1,520 research outputs found
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Polyamide Nanocomposites for Selective Laser Sintering
Current polyamide 11 and 12 are lacking in fire retardancy and high strength/high
heat resistance characteristics for a plethora of finished parts that are desired and required
for performance driven applications. It is anticipated that nanomodification of polyamide
11 and 12 will result in enhanced polymer performance, i.e., fire retardancy, high strength
and high heat resistance for polyamide 11 and 12. It is expected that these findings will
expand the market opportunities for polyamide 11 and 12 resin manufacturers.
The objective of this research is to develop improved polyamide 11 and 12 polymers
with enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser
sintering (SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). A nanophase was introduced into the
polyamide 11 and 12 via twin screw extrusion to provide improved material properties of
the polymer blends. Arkema RILSAN® polyamide 11 molding polymer pellets and
Degussa VESTAMID® L1670 polyamide 12 were examined with three types of
nanoparticles: chemically modified montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays, surface
modified nanosilica, and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) to create polyamide 11 and 12
nanocomposites.
Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
were used to determine the degree of dispersion. Injection molded test specimens were
fabricated for physical, thermal, mechanical properties, and flammability tests. Thermal
stability of these polyamide 11 and 12 nanocomposites was examined by TGA.
Mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and elongation at break were measured.
Flammability properties were also obtained using the Cone Calorimeter at an external
heat flux of 50 kW/m2. TEM micrographs, physical, mechanical, and flammability
properties are included in the paper. Polyamide 11 and 12 nanocomposites properties are
compared with polyamide 11 and 12 baseline polymers. Based on flammability and
mechanical material performance, selective polymers including polyamide 11
nanocomposites and control polyamide 11 were cryogenically ground into fine powders
and fabricated into SLS parts.Mechanical Engineerin
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Innovative Selective Laser Sintering Rapid Manufacturing using Nanotechnology
The objective of this research is to develop an improved nylon 11 (polyamide 11) polymer
with enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser sintering
(SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). A nanophase was introduced into nylon 11 via twin screw
extrusion to provide improved material properties of the polymer blends. Atofina (now known
as Arkema) RILSAN® nylon 11 injection molding polymer pellets was used with three types of
nanoparticles: chemically modified montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays, nanosilica, and carbon
nanofibers (CNF) to create nylon 11 nanocomposites. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD)
and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to determine the degree of dispersion.
Fifteen nylon 11 nanocomposites and control nylon 11 were fabricated by injection molding.
Flammability properties (using a cone calorimeter with a radiant flux of 50 kW/m2
) and
mechanical properties such as tensile strength and modulus, flexural modulus, elongation at
break were determined for the nylon 11 nanocomposites and compared with the baseline nylon
11. Based on flammability and mechanical material performance, five polymers including four
nylon 11 nanocomposites and a control nylon 11 were cryogenically ground into fine powders
for SLS RM. SLS specimens were fabricated for flammability, mechanical, and thermal
properties characterization. Nylon 11-CNF nanocomposites exhibited the best overall properties
for this study.Mechanical Engineerin
Structure and Magnetism of Neutral and Anionic Palladium Clusters
The properties of neutral and anionic Pd_N clusters were investigated with
spin-density-functional calculations. The ground state structures are
three-dimensional for N>3 and they are magnetic with a spin-triplet for 2<=N<=7
and a spin nonet for N=13 neutral clusters. Structural- and spin-isomers were
determined and an anomalous increase of the magnetic moment with temperature is
predicted for a Pd_7 ensemble. Vertical electron detachment and ionization
energies were calculated and the former agree well with measured values for
anionic Pd_N clusters.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, fig. 2 in color, accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett.
