Search results for: organic cell solar

Authors: Vidhula Ahire, Amit Kumar, K. P. Mishra, Gauri Kulkarni

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Herbal polyphenols have gained significance because of their increasing promise in prevention and treatment of cancer. Therefore, development of a dietary compound as an effective radiosensitizer and a radioprotector is highly warranted for cervical cancer patients undergoing therapy. This study describes the cytotoxic effects of the flavonoid, ellagic acid (EA) when administered either alone or in combination with gamma radiation on cervical cancer HeLa cells in vitro. Apoptotic index and proliferation were measured by using trypan blue assay. Reproductive cell death was analyzed by clonogenic assay. Propidium iodide staining for flowcytometry was performed to analyze cell cycle modulation. Nuclear and mitochondrial changes were studied with specific dyes. DNA repair kinetics was analyzed by immunofluorescence assay. Evaluation and comparison of EA effects were performed with other clinically used breast cancer drugs. When tumor cells were exposed to 2 and 4 Gy of irradiation in presence of EA (10 μM), it yielded a synergistic cytotoxic effect on cervical cancer cells whereas in NIH3T3 cells it reversed the injury caused by irradiation and abetted in the regaining of normal healthy cells. At 24h ~25foci/cell was observed and 2.6 fold decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential. Up to 40% cell were arrested in the G1 phase and 20-36% cells exhibited apoptosis. Our results demonstrate the role of increased apoptosis and cell cycle modulation in the mechanism of EA mediated radiosensitization of cervical cancer cells and thus advocating EA as an adjuvant for preclinical trials in cancer chemo- radiotherapy.

Keywords: cervical cancer, ellagic acid, sensitization, radiation therapy

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Authors: Ibrahim M. Labouta, Gina N. Tageldin, Salwa M. Fahmy, Hayam M. Ashour, Mounir A. Khalil, Tamer M. Ibrahim, Nefertiti A. El-Nikhely

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Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a critical effector molecule in B cell antigen receptor (BCR) signaling transduction. It regulates B cell proliferation, development and survival. Since BTK is widely expressed in many B cell leukaemias and lymphomas, targeting BTK by small molecules inhibitors became an attractive idea as new treatment modalities for B cell mediated hematologic malignancies. Ibrutinib is the 1st generation BTK inhibitor, approved by FDA for treatment of relapsed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). It binds irreversibly to the unique cysteine (Cys481) within the ATP-binding pocket of BTK. Besides ibrutinib, many irreversible covalent BTK inhibitors comprising pyrimidine nucleus such as spebrutinib (phase IIb) showed high selectivity and potency when compared to it. In this study, the designed compounds were based on 5-cyano-2-methylsulfanyl pyrimidine core and decorated with electrophilic warheads which are essential for the optimal activity for targeted covalent inhibition (TCI). However, modifications at pyrimidine C4 or C6 were made by introduction of substituted amines which are provided to behave differently. The synthesized derivatives were evaluated for their anticancer activity in leukemia cell lines (e.g. THP-1). Results showed that, some derivatives exhibited antiproliferative activity with IC50 ranged from 5-50 μM, The in vitro enzymatic inhibitory assay for these compounds against BTK is still under investigation. Nevertheless, we could conclude from the initial biological screening that, the synthesized 4 or 6-subsitituted aminopyrimidines represent promising and novel antileukemic agents. Meanwhile, further studies are still needed to attribute this activity through targeting BTK enzyme and inhibition of BCR signaling pathway.

Keywords: BTK inhibitors, hematologic malignancies, structure based drug design (SBDD), targeted covalent inhibitors (TCI)

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Authors: Mohsin Ejaz, Shiao-Wei Kuo

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The growing production and exploitation of fossil fuels have placed human society in serious environmental issues. As a result, it's critical to design efficient and eco-friendly energy production and storage techniques. Porous organic polymers (POPs) are multi-dimensional porous network materials developed through the formation of covalent bonds between different organic building blocks that possess distinct geometries and topologies. POPs have tunable porosities and high surface area making them a good candidate for an effective electrode material in energy storage applications. Herein, we prepared a fully benzoxazine-based porous organic polymers (TPA–DHTP–BZ POP) through sonogashira coupling of dihydroxyterephthalaldehyde (DHPT) and triphenylamine (TPA) containing benzoxazine (BZ) monomers. Firstly, both BZ monomers (TPA-BZ-Br and DHTP-BZ-Ea) were synthesized by three steps, including Schiff base, reduction, and mannich condensation reaction. Finally, the TPA–DHTP–BZ POP was prepared through the sonogashira coupling reaction of brominated monomer (TPA-BZ-Br) and ethynyl monomer (DHTP-BZ-Ea). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy confirmed the successful synthesis of monomers as well as POP. The porosity of TPA–DHTP–BZ POP was investigated by the N₂ absorption technique and showed a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 196 m² g−¹, pore size 2.13 nm and pore volume of 0.54 cm³ g−¹, respectively. The TPA–DHTP–BZ POP experienced thermal ring-opening polymerization, resulting in poly (TPA–DHTP–BZ) POP having strong inter and intramolecular hydrogen bonds formed by phenolic groups and Mannich bridges, thereby enhancing CO₂ capture and supercapacitive performance. The poly(TPA–DHTP–BZ) POP demonstrated a remarkable CO₂ capture of 3.28 mmol g−¹ and a specific capacitance of 67 F g−¹ at 0.5 A g−¹. Thus, poly(TPA–DHTP–BZ) POP could potentially be used for energy storage and CO₂ capture applications.

