Unipolar plasma electrolytic oxidation: Waveform optimisation for corrosion resistance of commercially pure titanium

This study deals with the anodisation of titanium grade 2 in 0.5-M sulphuric acid using a pulsed signal in a unipolar regime. The electrical parameters investigated are voltage, frequency and duty cycle. The use of duty cycles with a high percentage of anodic polarisation (90%), combined with high frequencies (1000 Hz) and the higher voltage tested (220 V), favoured the establishment of a plasma regime involving strong dielectric discharges, allowing the growth of thicker oxides but with rough architecture. The corrosion resistance of the formed film has been characterised by potentiodynamic tests in 0.5-M NaBr for localised corrosion resistance and by immersion tests in 10% v/v sulphuric acid solution for a uniform corrosion assessment. Current–time curves, visual observations and electron microscope analysis (scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) were the tools selected to provide a correlation between technological parameters and oxide growth mechanism. For localised and uniform corrosion, anodisation at 220 V with a high level of anodic polarisation (90%) and frequency (1000 Hz) was verified to be particularly advantageous.     

Molecular structure and granule morphology of native and heat‐moisture‐treated pinhão starch

Pinhão seed is an unconventional source of starch and the pines grow up in native forests of southern Latin America. In this study, pinhão starch was adjusted at 15, 20 and 25% moisture content and heated to 100, 110 and 120 °C for 1 h. A decrease in λ max (starch/iodine complex) was observed as a result of increase in temperature and moisture content of HMT. The ratio of crystalline to amorphous phase in pinhão starch was determined via Fourier transform infra red by taking 1045/1022 band ratio. A decrease in crystallinity occurred as a result of HMT. Polarised light microscopy indicated a loss of birefringence of starch granules under 120 °C at 25% moisture content. Granule size distribution was further confirmed via scanning electron microscopy which showed the HMT effects. These results increased the understanding on molecular and structural properties of HMT pinhão starch and broadened its food and nonfood industrial applications.     

Chemical-Shift Perturbations Reflect Bile Acid Binding to Norovirus Coat Protein: Recognition Comes in Different Flavors

Bile acids have been reported as important cofactors promoting human and murine norovirus (NoV) infections in cell culture. The underlying mechanisms are not resolved. Through the use of chemical shift perturbation (CSP) NMR experiments, we identified a low-affinity bile acid binding site of a human GII.4 NoV strain. Long-timescale MD simulations reveal the formation of a ligand-accessible binding pocket of flexible shape, allowing the formation of stable viral coat protein–bile acid complexes in agreement with experimental CSP data. CSP NMR experiments also show that this mode of bile acid binding has a minor influence on the binding of histo-blood group antigens and vice versa. STD NMR experiments probing the binding of bile acids to virus-like particles of seven different strains suggest that low-affinity bile acid binding is a common feature of human NoV and should therefore be important for understanding the role of bile acids as cofactors in NoV infection.     

Weak Delocalization in Graphene on a Ferromagnetic Insulating Film

Graphene has been predicted to develop a magnetic moment by proximity effect when placed on a ferromagnetic film, a promise that could open exciting possibilities in the fields of spintronics and magnetic data recording. In this work, the interplay between the magnetoresistance of graphene and the magnetization of an underlying ferromagnetic insulating film is studied in detail. A clear correlation between both magnitudes is observed but through a careful modeling of the magnetization and the weak localization measurements, that such correspondence can be explained by the effects of the magnetic stray fields arising from the ferromagnetic insulator is found. The results emphasize the complexity arising at the interface between magnetic and 2D materials.     

Acculturation, Familism, Parental Monitoring, and Knowledge as Predictors of Marijuana and Inhalant Use in Adolescents.

The authors investigated relationships between marijuana and inhalant use and several cultural and demographic factors in Anglo American and Hispanic American adolescents (N=1,094). Outcome measures assessed lifetime and 30-day marijuana and inhalant use. Predictors and covariates used in logistic regression analyses were region, grade, gender, knowledge, acculturation, familism, and parental monitoring. Hispanic Americans exhibited higher usage across all measures. In this group, high acculturation was associated with low marijuana, but high inhalant, use. Across all participants, positive family relations and parental monitoring were strongly associated with attenuated marijuana use hut only among those most knowledgeable about drugs. Familism and monitoring were not associated with diminished usage among the less knowledgeable. For inhalants, monitoring combined with high knowledge or high familism was associated with diminished usage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inbreeding in Swiss Braunvieh and its influence on breeding values predicted from a repeatability animal model.

Inbreeding coefficients were computed for 910,444 animals of the Swiss Braunvieh population. Of the animals born in 1984, 71.5% were inbred with 67.9, 3.4, and .2% having inbreeding coefficients between greater than 0 and 5%, greater than 5 to 10%, and greater than 10%, respectively. The average inbreeding coefficient was 1.14% but, for animals with both parents and at least one grandparent known, it was 1.67%. Breeding values for total milk, fat, and protein yields and for fat and protein percentages were predicted using a repeatability animal model including a regression on the inbreeding coefficient. Phenotypic performance was sizeably depressed for milk yield only (-26 kg/% of inbreeding or 2.4% of the phenotypic standard deviation). Adjusting for inbreeding increased the estimated genetic trend slightly. Inbreeding is only partially accounted for when it is ignored in the construction of the inverse of the numerator relationship matrix. This effect was investigated by comparing predicted breeding values from a model including the complete matrix with predicted breeding values from a model including a matrix constructed with inbreeding ignored. Only .8% of all predicted breeding values were affected by more than +/- 5.5 kg. The maximum difference observed was 55.3 kg. The observed average absolute differences between the breeding values of offspring predicted with the two models increased with inbreeding of parents.     

Stability analysis of network-based cooperative resource allocation strategies

Resource allocation involves deciding how to divide a resource of limited availability among multiple demands in a way that optimizes current objectives. In this brief paper we focus on one type of distributed resource allocation problem where via an imperfect communication network multiple processors can share the load presented by multiple task types. We introduce asynchronous “cooperative” resource allocation strategies, and show that they lead to a bounded cumulative demand.     

An Algebraic Approach for Compiling Real-Time Programs

Compiler Verification has been identified as a vital process in the implementation of correct safety-critical systems. We extend here Hoare's refinement-algebra approach to compilation in order to include real-time languages in which processes interact asynchronously via communication queues. The existence of unique fixed-points is exploited to verify the implementation of crucial operators such as asynchronous input, delay and timeout.     

Language disturbances following vascular lesions restricted to the left basal ganglia, thalamus, and white matter.

Examined the relationship between aphasia type and lesion site in 80 subcortical stroke patients. Ss were classified as affected by aphasia, dysarthria, and nonaphasia, nondysarthria. Sites of lesions were identified by means of computerized tomography (CT) scan. No correlation between site of lesions and category group was found. Lesions of the same subcortical structures yielded different neurolinguistic impairment, whereas comparable linguistic patterns were observed with lesions of different deep areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)