Search results for: Alkaline fuel cell

Authors: M. C. Proença

Abstract:

The tools described in this paper enable the location of burned areas where took place the annihilation of natural habitats and establishes a baseline for major changes in forest ecosystems during recovery. Moreover, the result allows the follow up of the surface fuel loading, allowing the evaluation and guidance of restoration measures to remote areas by phased time planning. This case study implements the evaluation of burned areas that suffered successive wildfires in Portugal mainland during the summer of 2017, killing more than 60 people. The goal is to show that this evaluation can be done with remote sense data free of charges in a simple laptop, with open-source software, describing the not-so-simple methodology step by step, to make it accessible for local workers in the areas attained, where the availability of information is essential for the immediate planning of mitigation measures, such as restoring road access, allocate funds for the recovery of human dwellings and assess further needs for restoration of the ecological system. Wildfires also devastate forest ecosystems having a direct impact on vegetation cover and killing or driving away the animal population, besides loss of all crops in rural areas that are essential as local resources. The economic interests are also attained, as the pinewood burned becomes useless for the noblest applications, so its value decreases, and resin extraction ends for several years.

Keywords: Image processing, remote sensing, wildfires, burned areas, SENTINEL-2.

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Authors: L. Fonseca-Géigel, M. Alvarez, G. García, R. Cox, L. Morier, L. Fonte, M. G. Guzmán

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Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite capable of infecting all nucleated cells in a diverse array of species. Toxoplasma plaque assay have been described using Bacto Agar. Because of its experimental advantages carboxymethyl cellulose overlay, medium viscosity was choosing and the aim of this work was to develop alternative method for formation of T. gondii plaques. Tachyzoites were inoculated onto monolayers of Vero cells and cultured at 37° C under 5 % CO2. The cultures were followed up by microscopy inspection. Small plaques were visible by naphtol blue stain 4 days after infection. Larger plaques could be observed by day 10 of culture. The carboxymethyl cellulose is a cheap reagent and the methodology is easier, faster than assays under agar overlay. This is the first description of the carboxymethyl cellulose overlay use for obtaining the formation of T. gondii plaques and may be useful in consequent obtaining tachyzoites for detailed studies.

Keywords: Carboxymethyl cellulose, Cell culture, Plaque assay, Toxoplasma gondii.

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Authors: T. Zergoug, S.H. Abaidia, A. Nedjar, M. Y. Mokeddem

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Physical properties of uranium dinitride (UN2) were investigated in detail using first principle calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). To study the strong correlation effects due to 5f uranium valence electrons, the on-site coulomb interaction correction U via the Hubbard-like term (DFT+U) was employed. The UN2 structural, mechanical and thermodynamic properties were calculated within DFT and Various U of DFT+U approach. The Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE.5.2) version of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) is used to describe the exchange-correlation with the projector-augmented wave (PAW) pseudo potentials. A comparative study shows that results are improved by using the Hubbard formalism for a certain U value correction like the structural parameter. For some physical properties the variation versus Hubbard-U is strong like Young modulus but for others it is weakly noticeable such as bulk modulus. We noticed also that from U=7.5 eV, elastic results don’t agree with the cubic cell because of the C44 values which turn out to be negative.

Keywords: Ab initio, bulk modulus, DFT, DFT + U.

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Authors: A. Rohana, A. M., Fadzilah Adibah, M. S. Muhammad Roji

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Oleic acid (C18:1) play an important role in proliferation of fat cells. In this study, the effect of oleate on cells viability in 3T3-L1 cells (fat cells) was investigated. The 3T3-L1 cells were treated with various concentrations of oleate in the presence of 23 mM glucose. Oleate was added to adipogenic media (day 0) to investigate the influence of oleate on proliferation of postconfluent preadipocytes after 24 h induction. 0.1 mM oleate promoted cell division by increasing 33.9% number of cells from basal control in postconfluent preadipocytes. However, there were no significantly different in cells viability with control cells when oleate concentrations were increased up to 0.5 mM. When added to differentiated adipocytes (day 12) for 48 h, the number of cells decreased as oleate concentrations increased. 92.7% of cells lost demonstrated apoptosis and necrosis after 48 h with 0.5 mM oleate. The fluorochrome staining was examined under fluorescence microscopy using acridine orange and ethidium bromide double staining. Furthermore, the presence of high lactate (60.6% increased from basal control) released into plasma has shown the direct cytotoxicity of 0.5 mM oleate on adipocytes.

