Search results for: robotic assembly cell
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1096

Search results for: robotic assembly cell

796 Optimization of PEM Fuel Cell Biphasic Model

Authors: Boubekeur Dokkar, Nasreddine Chennouf, Noureddine Settou, Belkhir Negrou, Abdesslam Benmhidi

Abstract:

The optimal operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) requires good water management which is presented under two forms vapor and liquid. Moreover, fuel cells have to reach higher output require integration of some accessories which need electrical power. In order to analyze fuel cells operation and different species transport phenomena a biphasic mathematical model is presented by governing equations set. The numerical solution of these conservation equations is calculated by Matlab program. A multi-criteria optimization with weighting between two opposite objectives is used to determine the compromise solutions between maximum output and minimal stack size. The obtained results are in good agreement with available literature data.

Keywords: Biphasic model, PEM fuel cell, optimization, simulation, specie transport.

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795 Intrinsic Electromagnetic Fields and Atom-Field Coupling in Living Cells

Authors: Masroor H. S. Bukhari, Z. H. Shah

Abstract:

The possibility of intrinsic electromagnetic fields within living cells and their resonant self-interaction and interaction with ambient electromagnetic fields is suggested on the basis of a theoretical and experimental study. It is reported that intrinsic electromagnetic fields are produced in the form of radio-frequency and infra-red photons within atoms (which may be coupled or uncoupled) in cellular structures, such as the cell cytoskeleton and plasma membrane. A model is presented for the interaction of these photons among themselves or with atoms under a dipole-dipole coupling, induced by single-photon or two-photon processes. This resonance is manifested by conspicuous field amplification and it is argued that it is possible for these resonant photons to undergo tunnelling in the form of evanescent waves to a short range (of a few nanometers to micrometres). This effect, suggested as a resonant photon tunnelling mechanism in this report, may enable these fields to act as intracellular signal communication devices and as bridges between macromolecules or cellular structures in the cell cytoskeleton, organelles or membrane. A brief overview of an experimental technique and a review of some preliminary results are presented, in the detection of these fields produced in living cell membranes under physiological conditions.

Keywords: bioelectromagnetism, cell membrane, evanescentwaves, photon tunnelling, resonance

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794 Polymorphic Marker Designed from Bioinformatics Sequences Related to Cell Wall Strength for Discrimination of Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) Clones Resistant to Gamboge Disorder

Authors: E. Mansyah, Sobir, E. Santosa, A. Sisharmini, Sulassih

Abstract:

Gamboge disorder (GD) or fruit damage by the yellow sap is a major problem in mangosteen. Mangosteen plants varied in the level of GD, from very low or non GD to low, moderate and high GD. However it was difficult to differentiate between GD and non GD plants because evaluation of the disorder is strongly influenced by environment. In this study we investigated the usefulness of primer designed from bioinformatics related to cell wall strength, termed as MCWS, to predict GD. Plant materials used were 28 mangosteen plants selected based on percentage of GD categorized as high, moderate, low and very low or non GD. The result showed that the specific DNA fragments were absent in the high GD accessions. The MCWS marker suggests as a novel polymorphic marker for GD in mangosteen as well as a marker for detect variability in mangosteen as apomictic plant.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, cell wall strength, gamboge disorder, mangosteen, polymorphic marker.

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793 Laboratory Scale Extraction of Sugar Cane using High Electric Field Pulses

Authors: M. N. Eshtiaghi, N. Yoswathana

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to extract sugar from sugarcane using high electric field pulse (HELP) as a non-thermal cell permeabilization method. The result of this study showed that it is possible to permeablize sugar cane cells using HELP at very short times (less than 10 sec.) and at room temperature. Increasing the field strength (from 0.5kV/cm to 2kV/cm) and pulse number (1 to 12) led to increasing the permeabilization of sugar cane cells. The energy consumption during HELP treatment of sugar cane (2.4 kJ/kg) was about 100 times less compared to thermal cell disintegration at 85 <=C (about 271.7 kJ/kg). In addition, it was possible to extract sugar cane at a moderate temperature (45 <=C) using HELP pretreatment. With combination of HELP pretreatment followed by thermal extraction at 75 <=C, extraction resulted in up to 3% more sugar (on the basis of total extractable sugar) compared to samples without HELP pretreatment.

