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The family Nymphaeaceae includes most of the diversity among the ANA‐grade angiosperms. Among the species of this family, floral structures and pollination strategies are quite varied. The genus Victoria, as well as subgenera Lotos and Hydrocallis in Nymphaea, presents night‐blooming, scented flowers pollinated by scarab beetles. Such similar pollination strategies have led to macromorphological similarities among the flowers of these species, which could be interpreted as homologies or convergences based on different phylogenetic hypotheses about the relationships of these groups. We employed SEM of floral epidermis for seven species of the Nymphaeaceae with contrasting pollination biology to identify the main characters of the floral organs and the potential homologous nature of the structures involved in pollinator attraction. Moreover, we used TEM to observe ultrastructure of papillate‐conical epidermis in the stamen of Victoria cruziana. We then tested the phylogenetic or ecological distribution of these traits using both consensus network approaches and ancestral state reconstruction on fixed phylogenies. Our results show that the night‐blooming flowers present different specializations in their epidermis, with Victoria cruziana presenting the most elaborate floral anatomy. We also identify for the first time the presence of conical‐papillate cells in the order Nymphaeales. The epidermal characters tend to reflect phylogenetic relationships more than convergence due to pollinator selection. These results point to an independent and parallel evolution of scarab pollination in Nymphaeaceae, and show the promise of floral anatomy as a phylogenetic marker. Moreover, they indicate a degree of sophistication in the anatomical basis of cantharophilous flowers in the Nymphaeales that diverges from the most simplistic views of floral evolution in the angiosperms. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

• Background and Aims Pollen characters have been widely used in defining evolutionary trends in orchids. In recent years, information on pollination biology and phylogenetic patterns within Orchidinae has become available. Hence, the aim of the presented work is to re-evaluate exine micromorphology of Orchidinae in light of recent phylogenetic studies and to test whether pollen micromorphology strictly depends on phylogenetic relationships among species or whether it is influenced by the marked differences in pollination ecology also reported among closely related species. • Methods Pollen sculpturing of 45 species of Orchidinae and related taxa was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. To cover potential intraspecific variation, several accessions of the same species were examined. • Key Results Orchidinae show remarkable variation in exine sculpturing, with a different level of variation within species groups. In some genera, such as Serapias (rugulate) and Ophrys (psilate to verrucate), intrageneric uniformity corresponds well to a common pollination strategy and close relationships among species. However, little exine variability (psilate–scabrate and scabrate–rugulate) was also found in the genus Anacamptis in spite of striking differences in floral architecture and pollination strategies. A larger variety of exine conditions was found in genera Dactylorhiza (psilate, psilate–scabrate and reticulate) and Orchis s.s. (psilate, reticulate, perforate–rugulate and baculate) where no unequivocal correspondence can be found to either phylogenetic patterns or pollination strategies. • Conclusions Changes in pollen characteristics do not consistently reflect shifts in pollination strategy. A unique trend of exine evolution within Orchidinae is difficult to trace. However, the clades comprising Anacamptis, Neotinea, Ophrys and Serapias show psilate to rugulate or scabrate pollen, while that of the clade comprising Chamorchis, Dactylorhiza, Gymnadenia, Orchis s.s., Platanthera, Pseudorchis and Traunsteinera ranges from psilate to reticulate. Comparison of the data with exine micromorphology from members of the tribe Orchidieae and related tribes suggests a possible general trend from reticulate to psilate.

A model is developed for heat transfer, polymer vaporization, and gas diffusion at the interface between the advancing liquid metal and the receding foam pattern during mold filling in lost foam casting of aluminum. Most of the pattern interior decomposes by ablation, but the boundary cells decompose by a collapse mechanism, which creates an undercut in the pattern next to the coating. By regulating how much of the pattern coating is exposed to gas diffusion, the undercut controls the overall filling speed of the metal through the mold. Computed values for the foam decomposition energy from this model compare very well with experimental data on foam pyrolysis, and predicted filling speeds are consistent with observations in published experiments. In addition, the model explains several unusual observations about mold filling that until now have not been understood.