Keywords: adipocytes, apoptosis, oleate, postconfluentpreadipocytes

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Authors: Tasnuva Tamanna, Sanjida Halim Topa

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Sputum smear conversion after one month of antituberculosis therapy in new smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients (PTB+) is a vital indicator towards treatment success. The objective of this study is to determine the rate of sputum smear conversion in new PTB+ patients after one month under treatment of National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH). Analysis of sputum smear conversion was done by re-clinical examination with sputum smear microscopic test after one month. Socio-demographic and hematological parameters were evaluated to perceive the correlation with the disease status. Among all enrolled patients only 33.33% were available for follow up diagnosis and of them only 42.86% patients turned to smear negative. Probably this consequence is due to non-coherence to the proper disease management. 66.67% and 78.78% patients reported low haemoglobin and packed cell volume level respectively whereas 80% and 93.33% patients accounted accelerated platelet count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate correspondingly.

Keywords: Followed up patients, PTB+ patients, sputum smear conversion, and sputum smear microscopic test.

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Authors: B. Bahmani Firouzi, T. Niknam, M. Nayeripour

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With Power system movement toward restructuring along with factors such as life environment pollution, problems of transmission expansion and with advancement in construction technology of small generation units, it is expected that small units like wind turbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic, ... that most of the time connect to the distribution networks play a very essential role in electric power industry. With increase in developing usage of small generation units, management of distribution networks should be reviewed. The target of this paper is to present a new method for optimal management of active and reactive power in distribution networks with regard to costs pertaining to various types of dispersed generations, capacitors and cost of electric energy achieved from network. In other words, in this method it-s endeavored to select optimal sources of active and reactive power generation and controlling equipments such as dispersed generations, capacitors, under load tapchanger transformers and substations in a way that firstly costs in relation to them are minimized and secondly technical and physical constraints are regarded. Because the optimal management of distribution networks is an optimization problem with continuous and discrete variables, the new evolutionary method based on Ant Colony Algorithm has been applied. The simulation results of the method tested on two cases containing 23 and 34 buses exist and will be shown at later sections.

Keywords: Distributed Generation, Optimal Operation Management of distribution networks, Ant Colony Optimization(ACO).

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Authors: Noor Ul Ain Bhatti, M. Junaid Khan, Javed Ahmad, Murtaza Saleem, Shahid M. Ramay, Saadat A. Siddiqi

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Manganese oxide is being recently used as electrode material for rechargeable batteries. In this study, Al incorporated Mn₂O₃ compositions were synthesized to study the effect of Al doping on electrochemical performance of host material. Structural studies were carried out using X-ray diffraction analysis to confirm the phase stability and explore the lattice parameters, crystallite size, lattice strain, density and cell volume. Morphology and composition were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, respectively. Dynamic light scattering analysis was performed to observe the average particle size of the compositions. FTIR measurements exhibit the O-Al-O and O-Mn-O and Al-O bonding and with increasing the concentration of Al, the vibrational peaks of Mn-O become sharper. An enhanced electrochemical performance was observed in compositions with higher Al content.

Keywords: Mn2O3, electrode materials, energy storage and conversion, electrochemical performance.

