The integration of system specifications and program coding

Experience in maintaining up-to-date documentation for one module of the large-scale Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System 2 (MEDLARS 2) is described. Several innovative techniques were explored in the development of this system's data management environment, particularly those that use PL/I as an automatic documenter. The PL/I data description section can provide automatic documentation by means of a master description of data elements that has long and highly meaningful mnemonic names and a formalized technique for the production of descriptive commentary. The techniques discussed are practical methods that employ the computer during system development in a manner that assists system implementation, provides interim documentation for customer review, and satisfies some of the deliverable documentation requirements

CO2-selective, Hybrid Membranes by Silation of Alumina

Hybrid membranes are feasible candidates for the separation of CO2 from gas produced in coal-based power generation since they have the potential to combine the high selectivity of polymer membranes and the high permeability of inorganic membranes. An interesting method for producing hybrid membranes is the silation of an inorganic membrane. In this method, trichloro- or alkoxy-silanes interact with hydroxyl groups on the surface of γ-AlO3 or TiO2, binding organic groups to that surface. By varying the length of these organic groups on the organosilane, it should be possible to tailor the effective pore size of the membrane. Similarly, the addition of “CO2-phillic” groups to the silating agent allows for the careful control of surface affinity and the enhancement of surface diffusion mechanisms. This method of producing hybrid membranes selective to CO2 was first attempted by Hyun [1] who silated TiO2 with phenyltriethoxysilane. Later, Way [2] silated γ-AlO3 with octadecyltrichlorosilane. Both researchers were successful in producing membranes with improved selectivity toward CO2, but permeability was not maintained at a commercially applicable level. XPS data indicated that the silating agent did not penetrate into the membrane pores and separation actually occurred in a thin “polymer-like” surface layer. The present study attempts to overcome the mass transfer problems associated with this technique by producing the desired monolayer coverage of silane, and thus develop a highly-permeable CO2-selective hybrid membrane

Perfluorooctanoic Acid–Induced Immunomodulation in Adult C57BL/6J or C57BL/6N Female Mice

BackgroundPerfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an environmentally persistent compound of regulatory concern, has been reported to reduce antibody responses in mice at a single dose.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate PFOA effects on humoral and cellular immunity using standard assays for assessing immune function, and to derive dose–response data.MethodsC57BL/6J mice received 0 or 30 mg PFOA/kg/day for 10 days; half of the exposed groups were switched to vehicle and half continued on PFOA for five days. C57BL/6N mice received 0–30 mg/kg/day of PFOA in drinking water for 15 days. Mice were immunized with sheep red blood cells or sensitized to bovine serum albumin in Freund’s complete adjuvant on day 10 of exposure; immune responses were determined 1 day post-exposure.ResultsWe found that 30 mg PFOA/kg/day given for 10 or 15 days reduced IgM synthesis; serum collected 1 day postexposure contained 8.4 × 104 or 2.7 × 105 ng PFOA/mL, respectively. IgM synthesis was suppressed at exposures ≥ 3.75 mg PFOA/kg/day in a dose-dependent manner, and IgG titers were elevated at 3.75 and 7.5 mg PFOA/kg/day. Serum PFOA at 3.75 mg/kg/day was 7.4 × 104 ng/mL 1 day postexposure, or 150-fold greater than the levels reported in individuals living near a PFOA production site. Using a second-degree polynomial model, we calculated a benchmark dose of 3 mg/kg/day, with a lower bound (95% confidence limit) of 1.75 mg/kg/day. Cell-mediated function was not affected.ConclusionsIgM antibodies were suppressed after PFOA exposure. The margin of exposure for reduced IgM antibody synthesis was approximately 150 for highly exposed human populations

