Search results for: thin cell layering (TCL)

Authors: Ayoola, Simeon Oluwatoyin, Omogoriola Hannah Omoloye

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The effects of 17α-Methyltestosterone Hormone on blood composition of the Sex Reversed Sarotherodon melanotheron were investigated. S. melanotheron fry were reared in six (6) plastic tanks for three (3) months, of which three (3) tanks served as treatment tanks while the other three (3) served as the control. The fry were fed with 17α-methyl testosterone enzyme, which functions as a sex reversal hormone. The fry were administered this hormone for 30 days, to ensure complete sex reversal. All the S. melanotheron fry were reared to table size for duration of three (3) months, after which, blood samples were taken from both the control and treatment fishes. The blood parameters showed no significant differences with the same values of White Blood Cell count (WBC) and Total plasma protein for the control and experimental fishes. A total protein value for sex reversed specimens was 3.99g/dL, while urea and creatinine values were 0.2g/dL. Alkaline Phosphatase, Aspartate transaminase and Alanine transaminase for the treatment specimen were 183nm/mg protein/min, 98nm/mg protein/min and 105nm/mg protein/min respectively. A total protein value for control specimens was 2.81g/dL, while urea and creatinine values were 0.2g/dL. Alkaline Phosphatase, Aspartate transaminase and Alanine transaminase for the control species were 174nm/mg protein/min, 93nm/mg protein/min and 106nm/mg protein/min respectively. The safety of MT on S. melanotheron is therefore proved since there is no adverse effect on the fish.

Keywords: 17α-Methyltestosterone, haematology, sex reversal, sarotherodon melanotheron

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Authors: Arash Esfandiari, Ebrahim Parsaei

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The purpose of this research was to survey the effect of tribulus terresteris on histomorphometrical changes of testis induced by ethanol administration in male wistar rats. Fifteen male wistar rats divided into three groups: 1- control group (n=5). 2- Experimental group I (IP received 1 mg/gr Alcohole 20% for 30 days) (n=5). 3- Experimental group II (IP received 1 mg/gr Alcohole 20% for 30 days and IP received 100 mg/kg tribulus terresteris 15 days before received Alcohole for 45 days) (n=5). All procedures and care of the animals were conducted following protocols approved by the ethical committee (Iranian Society for the Prevention of cruelty to animal, and Iranian Veterinary Organization). Results showed that the thickness of the wall of seminiferous tubule, the weight of testis, the number of spermatogenic cells were decreased in experimental group I. In addition, all of these parameters were increased in experimental group II compared with experimental group I. These decrement of all of parameters in experimental group I with significant difference in comparison control group (p≤ 0.05). But all of parameters had increment in experimental group II with no significant difference compared with control group (p≥ 0.05) and significant difference with experimental group I (p≤ 0.05).It is concluded that tribulus terresteris may prevent from reducing the number of spermatogenic cell that has been created by the consumption of alcohole.

Keywords: ethanol, histomorphometric, testis, teribulus terresteris

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Authors: Sang Guen Kim, Sib Sankar Giri, Jin Woo Jun, Saekil Yun, Hyoun Joong Kim, Sang Wha Kim, Jung Woo Kang, Se Jin Han, Se Chang Park

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Emerging of the super bacteria, bacteriophages are considered to be as an alternative to antibiotics. As the demand of phage increased, economical and large production of phage is becoming one of the critical points. For the therapeutic use, what is important is to eradicate the pathogenic bacteria as fast as possible, so higher concentration of phages is generally needed for effective therapeutic function. On the contrary, for the maximum production, bacteria work as a phage producing factory. As a microbial cell factory, bacteria is needed to last longer producing the phages without eradication. Consequently, killing the bacteria fast has a negative effect on large production. In this study, Multiplicity of Infection (MOI) was manipulated based on initial bacterial inoculation and used phage pAh-6C which has therapeutic effect against Aeromonas hydrophila. 1, 5 and 10 percent of overnight bacterial culture was inoculated and each bacterial culture was co-cultured with the phage of which MOI of 0.01, 0.0001, and 0.000001 respectively. Simply changing the initial MOI as well as bacterial inoculation concentration has regulated the production quantity of the phage without any other changes to culture conditions. It is anticipated that this result can be used as a foundational data for mass production of lytic bacteriophages which can be used as the therapeutic bio-control agent.

Keywords: bacteriophage, multiplicity of infection, optimization, Aeromonas hydrophila

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Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu, Monye Christopher Prayer

