SOME MEASUREMENTS OF THE PERMEABILITY OF KAOLIN.

This paper reports an experimental investigation of the vertical and horizontal permeabilities of speswhite kaolin clay. The permeabilities were measured using falling head permeability tests. A modification to a conventional oedometer was devised so that either vertical or horizontal permeabilities could be determined. It was found that the vertical and horizontal permeabilities of the clay slurry were similar, but that as the clay was consolidated one dimensionally the anisotropy of the clay fabric resulted in a greater horizontal permeability than the vertical permeability at any void ratio. Both permeabilities were uniquely related to the void ratio.

Some measurements of the permeability of kaolin

The writers wish to present some additional data obtained independently and with different techniques that confirm the results published in the paper. For these tests, the speswhite kaolin clay was prepared as a slurry with a water content of 133 percent and was then consolidated one-dimensionally under an axial stress of 100 kPa in a 203 mm dia. tube. The results presented here show that the anisotropy of permeability is completely preserved (even after the sample is compressed isotropical) as long as the initial part of the stress path corresponds to one-dimensional compression. The data supports the speculation by the authors regarding permeability anisotropy for stress paths other than one-dimensional compression.

Durability study of eleven years old cement-bentonite cut-off wall material

Comprehensive understanding of the long-term performance of cement-bentonite slurry trench cut-off walls is essential as these mixes may degrade when exposed to aggressive environments or when subjected to prolonged drying. A series of wetting-drying and immersion experiments was carried out to evaluate the durability characteristics of laboratory mixed samples and block field samples from 40 days to 11 years of age. For the wetting-drying tests, the samples buried in medium graded sand were subjected to periodical flooding and drying cycles. They were then used for permeability testing and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) testing. For the immersion tests, the samples confined in perforated molds were submerged in magnesium sulfate solution for 16 weeks and their microstructures were then analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. This paper identifies the effects of contaminant exposure on durability of cement-bentonite and the effects of aging by comparing 11 years old samples to younger samples. Test results showed that young or previously contaminated cement-bentonite mixes are more susceptible to sulfate attack than old or less contaminated mixes. Copyright ASCE 2008.

Flow of wet powder in a conical centrifugal filter-an analytical model

A one-dimensional analytical model is developed for the steady state, axisymmetric, slender flow of saturated powder in a rotating perforated cone. Both the powder and the fluid spin with the cone with negligible slip in the hoop direction. They migrate up the wall of the cone along a generator under centrifugal force, which also forces the fluid out of the cone through the powder layer and the porous wall. The flow thus evolves from an over-saturated paste at inlet into a nearly dry powder at outlet. The powder is treated as a Mohr-Coulomb granular solid of constant void fraction and permeability. The shear traction at the wall is assumed to be velocity and pressure dependent. The fluid is treated as Newtonian viscous. The model provides the position of the colour line (the transition from over- to under-saturation) and the flow velocity and thickness profiles over the cone. Surface tension effects are assumed negligible compared to the centrifugal acceleration. Two alternative conditions are considered for the flow structure at inlet: fully settled powder at inlet, and progressive settling of an initially homogeneous slurry. The position of the colour line is found to be similar for these two cases over a wide range of operating conditions. Dominant dimensionless groups are identified which control the position of the colour line in a continuous conical centrifuge. Experimental observations of centrifuges used in the sugar industry provide preliminary validation of the model. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

SLA 的分型与检测

:传统的强调抗原多态性的SLA 分型方法主要是血清学、细胞学和生物化学的方法,随着分子生物学技术发 展,各具特点的SLA 分型技术不断涌现,如PCR2RFL P 法、PCR2SSCP 法、微卫星(MS) 法、DNA 序列的测定等,基于 强调SLA 的抗原多态性的分型和强调抗原保守性的功能学上的新分型技术(如SLA 超型和超基序) 进行了详细探 讨,比较了各类方法的优缺点,指明了未来SLA 分型的发展趋势。此外还指出了现行参考教材血清学SLA 单倍型 的编写错误以及重点强调了SL A2DQB 基因的准确分型技术必须借鉴于克隆测序。

