Resource management in UAV-assisted MEC: state-of-the-art and open challenges

Wireless Networks - Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been widely used in various fields because of their high mobility and portability. At the same time, due to the rapid development of...     

Syndecan-1 (CD138), Carcinomas and EMT

Cell surface proteoglycans are known to be important regulators of many aspects of cell behavior. The principal family of transmembrane proteoglycans is the syndecans, of which there are four in mammals. Syndecan-1 is mostly restricted to epithelia, and bears heparan sulfate chains that are capable of interacting with a large array of polypeptides, including extracellular matrix components and potent mediators of proliferation, adhesion and migration. For this reason, it has been studied extensively with respect to carcinomas and tumor progression. Frequently, but not always, syndecan-1 levels decrease as tumor grade, stage and invasiveness and dedifferentiation increase. This parallels experiments that show depletion of syndecan-1 can be accompanied by loss of cadherin-mediated adhesion. However, in some tumors, levels of syndecan-1 increase, but the characterization of its distribution is relevant. There can be loss of membrane staining, but acquisition of cytoplasmic and/or nuclear staining that is abnormal. Moreover, the appearance of syndecan-1 in the tumor stroma, either associated with its cellular component or the collagenous matrix, is nearly always a sign of poor prognosis. Given its relevance to myeloma progression, syndecan-1-directed antibody—toxin conjugates are being tested in clinical and preclinical trials, and may have future relevance to some carcinomas.     

Nanogrooved carbon microtubes for wet three‐dimensional printing of conductive composite structures

Recent advances in three‐dimensional (3D) printing have enabled the fabrication of interesting structures which are not achievable using traditional fabrication approaches. The 3D printing of carbon microtube composite inks allows fabrication of conductive structures for practical applications in soft robotics and tissue engineering. However, it is challenging to achieve 3D printed structures from solution‐based composite inks, which requires an additional process to solidify the ink. Here, we introduce a wet 3D printing technique which uses a coagulation bath to fabricate carbon microtube composite structures. We show that through a facile nanogrooving approach which introduces cavitation and channels on carbon microtubes, enhanced interfacial interactions with a chitosan polymer matrix are achieved. Consequently, the mechanical properties of the 3D printed composites improve when nanogrooved carbon microtubes are used, compared to untreated microtubes. We show that by carefully controlling the coagulation bath, extrusion pressure, printing distance and printed line distance, we can 3D print composite lattices which are composed of well‐defined and separated printed lines. The conductive composite 3D structures with highly customised design presented in this work provide a suitable platform for applications ranging from soft robotics to smart tissue engineering scaffolds. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dysprosium doped copper oxide (Cu1-xDyxO) nanoparticles enabled bifunctional electrode for overall water splitting

The production of hydrogen, a favourable alternative to an unsustainable fossil fuel remains as a significant hurdle with the pertaining challenge in the design of proficient, highly productive and sustainable electrocatalyst for both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, the dysprosium (Dy) doped copper oxide (Cu_1-xDy_xO) nanoparticles were synthesized via solution combustion technique and utilized as a non-noble metal based bi-functional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting. Due to the improved surface to volume ratio and conductivity, the optimized Cu_1-xDy_xO (x = 0.01, 0.02) electrocatalysts exhibited impressive HER and OER performance respectively in 1 M KOH delivering a current density of 10 mAcm^?2 at a potential of ?0.18 V vs RHE for HER and 1.53 V vs RHE for OER. Moreover, the Dy doped CuO electrocatalyst used as a bi-functional catalyst for overall water splitting achieved a potential of 1.56 V at a current density 10 mAcm^?2 and relatively high current density of 66 mAcm^?2 at a peak potential of 2 V. A long term stability of 24 h was achieved for a cell voltage of 2.2 V at a constant current density of 30 mAcm^?2 with only 10% of the initial current loss. This showcases the accumulative opportunity of dysprosium as a dopant in CuO nanoparticles for fabricating a highly effective and low-cost bi-functional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting.     

Fire safe,sustainable loose furnishing

The aim of this exploratory study has been to investigate the fire properties and environmental aspects of different upholstery material combinations, mainly for domestic applications. An analysis of the sustainability and circularity of selected textiles, along with lifecycle assessment, is used to qualitatively evaluate materials from an environmental perspective. The cone calorimeter was the primary tool used to screen 20 different material combinations from a fire performance perspective. It was found that textile covers of conventional fibres such as wool, cotton and polyester, can be improved by blending them with fire resistant speciality fibres. A new three‐dimensional web structure has been examined as an alternative padding material, showing preliminary promising fire properties with regard to ignition time, heat release rates and smoke production.     

