Water bamboo husk reinforced poly(lactic acid) green composites

The water bamboo husk is one of major agricultural wastes in Taiwan. In this study, the powder obtained from the water bamboo husk was added to poly(lactic acid) (PLA) to form novel reinforced biodegradable composites. Morphologies, mechanical properties, and heat resistance of these water bamboo powder reinforced composites were investigated. The results indicate that the char yields were increased as plant powder was incorporated to PLA. In addition, the mechanical properties were also enhanced due to the addition of powders. The increments of storage moduli of PLA were about 50–200%. Moreover, the increments of loss moduli of PLA were about 70–200%. On the other hand, the T_g of PLA was slightly decreased by the addition of powder, and this may improve the brittle characteristics of PLA. Furthermore, this type of reinforced PLA would be more environmental friendly than the artificial additive‐reinforced one. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Tuberculosis associated haemophagocytic syndrome: two cases with a favourable outcome

Haemophagocytic syndrome is a heterogenous disease characterized by disordered macrophage activation associated with viral, bacterial or parasitic infection. The few reports of haemophagocytosis occurring in the presence of mycobacterial infection show a high mortality rate and we present two further cases notable for their favourable issue. Rapidity of diagnosis and immediate treatment could explain the avoidance of a fatal outcome.     

Late effects of radiotherapy in children

PURPOSE: To examine benzoporphyrin derivative angiography as a modality for studying photosensitizer biodistribution in experimental choroidal melanomas. METHODS: A liposomal preparation of benzoporphyrin derivative was used in this study. Digital benzoporphyrin derivative angiograms were performed in 10 rabbits (six for experimental choroidal melanomas, two for normal choroids, and two for irides) using a Topcon ImageNet H1024 digital imaging system, a Kodak Megaplus video camera, and a Topcon TRC-50-VT fundus camera. Only one eye from each rabbit was used. Filters specifically designed for benzoporphyrin derivative (peak absorption at 580 nm and peak emission at 695 nm) were used. Benzoporphyrin derivative (1 mg/kg) was injected into an ear vein while images of tumor, normal choroid, or iris were being obtained. Follow-up images were obtained during the first 3 hours and at 24 hours after injection. Fluorescence microscopy was performed in all 10 rabbits using 1 mg/kg of benzoporphyrin derivative. Tumor-bearing eyes were enucleated at the same time points that angiograms were performed, and the two sets of results were compared for maximum dye accumulation. RESULTS: Digital angiography demonstrated that maximal benzoporphyrin derivative fluorescence occurred in tumors 15 to 45 minutes after injection. Fluorescence photometry corroborated these results. CONCLUSION: Photosensitizer angiography is a valid modality for determining the optimum treatment time for photodynamic therapy.     

Five channel WDM soliton pulse generation using sinusoidally drivenelectroabsorption modulators in 16×1 laser/modulator array

Five wavelength multiplexed pulse streams are generated in an integrated 16×1 laser modulator array by sinusoidally driving five of the potential 16 electroabsorption modulators. At a repetition rate of 2.5 GHz, near transform-limited pulses spaced in wavelength over 7.6 nm are observed. Pseudorandom coding of one channel is achieved by applying an electrical RZ data signal to the modulator     

Matrix metalloproteinase expression in rat pancreatic islets

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the type of prosthetic material and technique of placement influenced long-term complications after repair of incisional hernias. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analytic study. SETTING: University-affiliated hospital. PATIENTS: Two hundred patients undergoing open repair of abdominal incisional hernias with prosthetic material between 1985 and 1994. INTERVENTIONS: Four types of prosthetic material were used and placed either as an onlay, underlay, sandwich, or finger interdigitation technique. The materials were monofilamented polypropylene mesh (Marlex, Davol Inc, Cranston, RI), double-filamented mesh (Prolene, Ethicon Inc, Somerville, NJ), expanded polytetrafluroethylene patch (Gore-Tex, WL Gore & Associates, Phoenix, Ariz) or multifilamented polyester mesh (Mersilene, Ethicon Inc). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The incidence of recurrence and complications such as enterocutaneous fistula, bowel obstruction, and infection with each type of material and technique of repair were compared with univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, multifilamented polyester mesh had a significantly higher mean number of complications per patient (4.7 vs 1.4-2.3; P<.002), a higher incidence of fistula formation (16% vs 0%-2%; P<.001), a greater number of infections (16% vs 0%-6%; P<.05), and more recurrent hernias (34% vs 10%-14%; P<.05) than the other materials used. The additional mean length of stay to treat complications was also significantly longer (30 vs 3-7 days; P<.001) when polyester mesh was used. The deleterious effect of polyester mesh on long-term complications was confirmed on multiple logistic regression (P=.002). The technique of placement had no influence on outcome. CONCLUSION: Polyester mesh should no longer be used for incisional hernia repair.     

