Brain areas controlling thermoregulatory grooming prone extension, locomotion, and tail vasodilation in rats.

In an experiment with 134 male Long-Evans rats, localized diathermic warming elicited the principal hyperthermic responses of the rat: grooming, body extension, locomotion, and tail vasodilation. Failure of diathermy to elicit nonthermoregulatory responses evoked by electrical stimulation ruled out nonspecific excitation. The largest zone extended from the septal area through the preoptic area and hypothalamus into the midbrain, and a smaller zone was located in the medulla. Grooming, extension, and locomotion were obtained from differentiated though partially overlapping subareas, all of which elicited vasodilation. Fewer than 3% of the electrodes induced all responses, while the remainder produced incomplete combinations, indicating that the rat's hyperthermic repertoire results from largely independent channels from thermal detector to motor effector, and does not require an integrative center or mutually excitatory collaterals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new technique for precedence-ordering chemical process equation sets

An algorithm that combines structural equation analysis with algebraic rearrangement and substitution has been developed to precedence-order algebraic chemical process equations. The SWS (Structural Analysis with Substitutions) algorithm selects an output variable for each equation, rearranges the equation to solve for that variable, and reduces the number of equations by substitution. The algorithm has been used for computer generation of Fortran programs to perform meterial and energy balances in the design of chemical processes.     

The government <Emphasis Type="Italic">is</Emphasis> here to help: a small business perspective

Public-private partnerships between government and industry have been increasingly used as a vehicle for defining and executing R&D activities. Stimulus of smaller technology enterprises in particular is important, and this article explores this topic from the policy level as well as from organizations “on the ground.” The story in brief: challenges and opportunities. Editor’s Note: A hypertext-enhanced version of this article is available on-line at www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0412/Hunt-0412.html Warren H. Hunt, Jr. is technical consultant at TMS.     

The China factor: Aluminum industry impact

The emergence of China as a global economic force has influenced the technical enterprise generally and a number of industries specifically. The aluminum industry is an example, with effects on consumption and demand as well as production and supply. This article reviews these areas from both a historical and future perspective. For more information, contact W.H. Hunt, Jr., TMS, 184 Thorn Hill Road, Warrendale, PA 15086; (724) 776-9000, ext. 226; (724) 776-3770; e-mail whunt@tms.org.     

Cadmium sulfide and cadmium selenide/cadmium sulfide nanoparticles stabilized in water with poly(cysteine acrylamide)

Cysteine acrylamide (N-acryloyl L-cysteine) stabilizes CdS nanoparticles as the particles form in aqueous dispersions. Cysteine acrylamide also exchanges for citrate on the surfaces of CdSe and core/shell CdSe/CdS nanoparticles to provide greater stability. Heating of the nanoparticle dispersions polymerizes the cysteine acrylamide on the surface to form a more efficient polydentate stabilizer. The polymer-coated nanoparticle dispersions are colloidally stable even after removal of low molecular weight solutes by dialysis. Emission quantum yields of the polymer-coated CdSe and CdSe/CdS samples were 0.9% and 2.6%, respectively, after aging of the samples in light. CdSe/CdS coated with poly(cysteine acrylamide) is colloidally stable for at least two years in the dark at 5 degrees C.     

Effect of particle asphericity on single-scattering parameters: comparison between Platonic solids and spheres

The single-scattering properties of the Platonic shapes, namely, the tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron, are investigated by use of the finite-difference time-domain method. These Platonic shapes have different extents of asphericity in terms of the ratios of their volumes (or surface areas) to those of their circumscribed spheres. We present the errors associated with four types of spherical equivalence that are defined on the basis of (a) the particle's geometric dimension (b) equal surface area (A), (c) equal volume (V), and (d) equal-volume-to-surface-area ratio (V/A). Numerical results show that the derivations of the scattering properties of a nonspherical particle from its spherical counterpart depend on the definition of spherical equivalence. For instance, when the Platonic and spherical particles have the same geometric dimension, the phase function for a dodecahedron is more similar than that for an icosahedron to the spherical result even though an icosahedron has more faces than a dodecahedron. However, when the nonspherical and spherical particles have the same volume, the phase function of the icosahedral particle essentially converges to the phase function of the sphere, whereas the result for the dodecahedron is quite different from its spherical counterpart. Furthermore, the present scattering calculation shows that the approximation of a Platonic solid with a sphere based on V/A leads to larger errors than the spherical equivalence based on either volume or projected area.     

Computation of forced convection in slow flow through ducts and packed beds—I extensions of the graetz problem

A computational study of forced convection processes in ducts and packed beds at low Reynolds numbers has been made. The results give a better understanding of these processes, especially for small Peclet numbers. It is demonstrated that two distinct forms of Nusselt numbers are relevant for low Peclet numbeRs. One, used mostly by theorists, is related to the local driving force; the other, used mostly by experimentalists, is related to easily measurable temperatures and concentrations. As an example the Graetz problem has been solved numerically over a wide range of Peclet numbers, and new asymptotes have been obtained for the region of small Peclet numbers.