Advanced Electrodes for Solid Acid Fuel Cells by Platinum Deposition on CsH_(2)PO_4

We demonstrate cathodes for solid acid fuel cells fabricated by vapor deposition of platinum from the metalorganic precursor Pt(acac)_2 on the solid acid CsH_(2)PO_4 at 210 °C. A network of platinum nanoparticles with diameters of 2−4 nm serves as both the oxygen reduction catalyst and the electronic conductor in the electrode. Electrodes with a platinum content of 1.75 mg/cm^2 are more active for oxygen reduction than previously reported electrodes with a platinum content of 7.5 mg/cm^2. Electrodes containing <1.75 mg/cm^2 of platinum show significantly reduced catalytic activity and increased ohmic resistance indicative of a highly discontinuous catalytic-electronic platinum network

Quality characteristics and oxidative stabilityof chicken kavurma formulated with chicken abdominal fat as beef fat replacer

Kavurma is a traditional cooked ready-to-eat meat product that mainly produce in Middle East countries. In kavurma formulation, main ingredients are beef/mutton meat, beef/mutton fat and salt. In this regard, fat has high influence on product’s general characteristics. Due to increasing demand on poultry products, food industry working on novel formulations include chicken meat and chicken abdominal fat. Chicken abdominal fat is an important by-product of chicken meat industry and rich in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. For this reason, chicken abdominal fat could be used to improve healthier products. In this study, effects of using chicken abdominal fat (CAF) in chicken kavurma formulation as partial beef fat (BF) replacer on pH, color, textural and sensorial quality and oxidative stability during cold storage (4°C) for 3 months was studied. For this purpose, one control (C: 100% BF) sample and four modified samples, P1 (87.5% BF+12.5% CAF), P2 (75% BF+25% CAF), P3 (62.5% BF+37.5% CAF) and P4 (50% BF+50% CAF), were produced. Proximate composition and texture profile analysis of samples were determined after production whereas pH, lipid oxidation parameters, color and sensory properties of samples were performed on days 0, 30, 60 and 90. Using CAF in kavurma formulations more than 25% resulted higher pH drop during storage, and resulted lower taste and general acceptability scores compared to C samples at the end of storage. P2, P3 and P4 samples had lower TBARS value compared to C during storage period probably result of antioxidative antioxidative ingredients in chicken fed. As expected, due to the semi liquid characteristic of CAF, using this fat type resulted softer products. To sum up, using CAF as BF replacer resulted lower TBARS compared to C, but it had some negative influence on sensory and quality characteristics at high ratio

Computation of the resonant frequency of electrically thin and thick rectangular microstrip antennas with the use of fuzzy inference systems

A new method for calculating the resonant frequency of electrically thin and thick rectangular microstrip antennas, based on the fuzzy inference systems, is presented. The optimum design parameters of the fuzzy inference systems are determined by using the classical, modified, and improved tabu search algorithms. The calculated resonant frequency results are in very good agreement with the experimental results reported elsewhere

PTPN22 gene polymorphism in Takayasu's arteritis

Objective. Takayasu's arteritis (TA) is a chronic, rare granulomatous panarteritis of unknown aetiology involving mainly the aorta and its major branches. In this study, genetic susceptibility to TA has been investigated by screening the functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of PTPN22 gene encoding the lymphoid-specific protein tyrosine phosphatase. Methods. Totally, 181 patients with TA and 177 healthy controls are genotyped by PCR-RFLP method for the SNP rs2476601 (A/G) of PTPN22 gene. Polymorphic region was amplified by PCR and digested with Xcm I enzyme. Results. Detected frequencies of heterozygous genotype (AG) were 5.1% (9/177) in control group and 3.8% (7/181) in TA group (P = 0.61, odds ratio: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.3, 2.0). No association with angiographic type, vascular involvement or prognosis of TA was observed either. Conclusion. The distribution of PTPN22 polymorphism did not reveal any association with TA in Turkey. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved

Inhomogeneous Universe Models with Varying Cosmological Term

The evolution of a class of inhomogeneous spherically symmetric universe models possessing a varying cosmological term and a material fluid, with an adiabatic index either constant or not, is studied.Comment: 11 pages Latex. No figures. To be published in the GRG Journa

