Polyaniline (PAn) is an important conjugated conducting polymer because of its good environmental stability. However, the conductive form of polyanilune is difficult to processed because it is insoluble in common organic solvent. This property limits its processibility and application. In the study, we developed a feasible route for preparing polyaniline/surfactant core-shell latex to solve the insoluble problem. The polyaniline latex was made by emulsion polymerization of aniline monomer, using ionic polymer (poly(4-vinylpyridine)-methanesulfonic acid; P4VP(MSA)) as the surfactant and dopant. And then, the nano-size and core-shell morphologies of polyaniline latex was studied by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique. The best conductivity of polyaniline film is approach to 10-2 S/cm.

Abstract This study focused on the structure of the particles developed in the PMMA matrix as a function of (a) coupling agent (£^-MPS) and (b) TEOS content. We investigated the difference of using TEOS monomer directly added to silica particles. The polymer precursors are catalyzed using acidic catalysts and undergo the sol-gel reaction to form a hybrid sol-gel material. This composite shows that highly optical transparency and microphase separation at the molecular level. The characteristics and properties of the polymer precursors and their hybrid materials were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimogravimetic analysis (TGA). As for the influence of chemistry structure on morphology and thermal properties, experimental evidence form observations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mulitpoints analysis, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM was used to study the phase separation as well as the fractal structure of these particles present in the system. According to some result, it was found the compatibility between PMMA and silica mainly comes form incorporating the polymer with silica chemical bonding. This chemical bonding not only restrains silyl ester groups form hydrolyzing but also reduces silanol aggregation. Moreover, the thermal properties of the organic¡Vinorganic hybrid are improved as silica content increases.

Abstract -1 The immune response occurred in the mice infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis was mainly humoral immune response. This study was designed to compare the systemic and localized humoral immune responses occurred after primary and secondary infections in C57BL/6J mice. Eight weeks after the primary infection with 20 third-stage larvae, each mouse received a second inoculation of the same dosage. Specific serum IgM, IgG and IgE were found in the second week after primary infection. However, the titers of IgG1 and IgG2b increased at the fourth week after primary infection. Antibodies of these mentioned increased continuously as the progress of infection. On the other hand, the IgM and IgG1 titers increased in brain tissue infusion since the forth week after primary infection, while the titer of IgG start to elevate at the sixth week. Nevertheless, the increase of IgG2B was only noticed at the sixth week and no significant change was observed for IgG2a and IgE. After the secondary infection, serum IgM titers increased while the titer of IgG1 in the brain tissue infusion decreased. Results of Western blot showed that IgG1and IgE in the brain tissue infusion lost the ability to recognize a 42 kDa molecule of the somatic and excreting-secreting antigens of fifth-stage larvae. These variations could be used in the diagnosis of the early stage of mice that re-infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Abstract -2 The radiographic lateral views of the skulls of the mice infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis were taken. Thus, the parietofrontal index ( PI ) was obtained by measuring and calculating the distances among specific positions on their skulls. Compared with the controls, a significant elevation over the top of the crania of the cases was observed sixty days post-infection. In addition, the phenomenon emerged apparently during the second to the fourth week post-infection. These findings are able to be applied as the external diagnostic references for the infection course of mice infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Phenotypic plasticity is an environmentally based change in phenotype and can be adaptive. Often, the change in an organism's phenotype is induced by the presence of a predator and serves as a defense against that predator. Defensive phenotypes are induced in freshwater physid snails in response to both crayfish and molluscivorous fish. Alternative morphologies are produced depending on which of these two predators snails are raised with, thus protecting them from each of these predators' unique mode of predation. Snails and other mollusks have been shown to produce thicker, differently shaped shells when found with predators relative to those found without predators. This production of thicker, differently shaped shells offers better protection against predators because of increased predator resistance. The first study in this thesis explores costs and limits to plasticity using the snailfish- crayfish system. I exposed juvenile physid snails (using a family structure) to either early or late shifts in predation regimes to assess whether developmental flexibility is equally possible early and late in development. Physid snails were observed to produce alternative defensive morphologies when raised in the presence of each of the two predators. All families responded similarly to the environment in which they were raised. Morphology was found to be heritable, but plasticity itself was not heritable. Morphology was found to become less flexible as snails progressed along their respective developmental pathways. In the second study, I raised physid snails with and without shell-crushing sunfish and examined the differences in shell thickness, shell mass, shell size and shell microstructural properties between the two treatment groups. Shells of snails raised with predators were found to be larger, thicker and more massive than those raised without predators, but differences in microstructure were found to be insignificant. I conclude that the observed shell thickening is accomplished by the snails' depositing more of the same material into their shells and not by producing a more complex shell composition.

