Calculation of the J-integral for limited permeable cracks in piezoelectrics

Summary This paper deals with the calculation of the J-integral for electrically limited permeable cracks in piezoelectrics. The electromechanical J-integral is extended to account for electrical crack surface charge densities representing electric fields inside the crack. To avoid the costly implementation of the line integral along the crack faces, an alternative is proposed replacing the line integral by a simple jump term across the crack faces. Previous work by other authors related to the same subject is critically illuminated. The derivation was inspired by the Dugdale- Barenblatt cohesive zone model and yields an expression containing solely the local jump of displacements and electric potentials across the crack faces. This approach is shown to be exact for the Griffth crack.Numerical examples give evidence that the simplified approach works well for arbitrary crack configurations too.     

Evaluation of waste products in the synthesis of surfactants by yeasts

The highest yields of biosurfactants were obtained by: (i) Pseudozyma antarctica (107.2 g L^?1) cultivated in a medium containing post-refining waste; (ii) Pseudozyma aphidis (77.7 g L^?1); and (iii) Starmerella bombicola (93.8 g L^?1) both cultivated in a medium with soapstock; (iv)Pichia jadinii (67.3 g L^?1) cultivated in a medium supplemented with waste frying oil. It was found that the biosurfactant synthesis yield increased in all strains when the cell surface hydrophobicity reached 70–80 %, enabling the microbial cells to make good contact with hydrophobic substrates. The lowest surface tension of the post-cultivation medium was from 32.0 mN m^?1 to 37.8 mN m^?1. However, this parameter (which was also determined by a drop collapse assay) was of limited use in monitoring biosurfactant synthesis in this study. The crude glycerol was not a good substrate for biosurfactant synthesis although, in the case of P. aphidis, 67.4 g L^?1 of biosurfactants were obtained after cultivation in the medium supplemented with glycerol fraction (GF2). In a low-cost medium containing soapstock and whey permeate or molasses, about 90 g L^?1 of mannosylerythritol lipids were synthesised by P. aphidis and approximately 40 g L^?1 by P. antarctica.     

Analysis of an Active Deformylation Mechanism of 5‐Formyl‐deoxycytidine (fdC) in Stem Cells

The removal of 5‐methyl‐deoxycytidine (mdC) from promoter elements is associated with reactivation of the silenced corresponding genes. It takes place through an active demethylation process involving the oxidation of mdC to 5‐hydroxymethyl‐deoxycytidine (hmdC) and further on to 5‐formyl‐deoxycytidine (fdC) and 5‐carboxy‐deoxycytidine (cadC) with the help of α‐ketoglutarate‐dependent Tet oxygenases. The next step can occur through the action of a glycosylase (TDG), which cleaves fdC out of the genome for replacement by dC. A second pathway is proposed to involve C?C bond cleavage that converts fdC directly into dC. A 6‐aza‐5‐formyl‐deoxycytidine (a‐fdC) probe molecule was synthesized and fed to various somatic cell lines and induced mouse embryonic stem cells, together with a 2′‐fluorinated fdC analogue (F‐fdC). While deformylation of F‐fdC was clearly observed in vivo, it did not occur with a‐fdC, thus suggesting that the C?C bond‐cleaving deformylation is initiated by nucleophilic activation.     

Determination of uranium and selected elements in Polish dictyonema shales and sandstones by ICP-MS

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used for characterization of Polish dictyonema shales and sandstones as a potential source of uranium and other technologically important elements. Influence of sample digestion of these materials for the determinations: U, Th, Cu, Co, Mn, Zn, La, V, Yb, Mo, Ni, Sb and Fe has been tested. The method involved two-step microwave acid digestion, followed by direct determination by ICP-MS. The instrument used for all determinations was ELAN DRC II (Perkin Elmer) with crossflow nebulizer with Scott double-pass spray chamber and Ni cones. Certified Reference Materials were used as a quality control standard to validate the applied analytical procedure. The expanded measurement uncertainty U (k = 2) ranged from 5 to 15 %, in dependence on the element. The obtained results provided information on the contents of minor and trace elements in shales and sandstones depending on their origin. At this moment, these geological deposits can be treated as a potential source of raw elements.     

Effective direct chemical looping coal combustion with bi-metallic Fe–Cu oxygen carriers studied using TG-MS techniques

This paper contains the results of research on a promising combustion technology known as chemical looping combustion (CLC). The noteworthy advantage of CLC is that a concentrated CO₂ stream can be obtained after water condensation without any energy penalty for CO₂ separation. The objective of this work was to prepare novel bi-metallic Fe–Cu oxygen carriers and to evaluate the performance of these carriers for the CLC process with hard coal/air. One-cycle CLC tests were conducted with supported Fe–Cu oxygen carriers in thermogravimetric analyzer (TG) utilizing hard coal as a fuel. The effects of the oxygen carrier chemical composition, particle size, and steam addition on the reaction rates were determined. The fractional reduction, fractional oxidation, and the reaction rates were calculated from the TG data. Notably, the support had a considerable effect on the reaction performance. Moreover, bi-metallic Fe–Cu oxygen carriers exhibited significantly improved reactivity compared with monometallic Fe oxygen carriers. Furthermore, the addition of a second reactive metal oxide stabilized the oxygen carrier structure. The oxidation reaction was significantly faster than the reduction reaction for all supported Fe–Cu oxygen carriers. The TG data indicated that these oxygen carriers had stable performances up to 900 °C and may be effectively used for direct coal CLC reactions.     

