An Refinement of the Conventional Skin Board

Skin boards are a pair of wooden boards used for harvesting skin. It is used to flatten the surface and ease the skin knife to pass underneath the surface. The skin board is used to stretch the skin by pressing the board against the skin and then pulling the two boards apart therefore creating a tension on the skin and flattening the surface. For the easy movement of the knife a lubricant is used on the skin (example- Vaseline). The conventional skin boards scrape away most of this lubricant. A refinement has been made to the conventional skin boards by adding small channels on the surface of the board which allow the lubricant to pass through the board and thus the lubricant remains on the skin. This modification does not reduce the capacity of the skin board to stretch the skin and provides a flat smooth surface for the skin knife to pass.

The perfect Crème Brûlée v2

Crème Brûlée has a short ingredient list and does not require specific skills to make, but to get it right, several steps need to be carefully executed to receive the creme, not a pudding that, that is still grainy or liquid. With a caramel crust that offers a perfectly smooth surface you can break with your spoon like ice when you tap on it. Most Crème Brûlées offer one or the other but to get everything right, requires attention to details in the making. Expected results and quality criteria: 1. Crème Brûlée is served refrigerator-cold and 3-5 min after the blow-torching the sugar. Only then you have a smooth and stable caramel surface that you can crack with your spoon. Ideally, the caramel is still pleasantly warm. 2. The creme needs to be uniform and intense yellow, no gristle-like residues in it to disturb the perfect mouth feeling. While the surface is solid, the creamy consistency remains. 3. Taste: The perfect interplay between caramel and vanilla flavors (if small parts of the crust are slightly burnt -compare image - you add just a few bitter notes that make it more interesting. The added salt intensifies the vanilla flavor. 4. The crust needs to be uniform and requires a soon to be broken up in small pieces.

Structure, phase evolution, and properties of Ta films deposited using hybrid high-power pulsed and dc magnetron co-sputtering

Crystalline phase and microstructure control are critical for obtaining desired properties of Ta films deposited by magnetron sputtering. Structure, phase evolution, and properties of Ta films deposited by using hybrid high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) and direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) under different fractions of DCMS power where Ta ion to Ta neutral ratios of the deposition flux were changed are investigated. The results revealed that the number of Ta ions arriving on the substrate/growing film play an important role in structure and phase evolution of Ta films. It can effectively avoid the unstable arc discharge under low pressure and show a higher deposition rate by hybrid high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) and direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) compared with only high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). Meanwhile, the high hardness α-Ta films can be directly deposited by hybrid co-sputtering compared to those prepared by direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS). In the co-sputtering technology, pure α-Ta phase film with extremely fine, dense and uniform crystal grains were obtained, which shows smooth surface roughness (3.22 nm), low resistivity (38.98 μΩ·cm) and abnormal high hardness (17.64 GPa).

The unusual sclerotium of Rhizopogon roseolus reported from pure cultures

During the assessment of mycelial cords of Rhizopogon roseolus on poor nutrient of Modified Melin-Norkrans (MMN) medium, we found some sclerotia produced on the surface of extraradical mycelia. The sclerotia were 0.27 mm in average of diameter and produced after 2 months of incubation. The current knowledge defined the sclerotium as mass of hyphae and normally having no spores in or on it. However, we found and suspected the small structures like spores (1-1.5 um) inside the sclerotium. These structures were ellipsoid, hyaline, with the smooth surface. We then incubated the sclerotium and these small structures on TM7 detecting medium whether they can produced the secondary mycelia of R. Roseolus, but no germination was observed. Interestingly, the bacterial colonies which connected to hyphae of sclerotium were appeared. The colonies were transferred to Luria agar (LA) medium. The morphological observation of bacterial cells from TM7 and LA confirmed that they were the same as small structures inside the sclerotium. This is the first report on production of unusual sclerotium of R. roseolus in pure cultures. Further study is required to reveal the role of bacteria on production of sclerotium of R. Roseolus.

Characteristics of secondary droplets produced by the impact of drops onto a smooth surface

This work investigates the splashing behaviors of droplets impacting on solid surfaces and mainly focuses on the characteristics of secondary droplets. According to the experimental results, two different splashing patterns, corona splash and levitating-lamella breakup, are observed. A new breakup mode, named rim-segmenting, is found during the levitating-lamella breakup. In particular, the detailed information of the splashing secondary droplets, including the size, velocity, angle, and total volume of the splashing secondary droplets is obtained from the experimental data. The size distribution of the splashing secondary droplets obeys the gamma distribution function. The average diameter and splashing angle of the secondary droplets are mainly related to the Reynolds number Re, and can be expressed as functions of Re. High impact velocity and liquid viscosity will result in a wider size distribution range of splashing secondary droplets. We also put forward an empirical model to predict the total splashing volume, which is consistent with the experimental data both in this work and previous studies. This work is believed to provide insights on the prediction of the characteristics of splashing secondary droplets.

Modified phosphate coatings applied to steel by cold method

The deposition of phosphate coatings occurs on the surface of the product when it is immersed in a solution containing phosphoric acid. The formation of a film on the metal surface occurs during the deposition of insoluble two- and three-substituted phosphates of iron, manganese, and zinc from a solution. To speed up the process and conduct phosphating at low temperatures, nitrates, nitrites, and fluorides of active metals are introduced into the solution. Organic compounds, such as glucose, glycerin, Trilon A, and Trilon B, are buffer additives to maintain the pH of phosphating solutions in the range of 2.6-3.2. It was found that 10-15 minutes at a process temperature of 20-25 °C are sufficient for the formation of a protective phosphate coating from solutions containing modifiers. The content of zinc phosphates in the modified phosphate coatings is increased. Additives in cold phosphating solutions have a positive effect on the quality and protective properties of the resulting phosphate films. Modified phosphate coatings obtained by the cold method have a fine-crystalline structure, a smooth surface and low porosity.