Keywords: Cell permeabilization, High electric field pulses, Non-thermal processing, Sugar cane extraction.

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792 Automatic Staging and Subtype Determination for Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma Using PET Image Texture Analysis

Authors: Seyhan Karaçavuş, Bülent Yılmaz, Ömer Kayaaltı, Semra İçer, Arzu Taşdemir, Oğuzhan Ayyıldız, Kübra Eset, Eser Kaya

Abstract:

In this study, our goal was to perform tumor staging and subtype determination automatically using different texture analysis approaches for a very common cancer type, i.e., non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Especially, we introduced a texture analysis approach, called Law’s texture filter, to be used in this context for the first time. The 18F-FDG PET images of 42 patients with NSCLC were evaluated. The number of patients for each tumor stage, i.e., I-II, III or IV, was 14. The patients had ~45% adenocarcinoma (ADC) and ~55% squamous cell carcinoma (SqCCs). MATLAB technical computing language was employed in the extraction of 51 features by using first order statistics (FOS), gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), gray-level run-length matrix (GLRLM), and Laws’ texture filters. The feature selection method employed was the sequential forward selection (SFS). Selected textural features were used in the automatic classification by k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) and support vector machines (SVM). In the automatic classification of tumor stage, the accuracy was approximately 59.5% with k-NN classifier (k=3) and 69% with SVM (with one versus one paradigm), using 5 features. In the automatic classification of tumor subtype, the accuracy was around 92.7% with SVM one vs. one. Texture analysis of FDG-PET images might be used, in addition to metabolic parameters as an objective tool to assess tumor histopathological characteristics and in automatic classification of tumor stage and subtype.

Keywords: Cancer stage, cancer cell type, non-small cell lung carcinoma, PET, texture analysis.

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791 Determination of an Efficient Differentiation Pathway of Stem Cells Employing Predictory Neural Network Model

Authors: Mughal Yar M, Israr Ul Haq, Bushra Noman

Abstract:

The stem cells have ability to differentiated themselves through mitotic cell division and various range of specialized cell types. Cellular differentiation is a way by which few specialized cell develops into more specialized.This paper studies the fundamental problem of computational schema for an artificial neural network based on chemical, physical and biological variables of state. By doing this type of study system could be model for a viable propagation of various economically important stem cells differentiation. This paper proposes various differentiation outcomes of artificial neural network into variety of potential specialized cells on implementing MATLAB version 2009. A feed-forward back propagation kind of network was created to input vector (five input elements) with single hidden layer and one output unit in output layer. The efficiency of neural network was done by the assessment of results achieved from this study with that of experimental data input and chosen target data. The propose solution for the efficiency of artificial neural network assessed by the comparatative analysis of “Mean Square Error" at zero epochs. There are different variables of data in order to test the targeted results.

Keywords: Computational shcmin, meiosis, mitosis, neuralnetwork, Stem cell SOM;

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790 Investigating the Influence of Porosity on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of a C/C Composite Using Image Based FE Modelling

Authors: Abdulrahman A. Alghamdi, Paul M. Mummery, Mohammad A. Sheikh

Abstract:

In this paper, 3D image based composite unit cell is constructed from high resolution tomographic images. Through-thickness thermal diffusivity and in-plane Young’s modulus are predicted for the composite unit cell. The accuracy of the image based composite unit cell is tested by comparing its results with the experimental results obtained from laser flash and tensile test. The FE predictions are in close agreement with experimental results. Through-thickness thermal diffusivity and in-plane Young’s modulus of a virgin C/C composite are predicted by replacing the properties of air (porosity) with the properties of carbon matrix. The effect of porosity was found to be more profound on thermal diffusivity than young’s modulus.

Keywords: Porosity, C/C composite, image based FE modelling, CMC.

