Ultralow Expansion Glass as Material for Advanced Micromechanical Systems

Ultralow expansion (ULE) glasses are of special interest for temperature stabilized systems for example in precision metrology. Nowadays, ULE materials are mainly used in macroscopic and less in micromechanical systems. Reasons for this are a lack of technologies for parallel fabricating high-quality released microstructures with a high accuracy. As a result, there is a high demand in transferring these materials into miniaturized application examples, realistic system modeling, and the investigation of microscopic material properties. Herein, a technological base for fabricating released micromechanical structures and systems with a structure height above 100 μm in ULE 7972 glass is established. Herein, the main fabrication parameters that are important for the system design and contribute thus to the introduction of titanium silicate as material for glass-based micromechanical systems are discussed. To study the mechanical properties in combination with respective simulation models, microcantilevers are used as basic mechanical elements to evaluate technological parameters and other impact factors. The implemented models allow to predict the micromechanical system properties with a deviation of only ±5% and can thus effectively support the micromechanical system design in an early stage of development.     

iFlash:80℃活化漂白与新型皂洗

加工技术与设备的发展通常会使加工时间缩短.但是新型助剂的应用也可减少加工时间,大大降低成本.随着iFlash系统的应用,漂白温度可降至80℃,活性染料染色后皂洗的时间也大大缩短.因此,织物间歇式染色得到优化,在不增加额外投资的情况下运行更经济.     

Solution Structure and Constrained Molecular Dynamics Study of Vitamin B12 Conjugates of the Anorectic Peptide PYY(3–36)

Vitamin B₁₂–peptide conjugates have considerable therapeutic potential through improved pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic properties imparted on the peptide upon covalent attachment to vitamin B₁₂ (B₁₂). There remains a lack of structural studies investigating the effects of B₁₂ conjugation on peptide secondary structure. Determining the solution structure of a B₁₂–peptide conjugate or conjugates and measuring functions of the conjugate(s) at the target peptide receptor may offer considerable insight concerning the future design of fully optimized conjugates. This methodology is especially useful in tandem with constrained molecular dynamics (MD) studies, such that predictions may be made about conjugates not yet synthesized. Focusing on two B₁₂ conjugates of the anorectic peptide PYY(3–36), one of which was previously demonstrated to have improved food intake reduction compared with PYY(3–36), we performed NMR structural analyses and used the information to conduct MD simulations. The study provides rare structural insight into vitamin B₁₂ conjugates and validates the fact that B₁₂ can be conjugated to a peptide without markedly affecting peptide secondary structure.     

Mechanisms and Kinetics of Reaction-Bonded Aluminum Oxide Ceramics

Reaction-bonded Al₂O₃ (RBAO) ceramics were fabricated starting from mechanically alloyed Al₂O₃/Al, Al₂O₃/ Al/ZrO₂, and Al₂O₃/Al/ZrO₂/Zr mixtures. Isopressed compacts were heat-treated in air up to 1550°C. Reaction-bonding mechanisms, kinetics, and the influence of ZrO₂ and Zr additions are investigated. Independent of additive, oxidation of Al proceeds both as solid/gas and liquid/gas reaction, and the reaction kinetics follow a parabolic rate law. The reaction rate depends strongly on the particle size of Al. The activation energy of the reaction depends essentially on green density. Below the melting temperature of Al, in samples containing 45 vol% Al and 55 vol% Al₂O₃, it is 112 and 152 kJ/mol at ∼64% and ∼74% TD, respectively, while above the melting temperature, it lies in the range ∼ 26–33 kJ/mol. Zr additions reduce the activation energy to some extent. Samples with only ZrO₂ additions exhibit nearly the same activation energies as ZrO₂-free samples, though ZrO₂ has a very positive effect on the microstructural development in RBAO ceramics. Microstructure evolution and some strength data of RBAO bodies are also reported.     

Integrating Process Support and Knowledge Management for Virtual Software Development Teams

In this paper we describe how knowledge management and software process support can be integrated to improve the efficiency of virtual software teams. The approach presented here integrates a process enactment environment with an on-demand knowledge delivery strategy that is based on parameterized information needs models. The parameters in the information needs models are bound at project execution time to values extracted from the process enactment engine. Thus, the approach supports virtual teams by establishing a platform for systematic and task-specific knowledge exchange. The proposed approach is prototypically implemented in the MILOS system, an open source project of the University of Calgary (Canada) and the University of Kaiserslautern (Germany).     

