Production of Two‐Dimensional Nanomaterials via Liquid‐Based Direct Exfoliation

Tremendous efforts have been devoted to the synthesis and application of two‐dimensional (2D) nanomaterials due to their extraordinary and unique properties in electronics, photonics, catalysis, etc., upon exfoliation from their bulk counterparts. One of the greatest challenges that scientists are confronted with is how to produce large quantities of 2D nanomaterials of high quality in a commercially viable way. This review summarizes the state‐of‐the‐art of the production of 2D nanomaterials using liquid‐based direct exfoliation (LBE), a very promising and highly scalable wet approach for synthesizing high quality 2D nanomaterials in mild conditions. LBE is a collection of methods that directly exfoliates bulk layered materials into thin flakes of 2D nanomaterials in liquid media without any, or with a minimum degree of, chemical reactions, so as to maintain the high crystallinity of 2D nanomaterials. Different synthetic methods are categorized in the following, in which material characteristics including dispersion concentration, flake thickness, flake size and some applications are discussed in detail. At the end, we provide an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of such synthetic methods of LBE and propose future perspectives.     

The implementation of a cell-based manufacturing system

This paper describes the development of a cell-based manufacturing system. It considers all aspects of the implementation: the initial analysis of the problems of an existing system, product redesign for manufacture, cell design and cell implementation. The effectiveness of the resulting system is measured, using quantitative parameters. These include manufacturing lead times, due date performance and inventory levels. Other features, such as increased product quality, increased customer satisfaction and increased worker satisfaction, which cannot be measured easily, are discussed and shown to be major factors behind the successful implementation. Although presented as a case study the procedures adopted to facilitate the successful implementation are of general interest to any prospective manufacturing cell user.     

Phantom auditory sensation in rats: An animal model for tinnitus.

To measure tinnitus induced by sodium salicylate injections, 84 rats were used in a conditioned suppression paradigm. In Exp 1, Ss were trained with a conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) consisting of the offset of a continuous background noise. One group began salicylate injections before Pavlovian training, a 2nd group started injections after training, and a control group received daily saline injections. Resistance to extinction was profound when injections started before training but minimal when initiated after training, suggesting that salicylate-induced effects acquired differential conditioned value. In Exp 2, salicylate treatments were mimicked by substituting a 7 kHz tone in place of respective injections, resulting in effects equivalent to salicylate-induced behavior. A 3rd experiment included a 3 kHz CS, and again replicated the salicylate findings. In Exp 4, we decreased the motivational level, and the sequential relation between salicylate-induced effects and suppression training was retained. Findings support the demonstration of phantom auditory sensations in animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of methods for identifying transcription units and transcription map of the Werner syndrome gene region

OBJECTIVE: The audiologic presentation of vestibular schwannoma (VS) associated with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) has not been well characterized. The goal of this study was to investigate the audiologic features of NF2-associated VS and to determine their relationship to the size of the tumor. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective case review. SETTING: Quaternary governmental medical research institute evaluating patients fitting specific criteria for ongoing clinical studies. PATIENTS: Audiologic and magnetic resonance imaging data were available for 40 patients (25 males, 15 females), with an average age of 32 years, who had been recruited for ongoing clinical and genetic studies of NF2. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The audiologic profile and magnetic resonance imaging characteristic of tumor were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The average size of the tumor at presentation was 7.26 +/- 16.58 cm3 and measured 1.2, 1.6, and 1.1 cm in the anterior/posterior, lateral/medial, and superior/inferior dimensions, respectively. An increase in lateral/medial size of the tumor most significantly correlated with deterioration in mid- (1,000-2,000 Hz) and high- (4,000-8,000 Hz) frequency hearing levels, elevated speech reception threshold, and prolonged auditory brain stem response waves III and V latency. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with NF2 demonstrate a more predictable audiologic profile for a given size tumor than has been previously described with spontaneous or sporadic VS.     

Estrous synchronization and establishment of pregnancy in bovine embryo transfer recipients

Characteristics of donors, embryos, recipients, and transfer procedures were examined for relationships with establishment of pregnancy. Data were from records of 1202 embryos transferred by the professional staff of a large embryo transfer company. Average pregnancy rate was 74.6%. Variables affecting establishment of pregnancy were service sire, embryo quality, stage of estrous cycle in recipient, quadratic effect of synchrony, and transfer quality. Because the direct or indirect effect of sire must be established at conception, these data demonstrate a latent effect of sire on pregnancy. One would expect the highest pregnancy rate among excellent quality embryos transferred with no delays or complications into recipients that had displayed estrus at the same time or prior to the donor yet were relatively early in their estrous cycles. There also was a tendency for pregnancy rate to decrease with advancing maturity of the embryo.