PHYSICS-BASED SIMULATION OF HIGH SPEED MACHINING

Computer simulation of high speed machining processes can provide a unique insight and reduce the number of design iterations required to advance and optimize the process. Predictive modeling of high speed machining of exotic materials has been hindered by the nonlinear behavior of this type of materials at extremely high strain, strain rate, and temperatures. This paper presents a physics-based modeling technology that includes the change in the material constitutive equation and the friction characterization at cutting speeds up to 400 m min^-1. The dependence of the accuracy of the predicted parameters, such as the chip formation on cutting forces, chip/tool/workpiece interface temperature, stress and strain distributions are also discussed. The fundamentals of metal cutting were utilized to understand the effect of parameter changes in regimes that are outside current empirical knowledge databases.     

Specific consumption of liquid biofuels in gasoline fuelled engines

Oxygenated fuels increase fuel consumption due to their low enthalpy of combustion; however, their high antiknock index renders them suitable for use in engines with a high compression rate, increasing their thermal yield. This study evaluated the performance of biorenewable oxygenated fuels (ethanol and isoamyl alcohol) and partially renewable fuels (ETBE: ethyl tert-butyl ether, TAEE: tert-amyl ethyl ether and di-TAE: di-tert-amyl ether) with high degree of purity and in mixtures with automotive gasoline, based on tests with Otto cycle engines. Among the oxygenated fuels evaluated here, di-TAE was found to present the best characteristics of performance, both individually and in mixtures with gasoline.     

Effects of Economic Pressure on Marital Conflict in Romania.

This study examined the interrelationships among economic pressure, maternal depression, social support, and marital conflict in a sample of 239 mothers in Romania. Data were collected through a school-based survey. Findings indicated that higher levels of economic pressure were associated with higher levels of marital conflict. Economic pressure was also associated with higher marital conflict indirectly through increased maternal depression and lowered social support. The present results were similar to those obtained in studies conducted among U.S. samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Results of a 90-day toxicity study on 1,2,3- and 1,1,2-trichloropropane administered via the drinking water

Trichloropropanes have been identified as environmental contaminants in sediments of the Great Lakes region of North America. Since these chemicals had the potential to find their way into drinking water, a 90-day feeding study was carried out in order to determine their subchronic toxicity. Groups of 10 male and 10 female weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were supplied drinking water ad libitum, containing 1,2,3- or 1,1,2-trichloropropane at concentrations of 1, 10, 100 or 1000 mg/L for 13 weeks. Emulphor (0.5%) was used to solubilize the chemicals. At the end of the study, the animals were killed and examined for gross and microscopic changes. Heart, liver, brain, kidney and spleen were excised and weighed. Blood was collected and subjected to a comprehensive hematological analysis. Serum was collected and profiled for changes in 12 biochemical parameters and a portion of liver was used to determine mixed function oxidase activity. Although three animals died during the study, their deaths could not be related to treatment. Decreased growth rate was observed in both sexes of the group receiving 1000 mg/L 1,2,3-trichloropropane. There was an increase in liver, kidney and brain weights (relative to body weight) in rats of both sexes fed 1000 mg/L 1,2,3-trichloropropane. Fatty livers were observed in some of the treated animals but a clear dose-relationship was not evident. An elevation in serum cholesterol was observed in female rats fed the highest dose of 1,2,3-trichloropropane. This chemical also induced hepatic aminopyrine demethylase and aniline hydroxylase activities in male rats at the highest dose. Administration of both isomers produced only mild histological changes in the liver, thyroid and kidney of rats at the highest dose. The changes in the liver consisted of an increase in cytoplasmic eosinophilia in the periportal area together with vesiculation of biliary epithelial nuclei. Morphological changes were characterized by increased anisokaryosis in the proximal epithelium and occasional pyknosis associated with the accumulation of large eosinophilic inclusions. Changes in the thyroid consisted of a mild reduction in follicular size associated with an increased epithelial height. In general, these changes were more severe in the males than females, but were still mild overall. It was concluded that the no-effect level for both chemicals was 100 mg/L (15–20 mg/kg bw/day) and based on effects on growth rate and other changes, the 1,2,3- isomer was judged to be slightly more toxic than the 1,1,2- isomer.     

A new approach to predict ulcerative colitis activity through standard clinical–biological parameters using a robust neural network model

Neural Computing and Applications - Colonoscopy is the “gold” standard for evaluating disease activity in ulcerative colitis (UC). An important area of research is finding a...     

Design and implementation of a confidentiality and access control solution for publish/subscribe systems

The publish/subscribe model offers a loosely-coupled communication paradigm where applications interact indirectly and asynchronously. Publishers generate events that are sent to interested applications through a network of brokers. Subscribers express their interest by specifying filters that brokers can use for routing the events. Supporting confidentiality of messages being exchanged is still challenging. First of all, it is desirable that any scheme used for protecting the confidentiality of both the events and filters should not require publishers and subscribers to share secret keys. In fact, such a restriction is against the loose-coupling of the model. Moreover, such a scheme should not restrict the expressiveness of filters and should allow the broker to perform event filtering to route the events to the interested parties. Existing solutions do not fully address these issues. In this paper, we provide a novel scheme that supports (i) confidentiality for events and filters; (ii) allows publishers to express further constraints about who can access their events; (iii) filters that can express very complex constraints on events even if brokers are not able to access any information in clear on both events and filters; (iv) and, finally, it does not require publishers and subscribers to share keys. Furthermore, we show how we applied our scheme to a real-world e-health scenario, developed together with a hospital. We also describe the implementation of our solution in Java and the integration with an existing publish/subscribe system.     

Bead-based polymerase chain reaction on a microchip

We present a bead-based approach to microfluidic polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enabling fluorescent detection and sample conditioning in a single microchamber. Bead-based PCR, while not extensively investigated in microchip format, has been used in a variety of bioanalytical applications in recent years. We leverage the ability of bead-based PCR to accumulate fluorescent labels following DNA amplification to explore a novel DNA detection scheme on a microchip. The microchip uses an integrated microheater and temperature sensor for rapid control of thermal cycling temperatures, while the sample is held in a microchamber fabricated from (poly)dimethylsiloxane and coated with Parylene. The effects of key bead-based PCR parameters, including annealing temperature and concentration of microbeads in the reaction mixture, are studied to achieve optimized device sensitivity and detection time. The device is capable of detecting a synthetically prepared section of the Bordetella pertussis genome in as few as 10 temperature cycles with times as short as 15?min. We then demonstrate the use of the procedure in an integrated device; capturing, amplifying, detecting, and purifying template DNA in a single microfluidic chamber. These results show that this method is an effective method of DNA detection which is easily integrated in a microfluidic device to perform additional steps such as sample pre-conditioning.     

TG and DTA investigation of ZrO2–SO 4 2– catalysts exposed to hexane, methylcyclopentane and cyclohexane

ZrO₂– catalysts with different sulfur contents were analysed with thermal methods coupled with mass spectrometry after exposure to mixtures of hexane, methylcyclopentane, and cyclohexane in argon. The reaction of the hydrocarbons led to carbonaceous deposits, but an important part of hydrocarbon remained chemisorbed as well. Heating these samples in He atmosphere provoked the decomposition of these deposits with evolution of CO₂ and CO, and also of SO₂ and SO. At the same time, COS was evidenced in the reaction products. The release of these molecules occurred below the activation temperature of the catalysts. The behavior of the catalysts depended both on reactant molecule and sulfur content. The analyses clearly evidenced the oxidation ability of ZrO₂–SO catalysts. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.