Generic brand for the composites industry unveiled

We take a look at the Composed with Composites initiative. Jaap Ketel, one of the men behind the project, tells us what it's all about.     

The inertia tensor versus static moment and mass in perceiving length and heaviness of hand-wielded rods.

In 2 experiments, participants haptically estimated length and heaviness of handheld rods while wielding without seeing them. The sets of rods had been constructed such that variation of static moment and the 1st eigenvalue of the inertia tensor (It) were separated. Consistent with previous findings, perceived rod length correlated strongly with It. However, multiple regressions on current data as well as data from previous studies showed a comparable strong correlation between perceived rod length and static moment plus mass. Contrary to previous findings, perceived heaviness correlated strongly with static moment and only weakly with the eigenvalues of the inertia tensor. These results suggest that the inertia tensor does not provide the sole foundation for a theory of dynamic touch. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proton dynamic polarization and proton-carbon cross-polarization in coal

The n.m.r. proton signal in coal can be enhanced by irradiating near the larmor frequency of the free electrons present in the coal. Using proton-carbon cross-polarization, this enhancement is transferred to the ¹³C signal. This decreases the measuring time of a ¹³C spectrum with several orders of magnitude.     

Enhanced forward pruning

In this paper forward-pruning methods, such as multi-cut and null move, are tested at so-called ALL nodes. We improved the principal variation search by four small but essential additions. The new PVS algorithm guarantees that forward pruning is safe at ALL nodes. Experiments show that multi-cut at ALL nodes (MC-A) when combined with other forward-pruning mechanisms give a significant reduction of the number of nodes searched. In comparison, a (more) aggressive version of the null move (variable null-move bound) gives less reduction at expected ALL nodes. Finally, it is demonstrated that the playing strength of the lines of action program MIA is significantly (scoring 21% more winning points than the opponent) increased by MC-A.     

Short and long term toxicity of crude oil and oil dispersants to two representative coral species

Oil dispersants, the tool of choice for treating oil spills in tropical marine environments, is potentially harmful to marine life, including reef corals. In a previous study, we found that dispersed oil and oil dispersants are harmful to soft and hard coral species at early life stages. In this broader study, we employed a "nubbin assay" on more than 10 000 coral fragments to evaluate the short- and long-term impacts of dispersed oil fractions (DOFs) from six commercial dispersants, the dispersants and water-soluble-fractions (WSFs) of Egyptian crude oil, on two Indo Pacific branching coral species, Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora damicornis. Survivorship and growth of nubbins were recorded for up to 50 days following a single, short (24 h) exposure to toxicants in various concentrations. Manufacturer-recommended dispersant concentrations proved to be highly toxic and resulted in mortality for all nubbins. The dispersed oil and the dispersants were significantly more toxic than crude oil WSFs. As corals are particularly susceptible to oil detergents and dispersed oil, the results of these assays rules out the use of any oil dispersant in coral reefs and in their vicinity. The ecotoxicological impacts of the various dispersants on the corals could be rated on a scale from the least to the most harmful agent, as follows: Slickgone > Petrotech > Inipol = Biorieco > Emulgal > Dispolen.     

Spectroscopic investigations on the depth-dependent degradation gradients of aged triterpenoid varnishes

The depth-profiles of accelerated aged triterpenoid dammar and mastic varnishes, which had been uncovered by optimized KrF excimer laser ablation (248 nm, 25 ns), were examined by ultraviolet-visible (UV/VIS) spectrophotometry and attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The results reflect both the optical properties at the bulk (UV/VIS) and the surface (ATR/FT-IR) and establish the presence of degradation gradients across the depth of the degraded natural resin films. It is demonstrated that the UV part of the ambient radiation is absorbed by the deteriorated surface and that the optical densities of the aged varnish decrease as a function of depth. The absorbed UV wavelengths at the surface and the depth-wise reduction of light intensity result in a depth-dependent decrease in carbonyl absorbance and an increase in C-H bending vibration modes of methylene species pointing to structural modification in the triterpenoid mixture across depth.     

Analytical methodology for TEX86 paleothermometry by high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry

The TEX86 is a recently proposed paleothermometer through which ancient seawater temperatures of up to 120 My ago can be reconstructed. It is based on the relative distribution of glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers as measured by high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC/APCI-MS). The aim of this study was to examine and improve several analytical aspects in the determination of this important proxy in environmental matrices. Comparison of TEX86 analysis using single ion mode (SIM) and mass scanning (m/z 950 to 1450) detection, respectively, revealed that SIM is up to 2 orders of magnitude more sensitive and that the TEX86 can be determined with a reproducibility of +/-0.004 or +/-0.3 degrees C using this method. Comparison of TEX86 values obtained with two different HPLC/APCI-MS set-ups revealed no significant differences. In addition, analysis of TEX86 of extracts obtained by Soxhlet, ultrasonic, and accelerated high-pressure extraction techniques also showed no significant differences between the methods. Our results suggest that TEX86 analysis by HPLC/APCI-MS is robust and can be determined with analytical errors comparable to those of other temperature proxies.     

Gene expression response of mouse lung,liver and white adipose tissue to β‐carotene supplementation,knockout of Bcmo1 and sex

Scope: Little information is available on differences, commonalities and especially interactions in overall gene expression responses as a result of diet, differences in sex (male and female) and effects induced by differences in metabolism. Moreover, it is unknown whether such effects are tissue specific. Methods and results: We investigated the gene expression effects induced by β‐carotene (BC) supplementation, knockout of β‐carotene 15,15′‐monooxygenase 1 (Bcmo1) and differences between male and female mice in lung, liver and inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT). Unsupervised principal component analysis showed that lung gene expression was most affected by knockout of Bcmo1. Liver was most affected by knockout of Bcmo1 and differences in sex. iWAT was most affected by differences in sex. Hardly any genes were commonly influenced by BC among the three tissues. The effect of BC supplementation and knockout of Bcmo1 were relatively sex specific, especially in iWAT. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that gene expression differences induced by BC are limited to the tissue and sex that is analyzed, and that differences in metabolism induced by for example single nucleotide polymorphisms, should be taken into account as much as possible. Moreover, our results indicate that translation from one tissue to the other should be done with caution for any nutritional intervention.     

Solubility of non-psychoactive cannabinoids in supercritical carbon dioxide and comparison with psychoactive cannabinoids

The solubilities of two different non-psychoactive cannabinoids i.e., cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabidiol (CBD), in supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) have been determined at 315, 326 and 334 K and in the pressure range from 11.3 to 20.6 MPa. These solubility data have been compared to the previously determined solubilities of two psychoactive cannabinoids i.e., (−)-Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) and cannabinol (CBN), in supercritical CO₂. An analytical method with a quasi-flow apparatus was used for the experimental determination. Within the investigated temperature and pressure range, the molar solubility of CBG ranged from 1.17 to 1.91 × 10⁻⁴ and the molar solubility of CBD ranged from 0.88 to 2.69 × 10⁻⁴. The solubility of the different cannabinoids in supercritical CO₂ increases at 326 K in the following order: Δ⁹-THC < CBG < CBD < CBN. The solubility data were correlated using the Peng-Robinson equation of state in combination with Van der Waals mixing rules. Deviations between calculated results and the experimental data ranged from 0.81 to 6.35% absolute average relative deviation (AARD), except for CBD at 334 K, where the AARD was 18.4%.