Effects of triiodothyronine (T3) supplementation upon ozone-induced lung injury

Ozone exposure results in an acute decrease in the serum levels of thyroid hormones; the physiologic sequelae of this are unclear. Whereas thyroid hormone supplementation appears to benefit pulmonary function in septic, oxyradical models of injury, thyroid hormone increases ozone toxicity. We demonstrated an increase in metabolic rate and pulmonary injury in lungs from ozone exposed, T3 treated animals. This was evidenced by an increase in pulmonary weight gain, vascular perfusion pressure, and decrease in compliance in the supplemented animals. However, an increase in alkane generation, as an index of lipid peroxidation, was not seen in the ozone exposed, hormonally treated animals. This suggests that although thyroid hormone supplementation increases metabolic rate and ozone toxicity, an increased rate of lipid peroxidation plays a minimal role.     

Surface tailoring of an ethylene propylene diene elastomeric terpolymer via plasma‐polymerized coating of tetramethyldisiloxane

In the research presented here, we explore the use of a low‐energy plasma to deposit thin silicone polymer films using tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDSO) (H(CH₃)₂? Si? O? Si? (CH₃)₂H) on the surface of an ethylene propylene diene elastomeric terpolymer (EPDM) in order to enhance the surface hydrophobicity, lower the surface energy and improve the degradation/wear characteristics. The processing conditions were varied over a wide range of treatment times and discharge powers to control the physical characteristics, thickness, morphology and chemical structure of the plasma polymer films. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that pore‐free homogeneous plasma polymer thin films of granular microstructure composed of small grains are formed and that the morphology of the granular structure depends on the plasma processing conditions, such as plasma power and time of deposition. The thicknesses of the coatings were determined using SEM, which confirmed that the thicknesses of the deposited plasma‐polymer films could be precisely controlled by the plasma parameters. The kinetics of plasma‐polymer film deposition were also evaluated. Contact angle measurements of different solvent droplets on the coatings were used to calculate the surface energies of the coatings. These coatings appeared to be hydrophobic and had low surface energies. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoacoustic Fourier‐transform infrared (PA‐FT‐IR) spectroscopy were used to investigate the detailed chemical structures of the deposited films. The optimum plasma processing conditions to achieve the desired thin plasma polymer coatings are discussed in the light of the chemistry that takes place at the interfaces. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Evaluation of refractive index approximations used for modedetermination in multiple quantum well slab waveguides

Approximations commonly used to determine the effective indexes of the guided modes of optical waveguides formed using multiple quantum well (MQW) materials are compared to the exact solutions in the slab waveguide model. Modeling the quantum well region as a single homogeneous layer with an average index of refraction is shown to produce results in close agreement with exact values of the effective index. A geometrically weighted average of the indexes provides the most accurate approximation for typical values of index and layer thickness of GaAs-Al_xGa_1-xAs quantum well waveguides     

Liquid phase epitaxial growth of pure and doped GaSb layers: morphological evolution and native defects

Undoped and Te-doped gallium antimonide (GaSb) layers have been grown on GaSb bulk substrates by the liquid phase epitaxial technique from Ga-rich and Sb-rich melts. The nucleation morphology of the grown layers has been studied as a function of growth temperature and substrate orientation. MOS structures have been fabricated on the epilayers to evaluate the native defect content in the grown layers from theC-V characteristics. Layers grown from antimony rich melts always exhibitp-type conductivity. In contrast, a type conversion fromp- ton- was observed in layers grown from gallium rich melts below 400 C. The electron mobility of undopedn-type layers grown from Ga-rich melts and tellurium doped layers grown from Sb- and Ga-rich solutions has been evaluated. Paper presented at the poster session of MRSI AGM VI. Kharagpur. 1995     

Metallurgical Investigation of a Prematurely Failed Concentric Reducer Tube Used in a Hot-Rolling Mill

A concentric reducer tube, which was a part of the top exit roughing hydraulic descaler in a hot strip mill failed prematurely under working pressure. A detailed metallurgical investigation comprising physical examination, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis was carried out to find out the genesis of the failure. Physical examination revealed cracks located symmetrically around the circumference of the tube that ran along its full length, up to the weld beads at both ends. Optical microscopy of etched samples revealed a banded ferrite-pearlite structure and the existence of forging folds near the change-in-section(160° fillets). Cracks were found to initiate from these forging folds. No structural abnormalities were found in the weld beads and heat-affected zones.     

Synthesis and characterization of electrically conducting copolymer of aniline and o‐bromoaniline using methane sulfonic acid as dopant

Polyaniline (PAN), poly(o‐bromoaniline) (POBA), and poly(aniline‐co‐o‐bromoaniline) (PABA) were synthesized by oxidative coupling. These polymers are protonated by 10–20% methane sulfonic acid (MSA) and 1M HCl. The new polymer bases have greater solubility than that of PAN in common polar organic solvents; PAN–MSA was observed to be the most thermally stable of these polymers. POBA is associated with residual quinoid diimine units as illustrated in the IR and UV‐vis spectra, after reduction with hydrazine dihydrochloride. Both the doping agents cause a downward shift of the quinoid absorption in the IR spectra. MSA‐ and HCl‐doped PAN and PABA polymers exhibit a coil‐like conformation in DMSO, whereas only MSA‐doped PAN and PABA show an “expanded coil‐like” conformation in m‐cresol with a “free carrier tail” above 800 nm in their electronic spectra. XPS spectra indicated the presence of covalent bromine in the POBA and PABA polymers. Bromine retention was greater in the homopolymer as evidenced by the IR studies after aging at 350°C. Compared to HCl, MSA is found to be a more effective dopant, enhancing the conductivity of the copolymers by 10²–10³ times in magnitude. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 2662–2669, 2002     

Heat transfer from a stretching sheet with uniform suction and blowing

Summary The conjugate problem of heat transfer from an accelerating surface in presence of suction and blowing has been solved analytically. The effects of different parameters on cooling of the surface have been discussed.With 3 Figures     

Strain compensated InGaAs-GaAsP-InGaP laser

The performance characteristics of InGaAs-GaAsP-InGaP strain compensated laser emitting near 1 /spl mu/m are reported. The ridge waveguide lasers have room temperature threshold current of 18 mA and differential quantum efficiency of 0.45 W/A/facet. The linewidth enhancement factor is smaller and gain coefficient is larger for these strain compensated lasers compared to that for conventional strained layer laser. This may be due to higher effective compressive strain in the light emitting layer of these devices which reduces the effective mass. The observed larger gain coefficient is consistent with the measured larger relaxation oscillation frequency of these lasers compared to that for a conventional strained layer laser.     

Cement mortar impregnated with poly(methyl methacrylate-co-styrene)

Polymer-impregnated mortars were prepared by copolymerization of a monomer mixture of methyl methacrylate and styrene in the ratios of 13:87 and 40:60 using Co-60 gamma radiation. The copolymerization characteristics viz. the rate of polymerization, the extent of monomer loss, polymer loading, etc., were studied. The nature and molecular weight of the extractable polymer from the composite were determined. The flexural strength of the copolymer-impregnated composites was found to be better than that of the composites impregnated with component homopolymers.