Keywords: porous organic polymer, benzoxazine, sonogashira coupling, CO₂, supercapacitor

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Authors: Nisha Singh, Neeru Adlakha

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Calcium signalling is one of the most important intracellular signalling mechanisms. A lot of approaches and investigators have been made in the study of calcium signalling in various cells to understand its mechanisms over recent decades. However, most of existing investigators have mainly focussed on the study of calcium signalling in various cells without paying attention to the dependence of calcium signalling on other chemical ions like inositol-1; 4; 5 triphosphate ions, etc. Some models for the independent study of calcium signalling and inositol-1; 4; 5 triphosphate signalling in various cells are present but very little attention has been paid by the researchers to study the interdependence of these two signalling processes in a cell. In this paper, we propose a coupled mathematical model to understand the interdependence of inositol-1; 4; 5 triphosphate dynamics and calcium dynamics in a myocyte cell. Such studies will provide the deeper understanding of various factors involved in calcium signalling in myocytes, which may be of great use to biomedical scientists for various medical applications.

Keywords: calcium signalling, coupling, finite difference method, inositol 1, 4, 5-triphosphate

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Authors: Jahedul Islam Chowdhury, Bao Kha Nguyen, David Thornhill, Roy Douglas, Stephen Glover

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Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is the most commonly used method for recovering energy from small sources of heat. The investigation of the ORC in supercritical condition is a new research area as it has a potential to generate high power and thermal efficiency in a waste heat recovery system. This paper presents a steady state ORC model in supercritical condition and its simulations with a real engine’s exhaust data. The key component of ORC, evaporator, is modelled using finite volume method, modelling of all other components of the waste heat recovery system such as pump, expander and condenser are also presented. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of mass flow rate and evaporator outlet temperature on the efficiency of the waste heat recovery process. Additionally, the necessity of maintaining an optimum evaporator outlet temperature is also investigated. Simulation results show that modification of mass flow rate is the key to changing the operating temperature at the evaporator outlet.

Keywords: Organic Rankine cycle, supercritical condition, steady state model, waste heat recovery

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Authors: Roberto Coppo, Francesca Orso, Daniela Dettori, Elena Quaglino, Lei Nie, Mehran M. Sadeghi, Daniela Taverna

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Malignant melanoma is currently the fifth most common cancer in the white population and it is fatal in its metastatic stage. Several research studies in recent years have provided evidence that cancer initiation and progression are driven by genetic alterations of the tumor and paracrine interactions between tumor and microenvironment. Scattered data show that the Endothelial and Smooth muscle cell-Derived Neuropilin-like molecule (ESDN) controls cell proliferation and movement of stroma and tumor cells. To investigate the role of ESDN in the tumor microenvironment during melanoma progression, murine melanoma cells (B16 or B16-F10) were injected in ESDN knockout mice in order to evaluate how the absence of ESDN in stromal cells could influence melanoma progression. While no effect was found on primary tumor growth, increased cell extravasation and lung metastasis formation was observed in ESDN knockout mice compared to wild type controls. In order to understand how cancer cells cross the endothelial barrier during metastatic dissemination in an ESDN-null microenvironment, structure, and permeability of lung blood vessels were analyzed. Interestingly, ESDN knockout mice showed structurally altered and more permeable vessels compared to wild type animals. Since cell surface molecules mediate the process of tumor cell extravasation, the expression of a panel of extravasation-related ligands and receptors was analyzed. Importantly, modulations of N-cadherin, E-selectin, ICAM-1 and VAP-1 were observed in ESDN knockout endothelial cells, suggesting the presence of a favorable tumor microenvironment which facilitates melanoma cell extravasation and metastasis formation in the absence of ESDN. Furthermore, a potential contribution of immune cells in tumor dissemination was investigated. An increased recruitment of macrophages in the lungs of ESDN knockout mice carrying subcutaneous B16-F10 tumors was found. In conclusion, our data suggest a functional role of ESDN in the tumor microenvironment during melanoma progression and the identification of the mechanisms that regulate tumor cell extravasation could lead to the development of new therapies to reduce metastasis formation.