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789 Design of Compliant Mechanism Based Microgripper with Three Finger Using Topology Optimization

Authors: R. Bharanidaran, B. T. Ramesh

Abstract:

High precision in motion is required to manipulate the micro objects in precision industries for micro assembly, cell manipulation etc. Precision manipulation is achieved based on the appropriate mechanism design of micro devices such as microgrippers. Design of a compliant based mechanism is the better option to achieve a highly precised and controlled motion. This research article highlights the method of designing a compliant based three fingered microgripper suitable for holding asymmetric objects. Topological optimization technique, a systematic method is implemented in this research work to arrive a topologically optimized design of the mechanism needed to perform the required micro motion of the gripper. Optimization technique has a drawback of generating senseless regions such as node to node connectivity and staircase effect at the boundaries. Hence, it is required to have post processing of the design to make it manufacturable. To reduce the effect of post processing stage and to preserve the edges of the image, a cubic spline interpolation technique is introduced in the MATLAB program. Structural performance of the topologically developed mechanism design is tested using finite element method (FEM) software. Further the microgripper structure is examined to find its fatigue life and vibration characteristics.

Keywords: Compliant mechanism, Cubic spline interpolation, FEM, Topology optimization.

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788 Comparison of the Performance of GaInAsSb and GaSb Cells under Different Temperature Blackbody Radiations

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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787 An Algorithm of Finite Capacity Material Requirement Planning System for Multi-stage Assembly Flow Shop

Authors: T. Wuttipornpun, U. Wangrakdiskul, W. Songserm

Abstract:

This paper aims to develop an algorithm of finite capacity material requirement planning (FCMRP) system for a multistage assembly flow shop. The developed FCMRP system has two main stages. The first stage is to allocate operations to the first and second priority work centers and also determine the sequence of the operations on each work center. The second stage is to determine the optimal start time of each operation by using a linear programming model. Real data from a factory is used to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed FCMRP system and also to guarantee a practical solution to the user. There are five performance measures, namely, the total tardiness, the number of tardy orders, the total earliness, the number of early orders, and the average flow-time. The proposed FCMRP system offers an adjustable solution which is a compromised solution among the conflicting performance measures. The user can adjust the weight of each performance measure to obtain the desired performance. The result shows that the combination of FCMRP NP3 and EDD outperforms other combinations in term of overall performance index. The calculation time for the proposed FCMRP system is about 10 minutes which is practical for the planners of the factory.

Keywords: Material requirement planning, Finite capacity, Linear programming, Permutation, Application in industry.

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786 Cytotoxic Effect of Crude Extract of Sea Pen Virgularia gustaviana on HeLa and MDA-MB-231 Cancer Cell Lines

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

Abstract:

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: Virgularia gustaviana, Cembrane Diterpene, anti-cancer, HeLa cancer Cell, MDA-Md-231 Cancer cell.

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785 MAGNI Dynamics: A Vision-Based Kinematic and Dynamic Upper-Limb Model for Intelligent Robotic Rehabilitation

Authors: Alexandros Lioulemes, Michail Theofanidis, Varun Kanal, Konstantinos Tsiakas, Maher Abujelala, Chris Collander, William B. Townsend, Angie Boisselle, Fillia Makedon

Abstract:

This paper presents a home-based robot-rehabilitation instrument, called ”MAGNI Dynamics”, that utilized a vision-based kinematic/dynamic module and an adaptive haptic feedback controller. The system is expected to provide personalized rehabilitation by adjusting its resistive and supportive behavior according to a fuzzy intelligence controller that acts as an inference system, which correlates the user’s performance to different stiffness factors. The vision module uses the Kinect’s skeletal tracking to monitor the user’s effort in an unobtrusive and safe way, by estimating the torque that affects the user’s arm. The system’s torque estimations are justified by capturing electromyographic data from primitive hand motions (Shoulder Abduction and Shoulder Forward Flexion). Moreover, we present and analyze how the Barrett WAM generates a force-field with a haptic controller to support or challenge the users. Experiments show that by shifting the proportional value, that corresponds to different stiffness factors of the haptic path, can potentially help the user to improve his/her motor skills. Finally, potential areas for future research are discussed, that address how a rehabilitation robotic framework may include multisensing data, to improve the user’s recovery process.

