Alignment, mechanical and thermo-physical characterization of nanofiber-reinforced polyethylene

Alignment of vapor grown carbon nano-reinforced polyethylene composites was performed using conventional extrusion processing methods. The alignment of the nanofibers within polyethylene, PE; the matrix, produced a material with anisotropic behavior. Mechanical and thermo-physical properties of the nanocomposite were studied. Enhancements in mechanical properties were investigated for pure PE, misaligned, and aligned specimens for stress versus strain, maximum load, and Young\u27s modulus as high as 185, 273, and 80%, respectively. In fact, toughness was considerably high for the 10 rpm specimen when compared to other samples of different windup speeds. Thermo-physical studies were performed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). DSC scans showed crystal rearrangements due to induced crystallization caused by the alignment in the nanocomposite material. TGA demonstrated no effect in % weight loss from humidity adherence, and thermal stability was produced from the alignment and nanofiber content in the nanocomposite

BoostNet: Bootstrapping detection of socialbots, and a case study from Guatemala

We present a method to reconstruct networks of socialbots given minimal input. Then we use Kernel Density Estimates of Botometer scores from 47,000 social networking accounts to find clusters of automated accounts, discovering over 5,000 socialbots. This statistical and data driven approach allows for inference of thresholds for socialbot detection, as illustrated in a case study we present from Guatemala.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF RADIATION ON AGING CONCRETE STRUCTURES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) is responsible for the Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear facilities throughout the DOE Complex. Some of these facilities will be completely dismantled, while others will be partially dismantled and the remaining structure will be stabilized with cementitious fill materials. The latter is a process known as In-Situ Decommissioning (ISD). The ISD decision process requires a detailed understanding of the existing facility conditions, and operational history. System information and material properties are need for aged nuclear facilities. This literature review investigated the properties of aged concrete structures affected by radiation. In particular, this review addresses the Savannah River Site (SRS) isotope production nuclear reactors. The concrete in the reactors at SRS was not seriously damaged by the levels of radiation exposure. Loss of composite compressive strength was the most common effect of radiation induced damage documented at nuclear power plants

In Situ Decommissioning Sensor Network, Meso-Scale Test Bed - Phase 3 Fluid Injection Test Summary Report

The DOE Office of Environmental management (DOE EM) faces the challenge of decommissioning thousands of excess nuclear facilities, many of which are highly contaminated. A number of these excess facilities are massive and robust concrete structures that are suitable for isolating the contained contamination for hundreds of years, and a permanent decommissioning end state option for these facilities is in situ decommissioning (ISD). The ISD option is feasible for a limited, but meaningfull number of DOE contaminated facilities for which there is substantial incremental environmental, safety, and cost benefits versus alternate actions to demolish and excavate the entire facility and transport the rubble to a radioactive waste landfill. A general description of an ISD project encompasses an entombed facility; in some cases limited to the blow-grade portion of a facility. However, monitoring of the ISD structures is needed to demonstrate that the building retains its structural integrity and the contaminants remain entombed within the grout stabilization matrix. The DOE EM Office of Deactivation and Decommissioning and Facility Engineering (EM-13) Program Goal is to develop a monitoring system to demonstrate long-term performance of closed nuclear facilities using the ISD approach. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has designed and implemented the In Situ Decommissioning Sensor Network, Meso-Scale Test Bed (ISDSN-MSTB) to address the feasibility of deploying a long-term monitoring system into an ISD closed nuclear facility. The ISDSN-MSTB goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of installing and operating a remote sensor network to assess cementitious material durability, moisture-fluid flow through the cementitious material, and resulting transport potential for contaminate mobility in a decommissioned closed nuclear facility. The original ISDSN-MSTB installation and remote sensor network operation was demonstrated in FY 2011-12 at the ISDSN-MSTB test cube located at the Florida International University Applied Research Center, Miami, FL (FIU-ARC). A follow-on fluid injection test was developed to detect fluid and ion migration in a cementitious material/grouted test cube using a limited number of existing embedded sensor systems. This In Situ Decommissioning Sensor Network, Meso-Scale Test Bed (ISDSN-MSTB) - Phase 3 Fluid Injection Test Summary Report summarizes the test implementation, acquired and processed data, and results from the activated embedded sensor systems used during the fluid injection test. The ISDSN-MSTB Phase 3 Fluid Injection Test was conducted from August 27 through September 6, 2013 at the FIU-ARC ISDSN-MSTB test cube. The fluid injection test activated a portion of the existing embedded sensor systems in the ISDSN-MSTB test cube: Electrical Resistivity Tomography-Thermocouple Sensor Arrays, Advance Tensiometer Sensors, and Fiber Loop Ringdown Optical Sensors. These embedded sensor systems were activated 15 months after initial placement. All sensor systems were remotely operated and data acquisition was completed through the established Sensor Remote Access System (SRAS) hosted on the DOE D&D Knowledge Management Information Tool (D&D DKM-IT) server. The ISDN Phase 3 Fluid Injection Test successfully demonstrated the feasibility of embedding sensor systems to assess moisture-fluid flow and resulting transport potential for contaminate mobility through a cementitious material/grout monolith. The ISDSN embedded sensor systems activated for the fluid injection test highlighted the robustness of the sensor systems and the importance of configuring systems in-depth (i.e., complementary sensors and measurements) to alleviate data acquisition gaps

Reactivos intermediarios del nitrógeno: un mecanismo de defensa contra la infección.

Los reactivos intermediarios del nitrógeno (RNI) comprenden el óxido nitrico (NO), los nitritos (NO2) y los nitratos (NO3). Estos compuestos constituyen un mecanismo antimicrobiano diferente al de los radicales del oxígeno, ejercen acción antibacteriana, antiparasitaria, antimicótica y antitumoral, actuando en general contra patógenos intracelulares