Plastics from an Improved Canola Protein Isolate: Preparation and Properties

Canola meal proteins were solubilized from canola flour at pH 12 using sodium hydroxide solution. Proteins were then precipitated sequentially at pH values ranging from 11 to 3 in decrements of 1 pH unit. The weight distribution and the properties of these fractions were analyzed. The majority (>76%) of the recovered proteins were precipitated at pH values at or below 7. Another substantial fraction was precipitated at pH 11. The functional and thermal property (differential scanning calorimetry) analyses showed that this protein fraction exhibits the highest water holding capacity and lowest melting point. The plastics prepared with refined protein isolates (with pH 11 fraction removed) showed higher water resistance, tensile, and flexural strength, toughness, and elongation values compared to those prepared with standard canola protein isolates. This shows that mechanical and water resistance properties of protein-based plastics can be enhanced using improved protein isolates.     

Poly[ethylene‐co‐(methacrylic acid)] Healing Agents for Mendable Carbon Fiber Laminates

The first reported use of two‐dimensional mesh thermoplastic fibers in an epoxy matrix for mendable composites is presented, yielding 100% restoration of G_IC, failure energy, and peak loads over repeated damage‐healing cycles. SEM imaging and EDS mapping showed different surface structures between CFRP_p and CFRP_f and confirmed strength recoveries were attained by delivery of EMAA to the fracture plane which enabled the fractured surfaces to rebind after heating to 150 °C for 30 min.

     

Fabrication and Performance of Impregnated Ni Anodes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Y₂O₃-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) and Gd-doped CeO₂ (GDC) oxide impregnated Ni was investigated and developed as anodes of solid oxide fuel cells. Performance of the Ni anodes for the H₂ oxidation reaction was substantially enhanced after the impregnation of submicrometer (100–300 nm) YSZ and GDC oxide particles. After impregnation of 1.7 mg/cm² GDC (∼8.5 vol% GDC), the electrode polarization resistance dropped to 0.71 Ω·cm² at 800°C, close to 0.24 Ω·cm² reported on good Ni (50 vol%)/YSZ (50 vol%) cermet anodes at the same temperature. The results demonstrated that ion or wet impregnation is an effective process to introduce ionic conducting and catalytic active nano-sized YSZ and GDC phases into stable and porous Ni electronic network structure without the high temperature sintering process.     

Complete and partial catalytic oxidation of methane over substrates with enhanced transport properties

The development of improved substrate properties for catalytic combustion has been an area of much interest in recent years. Towards this end, Precision Combustion Inc. has developed novel short channel length, high cell density substrates (trademarked Microlith^®) and high surface area ceramic coatings for them. These substrates avoid substantial boundary layer buildup and greatly enhance heat and mass transfer rates in reactors. The high cell density of these substrates results in high amount of the catalyst per unit of reactor volume. In this paper we examine the performance of these substrates coated with precious metal catalysts for the catalytic combustion and reforming of methane.

Under fuel-lean operating conditions the surface temperature of Pd-based catalyst supported on Microlith^® substrate and the temperature of the gas exiting the reactor remain stable at 800 °C over a wide range of inlet conditions. This is attributed to combination of enhanced transport properties and characteristics of Pd–PdO transformation. Preheating of the gas mixture in the Microlith^® reactor was sufficient to stabilize a downstream premixed flame with NO_x, CO, and UHC emissions in the single digit ppm range.

Microlith^® substrates were also examined for partial oxidation of methane under fuel-rich conditions. The enhanced transport properties of the Microlith^® substrate allowed complete conversion of methane with surface temperature not exceeding material limits at 93% selectivity to partial oxidation products. High flow rate of reactants result in extremely high power densities and syngas output. The catalyst performance was observed to be stable over 500 h of operation.     

Niobium‐Doped Titania Photocatalyst Film Prepared via a Nonaqueous Sol‐Gel Method

Niobium‐doped Titanium dioxide (Nb:TiO₂) transparent films were successfully deposited on glass substrates using a non‐aqueous sol‐gel spin coating technique. The effect of Nb concentration on the structural and photocatalytic properties of Nb:TiO₂ films was studied using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and UV visible spectroscopy. The films with 12 at.% (atomic percent) Nb doped TiO₂ showed excellent photocatalytic activity through 97.3% degradation of methylene blue (MB) after 2 h of UV irradiation.     