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Propeller aircraft engines, and more generally engines with a large rotating part (turboprops, high bypass ratio turbojets, etc.) are widely used in the industry and are subject to numerous developments in order to reduce their fuel consumption. In this context, unconventional architectures such as open rotors or distributed propulsion appear, and it is necessary to consider the influence of these systems on the aircraft's stability in flight. Indeed, the tendency to lengthen the blades and wings on which these propulsion devices are fixed increases their flexibility and accentuates the risk of whirl flutter. This phenomenon of aeroelastic instability is due to the precession movement of the axis of rotation of the propeller, which changes the angle of attack of the flow on the blades and creates unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments that can amplify the motion and make it unstable. The whirl flutter instability can ultimately lead to the destruction of the engine. We note the existence of a critical speed of the incident flow. If the flow velocity is lower than this value, the motion is damped and the system is stable, whereas beyond this value, the flow provides energy to the system (negative damping) and the motion becomes unstable. A simple model of whirl flutter is based on the work of Houbolt & Reed who proposed an analytical expression of the aerodynamic load on a rigid blade propeller whose axis orientation suffers small perturbations. Their work considered a propeller subjected to pitch and yaw movements, a flow undisturbed by the blades and a propeller not generating any thrust in the absence of precession. The unsteady aerodynamic forces were then obtained using the thin airfoil theory and the strip theory. In the present study, the unsteady aerodynamic loads are expressed for a general movement of the propeller (not only pitch and yaw). The acceleration and rotation of the flow by the propeller are modeled using a Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) approach, which also enable to take into account the thrust generated by the blades. It appears that the thrust has a stabilizing effect. The aerodynamic model is further developed using Theodorsen theory. A reduced order model of the aerodynamic load is finally constructed in order to perform linear stability analysis.

Keywords: advancing, entrepreneurial, knowledge, industralization

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Zeineb Baatout, Safa Teka, Nejmeddine Jaballah, Nawfel Sakly, Xiaonan Sun, Mustapha Majdoub

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Currently, the economic interests linked to the development of bio-based materials make biomass one of the most interesting areas for science development. We are interested in the β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), one of the popular bio-sourced macromolecule, produced from the starch via enzymatic conversion. It is a cyclic oligosaccharide formed by the association of seven glucose units. It presents a rigid conical and amphiphilic structure with hydrophilic exterior, allowing it to be water-soluble. It has also a hydrophobic interior enabling the formation of inclusion complexes, which support its application for the elaboration of electrochemical and optical sensors. Nevertheless, the solubility of β-CD in water makes its use as sensitive layer limit and difficult due to their instability in aqueous media. To overcome this limitation, we chose to precede by modification of the hydroxyl groups to obtain hydrophobic derivatives which lead to water-stable sensing layers. Hence, a series of benzylated β-CDs were synthesized in basic aqueous media in one pot. This work reports the synthesis of a new family of substituted amphiphilic β-CDs using a green methodology. The obtained β-CDs showed different degree of substitution (DS) between 0.85 and 2.03. These organic macromolecular materials were soluble in common organic volatile solvents, and their structures were investigated by NMR, FT-IR and MALDI-TOF spectroscopies. Thermal analysis showed a correlation between the thermal properties of these derivatives and the benzylation degree. The surface properties of the thin films based on the benzylated β-CDs were characterized by contact angle measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM). These organic materials were investigated as sensitive layers, deposited on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gravimetric transducer, for humidity sensor at room temperature. The results showed that the performances of the prepared sensors are greatly influenced by the benzylation degree of β-CD. The partially modified β-CD (DS=1) shows linear response with best sensitivity, good reproducibility, low hysteresis, fast response time (15s) and recovery time (17s) at higher relative humidity levels (RH) between 11% and 98% in room temperature.

Keywords: β-cyclodextrin, green synthesis, humidity sensor, quartz crystal microbalance

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Authors: Shuofeng Yuan, Bojian Zheng

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Assembly of the heterotrimeric polymerase complex of influenza virus from the individual subunits PB1, PA, and PB2 is a prerequisite for viral replication, in which the interaction between the N-terminal of PB1 (PB1N) and the C terminal of PA (PAC) may be a desired target for antiviral development. In this study, we first compared the feasibility of high throughput screening by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fluorescence polarization (FP) assay. Among the two, ELISA was demonstrated to own broader dynamic range so that it was used for screening inhibitors, which blocked PA and PB1 interaction. Several binding inhibitors of PAC-PB1N were identified and subsequently tested for the antiviral efficacy. Apparently, 3-(2-chlorophenyl)-6-ethyl-7-methyl[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrimidin-5-ol, designated ANA-1, was found to be a strong inhibitor of PAC-PB1N interaction and act as a potent antiviral agent against the infections of multiple subtypes of influenza A virus, including H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H7N7, H7N9 and H9N2 subtypes, in cell cultures. Intranasal administration of ANA-1 protected mice from lethal challenge and reduced lung viral loads in H1N1 virus infected BALB/c mice. Docking analyses predicted that ANA-1 bound to an allosteric site of PAC, which would cause conformational changes thereby disrupting the PAC-PB1N interaction. Overall, our study has identified a novel compound with potential to be developed as an anti-influenza drug.

Keywords: influenza, antiviral, viral polymerase, compounds

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Authors: Rakesh Hajiyani, Chetan Chauhan, Harshkant Jethva, Mihir Joshi

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Metal bis-thiourea type organo-metallic crystals are popular as non-linear optical materials. Bis-thiourea nickel barium chloride was synthesized and crystals were grown by slow aqueous solvent evaporation technique. The transparent and colorless crystals having maximum dimensions of 13 mm x 8 mm x 2.2 mm were obtained. The EDAX was carried out to estimate the content of nickel and barium in the grown crystals. The powder XRD analysis suggested orthorhombic crystal structure with unit cell parameters as: a= 9.70 Å, b= 10.68 Å and c= 17.95 Å. The FTIR spectroscopy study confirmed the presence of various functional groups. The UV-vis spectroscopy study indicated that the crystals were transparent in the visible region with 90% transmittance level further optical parameters were studied. From the TGA it was found that the crystals remained stable up to 170 0C and then decomposed through two decomposition stages. The dielectric study was carried out in the frequency range of applied field from 500 Hz to 1 MHz. The variations of dielectric constant, dielectric loss were studied with frequency. It was found that the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss decreased as the frequency of applied field increased. The results are discussed.