Keywords: Human-robot interaction, kinect, kinematics, dynamics, haptic control, rehabilitation robotics, artificial intelligence.

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784 Work Function Engineering of Functionally Graded ZnO+Ga2O3 Thin Film for Solar Cell and Organic Light Emitting Diodes Applications

Authors: Yong-Taeg Oh, Won Song, Seok-Eui Choi, Bo-Ra Koo, Dong-Chan Shin

Abstract:

ZnO+Ga2O3 functionally graded thin films (FGTFs) were examined for their potential use as Solar cell and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). FGTF transparent conducting oxides (TCO) were fabricated by combinatorial RF magnetron sputtering. The composition gradient was controlled up to 10% by changing the plasma power of the two sputter guns. A Ga2O3+ZnO graded region was placed on the top layer of ZnO. The FGTFs showed up to 80% transmittance. Their surface resistances were reduced to < 10% by increasing the Ga2O3: pure ZnO ratio in the TCO. The FGTFs- work functions could be controlled within a range of 0.18 eV. The controlled work function is a very promising technology because it reduces the contact resistance between the anode and Hall transport layers of OLED and solar cell devices.

Keywords: Work Function, TCO, Functionally Graded Thin Films, Resistance, Transmittance.

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783 Experimental Study on Smart Anchor Head

Authors: Young-Jun You, Ki-Tae Park, Kyu-Wan Lee

Abstract:

Since prestressed concrete members rely on the tensile strength of the prestressing strands to resist loads, loss of even few them could result catastrophic. Therefore, it is important to measure present residual prestress force. Although there are some techniques for obtaining present prestress force, some problems still remain. One method is to install load cell in front of anchor head but this may increase cost. Load cell is a transducer using the elastic material property. Anchor head is also an elastic material and this might result in monitoring monitor present prestress force. Features of fiber optic sensor such as small size, great sensitivity, high durability can assign sensing function to anchor head. This paper presents the concept of smart anchor head which acts as load cell and experiment for the applicability of it. Test results showed the smart anchor head worked good and strong linear relationship between load and response.

Keywords: SHM, prestress force, anchor head, fiber optic sensor

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782 A Development of Home Service Robot using Omni-Wheeled Mobility and Task-Based Manipulation

Authors: Hijun Kim, Jungkeun Sung, Seungwoo Kim

Abstract:

In this paper, a Smart Home Service Robot, McBot II, which performs mess-cleanup function etc. in house, is designed much more optimally than other service robots. It is newly developed in much more practical system than McBot I which we had developed two years ago. One characteristic attribute of mobile platforms equipped with a set of dependent wheels is their omni- directionality and the ability to realize complex translational and rotational trajectories for agile navigation in door. An accurate coordination of steering angle and spinning rate of each wheel is necessary for a consistent motion. This paper develops trajectory controller of 3-wheels omni-directional mobile robot using fuzzy azimuth estimator. A specialized anthropomorphic robot manipulator which can be attached to the housemaid robot McBot II, is developed in this paper. This built-in type manipulator consists of both arms with 3 DOF (Degree of Freedom) each and both hands with 3 DOF each. The robotic arm is optimally designed to satisfy both the minimum mechanical size and the maximum workspace. Minimum mass and length are required for the built-in cooperated-arms system. But that makes the workspace so small. This paper proposes optimal design method to overcome the problem by using neck joint to move the arms horizontally forward/backward and waist joint to move them vertically up/down. The robotic hand, which has two fingers and a thumb, is also optimally designed in task-based concept. Finally, the good performance of the developed McBot II is confirmed through live tests of the mess-cleanup task.

