The interaction between silver and tellurium dioxide

The phase diagram of the pseudobinary Ag-TeO ₂ system was determined by DTA, analysis of quenched samples, XRD, and microscopy. The system exhibits two monotectics at 930 and 538 °C and compositions of 8 and 52.5 mole % TeO ₂,respectively, one eutectic at 523 °C and 42 mol% TeO ₂,and two miscibility gaps with critical temperatures of 965 °C at 20 mol% TeO ₂ and 555 °C at 47.5 mol% TeO ₂     

Separability behavior in viscoelastic properties of EPDM gum vulcanizate

Dynamic mechanical properties of EPDM gum vulcanizates were studied using the dynamic viscoelastometer, Rheovibron. A small sinusoidal strain was superimposed on a static strain and its effect on dynamic mechanical properties were analyzed. The results are discussed in terms of total strain which takes the static strain into account. Separability of time and strain effects for loss modulus and the nonseparability for storage modulus are discussed. A critical strain was identified after which the stress dissipation mechanism changes. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Benchmarking the darrieus wind turbine configurations through review and data envelopment analysis

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - The global demand for small and medium-scale wind energy production necessitates the development of vertical axis wind turbines for centralized and...     

Natural melatonin ''knockdown'' in C57BL/6J mice: rare mechanism truncates serotonin N-acetyltransferase

Resistance to the anabolic effects of growth hormone (GH) occurs with severe caloric deficit. This study examined whether moderate caloric deficit (50% of daily intake for 7 days) in the adolescent rat exceeds a critical threshold for GH action and whether a combination of GH and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) would have enhanced anabolic effects on the diaphragm (Dia). Five groups of rats (4 wk old) were studied: 1) control (Ctl), 2) nutritionally deprived (ND), 3) ND + GH, 4) ND + IGF-I, and 5) ND + GH + IGF-I. IGF-I was given by continuous infusion (200 microg/day). GH was injected subcutaneously (250 microg every 12 h). Contractile and fatigue properties of the Dia were determined in vitro. Quantitative histochemical methods were used to determine Dia fiber type proportions, cross-sectional areas, and succinate dehydrogenase activities. The body weight of Ctl rats increased 46% compared with 7% in ND animals, whereas that of ND rats receiving growth factors was intermediate. Serum IGF-I levels were reduced 54% in ND animals and maintained with the provision of growth factors. Dia fatigue resistance was improved in ND animals receiving growth factors. There were no differences in Dia contractile properties, fiber type proportions, or succinate dehydrogenase activities across groups. ND resulted in atrophy/growth arrest of all Dia fibers (20-32%) compared with Ctl. Administration of IGF-I and/or GH completely prevented atrophy/growth arrest of all Dia fibers. No additive or synergistic effects were noted. We propose that these growth factors may provide useful short-term adjunctive nutritional support in circumstances in which the provision of optimal nutrition may be delayed or inadequate.     

Atom‐by‐Atom Fabrication of Single and Few Dopant Quantum Devices

Atomically precise fabrication has an important role to play in developing atom‐based electronic devices for use in quantum information processing, quantum materials research, and quantum sensing. Atom‐by‐atom fabrication has the potential to enable precise control over tunnel coupling, exchange coupling, on‐site charging energies, and other key properties of basic devices needed for solid‐state quantum computing and analog quantum simulation. Using hydrogen‐based scanning probe lithography, individual dopant atoms are deterministically placed relative to atomically aligned contacts and gates to build single electron transistors, single atom transistors, and gate‐controlled quantum sensing devices. The key steps required to fabricate and demonstrate the essential building blocks needed for spin selective initialization/readout and coherent quantum manipulation are described.     

Preparation, characterization and thermal stability of tellurites and tellurates of uranium

Uranium tellurates, UTeO₅ and UTe₃O₉ were prepared by heating UO₂ + TeO₂ and U₃O₈ + TeO₂ in air/oxygen and the tellurite UTe₃O₈ by heating UO₂ + TeO₂ in vacuum sealed quartz ampoule. The compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetry (TG). A new tellurite compound UTeO₄ was synthesized. Their thermal stability was determined in oxygen, argon and argon-8%hydrogen in the temperature range of ambient temperature to 950°C. UTeO₅ and UTe₃O₉ are stable in flowing oxygen up to 925 and 750°C, respectively under dynamic heating at 10 K/min. UTe₃O₉ decomposes in O₂/Ar/Ar-8%H₂ via formation of UTeO₅, whereas UTe₃O₈ decomposes in Ar-8%H₂ via formation of UTeO₄. UTe₃O₉ decomposes at 560°C but all the other compounds decompose at 460°C in Ar-8%H₂.     

SketchSoup: Exploratory Ideation Using Design Sketches

A hallmark of early stage design is a number of quick‐and‐dirty sketches capturing design inspirations, model variations and alternate viewpoints of a visual concept. We present SketchSoup, a workflow that allows designers to explore the design space induced by such sketches. We take an unstructured collection of drawings as input, along with a small number of user‐provided correspondences as input. We register them using a multi‐image matching algorithm, and present them as a 2D interpolation space. By morphing sketches in this space, our approach produces plausible visualizations of shape and viewpoint variations despite the presence of sketch distortions that would prevent standard camera calibration and 3D reconstruction. In addition, our interpolated sketches can serve as inspiration for further drawings, which feed back into the design space as additional image inputs. SketchSoup thus fills a significant gap in the early ideation stage of conceptual design by allowing designers to make better informed choices before proceeding to more expensive 3D modelling and prototyping. From a technical standpoint, we describe an end‐to‐end system that judiciously combines and adapts various image processing techniques to the drawing domain—where the images are dominated not by colour, shading and texture, but by sketchy stroke contours.     

HetConv: Beyond Homogeneous Convolution Kernels for Deep CNNs

International Journal of Computer Vision - While usage of convolutional neural networks (CNN) is widely prevalent, methods proposed so far always have considered homogeneous kernels for this task....     

Fibro‐porous polycaprolactone membrane containing extracts of Biophytum sensitivum: A prospective antibacterial wound dressing

A fibro‐porous wound dressing with antibacterial activity was fabricated from polycaprolactone (PCL) solution containing crude extract of biophytum sensitivum (BS) a potential antibacterial herbal drug. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the smooth fibrous morphology of the PCL membrane, whereas the drug‐loaded PCL formed fibers with more interconnective junctions with an average fiber diameter between 1 and 3 μm. Physical characterization of the membrane revealed that it has excellent mechanical stability, water vapor transmission rate and that it promotes water uptake. The release characteristics by total immersion method in phosphate buffer and acetate buffer displayed an increase in drug release with time. Finally, the antibacterial activity of the membrane was tested against standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. PCL membranes loaded with the drug extracts were able to inhibit the growth of bacterial strains which indicated that this fibro‐porous membrane could act as a potential wound‐dressing material to treat various wounds. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013