Active magnetic regenerator performance enhancement using passive magnetic materials

Magnetic refrigeration devices using permanent magnets are currently limited to useful field strengths of less than 2 T, and more practically less than 1.5 T. In this range, the useful magnetocaloric effect is less than 6 K and limits the cooling power of active magnetic regenerator (AMR) devices. Maximizing the useful magnetocaloric effect is critical in enabling commercially viable permanent magnet devices, and methods of increasing the net change in magnetic field would be beneficial. It has been shown [O. Peksoy, A. Rowe, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 288 (2005) 424] that the geometry of a regenerator and the magnetic properties of the refrigerant can alter the local magnetic field, H. This is called demagnetization. A numerical model is used to study demagnetizing effects in a single-material AMR. The use of additional passive magnetic material to reduce demagnetization is examined and suggests that augmenting the effective field, H, is possible. Numerical results are validated with experiments in near room temperature using AMRs consisting of Gd and Gd_0.74Tb_0.26 adjacent to layers composed of 1010 carbon steel. Experimental data show an increase in the no-load temperature span for certain operating conditions and confirm the beneficial impact of using passive magnetic material to reduce demagnetization effects at low fields.     

Thermodynamics of hydrophobic interaction chromatography of acetyl amino acid methyl esters

Thermodynamic analysis of hydrophobic interaction chromatography of amino acid methyl esters showed entropy-driven adsorption, consistent with solvophobic theory, except for phenyl ester on the Toyopearl resins. All esters adsorbed more strongly to the Toyopearl resins, including the polymethacrylate base matrix, than to Butyl Sepharose. Enthalpy changes were more favorable with the former, explaining the retention difference between Toyopearl Butyl and Butyl Sepharose. An enthalpy change versus heat capacity change plot showed Van der Waals interactions predominantly with the resin matrix. Literature data revealed the same effect for dansylamino acids, shown by isothermodynamic temperature analysis to adsorb more entropically than the esters.     

Electron transfer-initiated Diels-Alder cycloadditions of 2'-hydroxychalcones

An efficient approach to cyclohexenyl chalcones employing highly electron rich 2'-hydroxychalcone dienophiles via electron transfer-initiated Diels-Alder cycloaddition is described. Using the methodology, the total synthesis of nicolaiodesin C has been accomplished.     

Sterically bulky tris(triazolyl)borate ligands as water-soluble analogues of tris(pyrazolyl)borate

The recently synthesized 3-tert-butyl-5-methyl-1,2,4-triazole reacted with KBH4 to give the new potassium tris(3-tert-butyl-5-methyl-1,2,4-triazolyl)borate K(Ttz(tBu,Me)) ligand. Ttz(tBu,Me) formed a four-coordinate (Ttz(tBu,Me))CoCl complex and five-coordinate (Ttz(tBu,Me))CoNO3 and (Ttz(tBu,Me))ZnOAc complexes. When these complexes were compared to their Tp(tBu,Me) analogues, it was found that Ttz(tBu,Me) resulted in negligible steric differences. K(Ttz(tBu,Me)) is more water-soluble than K(Tp(tBu,Me)), so bulky tris(triazolyl)borate ligands should lead to functional models for enzyme active sites in an aqueous environment and the creation of water-soluble analogues of Tp catalysts.     

An improved automatic time-of-flight picker for medical ultrasound tomography

Objective and motivationTime-of-flight (TOF) tomography used by a clinical ultrasound tomography device can efficiently and reliably produce sound-speed images of the breast for cancer diagnosis. Accurate picking of TOFs of transmitted ultrasound signals is extremely important to ensure high-resolution and high-quality ultrasound sound-speed tomograms. Since manually picking is time-consuming for large datasets, we developed an improved automatic TOF picker based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC), as described in this paper.MethodsWe make use of an approach termed multi-model inference (model averaging), based on the calculated AIC values, to improve the accuracy of TOF picks. By using multi-model inference, our picking method incorporates all the information near the TOF of ultrasound signals. Median filtering and reciprocal pair comparison are also incorporated in our AIC picker to effectively remove outliers.ResultsWe validate our AIC picker using synthetic ultrasound waveforms, and demonstrate that our automatic TOF picker can accurately pick TOFs in the presence of random noise with absolute amplitudes up to 80% of the maximum absolute signal amplitude. We apply the new method to 1160 in vivo breast ultrasound waveforms, and compare the picked TOFs with manual picks and amplitude threshold picks. The mean value and standard deviation between our TOF picker and manual picking are 0.4 μs and 0.29 μs, while for amplitude threshold picker the values are 1.02 μs and 0.9 μs, respectively. Tomograms for in vivo breast data with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (∼25 dB) and low SNR (∼18 dB) clearly demonstrate that our AIC picker is much less sensitive to the SNRs of the data, compared to the amplitude threshold picker.Discussion and conclusionsThe picking routine developed here is aimed at determining reliable quantitative values, necessary for adding diagnostic information to our clinical ultrasound tomography device - CURE. It has been successfully adopted into CURE, and allows us to generate such values reliably. We demonstrate that in vivo sound-speed tomograms with our TOF picks significantly improve the reconstruction accuracy and reduce image artifacts.     

The Emerging Field of Medicines Authentication by Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Spectroscopy

We report the progress of a project at King??s College London funded by UK Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, to develop a prototype, portable medicines authentication device based on nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy (NQR) and employing innovative parametric data processing, for the non-invasive, non-destructive and quantitative inspection of packaged medicines. The first-generation system will target nitrogen- and/or chlorine-containing medicines in blister packs and bottles without the need to remove these items from their packaging. Initial proof of principle will be based around a database consisting of the NQR ??fingerprints?? of a select list of essential medicines as defined by the World Health Organization that are commonly counterfeited in developing countries. This database will be expanded as the project progresses, and as the device is taken up for commercialization.     

Anode jet in a high-current vacuum arc

A stable intense jet with a clear-cut bright sheath has been detected on the anode of a 10-ms-long high-current vacuum arc with a current amplitude of 15 kA. The jet is adjacent to the hot spot of a molten metal on the anode surface. The primary light of the jet is emitted by neutrals. The sheath of the jet is surrounded by an ion-induced diffuse glow. The anode jet arises from interaction between the cathode and anode plasmas. Because of this, the size of the jet inversely depends on the current of the arc and the jet becomes observable only by the end of the current pulse. This object (anode jet with a bright sheath) is well reproducible when the arc is initiated between copper-chromium electrodes. In the case of pure copper electrodes, such objects occur randomly and appear at long projections of the molten metal, where heat release is hampered, and at large drops moving in the interelectrode gap. This means that the anode evaporation intensity is crucial for the appearance of bright-sheath jets.