Keywords: Holonomic Omni-wheeled Mobile Robot, Special-purpose, Manipulation, Home Service Robot

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781 Effective Cooling of Photovoltaic Solar Cells by Inserting Triangular Ribs: A Numerical Study

Authors: S. Saadi, S. Benissaad, S. Poncet, Y. Kabar

Abstract:

In photovoltaic (PV) cells, most of the absorbed solar radiation cannot be converted into electricity. A large amount of solar radiation is converted to heat, which should be dissipated by any cooling techniques. In the present study, the cooling is achieved by inserting triangular ribs in the duct. A comprehensive two-dimensional thermo-fluid model for the effective cooling of PV cells has been developed. It has been first carefully validated against experimental and numerical results available in the literature. A parametric analysis was then carried out about the influence of the number and size of the ribs, wind speed, solar irradiance and inlet fluid velocity on the average solar cell and outlet air temperatures as well as the thermal and electrical efficiencies of the module. Results indicated that the use of triangular ribbed channels is a very effective cooling technique, which significantly reduces the average temperature of the PV cell, especially when increasing the number of ribs.

Keywords: Effective cooling, numerical modeling, photovoltaic cell, triangular ribs.

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780 Apoptosis Induced by Low-concentration Ethanol in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Strains and Down-regulated AFP and Survivin Analysis by Proteomic Technology

Authors: Xin Kai, Juan Li, Sexin Huang, Zengliang Bai

Abstract:

Ethanol is generally used as a therapeutic reagent against Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC or hepatoma) worldwide, as it can induce Hepatocellular carcinoma cell apoptosis at low concentration through a multifactorial process regulated by several unknown proteins. This paper provides a simple and available proteomic strategy for exploring differentially expressed proteins in the apoptotic pathway. The appropriate concentrations of ethanol required to induce HepG2 cell apoptosis were first assessed by MTT assay, Gisma and fluorescence staining. Next, the central proteins involved in the apoptosis pathway processs were determined using 2D-PAGE, SDS-PAGE, and bio-software analysis. Finally the downregulation of two proteins, AFP and survivin, were determined by immunocytochemistry and reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) technology. The simple, useful method demonstrated here provides a new approach to proteomic analysis in key bio-regulating process including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, immunity and metastasis.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Ethanol, Proteomics, survivin and AFP

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779 Process Optimization for Enhanced Production of Cell Biomass and Metabolites of Fluorescent Pseudomonad R81

Authors: M.V.R.K Sarma, Krishna Saharan, Lalit Kumar, Ashwani Gautam, Avhijeet Kapoor, Nishant Srivastava, Vikram Sahai, V.S Bisaria

Abstract:

The fluorescent pseudomonad strain R81 is a root colonizing rhizobacteria which promotes the growth of many plants by various mechanisms. Its broth containing siderophore (ironchelating compound) and 2,4- diacetyl phloroglucinol (DAPG) is used for preparing bioinoculant formulations for agronomical applications. Glycerol was found to be the best carbon source for improved biomass production. Splitting of nitrogen source to NH4Cl and urea had a stabilizing effect on pH during batch cultivation. Ltryptophan at 0.5 % in the medium increased the siderophore production to 850 mg/l. During batch cultivation of the strain in a bioreactor, a maximum of 4 g/l of dry cell mass, 1.8 g/l of siderophore and 20 mg/l of DAPG was achieved when glycerol was 15 g/l and C/N ratio was maintained at 12.5. In case of intermittent feeding of fresh medium during fed-batch cultivation, the dry cell mass was increased to 25 g/l with improved production of DAPG to 70 mg/l.

Keywords: Batch cultivation, Fed-batch cultivation, fluorescent pseudomonad, Metabolites

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778 Fiber Microstructure in Solanum Found in Thailand

Authors: Aree Thongpukdee, Chockpisit Thepsithar, Sujitra Timchookul

Abstract:

The study aimed to investigate characteristics of vegetative tissue for taxonomic purpose and possibly trend of waste application in industry. Stems and branches of 15 species in Solanum found in Thailand were prepared for fiber and examined by light microscopy. Microstructural characteristic data of fiber i.e. fiber length and width, fiber lumen diameter and fiber cell wall thickness were recorded. The longest average fiber cell length (>3.9 mm.) were obtained in S. lycopersicum L. and S. tuberosum L. Fiber cells from S. lycopersicum also revealed the widest average diameter of whole cell and its lumen at >45.5 μm and >29 μm respectively. However fiber cells with thickest wall of > 9.6 μm were belonged to the ornamental tree species, S. wrightii Benth. The results showed that the slenderness ratio, Runkel ratio, and flexibility coefficient, with potentially suitable for feedstock in paper industry fell in 4 exotic species, i.e. Solanumamericanum L., S. lycopersicum, S. seaforthianum Andr., and S. tuberosum L

Keywords: Fiber, microstructure, Solanaceae, Solanum.

