Treatments with lead expedite hyperthermia-induced thromboembolism in mouse pial microvessels

Ten catalase-positive isolates and one catalase-negative isolate that had been assigned to Eikenella corrodens were compared to the nomenclatural type strain regarding selected phenotypic and molecular features and chromosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness using the spectrophotometric method. Five catalase-positive human isolates were assigned to the genomic species Eikenella corrodens on the basis of high DNA relatedness levels. Three others, among them strain Chen UB 204, exhibited only moderate degrees of DNA relatedness to the type strain and with each other. Two catalase-positive isolates from dogs were closely interrelated, but yielded only low degrees of DNA binding with Eikenella corrodens and the Eikenella-like human isolates. These findings confirm that the human eikenellas comprise more than one genomic species and that the canine strains represent a distinct taxonomic entity. The differentiation of the strains investigated by conventional phenotypic features, hydrolytic enzyme reactions, and cellular carbohydrate patterns was considered.     

Accuracy-speed relationships of a robotic filament winding cell

Filament winding is a process in which tensioned resio-impregnated continuous fibers are placed on specified paths of a rotating mandrel to cover the entire surface thus forming a composite component. Traditionally, filament winding is carried out on multi-saris numerically controlled lathe-like machines. This paper describes the evaluation of a robot based filament winding cell consisting of an industrial robot (ASEA IRB 6/2) and an in-house fabricated mandrel drive mechanism, both being coordinated by a personal computer. As in many manufacturing processes, tradeoffs exist between accuracy and speed. The accuracy vs speed relationships of the robotic winding cell were experimentally determined for discrete, fine and medium movement modes while traversing a segmented delivery eye path for a cylindrical mandrel in three configurations (in-line, offset and angled with respect to the axis of rotation). The results show that the robot winding cell is appropriate for very accurate winding of fiber strands if the mandrel axis is concentric with the mandrel drive axis and the discrete mode (i.e. low speed) of the robot is used. For high speed wet winding all three configurations can be accurately wound in the discrete and fine modes.     

k-out-of-m system availability with minimum-costallocation spares

An optimization method for determining the number of spare units that should be allocated to a k-out-of-m system to minimize the system-spares cost yet attain the specified system availability is presented. The objective function for optimization is a nonlinear integer type. The optimization method is a variation of the simplex search technique used for continuous functions. The optimization problem is cast in a form that minimizes the system-spares cost, with the required system availability as an inequality constraint. Results obtained by using the proposed optimization technique, as well as the computation time required for optimization, are compared to those for methods developed specifically for dealing with nonlinear integer problems. The method is simple, easy to implement, and yet very effective in dealing with the spare allocation problem for k-out-of-m:F systems     

Kinetics of hydrogen reduction of cobalt sulfide

The hydrogen reduction of cobalt sulfide (Co₉S₈) at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 600–800°C has been experimentally investigated. When sulfide pellets were used, the rate constants were overestimated. The true intrinsic kinetics of this reaction were obtained from another set of experiments using sulfide powder, under conditions such that the topochemical shrinking core model in the chemical control regime could be applied. In the temperature range 600–737°C, the rate constant for the powder reaction could be expressed as: Above 780°C, cobalt metal whiskers were formed, and this led to swelling and cracking of pellets.     

THE EFFECT OF MATTALOPORHYRINS ON ASPHALT OXIDATION. II. THE EFFECT OF VANADYL CHELATES FOUND IN PETROLEUM

Four selected asphalts were blended with zero to five wt. percent of fractions rich in vamady cheltes prepared from two crude oils. The mixture was -coated in a teflon -support, and the whole was heated in an oven at. 113±2°C for 24 hours. The mixture then was analyzed for increases ketone, acid and anhydride functions.

in general, functions rich in vanady ponphyrims tended to promote asphalt oxidation, particularly as measured by increase in kentones. Corelation of vanadyl ponphyrim concentration with asphalt oxidation is observed to the direct only if asphalts are mixed with varying amounts of the same fraction derived from the same crude Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed in terms of oxidation susceptibility of aspha1ts, the importance of molecular associations, and the relative catalytic activities of metallaporphyrins and other metal chelates     

Gas-solid reactions II: Reduction of cobalt sulfide in the presence of calcium oxide

The results of an experimental program to test the applicability of the grain-cell model to complex gas-solid reactions are presented. The hydrogen reduction of solid cobalt sulfide (CO_9/8S) in the presence of calcium oxide was chosen for study. Powders of both solids were mixed in a molar ratio of 3.0 (CaO:Co_9/8S), compressed into pellet form, then reduced by hydrogen in the temperature range 600-800°C. The experimental results at different operating conditions were compared with the grain-cell model, using the Thiele type modulus (H) as an adjustable parameter. In the presence of excess calcium oxide, the structural-kinetic parameter (γ) was essentially zero, and (H) was found to be the effective parameter, controlling reduction rates. Good agreement between experimental results and model was obtained.     