A new lumbar fixation device alternative to pedicle-based stabilization for lumbar spine: In vitro cadaver investigation

Context: To evaluate the stability provided by a new bilateral fixation technique using an in vitro investigation for posterior lumbar segmental instrumentation. Design: Experimental cadaver study. In this study, we propose an alternative technique for a posterior lumbar fixation technique called “inferior-oblique transdiscal fixation” (IOTF). Setting: Study performed at Engineering Center for Orthopedic Research Exellence (ECORE) in Toledo University-Ohio. Participants: Six human lumbar cadaveric specimen used in this study. Interventions: In this study, we propose an alternative technique for a posterior lumbar fixation technique called “inferior-oblique transdiscal fixation” (IOTF). As a novel contribution to the classical technique, the entry point of the screw is the supero-lateral point of the intersecting line drawn between the corpus and the pedicle of the upper vertebra. This approach enables the fixation of two adjacent vertebrae using a single screw on each side without utilizing connecting rods. Outcome Measures: Flexion (Flex), extension (Ext), right and left lateral bending (LB & RB), and right and left axial rotation (LR & RR), and the position data were captured at each load step using the Optotrak motion measurement system and compared for IOTF and posterior transpedicular stabilization. Results: The Posterior stabilization system (PSS) and IOTF significantly reduced the ROM of L4-L5 segment compared to intact segment’s ROM. During axial rotation (AR) IOTF fused index segment more than PSS. Besides this, addition of transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) cage improved the stabilization of IOTF system during flexion, extension and lateral bending. Whereas, PSS yielded better fusion results during extension compared to IOTF with and without interbody fusion cages. Conclusions: We hypothesized that the new posterior bilateral system would significantly decrease motion compared to the intact spine. This cadaver study showed that the proposed new posterior fusion technique IOTF fused the index segment in a similar fashion to the classical pedicle screw fusion technique.National Science Foundation (NSF)University of Toledo, Toledo, O

Simple sequence repeat-based assessment of genetic diversity in 'Dimrit' and 'Gemre' grapevine accessions from Turkey

It is widely believed that Turkey has played an important role in the evolution of modern day grapes due to its unique geographical location with close proximity to the regions of grape diversity. Despite this, the rich grape germplasm found in Turkey has not been sufficiently analyzed genetically. In this study, 31 grapevine accessions from 'Dimrit' (or 'Dilmit') and 'Gemre' grape groups were genetically analyzed at eight SSR (microsatellite) loci (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD24, VVMD27, VVMD28, VrZAG62 and VrZAG79) and for a number of ampeolographic characteristics. These analyses identified sufficient genetic diversity between these two grape groups that, in general, clustered separately in the dendrogram constructed based on the SSR data. However, the ecogeographical distribution and genetic relationship of the genotypes did not show any significant correlation. Two 'Gemre' accessions were determined as genetically identical. In addition, one case of synonym and several cases of homonym genotypes were identified. The results reported here are important first steps towards better characterization of these grape genotypes and would aid future germplasm management and breeding efforts.

The Coset Spin-4 Casimir Operator and Its Three-Point Functions with Scalars

We find the GKO coset construction of the dimension 4 Casimir operator that contains the quartic WZW currents contracted with completely symmetric SU(N) invariant tensors of ranks 4, 3, and 2. The requirements, that the operator product expansion with the diagonal current is regular and it should be primary under the coset Virasoro generator of dimension 2, fix all the coefficients in spin-4 current, up to two unknown coefficients. The operator product expansion of coset primary spin-3 field with itself fixes them completely. We compute the three-point functions with scalars for all values of the 't Hooft coupling in the large N limit. At fixed 't Hooft coupling, these three-point functions are dual to that found by Chang and Yin recently in the undeformed AdS_3 bulk theory (higher spin gravity with matter).Comment: 65 pages; the ambiguity for the two coefficient functions is clarified and the abstract, the introduction, the subsection 3.4 and the conclusion are improved and to appear in JHE