Keywords: melanoma, tumor microenvironment, extravasation, cell surface molecules

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Authors: Mohsen Azarmjoo, Mehdi Mehdizadeh Koupaei, Maryam Mehdizadeh Koupaei, Asghar Mahdlouei Azar

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The increasing prevalence of wireless networks in our daily lives has made them indispensable. The aim of this research is to investigate the management of information transfer in wireless networks and the integration of renewable solar energy resources in a residential building. The focus is on the transmission of electricity and information through wireless networks, as well as the utilization of sensors and wireless fire alarm systems. The research employs a descriptive approach to examine the transmission of electricity and information on a wireless network with electric and optical telephone lines. It also investigates the transmission of signals from sensors and wireless fire alarm systems via radio waves. The methodology includes a detailed analysis of security, comfort conditions, and costs related to the utilization of wireless networks and renewable solar energy resources. The study reveals that it is feasible to transmit electricity on a network cable using two pairs of network cables without the need for separate power cabling. Additionally, the integration of renewable solar energy systems in residential buildings can reduce dependence on traditional energy carriers. The use of sensors and wireless remote information processing can enhance the safety and efficiency of energy usage in buildings and the surrounding spaces.

Keywords: renewable energy, intelligentization, wireless sensors, fire alarm system

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Authors: Yasser A. Ahmed, Juleen M Dickson, Evan S. Krystofiak, Julie A. Oliver

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Cancer cells urgently need folate to support their rapid division. Folate receptors (FR) are over-expressed on a wide range of tumor cells, including breast cancer cells. FR are distributed over the entire surface of cancer cells, but are polarized to the apical surface of normal cells. Targeting of cancer cells using specific surface molecules such as folate receptors may be one of the strategies used to kill cancer cells without hurting the neighing normal cells. The aim of the current study was to try a method of SEM detecting FR in a murine breast cancer cell model (4T1 cells) using secondary antibody conjugated to gold or gold-coated magnetite nanoparticles. 4T1 cells were suspended in RPMI medium witth FR antibody and incubated with secondary antibody for fluorescence microscopy. The cells were cultured on 30mm Thermanox coverslips for 18 hours, labeled with FR antibody then incubated with secondary antibody conjugated to gold or gold-coated magnetite nanoparticles and processed to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The fluorescence microscopy study showed strong punctate FR expression on 4T1 cell membrane. With SEM, the labeling with gold or gold-coated magnetite conjugates showed a similar pattern. Specific labeling occurred in nanoparticle clusters, which are clearly visualized in backscattered electron images. The 4T1 tumor cell model may be useful for the development of FR-targeted tumor therapy using gold-coated magnetite nano-particles.

Keywords: cancer cell, nanoparticles, cell culture, SEM

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Authors: Dhruv J. Limaye, Hanga Galfalvy, Cheick A. Sissoko, Yung-yu Huang, Chunanning Tang, Ying Liu, Shu-Chi Hsiung, Andrew J. Dwork, Gorazd B. Rosoklija, Victoria Arango, Lewis Brown, J. John Mann, Maura Boldrini

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Memory and emotion require hippocampal cell viability and connectivity and are disrupted in major depressive disorder (MDD). Applying shotgun proteomics and stereological quantification of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), intermediate neural progenitors (INPs), and mature granule neurons (GNs), to postmortem human hippocampus, identified differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), and fewer NPCs, INPs and GNs, in untreated MDD (uMDD) compared with non-psychiatric controls (CTRL) and antidepressant-treated MDD (MDDT). DEPs lower in uMDD vs. CTRL promote mitosis, differentiation, and prevent apoptosis. DEPs higher in uMDD vs. CTRL inhibit the cell cycle, and regulate cell adhesion, neurite outgrowth, and DNA repair. DEPs lower in MDDT vs. uMDD block cell proliferation. We observe group-specific correlations between numbers of NPCs, INPs, and GNs and an abundance of proteins regulating mitosis, differentiation, and apoptosis. Altered protein expression underlies hippocampus cellular and volume loss in uMDD, supports a trophic effect of antidepressants, and offers new treatment targets.

