Cover Picture: Protein Detecting Arrays Based on Cationic Polythiophene–DNA‐Aptamer Complexes (Adv. Mater. 20/2006)

The cover image depicts biochips based on responsive nanoaggregates made from stoichiometric complexes between a cationic polythiophene and an appropriate DNA aptamer. These structures undergo a conformational transition from an unfolded to a folded (G‐quadruplex) structure in the presence of a specific target protein that results in a significant increase of the fluorescence intensity, as reported on p. 2703 by Leclerc and co‐workers.     

Inside Front Cover: Efficient Top‐Gate,Ambipolar, Light‐Emitting Field‐Effect Transistors Based on a Green‐Light‐Emitting Polyfluorene (Adv. Mater. 20/2006)

The inside cover shows light emission from within the channel of an ambipolar field‐effect transistor based on the green‐light‐emitting conjugated polymer F8BT in a bottom contact/top gate structure, as reported by Sirringhaus and co‐workers on p. 2708. It visually demonstrates the formation of separate electron and hole accumulation layers in ambipolar transistors and radiative recombination of charge carriers where the two layers meet (schematic), which is controlled by the applied voltages.     

H.264/AVC baseline profile to MPEG‐4 visual simple profile transcoding to reduce the spatial resolution

In this study, we propose a heterogeneous transcoding method of converting an H.264/Advanced video coding (AVC) Baseline profile (BP) video bitstream into an MPEG‐4 Visual simple profile (VSP) video bitstream. The proposed method reduces the spatial resolution for mobile terminals, which support only low resolution video bitstreams. When the H.264/AVC BP video bitstream is transformed into the MPEG‐4 VSP video bitstream, the conversions between the H.264/AVC BP block types and the MPEG‐4 VSP block types are performed by analyzing the macroblocks (MBs) conversion probability and calculating the difference values of motion vector. The proposed transcoding method runs on average 5.5 times faster than the cascaded transcoding methods, for a degradation of the PSNR (peak‐signal‐to ratio) of less than 0.5 dB. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 16, 24–33, 2006     

Investigations of ferritic/martensitic super heat resistant 11‐12 %Cr steels for 650 °C power plants

The investigations of advanced ferritic/martensitic 11–12 %Cr steels for 650 °C power plant components focus on the improvement of high‐temperature creep properties with respect to chemical composition. The claim of the DFG research work was the development of new heat‐resistant 12 %Cr ferritic‐martensitic steels with sufficient creep and oxidation resistance for a 650 °C application by using basic principles and concepts of physical metallurgy on the basis of the state of art and to overcome the usual trial and error industrial alloy development. Efforts are focussed on a 100,000h creep strength of 100MPa at 650 °C in combination with a sufficient corrosion resistance by a Cr content of 12 % with contents 4‐5 %W, 3.4‐5,5 %Co, V, B and 1 %Cu as well as the choice of Ta or Ti instead of Nb. The results demonstrate that the aim is not to realize with the used alloying concept. In the long term range all 12 %Cr melts have a lower creep rupture strength than the advanced 9 %Cr piping steel P92. A high creep strength could be reached with a 0.06 % Ta alloyed 11 %Cr melt, which is in addition alloyed with a higher C and B content and as well as with lower W and Co portions. The results indicate in accordance with the finding of other steel researcher that a lower Cr content allows more effectiveness for the alloying partners respectively for the generation of more stable precipitates.     

Two-Dimensional Simulation Model of Sediment Removal and Flow in Rectangular Sedimentation Basin

A steady, two-dimensional numerical model was created to study the hydrodynamics of a rectangular sedimentation basin under turbulent conditions. The strip integral method was used to formulate the flow equations, using a forward marching scheme for solving the governing partial differential equations of continuity, momentum, advection–diffusion, turbulent kinetic energy, and its dissipation. In this way the flow equations were converted to a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in terms of the key physical parameters. These parameters, along with a set of shape functions, describe flow variables including the velocity, the concentration of suspended sediments, and both the kinetic energy and its dissipation rate. Four Gaussian distributions were investigated, one corresponding to each flow parameter. In order to calculate the turbulent shear stresses, a two-equation turbulence model (i.e., k-ε model) was used. A fourth order Runge–Kutta method numerically integrates the set of ODEs. Simulation results were compared with experimental data, and close agreement (generally within 5–10%) was observed.     

Effect of Hot Band Annealing on Magnetic Properties in 3% Si Grain‐oriented Electrical Steels

Hot band annealing is known to be a prerequisite for good magnetic properties irrespective of manufacturing methods in grain‐oriented Fe‐3 wt.% Si electrical steels. In this study, the effects of hot band annealing on magnetic properties were investigated in 3% grain‐oriented electrical steels of low soluble AI contents and one‐stage cold rolling. Microstructure and precipitate distribution were compared with hot band annealing conditions. Secondary recrystallization behaviour with hot band annealing condition was also discussed.     

Experimental Study on Soluble Oxygen in Hot Metal Pretreatment

The change law of oxygen activity was studied by using Fe₂O₃‐CaO‐CaF₂ and Na₂CO₃/Na₂SO₄ fluxes under laboratory conditions. At the same time, the range of oxygen activity which is in favour of removing phosphorus and sulphur simultaneously was also investigated. The results showed that the oxygen activity in the iron melt during de‐phosphorization can reach up to 5.91×10^?6~10.03×10^?6 in about 5 min and then only varies within a narrow range. A final phosphorus content of 0.008% and a final sulphur content of 0.003% can be obtained if the oxygen activity is controlled within the range of 4.5×10^?6~8.0×10^?6.