Chemical compatibility of proton conducting LaNbO4 electrolyte with potential oxide cathodes

The chemical and physical compatibility of the proton conducting electrolyte material LaNbO₄ with the potential partner materials LaMO₃ (MMn, Fe, Co) and La₂NiO₄ is investigated via the reaction of fine-grained powders and solid-state diffusion couples. Results show generally good chemical compatibility for LaNbO₄ with perovskite type compositions, particularly the LaFeO₃ and LaMnO₃ systems. In contrast, Ruddlesden–Popper type phases are predicted to be poor candidates for use with LaNbO₄. Investigation of the La₂O₃–NiO–Nb₂O₅ and La₂O₃–CoO–Nb₂O₅ phase diagrams finds two new perovskite-related materials of stoichiometry LaNb_1/3M_2/3O₃ (MNi, Co), and indicates coexistence of LaNbO₄ with the binary oxides NiO and CoO. Additionally, reduction of a LaNbO₄–NiO composite confirms coexistence of LaNbO₄ with Ni, and so it is concluded that doped-LaMO₃|LaNbO₄|Ni-LaNbO₄ type electrochemical cells may be manufactured via a direct co-firing route without the formation of secondary phases at inter-phase boundaries.     

Index to Digital Creativity volumes 10-12

This paper advocates the future of the body as a distributed and shared embodiment; an unfolded body that doesn't end at one's skin, but emerges as intercorporeality between bodies and the technological environment. Looking at new tendencies within interaction design and ubiquitous computing to see how these are to an increasing extent focusing on sociality, context-awareness, relations, affects, connectedness and collectivity, we will examine how these new technological movements can change our perception of embodiment towards a distributed and shared one. By examining interactive textiles as part of a future rising landscape of multi-sensory networks, we will exemplify how the new technologies can shutter dichotomies and challenge traditional notions of embodiment and the subject. Finally, we show how this ‘new embodiment’ manifests Deleuze's philosophy of the body as something unstable and changing, and how his refolding of the body can be useful for future interaction designers to understand the context in which they work and the challenges they will meet.     

Preparation and characterization of ordered thin films based on aromatic poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s

Ultrathin layers of aromatic polyoxadiazoles by using the Langmuir-Blodgett technique are prepared for the first time. The syntheses and characterization of new soluble aromatic poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s are described. The polyoxadiazoles contain tetraphenyl silane units in the main chain or pendent alkylamido groups. Both the precursor route via polyhydrazide followed by thermal cyclization in bulk, and the direct spreading of poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s are used for film forming. The supramolecular structures of all ordered poly(arylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole) LB films are characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy, respectively.     

Die Ursache für die drastische Steigerung des Beizabtrages bei Emaillierstahlblechen durch Schwefelwasserstoff

An Reinsteisen in Schwefelsäure wurden eine hohe Wasserstoffüberspannung und ein verhältnismäßig niedriger Beizabtrag gefunden. Durch Einleiten von H₂S in die Säure erniedrigte sich die Überspannung erheblich, und der Beizabtrag wurde erhöht. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigte ein übliches Emaillierstahlblech keine Wasserstoffüberspannung; hier genügte offenbar der aus dem Stahlblech entstehende naszierende Schwefelwasserstoff, um den Beizabtrag gegenüber Reinsteisen zu erhöhen. Diese Wirkung des Schwefelwasserstoffes beruht auf der Beseitigung des atomaren, an der Blechoberfläche adsorbierten und den Säureangriff hemmenden Wasserstoffes. H₂S wird dadurch nicht verbraucht, sondern reichert sich im Gegenteil durch die Stahlauflösung in der Säure an bis zu einer Grenze, die durch die Verflüchtigung gegeben ist. Es handelt sich also um eine Autokatalyse. Der wahrscheinliche Reaktionsmechanismus wird diskutiert. Diese Zusammenhänge erklären die in vorangehenden Arbeiten gemachten Beobachtungen über die starke Erhöhung der Beizabträge durch Schwefelwasserstoff bzw. Sulfide. Die bekannte Grenze für das Cu/S-Verhältnis = 2 nach T. P. Hoare und D. J. Havenhand hinsichtlich der Korrosionsbeständigkeit von einfachen Stählen läßt sich nach den vorliegenden Befunden einfach erklären. Auf die Doppelrolle des Sulfidschwefels beim Beizen (beizfördernd bzw. beizhemmend als Inhibitor) wird kurz eingegangen.     

