On Iron Metabolism and Its Regulation

Iron is a critical metal for several vital biological processes. Most of the body’s iron is bound to hemoglobin in erythrocytes. Iron from senescent red blood cells is recycled by macrophages in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. Dietary iron is taken up by the divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) in enterocytes and transported to portal blood via ferroportin (FPN), where it is bound to transferrin and taken up by hepatocytes, macrophages and bone marrow cells via transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1). While most of the physiologically active iron is bound hemoglobin, the major storage of most iron occurs in the liver in a ferritin-bound fashion. In response to an increased iron load, hepatocytes secrete the peptide hormone hepcidin, which binds to and induces internalization and degradation of the iron transporter FPN, thus controlling the amount of iron released from the cells into the blood. This review summarizes the key mechanisms and players involved in cellular and systemic iron regulation.     

Progress and challenges in sustainability,compatibility, and production of eco-composites: A state-of-art review

Owing to economic and environmental benefits, new generations of materials/commodities follow “from waste to wealth” strategy. Recently, there has been a huge upsurge in research on the development of eco-composites using recycled plastic polymers and agro-residues because the eco-composites satisfy the stringent environment regulations and are cost-effective. Herein, we present a detailed review on the potential use of several types of natural fillers as an efficient reinforcement for recycled plastic polymers. In particular, the characterization of different categories of eco-composites according to their morphological, physical, thermal, and mechanical properties is extensively reviewed and their results are analyzed, compared, and highlighted. Furthermore, a framework to produce functional eco-composites, which includes functionalization of ingredients, critical issues on microstructural parameters, processing, and fabrication methods, is outlined and supported with sufficient data from the literature. Finally, the review outlines the emerging challenges and future prospects of eco-composites to be addressed by interested researchers to bridge the gap between research and commercialization of such a class of material. Overall, the acquired knowledge will guide researchers, scientists, and manufacturers to plan, select, and develop various forms of eco-composites with enhanced properties and optimized production processes.     

Data-driven next-generation smart grid towards sustainable energy evolution: techniques and technology review

Meteorological changes urge engineering communities to look for sustainable and clean energy technologies to keep the environment safe by reducing CO2 emissions. The structure of these technologies relies on the deep integration of advanced data-driven techniques which can ensure efcient energy generation, transmission, and distribution. After conducting thorough research for more than a decade, the concept of the smart grid (SG) has emerged, and its practice around the world paves the ways for efcient use of reliable energy technology. However, many developing features evoke keen interest and their improvements can be regarded as the next-generation smart grid (NGSG). Also, to deal with the non-linearity and uncertainty, the emergence of data-driven NGSG technology can become a great initiative to reduce the diverse impact of non-linearity. This paper exhibits the conceptual framework of NGSG by enabling some intelligent technical features to ensure its reliable operation, including intelligent control, agent-based energy conversion, edge computing for energy management, internet of things (IoT) enabled inverter, agent-oriented demand side management, etc. Also, a study on the development of data-driven NGSG is discussed to facilitate the use of emerging data-driven techniques (DDTs) for the sustainable operation of the SG. The prospects of DDTs in the NGSG and their adaptation challenges in real-time are also explored in this paper from various points of view including engineering, technology, et al. Finally, the trends of DDTs towards securing sustainable and clean energy evolution from the NGSG technology in order to keep the environment safe is also studied, while some major future issues are highlighted. This paper can ofer extended support for engineers and researchers in the context of data-driven technology and the SG.     