Cellulose filter coated with m‐aramid for water disinfection

Cellulose filters were dipped and padded with m‐aramid dissolved in N,N‐dimethylacetamide followed by coagulation in distilled water. The coated filters were then chlorinated in a hypochlorite solution. The liquid permeability of the m‐aramid‐coated cellulose filters was examined. The resulting chlorinated and unchlorinated filters were assessed for their ability to disinfect contaminated water. The chlorinated m‐aramid‐coated cellulose filter produced 5 log reductions of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which was much higher than that observed on the unchlorinated m‐aramid‐coated cellulose filter. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Silicon/Silicon Carbide Composites Fabricated by Infiltration of a Silicon Melt into Charcoal

Dense Si/SiC composites were fabricated via a conventional reaction-bonding process, using oak charcoal that exhibited a honeycomb structure. The silicon melt was infiltrated into the porous oak charcoal (density of ~0.6 g/cm³) while the sample was heated to 1700°C under vacuum (10^-3 torr (~0.133 Pa)), which resulted in in situ silicon-fiber/SiC composites. The reaction product had an average density of 2.8 g/cm³ and showed three-point flexural strengths of 330 MPa at room temperature and 280 MPa at 1300°C. Good oxidation resistance also was observed at temperatures up to 1300°C in flowing air. This process provided excellent shape-making capability, because the charcoal that was used as a preform was readily machinable.     

eNAMPT Is Localised to Areas of Cartilage Damage in Patients with Hip Osteoarthritis and Promotes Cartilage Catabolism and Inflammation

Obesity increases the risk of hip osteoarthritis (OA). Recent studies have shown that adipokine extracellular nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (eNAMPT or visfatin) induces the production of IL-6 and matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) in chondrocytes, suggesting it may promote articular cartilage degradation. However, neither the functional effects of extracellular visfatin on human articular cartilage tissue, nor its expression in the joint of hip OA patients of varying BMI, have been reported. Hip OA joint tissues were collected from patients undergoing joint replacement surgery. Cartilage explants were stimulated with recombinant human visfatin. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and MMPs were measured by ELISA and Luminex. Localisation of visfatin expression in cartilage tissue was determined by immunohistochemistry. Cartilage matrix degradation was determined by quantifying proteoglycan release. Expression of visfatin was elevated in the synovial tissue of hip OA patients who were obese, and was co-localised with MMP-13 in areas of cartilage damage. Visfatin promoted the degradation of hip OA cartilage proteoglycan and induced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, MCP-1, CCL20, and CCL4) and MMPs. The elevated expression of visfatin in the obese hip OA joint, and its functional effects on hip cartilage tissue, suggests it plays a central role in the loss of cartilage integrity in obese patients with hip OA.     

Bottom-up saliency detection for attention determination

In this paper, the technique of saliency detection is proposed to model people’s biological ability of attending to their interest. There are two phases in the scheme of intelligent saliency searching: saliency filtering and saliency refinement. In saliency filtering, non-salient regions of a scene image are filtered out by measuring information entropy and biological color sensitivity. The information entropy evaluates the level of knowledge and energy contained, and the color sensitivity measures biological stimulation of a presented scene. In saliency refinement, candidate salient regions obtained are cultivated for a good representation of saliency by extracting salient objects, similarly to people’s manner of perception. The performance of the proposed technique is studied on noiseless and noisy natural scenes and evaluated with eye fixation data. The evaluation proved the effectiveness of the approach in discovering salient regions or objects from scene images. The performance of addressing transformation and illumination variance is also investigated.     

A new solution for mechanisms including Coulomb friction

This paper presents a new solution method for the analysis of multibody systems with Coulomb friction. Complete equations of motion and reaction forces are derived by using Lagrangian formulation and the traditional friction circle concepts for the analysis of Coulomb friction. The numerical solutions by the new method, as well as the conventional method for comparision, are illustrated. The new method saves considerably the computer execution time to solve equations of motion and reaction forces compared with the conventional method for same accuracy. The higher the coefficient of friction is, the more the computation time of the conventional method is needed but the computation time of the new method is nearly independent on the coefficient of friction.