Scaling-up of the electrodeposition process of nano-composite coating for corrosion and wear protection

The codeposition of hard nanoparticles into metal matrix electrodeposits usually leads to the increase of the coating hardness and abrasion resistance and causes a change to the microstructure of the deposits leading to more compact, nanostructured coatings with an increased corrosion resistance. Very often the laboratory scale results are not easily transferable to an industrial scale due to the introduction of new process variables such as the geometry and the dimensions of the component to coat.The aim of the present work was the study, in laboratory scale, of nano-composite nickel matrix coatings containing SiC nanoparticles and the transfer of this technology in industrial scale. The deposits have been produced using a Watts type bath containing 20 g/l of nanoparticles, under galvanostatic conditions using a current density of 2 A/dm². The deposits have been studied regarding their microstructure, abrasion and corrosion resistance. Based on the satisfactory results of the laboratory tests, the second part of this work contains the scaling-up and the industrialization of the process and the electrodeposition of the composite coating on ship propeller models and profiles as well as on train axles. The prototype parts were tested under actual working conditions.     

Multifunctional composites using reinforced laminae with carbon-nanotube forests

Traditional fibre-reinforced composite materials with excellent in-plane properties fare poorly when out-of-plane through-thickness properties are important. Composite architectures with fibres designed orthogonal to the two-dimensional (2D) layout in traditional composites could alleviate this weakness in the transverse direction, but all of the efforts so far have only produced limited success. Here, we unveil an approach to the 3D composite challenge, without altering the 2D stack design, on the basis of the concept of interlaminar carbon-nanotube forests that would provide enhanced multifunctional properties along the thickness direction. The carbon-nanotube forests allow the fastening of adjacent plies in the 3D composite. We grow multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the surface of micro-fibre fabric cloth layouts, normal to the fibre lengths, resulting in a 3D effect between plies under loading. These nanotube-coated fabric cloths serve as building blocks for the multilayered 3D composites, with the nanotube forests providing much-needed interlaminar strength and toughness under various loading conditions. For the fabricated 3D composites with nanotube forests, we demonstrate remarkable improvements in the interlaminar fracture toughness, hardness, delamination resistance, in-plane mechanical properties, damping, thermoelastic behaviour, and thermal and electrical conductivities making these structures truly multifunctional.     

Isolation of red wine components with anti-adhesion and anti-biofilm activity against Streptococcus mutans

Red wine is a widely consumed beverage with multiple beneficial effects on human health. In the present paper, the anticaries properties of red wine were studied in vitro and ex vivo. Our in vitro findings shows that dealcoholised red wine, besides exerting antibacterial activity, strongly interferes with Streptococcus mutans adhesion to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite (sHA) beads, promotes its detachment from sHA, and powerfully inhibits in vitro biofilm formation. The main components responsible for such activities were found to be proanthocyanidins. The ability of red wine to inhibit ex vivoS. mutans biofilm formation on the occlusal surface of natural human teeth also was demonstrated.     

Stabilized β-Bi2O3 nanoparticles from (BiO)4CO3(OH)2 precursor and their photocatalytic properties under blue light

Stabilized tetragonal Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles (β-Bi₂O₃) were obtained by annealing treatments of amorphous Bi-based precursors, obtained by chemical precipitations, at temperatures between 350 and 450?°C. The formation of the stabilized β-Bi₂O₃ phase was possible by using (BiO)₄CO₃(OH)₂ while other precursors such as amorphous bismuth carbonate ((BiO)₂CO₃) and amorphous basic bismuth nitrate (Bi₆O₆(OH)₂(NO₃)₄·2H₂O) led to the formation of the thermodynamically stable monoclinic α-Bi₂O₃ and Bi₅O₇NO₃ phases. The Bi-based precursors were prepared by the chemical precipitation method at room temperature in ethylenediamine-solvent varying the HNO₃/Bi³⁺ molar ratio (10, 26 and 56). The physicochemical properties of the three as-prepared amorphous precursors and the formed-after-calcination β-Bi₂O₃, α-Bi₂O₃ and Bi₅O₇NO₃ phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), FTIR analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and surface area by BET method. The photocatalytic activity of all annealed solids containing the β-Bi₂O₃ phase was tested in the photodegradation of the indigo carmine (IC) dye under specific blue light. A schematic diagram of the Bi₂O₃ phases obtained as a function of the annealing conditions and initial amorphous precursor is proposed and explained in terms of the amount of CO₃^2-, NO₃^- and amine (ENH₂²⁺ ? ENH⁺) ions present in each bismuth precursor.     

Connexin 43 and Connexin 26 Involvement in the Ponatinib-Induced Cardiomyopathy: Sex-Related Differences in a Murine Model

Cardiac connexins (Cxs) are proteins responsible for proper heart function. They form gap junctions that mediate electrical and chemical signalling throughout the cardiac system, and thus enable a synchronized contraction. Connexins can also individually participate in many signal transduction pathways, interacting with intracellular proteins at various cellular compartments. Altered connexin expression and localization have been described in diseased myocardium and the aim of this study is to assess the involvement of Cx43, Cx26, and some related molecules in ponatinib-induced cardiac toxicity. Ponatinib is a new multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been successfully used against human malignancies, but its cardiotoxicity remains worrisome. Therefore, understanding its signaling mechanism is important to adopt potential anti cardiac damage strategies. Our experiments were performed on hearts from male and female mice treated with ponatinib and with ponatinib plus siRNA-Notch1 by using immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and proteomic analyses. The altered cardiac function and the change in Cxs expression observed in mice after ponatinib treatment, were results dependent on the Notch1 pathway and sex. Females showed a lower susceptibility to ponatinib than males. The downmodulation of cardiac Cx43, Cx26 and miR-122, high pS368-Cx43 phosphorylation, cell viability and survival activation could represent some of the female adaptative/compensatory reactions to ponatinib cardiotoxicity.     