Keywords: crystal growth, dielectric study, optical parameters, organo-metallic crystals, powder xrd, slow evaporation technique, TGA

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Authors: Abul B. M. M. K. Islam, Nuria Lopez-Bigas, Elizaveta V. Benevolenskaya

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RBP2 has shown to be important for cell differentiation control through epigenetic mechanism. The main aim of the present study is genome-wide location analysis of human RBP2 isoforms that differ in a histone-binding domain by ChIPseq. It is conceivable that the larger isoform (LI) of RBP2, which contains a specific H3K4me3 interacting domain, differs from the smaller isoform (SI) in genomic location, may account for the observed diversity in RBP2 function. To distinguish the two RBP2 isoforms, we used the fact that the SI lacks the C-terminal PHD domain and hence used the antibodies detecting both RBP2 isoforms (AI) through a common central domain, and the antibodies detecting only LI but not SI, through a C-terminal PHD domain. Overall our analysis suggests that RBP2 occupies about 77 nucleotides and binds GC rich motifs of active genes, does not bind to centromere, telomere, or enhancer regions, and binding sites are conserved compare to random. A striking difference between the only-SI and only-LI is that a large number of only-SI peaks are located in CpG islands and close to TSS compared to only-LI peaks. Enrichment analysis of the related genes indicates that several oncogenic pathways and metabolic pathways/processes are significantly enriched among only-SI/AI targets, but not LI/only-LI peak’s targets.

Keywords: bioinformatics, cancer, ChIP-seq, KDM5A

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Authors: Amthal Al-Gailani, Olujide Sanni, Thibaut Charpentier, Anne Neville

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Formation of inorganic scale on heat transfer surfaces is a serious problem encountered in industrial, commercial, and domestic heat exchangers and systems. Several industries use potable/groundwater sources such as rivers, lakes, and oceans to use water as a working fluid in heat exchangers and steamers. As potable/surface water contains diverse salt ionic species, the scaling kinetics and deposit morphology are expected to be different from those found in artificially hardened solutions. In this work, scale formation on the heat transfer surfaces from potable water has been studied using a once-through open flow cell under atmospheric pressure. The surface scaling mechanism and deposit morphology are investigated at high surface temperature. Thus the water evaporation process has to be considered. The effect of surface temperature, flow rate, and inhibitor deployment on the thermal resistance and morphology of the scale have been investigated. The study findings show how an increase in surface temperature enhances the crystallization reaction kinetics on the surface. There is an increase in the amount of scale and the resistance to heat transfer. The fluid flow rate also increases the fouling resistance and the thickness of the scale layer.

Keywords: fouling, heat exchanger, thermal resistance, crystallization, potable water

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Authors: Madhuresh Dwivedi, Navneet Singh Deora, H. N. Mishra

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In the context of bakery products, the gluten component of wheat has a crucial role in stabilizing the gas-cell and crumb structures, appearance, mouth feel and maintaining the rheological properties, thus the acceptability of these products. However, because of coeliac disease, some individuals cannot tolerate the protein gliadin present in the gluten fraction of wheat flour. Also termed as gluten-sensitive enteropathy, it is a common chronicle disorder in populations throughout the world with average prevalence of 0.37%. The safest way for celiac sufferers is to stay away from gluten-containing foods such as wheat, rye, barley as well as durum wheat, spelt wheat, and triticale. Thus, in view of the current increasing incidence of gluten intolerant sufferers (due to improved diagnostic procedures), the development of gluten-free cereal-based bakery products suitable for celiac patients represents a challenging and serious task, but also very demanding call for food technologists as well as for the bakers. The use of alternative cereal starches (like rice, soy, maize, potato and so on), gums, hydrocolloids, dietary fibres, alternative protein sources, prebiotics and combinations of them represent the most widespread approach used as replacement to mimic gluten in the manufacture of industrial processable gluten-free bakery products due to their structure-building and water binding properties.

Keywords: gluten-free, coeliac disease, alternative flour, hydrocolloid, crumb structure

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Authors: Naser Shagerdi Esmaeli, Mohsen Hamidpour, Parisa Hasankhani Tehrani

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Background: The TP53 mutation is frequently detected in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with complex karyotype (CK), but the stability of this mutation during the clinical course remains unclear. Material and Methods: In this study, TP53 mutations were identified in 7% of 500 patients with de novo AML and 58.8% of patients with CK in Tabriz, Iran. TP53 mutations were closely associated with older age, lower white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts, FAB M6 subtype, unfavorable-risk cytogenetics, and CK, but negatively associated with NPM1 mutation, FLT3/ITD and DNMT3A mutation. Result: Multivariate analysis demonstrated that TP53 mutation was an independent poor prognostic factor for overall survival and disease-free survival among the total cohort and the subgroup of patients with CK. A scoring system incorporating TP53 mutation and nine other prognostic factors, including age, WBC counts, cytogenetics, and gene mutations, into survival analysis proved to be very useful to stratify AML patients. Sequential study of 420 samples showed that TP53 mutations were stable during AML evolution, whereas the mutation was acquired only in 1 of the 126 TP53 wild-type patients when therapy-related AML originated from different clone emerged. Conclusion: In conclusion, TP53 mutations are associated with distinct clinic-biological features and poor prognosis in de novo AML patients and are rather stable during disease progression.