Keywords: proteomics, hippocampus, depression, mitosis, migration, differentiation, mitochondria, apoptosis, antidepressants, human brain

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Authors: Nety Trisnawaty, Mirna Febriani

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The use of stainless steel wires in the field of dentistry is widely used, especially for orthodontic and prosthodontic treatment using stainless steel wire. The oral cavity is the ideal environment for corrosion, which can be caused by saliva. Prevention of corrosion on stainless steel wires can be done by using an organic or non-organic corrosion inhibitor. One of the organic inhibitors that can be used to prevent corrosion is black tea leaves extracts. To explain the comparison of chromium ions release for stainlees steel between artificial saliva and black tea leaves extracts. In this research we used artificial saliva, black tea leaves extracts, stainless steel wire and using Atomic Absorption Spectrophometric testing machine. The samples were soaked for 1, 3, 7 and 14 days in the artificial saliva and black tea leaves extracts. The results showed the difference of chromium ion release soaked in artificial saliva and black tea leaves extracts on days 1, 3, 7 and 14. Statistically, calculation with independent T-test with p < 0,05 showed a significant difference. The longer the duration of days, the more ion chromium were released. The conclusion of this study shows that black tea leaves extracts can inhibit the corrosion rate of stainless steel wires.

Keywords: chromium ion, stainless steel, artificial saliva, black tea leaves extracts

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Authors: Palash Kumar Mollick, Leire Olazar, Laura Santamaria, Pablo Comendador, Manomita Mollick, Gartzen Lopez, Martin Olazar

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The entire world is skeptical towards a silver line technology of converting plastic waste into valuable synthetic gas. At this junction, besides an adequately studied conventional catalytic process for steam reforming, a non-thermal plasma is being introduced. Organic volatiles are produced in the first step, pyrolysing the plastic materials. Resultant lightweight olefins and carbon monoxide are the major components that undergo a steam reforming process to achieve syngas. A non-thermal plasma consists of ionized gases and free electrons with an electronic temperature as high as 10³ K. Organic volatiles are, in general, endorganics inactive and thus demand huge bond-breaking energy. Conventional catalyst is incapable of providing the required activation energy, leading to poor thermodynamic equilibrium, whereas a non-thermal plasma can actively collide with reactants to produce a rich mix of reactive species, including vibrationally or electronically excited molecules, radicals, atoms, and ions. In addition, non-thermal plasma provides nonequilibrium conditions leading to electric discharge only in certain degrees of freedom without affecting the intrinsic chemical conditions of the participating reactants and products. In this work, we report thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the conversion of organic volatiles into syngas using a non-thermal plasma. Detailed characteristics of plasma and its effect on the overall yield of the process will be presented.

Keywords: non thermal plasma, plasma catalysis, steam reforming, syngas, plastic waste, green energy

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Authors: Ognen Kostovski, Svetozar Antovic, Rubens Jovanovic, Irena Kostovska, Nikola Jankulovski

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Introduction:Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. The cancer stem cell (CSC) markers are associated with aggressive cancer types and poor prognosis. The aim of study was to determine whether the expression of colorectal cancer stem cell markers CD133 and CD44 could be significant in prediction of clinically aggressive form of CRC. Materials and methods: Our study included ninety patients (n=90) with CRC. Patients were divided into two subgroups: with metatstatic CRC and non-metastatic CRC. Tumor samples were analyzed with standard histopathological methods, than was performed immunohistochemical analysis with monoclonal antibodies against CD133 and CD44 stem cell markers. Results: High coexpression of CD133 and CD44 was observed in 71.4% of patients with metastatic disease, compared to 37.9% in patients without metastases. Discordant expression of both markers was found in 8% of the subgroup with metastatic CRC, and in 13.4% of the subgroup without metastatic CRC. Statistical analyses showed a significant association of increased expression of CD133 and CD44 with the disease stage, T - category and N - nodal status. With multiple regression analysis the stage of disease was designate as a factor with the greatest statistically significant influence on expression of CD133 (p <0.0001) and CD44 (p <0.0001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the coexpression of CD133 and CD44 have an important role in prediction of clinically aggressive form of CRC. Both stem cell markers can be routinely implemented in standard pathohistological diagnostics and can be useful markers for pre-therapeutic oncology screening.

Keywords: colorectal carcinoma, stem cells, CD133+, CD44+

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Authors: Jina Lee

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Methane gas is a common byproduct in any process of rot and degradation of organic matter. This gas, when decomposition occurs, is emitted directly into the atmosphere. Methane is the simplest alkane hydrocarbon that exists. Its chemical formula is CH₄. This means that there are four atoms of hydrogen and one of carbon, which is linked by covalent bonds. Methane is found in nature in the form of gas at normal temperatures and pressures. In addition, it is colorless and odorless, despite being produced by the rot of plants. It is a non-toxic gas, and the only real danger is that of burns if it were to ignite. There are several ways to generate methane gas in homes, and the amount of methane gas generated by the decomposition of organic matter varies depending on the type of matter in question. An experiment was designed to measure the efficiency, such as a relationship between the amount of raw material and the amount of gas generated, of three different mixtures of organic matter: 1. food remains of home; 2. animal waste (excrement) 3. equal parts mixing of food debris and animal waste. The results allowed us to conclude which of the three mixtures is the one that grants the highest efficiency in methane gas generation and which would be the most suitable for methane gas generation systems for homes in order to occupy less space generating an equal amount of gas.

