Synthesis and swelling properties of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate‐co‐1‐vinyl‐3‐(3‐sulfopropyl)imidazolium betaine hydrogels

A series of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate/1‐vinyl‐3‐(3‐sulfopropyl)imidazolium betaine (HEMA/VSIB) copolymeric gels were prepared from various molar ratios of HEMA and the zwitterionic monomer VSIB. The influence of the amount of VSIB in copolymeric gels on their swelling behavior in water and various saline solutions at different temperatures and the drug‐release behavior, compression strength, and crosslinking density were investigated. Experimental results indicated that the PHEMA hydrogel and the lower VSIB content (3%) in the HEMA/VSIB gel exhibited an overshooting phenomenon in their dynamic swelling behavior, and the overshooting ratio decreased with increase of the temperature. In the equilibrium water content, the value increased with increase of the VSIB content in HEMA/VSIB hydrogels. In the saline solution, the water content for these gels was not affected by the ion concentration when the salt concentration was lower than the minimum salt concentration (MSC) of poly(VSIB). When the salt concentration was higher than the MSC of poly(VSIB), the deswelling behavior of the copolymeric gel was more effectively suppressed as more VSIB was added to the copolymeric gels. However, the swelling behavior of gels in KI, KBr, NaClO₄, and NaNO₃ solutions at a higher concentration would cause an antipolyelectrolyte phenomenon. Besides, the anion effects were larger than were the cation effects in the presence of a common anion (Cl^?) with different cations and a common cation (K⁺) with different anions for the hydrogel. In drug‐release behavior, the addition of VSIB increased the drug‐release ratio and the release rate. Finally, the addition of VSIB in the hydrogel improved the gel strength and crosslinking density of the gel. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 2888–2900, 2001     

Effect of blending sodium polyethylene‐5‐sulfoisophthalate on adhesion of clinical bacteria on polyethylene terephthalate

This work studies the adhesion of clinical infecting bacteria, S. aureus and E. coli, on prosthetic polymeric materials. Membranes were prepared from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) blending at various ratios with sodium polyethylene‐5‐sulfoisophthalate (SPES). The membranes were characterized by measuring the contact angle, equilibrium water content, and the surface concentration of sodium sulfonate. The results show that sulfonate makes the membrane more hydrophilic. The surface properties of bacteria were determined by measuring the adhesion to n‐octane (B%) and the contact angles to water and α‐bromonaphthalene. For the four bacteria studied, encapsulated S. aureus was the most hydrophobic and had the highest amount of bacteria attached to the surface of SPES/PET membrane. Furthermore, the attached amount decreased with the increase of the content of SPES. Empirical correlations for predicting the attached amount from the surface properties of both polymer and bacteria were obtained from linear regression. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3587–3594, 2004     

Effect of XeF laser treatment on structure of nanocrystalline diamond films

Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films were deposited on Si substrates by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) using methane/hydrogen/oxygen (30/169/0.2 sccm) as process gases. Subsequently a thin (0.33 μm) and a thick (1.01 μm) NCD films were irradiated with XeF excimer laser (λ = 351 nm) with 300 and 600 mJ cm^? 2 of energy densities in air. The NCD films became rougher after laser irradiations. Fraction of graphitic clusters decreased but oxygen content increased in the thin NCD film after laser irradiation. Opposite phenomena were observed for the thick NCD films. Effect of laser irradiation to oxygenation and graphitization of NCD films was correlated with structural properties of free surface and grain boundaries of the thin and thick NCD films.     

Evaluation of Four Tree Algorithms in Predicting and Investigating the Changes in Aquifer Depth

One of the key elements in improved management and better planning for aquifer maintenance is the ability to predict changes in aquifer depth. In order to forecast changes in aquifer depth in Qazvin plain, four methods, including Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Reduced Error Pruning Trees (RepTree), M5-Pruned (M5P), and M5Rule, were used in this work. The absolute mean error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R2) data show that the CART algorithm performs better than other algorithms at forecasting changes in aquifer depth. The CART algorithm's prediction findings showed that the aquifer's behavior in the two seasons was entirely different. In the first stage, which began in November and continued through April, there was an annual average depth of 0.045 m. The aquifer depth has been greatly influenced by rising precipitation and falling air temperature. The aquifer experiences an average decline of 0.15 m in the second portion, which runs from May to October. Aquifer depth has significantly decreased as a result of declining natural water supplies and rising agricultural water use. It is advised to utilize a crop scheme with reduced water need when rainfall reduces due to the strong effect of changes in aquifer depth from rainfall with a delay of one to three months ago.

