Effects of captan on the growth and cellulase production of Aspergillus aculeatus and Botryodiplodia theobromae

The effects of captan on the production of mycelia and cellulolytic enzymes of Aspergillus aculeatus and Botryodiplodia theobromae were investigated in culture. There was decrease in mycelia of both fungi with increase in captan concentration in ppm. No fungal growth was recorded at 400 ppm. Captan at 10–50 ppm at 25 and 30 °C induced both fungi to produce more mycelia than in control cultures. The effect of captan concentration on the production of cellulases showed a decrease in quantity with increase in concentration. At 400 ppm no cellulase was produced by both fungi. There was a general decrease in cellulase production with increase in temperature either in control or experimental cultures. In cultures incorporated with captan, the cellulolytic activities of A. aculeatus (at 10 ppm) and B. theobromae (at 10 ppm, 50 ppm) were found to be relatively high.     

Determination of the thermophysical properties of translucent materials

A method is proposed for determining the thermophysical properties of translucent scattering materials in the nonsteady heating regime.Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 977–982, December, 1985.     

Dynamics of nanosecond laser annealing of silicon

On the basis of a numerical solution of the Stefan problem, the dynamics of nanosecond laser annealing of silicon is investigated.Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 306–312, February, 1985.     

Analysis and Design of Robust Controllers Using the Interval Diophantine Equation

In this paper the design of pole placement feedback controllers for interval plants is addressed within an Interval Analysis framework. Three main topics connected by the concept of interval Diophantine equation are treated: a relatively straightforward investigation about robust coprimeness of interval polynomials, a reliable computing approach for the design of pole placement controllers in the presence of inaccuracies of interval type, and the design of robust controllers with regional pole placement specifications. After explicitly characterizing a convex subset of robust controllers, the problem of designing non-fragile controllers is formulated as a design centering problem, which is then solved by a global optimization algorithm. Numerical examples illustrate the main characteristics of the approach proposed.This paper has been partially supported by grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico–Brazil.     

Thermal reducing dissociation and sublimation—The stages of the transformation of oxide lattices into metal lattices

The transformation of an oxide lattice into a metal lattice is analyzed using the reported data and the results of our studies of the reduction of disseminated lump ores. The crystallochemical transformations are shown to occur due to oxide saturation with charged anion vacancies followed by the decomposition of their supersaturated solid solution. The appearance of charged anion vacancies as a result of oxygen removal from an oxide becomes possible after the “loosening” of its oxide lattice by thermal vacancies. The interaction of reducing and thermal vacancies near the free oxide surface induces the detachment of some microregions of the oxide lattice that have the structures of intermediate reduction products.     

Analytical approaches to characterising fish tainting potential of oil sands process waters.

A three-stage study has been carried out with rainbow trout (Oncorhyncus mykiss) to develop analytical approaches which can provide a fingerprint for tainting by oil sands chemicals from process-affected waters and natural sources. The objective was to find a simpler alternative to sensory evaluation. In the first stage, a set of seven test compounds was added to fish tissue which was analysed by headspace and solvent (dichloromethane, DCM) extraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the second stage, fingerlings (5-20 g) were exposed for 96 hours to the test compound mixture at 1.0 and 0.5 times the estimated tainting threshold concentrations. In the final stage, fingerlings were exposed for 96 hours to an oil sands process water at 5, 10, 20 and 50% concentrations in clean water. None of the test compounds was identified in DCM extracts of tissue from exposed fish. Two long-chain aldehydes, hexadecanal and 9-octadecenal, were tentatively identified in these extracts by matching of mass spectra with library spectra.     

Effect of yttrium and chromium on the recrystallization of Al-Sc alloys

The effect of small chromium and yttrium additions (0.14–1.0 wt%) on the recrystallization of Al-Sc alloys having 0.1–0.4% Sc is studied with polarized light. The microstructure of cold-rolled samples annealed at 100–630°C for 1 h is examined. The chromium and yttrium additions are found to slightly affect the recrystallization temperature of the Al-Sc alloys: they increase or decrease it slightly depending on the scandium content.