Stability of Mullite Protective Coatings for Silicon-Based Ceramics

Silicon-based ceramics are prone to severe oxidation and volatilization problems in the presence of water vapor. To address these issues, mullite has been investigated in recent years as a possible protective coating material. To analyze the stability of such coatings, a multi-species diffusion model for ionic species is developed. Onsager reciprocity is assumed for the mobility coefficients and the resulting moving boundary problem is solved numerically. The formulation also accounts for substantial Si volatilization away from the outer surface of the coating. This model is used to analyze an initial transient leading to the formation of an internal silica layer, a second transient period that follows this silica formation, and a steady-state regime that can only be attained if Si diffusion is sufficiently fast.     

Data envelopment analysis for weight derivation and aggregation in the analytic hierarchy process

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is proposed in this paper to generate local weights of alternatives from pair-wise comparison judgment matrices used in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The underlying assumption behind the approach is explained, and some salient features are explored. It is proved that DEA correctly estimates the true weights when applied to a consistent matrix formed using a known set of weights. DEA is further proposed to aggregate the local weights of alternatives in terms of different criteria to compute final weights. It is proved further that the proposed approach, called DEAHP in this paper, does not suffer from rank reversal when an irrelevant alternative(s) is added or removed.     

Communication architectures and algorithms for media mixing inmultimedia conferences

The problem of media mixing that arises in teleconferencing applications such as teleorchestra is addressed. The mixing algorithm presented minimizes the difference between generation times of the media packets that are being mixed together in the absence of globally synchronized clocks, but in the presence of jitter in communication delays on packet switched networks. In order to support applications, such as teleorchestra, that involve a large number of participants, hierarchical mixing architectures are proposed, and it is shown that they are an order of magnitude more scalable than purely centralized or distributed architectures. Furthermore, mechanisms for minimizing the delays incurred by mixing in various communication architectures are presented. The mixing algorithms are implemented on a network of workstations connected by Ethernets, and the performance of various mixing architectures is experimentally evaluated. The results reveal the maximum number of participants that can be supported in a conference     

Characterization of two-phase flow in a single rock joint

An experimental study using a triaxial apparatus was used to analyze the two-phase flow patterns in jointed rock specimens. Rock specimens having a single natural fracture were tested for two-phase flow of water and air. Triaxial tests were conducted to characterize the two-phase flow through fractured granite specimens at low confining pressures. It was found that for a relatively smooth joint (JRC<6), bubble flow pattern occurred within the rock joint when the gas velocity is below 15 m/s. The average velocity of water usually varied between 0.1 and 0.5 m/s for bubble flow patterns. In this velocity range, air bubbles were able to form along the joint walls or to be randomly displaced within the water phase. When the gas velocity inside the rock joint exceeded 22 m/s, the flow patterns took annular form for non-zero capillary pressures (i.e., injected gas pressure is not equal to injected water pressure). At elevated (>0.25 MPa) gas injection pressures, the gas occupied the main part of the fracture and the liquid was able to flow as an unstable film forming an annular flow along the joint. When the annular flow developed, the mixture flow pattern was independent of the air flow velocity. This was due to the fact that once the injected air velocity reached a critical value (i.e., 20 m/s), water velocity inside the joint was negligible for a given confining pressure and injected water pressure. Further increase in inlet air pressures developed a single-phase air flow with no water flow.     

Synthesis and structure elucidation of estrogen quinones conjugated with cysteine, N-acetylcysteine, and glutathione

A micromechanical model for predicting the densification of particulate matter under hydrostatic loading was developed to account for the time-dependent response of materials to applied loads. Viscoelastic material response used in the analysis was based upon a standard three-parameter rheological model. Compaction data under closed die conditions were collected using an Instron analyzer for different rates of applied load. Densification during the loading phase of PMMA/coMMA powder, a pharmaceutical polymeric coating material, was well predicted by the proposed algorithm, which contrasts with the prediction implied through a static indentation model. Secondary factors which affect compaction such as die-wall friction are also briefly discussed.     

