Recrystallization and grain growth of cold-rolled gold sheet

Recrystallization and grain growth of a cold-rolled gold sheet with 98 pct reduction in area (RA) were investigated with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Gold with some dopants (Be, Ca, and La) was used in this research and its recrystallization temperature was 320 °C. Isothermal annealing experiments at 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C were carried out for the cold-rolled gold sheet, and recrystallization texture was examined. In the cold-rolled gold sheet, α- and β-fibers were measured mainly and some shear texture components were found on the surface. Shear texture components remained on the surface for 2 hours at 400 °C and were consumed by other recrystallized grains after 24 hours at 400 °C. Microstructure and texture evolution during in-situ annealing at 400 °C were investigated from the cold-rolled state to the fully recrystallized state using EBSD. Most of the newly, recrystallized grains came from the deformed β-fiber regions and consisted of β-fiber, cube, and other random orientations.     

Fuzzy Web ad selector based on Web usage mining

Internet and Web technologies are widely available, making it easier for companies to conduct business and transfer information to customers. Moreover, they speed up financial transactions efficiently, reducing the transaction costs of commercial activities that businesses would normally incur. So, Internet business has created a competitive environment, a successful company wanting to survive and gain a competitive advantage must provide an acceptable bundle of customized services that satisfy customers' needs. Despite the Internet's obvious benefits as a new communication medium its advertising gives the same advertising messages to all customers and so has suffered from poor responses. To raise a Web ad's effectiveness, we propose a Web ad selector that personalizes advertising messages for customers based on their preferences and interests. The Web ad selection system divides Web site customers with similar preferences into several segments through Web usage mining. It uses fuzzy rules that express customer segments' surfing patterns on the basis of expert advice, and recommends appropriate ads by fuzzy inference.     

Off-line, handwritten numeral recognition by perturbation method

This paper presents a new approach to off-line, handwritten numeral recognition. From the concept of perturbation due to writing habits and instruments, we propose a recognition method which is able to account for a variety of distortions due to eccentric handwriting. We tested our method on two worldwide standard databases of isolated numerals, namely CEDAR and NIST, and obtained 99.09 percent and 99.54 percent correct recognition rates at no-rejection level respectively. The latter result was obtained by testing on more than 170000 numerals     

Preparation of AZ91D Slurries for Semi-Solid Forming Using Al8 ( Mn, Fe) 5 Precipitates

During the solidification of the AZ91D-alloys, the Al8(Mn, Fe)5 phase is generally precipitated in the melt in advance of the precipitation of the primary α-Mg. The basic principle for manufacturing AZ91D-alloy slurries for semi solid forming is to use the Al8(Mn, Fe)5 precipitates as the heterogeneous nucleation sites for primary α-Mg phases. Microscopic analysis for the location of the Al8(Mn, Fe)5 precipitate explains that the Al8(Mn, Fe)5 precipitate is the effective heterogeneous nucleation site for the primary α-Mg phase. It was also observed that increase of the Mn content in the melt and the cooling rate below to the solid/liquid two-phase region resulted in smaller and more globular primary α-Mg due to the increase of heterogeneous nucleation sites. It was found that the average α-Mg diameter grew as a function of t0.278, where t is the holding time at the solid/liquid two-phase region. This would be attributed to the Ostwald type ripening and coalescence between primary α-Mg phases. The cooling rate below to the solid/liquid two-phase region, Mn content in AZ91D alloy, and the holding time and temperature affected on the quality of slurry.     

Density-controllable growth of SnO2 nanowire junction-bridging across electrode for low-temperature NO2 gas detection

The junction-bridging structure of metal oxide nanowires (NWs) improves gas-sensing properties. In this study, an on-chip growth method was used to fabricate gas sensors, it easily and effectively controls NW junctions. SnO₂ NWs were synthesized by thermal evaporation at 800 °C with tin powder as the source. The density of the NW junctions was controlled by changing the mass of the source material. A source material with large mass yielded high-density NW junctions. With electrode spacing of 20 μm, NW junctions were formed from the source material of larger than 2 mg. Gas sensing results revealed that the junction sensors exhibited a good response to NO₂ gas at a concentration of 1–10 ppm. The sensors exhibited a good response to NO₂ gas at low temperature of up to 100 °C and short response–recovery time (~20 s). The sensors also had good selectivity to NO₂ gas. The response (R _gas /R _air) to 1 ppm NO₂ was as high as 22 at 100 °C, whereas the cross gas responses (R _air /R _gas) to 10 ppm CO, 10 ppm H₂S, 100 ppm C₂H₅OH, and 100 ppm NH₃ were negligible (1.1–1.3).     

