A rheological behavior of various polyvinylidene difluoride binders for high capacity LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2

Various polyvinylidene difluorides (PVDF) as polymeric binding agent in lithium‐ion battery were rheologically evaluated on high capacity and excess lithium‐LiNi_0.6Mn_0.2Co_0.2O₂ (Ni‐rich NMC). We found that the suspension polymerized PVDF binder is more stable upon gelation for long duration while other high molecular weight PVDF binders (MW > 900,000) show irreversible rheological transformation that can dramatically compromise the coating step during lithium‐ion battery electrode slurry preparation. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 56:760–764, 2016. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Assessment of Fire Risk in the Readymade Garment Industry in Dhaka,Bangladesh

Readymade garments are the most important export item from Bangladesh, yet the working conditions and fire safety records in the factories are often not up to the standard. Despite a number of initiatives to curb fire accidents in the garment industry, there are still a significant number of fire occurrences in this industry. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive statistics on the current status of fire provisions and management practices in the readymade garment factories in Bangladesh. Given the management practices (soft issues) are often as important as structural fire safety measures, yet difficult to regulate, this paper develops a fire risk index (FRI), the first of its kind in Bangladesh, for soft parameters in the garment industry. FRI for 60 random garment factories are developed through surprise inspections to understand the current status of fire risk due to inadequacies in the soft parameters. Results show that the mean FRI is 2.8 on a scale of 5.0, which indicates an alarming condition. Locked exit doors, lack of emergency announcement system and lack of fire drills are the three worst performers among the 24 investigated parameters and require immediate attention from the regulators and stakeholders. We also observed a U-shaped relationship between FRI and factory size. Factories that are members of the industry’s trade lobby generally have better fire safety practices than the non-members. Given the importance of the readymade garment sector in many developing countries, poor fire safety record and lack of information on fire safety, our approach of developing an FRI for the industry can be very useful to understand the immediate concerns and thus to curb fatalities and injuries from fire accidents in this sector.     

Effect of Zn Doping on Structural and Magnetic Properties of Ba4Ni2−x Zn x Fe36O60 Hexaferrites

Polycrystalline Ba₄Ni_2?x Zn _x Fe₃₆O₆₀ (0.0 ≤x ≤ 1.4) hexagonal ferrite samples have been prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method. Structural and magnetic properties of the prepared samples were then analyzed by the X-ray diffraction technique and with superconducting quantum interface device (SQUID) magnetometer, respectively. Variations of lattice parameters, density, and porosity with Zn content were measured. Magnetic properties such as complex permeability, relative quality factor, loss factor, and saturation magnetization have been investigated as a function of Zn content. The study revealed that Zn content has a significant effect on structural and magnetic properties of the Ba₄Ni₂Fe₃₆ O ₆₀ hexaferrites.     

Wear Measurement and Assessment of Explanted Cross-Linked PE Acetabular Cups Using a CMM

Wear has been considered the main limiting factor in the longevity of hip replacements. Wear analysis is thus essential for determining wear-related failure mechanisms and prediction of wear, which will consequently enable biomedical engineers to improve the design, material, and service life of the bearing components. This article presents wear measurement and assessment of the explanted conventional cross-linked polyethylene (XPE) and second-generation highly cross-linked polyethylene cups (X3) using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). An expanded uncertainty analysis was performed to assess the performance of wear measurement. Wear measurement using the CMM method was validated with the gravimetric technique. The normalized error between volumetric wear measurement of the CMM method and that of the gravimetric technique was estimated to be always less than 1, suggesting that the CMM method applied to explanted hip wear measurements under the specific conditions was accurate and reliable. The approach to CMM measurement with uncertainty analysis was shown not only to locate 3D wear scar and wear direction but also to accurately quantify linear and volumetric wear with a maximum volumetric uncertainty of ±3.15 mm³ (95% confidence level). It is shown that identifying the key uncertainty components involved in the measurement process including validation, which contributes to an overall expanded uncertainty budget, is crucial to improve the confidence and the reliability of hip wear measurement results using a CMM.     

Burr formation during drilling of mild steel at different machining conditions

This paper investigates burr generation while drilling of mild steel grade 350. The influences of feed, speed and point angle on burr height, thrust force, torque and chip ratio are investigated to correlate with burr height. It was found that, the burr height reduces gradually with the rise of speed at minimum feed and point angle. At maximum feed and point angle, initially the height rises with speed and then reduces as speed rises further. The maximum burr is 720 μm at 584 rpm. At maximum point angle and speed, the height rises initially and then reduces as the feed rises where the trend is opposite at minimum feed and speed. The maximum burr is 1223.15 μm at 0.25 mm/rev feed. The variation of burr height with point angle is similar to that with the variation of feed. The maximum burr is 1230 μm at 125°point angle. The trends of thrust forces, torques and chip ration with the variation of different parameters are not similar to that of burr height in most of the cases. The complex interaction between strain hardening and thermal softening plays the main role in burr formation for the considered material.     

Biocalalyst effects of immobilized anthraquinone on the anaerobic reduction of azo dyes by the salt-tolerant bacteria

The accelerating effect of dissolved redox mediators has been studied in details in the bio-decolorization processes, but there are little literatures about the non-dissolved redox mediators. Here we describe the accelerating effect of anthraquinone as a redox mediator in the bio-decolorization. Decolorization of azo dyes was carried out experimentally using the salt-tolerant bacteria under immobilized anthraquinone and high salt conditions. Anthraquinone as a redox mediator was able to increase the decolorization rate of azo dyes, and was immobilized by entrapment in calcium alginate (CA), Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-H(3)BO(3) and agar, respectively. The effects of various operating conditions such as anthraquinone bead number, dissolved oxygen, temperature and pH on microbial decolorization were investigated experimentally. The reusability of the anthraquinone immobilization beads was evaluated with repeated-batch decolorization experiments. After four repeated experiments, the decolorization rate of CA immobilized anthraquinone retained over 90% of their original value. The experiments explored a great improvement of the redox mediator application and the new bio-treatment concept.     

Activity-Based Protein Profiling in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Reveals the Broad Reactivity of a Carmofur-Derived Probe

Activity-based protein profiling is a powerful chemoproteomic technique to detect active enzymes and identify targets and off-targets of drugs. Here, we report the use of carmofur- and activity-based probes to identify biologically relevant enzymes in the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Carmofur is an anti-neoplastic prodrug of 5-fluorouracil and also has antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity. Carmofur probes were originally designed to target human acid ceramidase, a member of the NTN hydrolase family with an active-site cysteine nucleophile. Here, we first profiled the targets of a fluorescent carmofur probe in live S. aureus under biofilm-promoting conditions and in liquid culture, before proceeding to target identification by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Treatment with a carmofur-biotin probe led to enrichment of 20 enzymes from diverse families awaiting further characterization, including the NTN hydrolase-related IMP cyclohydrolase PurH. However, the probe preferentially labeled serine hydrolases, thus displaying a reactivity profile similar to that of carbamates. Our results suggest that the electrophilic N-carbamoyl-5-fluorouracil scaffold could potentially be optimized to achieve selectivity towards diverse enzyme families. The observed promiscuous reactivity profile suggests that the clinical use of carmofur presumably leads to inactivation of a number human and microbial enzymes, which could lead to side effects and/or contribute to therapeutic efficacy.