Preparation of Metal-Coated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites and Their Electromagnetic Properties

Medium temperature curing by infrared radiation was used to prepare electromagnetic wave absorbing multilayered plastic matrix composite materials containing metal-coated carbon fibers (MCFs). The electromagnetic properties of the materials were investigated by frequency scanning tests with microwave vector network analyzer. It is found that the electromagnetic parameters, mainly permittivity of the composites increase significantly with the addition of MCFs, which gives the composites good designability as thin, light-weight EM wave absorbers. It is also shown that MCFs can improve on the EM wave energy attenuating property of the composites by widening the work frequency band width and raising the absorptive peak     

The bone marrow stromal environment is a major factor in myeloma cell resistance to dexamethasone

The expression of several markers of epithelial cell proliferation was analyzed to establish baseline data for future chemoprevention studies of oral premalignant lesions. Punch biopsies (n = 60) from three different sites of oral mucosa (bucca, lateral tongue, and the floor of the mouth) were obtained from 20 normal donors of both sexes. After formaldehyde fixation and paraffin embedding, immunohistochemistry was used to detect the proliferation markers Mib-1, cyclin D1, and centromere-associated protein CENP-F. Analysis of sections stained for the three markers showed similar patterns, i.e., a low labeling index (LI) in the basal layer and a high LI in the parabasal layer at all three intraoral sites. No proliferative activity was seen above the parabasal layer (superficial layer). All sites showed similar Mib-1 LI values for the proliferative markers. The tongue epithelium exhibited higher parabasal LIs of cyclin D1 and CENP-F than did the other two sites. No significant differences were detected between smokers and nonsmokers. The data from normal mucosa were compared with those from low (n = 30)- and high (n = 17)-grade dysplastic leukoplakias. The Mib-1 LI showed a very significant change, with a 9-fold increase in the basal layer LI in dysplastic leukoplakias. Cyclin D1 and CENP-F showed similar trends with increments of up to 7-fold in the basal layer of high-grade dysplasia. Although the proliferative activity of the parabasal layer was similar in normal and leukoplakic epithelia, the superficial layer showed a significant increment in proliferative activity mainly in high-grade leukoplakia. These studies suggest that proliferation markers in the basal and superficial cells of premalignant lesions may serve as surrogate end point biomarkers for chemoprevention trials.     

Separating inviscid flows

Summary The separating flow of an inviscid fluid is not only a limit solution of the steady separating, laminar fluid flow at high values of the Reynolds number but it is also part of its structure (Smith [1], [2]). This work aims at reexamining the separating flow of inviscid fluid past a bluff body which is fixed in an otherwise uniform stream of fluid. For the purpose of this paper we will assume that the bluff body is a circular cylinder but the theory is applicable to bodies of any shape. It is further assumed that the fluid is in steady two-dimensional motion and is inviscid and of constant density. The flow structure is assumed to consist of a separated flow region, caviting flows in which there exists a free surface on which the pressure is constant, and a wake. A twin spiral vortex model is used in order to determine the shape of the free streamline. Based on the free streamline theory the problem reduces to solving a mixed boundary value problem and a Hilbert solution for the inverse problem in the auxiliary plane is obtained. When we consider the flow in the physical plane the problem is transformed into a direct problem in which the geometry of the solid body is given in advance. We assume that the separation is smooth and thus the curvature of the free streamline at the point of free detachment be equal to that of the body surface. A numerical method for solving the two-dimensional potential flows past arbitrarily shaped curved bluff bodies is developed.When the cavitation number is zero the angle of separation is approximately 55° and the computed results predict that the position of the separation point will move backward as the cavition number increases. The relationships between the drag coefficient, and the width and length of the cavity is determined and is found to be in very good agreement with the predictions of Smith [1].     

Removal of E. coli and helminth eggs in UASB: Polishing pond systems in Brazil.

Ponds following anaerobic reactors, such as Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors, have been termed polishing ponds in the literature. The present paper analyses the removal of E. coli and helminth eggs in five UASB-polishing pond systems in Brazil. Since there were ponds in series, the total number of ponds was 10. The ponds had average retention times varying from 2 to 21 days, and depths ranging from 0.40 to 2.00 m. The shallow ponds in series, even with low retention times, were able to produce effluents complying with the coliform WHO guidelines for unrestricted irrigation (< or = 1000 MPN/100 ml). An equation for the coliform decay coefficient was proposed: Kb (dispersed flow) = 0.710H(-0955) (20 degrees C). The equation highlights the inverse relationship between the pond depth and the decay coefficient. All polishing pond systems were able to produce effluents with helminth eggs concentrations predominantly equal to zero, and satisfying the WHO guidelines for unrestricted and restricted irrigation (< or = 1 egg/L, arithmetic mean). The approximate range of helminth eggs removal efficiency was predicted satisfactorily.     