Keywords: alternative energy source, energy conversion, methane gas conversion system, waste management

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Authors: Daruliza Kernain, Shaharum Shamsuddin, See Too Wei Cun

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CTCF is a unique, highly conserved and ubiquitously expressed 11 zinc finger (ZF) transcriptional factor with multiple target sites. It is able to bind to various target sequences to perform different regulatory roles including promoter activation or repression, creating hormone-responsive gene silencing element, and functional block of enhancer-promoter interactions. The binding of CTCF to the essential binding site is through the combination of different ZF domain. On the other hand, BORIS for brother of the regulator of imprinted sites, which expressed only in the testis and certain cancer cell line is homology to CTCF 11 ZF domains. Since both transcriptional factors share the same ZF domains hence there is a possibility for both to bind to the same target sequences. In this study, the interaction of these two proteins to multi-functional Y-box DNA/RNA-binding factor, YB-1 was determined. The protein-protein interaction between CTCF/YB-1 and BORIS/YB-1 were discovered by Co-immuno-precipitation (CO-IP) technique through reciprocal experiment from RGBM total cell lysate. The results showed that both CTCF and BORIS were able to interact with YB-1 in Glioma RGBM cell line. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first findings demonstrating the ability of BORIS and YB-1 to form a complex in vivo.

Keywords: immunoprecipitation, CTCF/BORIS/YB-1, transcription factor, molecular medicine

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Authors: Samual Ayeni, A. S. Akinbani

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At present when the price of petroleum is going down beyond bearable level, there is a need to diversify the economy towards arable crop production since Nigeria is an agrarian country. Yam plays prominent role in solving the problem of hunger in Nigeria. There is scarcity of information on the effect of fertilizers in increasing the yield of yam and maintaining soil properties in South Western Nigeria. This study was therefore set up to determine fertilizer effect on properties and yield of yam. The experiment was conducted at Adeyemi College of Education Teaching and Research Farm to compare the effect of organic, Organomineral and mineral fertilizers on yield of yam. Ten treatments were used 10t/ha Wood Ash, 10t/ha Cattle Dung, 10t/ha Poultry Manure, 10t/ha Manufactured Organic, 10t/ha Organomineral Fertilizer, 400kg/ha NPK, 400kg/ha SSP, 400kg/ha Urea and control with treatment. The treatments were laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and replicated three times. Compared with control, Organomineral fertilizer significantly (P < 0.05) increased the soil moisture content, poultry manure, wood ash significantly decreased (< 0.05) the bulk density. Application of 10t/ha Organomineral fertilizer recorded the highest increase in the yield of yam among the treatments.

Keywords: organomineral fertilizer, organic fertilizer, SSP, bulk density

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Authors: Adel A. Ghoneim

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Desalination using solar energy is an interesting option specifically at regions with abundant solar radiation since such areas normally have scarcity of clean water resources. Desalination is the procedure of eliminating dissolved minerals from seawater or brackish water to generate fresh water. In this work, a simulation program is developed to determine the performance of reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination plant powered by high concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) panels in Kuwait climate conditions. The objective of such a photovoltaic thermal system is to accomplish a double output, i.e., co-generation of both electricity and fresh water that is applicable for rural regions with high solar irradiation. The suggested plan enables to design an RO plant that does not depend on costly batteries or additional land and significantly reduce the government costs to subsidize the water generation cost. Typical weather conditions for Kuwait is employed as input to the simulation program. The simulation program is utilized to optimize the system efficiency as well as the distillate water production. The areas and slopes of HCPV modules are varied to attain maximum yearly power production. Maximum yearly distillate production and HCPV energy generation are found to correspond to HCPV facing south with tilt of 27° (Kuwait latitude-3°). The power needed to produce 1 l of clean drinking water ranged from 2 to 8 kW h/m³, based on the salinity of the feed water and the system operating conditions. Moreover, adapting HCPV systems achieve an avoided greenhouse gases emission by about 1128 ton CO₂ annually. Present outcomes certainly illustrate environmental advantages of water desalination system powered by high concentrated photovoltaic systems in Kuwait climate conditions.

