Radiofrequency (RF)-based monopolar (MM) and bipolar mode (BM) applicators are used to thermally create coagulation zones (CZs) in biological tissues with the aim of destroying surface tumors and minimizing blood losses in surgical resection. Both modes have disadvantages as regards safely and in obtaining a sufficiently deep coagulation zone (CZ). In this study, we compared both modes versus a switching monopolar mode (SMM) in which the role of the active electrode changes intermittently between the two electrodes of the applicator. In terms of clinical impact, the three modes can easily be selected by the surgeon according to the surgical maneuver. We used computational and experimental models to study the feasibility of working in MM, BM, and SMM and to compare their CZ characteristics. We focused exclusively on BM and SMM, since MM only creates small coagulation zones in the area between the electrodes. The results showed that SMM produces the deepest CZ between both electrodes (33... [more]

Indirect effects in ecotoxicology are defined as chemical- or pollutant-induced alterations in the density or behavior of sensitive species that have cascading effects on tolerant species in natural systems. As a result, species interaction networks (e.g., interactions associated with predation or competition) may be altered in such a way as to bring about large changes in populations and/or communities that may further cascade to disrupt ecosystem function and services. Field studies and experimental outcomes as well as models indicate that indirect effects are most likely to occur in communities in which the strength of interactions and the sensitivity to contaminants differ markedly among species, and that indirect effects will vary over space and time as species composition, trophic structure, and environmental factors vary. However, knowledge of indirect effects is essential to improve understanding of the potential for chemical harm in natural systems. For example, indirect effec... [more]

A study on the effect of the physical properties and moisture sorption isotherm of palm kernels constitutes the critical criteria in evaluating the drying performance. The drying was evaluated as a function of moisture content (MC) in the range of 0.31−0.02 kg/kg (d.b.). Whereas, the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of palm kernels (whole kernel and ground kernel) was determined experimentally using the standard gravimetric method at different temperatures (50 °C to 80 °C), over a range of relative humidity (RH) from 10% to 81%. Palm kernel length, width, and thickness decrease from 16.08 ± 2.09 mm to 14.17 ± 2.30 mm, 12.06 ± 1.40 mm to 11.24 ± 1.08 mm, and 10.01 ± 1.27 mm to 9.18 ± 1.04 mm, respectively, when MC decreased. Bulk density, surface area, and specific surface area decreased as the MC decreased, while porosity and true density were increased. EMC of palm kernels (whole kernel and ground kernel) decreased with an increase in temperature at constant RH. Modified Oswin and m... [more]

Produced water (PW) is a by-product of oil and gas operations, and its production is foreseen to increase in the upcoming years. Such an increase is justified by various entities through their projection of the expected increase in the demand of oil and gas. The treatment of produced water is a significantly growing challenge for the oil and gas industry that requires serious attention. The first part of this review will present the underlying issue of produced water and relevant practices. With adsorption being defined as the least expensive treatment method, the second part will introduce general adsorption principals. The third part will describe the recent applications of adsorption for the treatment of PW with more focus of categorizing the adsorbents as natural and non-natural adsorbents. The main aim of this review is to shed light on the recent research related to PW treatment using adsorption. This is performed to highlight the shortcomings in PW adsorption research and recomm... [more]

Bioreactors have proven useful for a vast amount of applications. Besides classical large-scale bioreactors and fermenters for prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, micro-bioreactors, as specialized bioreactor systems, have become an invaluable tool for mammalian 3D cell cultures. In this systematic review we analyze the literature in the field of eukaryotic 3D cell culture in micro-bioreactors within the last 20 years. For this, we define complexity levels with regard to the cellular 3D microenvironment concerning cell−matrix-contact, cell−cell-contact and the number of different cell types present at the same time. Moreover, we examine the data with regard to the micro-bioreactor design including mode of cell stimulation/nutrient supply and materials used for the micro-bioreactors, the corresponding 3D cell culture techniques and the related cellular microenvironment, the cell types and in vitro models used. As a data source we used the National Library of Medicine and analyzed the s... [more]

Many potential uses of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in various sectors have created an urge to assess their diverse range of properties pertaining to various applications like catalysis, biosensor, and antimicrobial activity. Increasing studies on the biosensor and antibacterial activity of CNT have prompted tremendous interest in the utilization of the carbon-based nanostructured material as an alternative to currently existing antibiotics. However, the study of bactericidal aspects of this nanomaterial is relatively new and hence the deeper understanding of the various physicochemical characteristics and antimicrobial nature of CNT is extremely wanted. This review covers the effect of framework substitution and explains the understanding of membrane disintegration and oxidative stresses upon nanomaterials for antimicrobial activity. The present article has also reviewed effect of preparation nanoparticle deposition and framework modification on carbon nanotube structure. The recent researc... [more]