The use of nanophase powders for high Jc superconductor tape production

Advances in processing of superconductors has demonstrated that ceramic powders with exact composition, super-homogeneity, and extremely fine particle size can be prepared by chemical processing to achieve high density and uniform microstructure. The chemical processing routes have great advantage in preparing powder with high reactivity thus promoting solid state reactions required to produce ‘purer’ superconducting phase. We have studied extensively the coprecipitation technique for the preparation of superconducting ceramic powders. Chemical solution methods have been used in order to model several superconducting systems and to predict optimum conditions for obtaining exact composition. Several improvements on the control of precipitation reaction have been implemented in order to obtain powders of few nanometers in size. This has been done by carrying out the reaction in the bulk of a solution or in microemlusion systems. The corecipitated precursor powder has been used for production of 20− 30 meter long Ag-clad tapes. These tapes require considerably reduced processing times. By controlled heat treatment conditions, these tapes have been processed to carry transport critical current density, J_c <4 × 10⁴ A/cm² at 77K in zero applied field.     

Electronically tunable floating inductance simulator

In this letter, a new floating inductance simulator circuit is presented. The proposed structure consists of only one grounded capacitor without any external resistors and two different active elements. The active elements are dual-output current-controlled current conveyor (DO-CCCII) and operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). The proposed inductance simulator can be tuned electronically by changing the biasing current of the DO-CCCIIs or by changing the current of the OTA. Moreover, the circuit does not require any conditions of component matching. It has a good sensitivity performance with respect to tracking errors. As an application, the proposed inductance simulator is used to construct a fourth-order resistively terminated LC band-pass filter. The theoretical analysis is verified by the SPICE simulation results.     

All‐pass sections with rich cascadability and IC realization suitability

In this paper, two new circuit configurations for realizing voltage‐mode (VM) all‐pass sections (APSs) are presented. The proposed circuits employ only two differential voltage current conveyors (DVCCs) and are cascadable with other VM circuits due to their high‐input and low‐output impedances. The first configuration uses a grounded resistor and a grounded capacitor without requiring matching constraints, whereas the second employs two grounded resistors and a grounded capacitor with a single matching condition. While the first configuration can realize only one all‐pass response, the second can provide inverting and non‐inverting all‐pass responses with selection of appropriate input port. Adding two grounded resistors to the proposed filters, variable gain APSs can also be obtained. As applications, two quadrature oscillators, each of which using one of the proposed all‐pass circuits, one grounded resistor and one grounded capacitor are presented. SPICE simulation results are included to verify the theory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recombinant Baculovirus: A Flexible Drug Screening Platform for Chikungunya Virus

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted infectious agent that causes an endemic or epidemic outbreak(s) of Chikungunya fever that is reported in almost all countries. This virus is an intense global threat, due to its high rate of contagion and the lack of effective remedies. In this study, we developed two baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS)-based approaches for the screening of anti-CHIKV drugs in Spodoptera frugiperda insect (Sf21) cells and U-2OS cells. First, structural protein of CHIKV was co-expressed through BEVS and thereby induced cell fusion in Sf21 cells. We used an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to co-express the green fluorescent protein (EGFP) for identifying these fusion events. The EGFP-positive Sf21 cells fused with each other and with uninfected cells to form syncytia. We identified that ursolic acid has potential anti-CHIKV activity in vitro, by using this approach. Second, BacMam virus-based gene delivery has been successfully applied for the transient expression of non-structural proteins with a subgenomic promoter-EGFP (SP-EGFP) cassette in U-2OS cells to act as an in vitro CHIKV replicon system. Our BacMam-based screening system has identified that the potential effects of baicalin and baicalein phytocompounds can inhibit the replicon activity of CHIKV in U-2OS cells. In conclusion, our results suggested that BEVS can be a potential tool for screening drugs against CHIKV.