Response of shielding structures to explosive loading

This paper presents the results of a numerical and experimental study of the behaviour of a brass hopper held in a supporting structure subjected to internal explosive loading. The structure is typical of those employed during the manufacture of explosive accessories. In such processes the hopper acts as a feed for the explosive while the encasing structure both supports the hopper and provides protection to the surroundings in the event of accidental initiation. The finite element model includes representations of the explosive, the brass hopper and the steel supporting structure. The boundaries between the components are treated as sliding and separable interfaces. Analysis is performed using the Oasys DYNA3D (version 5.1) finite element program. The numerical predictions for the deformations are compared with test results. The DYNA3D finite element code is shown to be an effective tool for the appriasal of this type of protective structure under explosive loading. Both the numerical and experimental studies point the way to improvements in the current design.     

Registration of confocal scanning laser microscopy and quantitative backscattered electron images for the temporospatial quantification of mineralization density in 18-month old thoroughbred racehorse articular calcified cartilage

Combined backscattered electron scanning electron microscopy (BSE SEM) and confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM) have been used to put tissue mineralization data into the context of soft tissue histology and fluorescent label information. Mineralization density (Dm) and linear accretion rate (LAR) are quantifiable parameters associated with mineralizing fronts within calcified tissues. Quantitative BSE (qBSE) may be used to determine Dm, while CSLM may be used to detect label fluorescence from which LAR is calculated. Eighteen-month old Thoroughbred horses received single calcein injections 19 and 8 days prior to euthanasia, labeling sites of active mineralization with fluorescent bands. Confocal scanning laser microscopy images of articular calcified cartilage (ACC) from distal third metacarpal condyles were registered to qBSE images of the same sites using an in-house program. ImageJ and Sync Windows enabled the simultaneous collection of LAR and Dm data. The repeatability of the registration and measurement protocols was determined. Dm profiles between calcein labels were explored for an association with time. Dm was 119.7 +/- 24.5 (mean +/- standard deviation) gray levels (where 0 = backscattering from monobrominated and 255 from monoiodinated dimethacrylate standards, respectively), while modal and maximum LAR were 0.45 and 3.45 microm/day, respectively. Coefficients of variation (CV) for Dm were 0.70 and 0.77% with and without repeat registration, respectively; CVs for LAR were 1.90 and 2.26% with and without repeat registration, respectively. No relationship was identified between Dm and time in the 11-day interlabel interval. Registration of CSLM to qBSE images is sufficiently repeatable for quantitative studies of equine ACC.     

TEMPORALITY IN MASACCIO'S TRINITY (1426): The Rhetoric of its Architectural Setting

In 1952, the Italian art historian Ugo Procacci found behind an altar in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence a fresco of a skeleton. The fresco was the lower thirdofapaintingdescribedby Vasari in his Lives of the Painters. The upper part of the painting, showing the Trinity above Mary, St John and of two kneeling donors, had been moved to the entrance wall of the church three centuries earlier (1570). It was a painting famous in its own time, a masterpiece of Masaccio's painted around 1425-7. This paper argues that Masaccio's Trinity straddles medieval and renaissance symbolic structures, one rooted in symbolic geometry, and the other based in narratives indebted to Christian rhetoric. It reinterprets ancient themes of temporality and a-temporality in its use of an architectural setting. The paper considers the relation to illusion and to perspective in architectural representation, and to the symbolic nature of representation. It sets the problem of temporal representation in the light of the work of Adrian Snodgrass in temporality in architecture, including his writings on mandalas. The useof'symbolandits interpretation is placed in the context of participation and ritual, that suggest an inevitable surrender of the self in an order established by an architectural setting.     

The use of optical reflected light and SEM imaging systems to provide quantitative coal characterisation

Emerging energy markets demand coal products with significantly different quality specifications to those used in coke making and conventional power generation. The suitability of different types of coal as particulate fuels requires a fully quantitative understanding of the nature and associations of both mineral and maceral constituents in individual coal particles. This characterisation defines not only the chemical attributes of coal assemblages, but also a predictive understanding of utilisation performance.Particle characterisation information is traditionally obtained using a combination of optical imaging methods for the organic constituents and SEM based determinations for detailed mineral information. New preparation methodologies have been developed to allow coal samples to be analysed much more effectively by both optical and SEM systems.Optical microscopy measurements of coal reflectance are traditionally carried out using an oil immersion lens. Recent tests show that measuring maceral reflectance in air can produce equivalent results to measurements made using an oil immersion lens. Thus a workflow is possible that makes for fast effective collection of data from both systems from the same surface. These developments are important precursors to fully integrating an optical imaging system with the latest SEM based developments on the FEG platform.     

