Conducting nylon, cotton and wool yarns by continuous vapor polymerization of pyrrole

Conductive textile yarns were prepared by a continuous vapor polymerization method; the application of polypyrrole by the continuous vapor polymerization method used is designed for the easy adaptation into industrial procedures. The resultant conductive yarns were examined by longitudinal and cross-sectional views, clearly showing the varying levels of penetration of the polymer into the yarn structure. It was found that for wool the optimum specific resistance was achieved by using the 400 TPM yarn with a FeCl3 solution concentration of 80 g/L FeCl3 to produce 1.69 Ω g/cm2. For cotton yarn, the optimum specific resistance of 1.53 Ω g/cm2 was obtained with 80 g/L of a FeCl3 solution.

Television time and continuous metabolic risk in physically active adults

Purpose: Among Australian adults who met the public health guideline for the minimum health-enhancing levels of physical activity, we examined the dose-response associations of television-viewing time with continuous metabolic risk variables.

Methods: Data were analyzed on 2031 men and 2033 women aged >= 25 yr from the 1999-2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study without clinically diagnosed diabetes or heart disease, who reported at least 2.5 h·wk-1 of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. Waist circumference, resting blood pressure, and fasting and 2-h plasma glucose, triglycerides, and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured. The cross-sectional associations of these metabolic variables with quartiles and hours per day of self-reported television-viewing time were examined separately for men and for women. Analyses were adjusted for age, education, income, smoking, diet quality, alcohol intake, parental history of diabetes, and total physical activity time, as well as menopausal status and current use of postmenopausal hormones for women.

Results: Significant, detrimental dose-response associations of television-viewing time were observed with waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and 2-h plasma glucose in men and women, and with fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides, and HDL-C in women. The associations were stronger in women than in men, with significant gender interactions observed for triglycerides and HDL-C. Though waist circumference attenuated the associations, they remained statistically significant for 2-h plasma glucose in men and women, and for triglycerides and HDL-C in women.

Conclusions: In a population of healthy Australian adults who met the public health guideline for physical activity, television-viewing time was positively associated with a number of metabolic risk variables. These findings support the case for a concurrent sedentary behavior and health guideline for adults, which is in addition to the public health guideline on physical activity.

Development of a stable continuous flow immobilized enzyme reactor for the hydrolysis of inulin

A 23.5-fold purified exoinulinase with a specific activity of 413 IU/mg and covalently immobilized on Duolite A568 has been used for the development of a continuous flow immobilized enzyme reactor for the hydrolysis of inulin. In a packed bed reactor containing 72 IU of exoinulinase from Kluyveromyces marxianus YS-1, inulin solution (5%, pH 5.5) with a flow rate of 4 mL/h was completely hydrolyzed at 55 °C. The reactor was run continuously for 75 days and its experimental half-life was 72 days under the optimized operational conditions. The volumetric productivity and fructose yield of the reactor were 44.5 g reducing sugars/L/h and 53.3 g/L, respectively. The hydrolyzed product was a mixture of fructose (95.8%) and glucose (4.2%) having an average fructose/glucose ratio of 24. An attempt has also been made to substitute pure inulin with raw Asparagus racemosus inulin to determine the operational stability of the developed reactor. The system remained operational only for 11 days, where 85.9% hydrolysis of raw inulin was achieved.

A pilot randomized controlled crossover study comparing regional heparinization to regional citrate anticoagulation for continuous venovenous hemofiltration

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a regional heparinization and a regional citrate method of anticoagulation in CVVH.
DESIGN: Randomized controlled cross-over study.
SUBJECTS: Ten critically ill patients with acute renal failure.
SETTING: ICU of tertiary hospital.
INTERVENTION: CVVH was performed with pre-filter fluid replacement at 2000 ml/h and a blood flow rate of 150 ml/min. Regional heparinization was by the administration of heparin pre-filter at 1500 IU/h and protamine post-filter at 15 mg/h. Regional citrate anticoagulation was by means of a citrate-based replacement fluid (14 mmol/L) administered pre-dilution.
RESULTS: We studied nine males and one female. The mean age and APACHE II score were 70.5 and 17 respectively. Median circuit life was 13 hours (IQR 9.28) for the regional heparinization method compared to 17 hours (IQR 12,19.5) for the regional citrate method (p=0.77). There were no episodes of bleeding in either group.
CONCLUSION: Regional heparinization and regional citrate anticoagulation achieve similar circuit life in critically ill patients receiving CVVH.

Computational thermal analysis of a continuous flow micro Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) chip

The first continuous flow micro PCR introduced in 1998 has attracted considerable attention for the past several years because of its ability to amplify DNA at much faster rate than the conventional PCR and micro chamber PCR method. The amplification is obtained by moving the sample through 3 different fixed temperature zones. In this paper, the thermal behavior of a continuous flow PCR chip is studied using commercially available finite element software. We study the temperature uniformity and temperature gradient on the chip’s top surface, the cover plate and the interface of the two layers. The material for the chip body and cover plate is glass. The duration for the PCR chip to achieve equilibrium temperature is also studied.

Continuous professional learning through school based strategic planning

There is ample evidence that in many countries school science is in difficulty, with declining student attitudes and uptake of science. This presentation argues that a key to addressing the problem lies in transforming teachers’ classroom practice, and that pedagogical innovation is best supported within a school context. Evidence for effective change will draw on the School Innovation in Science (SIS) initiative in Victoria, which has developed and evaluated a model to improve science teaching and learning across a school system. The model involves a framework for describing effective teaching and learning, and a strategy that allows schools flexibility to develop their practice to suit local conditions and to maintain ownership of the change process. SIS has proved successful in improving science teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Experience from SIS and related projects, from a national Australian science and literacy project, and from system wide science initiatives in Europe, will be used to explore the factors that affect the success and the path of innovation in schools.

Tracking multiple mobile agents with single frequency continuous wave radar

In this paper, a novel concept to determine the velocity and the location information of multiple mobile agents using Doppler radar has been introduced. Also, an expression for the minimum number of inline sensors needed to guarantee this estimation for n number of mobile agents has been obtained. Current methods use the time derivative of the displacement of adjacent position measurements to find the velocities of agents. This method is error prone, particularly, if the agents are accelerating. In our approach we incorporate direction-of-arrival (DOA) radar which tracks the location and the velocity of each and every agent in each measurement step.

Combined continuous wave and pulsed plasma modes : For more stable interfaces with higher functionality on metal and semiconductor surfaces

A novel approach to producing improved bio-interfaces by combining continuous wave (CW) and pulsed plasma polymerization (PP) modes is reported. This approach has enabled the generation of stable interfaces with a higher density of primary amine functionality on metal, ceramic and semiconductor surfaces. Heptylamine (HA) was used as the amine-precursor. In this new design, a thin CW PPHA layer is introduced to provide strong cross-linking and attachment to the metal or semiconductor surfaces and to provide a good foundation for better bonding a pulsed PPHA layer with high retention of functional groups. The combined mode provides the pulsed mode advantage of a 3-fold higher density of primary amines, while retaining much of the markedly higher stability in aqueous solutions of the continuous mode.