A multistage atmospheric fluidized bed gasifier was developed using the Aspen Plus simulation process. The innovative gasification reactor aims to yield a high-quality product gas as it conducts pyrolysis, combustion, and reduction in different zones. In addition, it uses gas as a heat carrier and has a fluidized char bed in the reduction zone to enhance the in-situ tar reduction. In order to study the feasibility of the gasifier, an evaluation of the product gas and the process efficiency is required. The proposed model was based on the reaction rates and hydrodynamic parameters of the bubbling bed. Four different stages were initially considered in the simulation process: decomposition of the feed, partial volatile combustion, char reduction, and gas solid separation. The gasification reactor was operated over a temperature range of 800−1000 °C and an isothermal combustion reactor was operated at 1000 °C. In addition, the air to biomass mass ratio was varied from 0.2 to 0.5. It has b... [more]

This work is addressed to the phenomenon of catalyst deactivation taking place during the repeated uses in the reaction of Suzuki-Miyaura (S-M) cross-coupling, which is widely applied in industry for C-C bond formation. Ligandless catalysts based on Pd(0) NPs supported on hyper-cross-linked polystyrene (HPS) of two types (non-functionalized and bearing tertiary amino groups) were studied in a model S-M reaction between 4-bromoanisole and phenylboronic acid. Synthesized catalysts were shown to be highly active under mild reaction conditions. HPS allows stabilization of Pd(0) NPs and prevents their agglomeration and detectable Pd leaching. However, the loss of catalytic activity was observed during recycling. The deactivation issue was assigned to the hydrophobic nature of non-functionalized HPS, which allowed a strong adsorption of cross-coupling product during the catalyst separation procedure. A thorough washing of Pd/HPS catalyst by hydrophobic solvent was found to improve to the big... [more]

The paper aims to study the surface quality dependency on selected parameters of cuts made in Hardox™ by abrasive water jet (AWJ). The regression process was applied on measured data and the equations were prepared for both the Ra and Rz roughness parameters. One set of regression equations was prepared for the relationship of Ra and Rz on cutting parameters—pumping pressure, traverse speed, and abrasive mass flow rate. The second set of regression equations describes relationships between the declination angle in kerf as the independent variable and either the Ra or the Rz parameters as dependent variables. The models can be used to predict cutting variables to predict the surface quality parameters.

Porous materials constitute an attractive research field due to their high specific surfaces; high chemical stabilities; abundant pores; special electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties; and their often higher reactivities. These materials are currently generating a great deal of enthusiasm, and they have been used in large and diverse applications, such as those relating to sensors and biosensors, catalysis and biocatalysis, separation and purification techniques, acoustic and electrical insulation, transport gas or charged species, drug delivery, and electrochemistry. Porous carbons are an important class of porous materials that have grown rapidly in recent years. They have the advantages of a tunable pore structure, good physical and chemical stability, a variable specific surface, and the possibility of easy functionalization. This gives them new properties and allows them to improve their performance for a given application. This review paper intends to understand... [more]

Polymerization is a typical exothermic reaction in the fine chemical industry, which is easy to cause thermal runaway. In order to lower the thermal runaway risk of polymerization, a microreactor was adopted in this study to carry out styrene thermal polymerization. The hydrodynamic model and the fluid−solid coupling model of thermal polymerization of styrene were combined by using the computation fluid dynamics (CFD) method to build a three-dimensional steady-state model of the batch and the microreactor and compare. The results indicated that the maximum temperature of the polymerization in the microreactor was only 150.23 °C, while in the batch reactor, it was up to 371.1 °C. Therefore, the reaction temperature in the microreactor could be controlled more effectively compared with that in the batch reactor. During the reaction process, jacket cooling may fail, which would lead to an adiabatic situation. According to the divergence criterion (DIV), the thermal runaway of the polymeri... [more]

Elementary Flux Modes (EFMs) provide a rigorous basis to systematically characterize the steady state, cellular phenotypes, as well as metabolic network robustness and fragility. However, the number of EFMs typically grows exponentially with the size of the metabolic network, leading to excessive computational demands, and unfortunately, a large fraction of these EFMs are not biologically feasible due to system constraints. This combinatorial explosion often prevents the complete analysis of genome-scale metabolic models. Traditionally, EFMs are computed by the double description method, an efficient algorithm based on matrix calculation; however, only a few constraints can be integrated into this computation. They must be monotonic with regard to the set inclusion of the supports; otherwise, they must be treated in post-processing and thus do not save computational time. We present aspefm, a hybrid computational tool based on Answer Set Programming (ASP) and Linear Programming (LP) th... [more]