Effects of compositional and structural features on corrosion behavior of nickel–tungsten alloys

Ni–W alloys were electrodeposited onto copper foil from citrate solution. Coatings containing from 11 to 21 at.% W and having 7–52 μm in thickness were obtained. The structure of these alloys was analyzed by X-ray diffraction and by using electron and light microscopy techniques. Alloys with 11 and 15% W are composed of two phases: solid solution of W in fcc Ni and solid solution of Ni in bcc W. An increase in W content in the Ni–W alloys to ca. 18–19% of W resulted in the grain refinement and the transition to amorphous structure. The corrosion behavior of obtained Ni–W and unalloyed Ni coatings was studied in 0.5 M NaCl solution by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and light microscopy. Comparing to pure Ni, the obtained Ni–W coatings exhibited a clearly decreased corrosion resistance (in terms of corrosion current density and polarization or charge transfer resistance at the open circuit potential). Despite of the quite wide range of composition of the alloys under test, the related grain refinement, and the transition to the amorphous structure, no clear relation between the corrosion rate and W content was detected. This behavior can be a result of the interplay of the activating effect of grain refinement or preferential dissolution of W from one side and diffusion barrier action or inhibition provided by the surface film of W oxidation products from the other side. The differences observed in the corrosion resistance of Ni–W coatings are more related to their morphological imperfections arising from various deposition conditions than to the W content. Some samples showed a rather non-uniform nature of corrosion (pronounced attack along cracks). An inversion in the dissolution behavior of Ni–W and unalloyed Ni was observed with increasing anodic potential. Contrary to pure Ni, Ni–W coatings were resistant to pitting corrosion in NaCl solution. Contribution to the Fall Meeting of the European Materials Research Society, Symposium D: 9th International Symposium on Electrochemical/Chemical Reactivity of Metastable Materials, Warsaw, 17th–21st September, 2007.     

Holomorphic Bogoliubov functionals for interacting particle systems in continuum

Combinatorial harmonic analysis techniques are used to develop new analytical methods for the study of interacting particle systems in continuum based on a Bogoliubov functional approach. Concrete applications of the methods are presented, namely, conditions for the existence of Bogoliubov functionals, a uniqueness result for Gibbs measures in the high temperature regime. We also propose a new approach to the study of non-equilibrium stochastic dynamics in terms of evolution equations for Bogoliubov functionals.     

Interaction integrals for fracture analysis of functionally graded piezoelectric materials

This paper presents domain form of the interaction integrals based on three independent formulations for computation of the stress intensity factors and electric displacement intensity factor for cracks in functionally graded piezoelectric materials. Conservation integrals of J-type are derived based on the governing equations for piezoelectric media and the crack tip asymptotic fields of homogeneous piezoelectric medium as auxiliary fields. Each of the formulation differs in the way auxiliary fields are imposed in the evaluation of interaction integral and each of them results in a consistent form of the interaction integral in the sense that extra terms naturally appears in their derivation to compensate for the difference in the chosen crack tip asymptotic fields of homogeneous and functionally graded piezoelectric medium. The additional terms play an important role of ensuring domain independence of the presented interaction integrals. Comparison of the numerically evaluated intensity factors through the three consistent formulations with those obtained using displacement extrapolation method is presented by means of two examples.     

Static and dynamic superheated water extraction of essential oil components from Thymus vulgaris L.

Superheated water extraction (SWE) performed in both static and dynamic condition (S‐SWE and D‐SWE, respectively) was applied for the extraction of essential oil from Thymus vulgaris L. The influence of extraction pressure, temperature, time, and flow rate on the total yield of essential oil and the influence of extraction temperature on the extraction of some chosen components are discussed in the paper. The SWE extracts are related to PLE extracts with n‐hexane and essential oil obtained by steam distillation. The superheated water extraction in dynamic condition seems to be a feasible option for the extraction of essential oil components from T. vulgaris L.     

Exact profiles of (13)CO(2) recovery in breath air after per oral administration of [(13)C]methacetin in two groups of different ages

The aim of this study is to determine if age is a factor influencing the results of a [(13)C]methacetin breath test ((13)C-MBT). Two groups of healthy volunteers, each comprising six men and six women, but differing in average age (Y=young, 25.1+/-0.6 years, MA=middle-aged;, 46.0+/-2.1 years) orally took 75 mg [(13)C]methacetin. Samples of expiratory air for (13)CO(2) measurement were collected up to 48 h after intake of the substrate. A maximum momentary (13)CO(2) breath exhalation of 37.0+/-2.6%dose/h was observed at 18 min (median, range: 9-30 min) in the young subjects and of 38.4+/-2.5%dose/h at 18 min (median, range: 12-30 min) in the middle-age volunteers. The cumulative (13)C elimination in expiratory air was statistically significantly higher in the MA compared with the Y group as from 75 min up to 180 min, indicating a greater microsomal metabolic efficiency of the liver in the middle-aged healthy subjects. Gender, use of hormonal contraception, cigarette smoking, or body mass index did not modify the age-related effect on the cumulative (13)C elimination in breath air. The study results imply a necessity of composing control groups well matched with regard to the age structure for a proper interpretation of clinical (13)C-MBT results.