Epstein-Barr virus infects and induces apoptosis in human neutrophils

Tibialis anterior and extensor digitorum longus muscles were partially denervated by cutting the L4 spinal nerve in three-day-old rats. The ultrastructure of the intact axons to these muscles in the L5 spinal nerve was examined in nine-day-old rats. In the control L5 spinal nerve, myelinated and unmyelinated axons were intermingled throughout the cross-section of the nerve, while on the operated side the nerve contained areas with predominantly small unmyelinated immature axons. The number of motoneurons innervating the partially denervated muscles was established by retrograde labelling with Diamidino Yellow. In nine- and 21-day-old rats, the number of labelled motoneurons on the partially denervated side, expressed as a percentage of the control side, was 26.1 +/- 5.5% and 20.7 +/- 3.0%, respectively. The response of these uninjured motoneurons to axotomy was tested. The axons of the motoneurons to the partially denervated muscles were crushed at nine days and the numbers of labelled motoneurons in the spinal cord of these rats counted at 21 days of age. Only 4.9 +/- 2.0% labelled motoneurons were seen on the operated side, as opposed to 20.7 +/- 3.0% present in animals without sciatic nerve injury. In normal animals, nerve injury at nine days does not cause motoneuron death. Thus, motoneurons to partially denervated muscles (i) have axons with several immature features and (ii) remain susceptible to axotomy-induced death for much longer than normal.     

Analysis of Thin Films on Metal Surfaces

External reflection infrared spectroscopy was used in combination with other surface analysis techniques such as ellipsometry, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine the structure of organofunctional silanes adsorbed onto 2024 aluminum and titanium-6 Al, 4V mirrors. The results obtained indicated that the adsorption of γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (γ-APS) onto aluminum was a strong function of pH and adsorption time. Films formed by adsorption of γ-APS at pH = 8.5 were composed of polysiloxanes containing amine hydrochlorides. The structure of films formed by adsorption of γ-APS at pH-10.4 depended on time. Films obtained after one minute were composed of polysiloxanes that did not interact strongly with the oxide but during 15 minutes adsorption the air-formed oxide was dissolved and copper accumulated near the surface of the mirrors. Films formed by the adsorption of γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (γ-GPS) onto aluminum were composed of polysiloxanes that did not interact strongly with the oxide. The structure of films formed by adsorption of γ-APS onto titanium did not depend on adsorption time. Films formed at pH = 10.4 were composed of low molecular weight oligomers that gradually polymerized to polysiloxanes during atmospheric exposure.     

Assessment of the effectiveness of two heat removal techniques for permafrost protection

Two mitigation techniques, an air convection embankment and an embankment of a granular material with an integrated heat drain, have been tested for the implementation in the shoulders of road and airfield embankments in permafrost regions. Both techniques will allow cold air to penetrate the embankment from the bottom, while warm air is dissipated at the top. The techniques have been tested in the laboratory, where a small-scale embankment (SSE) was build and placed in a cold room to measure the embankment temperatures during winter conditions. A numerical modeling has been developed and calibrated on the SSE to verify the effects on the thermal regime of full-scale embankments. The results have shown that both techniques will cause a decrease in temperature, which will minimize or even possibly avoid permafrost degradation underneath the embankments. The laboratory results have also shown that the effectiveness of the air convection embankment technique can be increased during winter conditions by ventilating the top and the bottom of the embankment shoulders. Installation of air intakes along the shoulders will facilitate air flow into the system during winter and will trap the cold air in the bottom of the embankment through the summer period. This solution has been verified using the numerical model.     

Comparative study of the mixing of free-flowing particles in a V-blender and a bin-blender

The objective of this work consists of investigating the influence of process parameters such as the fill level (35, 50 and 65%v/v), loading profile (front-back (FB), right-left (RL) and top-bottom (TB)) and rotational speed (15, 30 and 45 RPM) on the mixing performance of a V-blender and a bin-blender, on the basis of RSD curves, granular mixing dynamics, mean granular velocities and granular temperatures. The mixing systems consisted of two 7.5-L lab-scale versions of industrial V-blenders and conical bin-blenders. Spheronized microcrystalline cellulose granules were used as free-flowing material. Experimental data were generated by analyzing the concentration of thief samples obtained using core samplers by means of image analysis. As a complement to the experimental work and in order to gain more insight into the flow behavior and mixing dynamics in both blenders, numerical simulations of the flow up to 780 000 monodisperse particles were carried out using the discrete element method (DEM). This study shows in particular that, on the basis of RSD curves, the mixing performance of the bin-blender is comparable to that of the V-blender for FB and TB loading profiles, and that the V-blender clearly outperforms the bin-blender in the case of the RL loading profile.     

Collision-avoidance trajectory planning for a virtual kinesthetic feedback system

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - This paper proposes the collision-avoidance trajectory design and simulation of a virtual kinesthetic feedback system. The system has two sliders...     

An Overview of Opportunities for Waste Heat Recovery and Thermal Integration in the Primary Aluminum Industry

Efficient smelters currently consume roughly 13?MWh of electricity per ton of aluminum, while roughly half of that energy is lost as thermal waste. Although waste heat is abundant, current thermal integration in primary aluminum facilities remains limited. This is due to both the low quality of waste heat available and the shortage of potential uses within reasonable distance of identified waste heat sources. In this article, we present a mapping of both heat dissipation processes and heat demands around a sample facility (Alcoa Deschambault Quebec smelter). Our primary aim is to report opportunities for heat recovery and integration in the primary aluminum industry. We consider potential heat-to-sink pairings individually and assess their thermodynamic potential for producing energy savings.     

Modeling and Simulation of Robotic Systems with Closed Kinematic Chains Using the Virtual Spring Approach

The dynamic simulation of robotic or mechanical systems with closedkinematic chains using the virtual spring approach is presented in thispaper. This approach uses virtual springs and dampers to include thekinematic constraints thereby avoiding the solution ofdifferential-algebraic equations. A special advantage of this approachis that it leads to a completely decoupled dynamic model which is idealfor real-time dynamic simulation using multi-processor computers.Examples illustrating the approach are given and include the four-barmechanism with both rigid and flexible links as well as the six-degree-of-freedom Gough–Stewart platform. Simulation results are given for these mechanisms. The results achieve a good agreement with the resultsobtained from other conventional approaches.