Diagnosis of Active Systems by Automata-Based Reasoning Techniques

This paper presents a method for the diagnosis of active systems, these being a class of distributed asynchronous discrete-event systems, such as digital networks, communication networks, and power transmission protection systems. Formally, an active system is viewed as a network of communicating automata, where each automaton describes the behavior of a system component. The diagnostic method encompasses four steps, namely system modeling, reconstruction planning, behavior reconstruction, and diagnosis generation. System modeling formally defines the structure and behavior of system components, as well as the topology of the active system. Based on optimization criteria, reconstruction planning breaks down the problem of system behavior reconstruction into a hierarchical decomposition. Behavior reconstruction yields an intensional representation of all the dynamic behaviors that are consistent with the available system observation. Eventually, diagnosis generation extracts diagnostic information from the reconstructed behaviors. The diagnostic method is applied to a case study in the power transmission network domain. Unlike other proposals, our approach both deals with asynchronous events and does not require any global diagnoser to be built off-line. The method, which is substantiated by an ongoing implementation, is scalable, incremental, and amenable to parallelism, so that real size problems can be handled.     

Diagnosis of a class of distributed discrete-event systems

Discrete-event modeling can be applied to a large variety of physical systems, in order to support different tasks, including fault detection, monitoring, and diagnosis. The paper focuses on the model-based diagnosis of a class of distributed discrete-event systems, called active systems. An active system, which is designed to react to possibly harmful external events, is modeled as a network of communicating automata, where each automaton describes the behavior of a system component. Unlike other approaches based on the synchronous composition of automata and on the off-line creation of the model of the entire system, the proposed diagnostic technique deals with asynchronous events and does not need any global diagnoser to be built. Instead, the current approach features a problem-decomposition/solution-composition nature whose core is the online progressive reconstruction of the behavior of the active system, guided by the available observations. This incremental technique makes effective the diagnosis of large-scale active systems, for which the one-shot generation of the global model is almost invariably impossible in practice. The diagnostic method encompasses three steps: (1) reconstruction planning; (2) behavior reconstruction; and (3) diagnosis generation. Step 1 draws a hierarchical decomposition of the behavior reconstruction problem. Reconstruction is made in Step 2, where an intensional representation of all the dynamic behaviors which are consistent with the available system observation is produced. Diagnosis is eventually generated in Step 3, based on the faulty evolutions incorporated within the reconstructed behaviors. The modular approach is formally defined, with special emphasis on Steps 2 and 3, and applied to the power transmission network domain     

Web Engineering at the Frontier of the Web 2.0: Design Patterns for Online 3D Shared Spaces

Online 3D Shared Spaces (3DSSs) can be regarded as a frontier of the Web 2.0, where users as participants contribute to create a meaningful, engaging experience. Like other complex web applications, the development and evolution of high-quality 3DSS applications requires methodological support—through models, methods, and principles. Yet, the application of structured, engineered approaches to this domain is largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging Web Engineering to the 3DSS world by means of design patterns. We present five patterns that focus on two factors deemed necessary for effective experiences in a 3DSS: Presence (i.e. the feeling of “being there”, typical of “virtual worlds”) and Long-Term Engagement (typical of successful Web 2.0 communities). The patterns presented in the paper distil our large-scale experiences with 3DSSs (that have involved so far over 9,000 youngsters from 3 continents) and are discussed in the light of existing literature.     

Extrusion of Rice,Bean and Corn Starches: Extrudate Structure and Molecular Changes in Amylose and Amylopectin

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of starch source and amylose content on the expansion ratio, density, and texture of expanded extrudates, as well as to investigate the structural and molecular changes that occur in starch granules as a function of extrusion. The starches employed were rice starches (8%, 20%, and 32% amylose), carioca bean starch (35% amylose), and Hylon V^® corn starch (55% amylose). The extrudates from rice starches containing 20% and 32% amylose exhibited the highest expansion ratio, while, extrudates from Hylon V^® corn starch containing 55% amylose exhibited the lowest expansion ratio. The hardness values of the extrudates with 55% amylose were twice those of the extrudates with 20%, 32%, and 35% amylose. An additional finding was that although the amylopectin promoted the expansion of the gelatinized starch matrix, it failed to strengthen and sustain the walls of the extrudate bubbles during expansion.     

Testing EGFR with Idylla on Cytological Specimens of Lung Cancer: A Review

The current standard of care for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer is based on detecting actionable mutations that can benefit from targeted therapy. Comprehensive genetic tests can have long turn-around times, and because EGFR mutations are the most prevalent actionable mutation, a quick detection would enable a prompt initiation of targeted therapy. Furthermore, the scarcity of diagnostic material means that sometimes only cytologic material is available. The Idylla™ EGFR assay is a real-time PCR–based method able to detect 51 EGFR mutations in 2.5 h. Idylla is validated for use only on FFPE sections, but some researchers described their experiences with cytological material. We reviewed the relevant literature, finding four articles describing 471 cases and many types of cytological input material: smears, cell-block sections, suspensions, and extracted DNA. The sensitivity, specificity, and limit of detection appear comparable to those obtained with histological input material, with one exception: the usage of scraped stained smears as input may reduce the accuracy of the test. In conclusion, usage of cytological material as input to the Idylla EGFR test is possible. A workflow where common mutations are tested first and fast, leaving rarer mutations for subsequent comprehensive profiling, seems the most effective approach.