Effect of mild acid treatment on the survival, enteropathogenicity, and protein production in vibrio parahaemolyticus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an important food-borne enteropathogen that encounters various adverse conditions in its native environment or during infection. Effects of mild acid treatment on survival under stress conditions, enteropathogenicity, and protein production in this pathogen were investigated. Logarithmically grown cells, at pH 7.5 shifted to pH 5.0 for 30 min, were more resistant to subsequent acid challenge at pH 4.4. A two-phase adaptive procedure (pH 5.8 for 30 min; pH 5.0 for 30 min) was better than a single-phase procedure for enhancing the acid tolerance of this pathogen. The acid-adapted cells were cross-protected against the challenges of low salinity and thermal inactivation. One-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that proteins with molecular masses of 6.4, 9.0, 13.6, 16.3, 18.9, 22.9, 24.4, 28.3, 33. 9, 36.9, 41.2, 47.6, 58.1, 65.6, 80.5, 88.2, and 96.9 kDa were induced or significantly enhanced, while proteins of 25.3, 30.1, 30. 7, and 91.7 kDa were significantly inhibited. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that 20 species of proteins were induced or significantly enhanced, while 26 species were inhibited. In assays conducted using the suckling mouse model, enteropathogenicity of the acid-adapted cells was significantly enhanced in terms of intestine/body weight ratio and in vivo recovery of infected cells.     

Cyclic hot corrosion of Haynes 230 alloy

Cyclic hot corrosion conducted on Haynes 230 at temperatures of 871 and 1093 C indicated that catastrophic corrosion occurred. The corrosion rate was related to the high content of tungsten and chromium in the alloy. The concept of basic and acid fluxing was applied to explain the dissolution of the protective film of Cr₂O₃ and volatile WO₃ by an Na₂SO₄-rich liquid due to the formation of Na₂CrO₄ and Na₂WO₄. As the basic melts were acidified by continuously consuming oxygen ions, plate-like crystals of Cr₂O₃ were precipitated on the free surface by conversion from Na₂CrO₄. Acid fluxing was achieved by the refractory oxide, WO₃, consuming oxygen ions. The presence of sulphur suppressed the diffusion of chromium outward to form protective Cr₂O₃. Internal chromium-rich sulphide particles were observed. It was suggested that at very lowP _O2, sulphur reacted with chromium to form CrS initially. As oxygen penetrated through the porous layer, the CrS was oxidized internally to Cr₂O₃.     

A dynamic programming approach to sequential pattern recognition

This paper presents the dynamic programming approach to the design of optimal pattern recognition systems when the costs of feature measurements describing the pattern samples are of considerable importance. A multistage or sequential pattern classifier which requires, on the average, a substantially smaller number of feature measurements than that required by an equally reliable nonsequential classifier is defined and constructed through the method of recursive optimization. Two methods of reducing the dimensionality in computation are presented for the cases where the observed feature measurements are 1) statistically independent, and 2) Markov dependent. Both models, in general, provide a ready solution to the optimal sequential classification problem. A generalization in the design of optimal classifiers capable of selecting a best sequence of feature measurements is also discussed. Computer simulated experiments in character recognition are shown to illustrate the feasibility of this approach.     

An empirical study of design-of-experiment data mining for yield-loss diagnosis for semiconductor manufacturing

To maintain competitive advantages, semiconductor industry has strived for continuous technology migrations and quick response to yield excursion. As wafer fabrication has been increasingly complicated in nano technologies, many factors including recipe, process, tool, and chamber with the multicollinearity affect the yield that are hard to detect and interpret. Although design of experiment (DOE) is a cost effective approach to consider multiple factors simultaneously, it is difficult to follow the design to conduct experiments in real settings. Alternatively, data mining has been widely applied to extract potential useful patterns for manufacturing intelligence. However, because hundreds of factors must be considered simultaneously to accurately characterize the yield performance of newly released technology and tools for diagnosis, data mining requires tremendous time for analysis and often generates too many patterns that are hard to be interpreted by domain experts. To address the needs in real settings, this study aims to develop a retrospective DOE data mining that matches potential designs with a huge amount of data automatically collected in semiconductor manufacturing to enable effective and meaningful knowledge extraction from the data. DOE can detect high-order interactions and show how interconnected factors respond to a wide range of values. To validate the proposed approach, an empirical study was conducted in a semiconductor manufacturing company in Taiwan and the results demonstrated its practical viability.