Fission yeast is commonly used as a model organism in eukaryotic cell growth studies. To describe the cells’ length growth patterns during the mitotic cycle, different models have been proposed previously as linear, exponential, bilinear and biexponential ones. The task of discriminating among these patterns is still challenging. Here, we have analyzed 298 individual cells altogether, namely from three different steady-state cultures (wild-type, wee1-50 mutant and pom1Δ mutant). We have concluded that in 190 cases (63.8%) the bilinear model was more adequate than either the linear or the exponential ones. These 190 cells were further examined by separately analyzing the linear segments of the best fitted bilinear models. Linear and exponential functions have been fitted to these growth segments to determine whether the previously fitted bilinear functions were really correct. The majority of these growth segments were found to be linear; nonetheless, a significant number of exponential... [more]

The increasing cultivation of microalgae in photobioreactors warrants efficient and non-invasive methods to quantify biomass density in real time. Nephelometric turbidity assessment, a method that measures light scatter by particles in suspension, was introduced already several decades ago but was only recently validated as a high-throughput tool to monitor microalgae biomass. The light scatter depends on the density of the suspended particles as well as on their physical properties, but so far there are hardly any accounts on how nephelometric assessment relates to classic methods such as dry weight and spectrophotometric measurement across a broad biomass density range for different microalgae species. Here, we monitored biomass density online and in real time during the semi-continuous cultivation of three commercial microalgae species Chloromonas typhlos, Microchloropsis gaditana and Porphyridium purpureum in pilot-scale photobioreactors, and relate nephelometric turbidity to dry w... [more]

Exploration of chemical space around hit, experimental, and known active compounds is an important step in the early stages of drug discovery. In academia, where access to chemical synthesis efforts is restricted in comparison to the pharma-industry, hits from primary screens are typically followed up through purchase and testing of similar compounds, before further funding is sought to begin medicinal chemistry efforts. Rapid exploration of druglike similars and structure−activity relationship profiles can be achieved through our new webservice SimilarityLab. In addition to searching for commercially available molecules similar to a query compound, SimilarityLab also enables the search of compounds with recorded activities, generating consensus counts of activities, which enables target and off-target prediction. In contrast to other online offerings utilizing the USRCAT similarity measure, SimilarityLab’s set of commercially available small molecules is consistently updated, currentl... [more]

The depression in vapor pressure caused by adding desiccant to liquid water can be regarded as the driving force for the dehumidification process. The vapor pressure depends on the temperature and the concentration. Therefore, the purpose in this study is to discuss the mass transfer performance affected by operating variables and to show that the vapor pressure is a key factor affecting the mass transfer performance for absorbing water vapor by triethylene glycol (TEG) solution. The experimental results showed that the mass transfer coefficients were decreased with increases in the temperature and increased with increases in the concentration, respectively, while the mass transfer coefficients were increased with increases in the vapor pressure depression. Although both the average error is within 5% among the mass transfer correlation involving the vapor pressure and that involving the temperature and the concentration in predicting the mass transfer coefficient, there are just two t... [more]

Photosynthetic biogas upgrading using two-stage systems allows the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) in an absorption unit and its subsequent assimilation by microalgae. The production of microalgae requires large amounts of nutrients, thus making scale-up difficult and reducing economic feasibility. The photosynthetic process produces oxygen (O2) (1 mol per mol of CO2 consumed), which can be desorbed into purified biogas. Two-stage systems reduce its impact but do not eliminate it. In this study, we test the use of landfill leachate as a nutrient source and propose a viable and economical strategy for reducing the O2 concentration. First, the liquid/gas (L/G) ratio and flow mode of the absorber were optimized for 20% and 40% CO2 with COMBO medium, then landfill leachate was used as a nutrient source. Finally, the system was inoculated with nitrifying bacteria. Leachate was found to be suitable as a nutrient source and to result in a significant improvement in CO2 absorption, with out... [more]

A one-step colloidal synthesis of hierarchical nanoflowers of WS2 is reported. The nanoflowers were used to fabricate a chemical sensor for the detection of ammonia vapors at room temperature. The gas sensing performance of the WS2 nanoflowers was measured using an in-house custom-made gas chamber. SEM analysis revealed that the nanoflowers were made up of petals and that the nanoflowers self-assembled to form hierarchical structures. Meanwhile, TEM showed the exposed edges of the petals that make up the nanoflower. A band gap of 1.98 eV confirmed a transition from indirect-to-direct band gap as well as a reduction in the number of layers of the WS2 nanoflowers. The formation of WS2 was confirmed by XPS and XRD with traces of the oxide phase, WO3. XPS analysis also confirmed the successful capping of the nanoflowers. The WS2 nanoflowers exhibited a good response and selectivity for ammonia.

