A large amount of fuel cell research focuses on porous gas diffusion (PGD) fuel cells which currently produce the best power density. However, this sect of fuel cell technology has many obstacles to overcome before becoming a viable large scale source or power. Nevertheless, alternatives to PGD fuel cells exist. Fluidized bed electrodes (FBE), packed bed electrodes, and packed screen electrodes...

Secondary seismic radiation is generated by rock fracture in the "damage zone" of an underground nuclear source and by frictional sliding on preexisting fractures in the "non-linear elastic zone" at larger distances from the shot point. This radiation is important for two reasons: (1) Johnson and Sammis [2000] have shown that it can make an important contribution to the far-field seismic signal...

A Fluidized Bed Metal–Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (FB-MOCVD) process was developed for the growth of tin oxide thin films on large hollow Ni particles. Tetraethyl tin was used as tin source and dry air both as fluidization gas and oxidant reagent. The SnO2 films were grown in a FBCVD reactor under reduced pressure (13.3 kPa) in the temperature range of 633–663 K. A series of specific expe...

Using synchrotron grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXD) and reflectivity, the in-plane and out-of-plane structure of mixed ganglioside-phospholipid monolayers was investigated at the air-water interface. Mixed monolayers of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 100 mol% ganglioside GM(1) and the phospholipid dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DPPE) were studied in the solid phase at 23 degrees C and a surfa...

Smooth muscle contraction can be divided into two phases: the initial contraction determines the amount of developed force and the second phase determines how well the force is maintained. The initial phase is primarily due to activation of actomyosin interaction and is relatively well understood, whereas the second phase remains poorly understood. Force maintenance in the sustained phase can b...

Improved production methods of starter cultures, which constitute the most important element of probiotic preparations, were investigated. The aim of the presented research was to analyse changes in the viability of Lactobacillus. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum after stabilization (spray drying, liophilization, fluidization drying) and storage in refrigerated conditions for 4 months. T...

We report an experimental study of mouse sperm motility that shows chief aspects characteristic of neurons: the anesthetic (produced by tetracaine) and excitatory (produced by either caffeine or calcium) effects and their antagonic action. While tetracaine inhibits sperm motility and caffeine has an excitatory action, the combination of these two substances balance the effects, producing a moti...

In engineering practice submerged soils are commonly considered to be saturated and consequently the pore fluid may be regarded as incompressible. At shallow water depths this two-phase model is not in accordance with natural conditions. Even small quantities of gas bubbles change the stiffness properties of the pore fluid dramatically. In response to external fluctuating pressures, the gas bub...

The surface shear rheology of hydrophobin HFBII adsorption layers is studied in angle-ramp/relaxation regime by means of a rotational rheometer. The behavior of the system is investigated at different shear rates and concentrations of added β-casein. In angle-ramp regime, the experimental data comply with the Maxwell model of viscoelastic behavior. From the fits of the rheological curves with t...

Pluronic block copolymer, P85, inhibits the P-glycoprotein (Pgp) drug efflux system and increases the permeability of a broad spectrum of drugs in the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This study examines the mechanisms by which P85 inhibits Pgp using bovine brain microvessel endothelial cells (BBMEC) as an in vitro model of the BBB. The hypothesis was that simultaneous alterations in intracellular AT...