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Authors: Rameshwar Kawitkar

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With the exponentially increasing demand for wireless communications the capacity of current cellular systems will soon become incapable of handling the growing traffic. Since radio frequencies are diminishing natural resources, there seems to be a fundamental barrier to further capacity increase. The solution can be found in smart antenna systems. Smart or adaptive antenna arrays consist of an array of antenna elements with signal processing capability, that optimize the radiation and reception of a desired signal, dynamically. Smart antennas can place nulls in the direction of interferers via adaptive updating of weights linked to each antenna element. They thus cancel out most of the co-channel interference resulting in better quality of reception and lower dropped calls. Smart antennas can also track the user within a cell via direction of arrival algorithms. This implies that they are more advantageous than other antenna systems. This paper focuses on few issues about the smart antennas in mobile radio networks.

Keywords: Smart/Adaptive Antenna, Multipath fading, Beamforming, Radio propagation.

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Authors: Maíra O. Palm, Cintia Marangoni, Ozair Souza, Noeli Sellin

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Wastes from a vegetal extracts industry (cocoa, oak, Guarana and mate) were characterized by particle size, proximate and ultimate analysis, lignocellulosic fractions, high heating value, thermal analysis (Thermogravimetric analysis – TGA, and Differential thermal analysis - DTA) and energy density to evaluate their potential as biomass in the form of briquettes for power generation. All wastes presented adequate particle sizes to briquettes production. The wastes showed high moisture content, requiring previous drying for use as briquettes. Cocoa and oak wastes had the highest volatile matter contents with maximum mass loss at 310 ºC and 450 ºC, respectively. The solvents used in the aroma extraction process influenced in the moisture content of the wastes, which was higher for mate due to water has been used as solvent. All wastes showed an insignificant loss mass after 565 °C, hence resulting in low ash content. High carbon and hydrogen contents and low sulfur and nitrogen contents were observed ensuring a low generation of sulfur and nitrous oxides. Mate and cocoa exhibited the highest carbon and lignin content, and high heating value. The dried wastes had high heating value, from 17.1 MJ/kg to 20.8 MJ/kg. The results indicate the energy potential of wastes for use as fuel in power generation.

Keywords: Agro-industrial waste, biomass, briquettes, combustion.

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Authors: Sepideh Fazeli, Fariba Bahrami

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Investigating language acquisition is one of the most challenging problems in the area of studying language. Syllable learning as a level of language acquisition has a considerable significance since it plays an important role in language acquisition. Because of impossibility of studying language acquisition directly with children, especially in its developmental phases, computer models will be useful in examining language acquisition. In this paper a computer model of early language learning for syllable learning is proposed. It is guided by a conceptual model of syllable learning which is named Directions Into Velocities of Articulators model (DIVA). The computer model uses simple associational and reinforcement learning rules within neural network architecture which are inspired by neuroscience. Our simulation results verify the ability of the proposed computer model in producing phonemes during babbling and early speech. Also, it provides a framework for examining the neural basis of language learning and communication disorders.

Keywords: Brain modeling, computer models, language acquisition, reinforcement learning.

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Authors: A. Aravind, M. Vetrivel, P. Abhimanyu, C. A. Akaash Emmanuel Raj, K. Sundararaj, V. R. S. Kumar

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The choice of high-speed, low budget hatchback car with diversified options is increasing for meeting the new generation buyers trend. This paper is aimed to augment the current speed of the hatchback cars through the aerodynamic drag reduction technique. The inverted airfoils are facilitated at the bottom of the car for generating the downward force for negating the lift while increasing the current speed range for achieving a better road performance. The numerical simulations have been carried out using a 2D steady pressure-based    k-ɛ realizable model with enhanced wall treatment. In our numerical studies, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes model and its code of solution are used. The code is calibrated and validated using the exact solution of the 2D boundary layer displacement thickness at the Sanal flow choking condition for adiabatic flows. We observed through the parametric analytical studies that the inverted airfoil integrated with the bottom surface at various predesigned locations of Hatchback cars can improve its overall aerodynamic efficiency through drag reduction, which obviously decreases the fuel consumption significantly and ensure an optimum road performance lucratively with maximum permissible speed within the framework of the manufactures constraints.

Keywords: Aerodynamics of commercial cars, downward force, hatchback car, inverted airfoil.