A voltage stability index is proposed using a new single-port equivalent depending on component peculiarity representation and sensitivity persistence to locate and determine long-term voltage instability in transmission and distribution power networks. The suggested single-port equivalent effectively represents the equivalence of various component types and assures the consistency of sensitivity information before and after the equivalence which is compulsory for the equivalent accuracy in estimating the voltage stability analysis. The stability index is derived from the new single-port equivalent to determine the system voltage instability. The proposed stability index is compared with indices based on virtual impedance and Thevenin impedance models. This new stability index shows more accuracy and effectiveness as compared to the indices based on virtual and Thevenin equivalent models. The index also determines the weak buses, where an improvement or functional measure can be used t... [more]

The process of upsetting, with rotating dies, is used to reduce the force required to deform the workpiece and to receive more homogeneous deformation compared to the same process without the rotational motion of the dies. The upper bound method is an efficient tool for a quick estimate of process parameters. The accuracy of upper bound solutions depends on the chosen class of kinematically admissible velocity fields. The present paper provides an efficient method for choosing kinematically admissible velocity fields that satisfy some stress boundary conditions if the associated flow rule is considered. The method applies to the upsetting of cylinders. It is expected that it leads to accurate solutions if friction is high enough. Besides, the kinematically admissible velocity field accounts for a rigid region near the axis of symmetry. Such a region inevitably occurs in exact solutions because the friction stress must vanish at the axis of symmetry. The final expression for the upper b... [more]

CO2 methanation is typically carried out using Ni-supported catalysts containing promoters such as alkali or alkali-earth metals to improve their properties. In this work, bimetallic Ni-based USY zeolite catalysts containing alkali (Li, K and Cs) and alkali-earth (Mg, Ca) metal compounds were prepared using the same conditions (15 wt% of metals; co-impregnation), characterized by N2 sorption, XRD, TGA, CO2 adsorption−desorption, DRS UV-Vis and H2-TPR, and finally applied in CO2 methanation reaction (86,100 mL h−1 g−1, PCO2 = 0.16 bar, H2:CO2 = 4:1). For each group, the effects of the second metal nature on the properties and performances were assessed. Alkali metals incorporation induced considerably low catalytic performances (CH4 yields < 26%), attributed to their negative impact on zeolite structure preservation. On the contrary, alkali-earth metal-containing catalysts exhibited lower structural damage. However, the formation of Ni-Mg mixed oxides in Ni-Mg/USY catalyst and CaCO3... [more]

In this article, the effects of microwave frequency (2450 MHz and 5800 MHz) and gas humidity (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 6% and 8%) on in vitro blood coagulation with cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) were investigated. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS, OH, O) was measured by optical emission spectra. The exposure temperature on blood droplets under treatment was below 55 °C in all cases, to avoid the thermal effect of plasma on the blood clotting. Investigations showed that, with the increase of frequency, the doses of ROS increased, the blood sample presented a more serious collapse and its surface became drier. The humidity of ionized gas can also accelerate the generation of ROS and the process of blood clotting. Our results propose a method to accelerate in vitro blood coagulation in CAPP by adjusting microwave frequency and gas humidity, and suggest a clinical benefit for plasma treatment as a coagulation device in surgery.

Fire safety of ancient wooden buildings is one of the most important issues in the world. In this paper, partition boards with different thicknesses from 15 to 25 mm were heated by a 15-cm-diameter pool fire and a methane Bunsen burner. The temperatures and the carbonization rate of partition boards were measured and analyzed. The results show that when a pool fire was used to heat the wood sample at a distance of 30 cm, two flames appear on the sample surface. When a Bunsen burner heats the sample, the sample is burned until the center point is burned through. The thickness of the sample is increased by 5 mm, and the acceleration time of the temperature rise rate at the center is doubled. Under the condition of a pool fire, the thickness of the sample is increased by 5 mm, and the average carbonization rate at the center point is reduced by 40%. Under the condition of Bunsen burner, the average carbonization rate of the center point decreases exponentially when the thickness of the sa... [more]

Perovskites are well-known oxides for thermochemical energy storage applications (TCES) since they show a great potential for spontaneous O2 release due to their non-stoichiometry. Transition-metal-based perovskites are particularly promising candidates for TCES owing to their different oxidation states. It is important to test the thermal behavior of the perovskites for TCES applications; however, the amount of sample that can be used in thermal analyses is limited. The use of redox cycles in fluidized bed tests can offer a more realistic approach, since a larger amount of sample can be used to test the cyclic behavior of the perovskites. In this study, the oxygen release/consumption behavior of Mn- or Cu-substituted SrFeO3 (SrFe0.5M0.5O3; M: Mn or Cu) under redox cycling was investigated via thermal analysis and fluidized bed tests. The reaction enthalpies of the perovskites were also calculated via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Cu substitution in SrFeO3 increased the perf... [more]

