Preparation and Kinetic Considerations for the Dissolution of Cr‐substituted Iron Oxides in Reductive‐complexing Formulations

The dissolution rate coefficients of Cr‐substituted (0‐20 at.% Cr) iron oxides viz. hematite and magnetite were determined by using an inverse cubic rate (ICR) law applicable for spherical particles as well as by a general kinetic equation (GKE) applicable for polydispersed particles. An attempt is made to compare both the treatments for different kinds of dissolution profiles obtained by employing oxides with narrow particle size distribution in V(II)‐EDTA and citric acid‐EDTA‐ascorbic acid formulations at 353±5K. The dissolution profiles could be classified into three types based on the nature of oxide and formulations. It is observed that both ICR and GKE treat the dissolution course as a function of decrease in fraction of undissolved mass, m/m₀. The dissolution rate coefficients determined by ICR and GKE have shown the similar trend of decrease with increasing Cr content of the oxides and was ascribed to lattice stabilization.     

Cost-effective disposable thiourea film modified copper electrode for capacitive immunosensor

Cost-effective disposable electrodes were fabricated from copper clad laminate, usually used for printed circuit board (PCB) in electronic industries, by using dry film photoresist. Electro-oxidation (anodisation) was employed to obtain a good formation of thiourea film on the electrode surface. The affinity binding pair of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (anti-CEA) was used as a model system. Anti-CEA was immobilized on thiourea film via covalent coupling. This modified electrode was incorporated with a capacitive system for CEA analysis. This capacitive immunosensor provided a linear range between 0.01 and 10 ng ml⁻¹ with a detection limit of 10 pg ml⁻¹. When applied to analyze CEA in serum samples, the results agreed well with the enzyme linked fluorescent assay (ELFA) technique (P > 0.05). The proposed strategy for the preparation of disposable modified copper electrode is very cost effective and simple. Moreover, it provides good reproducibility. This technique can easily be applied to immobilize other biological sensing elements for biosensors development.     

A nano- and micro- integrated protein chip based on quantum dot probes and a microfluidic network

A novel nano- and micro-integrated protein chip (NMIPC) that can detect proteins with ultrahigh sensitivity has been fabricated. A microfluidic network (μFN) was used to construct the protein chips, which allowed facile patterning of proteins and subsequent biomolecular recognition. Aqueous phase-synthesized, water-soluble fluorescent CdTe/CdS core-shell quantum dots (aqQDs), having high quantum yield and high photostability, were used as the signaling probe. Importantly, it was found that aqQDs were compatible with microfluidic format assays, which afforded highly sensitive protein chips for cancer biomarker assays. Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Enhancing TRU burning and Am transmutation in Advanced Recycling Reactor

This paper presents about conceptual designs of Advanced Recycling Reactor (ARR) focusing on enhancement in transuranics (TRU) burning and americium (Am) transmutation. The design has been conducted in the context of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) seeking to close nuclear fuel cycle in ways that reduce proliferation risks, reduce the nuclear waste in the US and further improve global energy security. This study strives to enhance the TRU burning and the Am transmutation, assuming the development of related technologies in this study, while the ARR based on mature technologies was designed in the previous study. It has followed that the provided TRU burning core is designed to burn TRU at 28 kg/TW_thh, by adding moderator pins of B₄C (Enriched B-11) and the Am transmutation core will be able to transmute Am at 34 kg/TW_thh, by locating Am blanket of AmN around the TRU burning core. It indicates that these concepts improve TRU burning by 40-50% than the previous core and can transmute Am effectively, keeping the void reactivity acceptable.     

Functional reliability analysis of Safety Grade Decay Heat Removal System of Indian 500 MWe PFBR

Passive systems are increasingly deployed in nuclear industry with an objective of increasing reliability and safety of operations with reduced cost. Methods for assessing the reliability of thermal-hydraulic passive systems, that is systems with moving working fluid, address the issues in natural buoyancy-driven flow that could result in a failure to meet the design safety limits under accident scenarios. This is referred as design functional reliability. This paper presents the results of functional reliability analysis carried out for the passive Safety Grade Decay Heat Removal System (SGDHRS) of Indian Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). The analysis is carried out based on the overall approach reported in the Reliability Methods for Passive System (RMPS, European Commission) project. Functional failure probability is calculated using Monte-Carlo method and also with method of moments.     

An overview of instrumentation and control systems of a Korea standard nuclear power plant: A signal interface standpoint

This paper presents an overview of instrumentation and control (I&C) systems of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) type nuclear power plant (NPP) in Korea. Yonggwang unit 3, which was constructed as a basis model for a Korea standard nuclear power plant (KSNP), is selected as an example for the presentation. This overview is derived from analyzing the I&C systems based on a top-down approach. The I&C systems consist of 30 systems. The 183 I&C cabinets are also analyzed and mapped to the systems. The overview is focused on an interface between the systems and the cabinets. This information will be used to understand the implementation of the I&C systems and to group the systems for an upgrade.     

生产调度优化问题文化进化算法研究

许多生产调度优化问题属于NP-hard问题,其求解通常采用智能启发式算法。基于文化算法及文化进化思想设计的文化进化算法,通过上层文化空间的经验知识指导下层个体进化搜索的方向及步长,通过模拟人类社会文化进化的机制实现文化空间的进化与更新,最后将算法应用到置换Flow shop问题的求解,用Matlab编程仿真测试,结果表明此算法解决生产调度优化问题是可行的,而且其全局搜索性能优于一种改进的GA算法。     

食管癌患者调强放射治疗前后血清CEA、SCC、VEGF检测的临床意义

为研究食管癌患者调强放射治疗前后血清癌胚抗原(CEA)、鳞状细胞癌相关抗原(SCC)和血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)水平的变化及临床意义,以2016年1月至2017年12月在本院接受放疗的食管癌50例为研究组,健康体检者30例为对照组,采用酶联免疫吸附法(ELISA)检测放射治疗前、后患者血清CEA、 SCC、VEGF的含量,分析调强放射治疗前后上述指标的变化,以及它们与临床TNM分期、肿瘤浸润度的关系。结果表明,调强放射治疗前患者血清CEA、SCC、VEGF水平显著高于放疗后(p＜0.05),治疗后患者血清中上述各项指标均有明显下降(p＜0.05),但仍高于对照组;不同临床分期TNM患者上述指标有显著性差异,其中Ⅲ期最高;不同肿瘤浸润深度患者上述指标也有明显差异,其中T₄ 期最高(p＜0.05)。以上结果说明,血清CEA、 SCC、VEGF在肿瘤浸润深度、不同临床TNM分期及调强放疗前后的食管癌患者血清含量不同,上述结果对制定食管癌患者的个性化治疗方案以及观察治疗疗效有重要意义。     

癌胚抗原试管固相免疫放射分析

报道以试管为固相载体，通过共价键的联结把两株癌胚抗原单抗结合的试管壁上，并标记另一株单抗，建立了癌胚抗原试管固相免疫放射分析法。该法具有较高的特异性和灵敏度，操作简便，重复性好，与液相放免法对照测定样品，两者结果密切相关。