Comparison to Hepatotoxicity and Nephrotoxicity

. The immunotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity of subacute exposure to carbon tetrachloride (CCI4) were evaluated in young adult (8-9 weeks old) male Fischer 344 rats dosed by gavage with CCI4 for 10 consecutive days at 0, 5, 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg/day. Two days following the last treatment rats were evaluated for alterations in immune function by monitoring the following; body and lymphoid organ weights; mitogen and mixed leukocyte reaction lymphoproliferative responses; natural killer cell activity; and cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. A separate group of similarly dosed rats was immunized with sheep red blood cells (SRBQ on Day 9 of dosing, and the primary antibody response was assessed 4 days later. Hepatic and renal toxicity were assessed 2 days after the last treatment by monitoring organ weights, serum indicators of hepatic and renal damage, and hepatic cytochrome P450 levels, as well as by histological evaluation. Significant increases in relative liver weights were observed in rats dosed at 40 mg/kg/day. Histologically, these livers displayed mild to moderate vacuolar degeneration and minimal to mild hepatocellular necrosis. In addition, serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were elevated at this dosage, as well as at 20 mg/kg/day. There were no renal effects observed at these dosages of CCU. In addition, no consistent alterations were observed in the immune parameters examined in these same animals nor in the rats immunized with SRBC. Furthermore, there was no difference in the antibody response to SRBC in another set of rats dosed at 40, 80, or 160 mg/kg/day CCI4. These results indicate that CCU is not immunotoxic in the rat at dosages that produce overt hepatotoxicity. C 1991 Socitty of Toxicology

Ionic Liquid Membranes for Carbon Dioxide Separation

Recent scientific studies are rapidly advancing novel technological improvements and engineering developments that demonstrate the ability to minimize, eliminate, or facilitate the removal of various contaminants and green house gas emissions in power generation. The Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) shows promise for carbon dioxide mitigation not only because of its higher efficiency as compared to conventional coal firing plants, but also due to a higher driving force in the form of high partial pressure. One of the novel technological concepts currently being developed and investigated is membranes for carbon dioxide (CO2) separation, due to simplicity and ease of scaling. A challenge in using membranes for CO2 capture in IGCC is the possibility of failure at elevated temperatures or pressures. Our earlier research studies examined the use of ionic liquids on various supports for CO2 separation over the temperature range, 37°C-300°C. The ionic liquid, 1-hexyl-3methylimidazolium Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, ([hmim][Tf2N]), was chosen for our initial studies with the following supports: polysulfone (PSF), poly(ether sulfone) (PES), and cross-linked nylon. The PSF and PES supports had similar performance at room temperature, but increasing temperature caused the supported membranes to fail. The ionic liquid with the PES support greatly affected the glass transition temperature, while with the PSF, the glass transition temperature was only slightly depressed. The cross-linked nylon support maintained performance without degradation over the temperature range 37-300°C with respect to its permeability and selectivity. However, while the cross-linked nylon support was able to withstand temperatures, the permeability continued to increase and the selectivity decreased with increasing temperature. Our studies indicated that further testing should examine the use of other ionic liquids, including those that form chemical complexes with CO2 based on amine interactions. The hypothesis is that the performance at the elevated temperatures could be improved by allowing a facilitated transport mechanism to become dominant. Several amine-based ionic liquids were tested on the cross-linked nylon support. It was found that using the amine-based ionic liquid did improve selectivity and permeability at higher temperature. The hypothesis was confirmed, and it was determined that the type of amine used also played a role in facilitated transport. Given the appropriate aminated ionic liquid with the cross-linked nylon support, it is possible to have a membrane capable of separating CO2 at IGCC conditions. With this being the case, the research has expanded to include separation of other constituents besides CO2 (CO, H2S, etc.) and if they play a role in membrane poisoning or degradation. This communication will discuss the operation of the recently fabricated ionic liquid membranes and the impact of gaseous components other than CO2 on their performance and stability

Development of Practical Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes: A Systematic Approach