Keywords: acute myloblastic leukemia, TP53, FLT3/ITD, Iran

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Authors: Minjuan Sun

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Ever since the late 1990s, China has experienced explosive growth in consumer lending, especially in short-term consumer loans, among which, the growth rate of non-bank lending has surpassed bank lending due to the development in financial technology. On the other hand, China does not have a universal credit scoring and registration system that can guide lenders during the processes of credit evaluation and risk control, for example, an individual’s bank credit records are not available for online lenders to see and vice versa. Given this context, the purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, we explore if and how alternative digital footprint data can be utilized to assess borrower’s creditworthiness. Then, we perform a comparative analysis of machine learning methods for the canonical problem of credit default prediction. Finally, we analyze, from an institutional point of view, the necessity of establishing a viable and nationally universal credit registration and scoring system utilizing online digital footprints, so that more people in China can have better access to the consumption loan market. Two different types of digital footprint data are utilized to match with bank’s loan default records. Each separately captures distinct dimensions of a person’s characteristics, such as his shopping patterns and certain aspects of his personality or inferred demographics revealed by social media features like profile image and nickname. We find both datasets can generate either acceptable or excellent prediction results, and different types of data tend to complement each other to get better performances. Typically, the traditional types of data banks normally use like income, occupation, and credit history, update over longer cycles, hence they can’t reflect more immediate changes, like the financial status changes caused by the business crisis; whereas digital footprints can update daily, weekly, or monthly, thus capable of providing a more comprehensive profile of the borrower’s credit capabilities and risks. From the empirical and quantitative examination, we believe digital footprints can become an alternative information source for creditworthiness assessment, because of their near-universal data coverage, and because they can by and large resolve the "thin-file" issue, due to the fact that digital footprints come in much larger volume and higher frequency.

Keywords: credit score, digital footprint, Fintech, machine learning

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Authors: Roudabeh Vakil Monfared, Farhad Mashayekhi

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Breast cancer is the most common malignancy type among women with about 1 million new cases each year. The immune system plays an important role in the breast cancer development. OX40L (also known as TNFSF4), a membrane protein, which is a member of the tumor necrosis factor super family binds to its receptor OX40 and this co-stimulation has a crucial role in T-cell proliferation, survival and cytokine release. Due to the importance of the T-cells in anti-tumor activities of OX40L we studied the association of rs3850641 (T→C) polymorphism of OX40L gene with breast cancer. The study included 123 women with breast cancer and 126 healthy volunteers with no signs of cancer. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood leucocytes. Genotype and allele frequencies were determined in patients and control cases with the method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and the analysis was performed by Med Calc. The prevalence of genotype frequencies of TT, CT and CC were 60.9%, 30.08% and 8.9 % in patients with breast cancer and 74.6 %, 18.25 % and 7.14 % in healthy volunteers while the T and C allelic frequency was 76.01% and 23.98 % in patients and 83.73% and 16.26% in healthy controls. Respectively Statistical analysis has shown no significant difference from the comparison of either genotype (P=0.06). According to these results, the rs3850641 SNP has no association with the susceptibility of breast cancer in a population in northern Iran. However, further studies in larger populations including other genetic and environmental factors are required to achieve conclusion.

Keywords: OX40L, gene, polymorphism, breast cancer

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Authors: Rajeev jain, D. C. Tiwari, Praveena Mishra

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Nano-composite of polypyrrole/multiwalled carbon nanotubes:mangenese oxide (PPy/MWCNT:MnO2) was electrochemically deposited on the surface of carbon cloth (CC). The nano-composite was structurally characterized by FTIR, SEM, TEM and UV-Vis studies. Nano-composite was also characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), current voltage measurements (I-V) and the optical band gaps of film were evaluated from UV-Vis absorption studies. The PPy/MWCNT:MnO2 nano-composite was used as anode in microbial fuel cell (MFC) for sewage waste water treatment, power and coulombic efficiency measurement. The prepared electrode showed good electrical conductivity (0.1185 S m-1). This was also supported by band gap measurements (direct 0.8 eV, indirect 1.3 eV). The obtained maximum power density was 1125.4 mW m-2, highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was 93% and the maximum coulombic efficiency was 59%. For the first time PPy/MWCNT:MnO2 nano-composite for MFC prepared from nano-composite electrode having the potential for the use in MFC with good stability and better adhesion of microbes is being reported. The SEM images confirm the growth and development of microbe’s colony.