Improved quantitation of minimal residual disease in multiple myeloma using real-time polymerase chain reaction and plasmid-DNA complementarity determining region III standards

The complementarity determining region III of the rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain gene has been the target for tumor-specific PCR assays for the detection and follow-up of B-cell malignancies. Previously, these assays have relied on gel-based end point data collection methods (i.e., band densitometry) and, thus, have provided at best a semiquantitative assessment of tumor levels. We show the development of a novel, real-time TaqMan PCR assay to quantitate residual multiple myeloma cells in clinical samples after high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. We provide evidence that real-time PCR is reproducible, sensitive, and quantitative. In a 40-replicate PCR experiment targeting the beta-actin gene, the coefficient of variation for threshold cycle data was 1.6%, whereas it increased to 13.6% and 31%, respectively, for end point fluorescence and gel densitometry. Moreover, in an experiment directly comparing standard curves obtained from band densitometry and threshold cycle data, the standard curve constructed from threshold cycle data had a multiple R2 value of 1.00 and demonstrated a dynamic range >4 logs, compared with the 2-log linear range of gel densitometry. Finally, we show that when a complementarity determining region III-specific PCR primer is used in conjunction with a consensus primer for the immunoglobulin heavy chain joining gene, plasmid DNA can be used as a readily available and effective substitute for clonal plasma-cell genomic DNA when preparing standards. By applying real-time PCR to the analysis of clinical samples, we are able to quantitate levels of tumor involvement with unparalleled reproducibility and statistical confidence. Real-time PCR technology may well provide the accuracy and reliability necessary for minimal residual disease detection to have real prognostic significance.     

Characterization of rust phases formed on low carbon steel exposed to natural marine environment of Chennai harbour – South India

The corrosion behaviour of low carbon steel exposed to marine atmospheric, splash and immersion zones has been systematically studied by exposing steel specimens for a period of 12 months at the boat basin corrosion station of Chennai harbour, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. The literature on similar work has been thoroughly reviewed which led to the initiation of this study for the first time at this harbour. The corrosion product (rust) on the specimens at 1, 2, 3 and 12 months was obtained and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Acaganeite was the rust phase identified in the splash zone as revealed by the FT‐IR and XRD analysis. The other dominant phases were lepidocrocite, goethite and ferroxyhite. Small amounts of magnetite were also found to be present. The transformation of phases was observed in this investigation and discussed. A remarkable difference in the FT‐IR and XRD patterns of the corrosion products at the splash and immersion zones were noticed and the corresponding phases formed were reported in this paper. The rate of corrosion in all the three zones was compared.     

Antigen activation rescues recent thymic emigrants from programmed cell death in the BB rat

One of the diabetes susceptibility genes of the BB rat is a mutation at the lyp locus that decreases the thymic output of T cells and the life span of most recent thymic emigrants (RTE). Consequently, there is a 10-fold reduction in the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in secondary lymphoid organs. Results presented in this work demonstrate that the BB rat lyp mutation is associated with an accelerated apoptotic death in vitro of mature CD4+ 8- and CD4- 8+ thymocytes and peripheral T cells. The stability of the pool of recirculating T cells (PRL) of BB rats over time results from a > 10-fold increase in the mitotic activity of T cells as assessed in vivo by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation. This increased mitotic activity is not observed when BB T cells develop in the context of a normal sized PRL. MHC haploidentical WF and BB rats differ at minor histocompatibility loci. Intravenous injection of (WF x BB)F1 T cells into euthymic BB rats led to the rejection of donor T cells within 3 wk by unprimed recipients and within 1 wk by primed recipients. This secondary immune response was unaffected by postpriming thymectomy. F1 T cells were not rejected, but rather expanded after their injection into thymectomized BB rats that had been primed as early as 48 h after thymectomy. These results strongly suggest that the BB rat PRL is devoid of long-lived naive T cells and that rescue of recent thymic emigrants from programmed cell death is initiated by Ags, exclusively.