However, in our setting, where resources are limited and newer treatment options are expensive, it is often difficult to deliver the best care to the patient.”
“Dielectric and direct piezoelectric responses in non-doped and Mn-doped SB203580 in vitro Pb0.91La0.09(Zr-0.65,Ti-0.35)O-3 ceramics are experimentally studied. The permittivity and the direct piezoelectric
coefficient were measured by applying an ac electric field or a mechanical stress, respectively. The results show that the dielectric response is mainly due to an extrinsic contribution at room temperature. A notable reduction in room temperature dielectric losses by Mn-doping is verified. The temperature of the minimum of the losses depends on the Mn-content, enabling the Pb0.91La0.09(Zr-0.65,Ti-0.35)O-3 properties to be tuned from soft to hard. A significant stabilization of the dielectric and piezoelectric responses, related to domain wall motion reduction, is confirmed in Mn-doped materials, so these materials become good candidates
for transducer applications. The correlation between the dielectric constant and dielectric losses is discussed in terms of the Rayleigh model. Results show that Mn-doped PLZT response does not fit this model. This fact could be explained by taking into account the nature of the defects created by manganese addition. These complex defects LCL161 find more act as pinning centers, and the reversible movement of domain walls provide a significant contribution to the response of these materials. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3622338]“
“Optimization
of medium composition for the improvement of heterotrophic cultivation of green microalgae. Tetraselmis suecica, was performed using response surface methodology (RSM). Heterotrophic cultivation of T. suecica was conducted in total darkness using Walne medium formulated with natural sea water. Initially, the effect of two types of carbon source (glucose and sodium acetate) and various types of nitrogen source (peptone, yeast extract, meat extract, malt extract, urea, sodium nitrate and ammonium nitrate) on growth of T. suecica was studied. The concentration of medium component that was found to significantly influence the heterotrophic growth of T. suecica (glucose, peptone, yeast extract and meat extract) was further optimized using RSM. The medium that consists of 5.78 g/L glucose, 9 g/L peptone, 4.48 g/L yeast extract and 3.01 g/L meat extract was found optimal for heterotrophic cultivation of T. suecica. The final cell concentration (28.88 g/L) obtained in heterotrophic cultivation using this optimized medium was about 3 and 2 times higher than obtained in photoautotrophic culture (8.40 g/L) and non-optimized medium for heterotrophic cultivation (13.81 g/L), respectively.