Keywords: carbon cloth, electro-polymerization, functionalization, microbial fuel cells, multi walled carbon nanotubes, polypyrrole

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Authors: Neeraj Malhotra

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Background: Bioreactors in tissue engineering are used as devices that apply mechanical means to influence biological processes. They are commonly employed for stem cell culturing, growth and expansion as well as in 3D tissue culture. Contemporarily there use is well established and is tested extensively in the medical sciences, for tissue-regeneration and tissue engineering of organs like bone, cartilage, blood vessels, skin grafts, cardiac muscle etc. Methodology: Literature search, both electronic and hand search, was done using the following MeSH and keywords: bioreactors, bioreactors and dentistry, bioreactors & dental tissue engineering, bioreactors and regenerative dentistry. Articles published only in English language were included for review. Results: Bioreactors like, spinner flask-, rotating wall-, flow perfusion-, and micro-bioreactors and in-vivo bioreactor have been employed and tested for the regeneration of dental and like-tissues. These include gingival tissue, periodontal ligament, alveolar bone, mucosa, cementum and blood vessels. Based on their working dynamics they can be customized in future for regeneration of pulp tissue and whole tooth regeneration. Apart from this, they have been successfully used in testing the clinical efficacy and biological safety of dental biomaterials. Conclusion: Bioreactors have potential use in testing dental biomaterials and tissue engineering approaches aimed at regenerative dentistry.

Keywords: bioreactors, biological process, mechanical stimulation, regenerative dentistry, stem cells

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Authors: Mehdi Modabberifar, Sanaz Jabary, Mojtaba Ghodsi

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Stiffness sensing is an important issue in medical diagnostic, robotics surgery, safe handling, and safe grasping of objects in production lines. Detecting and obtaining the characteristics in dwelling lumps embedded in a soft tissue and safe removing and handling of detected lumps is needed in surgery. Also in industry, grasping and handling an object without damaging in a place where it is not possible to access a human operator is very important. In this paper, a method for object handling is presented. It is based on the use of an intelligent gripper to detect the object stiffness and then setting a programmable force for grasping the object to move it. The main components of this system includes sensors (sensors for measuring force and displacement), electrical (electrical and electronic circuits, tactile data processing and force control system), mechanical (gripper mechanism and driving system for the gripper) and the display unit. The system uses a rotary potentiometer for measuring gripper displacement. A microcontroller using the feedback received by the load cell, mounted on the finger of the gripper, calculates the amount of stiffness, and then commands the gripper motor to apply a certain force on the object. Results of Experiments on some samples with different stiffness show that the gripper works successfully. The gripper can be used in haptic interfaces or robotic systems used for object handling.

Keywords: gripper, haptic, stiffness, robotic

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Authors: Dalia Jomehpour, Sara Sheikhlary, Esmaeil Heydari, Mohammad Hossien Majles Ara

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In this study, we report fulvic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles of 10.7 ± 2.7 nm size, which serve to inhibit amyloid fibrillation formation. Although the effect of fulvic acid on tau fibrils was investigated, to our best knowledge, its inhibitory impacts on amyloid aggregation formation have been assessed neither in-vitro nor in-vivo. On the other hand, iron oxide nanoparticles exhibit anti-amyloid activity on their own. This study investigates the inhibitory effect of fulvic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles on amyloid aggregations formed from the commonly used in-vitro model, lysozyme from chicken egg white. FESEM, XRD, and FTIR characterization confirmed that fulvic acid was coated onto the surface of the nanoparticles. The inhibitory effects of the fulvic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles were verified by Thioflavin T assay, circular dichroism (CD), and FESEM analysis. Furthermore, the toxicity of the nanoparticles on the neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y human cell line was assessed through an MTT assay. Our results indicate that fulvic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles can efficiently inhibit the formation of amyloid aggregations while exhibiting negligible in-vitro toxicity; thus, they can be used as anti-amyloid agents in the development of the potential drug for neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, fulvic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles, fulvic acid, amyloid inhibitor, polyphenols

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Authors: Aravind Ravichandran, Marc Ramuz, Sylvain Blayac

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With the rapid development of wearable electronics and sensor networks, batteries cannot meet the sustainable energy requirement due to their limited lifetime, size and degradation. Ambient energies such as wind have been considered as an attractive energy source due to its copious, ubiquity, and feasibility in nature. With miniaturization leading to high-power and robustness, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) have been conceived as a promising technology by harvesting mechanical energy for powering small electronics. TENG integration in large-scale applications is still unexplored considering its attractive properties. In this work, a state of the art design TENG based on wind venturi system is demonstrated for use in any complex environment. When wind introduces into the air gap of the homemade TENG venturi system, a thin flexible polymer repeatedly contacts with and separates from electrodes. This device structure makes the TENG suitable for large scale harvesting without massive volume. Multiple stacking not only amplifies the output power but also enables multi-directional wind utilization. The system converts ambient mechanical energy to electricity with 400V peak voltage by charging of a 1000mF super capacitor super rapidly. Its future implementation in an array of applications aids in environment friendly clean energy production in large scale medium and the proposed design performs with an exhaustive material testing. The relation between the interfacial micro-and nano structures and the electrical performance enhancement is comparatively studied. Nanostructures are more beneficial for the effective contact area, but they are not suitable for the anti-adhesion property due to the smaller restoring force. Considering these issues, the nano-patterning is proposed for further enhancement of the effective contact area. By considering these merits of simple fabrication, outstanding performance, robust characteristic and low-cost technology, we believe that TENG can open up great opportunities not only for powering small electronics, but can contribute to large-scale energy harvesting through engineering design being complementary to solar energy in remote areas.

