Fluid phase equilibria in the system n-butane + water

Although the phase equilibria in the system n-butane + water have been studied frequently, a review of the experimental results has revealed serious disagreement among the various investigators. In this work, the data from the literature are supplemented with some new solubility data. These data are then used construct a model, based on Henry's law, for the phase equilibria.     

Protein kinase A mediates microglial activation induced by plasminogen and gangliosides

In the injured brain, microglia is known to be activated and produce proinflammatory mediators such as interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). We investigated the role of protein kinase A (PKA) in microglial activation by both plasminogen and gangliosides in rat primary microglia and in the BV2 immortalized murine microglial cell line. Both plasminogen and gangliosides induced IL-1beta, TNF-alpha and iNOS mRNA expression, and that this expression was inhibited by the addition of the PKA inhibitors, KT5720 and H89. Both plasminogen and gangliosides activated PKA and increased the DNA binding activity of the cAMP response element- binding protein (CREB). Furthermore, KT5720 and H89 reduced the DNA binding activities of CREB and NF-kappaB in plasminogen-treated cells. These results suggest that PKA plays an important role in plasminogen and gangliosides- induced microglial activation.     

Ferri-para-magnetism of tungsten and its carbide cermets for elevated temperature sensor application

In routinely analyzing experimental results of low-temperature, 5?K?≤?T?≤?300?K, magnetic susceptibility χ(T) of fused tungsten and its fused carbide cermets, hereafter called “the materials”, by assuming the susceptibility satisfying the Néel ferrimagnetic formula, χ^?1?=?χ₀^?1?+?χ₁^?1?+?χ₂^?1, where χ₀^?1, χ₁^?1, and χ₂^?1 are respectively the inverses of the Pauli paramagnetic, χ₀?>?0, a Curie diamagnetic, χ₁?=?C/T < 0, and a lattice diamagnetic susceptibilities, χ₂?=?(–1/b)(T ? Θ_p)<?0, this study finds that the increase in susceptibility of the materials is principally due to the effect of the Curie diamagnetic term in the formula and might be caused by the demagnetizing field that is induced by the interstitial vacancy in, e.g., tungsten lattice. By extending the formula to the region of lower (<5?K) and higher (>300?K) temperatures, one finds two singular points in the susceptibility inverse curve χ^?1. One is at Θ_p?<?0, and the other Θ_a?=??C/χ₀?>>?0, e.g., Θ_p?=??1.73?K, and Θ_a?=??C/χ₀?=?+8655?K for tungsten. In view of their susceptibility precisely satisfying the Néel ferrimagnetic formula in the temperature range of 5?K and 300?K, they are called “ferri-para-magnetism” and are good for elevated temperature sensor application if the temperature extension is satisfied. As temperature exceeding an asymptotic temperature, Θ_a, the paramagnetic state turns to a diamagnetic state, suggesting that there might be a superconducting transition at this temperature for some of the materials with Θ_as that are lower than their melting points, e.g., Θ_a(C7M1)?=?+2735?K and Θ_a(-VC)?=?+2242?K.     

A multiresolution continuum simulation of the ductile fracture process

With the advancement in computational science that is stepping into the Exascale era and experimental techniques that enable rapid reconstruction of the 3D microstructure, quantitative microstructure simulations at an unprecedented fidelity level are giving rise to new possibilities for linking microstructure to property. This paper presents recent advances in 3D computational modeling of ductile fracture in high toughness steels. Ductile fracture involves several concurrent and mutually interactive mechanisms at multiple length scales of microstructure. With serial sectioning tomographic techniques, a digital dataset of microstructure features associated with the fracture process has been experimentally reconstructed. In this study, primary particles are accurately and explicitly modeled while the secondary particles are modeled by a two scale multiresolution continuum model. The present numerical simulation captures detailed characteristics of the fracture process, such as zigzag crack morphology, critical void growth ratios, local stress triaxiality variation, and intervoid ligament structure. For the first time, fracture toughness is linked to multiscale microstructures in a realistic large 3D model.     

Systemic LPS administration induces brain inflammation but not dopaminergic neuronal death in the substantia nigra

It has been suggested that brain inflammation is important in aggravation of brain damage and/or that inflammation causes neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, systemic inflammation has also emerged as a risk factor for PD. In the present study, we evaluated how systemic inflammation induced by intravenous (iv) lipopolysaccharides (LPS) injection affected brain inflammation and neuronal damage in the rat. Interestingly, almost all brain inflammatory responses, including morphological activation of microglia, neutrophil infiltration, and mRNA/protein expression of inflammatory mediators, appeared within 4-8 h, and subsided within 1-3 days, in the substantia nigra (SN), where dopaminergic neurons are located. More importantly, however, dopaminergic neuronal loss was not detectable for up to 8 d after iv LPS injection. Together, these results indicate that acute induction of systemic inflammation causes brain inflammation, but this is not sufficiently toxic to induce neuronal injury.     

The weighted Ritz‐Galerkin method for elliptic boundary value problems on unbounded domains

Recently Babus?ka‐Oh introduced the method of auxiliary mapping (MAM) which efficiently handles elliptic boundary value problems containing singularities. In this paper, a special weighted residue method, the Weighted Ritz‐Galerkin Method (WRGM), is investigated by introducing special weight functions. Together with this method, MAM is modified to yield highly accurate finite element solutions to general elliptic boundary value problems on the exterior of bounded domains at low cost. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 19: 301–326, 2003.     

ε‐Caprolactone polymerization under air by the biocatalyst: Magnesium 2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenoxide

This study investigated the synthesis of the biocatalyst, magnesium 2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenoxide (Mg(BHT)₂) complex, and the ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of ε‐caprolactone (CL). The complex demonstrates high catalytic activity and controllable of molecular weight for the ROP of CL in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature, even when polymerization was performed under air. Before this study, the polymerization of CL had never been performed using a magnesium catalyst under air at room temperature. Various forms of alcohols with different purposes were also used as initiators with Mg(BHT)₂. The results show that the magnesium complex acts as a perfect catalyst because of its high catalytic activity and control ability without any cytotoxicity in the polymerization of CL, making it suitable for biomedical applications. In addition, nanoparticle formation, cytotoxicity, and phototoxicity of tri‐2‐hydroxyethyl ester [Ce6‐(CH₂CH₂OPCL)₃] were also studied in this article and Ce6‐(CH₂CH₂OPCL)₃ formed nanoparticle can act as a nanophotosensitizer for photodynamic therapy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Variational solutions for the two-stream mixing of power-law fluids

The variational principle of Lebon-Lambermont, originally proposed for Newtonian fluids, is seen to be applicable to generalized Newtonian fluids. As an example, it is applied to obtain approximate solutions of the laminar boundary-layer equations for the two-stream mixing of power-law fluids. The flow along a flat plate is obtained as a particular case when the consistency of one of the fluids diverges.