Occurrence and characterisation of the hydrogen-evolving enzyme in Frankia sp.

An increase in hydrogen evolution from the hydrogen-evolving enzyme in the actinomycete Frankia was recorded in the presence of nickel. Immunogold localisation analysis of the intracellular distribution of hydrogenase proteins indicated that they were evenly distributed in the membranes and cytosol of both hyphae and vesicles. In addition, molecular characterisation of the hydrogen-evolving enzyme at the proteomic level, using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with mass spectrometry, confirmed that the Frankia hydrogen-evolving enzyme is similar to the cyanobacterial bidirectional hydrogenase of Anabena siamensis.     

Effect of surface waxes on the persistence of chlorpyrifos-methyl in apples, strawberries and grapefruits

The effects of the cuticle and epicuticular waxes of grapefruit, strawberry and apple on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl were studied. Photodegradation experiments were conducted by exposing the insecticide to the light of a xenon lamp in the presence of a film of wax extracted from the fruit surface. The half-life of chlorpyrifos-methyl irradiated in absence of waxes was 9.6 min. The half-lives of pesticide irradiated in the presence of wax extracts of apple, grapefruit and strawberry were 83, 34 and 26 min, respectively. In penetration studies, fruit with and without wax layers were treated with an aqueous suspension of pesticide. The penetration of the pesticide from the cuticle to the pulp was measured after 24 h. Samples without wax contained a higher total amount of insecticide than those with wax. No pesticide was detected in samples of apple and grapefruit pulp. Residues were detected in all fractions of strawberry. The waxes and cuticle appear to have some effect on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl in fruit samples.     

Dominant rock properties affecting the performance of conical picks and the comparison of some experimental and theoretical results

Conical picks are the essential cutting tools used especially on roadheaders, continuous miners and shearers and their cutting performance affects directly the efficiency and the cost of rock/mineral excavation. In this study, in order to better understand the effects of dominant rock properties on cutter performance, 22 different rock specimens having compressive strength values varying from 10 to 170 MPa are first subjected to a wide range of mechanical tests. Then, laboratory full-scale linear cutting tests with different depth of cut and cutter spacing values are realized on large blocks of rock specimens using one type of conical pick. Specific energy, cutting and normal force values for relieved and unrelieved cutting modes are recorded using a triaxial force dynamometer with capacity of 50 tonnes and a data acquisition system. Cutter force and specific energy values are correlated with rock properties and theoretical force and specific energy values obtained from widely used theoretical approaches.The results indicate that uniaxial compressive strength among the rock properties investigated is best correlated with the measured cutter performance values, which is in good agreement with previous studies. However, it is also emphasized in this study that Brazilian tensile strength, Schmidt hammer rebound values, static and dynamic elasticity modulus are also dominant rock properties affecting cutter performance.Theoretical specific energy defined by different researchers has a meaningful relationship with the experimental specific energy, which is an essential parameter for predicting the instantaneous cutting rates of mechanical excavation systems. It is also demonstrated that the experimental cutter forces obtained for 5 mm depth of cut are in good agreement with theoretical force values, if the friction angle between rock and cutting tool is included in the theoretical formulation. It is emphasized that, to some extend, laboratory tests can help to minimize high cost of a trial–error approach in the field.     

Tri-axial sensors and actuators made of a single piezoelectric cylindrical shell

Electromechanical transducers for sensing and actuating disturbances or vibrations have been used in many fields of applications. There have been transducers of different configuration developed for the unidirectional transduction. This paper demonstrates a single element transducer for tri-axial components made of a piezoelectric cylindrical shell. The separation of the tri-axial transductions is achieved by devising a proper electrode arrangement. The structure and the fundamental idea are first presented, and then the numerical analysis by means of the finite element modeling follows, and their characteristics and behaviors are then experimentally verified.     

A tree partitioning dynamic policy for OVSF codes assignment in wideband CDMA

This paper proposes some novel techniques to accommodate users with different rate requirements in a wideband code-division multiple-access system employing orthogonal variable spreading factor codes. Two simple static code assignment strategies are first considered, and an improvement based on multicode assignment. Then the new idea of tree partitioning is introduced and used to devise a dynamic code reassignment algorithm. The behavior of these different techniques is experimentally investigated, in terms of call blocking probability and number of required reassignments. The tree partitioning method exhibits very good performances.     

Ring‐opening polymerization of lactones initiated by diphenylzinc–coinitiator systems

Diphenylzinc, alone or in combination with water and butanone as coinitiators, was used as a polymerization initiator system for a variety of lactones at varying temperatures. The resulting data indicate that the course of the polymerization is greatly influenced by the lactone structure, as well as by the molar ratio of coinitiator to diphenylzinc. When used alone, diphenylzinc exhibited high activity as an initiator in δ‐valerolactone polymerizations, although it was less efficient when used in the β‐butyrolactone and the β‐propiolactone polymerizations. Activity in the polymerization of β‐lactones was increased by adding small amounts of butanone or water. It was also observed that the diphenylzinc–butanone combination was more effective than the diphenylzinc–water mixture in the polymerizations of β‐butyrolactone and β‐propiolactone. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

A multigrid accelerated hybrid unstructured mesh method for 3D compressible turbulent flow

 A cell vertex finite volume method for the solution of steady compressible turbulent flow problems on unstructured hybrid meshes of tetrahedra, prisms, pyramids and hexahedra is described. These hybrid meshes are constructed by firstly discretising the computational domain using tetrahedral elements and then by merging certain tetrahedra. A one equation turbulence model is employed and the solution of the steady flow equations is obtained by explicit relaxation. The solution process is accelerated by the addition of a multigrid method, in which the coarse meshes are generated by agglomeration, and by parallelisation. The approach is shown to be effective for the simulation of a number of 3D flows of current practical interest. Sponsored by The Research Council of Norway, project number 125676/410 Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Mike Crisfield, a respected colleague     

Catalytic aminolysis of epoxide by alumina prepared from amine-protected Al precursor

The catalytic activities of alumina prepared from an Al alkoxide-amine adduct monomer for the reaction of cyclopentene oxide with piperidine was determined after various pretreatments, including calcination and exposure to moisture. They were compared with the activity of alumina prepared by the conventional hydrolysis method. It was found that the as-prepared sample from the alkoxide-amine monomer preparation was five times more active than a conventional preparation, suggesting that it has a higher density of surface Lewis acid sites. However, its activity was much more severely suppressed by exposure to moisture.     

Formulation of a ceramic ink for a wide-array drop-on-demand ink-jet printer

This paper describes the methodology for simulating a reprographic ink with a ceramic ink based on a commercially available zirconia powder for direct ceramic ink-jet printing. Of over-riding importance was matching viscosity and this was tested systematically by using a mineral oil–hexane binary system. Of secondary importance was adjustment of the pressure defect behind the nozzle to compensate for small differences in surface tension. The inks tested in the wide array print-head were based on low electrical conductivity liquids to avoid damage to the electroding system. The organic binder for the zirconia ink was paraffin wax and the dispersant was a hydroxystearic acid based polyester.