Impact of adhesive ingredients on adhesion between rubber and brass-plated steel wire in tire

Proficiency on underlying mechanism of rubber-metal adhesion has been increased significantly in the last few decades. Researchers have investigated the effect of various ingredients, such as hexamethoxymethyl melamine, resorcinol, cobalt stearate, and silica, on rubber-metal interface. The role of each ingredient on rubber-metal interfacial adhesion is still a subject of scrutiny. In this article, a typical belt skim compound of truck radial tire is selected and the effect of each adhesive ingredient on adhesion strength is explored. Out of these ingredients, the effect of cobalt stearate is found noteworthy. It has improved adhesion strength by 12% (without aging) and by 11% (humid-aged), respectively, over control compound. For detailed understanding of the effect of cobalt stearate on adhesion, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy are utilized to ascertain the rubber coverage and distribution of elements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results helped us to understand the impact of Cu_XS layer depth on rubber-metal adhesion. The depth profile of the Cu_XS layer was found to be one of the dominant factors of rubber-metal adhesion retention. Thus, this study has made an attempt to find the impact of different adhesive ingredients on the formation of Cu_XS layer depth at rubber-metal interface and establish a correlation with adhesion strength simultaneously.     

High-pressure dc sputtering of High-Tc BPSCCO thin films withTc(0) above 100 K

High-T _c Bi(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O thin films have been made on single-crystal MgO substrates using high-pressure dc sputtering technique. X-ray studies confirm the crystallinity and highly oriented structure withc-axis perpendicular to the substrate. By optimizing the annealing schedule the formation of the high-T _c phase is stabilized. The best film exhibited superconducting transition temperature with zero-resistance temperature,T _c(0), as high as 101 K. Temperature dependence ofJ _c indicates the presence of Josephson-type weak links.     

X gene and precore region mutations in the hepatitis B virus genome in persons positive for antibody to hepatitis B e antigen: comparison between asymptomatic "healthy" carriers and patients with severe chronic active hepatitis

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers with antibody to hepatitis e antigen comprise asymptomatic carriers (ASCs), who have low replication levels of HBV, and patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH), who have high levels of viral replication. To investigate whether defects in the X protein might be responsible for this difference in the level of viral replication, nucleotide sequences of X and precore gene regions in serum HBV were analyzed in 19 ASCs and 9 CAH patients. All patients had a point mutation creating a stop codon in the precore region. Seventeen ASCs (87.3%) had identical mutations consisting of 4 noncontiguous 1-bp deletions or an 8-bp deletion, both of which truncate the normal X protein, whereas no CAH patient had an X gene mutation (P < .001). Thus, deletion of the X protein might be responsible for the low levels of viral replication in ASCs.     

Neuropathology of bovine herpesvirus type 5 (BHV-5) meningo-encephalitis in a rabbit seizure model

CI-994 (acetyldinaline) is an orally active anticancer drug currently in Phase 1 clinical trials. To assess its preclinical toxicity, CI-994 was administered orally as suspensions to Wistar rats (10/sex/dose) and in capsules to beagle dogs (3/sex/dose) once daily for two weeks. Doses were 1.5, 5, and 15 mg/kg for rats (9, 30, and 90 mg/m2, respectively), and 0.5, 2, and 5 mg/kg for dogs (10, 40, and 100 mg/m2, respectively). Systemic exposure was dose-proportional based on toxicokinetic analysis in dogs. Severe clinical signs and mortality occurred at the highest dose in both species beginning on Day 10. Neutropenia, lymphocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphoid depletion, bone marrow hypocellularity, and testicular degeneration were observed in both species, primarily at the mid- and high-doses. Despite continued treatment, neutrophil counts in dogs returned to control levels in Week 2. Other microscopic findings in rats included splenic hematopoietic depletion at all doses and epithelial cell necrosis in various tissues at 15 mg/kg. Additional bone marrow changes in dogs involved myeloid and megakaryocyte hyperplasia at 2 mg/kg and abnormal myeloid and megakaryocyte maturation at 2 and 5 mg/kg. Except for the testicular effects in both species, all changes were reversible within a 4-week (rat) or 9-week (dog) recovery period. The results of these studies show that target organ effects of CI-994 principally involve tissues with rapidly dividing cell populations and that bone marrow suppression is the dose-limiting toxicity. CI-994 also seems to interfere with the release and/or maturation of cells in the bone marrow.     

Risk-Based Allocation of Distribution System Maintenance Resources

Asset management is an important activity in present day distribution system planning and operation. Utilities are constantly striving to optimize the use of resources available for maintenance while ensuring system reliability is within satisfactory limits. This paper proposes a method to allocate maintenance resources to various distribution system assets. To determine the effects of maintenance, a predictive reliability assessment tool is developed. This paper describes the model on which this tool is based. The results obtained from reliability assessment can be used along with an optimizer to allocate resources to various maintenance tasks in a distribution system.     

Developing independence in a life transition: Investing the self in the concerns of the day.

Developing independence involves mastering the tasks of each life transition. Those more anxious about developing independence will become more invested in the normative tasks of each transition, and this anxiety will spread to the domain represented by these tasks. In Study 1, Honors College students expressed their anxiety about developing independence in academic performance at the beginning of college when this was the normative task and in social relationships after college when this was the normative task. This anxiety could be distinguished from other (e.g., academic) anxiety. In Study 2, sorority women expressed anxiety about developing independence in family and sorority relationships. Data demonstrate the social construction of anxiety and the dynamics of personality change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of diversion and reperfusion of pancreaticobiliary juice on amylase release from isolated rat pancreas

Excitability of functionally different alpha-motoneurons was studied in 62 patients with gunshot injuries of nervous trunks of lower extremities both before and during process of rehabilitation by means of physical factors. The correlation of reactions of spinal cord motoneurons and the degree of injuries of nervous trunks was observed. Neuroapraxia of nervous trunks was accompanied by multidirectional alterations in reflex activity of large and small alpha-motoneurons. It was depressed in axonothermesis and lost in simultaneous full anatomic interruption of ischiatic nerve and trunks of both fibular and tibial nerves. Under influence of physical factors the function of motoneurons was normalized in neuroapraxia and was improved in axonothermesis of nervous trunks.     

An adaptive hybrid surrogate model

The determination of complex underlying relationships between system parameters from simulated and/or recorded data requires advanced interpolating functions, also known as surrogates. The development of surrogates for such complex relationships often requires the modeling of high dimensional and non-smooth functions using limited information. To this end, the hybrid surrogate modeling paradigm, where different surrogate models are combined, offers an effective solution. In this paper, we develop a new high fidelity surrogate modeling technique that we call the Adaptive Hybrid Functions (AHF). The AHF formulates a reliable Crowding Distance-Based Trust Region (CD-TR), and adaptively combines the favorable characteristics of different surrogate models. The weight of each contributing surrogate model is determined based on the local measure of accuracy for that surrogate model in the pertinent trust region. Such an approach is intended to exploit the advantages of each component surrogate. This approach seeks to simultaneously capture the global trend of the function as well as the local deviations. In this paper, the AHF combines four component surrogate models: (i) the Quadratic Response Surface Model (QRSM), (ii) the Radial Basis Functions (RBF), (iii) the Extended Radial Basis Functions (E-RBF), and (iv) the Kriging model. The AHF is applied to standard test problems and to a complex engineering design problem. Subsequent evaluations of the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and the Maximum Absolute Error (MAE) illustrate the promising potential of this hybrid surrogate modeling approach.