Characterization of Sarcocystis species in domestic animals using a PCR-RFLP analysis of variation in the 18S rRNA gene: a cost-effective and simple technique for routine species identification

Thirteen restriction endonucleases were used to investigate nucleotide sequence variation in the 18S rRNA DNA of 88 individuals from ten Sarcocystis taxa collected as cysts from their intermediate hosts, swine, cattle and water buffalo. A DNA sequence of

Water soluble nitrogenous component from squilla (Orato squilla nepa)

A water soluble hygroscopic powder has been isolated from squilla in good yield, ranging from 3.5 to 5.0% of the fresh raw material, by a simple direct method. The process consists of homogenising squilla with an equal quantity of water, removal of chitinous matter from the slurry by filtration, heating the filtrate at 0.7 kg/sq.cm steam pressure for 15-20 minutes, removal of the precipitated protein by filtration and concentration and final drying in vacuum of the filtered cooled liquor. The pale brown powder so obtained consists mainly of peptones and proteoses and has been found to be comparable to BDH peptone for growth of bacteria, ability to serve as source for tryptophan for indole production and to provide substrate for the production of hydrogen sulphide. Comparative studies have been made on similar water soluble fractions from two species of prawns, namely, Metapenaeus affinis and Parapenaeopsis stylifera.

The extraction of mimosine from ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) by soaking in water

The study aimed to find a cheap and practical method of extracting mimosine from Leucaena leucocephala, otherwise known as ipil-ipil in the Philippines. L. leucocephala leaves are used in cattle, poultry and swine feed and have been tried as a food ingredient in some fish diets. While it contains relatively high amount of protein, its use as feed has been limited because of the presence of toxic substance, mimosine. Findings revealed that soaking the leaves in water was highly efficient for the extraction of mimosine, the longer the duration of soaking the more mimosine was extracted. On the other hand, 87 % of the juveniles Penaeus monodon fed with diets containing L. leucocephala leaves soaked for 24 hours survived, much higher compared to those that were fed with unsoaked leaves for eight weeks.

High temperature robust SOI ethanol sensor

In this paper we present a robust SOI-CMOS ethanol sensor based on a tungsten-doped lanthanum iron oxide sensing material. The device shows response to gas, has low power consumption, good uniformity, high temperature stability and can be manufactured at low cost and with integrated circuitry. The platform is a tungsten-based CMOS micro-hotplate that has been shown to be stable for over two thousand hours at a high temperature (600°C) in a form of accelerated life test. The tungsten-doped lanthanum iron oxide was deposited on the micro-hotplate as a slurry with terpineol using a syringe, dried and annealed. Preliminary gas testing was done and the material shows response to ethanol vapour. These results are promising and we believe that this combination of a robust CMOS micro-hotplate and a good sensing material can form the basis for a commercial CMOS gas sensor. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Design guidelines for granular particles in a conical centrifugal filter

Essential design criteria for successful drying of granular particles in a conical continuous centrifugal filter are developed in a dimensionless fashion. Four criteria are considered: minimum flow thickness (to ensure sliding bulk flow rather than particulate flow), desaturation position, output dryness and basket failure. The criteria are based on idealised physical models of the machine operation and are written explicitly as functions of the basket size lout, spin velocity Ω and input flow rate of powder Qp. The separation of sucrose crystals from liquid molasses is taken as a case study and the successful regime of potential operating points (lout, Ω) is plotted for a wide range of selected values of flow rate Qp. Analytical expressions are given for minimum and maximum values of the three independent parameters (lout, Ω, Qp) as a function of the slurry and basket properties. The viable operating regime for a conical centrifugal filter is thereby obtained as a function of the slurry and basket properties. © 2012 The Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Identification and characterization of a novel envelope protein in Rana grylio virus