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Authors: Hilal A. Abdelwali, Elsayed E.M. Ellaimony, Ahmad E.M. Murad, Jasem M.S. Al-Rajhi

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Due to the excess of a vehicle operation through its life, some elements may face failure and deteriorate with time. This leads us to carry out maintenance, repair, tune up or full overhaul. After a certain period, the vehicle elements deteriorations increase with time which causes a very high increase of doing the maintenance operations and their costs. However, the logic decision at this point is to replace the current vehicle by a new one with minimum failure and maximum income. The importance of studying vehicle replacement problems come from the increase of stopping days due to many deteriorations in the vehicle parts. These deteriorations increase year after year causing an increase of operating costs and decrease the vehicle income. Vehicle replacement aims to determine the optimum time to keep, maintain, overhaul, renew and replace vehicles. This leads to an improvement in vehicle income, total operating costs, maintenance cost, fuel and oil costs, ton-kilometers, vehicle and engine performance, vehicle noise, vibration, and pollution. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum replacement policies of Kuwait Passenger Transport Company (KPTCP) fleet of busses. The objective of these policies is to maximize the busses pure profits. The dynamic programming (D.P.) technique is used to generate the busses optimal replacement policies

Keywords: Replacement Problem, Automotive Replacement, Dynamic Programming, Equipment Replacement, K.P.T.C.

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Authors: Chun-Yuan Huang, Chiao-Yang Cheng, Chun-Yem Huang, Yan-Kuin Su, James Chin-Lung Fang

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ZnO nanostructures including nanowires, nanorods, and nanoneedles were successfully deposited on GaAs substrates, respectively, by simple two-step chemical method for the first time. A ZnO seed layer was firstly pre-coated on the O2-plasma treated substrate by sol-gel process, followed by the nucleation of ZnO nanostructures through hydrothermal synthesis. Nanostructures with different average diameter (15-250 nm), length (0.9-1.8 μm), density (0.9-16×109 cm-2) were obtained via adjusting the growth time and concentration of precursors. From the reflectivity spectra, we concluded ordered and taper nanostructures were preferential for photovoltaic applications. ZnO nanoneedles with an average diameter of 106 nm, a moderate length of 2.4 μm, and the density of 7.2×109 cm-2 could be synthesized in the concentration of 0.04 M for 18 h. Integrated with the nanoneedle array, the power conversion efficiency of single junction solar cell was increased from 7.3 to 12.2%, corresponding to a 67% improvement.

Keywords: Anti-reflection, Chemical synthesis, Solar cells, ZnO nanostructures.

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Authors: G. Çelik Gül, F. Kurtuluş

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Rare earths containing complex metal oxides have drawn much attention due to physical, chemical and optical properties which make them feasible in so many areas such as non-linear optical materials and ion exchanger. We have researched a systematic study to obtain rare earth containing zirconium molybdate compound, characterization, investigation of crystal system and calculation of unit cell parameters.  After a successful synthesis of Nd₂Zr₃(MoO₄)₉ which is a member of rare earth metal containing complex oxides family, X-ray diffraction (XRD), High Score Plus/Rietveld refinement analysis, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were completed to determine the crystal structure. Morphological properties and elemental composition were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Thermal properties were observed via Thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA).

Keywords: Nd2Zr3(MoO4)9, solid state synthesis, powder x-ray diffraction, zirconium molybdates.

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Authors: Francis Jegede

Abstract:

This paper examines essential issues relating to the rise and nature of violent extremism involving non-state actors and groups in the early 21^st century. The global trends in terrorism and violent extremism are examined in relation to Western governments’ counter terror operations. The paper analyses the existing legal framework for fighting violent extremism and terrorism and highlights the inherent limitations of the current International Law of War in dealing with the growing challenges posed by terrorists and violent extremist groups. The paper discusses how terrorist groups use civilians, women and children as tools and weapon of war to fuel their campaign of terror and suggests ways in which the international community could deal with the challenge of fighting terrorist groups without putting civilians, women and children in harm way. The paper emphasises the need to uphold human rights values and respect for the law of war in our response to global terrorism. The paper poses the question as to whether the current legal framework for dealing with terrorist groups is sufficient without contravening the essential provisions and ethos of the International Law of War and Human Rights. While the paper explains how terrorist groups flagrantly disregard the rule of law and disrespect human rights in their campaign of terror, it also notes instances in which the current Western strategy in fighting terrorism may be viewed or considered as conflicting with human rights and international law.