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777 Application of Thermoplastic Microbioreactor to the Single Cell Study of Budding Yeast to Decipher the Effect of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural on Growth

Authors: Elif Gencturk, Ekin Yurdakul, Ahmet Y. Celik, Senol Mutlu, Kutlu O. Ulgen

Abstract:

Yeast cells are generally used as a model system of eukaryotes due to their complex genetic structure, rapid growth ability in optimum conditions, easy replication and well-defined genetic system properties. Thus, yeast cells increased the knowledge of the principal pathways in humans. During fermentation, carbohydrates (hexoses and pentoses) degrade into some toxic by-products such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF or HMF) and furfural. HMF influences the ethanol yield, and ethanol productivity; it interferes with microbial growth and is considered as a potent inhibitor of bioethanol production. In this study, yeast single cell behavior under HMF application was monitored by using a continuous flow single phase microfluidic platform. Microfluidic device in operation is fabricated by hot embossing and thermo-compression techniques from cyclo-olefin polymer (COP). COP is biocompatible, transparent and rigid material and it is suitable for observing fluorescence of cells considering its low auto-fluorescence characteristic. The response of yeast cells was recorded through Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP) tagged Nop56 gene product, which is an essential evolutionary-conserved nucleolar protein, and also a member of the box C/D snoRNP complexes. With the application of HMF, yeast cell proliferation continued but HMF slowed down the cell growth, and after HMF treatment the cell proliferation stopped. By the addition of fresh nutrient medium, the yeast cells recovered after 6 hours of HMF exposure. Thus, HMF application suppresses normal functioning of cell cycle but it does not cause cells to die. The monitoring of Nop56 expression phases of the individual cells shed light on the protein and ribosome synthesis cycles along with their link to growth. Further computational study revealed that the mechanisms underlying the inhibitory or inductive effects of HMF on growth are enriched in functional categories of protein degradation, protein processing, DNA repair and multidrug resistance. The present microfluidic device can successfully be used for studying the effects of inhibitory agents on growth by single cell tracking, thus capturing cell to cell variations. By metabolic engineering techniques, engineered strains can be developed, and the metabolic network of the microorganism can thus be manipulated such that chemical overproduction of target metabolite is achieved along with the maximum growth/biomass yield.  

Keywords: COP, HMF, ribosome biogenesis, thermoplastic microbioreactor, yeast.

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776 Coordinated Multi-Point Scheme Based On Channel State Information in MIMO-OFDM System

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

Abstract:

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 fewer resources.

Keywords: Adaptive beam forming, CoMP, LTE-A, ICI reduction.

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775 Robot Cell Planning

Authors: Allan Tubaileh, Ibrahim Hammad, Loay Al Kafafi

Abstract:

A new approach to determine the machine layout in flexible manufacturing cell, and to find the feasible robot configuration of the robot to achieve minimum cycle time is presented in this paper. The location of the input/output location and the optimal robot configuration is obtained for all sequences of work tasks of the robot within a specified period of time. A more realistic approach has been presented to model the problem using the robot joint space. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem and solved using Sequential Quadratic Programming algorithm.

Keywords: Robotics, Layout.

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774 Antimicrobial Properties of Copper in Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Bacteria

Authors: Travis J. Meyer, Jasodra Ramlall, Phyo Thu, Nidhi Gadura

Abstract:

For centuries humans have used the antimicrobial properties of copper to their advantage. Yet, after all these years the underlying mechanisms of copper mediated cell death in various microbes remain unclear. We had explored the hypothesis that copper mediated increased levels of lipid peroxidation in the membrane fatty acids is responsible for increased killing in Escherichia coli. In this study we show that in both gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria there is a strong correlation between copper mediated cell death and increased levels of lipid peroxidation. Interestingly, the non-spore forming gram positive bacteria as well as gram negative bacteria show similar patterns of cell death, increased levels of lipid peroxidation, as well as genomic DNA degradation, however there is some difference in loss in membrane integrity upon exposure to copper alloy surface.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, copper, gram positive, gram negative.