Chemical Processing of Nanostructured Cemented Carbide

Chemical processing is becoming a vital component in the economic development of advanced engineering materials. Our research group on chemical processing has been focussed on the development of process to produce nanophase cemented carbide. It is a much more direct route for making WC/Co than traditional processing methods, and offers the potential for lower cost production of novel materials with homogeneous nanophase microstructures and improved properties. This paper addresses the scientific and technical issues relating to the chemical processing of nanophase WC/Co composite powder and their sintering.     

Effect of polymers on the nanostructure and on the carbonation of calcium silicate hydrates: a scanning transmission X-ray microscopy study

This study investigated the effects of organic polymers (polyethylene glycol and hexadecyltrimethylammonium) on structures of calcium silicate hydrates (C–S–H) which is the major product of Portland cement hydration. Increased surface areas and expansion of layers were observed for all organic polymer modified C–S–H. The results from attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR–FTIR) spectroscopic measurements also suggest lowered water contents in the layered structures for the C–S–H samples that are modified by organic polymers. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) results further supports this observation. We also observed difference in the extent of C–S–H carbonation due to the presence of organic polymers. No calcite formed in the presence of HDTMA whereas formation of calcite was observed with C–S–H sample modified with PEG. We suggest that the difference in the carbonation reaction is possibly due to the ease of penetration and diffusion of the CO₂. This observation suggests that CO₂ reaction strongly depends on the presence of organic polymers and the types of organic polymers incorporated within the C–S–H structure. This is the first comprehensive study using STXM to quantitatively characterize the level of heterogeneity in cementitious materials at high spatial and spectral resolutions. The results from BET, XRD, ATR–FTIR, and STXM measurements are consistent and suggest that C–S–H layer structures are significantly modified due to the presence of organic polymers, and that the chemical composition and structural differences among the organic polymers determine the extent of the changes in the C–S–H nanostructures as well as the extent of carbonation reaction.     

铝型材阳极电泳消光涂料的合成与性能

以丙烯酸酯和聚氨酯为原料,过硫酸钾为引发剂进行乳液聚合得到一种阴离子消光电泳涂料,研究了合成工艺、引发剂用量、反应温度对合成的影响。结果显示,采用半连续滴加法,引发剂过硫酸钾的用量为单体总量的0.6%,反应温度353K得到的乳液性能最优。通过红外光谱确认产物呈现共聚结构,透射电子显微镜结果显示,采用半连续滴加法制备的复合物呈现清晰的核壳结构,加入N,N-二甲基乙醇胺中和丙烯酸树脂上的羧基后,复合乳胶粒出现一定的微相分离。利用所得到的涂料进行电泳后涂膜光泽10(60°)以下,耐热性、耐冲击、附着力等性能达到行业标准,可应用于消光电泳涂料领域。     

A Fully-Human Antibody Specifically Targeting a Membrane-Bound Fragment of CADM1 Potentiates the T Cell-Mediated Death of Human Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most aggressive form of lung cancer and the leading cause of global cancer-related mortality. Despite the earlier identification of membrane-proximal cleavage of cell adhesion molecule 1 (CADM1) in cancers, the role of the membrane-bound fragment of CAMD1 (MF-CADM1) is yet to be clearly identified. In this study, we first isolated MF-CADM1-specific fully human single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) from the human synthetic scFv antibody library using the phage display technology. Following the selected scFv conversion to human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) scFv-Fc antibodies (K103.1–4), multiple characterization studies, including antibody cross-species reactivity, purity, production yield, and binding affinity, were verified. Finally, via intensive in vitro efficacy and toxicity evaluation studies, we identified K103.3 as a lead antibody that potently promotes the death of human SCLC cell lines, including NCI-H69, NCI-H146, and NCI-H187, by activated Jurkat T cells without severe endothelial toxicity. Taken together, these findings suggest that antibody-based targeting of MF-CADM1 may be an effective strategy to potentiate T cell-mediated SCLC death, and MF-CADM1 may be a novel potential therapeutic target in SCLC for antibody therapy.     

Novel hybrid optimization algorithm using PSO and MADS for the trajectory estimation of a four track wheel skid-steered mobile robot

Several optimization algorithms, such as the particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and ant colony optimization, have previously been applied in order to reliably obtain more accurate trajectory estimation for mobile robot. However, these optimization algorithms can get easily trapped in local optima when solving a complex system, which has many local optima and many input variables. This paper proposes a novel hybrid optimization algorithm-based tuning of the extended Kalman filter, which involves the PSO and mesh adaptive direct search algorithms, prior to operation. As demonstrated by our experimental results, the advantages of the novel hybrid optimization algorithm resolve the limitations of other algorithms in the trajectory estimation of a four track wheel skid-steered mobile robot (4-TW SSMR).