Keywords: desalination, high concentrated photovoltaic systems, reverse osmosis, solar radiation

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Authors: Zouhaier Nasr, Mohamed Nouri

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The increase in greenhouse gases since the pre-industrial period is a real threat to disrupting the balance of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Along with the oceans, forest soils are considered to be the planet's second-largest carbon sink. North African forests have been subject to alarming degradation for several decades. The objective of this investigation is to determine and quantify the effect of thinning practiced in pine forests in northern Tunisia on the storage of organic carbon in the trees and in the soil. The plot planted in 1989 underwent thinning in 2005 on to plots; the density is therefore 1600 trees/ha in control and 400 trees/ha in thinning. Direct dendrometric measurements (diameter, height, branches, stem) were taken. In the soil part, six profiles of 1m / 1m / 1m were used for soil and root samples and biomass and organic matter measurements. The measurements obtained were statistically processed by appropriate software. The results clearly indicate that thinning improves tree growth, so the diameter increased from 24.3 cm to 30.1 cm. Carbon storage in the trunks was 35% more and 25% for the whole tree. At ground level, the thinned plot shows a slight increase in soil organic matter and quantity of carbon per tree, exceeding the control by 10 to 25%.

Keywords: forest, soil, carbon, climate change, Tunisia

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Authors: Vladimir Ryabov, Mikhail Baryshevs, Mikhail Voskresenskey, Boris Popov

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The human prostate gland (PG) samples were obtained from patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer (PC) and used to extract total RNA and prepare the prostate stromal cell cultures (PSCC) and patients-derived organoids (PDO). Growth of the cell cultures was accessed under microscopic evaluation in transmitted light and the marker expression by reverse polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunofluorescence, and immunoblotting. Some PCR products from prostate tissue, PSCC, and PDO were cloned and sequenced. We found that the cells of early and late passages of PSCC and corresponding PDO expressed luminal (androgen receptor, AR; cytokeratin 18, CK18) and basal (CK5, p63) epithelial markers, the production of which decreased or disappeared in late PSCC and PDO. The PSCC and PDO of early passages from cancer tissue additionally produced cancer markers AMACR, TMPRSS2-ERG, and Ezh2. The expression of TMPRSS2-ERG fusion transcripts was verified by cloning and sequencing the PCR products. The results obtained suggest that early passages of PSCC might be used as a pre-clinical model for the evaluation of early markers of prostate cancer.

Keywords: localized prostate cancer, prostate epithelial markers, prostate cancer markers, AMACR, TMPRSS2-ERG, prostate stromal cell cultures, PDO

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Authors: Su-Hyun Jung, Chang-Bin Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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Recently, increasing the quality of experience (QoE) is an important issue. Since performance degradation at cell edge extremely reduces the QoE, several techniques are defined at LTE/LTE-A standard to remove inter-cell interference (ICI). However, the conventional techniques have disadvantage because there is a trade-off between resource allocation and reliable communication. The proposed scheme reduces the ICI more efficiently by using channel state information (CSI) smartly. It is shown that the proposed scheme can reduce the ICI with less resources.

Keywords: adaptive beamforming, CoMP, LTE-A, ICI reduction

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Authors: Surajbhan Sevda

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Metal containing wastewater is generated in large quintiles due to rapid industrialization. Generally, the metal present in wastewater is not biodegradable and can be accumulated in living animals, humans and plant tissue, causing disorder and diseases. The conventional metal recovery methods include chemical, physical and biological methods, but these are chemical and energy intensive. The recent development in microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology provides a new approach for metal recovery; this technology offers a flexible platform for both reduction and oxidation reaction oriented process. The use of MFCs will be a new platform for more efficient and low energy approach for metal recovery from the wastewater. So far metal recover was extensively studied using chemical, physical and biological methods. The MFCs present a new and efficient approach for removing and recovering metals from different wastewater, suggesting the use of different electrode for metal recovery can be a new efficient and effective approach.

Keywords: metal recovery, microbial fuel cell, wastewater, bioelectricity

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Authors: Sharareh Sharifi, Pargol Ghavam Mostafavi, Ali Mashinchian Moradi, Mohammad Hadi Givianrad, Hassan Niknejad

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Marine organisms such as soft coral, sponge, ascidians, and tunicate containing rich source of natural compound have been studied in last decades because of their special chemical compounds with anticancer properties. The aim of this study was to investigate anti-cancer property of ethyl acetate extracted from marine sea pen Virgularia gustaviana found from Persian Gulf coastal (Bandar Abbas). The extraction processes were carried out with ethyl acetate for five days. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used for qualitative identification of crude extract. The viability of HeLa and MDA-Mb-231 cancer cells was investigated using MTT assay at the concentration of 25, 50, and a 100 µl/ml of ethyl acetate is extracted. The crude extract of Virgularia gustaviana demonstrated ten fractions with different Retention factor (Rf) by TLC and Retention time (Rt) evaluated by HPLC. The crude extract dose-dependently decreased cancer cell viability compared to control group. According to the results, the ethyl acetate extracted from Virgularia gustaviana inhibits the growth of cancer cells, an effect which needs to be further investigated in the future studies.