Continuous Flow Fabrication of Block Copolymer–Grafted Silica Micro‐Particles in Environmentally Friendly Water/Ethanol Media

Polymer‐grafted inorganic particles (PGIPs) are attractive building blocks for numerous chemical and material applications. Surface‐initiated controlled radical polymerization (SI‐CRP) is the most feasible method to fabricate PGIPs. However, a conventional in‐batch reaction still suffers from several disadvantages, including time‐consuming purification processes, low grafting efficiency, and possible gelation problems. Herein, a facile method is demonstrated to synthesize block copolymer–grafted inorganic particles, that is, poly(poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PPEGMEMA)‐b‐poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)–grafted silica micro‐particles using continuous flow chemistry in an environmentally friendly aqueous media. Immobilizing the chain transfer agent and subsequent SI‐CRP can be accomplished sequentially in a continuous flow system, avoiding multi‐step purification processes in between. The chain length (MW) of the grafted polymers is tunable by adjusting the flow time or monomer concentration, and the narrower molar mass dispersity (Р< 1.4) of the grafted polymers reveals the uniform polymer chains on the particles. Moreover, compared with the in‐batch reaction at the same condition, the continuous system also suppresses possible gelation problems.     

Effect of temperature on raw whole milk density and its potential impact on milk payment in the dairy industry

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of temperature on whole milk density measured at four different temperatures: 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C. A total of ninety-three individual milk samples were collected from morning milking of thirty-two Holstein Friesian dairy cows, of national average genetic merit, once every two weeks over a period of 4 weeks and were assessed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for milk composition analysis. Density of the milk was evaluated using two different analytical methods: a portable density meter DMA35 and a standard desktop model DMA4500M (Anton Paar GmbH, UK). Milk density was analysed with a linear mixed model with the fixed effects of sampling period, temperature and analysis method; triple interaction of sampling period x analysis method x temperature; and the random effect of cow to account for repeated measures. The effect of temperature on milk density (ρ) was also evaluated including temperature (t) as covariate with linear and quadratic effects within each analytic method. The regression equation describing the curvature and density–temperature relationship for the DMA35 instrument was ρ = 1.0338−0.00017T−0.0000122T² (R² = 0.64), while it was ρ = 1.0334 + 0.000057T−0.00001T² (R² = 0.61) for DMA4500 instrument. The mean density determined with DMA4500 at 5 °C was 1.0334 g cm⁻³, with corresponding figures of 1.0330, 1.0320 and 1.0305 g cm⁻³ at 10, 15 and 20 °C, respectively. The milk density values obtained in this study at specific temperatures will help to address any bias in weight–volume calculations and thus may also improve the financial and operational control for the dairy processors in Ireland and internationally.     

Flowsheet Options for Cobalt Recovery in African Copper–cobalt Hydrometallurgy Circuits

The price of cobalt has increased by some 450% in the past two years, mainly due to increasing demand for lithium–ion batteries. With an official 2017 production of 64 kt, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces more than half of the world’s cobalt. African Copperbelt operations have traditionally focused on copper production; however, it has now become imperative to also consider cobalt recovery from these ores. A plethora of processing routes is possible. Most hydrometallurgical flowsheets recover cobalt from the raffinate of the low-grade copper solvent-extraction circuit. Downstream purification processes include sequential precipitation with a variety of reagents, solvent extraction, and ion exchange. Product choices include hydroxide, carbonate, sulfate, and metal cathode. This study assesses technical and economic advantages and limitations of various approaches to the hydrometallurgical processing of cobalt in an African context.     

Emergency egress for the elderly in care home fire situations

Practitioners are continuing to develop egress modelling software for the design of the built environment. These models require data about human behaviour and factors for calibration, validation and verification. This study aims to address the specific data and knowledge gap: emergency egress of the elderly. Such data are difficult to collect given privacy and consent concerns, with strong relationships generally being required between residences and researchers. Through the observation of nine fire drills at six Canadian long-term care (LTC) and retirement homes, specific evacuation actions and behaviour were observed for 37 staff members and information about the evacuation of 56 residents was collected. These drills demonstrated that emergency egress in LTC and retirement homes is highly staff dependent with 72% of residents recorded requiring full assistance at all stages of movement in evacuation, and that the type of announced/unannounced drill and level of resident care will affect the type of data collected. The development of travel speed and pre-movement is discussed subject to limitation with qualitative behavioural insights of residents that were observed. This study provides valuable methodological discussion on how to conduct behavioural studies in similar highly restricted research environments. Specific attention is given to understanding the considerations that must be made when using fire drills as data sources, and the impact that these can have on using such data for modelling. This study may inform the initial setup and programming of evacuation models from an actions and behavioural perspectives of staff members and residents.