Causes of chatter in a hot strip mill: Observations, qualitative analyses and mathematical modelling

Severe vibrations, known as chatter, occur often in both hot and cold rolling of steel. A recent chatter outbreak at the second stand of hot strip mill in Hastings, Australia, prompted an investigation into the causes of chatter by a literature review, the development and deployment of mathematical models, and a rigorous analysis of plant observations. The investigation suggests that the frictional conditions in the roll gap are the principal cause of chatter in this mill, though residual chatter marks on work rolls can occasionally cause it. The frictional conditions appear to be associated with the thickness and properties of oxide formed on rolls.     

Radon and moisture impacts from interventions integrated with housing energy retrofits

Energy retrofits can reduce air exchange, raising the concern of whether indoor radon and moisture levels could increase. This pre/post-intervention study explored whether simple radon interventions implemented in conjunction with energy retrofits can prevent increases in radon and moisture levels. Treatment homes (n = 98) were matched with control (no energy retrofits or radon intervention) homes (n = 12). Control homes were matched by geographic location and foundation type. t-tests were used to determine whether post-energy retrofit radon and moisture level changes in treatment homes significantly differed from those in control homes. The radon interventions succeeded in preventing statistically significant increases in first floor radon using arithmetic (p = 0.749) and geometric means (p = 0.120). In basements, arithmetic (p = 0.060) and geometric (p = 0.092) mean radon levels statistically significantly increased, consistent with previous studies which found that basement radon levels may increase even if first floor levels remain unchanged. Changes in infiltration were related to changes in radon (p = 0.057 in basements; p = 0.066 on first floors). Only 58% of the change in infiltration was due to air sealing, with the rest due to weather changes. There was no statistically significant association between air sealing itself and radon levels on the first floor (p = 0.664). Moisture levels also did not significantly increase.     

A comparison of toxicity tests conducted in the laboratory and in experimental ponds using cadmium and the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas)

Acute toxicity tests were conducted in the laboratory with fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) to determine the 96-h LC₅₀ of cadmium under three conditions: (1) in laboratory water, (2) in water from experimental ponds, and (3) in pond water underlain by sediment. Cadmium was then applied at doses equivalent to the estimated LC₅₀ values to 0.07-ha ponds containing caged fathead minnows. A cadmium ion selective electrode, ultrafiltration, and equilibrium calculations were used to determine cadmium speciation, and several water quality characteristics were measured to correlate differences in mortality between test systems (laboratory and field) with observed differences in water quality. The LC₅₀ estimates (mg l⁻¹) for the bioassays were 4.39 for the laboratory water, 3.52 for the pond water with sediment, and 2.91 for the pond water. Concentrations of Cd²⁺ decreased and those of cadmium in the particulate (> 1.2 μm) and 300,000 mol. wt (0.018–1.2 μm) fractions increased over the 96-h; cadmium in these fractions was believed to consist of colloidal sized CdCO₃ precipitates. Concentrations of Cd²⁺ decreased at different rates between test systems, regulated by the degree of CdCO₃(s) supersaturation which in turn depended on pH and total metal concentrations. Differences in toxicity in the laboratory tests were attributed to differences in water hardness and Cd²⁺ concentrations. Mortality of fathead minnows was low (0–10%) during the 96-h test period in the ponds due to the higher pH, which produced supersaturated conditions resulting in the rapid formation of nontoxic CdCO₃ precipitates and a more rapid decrease in Cd²⁺ concentrations as compared to the laboratory bioassays.     

