An Experimental Investigation of Humidity and Temperature Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Persfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane

The mechanical properties of a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane have been investigated at different humidities and temperatures in a custom-designed environmental chamber. Tensile tests were conducted to determine Young’s modulus, the proportional limit stress (“yield strength”), break stress, and break strain. In-plane dimensional changes of the membrane at different temperature and humidities were also determined. The results indicate that Young’s modulus and the proportional limit stress of the PFSA membrane decrease as humidity and temperature increase. Higher temperature leads to lower break stress and higher break strain. However, humidity has little effect on the break stress and break strain. A nonparametric statistical analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test, is applied to the experimental results, which shows that the effects of temperature and humidity on Young’s modulus and proportional limit stress are statistically significant

An Experimental Investigation of Humidity and Temperature Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Persfluorosulfonic Acid Membrane

The mechanical properties of a perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane have been investigated at different humidities and temperatures in a custom-designed environmental chamber. Tensile tests were conducted to determine Young’s modulus, the proportional limit stress (“yield strength”), break stress, and break strain. In-plane dimensional changes of the membrane at different temperature and humidities were also determined. The results indicate that Young’s modulus and the proportional limit stress of the PFSA membrane decrease as humidity and temperature increase. Higher temperature leads to lower break stress and higher break strain. However, humidity has little effect on the break stress and break strain. A nonparametric statistical analysis, Kruskal–Wallis test, is applied to the experimental results, which shows that the effects of temperature and humidity on Young’s modulus and proportional limit stress are statistically significant

IMECE2008-66292 EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF VIBRATION OF MICROMACHINED RESONATORS

ABSTRACT Among many different mechanisms that are used for excitation and detection of vibration of micro-beam resonators, electrostatic comb-drives have the benefit of simplicity and large range of linear operation. The disadvantage of using comb-drives is the effect of added mass to the beam; however, the analytical model of the beam-mass system predicts that this shortcoming can be overcome by proper adjustment of the mass, rotary inertia, and location of the comb-drive. In addition, the analytical model can predict the effect of the axial force of the beam on the resonance frequencies. In this paper, the results of the experiments on two resonators are presented. These results are used to verify the validity of the analytical model and finding its parameters. Very close agreement between the theory and experiment is observed. The residual stress of the MEMS structural layer is measured using the calibrated analytical model parameters

Significantly Longer Envelope V2 Loops Are Characteristic of Heterosexually Transmitted Subtype B HIV-1 in Trinidad

In Trinidad and the wider Caribbean, subtype B Human Immunodeficiency Virus-type 1 (HIV-1B) overwhelmingly accounts for HIV infection among heterosexuals; this contrasts with the association of HIV-1B with homosexual transmission and injecting drug use globally. The HIV envelope contains genetic determinants of cell tropism and evasion from immune attack. In this study we investigate the genetic properties of the env V1-C4 of HIV-1B soon after transmission to Trinidadian heterosexuals. This will reveal distinctive genetic features of the strains that cause the HIV-1B epidemic in Trinidad and generate insights to better understand their properties.Quasispecies sampling was performed on the env V1-C4 of HIV-1B strains soon after transmission to heterosexual Trinidadians in a cohort of seroconverters. Phylogenetic relationships were determined for these quasispecies and the length and number of asparagine (N) linked glycosylation sites (NLGS) in their variable loops compared to that for HIV-1B globally. Signature amino acids within the constant domains of the env V1-C4 were identified for heterosexually transmitted HIV-1B from Trinidad relative to HIV-1B globally. HIV-1B obtained from Trinidadian heterosexuals soon after seroconversion had significantly longer V2 loops with one more glycosylation site, shorter V3 loops and no significant difference in V1 or V4 when compared to HIV-1B obtained soon after seroconversion from infected individuals in the rest of the world. HIV-1B soon after seroconversion and during chronic infection of Trinidadians was not significantly different, suggesting that distinctly long V2 loops are characteristic of HIV-1B in Trinidad. A threonine deletion at position 319 (T319-) along with the substitutions R315K and S440R were found to be distinctly associated with HIV-1B from Trinidad compared to HIV-1B globally.This finding of distinctive genetic features that are characteristic of HIV-1B strains from Trinidad is consistent with the Trinidad epidemic being established by a founder strain or closely related founder strains of HIV-1B

Protocol for Nearly Full-Length Sequencing of HIV-1 RNA from Plasma

Nearly full-length genome sequencing of HIV-1 using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) DNA as a template for PCR is now a relatively routine laboratory procedure. However, this has not been the case when using virion RNA as the template and this has made full genome analysis of circulating viruses difficult. Therefore, a well-developed procedure for sequencing of full-length HIV-1 RNA directly from plasma was needed. Plasma from U.S. donors representing a range of viral loads (VL) was used to develop the assay. RNA was extracted from plasma and reverse-transcribed. Two or three overlapping regions were PCR amplified to cover the entire viral genome and sequenced for verification. The success of the procedure was sensitive to VL but was routinely successful for VL greater than 105 and the rate declined in proportion to the VL. While the two-amplicon strategy had an advantage of increasing the possibility of amplifying a single species of HIV-1, the three-amplicon strategy was more successful in amplifying samples with low viral loads. This protocol provides a useful tool for molecular analysis to understand the HIV epidemic and pathogenesis, as well as diagnosis, therapy and future vaccine strategies

DETC2003/VIB-48500 THREE FINGERED FLEXIBLE FIXTURE DESIGN

ABSTRACT Fixturing is an important requirement for many manufacturing and assembly operations. If flexible manufacturing and assembly system are to be truly flexible then the fixturing must also be flexible. A novel grasping strategy and gripper for fixturing in 3-D is presented for robotic assembly. The proposed fixture has three fingers, each equipped with a suction cup, to ease the grasping process and increase attaching flexibility. Using this method, the designed fixture is sufficiently general in order to fully grasp a variety of generic parts. To position suction cups, several linkage-based mechanisms are employed. Pneumatic cylinders and electrical motors are used as actuators to solve the space limitation and weight problem. Software has been developed to calculate the relative positions and angles in the mechanism as required for reconfiguration. A novel localization method is established to compensate for errors related to initial dislocation of the part due to low accuracy part bins from which parts are grasped. Several force and mechanism simulations are provided to verify the function and performance of the fixture