When a streamer discharge occurs in water, several luminous plasma filaments will be created in the water during the discharge. After the discharge, these plasma filaments turn into neutral gas phase and remain in water. The gas filament remained in water is a good object for studying the basic processes involved in the streamer propagation. We investigated the evolution of the gas filaments remained in water after a streamer discharge at different experimental conditions. We recorded eight successive images during one discharge pulse. The density of gas in the gas filament and the radius of the gas filament were measured from the obtained images. We found that the radius of the gas filament and the density of gas in the gas filament are almost not influenced by the impulse voltage within the range studied. While the conductivity of water has strong effect on the radius of the gas filament and the density of gas in the gas filament. The radius of the gas filament becomes thicker and ex... [more]

While examining the airflow generated between the asymmetrical electrodes connected to high voltage, the authors investigated the possible limitations of the particle image velocimetry (PIV) method in the presence of strong electric fields. The tracer particles used in the PIV method in these conditions are affected by electromagnetic forces; therefore, it is necessary to determine whether these forces have any non-negligible negative influence on the measurement results. For this purpose, the authors theoretically analyzed all the possible forces and measured the generated airflow using PIV and constant temperature anemometry methods. The experimental and theoretical results clearly show the viability of the PIV measurement method even in these very specific conditions.

-aryl-β-d-glucosides and N-alkyl-d-gluconamides are two classes of effective ice recrystallization inhibitors (IRIs), however their solubilities limit their use in cryopreservation applications. Herein, we have synthesized and assessed phosphonate analogues of small-molecule IRIs as a method to improve their chemical and physical properties. Four sodium phosphonate compounds 4−7 were synthesized and exhibited high solubilities greater than 200 mM. Their IRI activity was evaluated using the splat cooling assay and only the sodium phosphonate derivatives of α-methyl-d-glucoside (5-Na) and N-octyl-d-gluconamide (7-Na) exhibited an IC50 value less than 30 mM. It was found that the addition of a polar sodium phosphonate group to the alkyl gluconamide (1) and aryl glucoside (2) structure decreased its IRI activity, indicating the importance of a delicate hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance within these compounds. The evaluation of various cation-phosphonate pairs was studied and revealed the IRI... [more]

It is very important to minimize the waste generation for decontamination of the reactor coolant system in a nuclear facility. As an alternative to commercial decontamination technologies, an inorganic acid chemical decontamination (SP-HyBRID) process can be effectively applied to the decontamination because it can significantly reduce the waste generation. In this study, the decontamination of a contaminated reactor coolant pump shaft from a nuclear facility was conducted using the SP-HyBRID process. First, equipment for a mock-up test of the decontamination was prepared. Detailed experimental conditions for the decontamination were determined through the mock-up test. Under the detailed conditions, the contaminated shaft was successfully decontaminated. The dose rate on the shaft surface was greatly reduced from 1400 to 0.9 μSv/h, and the decontamination factor showed a very high value (>1500).

Carbon emissions are a prominent issue for sustainable energy production and management. Energy policies under the growing competitive environment could change the priorities of emission reduction and investment decisions. This paper aims to forecast carbon emissions from China and to rank the importance of carbon emissions with interval type 2 (IT2) fuzzy sets (FS) for sustainable energy investments. For this purpose, the quadratic model is applied to measuring emission trends and the Qualitative Flexible Multiple Criteria Method (QUALIFLEX) is used for measuring sustainable energy investment alternatives by the several emission levels. Forecasted values of 29 provinces in China are converted into the linguistic and fuzzy numbers based on IT2 FS respectively to measure the priorities of emission reduction for sustainable economies. The novelty of this paper is to propose a hybrid decision-making approach based on quadratic modeling and the QUALIFLEX method and to discuss the overall e... [more]

Various mitigation strategies have been proposed to reduce the CO2 emissions from ships, which have become a major contributor to global emissions. The fuel consumption under different mitigation strategies can be evaluated based on two data sources, real data from the real ship systems and simulated data from the simulation models. In practice, the uncertainties in the obtained data may have non-negligible impacts on the evaluation of mitigation strategies. In this paper, a Gaussian process metamodel-based approach is proposed to evaluate the ship fuel consumption under different mitigation strategies. The proposed method not only can incorporate different data sources but also consider the uncertainties in the data to obtain a more reliable evaluation. A cost-effectiveness analysis based on the fuel consumption prediction is then applied to rank the mitigation strategies under uncertainty. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated in a chemical tanker case stu... [more]