Keywords: Terrorism, law of war, international law, violent extremism.

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Authors: Kuniyasu Soda

Abstract:

Surgical trauma seems to facilitate metastatic spread, although the underlying mechanisms are not known. Increased concentrations of polyamines (spermine and spermidine) in the blood seem to have associated with the enhanced malignant potential of cancer cells and decrease in anti-tumor immunity of cancer patients. In addition to de novo synthesis in rapidly growing cells such as normal regenerating cells and cancer cells, cells can take up polyamines from extra-cellular sources. We have shown that increased polyamine concentration results in decreases in cytokine production and expression of adhesion molecules involved in anti-tumor immunity, such as CD11a. And, immune cells in an environment with increased polyamine levels lose anti-tumor immune functions, such as lymphokine activated killer cell (LAK) activities. Because blood polyamine levels are increased in post-surgical patients, polyamine seems to have roles on post-traumatic tumor spread.

Keywords: Immune function, LAK, Polyamine, Surgical trauma.

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Authors: Kenza Maher, Yahya Zakaria, Noora S. Al-Jaidah

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Temperature is a critical parameter for lithium-ion battery performance, life, and safety. In this study, four commercially available 18650 lithium-ion cells from four different manufacturers are subjected to accelerated cycle aging for up to 500 cycles at two different temperatures (25 °C and 45 °C). The cells are also calendar-aged at the same temperatures in both charged and discharged states for six months to investigate the effect of aging and temperature on capacity fade and state of health. The results showed that all battery cells demonstrated good cyclability and had a good state of health at both temperatures. However, the capacity loss and state of health of these cells are found to be dependent on the cell chemistry and aging conditions, including temperature. Specifically, the capacity loss is found to be higher at the higher aging temperature, indicating the significant impact of temperature on the aging of lithium-ion batteries.

Keywords: Lithium-ion battery, aging mechanisms, cycle aging, calendar aging.

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Authors: Rakesh Arasu, Sasitharan Ambicapathy, Sivaraj Ponnusamy, Mohanraj Murugesan, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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The flow field within the combustor of scramjet engine is very complex and poses a considerable challenge in the design and development of a supersonic combustor with an optimized geometry. In this paper comprehensive numerical studies on flow field characteristics of different cavity based scramjet combustors with transverse injection of hydrogen have been carried out for both non-reacting and reacting flows. The numerical studies have been carried out using a validated 2D unsteady, density based 1st-order implicit k-omega turbulence model with multi-component finite rate reacting species. The results show a wide variety of flow features resulting from the interactions between the injector flows, shock waves, boundary layers, and cavity flows. We conjectured that an optimized cavity is a good choice to stabilize the flame in the hypersonic flow, and it generates a recirculation zone in the scramjet combustor. We comprehended that the cavity based scramjet combustors having a bearing on the source of disturbance for the transverse jet oscillation, fuel/air mixing enhancement, and flameholding improvement. We concluded that cavity shape with backward facing step and 45o forward ramp is a good choice to get higher temperatures at the exit compared to other four models of scramjet combustors considered in this study.

Keywords: Flame holding, Hypersonic flow, Scramjet combustor, Supersonic combustor.

