A comparison of pyrrolidide and picolinyl ester derivatives for the identification of fatty acids in natural samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

The pyrrolidide and picolinyl ester derivatives of the fatty acids in two natural lipid samples rich in unsaturated fatty acids, pig testis lipids and cod liver oil were satisfactorily resolved on capillary columns of fused silica coated with stationary phases of varying polarity. The picolinyl esters, in particular, when subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry on a column containing a cross-linked methyl silicone, gave distinctive mass spectra, which could be interpreted in terms of both the numbers and positions of the double bonds.     

Aerodynamics and aerosol particle deaggregation phenomena in model oral-pharyngeal cavities

The results of numerical simulations of the aerodynamics and of solid aerosol deaggregation phenomena arising in the process of airflow through various model human oropharyngeal cavities are reported. Special attention is given to the relevance of these simulations to the inhalation of dry-powder therapeutic aerosols. Several two- and three-dimensional mouth and throat geometries (terminating just beyond the larynx) are considered. Cross-sectional area-averaged viscous stress values are numerically determined as a function of distance from the mouth opening. These values, ranging from approximately 10 to 500 dyn cm⁻², are compared with estimates of Van der Waals attractive forces per unit area of particle-particle contact so as to evaluate the ability of the flowing airstream to deaggregate aerosol particles that enter the mouth in an aggregated state (held together principally by Van der Waals attractive forces). Estimates of airstream viscous stress differ markedly depending on whether the geometry is two- or three-dimensional. Quantitative differences between flow in a 90°-bend model and an oropharyngeal geometry numerically reconstructed from a cast of a human mouth and throat are especially significant in regards to the ability of the airstream to break apart particle agglomerates. For all geometries it is observed that increasingly smaller particle agglomerates may potentially be separated as the airflow rate increases from 30 to 2001 min⁻¹. At the highest airflows, aggregated particles of diameter near to or even below 1 μm may potentially be separated by the airflow. If separation of particle agglomerates is to occur, it appears far more likely to take place in the throat than in the mouth. This is especially apparent for the more physiologically faithful oropharyngeal geometries considered.     

Synergistic toughening and electrical functionalization of an epoxy using MWCNTs and silane- /plasma-activated basalt fibers

This work studied the effects of adding short basalt fibers (BFs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), both separately and in combination, on the mechanical properties, fracture toughness, and electrical conductivity of an epoxy polymer. The surfaces of the short BFs were either treated using a silane coupling agent or further functionalized by atmospheric plasma to enhance the adhesion between the BFs and the epoxy. The results of a single fiber fragmentation test demonstrated a significantly improved BF/epoxy adhesion upon applying the plasma treatment to the BFs. This resulted in better mechanical properties and fracture toughness of the composites containing the plasma-activated BFs. The improved BF/epoxy adhesion also affected the hybrid toughening performance of the BFs and MWCNTs. In particular, synergistic toughening effects were observed when the plasma-activated BFs/MWCNTs hybrid modifiers were used, while only additive toughening effects occurred for the silane-sized BFs/MWCNTs hybrid modifiers. This work demonstrated a potential to develop strong, tough, and electrically conductive epoxy composites by adding hybrid BF/MWCNT modifiers.     

Skeleton-based canonical forms for non-rigid 3D shape retrieval

Computational Visual Media - The retrieval of non-rigid 3D shapes is an important task. A common technique is to simplify this problem to a rigid shape retrieval task by producing a...     

Reference Monitor Technology: Watching Your Every Keystroke

ABSTRACT

In modern electronic communication, ensuring security during transferring of data is crucial. Digital steganography is the technique that ensures the same, in which any secret data is hidden into the cover mediums such as images, audio or video files. Resistance to removal and invisibility of hidden data are the two important requirements of any steganographic system. This paper proposes a new approach to hide any secret data in images. Also, this paper proposes a new approach which hides an executable file in images. The executable files we have considered are Windows PE (Portable-Executable) files. Moreover from the experimental results, it is proven that the proposed approach is suitable for hiding all type of digital files including exe files. Also, comparing with the existing approaches, this approach shows better performance.     

Examining teacher growth in professional learning groups for in‐service teachers of mathematics

Abstract

Teachers may face important challenges when encouraged to improve their mathematics teaching. Their personal beliefs, knowledge, confidence and personal intentions towards growth and change are all complex factors which may influence teachers’ capacity, and their decisions about personal change in their teaching. In this study, intermediate teachers and the conversations that took place during their monthly Professional Learning Group meetings over a one‐year period were examined in order to better understand issues teachers face in their growth and development as teachers of mathematics. We critically examine the notion and meaning of success to different stakeholders.     

A robust volumetric apparatus and method for measuring high pressure hydrogen storage properties of nanostructured materials

A volumetric apparatus to measure hydrogen adsorption and desorption at room temperature and up to 100 atm has been constructed and studied for accuracy, reproducibility, and stability. The design principles are presented and considerable attention to detail is given to examine the effects of diurnal temperature changes in the manifold and helium adsorption by carbon-based adsorbents during free volume measurement. A heuristic for helium correction is derived from a model with a basis in literature and verified through calculation of adsorbent density. Several materials with well-known hydrogen capacities are studied to examine reproducibility. The microporous carbon AX-21 is studied to examine the effects of pressure step size and approach to equilibrium caused by gas mixing and the Joule-Thomson effect. Hydrogen spillover on a hybrid material, Pt on templated carbon, is examined for several loadings of metal. Kinetics of both physisorption and spillover are compared via the diffusion time constant (D/R(2)) estimated by fitting models for pore and surface diffusion to time-dependent adsorption profiles. No concentration dependence was found for pore diffusion; however, the surface diffusion time constant was shown to decrease with respect to increasing hydrogen concentration.