Development of improved platelock for Mariner type sealed AgO-Zn cells, part 2, 20 August 1968 - 10 January 1969

Silver zinc battery with improved platelock for sealed Mariner cell

Storage battery comprising negative plates of a wedge shaped configuration

An improved silver-zinc battery particularly suited for use in an environment where battery operation is subjected to multiple charge/discharge cycling over extended periods is described. The battery seperator system, containing a highly absorbent material continguous with the surfaces of the plates and multiple semi-permeable membranes interposed between the plates, is also characterized

High cycle life sealed silver oxide-zinc cell development Final report, 14 Feb. 1969 - 20 Jun. 1970

Developing sealed silver-zinc cell for power supply on interplanetary spacecraf

Reference Sediment Selection in the Lower Mississippi Delta

Floodplain deposition has been a critical part in the evolution of Arkansas\u27 Delta ecoregion, and because ofits high potential for such events, this region is highly enriched and extremely fertile. Historically, water quality in the area has been the subject ofscientific study, and as a result littlehas been published on the effects of underlying sediment with associated benthic communities. Sediment analysis is critical to many of the ongoing aquatic studies because ofits significance as both a habitat for benthic organisms and a sink for contaminants. Seven rivers and one creek within the Delta ecoregion were examined for water chemistry, sediment characterization, and sediment toxicity to determine survival and growth of Chironomus tentans. Greatest midge growth occurred insediment collected from Black River site A; additionally, those sediments were high in silt content (\u3e80%) and supported high midge survival. The results of combined characterization and biological test methods indicated that the Black River (site A) was the sediment that met criteria set by the researchers and was suitable to use as a reference control sediment forfuture Delta toxicity testing

DETERMINANTS OF WHOLESALE BEEF-CUT PRICES

Key determinants of monthly wholesale prices for 12 beef cuts include the quantity of the specific cut, stickiness in prices, marketing costs, quantities of pork and chicken, and seasonality. Seasonal patterns across the respective cuts are very different. Relative to the price in December, prices at the wholesale level in other months can be as much as 6 percent lower to as much as 21 percent higher.Wholesale prices, Beef cuts, Seasonality, Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Bacterial Cellulose for the Production of Nanocrystals for the Food Packaging Industry

Bacterial cellulose nanocrystals (BCNCs) obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis have been loaded in pullulan biopolymer for use as nanoparticles in the generation of high-oxygen barrier coatings intended for food packaging applications. Bacterial cellulose (BC) produced by Komagataeibacter sucrofermentans was hydrolyzed by two different enzymatic treatments, i.e., using endo-1,4-\u3b2-glucanases (EGs) from Thermobifida halotolerans and cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. The hydrolytic activity was compared by means of turbidity experiments over a period of 145 h, whereas BCNCs in their final state were compared, in terms of size and morphology, by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Though both treatments led to particles of similar size, a greater amount of nano-sized particles ( 48250 nm) were observed in the system that also included cellulase enzymes. Unexpectedly, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that cellulose nanoparticles were round-shaped and made of 4-5 short (150-180 nm) piled whiskers. Pullulan/BCNCs nanocomposite coatings allowed an increase in the overall oxygen barrier performance, of more than two and one orders of magnitude ( 480.7 mL\ub7m-2\ub724 h-1), of pure polyethylene terephthalate (PET) ( 48120 mL\ub7m-2\ub724 h-1) as well as pullulan/coated PET ( 486 mL\ub7m-2\ub724 h-1), with no significant difference between treatments (hydrolysis mediated by EGs or with the addition of cellulase). BCNCs obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis have the potential to generate high oxygen barrier coatings for the food packaging industry

Mechanical behavior of biopolymer composite coatings on plastic films by depth-sensing indentation : a nanoscale study

Fundamental physical behaviors of materials at the nanoscale level are crucial when local aspects govern the macroscale performance of nanocomposites, e.g., interface and surface phenomena. Because of the increasing interest in biopolymer nanocomposite coatings for many different applications (e.g., optical devices, displays/screens, and packaging), this work investigates the potential of nanoindentation as a method for clarifying the interplay between distinct phases (i.e., organic and inorganic) at local level in thin biopolymer films loaded with nanoparticles. The nanomechanical features of pullulan nanocomposite coatings laid on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were quantified in terms of elastic modulus (E), hardness (H), and creep (C) through an instrumented indentation test composed of a loading-holding-unloading cycle. Colloidal silica (CS) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were used as spherical and rod-like nanoparticles, respectively. An overall reinforcing effect was shown for all nanocomposite coatings over the pristine (unfilled) pullulan coating. A size effect was also disclosed for the CS-loaded surfaces, with the highest E value recorded for the largest particles (8.19\u202f\ub1\u202f0.35\u202fGPa) and the highest H value belonging to the smallest ones (395.41\u202f\ub1\u202f25.22\u202fMPa). Comparing CS and CNCs, the addition of spherical nanoparticles had a greater effect on the surface hardness than cellulose nanowhiskers (353.50\u202f\ub1\u202f83.52\u202fMPa and 321.36\u202f\ub1\u202f43.26\u202fMPa, respectively). As for the elastic modulus, the addition of CS did not provide any improvement over both the bare and CNC-loaded pullulan coatings, whereas the coating including CNCs exhibited higher E values (p\u202f<\u202f.05). Finally, CS-loaded pullulan coatings were the best performing in terms of C properties, with an average indentation depth of 16.5\u202f\ub1\u202f1.85\u202fnm under a load of 3c190\u202f\u3bcN. These results are discussed in terms of local distribution gradients, surface chemistry of nanoparticles, and how nanoparticle aggregation occurred in the dry nanocomposite coatings

Assessing the validity of using serious game technology to analyze physician decision making

Background: Physician non-compliance with clinical practice guidelines remains a critical barrier to high quality care. Serious games (using gaming technology for serious purposes) have emerged as a method of studying physician decision making. However, little is known about their validity. Methods: We created a serious game and evaluated its construct validity. We used the decision context of trauma triage in the Emergency Department of non-trauma centers, given widely accepted guidelines that recommend the transfer of severely injured patients to trauma centers. We designed cases with the premise that the representativeness heuristic influences triage (i.e. physicians make transfer decisions based on archetypes of severely injured patients rather than guidelines). We randomized a convenience sample of emergency medicine physicians to a control or cognitive load arm, and compared performance (disposition decisions, number of orders entered, time spent per case). We hypothesized that cognitive load would increase the use of heuristics, increasing the transfer of representative cases and decreasing the transfer of non-representative cases. Findings: We recruited 209 physicians, of whom 168 (79%) began and 142 (68%) completed the task. Physicians transferred 31% of severely injured patients during the game, consistent with rates of transfer for severely injured patients in practice. They entered the same average number of orders in both arms (control (C): 10.9 [SD 4.8] vs. cognitive load (CL):10.7 [SD 5.6], p = 0.74), despite spending less time per case in the control arm (C: 9.7 [SD 7.1] vs. CL: 11.7 [SD 6.7] minutes, p<0.01). Physicians were equally likely to transfer representative cases in the two arms (C: 45% vs. CL: 34%, p = 0.20), but were more likely to transfer non-representative cases in the control arm (C: 38% vs. CL: 26%, p = 0.03). Conclusions: We found that physicians made decisions consistent with actual practice, that we could manipulate cognitive load, and that load increased the use of heuristics, as predicted by cognitive theory. © 2014 Mohan et al