Investigation of texture effect on visual colour difference evaluation

The texture effect on visual colour difference evaluation was investigated in this study. Five colour centers were selected and textured colour pairs were generated using scanned textile woven fabrics and colour‐mapping technique. The textured and solid colour pairs were then displayed on a characterized cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor for colour difference evaluation. The colour difference values for the pairs with texture patterns are equal to 5.0 CIELAB units in lightness direction. The texture level was represented by the half‐width of histogram, which is called texture strength in this study. High correlation was found between texture strength and visual colour difference for textured colour pairs, which indicates that an increasing of 10 units of texture strength in luminance would cause a decreasing of 0.25 units visual difference for the five colour centers. The ratio of visual difference between textured and solid colour pairs also indicates a high parametric effect of texture. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 341–347, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.     

Gigahertz signal processing using reflex optoelectronic switching matrices

The application of reflex optoelectronic switching matrices (ROSM) to signal processing in the gigahertz region is analyzed. Various signal processing functions such as delay generation, loop filtering, word generation/detection, integration, and digital to analog conversion are identified and their respective realizations in a ROSM are presented. It is found that for dedicated signal processing functions, simpler submatrices instead of full matrices can be employed with significant reduction in complexity and cost. The performance of ROSM's using currently commercially available components confirms the feasibility of gigahertz signal processing with ROSM's.     

A New Modified Gaussian Approximation Detector for Space-Time Bit-Interleaved Coded Modulation Schemes

To reduce the receiver complexity of the space-time bit-interleaved coded modulation (ST-BICM) scheme, this letter describes a turbo-type iterative structure consisting of a modified Gaussian approximation (MGA) detector and an a posteriori probability (APP) decoder. Utilizing the characteristics of the interleaving and the central limited theoretic, the MGA detector first assumes the superposition of the transmitted signals as a Gaussian random variable. Then, P most significant signal combinations are identified to calculate the log-likelihood ratio of each bit. Without any pre-process on the received signals, the proposed method is free of matrix inverse operation and can be applied in systems with more transmit antennas than receive antennas. Furthermore, the performance of the MGA approaches that of the optimal detection     

Oxygen glow discharge experiment to remove deposited layers and to release trapped hydrogen isotopes in HT-7 superconducting tokamak

An experiment to remove re-deposited layers and to release hydrogen using a glow discharge in oxygen (O-GDC) has been performed in the HT-7 superconducting tokamak. In the absence of magnetic fields, the O-GDC wall conditioning had produced rapid, controlled co-deposit removal. Average removal rates, 5.2 × 10²² H-atoms/h, 5.65 × 10²¹ D-atoms/h and 5.53 × 10²² C-atoms/h, respectively, were obtained during 145 min O-GDC experiment in the pressure range 0.5-1.5 Pa. The corresponding removal rate of co-deposited films was ∼1.19 μm/day (26.5 g/day for carbon) based on an area of 12 m². Compared to thermo-oxidation and O-ICR experiment, high pressure O-GDC wall conditioning promoted the oxidation and improved the C and D atoms removal. In the O-GDC experiment, the removal rates of H-atoms and D-atoms as H₂O, HDO and D₂O were higher than that of H₂ and D₂ by factors of about 20 and 50, respectively. During the 145 min O-GDC experiment, about 14.5% O-atoms were converted into carbon oxides and hydroxides, and about 5.37 × 10²² O-atoms were adsorbed on the walls corresponding to a coverage of 4.5 × 10²¹ O/m² on an wall area of 12 m². In a 100 min helium glow discharge (He-GDC) following the O-GDC experiment, 1.53 × 10²² O-atoms, about 28.5% oxygen retained on the walls, were removed. The removal rate of H-atoms in He-GDC cleaning after O-GDC experiment was lower than that in He-GDC cleaning before O-GDC experiment, which indicates that the O-GDC wall conditioning had effectively reduced hydrogen retention on the walls.     

Scattering from bandlimited fractal fibers

The scattering of electromagnetic or optical waves from tenuous dielectric fibers characterized by bandlimited fractal surfaces is considered. The role of several fractal dimensions is noted, and one suitable for this problem is identified. It is found that in the fractal regime, the Rayleigh-Gans differential scattering cross section as a function of the normalized size parameter exhibits a power-law relation reminiscent of that associated with light scattering from fractal clusters and small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering by porous material. This power-law relation is monotonically related to an appropriate fractal dimension and variance of the fiber surface