The article presents the problems connected with the performance evaluation of a flexible production system in the context of designing and integrating production and logistics subsystems. The goal of the performed analysis was to determine the parameters that have the most significant influence on the productivity of the whole system. The possibilities of using automated machine tools, automatic transport vehicles, as well as automated storage systems were pointed out. Moreover, the exemplary models are described, and the framework of simulation research related to the conceptual design of new production systems are indicated. In order to evaluate the system’s productivity, the use of Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) metrics was proposed, which is typically used for stationary resources such as machines. This paper aims to prove the hypothesis that the OEE metric can also be used for transport facilities such as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). The developed models include the para... [more]

A novel method for efficiently recovering Fe and Mn from waste Mn ferrite by molten salt electrolysis is firstly proposed. The electrolysis of molten salt (MnCl2 (1.06 wt%)-FeCl3 (2.69 wt%)-NaCl-KCl) was performed at 800 °C. The phase of product at 2.0 V was metal Fe while metal Fe and Mn were obtained by molten salt electrolysis at 2.3 V. The Fe/Mn mass ratio of electrodeposited products at 2.0 V and 2.3 V were 687 and 3.2, respectively. The different proportions of metal Fe-Mn were prepared by controlling the electrolytic voltages. This new method can realize direct transformation of waste Mn ferrite to Fe-Mn alloy.

The increasing utilization of renewable sources for electricity production turns CO2 methanation into a key process in the future energy context, as this reaction allows storing the temporary renewable electricity surplus in the natural gas network (Power-to-Gas). This kind of chemical reaction requires the use of a catalyst and thus it has gained the attention of many researchers thriving to achieve active, selective and stable materials in a remarkable number of studies. The existing papers published in literature in the past few years about CO2 methanation tackled the catalysts composition and their related performances and mechanisms, which served as a basis for researchers to further extend their in-depth investigations in the reported systems. In summary, the focus was mainly in the enhancement of the synthesized materials that involved the active metal phase (i.e., boosting its dispersion), the different types of solid supports, and the frequent addition of a second metal oxide... [more]

Selenate removal in drinking water is being vigorously debated due to the various health issues concerned. As a viable treatment option, this study investigated a fixed-bed biofilm reactor (FBBR) with internal recycling. The experimental design tested how hydraulic loading rate and electron donor affect selenate reduction together with other oxyanions. The tested accompanying oxyanions were nitrate and perchlorate and experiments were designed to test how an FBBR responded to the limited electron donor condition. The results showed that the reactor achieved almost complete selenate reduction with the initial hydraulic loading rate of 12 m3/m2/day (influent concentration of 1416 µg SeO42−/L). Increasing the hydraulic loading rates to 16.24 and 48 m3/m2/day led to a gradual decline in selenate removal efficiency. A sufficient external carbon source (C:N of 3.3:1) achieved an almost complete reduction of nitrate as well as selenate. The FBBR acclimated to selenate instantaneously and redu... [more]

Asphaltenes are compounds present in crude oils that influence their rheology, raising problems related to the extraction, transport, and refining. This work centered on the chemical and structural changes of the asphaltenes from the heavy Colombian Castilla crude oil during pyrolysis between 330 and 450 °C. Also, the development of new strategies to apply these macromolecules, and the possible use of the cracking products as a source of new materials were analyzed. The obtained products (coke, liquid, and gas) were collected and evaluated through the techniques of proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR), elemental composition, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SARA) analysis, and gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A comparison of the applied methods showed that the asphaltene molecules increased the average size of their aromatic sheets, lost their aliphatic... [more]

This paper presents a computational study on bottom gas injection in a cylindrical tank. The bubble formation at submerged orifices, bubble rising, and interactions between bubbles and bubbles with the free surface were studied using the conservative level set method (CLSM). Since the gas injection is an important technique in various fields and this process is quite complicated, the scenario was chosen to quantify the efficacy of the CLSM to describe the gas-liquid complex interactions with fast changes in the surface tension force and buoyancy force. The simulation accuracy is verified with the grid convergence index (GCI) approach and Richardson Extrapolation (RE) and is validated by comparing the numerical results with experimental observations, theoretical equations, and published data. The results show that the CLSM accurately reproduces the bubble formation frequency, and that it can handle complicated bubble shapes. Moreover, it captures the challenging phenomena of interaction... [more]

Ice accumulation on wind turbine blades due to the impact of supercooled water droplets can be reduced by the application of surfaces with anti-icing properties. Hydrophobic surfaces are considered as a promising solution because of their water repellent behavior. In recent years, short-pulsed laser technologies have been developed as an efficient technique to modify the surface properties of materials. However, the anti-icing properties of such surfaces have not yet been validated. In this work, a hybrid modification of polyester resin-based gelcoats was adopted. Laser patterning (LP) was used to produce periodic surface structures on modified unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) substrates. One of the innovations of this research is the utilization of novel purpose-made chemical modifiers for gelcoats. The implementation of linear polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) as a building block is a key improvement in terms of durability and functionality of the coating, since there is an option of i... [more]