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Authors: Sony P. Aquino, Helen F. Gavino, Victorino T. Taylan, Teresito G. Aguinaldo

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A simple mobile engine-driven pneumatic paddy collector made of locally available materials using local manufacturing technology was designed, fabricated, and tested for collecting and bagging of paddy dried on concrete pavement. The pneumatic paddy collector had the following major components: radial flat bladed type centrifugal fan, power transmission system, bagging area, frame and the conveyance system. Results showed significant differences on the collecting capacity, noise level, and fuel consumption when rotational speed of the air mover shaft was varied. Other parameters such as collecting efficiency, air velocity, augmented cracked grain percentage, and germination rate were not significantly affected by varying rotational speed of the air mover shaft. The pneumatic paddy collector had a collecting efficiency of 99.33 % with a collecting capacity of 2685.00 kg/h at maximum rotational speed of centrifugal fan shaft of about 4200 rpm. The machine entailed an investment cost of P 62,829.25. The break-even weight of paddy was 510,606.75 kg/yr at a collecting cost of 0.11 P/kg of paddy. Utilizing the machine for 400 hours per year generated an income of P 23,887.73. The projected time needed to recover cost of the machine based on 2685 kg/h collecting capacity was 2.63 year.

Keywords: Mobile engine-driven pneumatic paddy collector, collecting capacity and efficiency, simple cost analysis.

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Authors: Qian Wang, Sylvain Lassalle, Antony R. Mileham, Geraint W. Owen

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This paper mathematically analyses the varying magnitude of production loss, which may occur due to idle time (inprocess waiting time and traveling time) on a linear walking worker assembly line. Within this flexible and reconfigurable assembly system, each worker travels down the line carrying out each assembly task at each station; and each worker accomplishes the assembly of a unit from start to finish and then travels back to the first station to start the assembly of a new product. This strategy of system design attempts to combine the flexibility of the U-shaped moving worker assembly cell with the efficiency of the conventional fixed worker assembly line. The paper aims to evaluate the effect of idle time that may offset the labor efficiency of each walking worker providing an insight into the mechanism of such a flexible and reconfigurable assembly system.

Keywords: Production lines, manufacturing systems, assemblysystems, walking workers.

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Authors: Yi-Ping Fang, Hsien-Ting Cheng

Abstract:

Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is an alternative therapy for treating superficial cancer, especially for skin or oral cancer. ALA, a precursor of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is present as zwitterions and hydrophilic property which make the low permeability through the cell membrane. Collagen is a traditional carrier; its molecular composed various amino acids which bear positive charge and negative charge. In order to utilize the ion-pairs with ALA and collagen, the study employed various pH values adjusting the net charge. The aim of this study was to compare a series collagen form, including solution, gel and sponge to investigate the topical delivery behavior of ALA. The in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) study demonstrated that PpIX generation ability was different pattern after apply for 6 h. Gel type could generate high PpIX, and archived more deep of skin depth.

Keywords: 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA), Collagen, Ion-pairs, Penetration behavior

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Authors: Amado, M. P., Amado, A., Poggi, F., Correia de Freitas, J.

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Today is widely understood that global energy consumption patterns are directly related to the urban expansion and development process. This expansion is based on the natural growth of human activities and has left most urban areas totally dependent on fossil fuel derived external energy inputs. This status-quo of production, transportation, storage and consumption of energy has become inefficient and is set to become even more so when the continuous increases in energy demand are factored in. The territorial management of land use and related activities is a central component in the search for more efficient models of energy use, models that can meet current and future regional, national and European goals.

In this paper a methodology is developed and discussed with the aim of improving energy efficiency at the municipal level. The development of this methodology is based on the monitoring of energy consumption and its use patterns resulting from the natural dynamism of human activities in the territory and can be utilized to assess sustainability at the local scale. A set of parameters and indicators are defined with the objective of constructing a systemic model based on the optimization, adaptation and innovation of the current energy framework and the associated energy consumption patterns. The use of the model will enable local governments to strike the necessary balance between human activities and economic development and the local and global environment while safeguarding fairness in the energy sector.

Keywords: Solar urban planning, solar smart city, urban development, energy efficiency.

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Authors: Edison Muzenda

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A study was carried out to determine the effect of water quality on flotation performance. The experimental test work comprised of batch flotation tests using Denver lab cell for a period of 10 minutes. Nine different test runs were carried out in triplicates to ensure reproducibility using different water types from different thickener overflows, return and sewage effluent water (process water) and portable water. The water sources differed in pH, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids and conductivity. Process water was found to reduce the concentrate recovery and mass pull, while portable water increased the concentrate recovery and mass pull. Portable water reduced the concentrate grade while process water increased the concentrate grade. It is proposed that a combination of process water and portable water supply be used in flotation circuits to balance the different effects that the different water types have on the flotation efficiency.

Keywords: Flotation, mass pull, process water, thickeneroverflows, water quality.

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Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

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In Hungary, the measurement of ambient PM10-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations is great importance for a number of reasons related to human health, the environment and compliance with European Union legislation. However, the monitoring of PAHs associated with PM2.5 aerosol fraction is still incomplete. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the concentration levels of PAHs in PM2.5 urban aerosol fraction. PM2.5 and associated PAHs were monitored in November 2014 in an urban site of Győr (Northwest Hungary). The aerosol samples were collected every day for 24-hours over two weeks with a high volume air sampler provided with a PM2.5 cut-off inlet. The levels of 19 PAH compounds associated with PM2.5 aerosol fraction were quantified by a gas chromatographic method. Polluted air quality for PM2.5 (>25 g/m3) was indicated in 50% of the collected samples. The total PAHs concentrations ranged from 2.1 to 37.3 ng/m3 with the mean value of 12.4 ng/m3. Indeno(123-cd)pyrene (IND) and sum of three benzofluoranthene isomers were the most dominant PAH species followed by benzo(ghi)perylene and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Using BaP-equivalent approach on the concentration data of carcinogenic PAH species, BaP, and IND contributed the highest carcinogenic exposure equivalent (1.50 and 0.24 ng/m3 on average). A selected number of concentration ratios of specific PAH compounds were calculated to evaluate the possible sources of PAH contamination. The ratios reflected that the major source of PAH compounds in the PM2.5 aerosol fraction of Győr during the study period was fossil fuel combustion from automobiles.

Keywords: Air, PM2.5, benzo(a)pyrene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.

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Authors: Z. Q. Zhang, Y. Zhang, D. L. Li

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To overcome the some shortcomings associated with traditional flotation machines and columns in collophanite flotation, a flotation device was designed and fabricated in the laboratory. A multi-impeller pump with same function as a mechanical cell was used instead of the injection sparger and circulation pump in column flotation unit. The influence of main operational parameters of the device like feed flow rate, air flow rate and impellers’ speed on collophanite flotation was analyzed. Experiment results indicate that the influence of the operational parameters were significant on flotation recovery and grade of phosphate concentrate. The best operating conditions of the device were: feed flow rate 0.62 L/min, air flow rate 6.67 L/min and impellers speed 900 rpm. At these conditions, a phosphate concentrate assaying about 30.5% P₂O₅ and 1% MgO with a P₂O₅ recovery of about 81% was obtained from a Yuan'an phosphate ore sample containing about 22.30% P₂O₅ and 3.2% MgO.

Keywords: Collophanite flotation, flotation columns, flotation machines, multi-impeller pump.

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Authors: Jayashree Ramana

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An alarming emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of the tuberculosis pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis and continuing high worldwide incidence of tuberculosis has invigorated the search for novel drug targets. The enzyme glutamate racemase (MurI) in bacteria catalyzes the stereoconversion of L-glutamate to D-glutamate which is a component of the peptidoglycan cell wall of the bacterium. The inhibitors targeted against MurI from several bacterial species have been patented and are advocated as promising antibacterial agents. However there are none available against MurI from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, due to the lack of its threedimensional structure. This work accomplished two major objectives. First, the tertiary structure of MtMurI was deduced computationally through homology modeling using the templates from bacterial homologues. It is speculated that like in other Gram-positive bacteria, MtMurI exists as a dimer and many of the protein interactions at the dimer interface are also conserved. Second, potent candidate inhibitors against MtMurI were identified through docking against already known inhibitors in other organisms.

Keywords: Glutamate racemase, homology modeling, docking, drug resistance.

