Effect of atmospheric altitude on engine performance

The air capacity and the fuel consumption of a four-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine have been measured. Tests have been conducted at engine speeds from 1000 to 4000 rpm and at atmospheric altitude from 600 to 850 m above the sea-level as well as at ambient pressure from 0.9 to 0.95 bar. The performance of the engine at low speeds is different from that at high speeds. At low engine speeds up to 2500 rpm the air capacity, the fuel consumption and the volumetric efficiency decreases with increases of engine altitude by which the ambient pressure decreases. However at higher speeds engine than 3000 rpm the engine performances decreases with decreases of engine altitude and so with increases of atmosphere pressure. A 200 m change on the altitude of the engine, corresponding to a change in atmosphere pressure of about 3000 Pa, may lead to change fuel consumption and volumetric efficiency up to 40%. It is shown that to obtain maximum engine efficiency and minimum fuel consumption, fuel mixture should be varied with respect to the altitude of engine. The knowledge about the altitude effect could therefore lead to improve the performances on engine development and design.     

Scanometric microRNA array profiling of prostate cancer markers using spherical nucleic acid-gold nanoparticle conjugates

We report the development of a novel Scanometric MicroRNA (Scano-miR) platform for the detection of relatively low abundance miRNAs with high specificity and reproducibility. The Scano-miR system was able to detect 1 fM concentrations of miRNA in serum with single nucleotide mismatch specificity. Indeed, it provides increased sensitivity for miRNA targets compared to molecular fluorophore-based detection systems, where 88% of the low abundance miRNA targets could not be detected under identical conditions. The application of the Scano-miR platform to high density array formats demonstrates its utility for high throughput and multiplexed miRNA profiling from various biological samples. To assess the accuracy of the Scano-miR system, we analyzed the miRNA profiles of samples from men with prostate cancer (CaP), the most common noncutaneous malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. The platform exhibits 98.8% accuracy when detecting deregulated miRNAs involved in CaP, which demonstrates its potential utility in profiling and identifying clinical and research biomarkers.     

Spatial pavement roughness from stationary laser scanning

Pavement roughness is a key parameter for controlling pavement construction processes and for assessing ride quality during the life of a pavement system. This paper describes algorithms used in processing three-dimensional (3D) stationary terrestrial laser scanning (STLS) point clouds to obtain surface maps of point wise indices that characterise pavement roughness. The backbone of the analysis is a quarter-car model simulation over a spatial 3D mesh grid representing the pavement surface. With the rich data-set obtained by 3D scanning, the algorithms identify several dynamic responses and inferences (suspension, acceleration and jerk) at each point in the domain. Variability in the indices is compared for a ‘rough’ pavement and a ‘smooth’ pavement in the spatial domain for different speed simulations of the quarter-car model. Results show high spatial variability in the various roughness indices both longitudinally and transversely (i.e. different wheel path positions). It is proposed that pavement roughness characterisation using a spatial framework coupled with univariate statistics provides more details on the severity and location of pavement roughness features compared to the (1D) one-dimensional methods. This paper describes approaches that provide an algorithmic framework for others collecting similar STLS 3D spatial data to be used in advanced pavement roughness characterisation.     

Seed Layer-Assisted Chemical Bath Deposition of Cu2O Nanoparticles on ITO-Coated Glass Substrates with Tunable Morphology,Crystallinity, and Optical Properties

A seed layer-assisted chemical bath deposition method performed at low temperature has been developed to grow uniform and high-quality crystal cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanoparticles on transparent conductive/glass substrates. The annealing process by continuous beam (CW) of CO₂ laser was used prior to growing the Cu₂O nanoparticles. In this study, the controlled synthesis of Cu₂O films was investigated by controlling the growth temperatures at 55 °C, 60 °C, 65 °C, and 70 °C, respectively. The modified seeding substrate reflect enhanced structural properties with laser annealing temperature of 450 ℃. In addition, Cu₂O nanoparticles with flower-like stricter show a greater density containing a smaller particle with 75 nm average dimension and flower particle size was about 85 nm. Results suggest an effective synthesis route for developing high-quality Cu₂O nanoparticles for optical and electronic applications.

     

Wavelet Filter Design for Pavement Roughness Analysis

Control and characterization of pavement roughness is a major quality assurance requirement. With emerging technologies in real‐time monitoring and increasingly stringent requirements to minimize localized roughness features, there is an opportunity to improve upon the traditional quarter‐car (QC) algorithm used to qualify roughness. Current methods suffer from phase lag that mislocates roughness features and require relatively long profiles to achieve high accuracy. In this study, continuous and discrete wavelet bases were modified in the frequency domain to design 116 new QC‐wavelet filters in the spatial domain that were used to analyze 30 road profiles. QC‐wavelet filters were compared to the currently used finite difference algorithm and filtering in the frequency domain. QC‐wavelet filters design based on a Daubechies and nonanalytic Morlet (i.e., db21 and morl0) wavelets outperformed the other filters and algorithms in terms of characterizing overall profiles and accurately quantifying localized features. The major advantages of the new approach include accurately estimating the position and severity of localized feature, and accurately analyzing short profile segments (i.e., <7.62 m).     

中外清真寺庭院特征分析比较 研究——以中国沿海清真寺为例

重点分析了中国3个沿海省份的清真寺院落构成,反映了中国文明的影响,界定其对清真寺质量设计的影响。通过实地考察、文献查询、数据分析等研究手段收集大量的相关资料,发现与其他清真寺庭院相比,中国清真寺庭院有明显的不同之处:植物作为自然元素的大量运用与水元素的相对较少使用。此外,最大的特点是景观装饰元素的使用和连续庭院被门分隔的形象,而在之前设计中却没有出现。总之,中国清真寺庭院不同于其他清真寺庭院,其通过丰富的自然元素设计呈现出独特的自然模式。     

Exosome Encased Spherical Nucleic Acid Gold Nanoparticle Conjugates as Potent MicroRNA Regulation Agents

Exosomes are a class of naturally occurring nanomaterials that play crucial roles in the protection and transport of endogenous macromolecules, such as microRNA and mRNA, over long distances. Intense effort is underway to exploit the use of exosomes to deliver synthetic therapeutics. Herein, transmission electron microscopy is used to show that when spherical nucleic acid (SNA) constructs are endocytosed into PC‐3 prostate cancer cells, a small fraction of them (<1%) can be naturally sorted into exosomes. The exosome‐encased SNAs are secreted into the extracellular environment from which they can be isolated and selectively re‐introduced into the cell type from which they were derived. In the context of anti‐miR21 experiments, the exosome‐encased SNAs knockdown miR‐21 target by approximately 50%. Similar knockdown of miR‐21 by free SNAs requires a ≈3000‐fold higher concentration.