Continuous manufacturing of biologics (biopharmaceuticals) has been an area of active research and development for many reasons, ranging from the demand for operational streamlining to the requirement of achieving obvious economic benefits. At the same time, biopharma strives to develop systems and concepts that can operate at similar scales for clinical and commercial production—using flexible infrastructures, such as single-use flow paths and small surge vessels. These developments should simplify technology transfer, reduce footprint and capital investment, and will allow to react readily to changing market pressures while maintaining quality attributes. Despite a number of clearly identified benefits compared to traditional batch processes, continuous bioprocessing is still not widely adopted for commercial manufacturing. This paper details how industry-specific technological, organizational, economic, and regulatory barriers that exist in biopharmaceutical manufacturing are hinder... [more]

Microalgae cultivation in liquid foams is a promising concept which requires the use of a surfactant as a foam stabilizing agent. The biodegradable character of a surfactant is a key aspect regarding its applicability in a liquid foam-bed photobioreactor (LF-PBR), since it might influence microalgal growth and the stability of the foam-based cultivation. In this work, the effects of the biodegradable surfactants bovine serum albumin (BSA), Saponin and Tween 20 on the whole microbial community of microalgal cultures (i.e., microalgal and bacterial populations) were studied. The three surfactants enhanced bacterial and microalgal growth in non-axenic microalgal cultures, but they differed in their efficiency to sustain bacterial growth. In this sense, Saponin was proven to enhance the growth of S. obliquus-associated bacteria in microalgae-free cultures, and to sustain it even when other nutrients were lacking, suggesting that Saponin can be used as an energy and nutrients source by thes... [more]

For the protection of human and ecological receptors from the effects of soil pollution with chemical compounds, we need to know the behavior and transport of pollutants in soil. This work investigated the Congo red (CR) acid dye sorption on three natural soils collected from central and northeastern regions of Romania, symbolized as IS-65, IS-T, and MH-13. To define the mechanism of sorption and identify the rate governing step, various diffusion models such as Weber−Morris intraparticle diffusion, Boyd, film and pores diffusion, and mass transfer analysis have been verified. The intraparticle diffusion analysis of Congo red sorption onto soils has been described by a multi-linear plots, showing that the sorption process takes place by surface sorption and intraparticle diffusion in macro, meso, and micropores. The values of intraparticle diffusion coefficient kid increased with any rise of the initial concentration of pollutant. The results show that the values of pore diffusion coef... [more]

An efficient and convenient chemoenzymatic route for the synthesis of novel phenolic mono-, di- and oligosaccharide esters is described. Acetal derivatives of glucose, sucrose, lactose and inulin were obtained by chemical synthesis. The fully characterized pure sugar acetals were subjected to enzymatic esterification with 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionic acid (HPPA) in the presence of Novozyme 435 lipase as a biocatalyst. The aromatic esters of alkyl glycosides and glucose acetal were obtained with good esterification yields, characterized by mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR, 13C NMR). The synthesis of aromatic esters of disaccharide acetals was successful only for the enzymatic esterification of sucrose acetal. The new chemoenzymatic route allowed the synthesis of novel aromatic esters of inulin as the inulin monoacetal monoester and diester and the inulin diacetal monoester with a polymerization degree of... [more]

Blood is not always available in forensic autopsies, therefore, the search for alternative sampling materials is needed. This study aimed at examining if ethanol can be detected in costal cartilage and to investigate if different forms of costal cartilage can give accurate information about ethanol concentration in the blood or urine of human cadavers (n = 50). Ethanol concentration in samples of unground costal cartilage (UCC), ground costal cartilage (GCC), femoral venous blood, and urine was analyzed using a gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Due to Polish law, we used two different cut-off points: the blood alcohol concentration >0.2 mg/mL defined as the ‘after use’ condition, and the blood alcohol concentration >0.5 mg/mL defined as the ‘state of insobriety’. Based on the constructed receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, the optimal cut-off point for ethanol content as the ‘after use’ condition was 0.273 mg/g for the UCC method and 0.069 mg/g for the... [more]

The development of an advanced and efficient drug delivery system with significant improvement in its efficacy and enhanced therapeutic value is one of the critical challenges in modern medicinal biology. The integration of nanomaterial science with molecular and cellular biology has helped in the advancement and development of novel drug delivery nanocarrier systems with precision and decreased side effects. The design and synthesis of nanocarriers using graphene oxide (GO) have been rapidly growing over the past few years. Due to its remarkable physicochemical properties, GO has been extensively used in efforts to construct nanocarriers with high specificity, selectivity, and biocompatibility, and low cytotoxicity. The focus of this review is to summarize and address recent uses of GO-based nanocarriers and the improvements as efficient drug delivery systems. We briefly describe the concepts and challenges associated with nanocarrier systems followed by providing critical examples of... [more]