Extraction and characterization of alumina nanopowders from aluminum dross by acid dissolution process

A significant amount of aluminum dross is available as a waste in foundry industries in Bangladesh. In this study, alumina was extracted from aluminum dross collected from two foundry industries situated in Dhamrai and Manikgang, near the capital city, Dhaka. Aluminum dross samples were found to approximately contain 75wt% Al₂O₃ and 12wt% SiO₂. An acid dissolution process was used to recover the alumina value from the dross. The effects of various parameters, e.g., temperature, acid concentration, and leaching time, on the extraction of alumina were studied to optimize the dissolution process. First, Al(OH)₃ was produced in the form of a gel. Calcination of the Al(OH)₃ gel at 1000℃, 1200℃, and 1400℃ for 2 h produced θ-Al₂O₃, (α+θ)-Al₂O₃, and α-alumina powder, respectively. Thermal characterization of the Al(OH)₃ gel was performed by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The phases and crystallite size of the alumina were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The dimensions of the alumina were found to be on the nano level. The chemical compositions of the aluminum dross and alumina were determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The microstructure and morphology of the alumina were studied with scanning electron microscopy. The purity of the alumina extracted in this study was found to be 99.0%. Thus, it is expected that the obtained alumina powders can be potentially utilized as biomaterials.     

Non-Uniform Doo-Sabin Subdivision Surface via Eigen Polygon

This paper constructs a new non-uniform Doo-Sabin subdivision scheme via eigen polygon.The authors proved that the limit surface is always convergent and is G1 continuous for any valence and any positive knot intervals under a minor assumption, that λ is the second and third eigenvalues of the subdivision matrix. And then, a million of numerical experiments are tested with randomly selecting positive knot intervals, which verify that our new subdivision scheme satisfies the assumption.However this is not true for the other two existing non-uniform Doo-Sabin schemes in Sederberg, et al.(1998), Huang and Wang(2013). In additional, numerical experiments indicate that the quality of the new limit surface can be improved.     

基于Petri网的TCP协议异常检测模型

从面向连接的角度出发，以Petri网为工具，建立了TCP协议异常检测模型．该模型以TCP协议的状态变迁图为基础，并根据协议规范可对传输报文的标志位进行系统的分析，从而识别出标志位非法组合构成的畸形报文（FIN—RST报文）．模型中规定了各种状态下可接收的标志位集合，同时还细化了各状态下的超时异常，据此可准确地检测出各种异常，以抵御已知和未知的非法行为．利用该模型不仅可发现已知异常事件，还可对未知漏洞进行防范．通过实验发现，网络中的错误标志位报文、端口扫描以及DOS攻击产生的异常流量将占到总流量的10%以上．     

Enhanced urease inhibition activity of Ag nanomaterials capped with N-substituted methyl 5-acetamido-β-resorcylate

Medically, bacterial ureases are important virulent factors and are used for treatment of peptic ulcers and urinary tones. Reported urease inhibitors are associated with various side effects including antibiotic resistance as a major one. Still there is an urgent need to synthesize new urease inhibitors. In this context we have synthesized new urease inhibitor i.e. AgL that is composed of Ag nanomaterials capped with N-substituted methyl 5-acetamido-β-resorcylate(L). The conjugation of L to silver was confirmed through FTIR, UV–vis and TEM analysis.Bare silver nanomaterials(Ag) were also prepared. The stability of AgL nanostructures was determined against various parameters(temperature, high salt concentration, pH) and found to be stable. The in vitro antimicrobial(antibacterial, antifungal), enzyme inhibition(xanthine oxidase, urease, carbonic anhydrase, α-chymotrypsin,cholinesterase) and antioxidant activities of AgL were investigated and compared with Ag, L and standard drugs.In comparison to other bioactivities, AgL shows statistically enhanced selective enzyme inhibition activity against urease enzyme. Urease inhibition activity of AgL was significantly greater than standard drug(thiourea),L and Ag. On a per weight basis, AgL required about 11–18 times less amount of L for inhibition of urease enzyme.     

Deposition behavior and tribological properties of diamond-like carbon coatings on stainless steels via chemical vapor deposition

A systematic investigation was carried out to observe the deposition rate of a diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating on two stainless steel substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The objective of this research is to study the deposition behavior of the DLC coating and its tribological properties in different combinations of methane (CH₄) and nitrogen, which were used as precursor gases. The results reveal that the deposition rate increases with increasing CH₄ content up to 50vol%. The hardness of the DLC-deposited layer also increases while the friction coefficient decreases with increasing CH₄ gas content up to 50% in the precursor gas mixture.     

Atomic structure of a Na+- and K+-conducting channel

Ion selectivity is one of the basic properties that define an ion channel. Most tetrameric cation channels, which include the K+, Ca2+, Na+ and cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, probably share a similar overall architecture in their ion-conduction pore, but the structural details that determine ion selection are different. Although K+ channel selectivity has been well studied from a structural perspective, little is known about the structure of other cation channels. Here we present crystal structures of the NaK channel from Bacillus cereus, a non-selective tetrameric cation channel, in its Na+- and K+-bound states at 2.4 A and 2.8 A resolution, respectively. The NaK channel shares high sequence homology and a similar overall structure with the bacterial KcsA K+ channel, but its selectivity filter adopts a different architecture. Unlike a K+ channel selectivity filter, which contains four equivalent K+-binding sites, the selectivity filter of the NaK channel preserves the two cation-binding sites equivalent to sites 3 and 4 of a K+ channel, whereas the region corresponding to sites 1 and 2 of a K+ channel becomes a vestibule in which ions can diffuse but not bind specifically. Functional analysis using an 86Rb flux assay shows that the NaK channel can conduct both Na+ and K+ ions. We conclude that the sequence of the NaK selectivity filter resembles that of a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel and its structure may represent that of a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel pore.     

Triacylglycerol hydrolase: role in intracellular lipid metabolism

Recent scientific advances have revealed the identity of several enzymes involved in the synthesis, storage and catabolism of intracellular neutral lipid storage droplets. An enzyme that hydrolyzes stored triacylglycerol (TG), triacylglycerol hydrolase (TGH), was purified from porcine, human and murine liver microsomes. In rodents, TGH is highly expressed in liver as well as heart, kidney, small intestine and adipose tissues, while in humans TGH is mainly expressed in the liver, adipose and small intestine. TGH localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and lipid droplets. The TGH genes are located within a cluster of carboxylesterase genes on human and mouse chromosomes 16 and 8, respectively. TGH hydrolyzes stored TG, and in the liver, the lipolytic products are made available for VLDL-TG synthesis. Inhibition of TGH activity also inhibits TG and apolipoprotein B secretion by primary hepatocytes. A role for TGH in basal TG lipolysis in adipocytes has been proposed. TGH expression and activity is both developmentally and hormonally regulated. A model for the function of TGH is presented and discussed with respect to tissue specific functions.