Extraction of penicillin G from simulated media by an emulsion liquid membrane process

The extraction of penicillin G from simulated media was performed by water/oil/water (w/o/w) emulsion liquid membranes (ELMs) and studied under various operational conditions in a batch system. The degree of extraction achieved was between 80% and 95% under specific conditions. A concentration of greater than nine times the initial concentration of penicillin G in the external phase was obtained in the internal phase. The pH of the internal aqueous solution, containing a basic salt, was theoretically calculated on the basis of the amount of penicillin G transported into the internal phase. The calculated results agreed with the experimental data well and were used to select a suitable type and concentration of a basic salt in the internal phase to give a pH within the range 5 to 8 where penicillin G was stable after the termination of extraction. The extraction of penicillin G was successfully performed by the ELM process with sodium carbonate in the internal phase.     

Double melting behavior of cyclic tris(ethylene terephthalate)

Summary Cyclic tris(ethylene terephthalate) (CTET) was separated from oligomeric extract of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by the conventional solvent separation method. The structure of CTET was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. It is shown that the double melting behavior of meltcrystallized CTET is attributed to the morphological change created by heat-treatment. The effect of the morphological change on the crystal structure of CTET was also examined.     

An Analog Front‐End Circuit for ISO/IEC 14443‐Compatible RFID Interrogators

An analog front‐end circuit for ISO/IEC 14443‐compatible radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogators was designed and fabricated by using a 0.25 µm double‐poly CMOS process. The fabricated chip was operated using a 3.3 Volt single‐voltage supply. The results of this work could be provided as reusable IPs in the form of hard or firm IPs for designing single‐chip ISO/IEC 14443‐compatible RFID interrogators.     

Microstructural investigation of long-term degradation mechanisms in GFRP dowel bars for jointed concrete pavement

Steel dowel bar is used to transfer loads in concrete pavement slab. However, once the steel dowel bar corrodes, it may cause faults, such as joint freezing in concrete pavement, level differences resulting from spalling or decreased efficiency of load transfer, etc., which are the same problems experienced by typical reinforcing steel. This study evaluated the applicability of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) dowel bar as a substitute for steel dowel bar. A microstructural analysis was conducted to examine the decrease in durability of GFRP dowel bar exposed to deterioration environments. To analyze the deterioration mechanism of GFRP dowel bar, scanning electron microscopy was employed and the porosity was measured by the gas absorption method. It was concluded that the longer the GFRP dowel bar was exposed to deterioration environments, the more the interlaminar shear stress decreased. This result was validated by the microstructural analysis. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Preparation of monodisperse poly(vinyl alcohol) microspheres by heterogeneous surface saponification and iodine complex formation

Monodisperse poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) microspheres with high molecular weight obtained by suspension polymerization of vinyl acetate were saponified in alkaline aqueous solution to keep their spherical structure. The saponification was restricted on the surface of the PVAc microspheres and obtained particles had skin/core structure. Various poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microspheres with different diameters and degrees of saponification (DSs) were obtained. The conversion of PVAc to PVA during the heterogeneous surface saponification time were examined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and after 72 h hydrogel type PVA microspheres completely saponified were obtained. The crystal melting temperatures of the microspheres obtained by the saponification were measured a constant value of 238°C irrespective of varying DS, and the peaks became enlarged as reaction time. Iodine complexes were formed in saponified microspheres with DS of 41% and 99% by immersing them in I₂/KI aqueous solution and decomposed by the reduction of I₂ in the complexes to 2I^? using sodium sulfite to confirm whether the skin formed through the saponification was composed of PVA with high VA content. Obviously, characteristic blue color developments owing to I₅^?‐PVA complexes were observed in both saponified regions and a red in the PVAc core. Consequently, it was concluded that the PVA skins formed by heterogeneous surface saponification had high DSs. Such complexes endowed polymeric microspheres a good radiopacity which would be useful in clinical treatment of vascular diseases and were examined by X‐ray irradiation image. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Differentially coherent code acquisition in the MIMO-aided multi-carrier DS-CDMA downlink

Both differentially coherent and non-coherent code acquisition schemes designed for the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)-aided multi-carrier (MC)-DS-CDMA downlink are analysed, when communicating over uncorrelated Rayleigh channels. The attainable mean acquisition time (MAT) performance is studied as a function of both the number of multiple transmit/multiple receive antennas and that of the number of subcarriers. It is demonstrated that in contrast to the expectations, when the number of multiple transmit antennas and/or that of the subcarriers is increased in both the differentially coherent and the non-coherent code acquisition scenarios, the achievable MAT deteriorates over the entire signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) per chip (E_c/I_o) range considered, except for the scenario of single-carrier (SC)-DS-CDMA using P = 2 transmit antennas and R = 1 receive antenna. As expected, the degree of performance degradation depends upon the specific scheme and the E_c/I_o ratio considered, although paradoxically, the correctly synchronised MIMO-aided system is capable of attaining its target bit error ratio performance at reduced SINR values.     

Motion based object tracking with mobile camera

An efficient algorithm which detects and tracks a moving object is proposed. The global motion energy caused by camera movement is eliminated by finding the maximal matching position with the cross-correlation value between two consecutive frames using the spiral scanning technique. The region of a moving object is segmented exactly by combining the results of the temporal derivatives and edge map from one image, and the actual centroid of the moving object is determined as the mid-point of the cumulative distribution of the projection profile of the region     

An analytical study on the thermal characteristics of flat-plate and evacuated solar collectors

In this study, we highlighted differences in the standards used in performance tests of solar collectors. We analyzed testing results for different types of solar collectors to determine the effects of the collector area and mass flow rate, which were not necessarily consistent across all tests. Our analysis showed that the factor,F′ (τα), including collector efficiency factor (F′), could be correlated with the flow rate or area regardless of the collector type. Moreover, the collector loss coefficient (F′U _L ) per flow rate or area for an evacuated collector was less that of a flat-plate collector; this was also correlated with the flow rate or area, regardless of the type of evacuated collector. As a result of this analysis, we propose a modified heat loss coefficient that includes the effects of all parameters that can be considered in a performance test and show that this coefficient could better describe the thermal characteristics of various types of solar collectors.     

Characteristics of p-Ge/N-GaAs heterojunctions grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Reports the nearly ideal electrical characteristics of p-Ge/N-GaAs heterojunction diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The temperature and device size dependencies of the current-voltage characteristics have been investigated. At room temperature, unity ideality factor has been demonstrated over almost six decades of current.<>