Keywords: triboelectric nanogenerator, wind energy, vortex design, large scale energy

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Authors: Yantao Li, Jun Zheng

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Food poison caused by consumption of contaminated food, especially seafood, is one of most serious public health threats worldwide. Vibrio parahaemolyticus is emerging bacterial pathogen and the leading cause of human gastroenteritis associated with food poison, especially in the southern coastal region of China. To successfully cause disease in host, bacterial pathogens need to overcome the host-derived stresses encountered during infection. One of the toxic chemical species elaborated by the host is nitric oxide (NO). NO is generated by acidified nitrite in the stomach and by enzymes of the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in the host cell, and is toxic to bacteria. Bacterial pathogens have evolved some mechanisms to battle with this toxic stress. Such mechanisms include genes to sense NO produced from immune system and activate others to detoxify NO toxicity, and genes to repair the damage caused by toxic reactive nitrogen species (RNS) generated during NO toxic stress. However, little is known about the NO resistance in V. parahaemolyticus. In this study, a transposon coupled with next generation sequencing (Tn-seq) technology will be utilized to identify genes for NO resistance in V. parahaemolyticus. Our strategy will include construction the saturating transposon insertion library, transposon library challenging with NO, next generation sequencing (NGS), bioinformatics analysis and verification of the identified genes in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: vibrio parahaemolyticus, nitric oxide, tn-seq, virulence

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Authors: Ricardo Mestre

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The soundscape stands out as an agglomeration of sounds available in the world, associated with different contexts and origins, being a theme studied by various areas of knowledge, seeking to guide their benefits and their consequences, contributing to the welfare of society and other ecosystems. Murray Schafer, the author who originally developed this concept, highlights the need for a greater recognition of sound reality, through the selection and differentiation of sounds, contributing to a tuning of the world and to the balance and well-being of humanity. According to some authors sound environment, produced and created in various ways, provides various sources of information, contributing to the orientation of the human being, alerting and manipulating him during his daily journey, like small notifications received on a cell phone or other device with these features. In this way, it becomes possible to give sound its due importance in relation to the processes of individual representation, in manners of social, professional and emotional life. Ensuring an individual representation means providing the human being with new tools for the long process of reflection by recognizing his environment, the sounds that represent him, and his perspective on his respective function in it. In order to provide more information about the importance of the sound environment inherent to the individual reality, one introduces the term sound instance, in order to refer to the whole sound field existing in the individual's life, which is divided into four distinct subfields, but essential to the process of individual representation, called sound matrix, sound cycles, sound traces and sound interference.

Keywords: sound instance, soundscape, sound art, perception, composition

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: N. Rassoul-ibrahim, E. Siahmed, L. Tadrist

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Water management plays a crucial role in the performance and durability of PEM fuel cells. Whereas the membrane must be hydrated enough, liquid droplets formed by water in excess can block the flow in the gas distribution channels and hinder the fuel cell performance. The main purpose of this work is to increase the understanding of liquid transport and mixing through mini- or micro-channels for various engineering or medical process applications including cool-ing of equipment according to the operations considered. For that purpose and as a first step, a technique was devel-oped to automatically detect and characterize two-phase flow patterns that may appear in such. The investigation, mainly experimental, was conducted on transparent channel with a 1mm x 1mm square cross section and a 0.3mm x 0.3 mm water injection normal to the gas channel. Three main flow patterns were identified liquid slug, bubble flow and annular flow. A flow map has been built accord-ing to the flow rate of both phases. As a sample the follow-ing figures show representative images of the flow struc-tures observed. An analysis and discussion of the flow pattern, in mini-channel, will be provided and compared to the case old micro-channel. . Keywords: Two phase flow, Clean Energy, Minichannels, Fuel Cells. Flow patterns, Maps.

Keywords: two phase flox, T-juncion, Micro and minichannels, clean energy, flow patterns, maps

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Authors: Nicole Nazario Bayon, Prathima Prabhu Tumkur, Nithin Krisshna Gunasekaran, Krishnan Prabhakaran, Joseph C. Hall, Govindarajan T. Ramesh

Abstract:

Titanium nitride (TiN) nanoparticles have sparked interest over the past decade due to their characteristics such as thermal stability, extreme hardness, low production cost, and similar optical properties to gold. In this study, TiN nanoparticles were synthesized via a thermal benzene route to obtain a black powder of nanoparticles. The final product was drop cast onto conductive carbon tape and sputter coated with gold/palladium at a thickness of 4 nm for characterization by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) that revealed they were spherical. ImageJ software determined the average size of the TiN nanoparticles was 79 nm in diameter. EDX revealed the elements present in the sample and showed no impurities. Further characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed characteristic peaks of cubic phase titanium nitride, and crystallite size was calculated to be 14 nm using the Debye-Scherrer method. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis revealed the size and size distribution of the TiN nanoparticles, with average size being 154 nm. Zeta potential concluded the surface of the TiN nanoparticles is negatively charged. Biocompatibility studies using MTT(3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide) assay showed TiN nanoparticles are not cytotoxic at low concentrations (2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 mcg/well), and cell viability began to decrease at a concentration of 100 mcg/well.