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773 Optimum Radio Capacity Estimation of a Single-Cell Spread Spectrum MIMO System under Rayleigh Fading Conditions

Authors: P. Varzakas

Abstract:

In this paper, the problem of estimating the optimal radio capacity of a single-cell spread spectrum (SS) multiple-inputmultiple- output (MIMO) system operating in a Rayleigh fading environment is examined. The optimisation between the radio capacity and the theoretically achievable average channel capacity (in the sense of information theory) per user of a MIMO single-cell SS system operating in a Rayleigh fading environment is presented. Then, the spectral efficiency is estimated in terms of the achievable average channel capacity per user, during the operation over a broadcast time-varying link, and leads to a simple novel-closed form expression for the optimal radio capacity value based on the maximization of the achieved spectral efficiency. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the proposed analysis.

Keywords: Channel capacity, MIMO systems, Radio capacity, Rayleigh fading, Spectral efficiency.

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772 Statistical Analysis of Parameters Effects on Maximum Strain and Torsion Angle of FRP Honeycomb Sandwich Panels Subjected to Torsion

Authors: Mehdi Modabberifar, Milad Roodi, Ehsan Souri

Abstract:

In recent years, honeycomb fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) sandwich panels have been increasingly used in various industries. Low weight, low price and high mechanical strength are the benefits of these structures. However, their mechanical properties and behavior have not been fully explored. The objective of this study is to conduct a combined numerical-statistical investigation of honeycomb FRP sandwich beams subject to torsion load. In this paper, the effect of geometric parameters of sandwich panel on maximum shear strain in both face and core and angle of torsion in a honeycomb FRP sandwich structures in torsion is investigated. The effect of Parameters including core thickness, face skin thickness, cell shape, cell size, and cell thickness on mechanical behavior of the structure were numerically investigated. Main effects of factors were considered in this paper and regression equations were derived. Taguchi method was employed as experimental design and an optimum parameter combination for the maximum structure stiffness has been obtained. The results showed that cell size and face skin thickness have the most significant impacts on torsion angle, maximum shear strain in face and core.

Keywords: Finite element, honeycomb FRP sandwich panel, torsion, civil engineering.

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771 The Impact of the Cell-Free Solution of Lactic Acid Bacteria on Cadaverine Production by Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in Lysine-Decarboxylase Broth

Authors: Fatih Özogul, Nurten Toy, Yesim Özogul

Abstract:

The influences of cell-free solutions (CFSs) of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on cadaverine and other biogenic amines production by Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus were investigated in lysine decarboxylase broth (LDB) using HPLC. Cell free solutions were prepared from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris, Pediococcus acidilactici and Streptococcus thermophiles. Two different concentrations that were 50% and 25% CFS and the control without CFSs were prepared. Significant variations on biogenic amine production were observed in the presence of L. monocytogenes and S. aureus (P < 0.05). The function of CFS on biogenic amine production by foodborne pathogens varied depending on strains and specific amine. Cadaverine formation by L. monocytogenes and S. aureus in control were 500.9 and 948.1 mg/L, respectively while the CFSs of LAB induced 4-fold lower cadaverine production by L. monocytogenes and 7-fold lower cadaverine production by S. aureus. The CFSs resulted in strong decreases in cadaverine and putrescine production by L. monocytogenes and S. aureus, although remarkable increases were observed for histamine, spermidine, spermine, serotonin, dopamine, tyramine and agmatine in the presence of LAB in lysine decarboxylase broth.

Keywords: Cell-free solution, lactic acid bacteria, cadaverine, food borne-pathogen.