Supported liquid membranes (SLMs) are a class of materials that allow the researcher to utilize the wealth of knowledge available on liquid properties to optimize membrane performance. These membranes also have the advantage of liquid phase diffusivities, which are higher than those observed in polymers and grant proportionally greater permeabilities. The primary shortcoming of the supported liquid membranes demonstrated in past research has been the lack of stability caused by volatilization of the transport liquid. Ionic liquids, which may possess high CO2 solubility relative to light gases such as H2, are excellent candidates for this type of membrane since they are stable at elevated temperatures and have negligible vapor pressure. A study has been conducted evaluating the use of a variety of ionic liquids in supported ionic liquid membranes for the capture of CO2 from streams containing H2. In a joint project, researchers at the University of Notre Dame synthesized and characterized ionic liquids, and researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory incorporated candidate ionic liquids into supports and evaluated membrane performance for the resulting materials. Several steps have been taken in the development of practical supported ionic liquid membranes. Proof-of-concept was established by showing that ionic liquids could be used as the transport media in SLMs. Results showed that ionic liquids are suitable media for gas transport, but the preferred polymeric supports were not stable at temperatures above 135oC. The use of cross-linked nylon66 supports was found to produce membranes mechanically stable at temperatures exceeding 300oC but CO2/H2 selectivity was poor. An ionic liquid whose selectivity does not decrease with increasing temperature was needed, and a functionalized ionic liquid that complexes with CO2 was used. An increase in CO2/H2 selectivity with increasing temperature over the range of 37 to 85oC was observed and the dominance of a facilitated transport mechanism established. The presentation will detail membrane development, the effect of increasing transmembrane pressure, and preliminary results dealing with other gas pairs and contaminants

Carbon Dioxide Selective Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes: The Effect of Contaminants

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is widely viewed as a promising technology for the large scale production of energy in a carbon constrained world. These cycles, which include gasification, contaminant removal, water-gas shift, CO2 capture and compression, and combustion of the reduced-carbon fuel gas in a turbine, often have significant efficiency advantages over conventional combustion technologies. A CO2 selective membrane capable of maintaining performance at conditions approaching those of low temperature water-gas shift (260oC) could facilitate the production of carbon-neutral energy by simultaneously driving the shift reaction to completion and concentrating CO2 for sequestration. Supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) have been previously evaluated for this application and determined to be physically and chemically stable to temperatures in excess of 300oC. These membranes were based on ionic liquids which interacted physically with CO2 and diminished considerably in selectivity at higher temperatures. To alleviate this problem, the original ionic liquids were replaced with ionic liquids able to form chemical complexes with CO2. These complexing ionic liquid membranes have a local maximum in selectivity which is observed at increasing temperatures for more stable complexes. Efforts are currently underway to develop ionic liquids with selectivity maxima at temperatures greater than 75oC, the best result to date, but other practical concerns must also be addressed if the membrane is to be realistically expected to function under water-gas shift conditions. A CO2 selective membrane must function not only at high temperature, but also in the presence of all the reactants and contaminants likely to be present in coal-derived fuel gas, including water, CO, and H2S. A study has been undertaken which examines the effects of each of these gases on both complexing and physically interacting supported liquid membranes. In a joint project, researchers at the University of Notre Dame synthesized and characterized ionic liquids, and researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory incorporated candidate ionic liquids into supports and evaluated the resulting materials for membrane performance

Search for the Lepton-Number-Violating Decay Ξ−→pμ−μ−\Xi^- \to p \mu^- \mu^-

A sensitive search for the lepton-number-violating decay $\Xi^-\to p \mu^-\mu^-$ has been performed using a sample of $\sim10^9$ $\Xi^-$ hyperons produced in 800 GeV/$c$ $p$-Cu collisions. We obtain $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^-\to p \mu^-\mu^-)< 4.0\times 10^{-8}$ at 90% confidence, improving on the best previous limit by four orders of magnitude.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Observation of Parity Violation in the Omega-minus -> Lambda + K-minus Decay

The alpha decay parameter in the process Omega-minus -> Lambda + K-minus has been measured from a sample of 4.50 million unpolarized Omega-minus decays recorded by the HyperCP (E871) experiment at Fermilab and found to be [1.78 +/- 0.19(stat) +/- 0.16(syst)]{\times}10^{-2}. This is the first unambiguous evidence for a nonzero alpha decay parameter, and hence parity violation, in the Omega-minus -> Lambda + K-minus decay.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure