Material and process problems in the manufacture of coolant reservoir tanks

The programme was concerned with the effects of processing variables on the structure and properties of coolant reservoir tanks. The work was concentrated on the extrusion blow moulding process and on propylene polymers, following an earlier similar research in the Institute on high density polyethylene. We have worked with a company which specialises in technical blow mouldings; the work has dealt with coolant tanks which are required for high temperature, high pressure service in the presence of antifreeze. It soon became apparent that the application made severe demands on polypropylene in that failure was possible by a variety of mechanisms, including environmental stress cracking and ductile blow-out failure. Additionally, the shaping process by extrusion blow moulding was not being carried out in the optimum way, either with respect to process economics or to product properties. Investigation of the surface texture of corn mercial tanks revealed that shrinkage from the mould occurred frequently due to inadequate holdon pressure; this loss of contact gives poor surface finish and retarded cooling. This phase of the research was supported by a programme carried out on the Bradford University equipment and by providing appropriate thermal data for the Bradford mathematical model for cooling. To reduce the cooling cycle time, the efficacy of internal cooling techniques, including forced air cooling and liquid carbon dioxide, was studied. Further, the possibility of shaping polypropylene in the supercooled region was investigated and a double extruder system was developed to examine the shear viscosity of supercooled polymers. The main concern has been failure caused by stress cracking and environmental stress cracking, especially of development grades of propylene polymers. The structures of various ethylene-modified polypropylenes have been elucidated, as have the relationship of structure' to processing history and its relevance to the severe stress cracking encountered. A new method for determining ethylene content of ethylene- propylene systems has been developed, as this is one of the important characteristics of ethylene modified polypropylene. The available processes of manufacturing the coolant reservoir tanks have been considered; in particular, competing methods of manufacture of extrusion blow moulding and injection moulding/welding have been compared. The design of coolant tanks, in particular the wall thickness required, has been examined. Stress analysis, supported by tensile failure and relaxation data, has been carried out to provide background to the failures encountered in practice. Finally, possible new candidate material for the coolant tank application, polypropylene-linear low density polyethylene (ethylene-octene copolymer) blends have been investigated

Topographic design in wearable MXene sensors with in-sensor machine learning for full-body avatar reconstruction

Partial funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund.Wearable strain sensors that detect joint/muscle strain changes become prevalent at human–machine interfaces for full-body motion monitoring. However, most wearable devices cannot offer customizable opportunities to match the sensor characteristics with specific deformation ranges of joints/muscles, resulting in suboptimal performance. Adequate wearable strain sensor design is highly required to achieve user-designated working windows without sacrificing high sensitivity, accompanied with real-time data processing. Herein, wearable Ti3C2Tx MXene sensor modules are fabricated with in-sensor machine learning (ML) models, either functioning via wireless streaming or edge computing, for full-body motion classifications and avatar reconstruction. Through topographic design on piezoresistive nanolayers, the wearable strain sensor modules exhibited ultrahigh sensitivities within the working windows that meet all joint deformation ranges. By integrating the wearable sensors with a ML chip, an edge sensor module is fabricated, enabling insensor reconstruction of high-precision avatar animations that mimic continuous full-body motions with an average avatar determination error of 3.5 cm, without additional computing devices.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33021-

Discovery of 2-Substituted 3-Arylquinoline Derivatives as Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agents Through Inhibition of LPS-Induced Inflammatory Responses in Macrophages

We describe herein the preparation of certain 2-substituted 3-arylquinoline derivatives and the evaluation of their anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-activated murine J774A.1 macrophage cells. Among these newly synthesized 2-substituted 3-arylquinoline derivatives, 2-(4-methoxy- benzoyl)-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)quinoline (18a) and 2-(4-fluorobenzoyl)-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxy- phenyl)quinoline (18b) are two of the most active compounds which can inhibit the production of NO at non-cytotoxic concentrations. Our results have also indicated that compounds 18a and 18b significantly decrease the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-á and IL-6), inhibit the expression of iNOS, suppress the phosphorylation of MAPKs, and attenuate the activity of NF-êB by LPS-activated macrophages. Through molecular docking analysis, we found that 18b could fit into the middle of the TNF-á dimer and form hydrophobic interactions with Leu55, Leu57 chain A and B, Tyr59, Val123 chain B and D, Ile 155. These results suggest that both 18a and 18b are potential lead compounds in inhibiting LPS-induced inflammatory responses. Further structural optimization to discover novel anti-inflammatory agents is ongoing

AICAR Induces Apoptosis and Inhibits Migration and Invasion in Prostate Cancer Cells Through an AMPK/mTOR-Dependent Pathway

Current clinical challenges of prostate cancer management are to restrict tumor growth and prohibit metastasis. AICAR (5-aminoimidazole-4-carbox-amide-1-β-d-ribofuranoside), an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) agonist, has demonstrated antitumor activities for several types of cancers. However, the activity of AICAR on the cell growth and metastasis of prostate cancer has not been extensively studied. Herein we examine the effects of AICAR on the cell growth and metastasis of prostate cancer cells. Cell growth was performed by MTT assay and soft agar assay; cell apoptosis was examined by Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining and poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage western blot, while cell migration and invasion were evaluated by wound-healing assay and transwell assay respectively. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related protein expression and AMPK/mTOR-dependent signaling axis were analyzed by western blot. In addition, we also tested the effect of AICAR on the chemosensitivity to docetaxel using MTT assay. Our results indicated that AICAR inhibits cell growth in prostate cancer cells, but not in non-cancerous prostate cells. In addition, our results demonstrated that AICAR induces apoptosis, attenuates transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-induced cell migration, invasion and EMT-related protein expression, and enhances the chemosensitivity to docetaxel in prostate cancer cells through regulating the AMPK/mTOR-dependent pathway. These findings support AICAR as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of prostate cancer

Mycotoxin Zearalenone Attenuates Innate Immune Responses and Suppresses NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation in LPS-Activated Macrophages

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a mycotoxin that has several adverse effects on most mammalian species. However, the effects of ZEA on macrophage-mediated innate immunity during infection have not been examined. In the present study, bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were used to induce the activation of macrophages and evaluate the effects of ZEA on the inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated signaling pathways. The experimental results indicated that ZEA suppressed LPS-activated inflammatory responses by macrophages including attenuating the production of proinflammatory mediators (nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)), decreased the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6), inhibited the activation of c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways, and repressed the nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain (NOD)-, leucine-rich repeat (LRR)- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation. These results indicated that mycotoxin ZEA attenuates macrophage-mediated innate immunity upon LPS stimulation, suggesting that the intake of mycotoxin ZEA-contaminated food might result in decreasing innate immunity, which has a higher risk of adverse effects during infection