Viral envelope proteins have been proposed to play significant roles in virus infection and assembly. In this study, an envelope protein gene, 53R, was cloned and characterized from Rana grylio virus (RGV), a member of the family Iridoviridae. Database searches found its homologues in all sequenced iricloviruses, and sequence alignment revealed several conserved structural features shared by virus capsid or envelope proteins: a myristoylation site, two predicted transmembrane domains and two invariant cysteine residues. Subsequently, RT-PCR and Western blot detection revealed that the transcripts encoding RGV 53R and the protein itself appeared late during infection of fathead minnow cells and that their appearance was blocked by viral DNA replication inhibitor, indicating that RGV 53R is a late expression gene. Moreover, immunofluorescence localization found an association of 53R with virus factories in RGV-infected cells, and this association was further confirmed by expressing a 53R-GFP fusion protein in pEGFP-N3/53R-transfected cells. Furthermore, detergent extraction and Western blot detection confirmed that RGV 53R was associated with virion membrane. Therefore, the current data suggest that RGV 53R is a novel viral envelope protein and that it may play an important role in virus assembly. This is thought to be the first report on a viral envelope protein that is conserved in all sequenced iridoviruses.

Genomic organization, gene duplication, and expression analysis of interleukin-1 beta in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) is one of the pivotal early response pro-inflammatory cytokines that enables organisms to respond to infection and induces a cascade of reactions leading to inflammation. In spite of its importance and two decades of studies in the mammalian species, genes encoding IL-1 beta were not identified from non-mammalian species until recently. Recent research, particularly with genomic approaches, has led to sequencing of IL-1 beta from many species. Clinical studies also Suggested IL-1 beta as an immunoreagulatory molecule potentially useful for enhancing vaccination. However, no IL-1 beta genes have been identified from channel catfish, the primary aquaculture species from the United States. In this study, we identified two distinct cDNAs encoding catfish IL-1 beta. Their encoding genes were identified, sequenced, and characterized. The catfish IL-1 beta genes were assigned to bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones. Genomic studies indicated that the IL-1 beta genes were tandemly duplicated on the same chromosome. Phylogenetic analysis of various IL-1 beta genes indicated the possibility of recent species-specific gene duplications in channel catfish, and perhaps also in swine and carp. Expression analysis indicated that both IL-1 beta genes were expressed, but exhibited distinct expression profiles in various catfish tissues, and after bacterial infection with Edwardsiella ictaluri. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feasibility study of carbon nanotube microneedles for rapid transdermal drug delivery

We introduce a new approach for fabricating hollow microneedles using vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) for rapid transdermal drug delivery. Here, we discuss the fabrication of the microneedles emphasizing the overall simplicity and flexibility of the method to allow for potential industrial application. By capitalizing on the nanoporosity of the CNT bundles, uncured polymer can be wicked into the needles ultimately creating a high strength composite of aligned nanotubes and polymer. Flow through the microneedles as well as in vitro penetration of the microneedles into swine skin is demonstrated. Furthermore, we present a trade study comparing the difficulty and complexity of the fabrication process of our CNT-polymer microneedles with other standard microneedle fabrication approaches. Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013.

Quantitative structure-property relationship study on reductive dehalogenation of selected halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons in sediment slurries

In this study, by the use of partial least squares (PLS) method and 26 quantum chemical descriptors computed by PM3 Hamiltonian, a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model was developed for reductive dehalogenation rate constants of 13 halogenated aliphatic compounds in sediment slurry under anaerobic conditions. The model can be used to explain the dehalogenation mechanism. Halogenated aliphatic compounds with great energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (E-lumo), total energy (TE), electronic energy (EE), the smallest bond order of the carbon-halogen bonds (BO) and the most positive net atomic charges on an atom of the molecule (q(+)) values tend to be reductively dehalogenated slow, whereas halogenated aliphatic compounds with high values of molecular weight (Mw), average molecular polarizability (a) and core-core repulsion energy (CCR) values tend to be reductively dehalogenated fastest. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