Keywords: biocompatibility, characterization, cytotoxicity, nanoparticles, synthesis, titanium nitride

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Authors: A. Alyami, S. Christmas, K. Neeltje, G. Pollakis, B. Paxton, Z. Al-Bayati

Abstract:

The Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) molecule plays an important role in immunomodulation. To date, 16 untranslated regions (UTR) HLA-G haplotypes have been previously defined by sequenced SNPs in the coding region. From these, UTR-1, UTR-2, UTR-3, UTR-4, UTR-5, UTR-6 and UTR-7 are the most frequent 3’UTR haplotypes at the global level. UTR-1 is associated with higher levels of soluble HLA-G and HLA-G expression, whereas UTR-5 and UTR-7 are linked with low levels of soluble HLA-G and HLA-G expression. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection results in the progressive loss of immune function in infected individuals. The virus escape mechanism typically includes T lymphocytes and NK cell recognition and lyses by classical HLA-A and B down-regulation, which has been associated with non-classical HLA-G molecule up-regulation, respectively. We evaluated the haplotypes of the HLA-G 3′ untranslated region frequencies observed in three HIV-1 groups from the Netherlands and their susceptibility to develop infection. The three groups are made up of mainly men who have sex with men (MSM), injection drug users (IDU) and a high-risk-seronegative (HRSN) group. DNA samples were amplified with published primers prior sequencing. According to our results, the low expresser frequencies show higher in HRSN compared to other groups. This is indicating that 3’UTR polymorphisms may be identified as potential prognostic biomarkers to determine susceptibility to HIV.

Keywords: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) , men who have sex with men (MSM), injection drug users (IDU), high-risk-seronegative (HRSN) group, high-untranslated region (UTR)

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Authors: Ashish Kumar Pathak, Ritika Sharma, Vishal Nath, Sudhir Pratap Singh, Rakesh Tuli

Abstract:

Litchi is a sub-tropical fruit crop with genotypes bearing delicious juicy fruits with variable seed size (bold to rudimentary size). Small seed size is a desirable trait in litchi, as it increases consumer acceptance and fruit processing. The biochemical activities in mid- stage ovules (e.g. 16, 20, 24 and 28 days after anthesis) determine the fate of seed and fruit development in litchi. Comprehensive ovule-specific transcriptome analysis was performed in two litchi genotypes with contrasting seed size to gain molecular insight on determinants of seed fates in litchi fruits. The transcriptomic data was de-novo assembled in 1,39,608 trinity transcripts, out of which 6,325 trinity transcripts were differentially expressed between the two contrasting genotypes. Differential transcriptional pattern was found among ovule development stages in contrasting litchi genotypes. The putative genes for salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and brassinosteroid pathway were down-regulated in ovules of small-seeded litchi. Embryogenesis, cell expansion, seed size and stress related trinity transcripts exhibited altered expression in small-seeded genotype. The putative regulators of seed maturation and seed storage were down-regulated in small-seed genotype.

Keywords: Litchi, seed, transcriptome, defence

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Authors: Seid Yimer Abate, Ding-Chi Huang, Yu-Tai Tao

Abstract:

In this study, charge extraction characteristics at the perovskite/TiO2 interface in the conventional perovskite solar cell is studied by interface engineering. Self-assembled monolayers of phosphonic acids with different chain length and terminal functional group were used to modify mesoporous TiO2 surface to modulate the surface property and interfacial energy barrier to investigate their effect on charge extraction and transport from the perovskite to the mp-TiO2 and then the electrode. The chain length introduces a tunnelling distance and the end group modulate the energy level alignment at the mp-TiO2 and perovskite interface. The work function of these SAM-modified mp-TiO2 varied from −3.89 eV to −4.61 eV, with that of the pristine mp-TiO2 at −4.19 eV. A correlation of charge extraction and transport with respect to the modification was attempted. The study serves as a guide to engineer ETL interfaces with simple SAMs to improve the charge extraction, carrier balance and device long term stability. In this study, a maximum PCE of ~16.09% with insignificant hysteresis was obtained, which is 17% higher than the standard device.

Keywords: Energy level alignment, Interface engineering, Perovskite solar cells, Phosphonic acid monolayer, Tunnelling distance

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Authors: Muhammad Mazhar, Yong Zhu, Likang Qin

Abstract:

Foods contain endogenous components known as dietary fibers, which are classified into soluble and insoluble forms. Dietary fibers are resistant to gut digestive enzymes, modulating anaerobic intestinal microbiota (AIM) and fabricating short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Acetate, butyrate, and propionate dominate in the gut, and different pathways, including Wood-Ljungdahl and acrylate pathways, generate these SCFAs. In pancreatic dysfunction, the release of insulin/glucagon is impaired, which leads to hyperglycemia. SCFAs enhance insulin sensitivity or secretion, beta-cell functions, leptin release, mitochondrial functions, and intestinal gluconeogenesis in human organs, which positively affect type 2 diabetes (T2D). Research models presented that SCFAs either enhance the release of peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) from L-cells (entero-endocrine) or promote the release of leptin hormone satiation in adipose tissues through G-protein receptors, i.e., GPR-41/GPR-43. Dietary fibers are the components of foods that influence AIM and produce SCFAs, which may be offering beneficial effects on T2D. This review addresses the effectiveness of SCFAs in modulating gut AIM in the fermentation of dietary fiber and their worth against T2D.