Bacterial phospholipase C upregulates matrix metalloproteinase expression by cultured epithelial cells

Phospholipase C (PLC) is a putative virulence factor of several pathogenic bacteria. We studied if exogenous PLC would perturb epithelial behavior in infected tissues. Gelatin and casein zymography of cell culture medium indicated that the broad-spectrum PLC of Bacillus cereus induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production in epithelial cells of human skin (NHEK), human gingiva (HGE), and porcine periodontal ligament (PLE). In all three cell types, the strongest increase (ninefold) at 0.1 U/ml was seen in the MMP-9 (92-kDa gelatinase) activity, and the effect was dose dependent in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 U/ml. A relatively weaker increase (twofold) in MMP-2 (72-kDa gelatinase) was also observed in each cell type. PLC induction of MMP-3 (48-kDa stromelysin) was also seen in NHEK and HGE on gelatin and more sensitively for PLE by casein zymography (fivefold). Total gelatinolytic activity as measured by degradation of 14C-labeled denatured type I collagen increased by about 18-fold (NHEK), 12-fold (HGE), and 14-fold (PLE). Northern analysis showed a clear increase in the MMP-9, and a minor increase in MMP-3 mRNA levels but no significant increase in MMP-2 mRNA levels. Further studies with PLE revealed that MMP-9 induction by PLC progressively increased with the length of cell culture time in the absence of serum. PLC induction of MMPs was polar, with MMP-9 and MMP-3 secreted primarily in the apical direction and MMP-2 secreted mainly in the basal direction. The PLC effect was blocked by neomycin, an inhibitor of the phosphoinositol signal pathway. No significant effects were observed in MMP expression with the calcium ionophore A23187 or phospholipase A2. Morphologically, PLC treatment resulted in reduced contacts between the cultured cells and loss of the cell surface microvilli. These results suggest that PLC secreted by bacterial pathogens may disrupt epithelium of infected tissue and increase the subepithelial tissue destruction through induction of MMPs.     

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 and IGFBP-5 share a common nuclear transport pathway in T47D human breast carcinoma cells

Insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins (IGFBPs) play an integral role in modifying insulin-like growth factor actions in a wide variety of cell types. Recent evidence suggests that IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 also have effects on cell growth that are insulin-like growth factor-independent. In investigating possible mechanisms for this effect, the intracellular trafficking of IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5, both of which contain sequences with the potential for nuclear localization, was studied in T47D cells. Nuclear uptake of fluorescently labeled IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 was observed in a proportion of T47D cells that appeared to be rapidly dividing. IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-2, which do not possess the putative domain for nuclear translocation, were not transported to the nuclei of T47D cells. When T47D cells were preincubated with excess unlabeled IGFBP-3, nuclear localization of labeled IGFBP-3 or IGFBP-5 was not detected, indicating that their nuclear translocation involves a common pathway. Inhibition of receptor-mediated endocytosis did not affect nuclear uptake of IGFBP-3, suggesting that it uses an alternative non-classical import pathway for transport across the plasma membrane. In addition, a variant form of IGFBP-3 with a mutation in the putative nuclear localization sequence was unable to translocate to the nuclei of T47D cells, suggesting that nuclear translocation of IGFBP-3 was dependent on these carboxyl-terminal basic residues.     

Clinical Biochemistry Automation A report from a UK District General Hospital

We describe the planning, selection and implementation of an advanced clinical analysis automated system into a United Kingdom National Health Service District General Hospital.We also present our plans for development of the automation system.     

Atorvastatin: an effective lipid-modifying agent in familial hypercholesterolemia

Hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors are the drugs of choice in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), which has a high risk of ischemic heart disease. An open-label study was conducted to test the efficacy and safety of atorvastatin, a new synthetic HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in proven FH. After a 4-week placebo phase, 22 subjects were randomized to either 80 mg atorvastatin at night (n = 11) or 40 mg twice a day for 6 weeks. The two dosage groups were well matched and had no difference in lipoprotein responses. After 6 weeks, the LDL cholesterol concentration was reduced by 57%, from 8.16 +/- 1.15 to 3.53 +/- 0.99 mmol/L (P < .001). The total cholesterol concentration decreased from 9.90 +/- 1.32 to 5.43 mmol/L (P < .001). HDL cholesterol concentration increased from 1.19 +/- 0.31 to 1.49 +/- 0.43 mmol/L (P < .001). Triglyceride concentrations decreased from 1.34 +/- 0.66 to 0.88 +/- 0.36 mmol/L (P < .01). Three subjects had single, transient increases of serum transaminase of up to twice the upper limit of normal. Apolipoprotein B concentration decreased significantly by 42%. Changes in apolipoproteins AI and (a) were not statistically significant. Nondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis revealed increases in the size of smaller LDL particles in four subjects. Plasma fibrinogen concentration increased by 44%. The drug was well tolerated. One subject withdrew for personal reasons. Atorvastatin is a powerful and safe lipid-modifying agent for LDL cholesterol; it also modifies HDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, and may suffice as a single agent for many subjects with heterozygous FH.     

A simple model of PV system performance and its use in fault detection

Results are presented from a monitoring study of the performance of a sample of UK domestic PV systems. Five-minute average climatic and performance data was recorded for 27 PV systems at two sites for up to 2 years of operation. On average, the annual energy losses due to faults were 3.6% (Site A, first year of operation), 6.6% (Site A, second year of operation) and 18.9% (Site B, first year of operation). Simple empirical models are constructed to describe the performance of the PV systems under ‘normal operation’ (when no faults occur). New analysis techniques are developed which estimate the energy losses of four different fault categories: sustained zero efficiency faults; brief zero efficiency faults; shading; and non-zero efficiency non-shading faults. The results demonstrate that faults have the potential to cause significant energy losses in domestic PV systems. The benefits of applying the data analysis techniques described in this work to PV system clusters and other urban micro-generation technologies are discussed.