1,907 research outputs found
Developments in the fluidised bed process for fibre recovery from thermoset composites
Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) is being used in increasing quantities particularly in the transport industry to reduce carbon emissions through weight reduction and in the energy industries for renewable technologies, such as wind turbines. As a high value and energy intensive material to manufacture a good case can be made for recovering and reusing carbon fibre from waste material. A number of companies in Europe and the USA are now in the early stages of commercial operation, but the focus is upon the recycling of clean, uncontaminated scrap from manufacturing processes and it is recognised that CFRP that is mixed with other materials eg. sandwich panels, metal inserts, painted surfaces and composites made from toughened polymers are more difficult to recycle effectively with existing commercial processes. The fluidised bed process developed at the University of Nottingham for recovering carbon fibre from waste composite material has the potential to process mixed and contaminated CFRP waste. The oxidising conditions allow full removal of any organic materials and the fluidised bed effectively separates the carbon fibres from other incombustible materials, such as metals. The process has now been developed to a scale representative of commercial operation and a waste CFRP comprising intermediate modulus carbon fibre and toughened epoxy resin has been processed successfully and good quality recycled fibres recovered. This paper will present the results and discuss the quality of the carbon fibre recovered from the process. A discussion of some of the key requirements to build a viable fluidised bed plant will also be presented
Functionalized micro-capillary film for the rapid at-line analysis of IgG aggregates in a cell culture bioreactor.
A micro-capillary film has been developed that offers the potential for an at-line analytical tool for rapid aggregate analysis during biopharmaceutical antibody production. A non-porous walled micro-capillary film (NMCF) with cation exchange functionality was demonstrated to act as a chromatography medium that could be operated with high linear fluid velocities and was highly resistant to blockage by entrained particulates, including cells. The NMCF containing 19 parallel microcapillaries was prepared using a melt extrusion process from poly(ethylene-vinyl alcohol) copolymer (EVOH). The NMCF-EVOH was modified to have cation-exchange functionality (NMCF-EVOH-SP) and shown to differentially bind monomer and aggregated species of IgG antibody directly from a bioreactor. The use of NMCF-EVOH-SP to quantify aggregate concentrations in monoclonal antibody preparations in less than 20 minutes was demonstrated.The authors would like to thank the EPSRC for the provision of a CASE Award. This study was sponsored by MedImmune, the global biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Taylor & Francis via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2015.106536
Environmental aspects of use of recycled carbon fibre composites in automotive applications
The high cost and energy intensity of virgin carbon fibre manufacture provides an opportunity to recover substantial value from carbon fibre reinforced plastic wastes. In this study, we assess the life cycle environmental implications of recovering carbon fibre and producing composite materials as substitutes for conventional and proposed lightweight materials in automotive applications (e.g., steel, aluminium, virgin carbon fibre). Key parameters for the recycled carbon fibre materials, including fibre volume fraction and fibre alignment, are investigated to identify beneficial uses of recycled carbon fibre in the automotive sector.
Recycled carbon fibre components can achieve the lowest life cycle environmental impacts of all materials considered, although the actual impact is highly dependent on the design criteria (λ value) of the specific component. Low production impacts associated with recycled carbon fibre components are observed relative to lightweight competitor materials (e.g., aluminium, virgin carbon fibre reinforced plastic). In addition, recycled carbon fibre components have low in-use energy use due to mass reductions and associated reduction in mass-induced fuel consumption. The results demonstrate environmental feasibility of the CFRP recycling materials, supporting the emerging commercialisation of CF recycling technologies and identifying significant potential market opportunities in the automotive sector
Holographic Dark Energy Like in Gravity
We investigate the corresponding relation between gravity and
holographic dark energy. We introduce a kind of energy density from
which has role of the same as holographic dark energy.
We obtain the differential equation that specify the evolution of the
introduced energy density parameter based on varying gravitational constant. We
find out a relation for the equation of state parameter to low redshifts which
containing varying correction.Comment: 10 page
Detection of weak gravitational lensing distortions of distant galaxies by cosmic dark matter at large scales
Most of the matter in the universe is not luminous and can be observed
directly only through its gravitational effect. An emerging technique called
weak gravitational lensing uses background galaxies to reveal the foreground
dark matter distribution on large scales. Light from very distant galaxies
travels to us through many intervening overdensities which gravitationally
distort their apparent shapes. The observed ellipticity pattern of these
distant galaxies thus encodes information about the large-scale structure of
the universe, but attempts to measure this effect have been inconclusive due to
systematic errors. We report the first detection of this ``cosmic shear'' using
145,000 background galaxies to reveal the dark matter distribution on angular
scales up to half a degree in three separate lines of sight. The observed
angular dependence of this effect is consistent with that predicted by two
leading cosmological models, providing new and independent support for these
models.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures: To appear in Nature. (This replacement fixes tex
errors and typos.