Do ergonomically designed school workstations decrease musculoskeletal symptoms in children? A 26-month prospective follow-up study

Workstations at school are among several factors that contribute to musculoskeletal symptoms among school-aged children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ergonomically designed workstations on schoolchildren's musculoskeletal symptoms as compared to conventional workstations. In the first 14-month phase of the study (2002-2003, two schools), 42 from the intervention and 46 from the control school participated. In the total follow-up of 26 months (2002-2004), 23 in the intervention group and 20 in the control group participated. Anthropometrics and musculoskeletal symptoms were measured. In general, the ergonomically designed school workstations did not decrease present neck-shoulder, upper back, low back and lower limbs strain and pain, compared to conventional ones during follow-ups.     

Differential modulation of AMPA receptor mediated currents by evans blue in postnatal rat hippocampal neurones

In Brassica, the recognition of self-related pollen by the stigma is controlled by the highly polymorphic S locus that encodes several linked and coadapted genes and can span several hundred kilobases. We used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to analyze the structure of different S haplotypes. We show that the S2 and S13 haplotypes of Brassica oleracea contain extensive sequence divergence and rearrangement relative to each other. In contrast, haplotypic configuration is more conserved between B. oleracea S13 and B. campestris S8, two haplotypes that have been proposed to be derived from a common ancestral haplotype based on sequence comparisons. These results support the view that extensive restructuring of the S locus preceded speciation in Brassica. This structural heteromorphism, together with haplotype-specific sequences, may suppress recombination within the S locus complex, potentially providing a mechanism for maintaining the linkage of coadapted allelic combinations of genes over time.     

The factor structure and factorial invariance of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) across time: Evidence from two community-based samples.

This study provides new knowledge about the factor structure of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12; D. Goldberg, 1972) through the application of confirmatory factor analysis to longitudinal data, thereby enabling investigation of the factor structure, its invariance across time, and the rank-order stability of the factors. Two community-based longitudinal adult samples with 1-year (n = 640) and 6-year (n = 330) follow-up times were studied. As a result, the correlated 3-factor model (i.e., Anxiety/Depression, Social Dysfunction, and Loss of Confidence) showed a better fit with both samples than the alternative models. The correlated 3-factor structure was also relatively invariant across time in both samples, indicating that the scale has good construct validity. The rank-order stabilities of the factors were low across time, which suggests that the GHQ-12 measures temporal mental state. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A simple mass-action model for the eukaryotic heat shock response and its mathematical validation

The heat shock response is a primordial defense mechanism against cell stress and protein misfolding. It proceeds with the minimum number of mechanisms that any regulatory network must include, a stress-induced activation and a feedback regulation, and can thus be regarded as the archetype for a cellular regulatory process. We propose here a simple mechanistic model for the eukaryotic heat shock response, including its mathematical validation. Based on numerical predictions of the model and on its sensitivity analysis, we minimize the model by identifying the reactions with marginal contribution to the heat shock response. As the heat shock response is a very basic and conserved regulatory network, our analysis of the network provides a useful foundation for modeling strategies of more complex cellular processes.     

New Architecture and Algorithms for Fast Construction of Hose-Model VPNs

Hose-model virtual private networks (VPNs) provide customers with more flexibility in specifying bandwidth requirements than pipe-model VPNs. Many hose-model VPN provisioning algorithms have been proposed, and they focus on the bandwidth efficiency in the construction of a single hose-model VPN. In practice, however, VPNs come and go and the dynamics will affect the performance of these VPN provisioning algorithms. If the frequency of adding and deleting VPNs is high, these algorithms will have a scalability problem. We propose in this paper a new network architecture for dynamic VPN construction. In the proposed architecture, adding a new VPN is much simpler and faster, and all that is required is to check if the edge routers have enough bandwidth. There is no need to check the bandwidth left on each internal link because the architecture guarantees that as long as the edge routers have enough capacities to accept the VPN, the internal links will never experience overflow caused by adding the new VPN. We present a linear programming formulation for finding the optimal routing that maximizes the amount of admissible VPN traffic in the network. We then exploit the underlying network flow structure and convert the linear programming problem into a subgradient iterative search problem. The resulting solution is significantly faster than the linear programming approach.