Reservoir volume optimization and performance evaluation of rooftop catchment systems in arid regions: A case study of Birjand,Iran

This study evaluated the performance of rooftop catchment systems in securing non-potable water supply in Birjand, located in an arid area in southeastern Iran. The rooftop catchment systems at seven study sites of different residential buildings were simulated for dry, normal, and wet water years, using 31-year rainfall records. The trial and error approach and mass diagram method were employed to optimize the volume of reservoirs in five different operation scenarios. Results showed that, during the dry water year from 2000 to 2001, for reservoirs with volumes of 200–20000 L, the proportion of days that could be secured for non-portable water supply was on average computed to be 16.4%–32.6% across all study sites. During the normal water year from 2009 to 2010 and the wet water year from 1995 to 1996, for reservoirs with volumes of 200–20000 L, the proportions were 20.8%–69.6% and 26.8%–80.3%, respectively. Therefore, a rooftop catchment system showed a high potential to meet a significant portion of non-potable water demand in the Birjand climatic region. Reservoir volume optimization using the mass diagram method produced results consistent with those obtained with the trial and error approach, except at sites #1, #2, and #5. At these sites, the trial and error approach performed better than the mass diagram method due to relatively high water consumption. It is concluded that the rooftop catchment system is applicable under the same climatic conditions as the study area, and it can be used as a drought mitigation strategy as well.     

Anaerobic digestion for global warming control and energy generation—An overview

Anaerobic digestion often generates ‘biogas’ – an approximately 3:1 mixture of methane and carbon dioxide – which has been known to be a ‘clean’ fuel since the late 19th century. But a great resurgence of interest in biogas capture – hence methane capture – has occurred in recent years due to the rapidly growing spectre of global warming. Anthropogenic causes which directly or indirectly release methane into the atmosphere, are responsible for as much as a third of the overall additional global warming that is occurring at present. Hence the dual advantage of methane capture – generating energy while controlling global warming – have come to the fore.This paper presents an overview of the natural and the anthropogenic sources that contribute methane to the atmosphere. In this context it underscores the urgency with which the world must develop and enforce methods and practices to enhance methane capture.     

Correction to: Pool Fires in Chemical Process Industries: Occurrence,Mechanism, Management

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - In the original version of this article, Vipin’s name was incorrect. It is correct as reflected here. The original article has also been corrected.     

Analytical solutions for one-phase seepage flows impeded by wellbore seals

Steady, one-phase, plane and axisymmetric, Darcian seepage in a homogeneous rock adjacent to a partly isolated wellbore with annular seals is analytically studied. Water flows from an isobaric feeding contour and a fracture, which is kept at the same pressure as the feeding contour, to a wellbore. Partial isolation of the wellbore makes its wall a composition of intermittently arrayed no-flow boundaries, which model the wellbore seals, and isobaric surfaces, which model the annular compartments between the seals and a wellbore tubular on which the seals are mounted. Pressure drops from the aquifer (fracture) to the compartments and further to the borehole that generates a hierarchy of flows mathematically equivalent to the Toth [Freeze, R.A., Cherry, J.A., 1979. Groundwater. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs] hydrogeological patterns of regional, intermediate and local groundwater flows on the scale of catchments. Conformal mappings of complex potential domains onto physical planes, where water seepage takes place, are used to tackle the fragments of the full feeding contour-fracture–sealed wellbore system. Explicit rigorous solutions for the flow characteristics (pressure and stream function) enable calculating optimal wellbore isolation with a criterion of minimal water flow rate from the fracture.     

Evaluation of toxic elements in baby foods commercially available in Pakistan

In present work, the concentrations of toxic elements, aluminium (Al), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb) were measured in different solid baby foods (BFs), primarily to evaluate whether the intakes comply within permissible levels of these toxic elements (TEs). The BFs were evaluated for total contents of TEs, using a simple and fast ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method. The accuracy of the proposed UAE method was ensured by using certified reference materials and results obtained by conventional wet acid digestion method on same CRM, at 95% confidence level. The range of the investigated TEs in different BFs were 4770–35,200, 25.6–88.3, 124–332 and 52.5–90.6 μg/kg for Al, Cd, Ni and Pb, respectively. The results indicated that BFs including rice cereals have high level of all four TEs. The daily intakes of TEs for children through BFs have also been estimated, and are well below the recommended tolerable levels.