ICP-OES的悬浮进样方式及ICP-MS的碰撞/反应池技术的研究与应用

本论文分为两部分：1. 综述部分（第一章和第二章），评述了悬浮进样方式在电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICP-OES）中的研究与应用；电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）中碰撞/反应池技术研究的新进展。2. 实验部分（第三章至第九章），内容包括针对不同性质的样品悬浮液选择适当的稳定剂和悬浮雾化ICP-OES的校准方法研究；以混合碰撞/反应气体解决难度较大的高纯氧化钕中稀土杂质测定的干扰问题；以及浊点萃取-石墨炉原子吸收法测定环境样品中痕量镉、氢化物发生-原子荧光光谱法测定铅基合金中砷和植物样品中锗等实用性强的分析方法研究。 ICP的传统进样方式是将样品转化成水溶液形式，以溶液方式进样。然而大多数样品是以固态形式存在，许多样品相当难溶或难熔。采用直接固体进样方法对这些样品进行分析，是分析工作者追求的目标之一。悬浮液进样是一种固体直接进样方法，除了具有其它固体进样技术的优点外，其最大优点是可以像溶液雾化一样用标准水溶液校准。本研究针对实际分析工作中遇到的具体样品，对悬浮进样ICP-OES技术进行了比较深入的研究，成功解决了样品处理繁琐和样品难以处理等困难。对特殊地质样品和激光晶体材料（Nd:YAG）的悬浮进样分析进行了探索。主要工作为：①建立分析地质样品中主量和微量元素的方法，标准水溶液可以成功地用于校准。优点是可以同时对地质样品中的Si和其它元素进行分析，避免了传统分析时需分别处理样品的麻烦。②探索了分析铌钽矿中铌和钽的应用。由于铌和钽具有强抗化学腐蚀性，所以溶液进样分析时样品处理过程复杂。结果表明，以标准水溶液校准时，只要样品研磨时间延长至5 h，即可获得悬浮进样的满意的回收率。③研究了分析掺钕钇铝石榴石(Nd:YAG)中钕掺杂量的可行性。研究表明，加入适量聚丙烯酸作分散剂并调节pH为6，可以得到稳定悬浮液；以通用标准加入法（GSAM）校准可以得到满意的结果。 我国的稀土资源占世界的80％以上，高纯稀土氧化物是高科技领域中的重要材料。碰撞/反应池技术是目前四极杆ICP-MS消除干扰的先进技术，可以选择性地减少某些基体干扰，使背景和检测限得到显著的改进。本实验选择氧化钕（有7个同位素）作为研究对象，采用碰撞/反应池技术重点解决四极杆ICP-MS方法对高纯Nd2O3中稀土杂质进行测定时，基体Nd对Tb、Dy和Ho严重的氧化物或氢氧化物干扰难题。研究结果如下：①在四极杆高分辨率模式下，可以消除Nd对Pr的相邻峰的拖尾干扰；②采用碰撞/反应池技术，设计了10% O2-10% Ar-80% He混合气体作为碰撞/反应气，将Tb、Dy和Ho分别转化为相应的氧化物离子进行测定，成功地消除了基体Nd对Ho的干扰；Nd对Tb和Dy造成干扰的表观浓度显著降低。本方法可直接测定纯度为6N的高纯Nd2O3中的Ho；对纯度为6N的高纯Nd2O3中的Tb和Dy进行扣除，可以分析纯度达5N的高纯Nd2O3中的Tb和Dy。与文献报道的其它消除基体Nd干扰的方法相比较，此方法能够对纯度更高的Nd2O3进行直接分析，且操作简便。此方法也可进一步拓宽，有望解决其它轻稀土氧化物对中重稀土检测的质谱干扰问题。 论文的7～9章的工作包括：浊点萃取-GFAAS测定环境样品中痕量镉、HG-AFS分析铅基合金中砷和植物样品中锗的研究。针对实际分析工作中的具体困难，以上工作分别解决了分析元素含量低、测定干扰严重及样品处理的问题，建立了实用性强、准确度高的分析方法，具有实际应用价值。