Entry of bacteria from the vagina into the uterus raises the question of uterine epithelial cell (UEC) signaling in response to the presence of bacteria. Our model system helps to define microbially elicited UEC basolateral cytokine release, important in regulating underlying stromal immune cell protection. UECs from adult rats were grown in cell culture inserts to establish a confluent polariz...

Polypropylene (PP) is a general-purpose plastic, but some applications are constrained by its high flammability. Thus, flame retardant PP is urgently demanded. In this article, intumescent flame retardant PP (IFRPP) composites with enhanced fire safety were prepared using 1-oxo-4-hydroxymethyl-2,6,7-trioxa-1-phosphabicyclo [2.2.2] octane (PEPA) functionalized graphene oxide (PGO) as synergist. ...

We examined the capacity of human neutrophils to develop a respiratory burst, as monitored by superoxide release, in response to interaction with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Serum-opsonized, heat-killed mycobacteria induced significant release of superoxide from neutrophils after 30 min of exposure, with a maximum release of 34 +/- 1.7 nmol/30 min per 5 X 10(6) neutrophils occurring with a myco...

This paper describes an experimental investigation of acoustically forced lean premixed turbulent bluff-bodystabilised flames in an enclosure short enough so that no coupling of the combustor downstream acoustics occurred for the frequencies studied here, which allows an unambiguous examination of the flame response to inlet velocity fluctuations. Special emphasis was placed on the amplitude de...

Scramjet unstart occurs when a strong shock initiated from disturbances in the engine propagates upstream and finally spills out of the engine inlet. When unstart occurs, the airflow into the engine is greatly diminished, leading to loss-of-thrust and engine stall. Because the probablility of unstart increases with increasing heat-release, the danger of unstart is an important limiting factor o...

Whis work presents a study on the flammability of epoxy coatings containing two types of nano-scale fillers as potential flame retardants: expandable graphite (EG) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). Both nanocomposites are prepared by incorporation of the same amount of nanofiller into the epoxy resin for the sake of comparison. Fire retardant nanocomposite coatings are cured through a two-stage ...

This study suggests using thermoelectric element to generate electric energy from the heat source efficiently. This generator system consists of a Heater, the Lower Heat Transfer Plate to absorb heat from the Heater, Two-Stage Thermoelectric Device module to generate the electric power with the heat transferred from the Lower Heat Transfer Plate, the Upper Heat Transfer Plate to convey the heat...

Waste heat to power (WHP) is the process of capturing heat discarded by an existing industrial process and using that heat to generate power (see Figure 1). Energyintensive industrial processes—such as those occurring at refineries, steel mills, glass furnaces, and cement kilns—all release hot exhaust gases and waste streams that can be harnessed with wellestablished technologies to generate el...

The potential applications of ice-templating porous materials are constantly expanding, especially as scaffolds for tissue engineering. Ice-templating, a process utilizing ice nucleation and growth within an aqueous solution, consists of a cooling stage (before ice nucleation) and a freezing stage (during ice formation). While heat release during cooling can change scaffold isotropy, the freezi...

We establish one-dimensional spectral, or “normal modes”, stability of ZND detonations in the small heat release limit and the related high overdrive limit with heat release and activation energy held fixed, verifying numerical observations of Erpenbeck in the 1960s. The key technical points are a strategic rescaling of parameters converting the infinite overdrive limit to a finite, regular per...