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Authors: Soni Yadav, Sitansu Kumar Verma, Jitendra Singh, Ajay Kumar

Abstract:

This article comprises detail information about L-asparaginase, encompassing topic such as various sources of L-asparaginase, mechanism and properties of L-asparaginase. Also describe the production, cultivation and purification of L-asparaginase along with information about the application of L-asparaginase. L-asparaginase catalyzes the conversion reaction to convert asparagine to aspartic acid and ammonia. Asparagine is a nutritional requirement for both normal and tumor cell. Present scenario has found that L-asparaginase has been found to be a best anti tumor or antileukemic agent. In the recent years this enzyme gained application in the field of clinical research pharmacologic and food industry. It has been characterized based on the enzyme assay principle hydrolyzing L-asparagine into L-aspartic acid and ammonia. It has been observed that eukaryotic microorganisms such as yeast and filamentous fungi have a potential for L-asparaginase production. L-asparaginase has been and is still one of the most lengthily studied therapeutic enzymes by scientist and researchers worldwide.

Keywords: L-asparaginase, antitumor, solid state fermentation, chemotherapeutic.

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Authors: Carmen E. Zapata, Juan Bautista, Olga Montoya, Claudia Moreno, Marisol Suarez, Alejandra Betancur, Duvan Nanclares, Natalia A. Cano

Abstract:

This study aims to evaluate the diversity of microorganisms in filters PM2.5 and PM10; and determine the genotoxic and cytotoxic activity of the complex mixture present in PM2.5 filters used in the Aburrá Valley Air Quality Monitoring Network (Colombia). The research results indicate that particulate matter PM2.5 of different monitoring stations are bacteria; however, this study of detection of bacteria and their phylogenetic relationship is not complete evidence to connect the microorganisms with pathogenic or degrading activities of compounds present in the air. Additionally, it was demonstrated the damage induced by the particulate material in the cell membrane, lysosomal and endosomal membrane and in the mitochondrial metabolism; this damage was independent of the PM2.5 concentrations in almost all the cases.

Keywords: Cytotoxic, genotoxic, microbiological analysis, PM10, PM2.5.

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Authors: M. Norouzi, M. H. Kayhani, M. R. H. Nobari, M. Karimi Demneh

Abstract:

In this paper, fully developed flow and heat transfer of viscoelastic materials in curved ducts with square cross section under constant heat flux have been investigated. Here, staggered mesh is used as computational grids and flow and heat transfer parameters have been allocated in this mesh with marker and cell method. Numerical solution of governing equations has being performed with FTCS finite difference method. Furthermore, Criminale-Eriksen- Filbey (CEF) constitutive equation has being used as viscoelastic model. CEF constitutive equation is a suitable model for studying steady shear flow of viscoelastic materials which is able to model both effects of the first and second normal stress differences. Here, it is shown that the first and second normal stresses differences have noticeable and inverse effect on secondary flows intensity and mean Nusselt number which is the main novelty of current research.

Keywords: Viscoelastic, fluid flow, heat convection, CEF model, curved duct, square cross section.

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Authors: Urska Cvek, Marjan Trutschl, Randolph Stone II, Zanobia Syed, John L. Clifford, Anita L. Sabichi

Abstract:

Expression data analysis is based mostly on the statistical approaches that are indispensable for the study of biological systems. Large amounts of multidimensional data resulting from the high-throughput technologies are not completely served by biostatistical techniques and are usually complemented with visual, knowledge discovery and other computational tools. In many cases, in biological systems we only speculate on the processes that are causing the changes, and it is the visual explorative analysis of data during which a hypothesis is formed. We would like to show the usability of multidimensional visualization tools and promote their use in life sciences. We survey and show some of the multidimensional visualization tools in the process of data exploration, such as parallel coordinates and radviz and we extend them by combining them with the self-organizing map algorithm. We use a time course data set of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in our examples. Analysis of data with these tools has the potential to uncover additional relationships and non-trivial structures.

Keywords: microarrays, visualization, parallel coordinates, radviz, self-organizing maps.

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