Structure-guided design of purine-based probes for selective Nek2 inhibition
Nek2 (NIMA-related kinase 2) is a cell cycle-dependent serine/threonine protein kinase that regulates centrosome separation at the onset of mitosis. Overexpression of Nek2 is common in human cancers and suppression can restrict tumor cell growth and promote apoptosis. Nek2 inhibition with small molecules, therefore, offers the prospect of a new therapy for cancer. To achieve this goal, a better understanding of the requirements for selective-inhibition of Nek2 is required. 6-Alkoxypurines were identified as ATP-competitive inhibitors of Nek2 and CDK2. Comparison with CDK2-inhibitor structures indicated that judicious modification of the 6-alkoxy and 2-arylamino substituents could achieve discrimination between Nek2 and CDK2. In this study, a library of 6-cyclohexylmethoxy-2-arylaminopurines bearing carboxamide, sulfonamide and urea substituents on the 2-arylamino ring was synthesized. Few of these compounds were selective for Nek2 over CDK2, with the best result being obtained for 3-((6-(cyclohexylmethoxy)-9H-purin-2-yl)amino)-N,N-dimethylbenzamide (CDK2 IC50 = 7.0 μM; Nek2 IC50 = 0.62 μM) with >10-fold selectivity. Deletion of the 6-substituent abrogated activity against both Nek2 and CDK2. Nine compounds containing an (E)-dialkylaminovinyl substituent at C-6, all showed selectivity for Nek2, e.g. (E)-6-(2-(azepan-1-yl)vinyl)-N-phenyl-9H-purin-2-amine (CDK2 IC50 = 2.70 μM; Nek2 IC50 = 0.27 μM). Structural biology of selected compounds enabled a partial rationalization of the observed structure activity relationships and mechanism of Nek2 activation. This showed that carboxamide 11 is the first reported inhibitor of Nek2 in the DFG-in conformation
Midday measurements of leaf water potential and stomatal conductance are highly correlated with daily water use of Thompson Seedless grapevines
A study was conducted to determine the relationship between midday measurements of vine water status and daily water use of grapevines measured with a weighing lysimeter. Water applications to the vines were terminated on August 24th for 9 days and again on September 14th for 22 days. Daily water use of the vines in the lysimeter (ETLYS) was approximately 40 L vine−1 (5.3 mm) prior to turning the pump off, and it decreased to 22.3 L vine−1 by September 2nd. Pre-dawn leaf water potential (ΨPD) and midday Ψl on August 24th were −0.075 and −0.76 MPa, respectively, with midday Ψl decreasing to −1.28 MPa on September 2nd. Leaf g s decreased from ~500 to ~200 mmol m−2 s−1 during the two dry-down periods. Midday measurements of g s and Ψl were significantly correlated with one another (r = 0.96) and both with ETLYS/ETo (r = ~0.9). The decreases in Ψl, g s, and ETLYS/ETo in this study were also a linear function of the decrease in volumetric soil water content. The results indicate that even modest water stress can greatly reduce grapevine water use and that short-term measures of vine water status taken at midday are a reflection of daily grapevine water us
Global and regional brain metabolic scaling and its functional consequences
Background: Information processing in the brain requires large amounts of
metabolic energy, the spatial distribution of which is highly heterogeneous
reflecting complex activity patterns in the mammalian brain.
Results: Here, it is found based on empirical data that, despite this
heterogeneity, the volume-specific cerebral glucose metabolic rate of many
different brain structures scales with brain volume with almost the same
exponent around -0.15. The exception is white matter, the metabolism of which
seems to scale with a standard specific exponent -1/4. The scaling exponents
for the total oxygen and glucose consumptions in the brain in relation to its
volume are identical and equal to , which is significantly larger
than the exponents 3/4 and 2/3 suggested for whole body basal metabolism on
body mass.
Conclusions: These findings show explicitly that in mammals (i)
volume-specific scaling exponents of the cerebral energy expenditure in
different brain parts are approximately constant (except brain stem
structures), and (ii) the total cerebral metabolic exponent against brain
volume is greater than the much-cited Kleiber's 3/4 exponent. The
neurophysiological factors that might account for the regional uniformity of
the exponents and for the excessive scaling of the total brain metabolism are
discussed, along with the relationship between brain metabolic scaling and
computation.Comment: Brain metabolism scales with its mass well above 3/4 exponen
Differential Disclosure Across Social Network Ties Among Women Living with HIV
Women’s disclosure of their HIV serostatus across social network ties was examined in a sample of women living in Los Angeles (n = 234), using multivariate random intercept logistic regressions. Women with disclosure-averse attitudes were less likely to disclose, while women with higher CD4+ counts were significantly more likely to disclose, regardless of relationship type. Relative to all other types of relationships, spouses/romantic partners were greater than four times more likely to be the targets of disclosure. Women were more than 2.5 times more likely to disclose to a given network member if that target provided the woman with social support. Social network members whom women believed to be HIV-positive were more than 10 times more likely to be the targets of disclosure. The implications for how social roles and social identities are manifest in these results are discussed, including the implications such an interpretation has for future prevention research
CCD photometric search for peculiar stars in open clusters. VI. NGC 1502, NGC 3105, Stock 16, NGC 6268, NGC 7235 and NGC 7510
In a sample of six young open clusters we investigated 1753 objects using the
narrow band, three filter Delta a photometric system resulting in the detection
of eleven bona-fide magnetic chemically peculiar (CP) stars and five Be or
metal-weak stars. The results for the distant cluster NGC 3105 is most
important because of the still unknown influence of the global metallicity
gradient of the Milky Way. These findings confirm that CP stars are present in
open clusters of very young ages (log t > 6.90) at galactocentric distances up
to 11.4 kpc. For all programme clusters the age, reddening, and distance
modulus were derived using the corresponding isochrones. Some additional
variable stars within Stock 16 could be identified by comparing different
photometric studies.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&
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