Characterization of Structure and Transport in Porous Media by Pulsed Field Gradient (PFG) NMR Technique. Part I: Master Curve and Characteristic Inner Length

Systematic experimental studies focusing on the practical application of observation time dependent pulsed‐field‐gradient (PFG) NMR were performed. The objective was to provide engineering scientists with a reliable experimental tool for characterizing the structure and transport in fluid‐filled porous media. Observation time dependent self‐diffusion in glass bead packs as model systems was investigated, where the diffusing species (molecules of the solvent or dissolved particles) served as probes for the confining geometry in the porous medium. First, the basic question whether the obtainable structure information is independent of the actual mobility of the diffusing probe particles was examined experimentally. It could be demonstrated that plotting the normalized time‐dependent diffusion coefficient D(t)/D₀ versus the actual migration length l_D(t) during a given observation time t indeed yields a characteristic “master curve” that is independent of the mobility of the diffusing species, thus reflecting, as desired for a reliable method, solely the effects of the confining geometry of the porous system of interest. It was further shown that from the master curve a new quantity, i.e., a “characteristic inner length” or “correlation length” ξ_D can be derived that corresponds to a path length in the porous medium, after which particles in the pore fluid experience an averaged restricting geometry and diffuse with an effective diffusion coefficient D_eff. It turned out that ξ_D is surprisingly short, that is, in the order of the bead radius. Moreover, it was demonstrated that normalization of this migration length with the bead radius yields a common master curve for all monodisperse bead packs used and thus, it is obviously possible to derive and record master curves for different kinds of packs, beds or other porous media as references that can be used to characterize or certify the kind of the porous matrix of interest.     

Changes in sputum composition during sputum induction in healthy and asthmatic subjects

BACKGROUND: Home oxygen therapy improves survival and quality of life in adults with chronic obstructive airways disease. The few studies about home oxygen therapy in children show improvements in weight gain, school performance and decreases in hospitalization expenses. AIM: To report our experience in home oxygen therapy in children followed for six months to four years. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty five children, less than 15 years old, discharged from a University hospital with the diagnosis of chronic respiratory failure, were followed up at their homes. RESULTS: Discharge diagnoses were bronchopulmonary dysplasia in 36% of children, postinfectious pulmonary damage in 22%, neonatal distress in 13%, chronic aspiration in 9%, cystic fibrosis in 7% and miscellaneous in 13%. Forty six completed at least 6 months of follow up, five moved to other hospitals, three required ventilatory support and one died. Oxygen was discontinued in 33 patients, and this occurred before the ninth month of follow up in 88% of those children. Neonatal distress and bronchopulmonary dysplasia had the best prognoses, and oxygen was discontinued at 4 +/- 1 and 5.7 +/- 3 months respectively. Patients with postinfectious pulmonary disease had a higher incidence of bronchoneumoniae, and those with bronchopulmonary dysplasia a higher incidence of acute bronchiolitis, that motivated hospital admissions. Expenses due to home oxygen were lower than hospitalization costs. No adverse effects were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Infants and newborns on home oxygen therapy have a good prognosis, specially those with reversible diseases. This type of therapy allows an earlier hospital discharge with considerable cost reductions.     

Probing the pore space of geothermal reservoir sandstones by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Pulsed-Field-Gradient–Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (PFG–NMR) is an interesting method to determine microscopic but volumetrically averaged properties of pore space. In the present paper a number of sandstone samples, taken from drill cores of geothermal wells in North Germany, have been investigated. The time-dependent self-diffusion of water molecules in their confined geometry is used to probe the pore space. The short-time behaviour of the self-diffusion coefficient (anomalous diffusion) in the porous matrix allows the determination of the surface-to-pore volume ratio S/V_p. At long diffusion times, molecules scout the tortuosity of the interconnected pore space of the sandstones. The NMR results were compared with data from petrographic image analysis (PIA), adsorption experiments and electric conductivity measurements. The PFG–NMR measurements give surface-to-pore volume ratios S/V_p that are comparable to those estimated with the petrographic image analysis. The tortuosities match in most cases data from conductivity measurements, so the PFG–NMR is regarded as an appropriate tool to determine this quantity. The results are not influenced by the adherence of ‘scout-molecules’ to the pore walls. The surface-to-pore volume ratios and tortuosities were used to calculate permeabilities of the systems of interest, which were in good agreement with measured core-plug permeabilities. Results of additional NMR relaxation experiments are used to obtain adsorption isotherms for cations at active surface sites.     

Moyamoya disease in a patient with hereditary spherocytosis

The use of circulatory arrest with selective antegrade cerebral perfusion is described in a 59-year-old man who underwent thrombendarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. The postoperative course was uneventful. The described surgical technique may prevent the patient from cerebral sequelae especially in more complex cases.