     

The effects of silver nitrate on the structure and properties of polyurethanes containing pyridyl units

In this study, 2,6-pyridinedimethanol was used as a chain extender to synthesize a new polyurethane, PDM-PU. Further, various amounts of silver nitrate were incorporated to produce PDM-PU/AgNO₃ complexes. FT-IR and UV–Vis analyses confirm the formation of complex in the PDM-PU/AgNO₃. DSC and DMA results show that the glass transition temperature (T _g), dynamic T _g and storage modulus at 25 °C of the PDM-PU/AgNO₃ complexes increase with increasing AgNO₃ content. This is due to the formation of complex structure that can restrict the segmental motion of polymer chains. The TGA and stress–strain test results show that the thermal decomposition temperature, tensile strength and elongation at break increase with the AgNO₃ content initially. Then, they decrease inversely. This indicates that the formation of complex structure raises these properties when the AgNO₃ content is below certain value. But as more coordinate bonds were formed, the specimens become brittle. In addition, the crosslink effect caused by coordinate bonds inhibits the dissolution of polymer chains and thereby reduces the swelling degree of the complexes in solvent. Furthermore, AgNO₃ imparts antibacterial activity against S. aureus and K. pneumoniae to the complexes     

Active islanding detection method for the grid-connected photovoltaic generation system

This paper proposes an active islanding detection method incorporated into the control of the grid-connected inverter to protect the photovoltaic generation system from the islanding operation. The proposed active islanding detection method performs the grid-connected inverter as a virtual resistor with the operation frequency slightly higher or lower than the fundamental frequency of the utility voltage. The function of virtual resistor will not be actuated when the utility is nominal, and the grid-connected inverter can convert the DC power from the solar array to an AC power. When the strong utility is lost, the grid-connected inverter acts as a virtual resistor with the operation frequency slightly higher or lower than the fundamental frequency of the utility voltage. Thus, the frequency and the amplitude of the local load voltage will be away from their normal values under the islanding operation. Hence, the proposed active islanding detection method can immediately detect the islanding operation. A prototype is developed and tested to demonstrate the performance of the proposed active detection method. Both computer simulation and experimental results verify that the performance of the proposed active islanding detection method is expected.     

New DC Hybrid Filter for Attenuating Low-Frequency Ripple of AC-DC Power Converter

In this article, a new DC hybrid power filter is proposed to attenuate the low–frequency ripple of AC-DC power converter. The proposed DC hybrid power filter is connected between the DC bus of AC-DC power converter and the load, and it composes of a passive power filter and a single-arm power converter. The passive power filter can reduce the voltage rating of single-arm power converter, and the operation of single-arm power converter generates a virtual harmonic resistor connected to the load in series. The DC hybrid power filter can suppress the twice-utility-frequency ripple for eliminating the use of electrolytic capacitor. The salient feature is that the control circuit of the proposed DC hybrid power filter is simplified because only a feedforward control is used. A hardware prototype is developed to validate the performance of the proposed DC hybrid power filter. The experimental results are as expected.     

Upregulation of TLRs and IL-6 as a Marker in Human Colorectal Cancer

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) not only form an important part of the innate immune system but also serve to activate the adaptive immune system in response to cancer. Real-time PCR; immunohistochemical stain and Western blotting analyses were performed to clarify molecular alterations in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. We identified Toll-like receptor 1 (TLR1), TLR2, TLR4 and TLR8 gene expression levels and downstream gene, i.e., interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, interferon-α (IFN-α) and myeloid differentiation primary-response protein-88 (MyD88), expression levels in CRC patients and in cancer cell lines. CRC tissues have higher TLR1, TLR2, TLR4, TLR8, IL-6 and IL-8 gene expression levels than do the normal colon mucosa (p < 0.05). TLR2 expression varied in different cell types (mucosa and lymphocytes). There was no difference in the MyD88 and IFN-α gene expression levels between cancerous and normal colon mucosa. CRC patients had higher levels of IL-6 (p = 0.002) and IL-8 (p = 0.038) expression than healthy volunteers did; and higher IL-6 and IL-8 expression was also found to signify a higher risk of recurrence. CL075 (3M002) treatments can reduce the production of IL-8 in different cancer cell lines. The signaling pathway of TLRs in cancer tissue is different from that in normal cells; and is MyD88-independent. Higher expression levels of TLR1, TLR2, TLR 4 and TLR 8 mRNA were related to upregulation inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 gene expression in tissue and to the upregulation of IL-6 in blood. The concentration of IL-6 in serum can be used as an indicator of the possibility of CRC recurrence. Treatment with 3M002 can reduce IL-6 production in vitro and may prevent CRC recurrence. Our findings provide evidence that TLR1, TLR2, TLR4 and TLR8 gene expression induce downstream IL-6 and IL-8 gene expression; detection of these expression levels can serve as a CRC marker.     

Recurrent Neuro-Fuzzy Modeling and Fuzzy MDPP Control for Flexible Servomechanisms

This paper considers the nonlinear system identification and control for flexible servomechanisms. A multi-step-ahead recurrent neuro-fuzzy model consisting of local linear ARMA (autoregressive moving average) models with bias terms is suggested for approximating the dynamic behavior of a servomechanism including the effects of flexibility and friction. The RLS (recursive least squares) algorithm is adopted for obtaining the optimal consequent parameters of the rules. Within each fuzzy operating region, a local MDPP (minimum degree pole placement) control law with integral action can be constructed based on the estimated local model. Then a fuzzy controller composed of these local MDPP controls can be easily constructed for the servomechanism. The techniques are illustrated using computer simulations.     

Comparison of a‐Si and Poly‐Si for AMOLED displays

Abstract— The characteristics of OLED backplanes including the intrinsic properties of a‐Si TFTs and LTPS TFTs will be reviewed. While LTPS TFTs reveal satisfactory stability in AMOLED‐display applications, a‐Si AMOLEDs show better uniformity and are capable of driving OLEDs. However, the stability of a‐Si TFTs under long‐term operation is still unacceptable and remains to be the key issue constraining the commercialization of a‐Si TFT AMOLEDs.