Keywords: anti-cancer, Hela cancer cell, MDA-Md-231 cancer cell, Virgularia gustavina

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Authors: Zied Guidara, Alexander Morgenstern, Aref Maalej

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In this paper, a new desiccant solar unit for air conditioning and desalination is presented first. Secondly, a dynamic modelling study of the desiccant wheel is developed. After that, a simulation study and an experimental investigation of the behaviour of the desiccant wheel are developed. The experimental investigation is done in the chamber of commerce in Freiburg-Germany. Indeed, the variations of calculated and measured temperatures and specific humidity of dehumidified and rejected air are presented where a good agreement is found when comparing the model predictions with experimental data under the considered range of operating conditions. Finally, the study of the compartments of desalination and water condensation shows that the unit can produce an acceptable quantity of water at the same time of the air conditioning operation.

Keywords: air conditioning, desalination, condensation, design, desiccant wheel, modelling, experimental investigation

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Authors: Nigus Maregu Demewoz, Shu-Kai Yeh

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Low-density nanocellular foam is a fascinating new-generation advanced material due to its mechanical strength and thermal insulation properties. In nanocellular foam, reducing the density increases the insulation ability. However, producing a nanocellular foam of densities less than 0.3 with a cell size of less than 100 nm is very challenging. In this study, poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was blended with Polyether block amide (PEBAX) to study the effects of PEBAX on the nanocellular foam structure of the PMMA matrix. We added 2 wt% of PEBAX in the PMMA matrix, and the PEBAX nanostructured domain size of 45 nm was well dispersed in the PMMA matrix. The foaming result produced a new generation special bouquet-like nanocellular foam of cell size less than 50 nm with a relative density of 0.24. Also, we were able to produce a nanocellular foam of a relative density of about 0.17. In addition to thermal insulation applications, bouquet-like nanocellular foam may be expected for filtration applications.

Keywords: nanocellular foam, low-density, cell size, relative density, PMMA/PEBAX

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Authors: Tae Kyu An

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We demonstrate repurposing linear micropatterns on the CD as a master mold to fabricate TIPS-PEN microwires. From the micropatterns on CDs, we replicated polyurethane acrylate (PUA) templates which are robust and flexible until submicrometer scale patterns. Subsequently, 1.5 μm TIPS-PEN microwires separated by 1.5 μm were grown. Using crystal analysis tools with polarized optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurement, it was revealed that each TIPS-PEN microwires are highly crystalline and uniform compared to spin-coated films. It is attributed to the template-guided growth of TIPS-PEN crystals along the linear template, thus the OFETs comprised of TIPS-PEN microwires displayed the high field-effect mobility.

Keywords: compact disk, macro patterning, OFET, soft lithography

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Authors: Prakash Khatarkar, P. A. Khan, Shweta Mukherjee, Roshni Atulkar, P. K. Purohit, A. K. Gwal

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We have investigated the occurrence characteristics of ionospheric scintillations, using dual frequency GPS, installed and operated at Indian scientific base station Maitri (71.45S and 11.45E), Antarctica, during December 2009 to December 2010. The scintillation morphology is described in terms of S4 Index. The scintillations are classified into four main categories as Weak (0.21.0). From the analysis we found that the percentage of weak, moderate, strong and saturated scintillations were 96%, 80%, 58% and 7%, respectively. The maximum percentage of all types of scintillation was observed in the summer season, followed by equinox and the least in winter season. As the year 2010 was a low solar activity period, consequently the maximum occurrences of scintillations were those of weak and moderate and only four cases of saturated scintillation were observed.

Keywords: L-band scintillation, GPS, auroral region, low solar activity

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Authors: Liangliang Tang, Chang Xu, Xingying Chen

Abstract:

GaInAsSb cells probably show better performance than GaSb cells in low-temperature thermophotovoltaic systems due to lower bandgap; however, few experiments proved this phenomenon so far. In this paper, numerical simulation is used to evaluate GaInAsSb and GaSb cells with similar structures under different radiation temperatures. We found that GaInAsSb cells with n-type emitters show slightly higher output power densities compared with that of GaSb cells with n-type emitters below 1,550 K-blackbody radiation, and the power density of the later cells will suppress the formers above this temperature point. During the temperature range of 1,000~2,000 K, the efficiencies of GaSb cells are about twice of GaInAsSb cells if perfect filters are used to prevent the emission of the non-absorbed long wavelength photons. Several parameters that affect the GaInAsSb cell were analyzed, such as doping profiles, thicknesses of GaInAsSb epitaxial layer and surface recombination velocity. The non-p junctions, i.e., n-type emitters are better for GaInAsSb cell fabrication, which is similar to that of GaSb cells.

