Control of Collection Efficiency for Axial Flow Cyclone Dust Collectors with Fixed Guide Vanes and with Funnel Shaped Exit Pipes

The experimental result of the collection efficiency of the axial flow cyclone with the fixed guide vanes is lowerthan that with the tangential inlet pipe to the cyclone body due to the weak angular momentum transfer given byflowing through the guide vanes.However,one of the interesting points is the control of the collection efficiencydepended on the funnel shaped exit pipes.The collection efficiencies for these funnel shaped exit pipes aredepended on the Froude number.Then,in this paper,the experimental results of the pressure drop and also thecollection efficiency using the fly-ash particles and also the comparison of the calculated results of the collectionefficiency with the experimental results are described in detail.     

ph‐Dependent Synthesis of Pepsin‐Mediated Gold Nanoclusters with Blue Green and Red Fluorescent Emission

This report demonstrates the first pH‐dependent synthesis of pepsin‐mediated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with blue‐, green‐, and red‐fluorescent emission from Au₅ (Au₈), Au₁₃, and Au₂₅, respectively. Pepsin is a gastric aspartic proteinase (molecular weight, 34 550 g/mol) that plays an integral role in the digestive process of vertebrates. It was found that the pH of the reaction solution was critical in determining the size of Au NCs (i.e., the number of gold atoms of AuNCs). Interestingly, enzyme function of pepsin contributes to the formation of these AuNCs. The photo‐stability of the Au₂₅ (or Au₁₃) NCs is much higher than that of Au₅NCs (i.e., Au₂₅ ～ Au₁₃ > > Au₅). The pepsin‐mediated Au₂₅NCs were also found to be useful as fluorescent sensors for the detection of Pb²⁺ ions by enhanced fluorescence and the detection of Hg²⁺ ions by fluorescence quenching. Although the detailed formation mechanisms of these AuNCs require further analysis, the synthetic route using proteinase demonstrated here is promising for preparing new types of fluorescent metal nanoclusters for application in catalysis, optics, biological labeling, and sensing.     

Toxicity of puffer fish fins

Puffer fish is prized as a Japanese traditional food and its fin is also used in the cuisine. However, whether the fin is edible or not is determined for convenience from the toxicity of skin, since little information is available about the toxicity of puffer fish fins. In the present study, we examined the toxicity of fins and skin of three toxic species, Takifugu vermicularis, T. snyderi, and T. porphyreus. The toxicity of T. vermicularis fins (< 5-52.4 MU/g) was significantly lower than that of skin (<5-1200 MU/g). HPLC analysis showed that tetrodotoxin was a major toxic principle irrespective of the toxicity value in each tissue of T. vermicularis. In the case of T. snyderi and T. porphyreus, the toxicity of fins was at almost the same level as that of the skin. The toxicity (< 10-12 MU/g) of caudal fins of T. porphyreus was apparently increased to 16.5-22.0 MU/g by drying. However, the toxin amounts in the dried fins were slightly decreased as compared with those of the non-dried fins. These results demonstrate that puffer fish with toxic skin also have toxic fins.     

Virtual fully connected WDM network: A high-performance single-hop architecture for metropolitan area networks

With the widespread use of broadband access technologies and the development of high-speed Internet backbones, the requirement for high-performance metropolitan area networks (MANs) is increasing. Traditional ring- or star-based metro networks are costly to scale up to high speed and cannot recover from multiple failures, while backbone solutions are too expensive to fit into the cost-sensitive metro market. This paper proposes a virtual fully connected (VFC) architecture for metro networks to provide high-performance node-to-node all-optical transportation. The architecture emulates a fully connected network by providing optical channels between node pairs without intermediate buffering, and thus realizes single-hop transportation and avoids expensive packet routers. In addition, a scheduling algorithm is developed for medium access control and dynamic bandwidth allocation, which achieves 100% throughput and provides a fairness guarantee. Simulations show that the VFC network achieves good performance under both uniform and non-uniform loads.     

Interaction between CD44 and hyaluronic acid regulates human prostate cancer development

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the significance of the interaction between CD44 and hyaluronic acid in the development of human prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We transfected the standard CD44 isoform (CD44s) cDNA into PC3, a human prostate cancer cell line that barely expresses CD44s protein. The effects of the reintroduction of CD44s into PC3 cells on the ability to bind hyaluronic acid (HA) were analyzed by the cell adhesion assay and by the cell migration assay. The in vitro growth rate of CD44s transfected PC3 was measured by using the MTT assay. We then evaluated the in vivo tumor development of CD44s transfected PC3 cells by subcutaneous, intravenous, and intraperitoneal injection models in athymic nude mice. RESULTS: The introduction of CD44s in PC3 cells markedly enhanced the binding and migration of these cells to HA, but not to other extracellular matrix molecules. In vitro growth of CD44s-transfected PC3 was found to be significantly decreased. In addition, the CD44s-transfected PC3 cells also demonstrated reduced tumorigenicity and metastatic potential in in vivo experimental models. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the CD44s downregulation plays an important role in the development of human prostate cancer, in part through reduction of the ability to bind HA.     

Na(+)-glucose cotransporter inhibitors as antidiabetic agents. III. Synthesis and pharmacological properties of 4'-dehydroxyphlorizin derivatives modified at the OH groups of the glucose moiety

To overcome hydrolysis by beta-glucosidase present in the digestive tract, the OH groups on the glucose moiety of the 4'-dehydroxyphlorizin derivatives (1, 2, 3) were modified with various kinds of patterns, and then the effects of the modified compounds on urinary glucose excretion were evaluated in rats. Among them, triacetyl (9), 2,3-O-diacetyl (17), 6-O-methoxycarbonyl (34), 4-O-methoxycarbonyl (38), and 2-O-acetyl (41) derivatives showed more potent effect than the parent compound 2 by oral administration (p.o.). The stabilities of the compounds 34, 38, and 41 against beta-glucosidase were higher than that of 2. The increase in oral activity was found to correlate with the enhancement of the stability against beta-glucosidase.     

Experimental study on the thermo-mechanical effects of underfill and low-CTE substrate in a flip-chip device

Moiré interferometry was used to analyze the thermal deformation of four flip-chip devices mounted on FR-4 substrate and a new multi-layer substrate, with and without underfill. Thermal loading was applied by cooling the devices from 100 °C to room temperature (25 °C). The effects of underfill and the low-CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) substrate on thermal deformation were investigated. The experimental results showed that the underfill curved in a manner similar to the silicon chip. For the flip-chip devices mounted on the multi-layer substrate, the CTE mismatch between the silicon chip and substrate was reduced, and bending deformation decreased. Of the four flip-chip devices studied, the underfilled flip-chip device mounted on the multi-layer substrate had the least deformed solder balls.