Simple, shock-free, quick-release connector - A concept

Connector concept is based on characteristics of friction between sliding surfaces and consists of two packs of foil strips. Advantages of this connector are - separation is smooth and shock-free, and connector can also act as a seal. Equation for computing tensile load-carrying capability is also given

Ammoniacal Sulphate Leach of Ananconda Zinc Calcine Recovery of the Zinc by Electrolysis.

Zinc is produced from ores by two general methods, distillation and electrolysis. The general principles involved in the electrolytic zinc process of today were known as far back as 1880. Difficulties encountered in purifying the solution for electrolysis and lack of suitable mechanical apparatus were the main reasons that such a long time elapsed before the process was used to produce zinc in commercial quantities

Construction and Characterization of an Extended Helicon Plasma Source

A new helicon source has been developed for plasma processing applications. The source is a modification of the traditional cylindrical helicon source design to rectangular geometry. In order to accomplish this, the antenna used for launching helicon waves is stretched in the direction perpendicular to the static magnetic field lines. This source was coupled to a long rectangular slab chamber which is used for the actual material processing. A static magnetic field of -200 Gauss peak strength, pointing out from the source into the diffusion region, was applied to facilitate helicon wave propagation. 13.56 MHz rf power was used to excite the magnetized plasma along the slab, and a rectangular diffusion chamber was attached to the side of the new source. Langmuir probes were used extensively to characterize the plasma produced in the new chamber. Careful attention was given to rt and other perturbing effects on Langmuir probe traces. Probes were constructed to minimize perturbing effects, and measurements of electron energy distribution functions, plasma and floating potentials, and density are presented for a variety of conditions. The extended source is shown to produce large regions of 1012 cm-3 density plasma in argon under some weak magnetic field conditions. Magnetic induction probes were used to examine the structure of waves in the extended chamber. A 10 x 10 x 50 cm source, with an appropriate antenna is shown to excite waves of 12 cm wavelength for certain magnetic field configurations. The theory of wave propagation along magnetic field lines in rectangular geometry is presented here for the first time. Favorable comparisons between the theoretical model and experimental results indicate that the model may be of use for designing improved extended sources. This work shows that an extended helicon source can be used to generate large areas of uniform plasma in chambers of relatively small volume. Scaling of the slab source in either cylindrical ring- or rectangular-type chambers should have little effect on the physics of the source operation. Application of this technology may include areas outside of microelectronics processing, such as hardening layers for large objects, or plasma source ion implantation. Also included is a brief discussion of the work necessary to improve the applicability of this prototype tool for those plasma processing applications

Theology, News and Notes - Vol. 16, No. 01

Theology News & Notes was a theological journal published by Fuller Theological Seminary from 1954 through 2014.https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/tnn/1037/thumbnail.jp

An integrated cell-free metabolic platform for protein production and synthetic biology

Cell-free systems offer a unique platform for expanding the capabilities of natural biological systems for useful purposes, i.e. synthetic biology. They reduce complexity, remove structural barriers, and do not require the maintenance of cell viability. Cell-free systems, however, have been limited by their inability to co-activate multiple biochemical networks in a single integrated platform. Here, we report the assessment of biochemical reactions in an Escherichia coli cell-free platform designed to activate natural metabolism, the Cytomim system. We reveal that central catabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, and protein synthesis can be co-activated in a single reaction system. Never before have these complex systems been shown to be simultaneously activated without living cells. The Cytomim system therefore promises to provide the metabolic foundation for diverse ab initio cell-free synthetic biology projects. In addition, we describe an improved Cytomim system with enhanced protein synthesis yields (up to 1200 mg/l in 2 h) and lower costs to facilitate production of protein therapeutics and biochemicals that are difficult to make in vivo because of their toxicity, complexity, or unusual cofactor requirements

Sociodemographic and Disease Correlates of Body Image Distress among Patients with Systemic Sclerosis

Body image concerns are infrequently studied in systemic sclerosis (SSc), even though significant visible disfigurement is common. The objective of this study was to identify sociodemographic and disease-related correlates of dissatisfaction with appearance and social discomfort among people with SSc.SSc patients came from the 15-center Canadian Scleroderma Research Group Registry. Sociodemographic information was based on patient self-report. Disease characteristics were obtained via physician examinations. The Brief-SWAP was used to assess dissatisfaction with appearance and social discomfort. Structural equation models were conducted with MPlus to determine the relationship of dissatisfaction with appearance and social discomfort with age, sex, education, marital status, race/ethnicity, disease duration, skin involvement, telangiectasias, skin pigmentation changes, and hand contractures.A total of 489 SSc patients (432 female, 57 male) were included. Extent of skin involvement was significantly associated with both dissatisfaction with appearance and social discomfort (standardized regression coefficients = 0.02, p = 0.001; 0.02, p = 0.020, respectively), as was skin involvement in the face (0.18, p = 0.016; 0.23, p = 0.006, respectively). Greater social discomfort was robustly associated with younger age (-0.017, p<0.001) and upper-body telangiectasias (0.32, p = 0.021). Dissatisfaction with appearance was associated with hand contractures (0.07, p = 0.036).This study found that dissatisfaction with appearance and social discomfort were associated with numerous disfiguring characteristics of SSc, in addition to age. These results underline that there are multiple factors contributing to body image distress in SSc, as well as the need to attend to both disease and social contexts in understanding the impact of disfigurement among patients

Amplitude Reduction and Phase Shifts of Melatonin, Cortisol and Other Circadian Rhythms after a Gradual Advance of Sleep and Light Exposure in Humans

Background: The phase and amplitude of rhythms in physiology and behavior are generated by circadian oscillators and entrained to the 24-h day by exposure to the light-dark cycle and feedback from the sleep-wake cycle. The extent to which the phase and amplitude of multiple rhythms are similarly affected during altered timing of light exposure and the sleepwake cycle has not been fully characterized. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the phase and amplitude of the rhythms of melatonin, core body temperature, cortisol, alertness, performance and sleep after a perturbation of entrainment by a gradual advance of the sleep-wake schedule (10 h in 5 days) and associated light-dark cycle in 14 healthy men. The light-dark cycle consisted either of moderate intensity ‘room ’ light (,90–150 lux) or moderate light supplemented with bright light (,10,000 lux) for 5 to 8 hours following sleep. After the advance of the sleep-wake schedule in moderate light, no significant advance of the melatonin rhythm was observed whereas, after bright light supplementation the phase advance was 8.1 h (SEM 0.7 h). Individual differences in phase shifts correlated across variables. The amplitude of the melatonin rhythm assessed under constant conditions was reduced after moderate light by 54 % (17–94%) and after bright light by 52 % (range 12–84%), as compared to the amplitude at baseline in the presence of a sleep-wake cycle. Individual differences in amplitude reduction of the melatonin rhythm correlated with the amplitude of body temperature, cortisol and alertness