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770 Enhanced Imperialist Competitive Algorithm for the Cell Formation Problem Using Sequence Data

Authors: S. H. Borghei, E. Teymourian, M. Mobin, G. M. Komaki, S. Sheikh

Abstract:

Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is a recent meta-heuristic method that is inspired by the social evolutions for solving NP-Hard problems. The ICA is a population-based algorithm which has achieved a great performance in comparison to other metaheuristics. This study is about developing enhanced ICA approach to solve the Cell Formation Problem (CFP) using sequence data. In addition to the conventional ICA, an enhanced version of ICA, namely EICA, applies local search techniques to add more intensification aptitude and embed the features of exploration and intensification more successfully. Suitable performance measures are used to compare the proposed algorithms with some other powerful solution approaches in the literature. In the same way, for checking the proficiency of algorithms, forty test problems are presented. Five benchmark problems have sequence data, and other ones are based on 0-1 matrices modified to sequence based problems. Computational results elucidate the efficiency of the EICA in solving CFP problems.

Keywords: Cell formation problem, Group technology, Imperialist competitive algorithm, Sequence data.

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769 Electrical Performance of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Unit with Non-Uniform Inlet Flow and High Fuel Utilization

Authors: Ping Yuan, Mu-Sheng Chiang, Syu-Fang Liu, Shih-Bin Wang, Ming-Jun Kuo

Abstract:

This study investigates the electrical performance of a planar solid oxide fuel cell unit with cross-flow configuration when the fuel utilization gets higher and the fuel inlet flow are non-uniform. A software package in this study solves two-dimensional, simultaneous, partial differential equations of mass, energy, and electro-chemistry, without considering stack direction variation. The results show that the fuel utilization increases with a decrease in the molar flow rate, and the average current density decreases when the molar flow rate drops. In addition, non-uniform Pattern A will induce more severe happening of non-reaction area in the corner of the fuel exit and the air inlet. This non-reaction area deteriorates the average current density and then deteriorates the electrical performance to –7%.

Keywords: Performance, Solid oxide fuel cell, non-uniform, fuelutilization

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768 A Soft Switching PWM DC-DC Boost Converter with Increased Efficiency by Using ZVT-ZCT Techniques

Authors: Yakup Sahin, Naim Suleyman Ting, Ismail Aksoy

Abstract:

In this paper, an improved active snubber cell is proposed on account of soft switching (SS) family of pulse width modulation (PWM) DC-DC converters. The improved snubber cell provides zero-voltage transition (ZVT) turn on and zero-current transition (ZCT) turn off for main switch. The snubber cell decreases EMI noise and operates with SS in a wide range of line and load voltages. Besides, all of the semiconductor devices in the converter operate with SS. There is no additional voltage and current stress on the main devices. Additionally, extra voltage stress does not occur on the auxiliary switch and its current stress is acceptable value. The improved converter has a low cost and simple structure. The theoretical analysis of converter is clarified and the operating states are given in detail. The experimental results of converter are obtained by prototype of 500 W and 100 kHz. It is observed that the experimental results and theoretical analysis of converter are suitable with each other perfectly.

Keywords: Active snubber cells, DC-DC converters, zero-voltage transition, zero-current transition.

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767 Signal and Thermodynamic Analysis for Evaluation of Thermal and Power of Gas Turbine-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybrid System

Authors: R. Mahjoub, K. Maghsoudi Mehraban

Abstract:

In recent years, solid oxide fuel cells have been used as one of the main technologies for the production of electrical energy with high-efficiency ratio, which is used hydrogen and other hydrocarbons as fuels. The fuel cell technology can be used either alone or in hybrid gas turbines systems. In this study, thermodynamics analysis for GT-SOFC hybrid system is developed, and then mass balance and exergy equations have been applied not only on the process but also on the individual components of the hybrid system, which enable us to estimate the thermal efficiency of the hybrid systems. Furthermore, various sources of irreversibility in the solid oxide fuel cell system are discussed, and modeling and parametric analyses like heat and pressure are carried out. This study enables us to consider the irreversible effects of solid oxide fuel cells, and also it leads to the specification of efficiency of the system accurately. Next in the study, both methane and hydrogen as a fuel for SOFC are used and implemented, and finally, our results are compared with other references.

Keywords: hybrid system, gas turbine, entropy and exergy analysis, irreversibility analysis

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