components. In addition to the inhibitory effect on the sporulation and viability of C. sporogenes, ZnCl₂ was found to have a broad antimicrobial spectrum against all Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative spoilage and pathogenic bacteria tested. The minimal inhibitory concentration for inhibiting the bacteria ranged between 3.7 and 7.4 mm . Therefore, we expect that this compound or a combination thereof has a potential as a surface‐cleaning agent or disinfectant.