A method has been developed for calculating hydraulic pressures induced by thermal expansion of liquid binders early in the removal cycle, when evaporative losses are negligible and fully saturated conditions prevail. Specific results were obtained for flat compacts containing a common wax binder, mixed with varying amounts of low-density polyethylne. In general, these results show how the risk of hydraulic fracture increases with heating rate and compact thickness. Although pressures are minimal when the binder consists entirely of wax, the continual addition of polyethylene eventually gives rise to unacceptable risk levels, even for relatively thin compacts. Binder removal at elevated temperatures is considered subsequently. In this case, vapor pressures eventually approach a critical level, thereby allowing mass removal by evaporation to overcome the effect of thermal expansion in maintaining full saturation. With the onset of void formation, the developing capillary pressure supersedes hydraulic pressure as the driving force in liquid transport. Besides representing capillary flow, the present formulation also accounts for thermal degradation of the binder during removal. The resulting system of equations was solved numerically for a variety of representative debinding conditions. Predictions for flat compact containing a balanced wax/polyethylene binder indicate that thermal degradation of the polyethylene can give rise to a marked improvement in debinding rates. It turns out, however, that this enhancement is far more effective in thinner compacts.

Experiments utilizing charges constructed of black and white sheet molding compound (SMC) reveal the basic kinematic mechanisms controlling the flow of the fiber-filled compound in compression molding. The experimental results show that SMC deforms in uniform extension within individual charge layers, with slip occurring at the mold surface and, for slower closing speeds, also between the layers of SMC. When the mold closes rapidly, the charge extends uniformly through its thickness, with all slip concentrated at the mold surface.

A production sheet molding compound (SMC) mold for an automotive hood outer panel was instrumented with 64 thermocouples to measure cavity surface temperatures along two cross-sections in each mold half and regulate the supply of steam to each heating line. The positions and temperatures of each heating line in the mold were optimized using an in-house computer program to produce a minimum spatial variation in cavity surface temperature during steady cyclic molding. Provision was also made to heat the mold conventionally so that optimal and conventional heating could be directly compared in the same mold. While maintaining a 78 s overall molding cycle, the conventional heating system eventually produced a 10°C temperature variation on the cavity surface. This, in turn, led to serious resin undercure and severe difficulties in removing the part from the mold. When the optimal heating design was substituted in place of the conventional system, the surface temperature variation was reduced to less than 3°C and the problems experienced with conventional heating disappeared. For the most part, the measured temperatures in these experiments agreed with the results of the computer analysis to within 1°C.

Dans les processus de formage qui necessite un echange de chaleur entre un dispositif de fixation permanent et le materiau etant soumis au formage, le moule ou matrice doit normalement etre chauffe ou refroidi par des ouvertures circulaires internes. Pour concevoir la localisation de ces ouvertures, il faut pouvoir calculer les temperatures dans le moule ou la matrice, et il faut calculer le potentiel electrique entourant une configuration tridimensionnelle des conducteurs elances. Presentation d'une methode de calcul dans ce but

Since the cure rate of injection molded thermosets is usually very sensitive to cavity surface temperature, spatial variations in these temperatures can lengthen the necessary cure time for the entire part and cause distortion and residual stress in the molded article. This problem is addressed in the present paper by combining an optimization algorithm with a quasi-steady heat conduction analysis in the mold to determine the heating line positions and operating temperatures that minimize the spatial variation in cavity surface temperature. The method is applied to an example mold for a flat panel of uniform thickness, using two different gate locations. At a one-minute cycle, the optimal designs for each gate location dramatically reduce the variation in cavity surface temperature compared with corresponding results using a conventional heating system. These results are made more significant by the fact that the optimal designs use considerably fewer heating lines. In spite of their simplicity, the optimal designs still have enough flexibility to adjust to a changing cycle without sacrificing uniformity in cavity surface temperature.