Keywords: thermophotovoltaic cell, GaSb, GaInAsSb, diffused emitters

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Authors: E. Shahsavari, R. Ghasemi, A. Akramizadeh

Abstract:

This paper presents a new method to design nonlinear feedback linearization controller for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A nonlinear controller is designed based on nonlinear model to prolong the stack life of PEM fuel cells. Since it is known that large deviations between hydrogen and oxygen partial pressures can cause severe membrane damage in the fuel cell, feedback linearization is applied to the PEM fuel cell system so that the deviation can be kept as small as possible during disturbances or load variations. To obtain an accurate feedback linearization controller, tuning the linear parameters are always important. So in proposed study NSGA_II method was used to tune the designed controller in aim to decrease the controller tracking error. The simulation result showed that the proposed method tuned the controller efficiently.

Keywords: nonlinear dynamic model, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, feedback linearization, optimal control, NSGA_II

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Authors: Nigus Maregu Demewoz, Shu-Kai Yeh

Abstract:

Low-density nanocellular foam is a fascinating new-generation advanced material due to its mechanical strength and thermal insulation properties. In nanocellular foam, reducing the density increases the insulation ability. However, producing a nanocellular foam of densities less than 0.3 with a cell size of less than 100 nm is very challenging. In this study, poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was blended with Polyether block amide (PEBAX) to study the effects of PEBAX on the nanocellular foam structure of the PMMA matrix. We added 2 wt% of PEBAX in the PMMA matrix, and the PEBAX nanostructured domain size of 45 nm was well dispersed in the PMMA matrix. The foaming result produced a new generation special bouquet-like nanocellular foam of cell size less than 50 nm with a relative density of 0.24. Also, we were able to produce a nanocellular foam of a relative density of about 0.17. In addition to thermal insulation applications, bouquet-like nanocellular foam may be expected for filtration applications.

Keywords: nanocellular foam, low-density, cell size, relative density, PMMA/PEBAX blend

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Authors: Iyad Muslih, Azzah Alkhalailah, Ali Merdji

Abstract:

Photovoltaic efficiency is highly affected by dust accumulation; the dust particles prevent direct solar radiation from reaching the panel surface; therefore a reduction in output power will occur. A study of dust and soiling accumulation effect on the output power of PV panels was conducted for different periods of time from May to October in three countries of the MENA region, Jordan, Egypt, and Algeria, under local weather conditions. This study leads to build a more realistic equation to estimate the power reduction as a function of time. This logarithmic function shows the high reduction in power in the first days with 10% reduction in output power compared to the reference system, where it reaches a steady state value after 60 days to reach a maximum value of 30%.

Keywords: solar energy, PV system, soiling, MENA

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Authors: Pranav Gunhal., Krish Jhurani

Abstract:

This study tackles the significant computational challenge of predicting excited state dynamics in organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials—a pivotal factor in the performance of solar energy solutions. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), though effective, is computationally prohibitive for larger and more complex molecules. As a solution, the research explores the application of transformer neural networks, a type of artificial intelligence (AI) model known for its superior performance in natural language processing, to predict excited state dynamics in OPV materials. The methodology involves a two-fold process. First, the transformer model is trained on an extensive dataset comprising over 10,000 TDDFT calculations of excited state dynamics from a diverse set of OPV materials. Each training example includes a molecular structure and the corresponding TDDFT-calculated excited state lifetimes and key electronic transitions. Second, the trained model is tested on a separate set of molecules, and its predictions are rigorously compared to independent TDDFT calculations. The results indicate a remarkable degree of predictive accuracy. Specifically, for a test set of 1,000 OPV materials, the transformer model predicted excited state lifetimes with a mean absolute error of 0.15 picoseconds, a negligible deviation from TDDFT-calculated values. The model also correctly identified key electronic transitions contributing to the excited state dynamics in 92% of the test cases, signifying a substantial concordance with the results obtained via conventional quantum chemistry calculations. The practical integration of the transformer model with existing quantum chemistry software was also realized, demonstrating its potential as a powerful tool in the arsenal of materials scientists and chemists. The implementation of this AI model is estimated to reduce the computational cost of predicting excited state dynamics by two orders of magnitude compared to conventional TDDFT calculations. The successful utilization of transformer neural networks to accurately predict excited state dynamics provides an efficient computational pathway for the accelerated discovery and design of new OPV materials, potentially catalyzing advancements in the realm of sustainable energy solutions.

Keywords: transformer neural networks, organic photovoltaic materials, excited state dynamics, time-dependent density functional theory, predictive modeling

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