(2001
Parametric Analysis of a Heavy Metal Sorption Isotherm Based on Fractional Calculus
Heavy metals are widely recognized as being hazardous to human health and environmentally aggressive. The literature reports different approaches for lead removal, for example, water hyacinths. Heavy metal sorption isotherm modeling represents an important tool towards the study of equilibrium conditions. Fractional calculus represents a novel approach and a growing research field for process modeling, based on derivatives of arbitrary order. Recently, a novel isotherm based on fractional calculus was proposed for lead sorption using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). This paper reports a general procedure on error analysis and its influence on parameter estimation. It was applied to mathematical models based on fractional differential equations, focusing on a heavy metal novel isotherm sorption model. Parameter variance was calculated by using two different approaches (with the complete Hessian matrix and with a simplified Hessian matrix), and joint parameter confidence regions were generated, being successfully able to show that the fractional nature of the model is statistically valid
Person identification using gait
In this paper, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with and without Radon Transform (RT) are applied for gait recognition purposes. The Radon Transform is used to detect features within an image and PCA is used to the reduce dimension of the images without much loss of information. The side view of slow walk, fast walk and carrying a ball walk have been selected from the CMU MoBo database for experimental purposes. The two techniques experimental result achieved equal recognition rates (EER) of 85.40%, 78.07% and 90.05% for RT with PCA and 85.18%, 80%, and 89.90% for PCA only for slow walk, fast walk and carrying a ball walk respectively
Atypical chemokine receptor 4 shapes activated B cell fate
Activated B cells can initially differentiate into three functionally distinct fates-early plasmablasts (PBs), germinal center (GC) B cells, or early memory B cells-by mechanisms that remain poorly understood. Here, we identify atypical chemokine receptor 4 (ACKR4), a decoy receptor that binds and degrades CCR7 ligands CCL19/CCL21, as a regulator of early activated B cell differentiation. By restricting initial access to splenic interfollicular zones (IFZs), ACKR4 limits the early proliferation of activated B cells, reducing the numbers available for subsequent differentiation. Consequently, ACKR4 deficiency enhanced early PB and GC B cell responses in a CCL19/CCL21-dependent and B cell-intrinsic manner. Conversely, aberrant localization of ACKR4-deficient activated B cells to the IFZ was associated with their preferential commitment to the early PB linage. Our results reveal a regulatory mechanism of B cell trafficking via an atypical chemokine receptor that shapes activated B cell fate
Developing and Implementing a Sustainable, Integrated Weed Management Program for herbicide-resistant Poa annua in turfgrass
The ability of Poa annua L. to adapt to most turfgrass environments extends to its ability to develop resistance to commonly used herbicides. Herbicide resistant P. annua is of almost epidemic proportions. The loss of once viable chemical-based treatments pushes practitioners towards more expensive, and often less effective, control strategies. This management guide focuses on integrated weed management (IWM) practices for P. annua control and herbicide resistance—what it is and how to overcome it. Also discussed are resistance mechanisms and documentation of common occurrences of field-level resistance within much of the United States. Finally, a summary of some of the social and economic constraints that practitioners face in the implementation of IWM strategies for P. annua is discussed
Phenotypic differentiation among native, expansive and introduced populations influences invasion success
Aim: Humans influence species distributions by modifying the environment and by dispersing species beyond their natural ranges. Populations of species that have established in disjunct regions of the world may exhibit trait differentiation from native populations due to founder effects and adaptations to selection pressures in each distributional region. We compared multiple native, expansive and introduced populations of a single species across the world, considering the influence of environmental stressors and transgenerational effects. Location: United States Gulf and Atlantic coasts, United States interior, European Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, east coast of Australia. Taxon: Baccharis halimifolia L. (eastern baccharis). Methods: We monitored seed germination, seedling emergence, survival and early growth in a common garden experiment, conducted with over 18,200 seeds from 80 populations. We also evaluated the influence of environmental stress and maternal traits on progeny performance. Results: Introduced European Atlantic populations had faster germination and early growth than native populations. However, this was not the case for the more recently naturalized European Mediterranean populations. Introduced Australian populations grew faster than native populations in non-saline environments but had lower survival in saline conditions commonly encountered in the native range. Similarly, expansive inland US populations germinated faster than coastal native populations in non-saline environments but grew and germinated more slowly in saline environments. Maternal inflorescence and plant size were positively related with seed germination and seedling survival, whereas flower abundance was positively correlated with seedling early growth and survival. However, maternal traits explained a much lower fraction of the total variation in early demographic stages of B. halimifolia than did distributional range. Main conclusions: Phenotypic differentiation could allow B. halimifolia to adapt to different biotic and abiotic selection pressures found in each distributional range, potentially contributing to its success in introduced and expansive ranges
A Study of Brain Networks Associated with Swallowing Using Graph-Theoretical Approaches
Functional connectivity between brain regions during swallowing tasks is still not well understood. Understanding these complex interactions is of great interest from both a scientific and a clinical perspective. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was utilized to study brain functional networks during voluntary saliva swallowing in twenty-two adult healthy subjects (all females, 23.1±1.52 years of age). To construct these functional connections, we computed mean partial correlation matrices over ninety brain regions for each participant. Two regions were determined to be functionally connected if their correlation was above a certain threshold. These correlation matrices were then analyzed using graph-theoretical approaches. In particular, we considered several network measures for the whole brain and for swallowing-related brain regions. The results have shown that significant pairwise functional connections were, mostly, either local and intra-hemispheric or symmetrically inter-hemispheric. Furthermore, we showed that all human brain functional network, although varying in some degree, had typical small-world properties as compared to regular networks and random networks. These properties allow information transfer within the network at a relatively high efficiency. Swallowing-related brain regions also had higher values for some of the network measures in comparison to when these measures were calculated for the whole brain. The current results warrant further investigation of graph-theoretical approaches as a potential tool for understanding the neural basis of dysphagia. © 2013 Luan et al
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