The role of residues outside the active site: structural basis for function of C191 mutants of Escherichia coli aspartate aminotransferase

In previous kinetic studies of Escherichia coli aspartate aminotransferase,it was determined that some substitutions of conserved cysteine191, which is located outside of the active site, altered thekinetic parameters of the enzyme (Gloss,L.M., Spencer,D.E. andKirsch,J.F., 1996, Protein Struct. Funct. Genet., 24, 195–208).The mutations resulted in an alkaline shift of 0.6–0.8pH units for the pK_a of the internal aldimine between the PLPcofactor and Lys258. The change in the pK_a affected the pH dependenceof the k_cat/K_m (aspartate) values for the mutant enzymes. Tohelp to understand these observations, crystal structures offive mutant forms of E.coli aspartate aminotransferase (themaleate complexes of C191S, C191F, C191Y and C191W, and C191Swithout maleate) were determined at about 2 Å resolutionin the presence of the pyridoxal phosphate cofactor. The overallthree-dimensional fold of each mutant enzyme is the same asthat of the wild-type protein, but there is a rotation of themutated side chain around its C     

The barriers in the bimolecular and unimolecular folding reactions of the dimeric core domain of Escherichia coli Trp repressor are dominated by enthalpic contributions

The kinetic folding mechanism of the isolated dimerization domain of E. coli Trp repressor, [2-66]2 TR, consists of a nearly diffusion-limited association reaction to form a dimeric intermediate, I2, which is then converted to the native, folded dimeric species, N2 by a first-order folding step (preceding paper in this issue). The two transition states traversed in the folding of [2-66]2 TR were characterized by monitoring the folding and unfolding reactions by stopped-flow fluorescence as a function of temperature and urea. For both transition states, the barriers are dominated by the enthalpic component; the entropic component accelerates the association reaction but has little effect on the subsequent rearrangement reaction. The transition state between I2 and N2 is relatively nativelike, as determined by the sensitivity of the rate constants to denaturant. This study also highlights the key role of solvent entropy in determining the magnitude of the relative free energy of the transition states and the ground states. The positive entropy change for the I2 to N2 reaction, presumably arising from the release of solvent from hydrophobic surfaces, is the driving force for this final folding step, offsetting an unfavorable enthalpic term.     

Urea and thermal equilibrium denaturation studies on the dimerization domain of Escherichia coli Trp repressor

The urea-induced equilibrium unfolding of the Escherichia coli Trp repressor (TR) is a two-state process, involving the native dimeric and unfolded monomeric species. Kinetic studies, however, reveal the presence of transient intermediates that appear only during the folding of the 107-residue protein [Gittelman, M. G., & Matthews, C. R. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 7011-7020]. In order to gain insight into the complex kinetic folding mechanism, the sequence of TR was reduced to the amino-terminal 66 residues, corresponding to the dimerization domain. Two polypeptides, 2-66 and NHis-7-66, were shown to be dimeric at 25 degrees C by size exclusion chromatography and to retain native-like spectroscopic features as evidenced by near- and far-UV circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. The equilibrium properties of the urea-induced folding of these core fragments were examined by intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence and circular dichroism and found to be well described by a two-state model. At 25 degrees C, the stabilities of both fragments are 14 kcal mol(-1), as compared to the 24 kcal mol(-1) observed for full-length TR. In contrast, the thermal denaturation of [2-66]2 and full-length TR are three-state processes; the midpoint of the transition monitored by absorbance at 292 nm precedes that monitored by circular dichroism at 222 nm. Global analysis of the thermal data as a function of monomer concentration suggests that both the full-length and [2-66]2 TR variants unfold via a dimeric intermediate. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the [2-66]2 fragment constitutes a well-structured, independently folding subdomain of TR that may be useful in elucidating the properties of the transient intermediates observed in the folding of the full-length protein. The dimeric intermediate observed in the thermal denaturation of [2-66]2 suggests that it may be possible to further reduce the core sequence while maintaining the ability to dimerize.     

粗糙壁面通道内的流动研究

通过对流动中熵产的数值计算,研究了管道和平面通道内流动中粗糙壁面对摩擦的影响.研究表明,在层流流动中壁面粗糙度的影响也是值得重视的,尽管这种效应以往常常被人们所忽视.除了可得到摩擦因子之外,由于可以得知流场中壁面粗糙单元附近的耗散分布,因此可深入理解这一物理现象的本质.为了对粗糙壁面通道内的流动进行简明的描述,需要对壁面位置和粗糙度参数进行合理的选择,并对各种选择方案进行了讨论和评价.