Understanding and analyzing cascading failures in power grids have been the focus of many researchers for years. However, the complex interactions among the large number of components in these systems and their contributions to cascading failures are not yet completely understood. Therefore, various techniques have been developed and used to model and analyze the underlying interactions among the components of the power grid with respect to cascading failures. Such methods are important to reveal the essential information that may not be readily available from power system physical models and topologies. In general, the influences and interactions among the components of the system may occur both locally and at distance due to the physics of electricity governing the power flow dynamics as well as other functional and cyber dependencies among the components of the system. To infer and capture such interactions, data-driven approaches or techniques based on the physics of electricity ha... [more]

This study explores the relationship between the morphology and solar potential of high-density areas in the subtropics high density city known as Shanghai. 1260 parametric scenarios were modeled and their solar irradiation potentials were simulated via a customized workflow. In addition to the five well-known morphological parameters, this study proposed two innovative morphological parameters SSU600 and SSU400, which captured the solar receiving properties of the building envelopes and could be easily calculated based on the meteorological data. For analytical purposes, the previously morphological parameters were considered as independent variables, whereas the new solar performance indicators SRU600 and SRU400 were both examined as dependent variables. The correlation analysis results suggested that the new morphological parameters displayed a strong linear correlation with the corresponding solar performance indicators, surpassing all the other morphological parameters. Two predic... [more]

Growing ecological standards force the implementation of solutions that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. This is particularly important in Poland, whose energy system is almost 80% based on coal. In the interest of low carbon development it is worth considering the optimization of existing old coal-based power plants. The main goal of the research was to present the benefits of modernization of existing boiler equipment and to analyze the combustion process of various types of coal sorts that have a significant impact on the optimization of the production processes of energy media. An analysis of the processes occurring in boiler devices during the combustion of fuel was carried out, which had a significant impact on the quality of generated heat and electricity. The conducted research defined technological solutions for boiler structures that have a significant impact on improving the efficiency of the technological process in heating plant... [more]

Fired bricks represent one of the most popular building materials, of which production is still growing. Since the functional properties of bricks have reached their physical limits, the current development aims at an optimization of production procedures as it goes along with heavy environmental loads. This paper is focused on tailoring the firing procedure to optimize the energy demands. Dealing with five different clays, their heat storage properties are determined using inverse analysis of calorimetric data so that the measurement errors are reduced. Moreover, effective values incorporate the thermal processes that occur during firing. A simplified model of clay samples is then used to calculate the energy demands for reaching an optimal firing scheme. The results show that specific treatment is necessary for particular clays as the energy demands may range between 89 and 173 MJ·m−2, depending on a clay composition. The highest demands were found in the case of clays containing the... [more]

In this paper, a single-phase five-level rectifier with coupled inductors is studied. First, a discrete mathematical model of a single-phase five-level rectifier is created in two-phase(αβ). A traditional single vector finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) algorithm is improved to overcome the problems of a varying switching frequency, the large amount of time needed for calculation, and the inaccurate setpoint of current loop tracking. Then, the objective function of the system is established, and a simple objective function is used instead of an iterative optimization of the traditional FCS-MPC algorithm. At the same time, to eliminate the delay error and to reduce harmonic distortion, deadbeat control technology is introduced. Finally, the simulation and experimental results show that the improved model predictive current control algorithm not only retains the fast response of traditional model predictive control, but also has the advantages of fixed switching freque... [more]

Lithium-ion batteries exhibit significant performance degradation such as power/energy capacity loss and life cycle reduction in low-temperature conditions. Hence, the Li-ion battery pack is heated before usage to enhance its performance and lifetime. Recently, many internal heating methods have been proposed to provide fast and efficient pre-heating. However, the proposed methods only consider a combination of unit cells while the internal heating should be implemented for multiple groups within a battery pack. In this study, we investigated the possibility of timing control to simultaneously obtain balanced temperature and state of charge (SOC) between each cell by considering geometrical and thermal characteristics of the battery pack. The proposed method schedules the order and timing of the charge/discharge period for geometrical groups in a battery pack during internal pre-heating. We performed a pack-level simulation with realistic electro-thermal parameters of the unit battery... [more]

Latvia’s industrial energy efficiency policy imposes the implementation of mandatory energy audits and energy management systems in large industrial enterprises and large industrial electricity consumers to improve industrial competitiveness, to move towards a carbon-neutral economy and to increase the security of supply. Companies affected by this energy efficiency policy are obliged to report to the national energy efficiency monitoring system on energy efficiency measures indicated in energy audits or energy management systems with the highest savings or economical potential. The purpose of this study was to assess the initial outcomes of the first industrial energy efficiency program in Latvia, using data from the national energy efficiency monitoring system, including an analysis of individual energy audit reports, and benchmarking it with findings from a similar program, thereby revealing untapped energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction potential. Although the national monit... [more]