Keywords: dietary fibers, intestinal microbiota, short-chain fatty acids, fermentation, type 2 diabetes

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Yo-Sheng Lin, Run-Chi Liu, Chien-Chu Ji, Chih-Chung Chen, Chien-Chin Wang

Abstract:

A W-band double-balanced mixer for direct up-conversion using standard 90 nm CMOS technology is reported. The mixer comprises an enhanced double-balanced Gilbert cell with PMOS negative resistance compensation for conversion gain (CG) enhancement and current injection for power consumption reduction and linearity improvement, a Marchand balun for converting the single LO input signal to differential signal, another Marchand balun for converting the differential RF output signal to single signal, and an output buffer amplifier for loading effect suppression, power consumption reduction and CG enhancement. The mixer consumes low power of 6.9 mW and achieves LO-port input reflection coefficient of -17.8~ -38.7 dB and RF-port input reflection coefficient of -16.8~ -27.9 dB for frequencies of 90~100 GHz. The mixer achieves maximum CG of 3.6 dB at 95 GHz, and CG of 2.1±1.5 dB for frequencies of 91.9~99.4 GHz. That is, the corresponding 3 dB CG bandwidth is 7.5 GHz. In addition, the mixer achieves LO-RF isolation of 36.8 dB at 94 GHz. To the authors’ knowledge, the CG, LO-RF isolation and power dissipation results are the best data ever reported for a 94 GHz CMOS/BiCMOS up-conversion mixer.

Keywords: CMOS, W-band, up-conversion mixer, conversion gain, negative resistance compensation, output buffer amplifier

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Authors: Zhongyang Sun, Shu Zhang, Manjiang Xie

Abstract:

Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in modulating osteoblast function and bone formation. However, the influence of miRNA on osteoblast proliferation and the possible mechanisms underlying remain to be defined. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether miR-103 regulates osteoblast proliferation under simulated microgravity condition through regulating Cav1.2, the primary subunit of L-type voltage sensitive calcium channels (LTCCs). We first investigated the effect of simulated microgravity on osteoblast proliferation and the outcomes clearly demonstrated that the mechanical unloading inhibits MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells proliferation. Using quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR), we provided data showing that miR-103 was up-regulated in response to simulated microgravity. In addition, we observed that up-regulation of miR-103 inhibited and down-regulation of miR-103 promoted osteoblast proliferation under simulated microgravity condition. Furthermore, knocking-down or over-expressing miR-103, respectively, up- or down-regulated the level of Cav1.2 expression and LTCCs currents, suggesting that miR-103 acts as an endogenous attenuator of Cav1.2 in osteoblasts under the condition of simulated microgravity. More importantly, we showed that the effect of miR-103 on osteoblast proliferation was diminished in simulated microgravity, when co-transfecting miR-103 mimic or inhibitor with Cav1.2 siRNA. Taken together, our data suggest that miR-103 inhibits osteoblast proliferation mainly through suppression of Cav1.2 expression under simulated microgravity condition. This work may provide a novel mechanism of microgravity-induced detrimental effects on osteoblast, identifying miR-103 as a novel possible therapeutic target in bone remodeling disorders in this mechanical unloading.

Keywords: microRNA, osteoblasts, cell proliferation, Cav1.2, simulated microgravity

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Authors: Hubert Beisch, Janik Marx, Svenja Garlof, Roman Shvets, Ivan Grygorchak, Andriy Kityk, Bodo Fiedler

Abstract:

Three-dimensional carbon materials can be used as electrode materials for energy storage systems such as batteries and supercapacitors. Fast charging and discharging times are realizable without reducing the performance due to aging processes. Furthermore high specific surface area (SSA) of three-dimensional carbon structures leads to high specific capacities. One newly developed carbon foam is Globugraphite. This interconnected globular carbon morphology with statistically distributed hierarchical pores is manufactured by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process from ceramic templates resulting from a sintering process. Via scanning electron (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the morphology is characterized. Moreover, the SSA was measured by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) theory. Measurements of Globugraphite in an organic and inorganic electrolyte show high energy densities and power densities resulting from ion absorption by forming an electrochemical double layer. A comparison of the specific values is summarized in a Ragone diagram. Energy densities up to 48 Wh/kg and power densities to 833 W/kg could be achieved for an SSA from 376 m²/g to 859 m²/g. For organic electrolyte, a specific capacity of 100 F/g at a density of 20 mg/cm³ was achieved.

Keywords: BET, carbon foam, CVD process, electrochemical cell, Ragone diagram, SEM, TEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Satyam Raikwar, Thomas Herlitzius, Jens Fehrmann

Abstract:

In recent years, the autonomous navigation of orchard and field robots is an emerging technology of the mobile robotics in agriculture. One of the core aspects of autonomous navigation builds upon path planning, which is still a crucial issue. Generally, for simple representation, the path planning for a mobile robot is performed in a two-dimensional space, which creates a path between the start and goal point. This paper presents the automatic path planning approach for robots used in orchards and vineyards using occupancy grid maps with field consideration. The orchards and vineyards are usually structured environment and their topology is assumed to be constant over time; therefore, in this approach, an RGB image of a field is used as a working environment. These images undergone different image processing operations and then discretized into two-dimensional grid matrices. The individual grid or cell of these grid matrices represents the occupancy of the space, whether it is free or occupied. The grid matrix represents the robot workspace for motion and path planning. After the grid matrix is described, a probabilistic roadmap (PRM) path algorithm is used to create the obstacle-free path over these occupancy grids. The path created by this method was successfully verified in the test area. Furthermore, this approach is used in the navigation of the orchard robot.

Keywords: orchard robots, automatic path planning, occupancy grid, probabilistic roadmap

Procedia PDF Downloads 145