Characterization of multiaxial mechanical properties of cardiovascular soft tissue is essential in order to better understand their growth and remodeling in homeostatic conditions and in response to injury or pathological conditions. Though numerous phenomenological models have been proposed to characterize such multiaxial mechanical behavior, the approach has certain drawbacks regarding experimental determination of the model coefficients. We propose a method that aims to overcome these drawbacks. The approach makes use of orthogonal polynomials to fit the biaxial test data and suggests a way to derive the strain energy function from these analytical fits by way of minimizing the deviation of the behavior from hyperelastic ideal. Using the proposed method, a strain energy function for a lymphatic vessel is derived and the method is compared with traditional ones that used non-orthogonal polynomials as independent variables in the functional form for strain energy. The unique coefficient values obtained using the proposed method, for the first time gives us an opportunity to attribute a physical characteristic of the material to the coefficient values. The method also provides a way to assess two different material behaviors by way of comparing their deviation from the hyperelastic behavior when a similar test protocol is used to collect the data, over a similar deformation range and the order of polynomial function is chosen so as to give a similar error of fit. The behavior of mesenteric lymph vessels from normal cows, cows subjected to sham surgery and those subjected to 3 days of edematous conditions by venous occlusion are compared using this method. To be able to better understand the changes in mechanical behavior, morphological analysis of the vessels was carried out and the geometric and structural changes in these vessels were studied. We found that the behavior of bovine mesenteric lymph vessels subjected to a high flow condition shows a small difference in their mechanical behavior as compared to the vessels from normal a cow and a cow subjected to sham surgery. The geometry and structure of these vessels also showed marked differences from the other two. The thickness to radius ratio increased and a rise in percentage of area occupied by smooth muscle cells and medial collagen was observed. Though not all the differences were statistically significant, we conclude that the behavior and the morphology are suggestive of the remodeling of the vessel in response to altered hemodynamic conditions and require further investigation.

Revision of dissertation (Ph.D)--State University of New York, Buffalo - "Demonstratives in cross-linguistic and diachronic perspective". / Includes index. Includes bibliographical references at the end of each section.

In the 80s and 90s in America, residential developers believed that the best way to make money was to build a golf course community. Premiums of homes on golf courses ranged from 30% to 100% more than the price of a similar home not adjacent to a course. Today, the bottom has fallen out of the golf market leaving over 2,400 courses closed in America. Residential homes bordering a closed golf course experience an 11.7% loss of value. Many owners and potential developers want these large parcels of land to be up-zoned so they can build higher density residential and make a profit. Neighbors do not want to lose their greenspace and public officials do not want to be seen as harming single-family residential. This thesis argues that to retrofit a closed golf course, developers, community members and other stakeholders must first understand the morphological and environmental implications of the different types of golf courses, the context surrounding closed courses and the location of these courses in a greater regional area. By understanding closed golf courses in this way, a framework can be established that results from negotiation among golf course residents, neighbors, developers and public officials.

Ever since it was identified as a speleogenetic process in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, USA, hypogene speleogenesis has become the focus of numerous research projects aimed at discerning between classical epigene caves and sulfuric acid or thermal caves. The first distinguishing characteristics that were recognized for hypogene caves were passage and cave morphology. The following step was the identification of rare minerals, specific for processes associated to hypogene speleogenesis. One other important step was the recognition of the importance of stable isotopes - mainly of S - in tracing the source of S and the chemical processes affecting it. Many of the caves now labeled as hypogene are fossil caves, in which presently the hypogene activity has long died off. Studies comparing stable isotopes from coexisting cave minerals and the waters that generate the cave are rarer. This extensive study encompasses a description of cave and passage morphologies, cave mineral assemblages, as well as hydrogeochemistry of thermomineral waters in a peculiar region of Romania. Băile Herculane (Cerna River Valley, SW Romania) is a spa town known since Roman times for its numerous thermal springs that were considered to have healing powers. These springs, along with wells drilled in the past century, are still being used for curative purposes in several treatment centers in Băile Herculane. The present study is important not only for the scientific data it produced, but also for economic purposes, as mixing of the thermomineral waters with meteoric sources is a major concern, due to the dilution it causes. The data presented here is based on multiple investigation methods, each specific to the analyzed material: powder X-ray diffractions, scanning electron microscope, electron microprobe (for mineral samples), sedimentological investigations (for cave sediments), stable isotope mass spectrometry (for water and mineral samples), field measurements (for water samples). The results presented here help to clarify the source of dissolved S species in the thermomineral water, the source of the water itself, as well as establish a connection between caves along the Cerna Valley and the thermomineral aquifers.

This dissertation focuses on two aspects of expressive affixes: their morphological/typological properties and their semantics. With regard to the former, it shows that the expressive morphology of many languages (including Bantu, West Atlantic, Walman, Sanskrit, English, Romance, Slavic, and others), has the following properties: 1) it is systematically anomalous when compared to plain morphology, or the ordinary processes of word-formation and inflection. From this, it follows that many familiar morphological arguments that adduce the data of expressive morphology ought to be reconsidered; and 2) it is far more pervasive than has been traditionally thought. For example, the Sanskrit preverb, and the Indo-European aspectual prefix/particle generally, are shown to have systematically expressive functions. With respect to the semantics of expressive affixes, it develops a novel multidimensional account, in the sense of Potts (2005, 2007), of Spanish "connotative affixes," which can simultaneously convey descriptive and expressive meaning. It shows that their descriptive meaning is that of a gradable adjective, viewed as a degree relation which includes a measure function, in the sense of Kennedy (1997). The expressive meanings of connotative affixes, and expressives generally, arise as they manipulate the middle coordinate, <b>I</b>, of expressive indices which, it is proposed, is inherently specified on all lexical items and canonically set to "neutral." It introduces a new mechanism, <b>AFF</b>, which is an algebraic operation for manipulating <b>I</b>, and which accounts for the well-known, and seemingly "contradictory," range of meanings that expressive affixes can express. Whereas prior work assumes that expressive affixes are inherently polysemous, this approach derives their many attested meanings and functions (e.g., "small," "young," "bad," deprecation, appreciation, hypocorism, intensification/exactness, and attenuation/approximation, as well as pragmatic effects like illocutionary mitigation) compositionally, from the interactions of their multidimensionality with the meanings of the roots to which they attach.

No description available.