Analysis of a flat plate solar collector/storage water heater with evaporation

We analyse the performance of a flat-plate collector with a constant rate of evaporation of flowing water between a glass cover and an absorbing plate. The effects of fluid-flow velocity, depth of fluid and length of the absorbing surface are discussed. We have allowed for periodic variation of the solar intensity and ambient air temperature during a typical day in New Delhi.     

Humoral (antibody-mediated) rejection in lung transplantation

To confirm the existence and characterize the pathologic features of humoral (antibody-mediated) lung rejection, we prospectively studied 55 lung transplant recipients (24 male [44%] and 31 female [56%], age range 14 to 69 years [mean 45]). The time between transplantation and biopsy ranged from 2 to 1546 days (mean 274). We performed direct immunofluorescence with C3, immunoglobulin M, and immunoglobulin G antibodies on frozen sections of 106 transbronchial biopsies and one wedge biopsy and compared the results with 13 explanted lungs, one donor lung, and two controls. The histologic diagnoses of these 107 biopsies included acute cellular rejection (62, 58% [minimal 23, mild 33, moderate 5, and severe 1]), chronic rejection (eight, 7%), chronic vascular rejection (two, 2%), acute vasculitis (five, 5%), cytomegalovirus pneumonitis (two, 2%), acute pneumonia (two, 2%), acute organizing pneumonia (two, 2%), diffuse alveolar damage (one, 1%), no evidence of rejection or infection (30, 28%), lipoid pneumonia (one, 1%), and inadequate for histologic diagnosis (one, 1%). Eighty-nine of 106 (84%) transbronchial biopsies, the wedge biopsy, and control lungs were satisfactory for direct immunofluorescence, because each contained alveolate lung parenchyma and arterioles or venules. There was no demonstrable immunofluorescence in the wall of the blood vessels or in the lung parenchyma in any case. We conclude that (1) transbronchial biopsies and wedge biopsies provide adequate material to evaluate humoral rejection, and (2) in spite of the large population studied, the satisfactory material obtained, and the wide range of histologic diagnoses, we could not demonstrate the occurrence of humoral rejection in the lung.     

Shannon's entropy concept in optimum air monitoring network design

The selection of an optimum number of stations and their optimum locations in a region are the main objectives in air monitoring network design. There are a number of approaches to the achievements of these objectives. Among these, the criterion based on the estimation performance measurements, and the identification of adversely affected subregions are the most commonly used approaches. This article introduces a new concept of air monitoring network design using Shannon's entropy concept. The multivariate discrete entropy concept is proposed with the objectives of optimum estimation performance measurements. However, this concept does not guarantee the location of stations in adversely affected subregions. A generalized entropy concept using multivariate lognormal distribution is developed to consider both criteria in optimum air monitoring network design. The methodology is then applied to design an optimally air monitoring network scheme for Al-Khobar city in Saudi Arabia.     

The mechanism for the promotion of tenderness in meat during the post‐mortem process: A review

The post‐mortem changes in the chemical composition and structure of striated muscle have been reviewed on the basis of various concepts that emerged from the studies of different investigators to explain the course of tenderization of meat during aging. These concepts include the changes in the sarcoplasmic proteins, myofibrillar proteins (such as complete dissociation of actomyosin, partial dissociation of actomyosin, cleavage of disulfide linkages, depolymerization of F‐actin filaments, cleavage of myosin filaments, disorganization of Z‐bands and the troponin‐tropomyosin complex), sarcolemma, connective tissue elements (collagen fibrils, ground substance), and the protein‐ion relationship of the muscle cells (more strictly, syncy‐tia). The experimental evidence for and against each of the views is discussed critically in the light of certain fundamentals of biophysical chemistry and biochemistry. Finally, an alternative hypothesis has been presented based on the differential effect of the post‐mortem formation of lactic acid (H⁺ ion concentration) on the intra‐ and extracellular components of muscle and the possible role of lysosomal cathepsins. Consequently, a series of biophysical, biochemical, and ultrastructural changes seem to account for the mechanism by which meat becomes tender during the aging process.     

Removal of organics in water using hydrogen peroxide in presence of ultraviolet light

The optimum conditions for the removal of dissolved organic impurities from water using hydrogen peroxide (50%) followed by ultraviolet irradiation were investigated. The photochemically initiated hydroxyl radical (OH) oxidation reduced the total organic carbon (TOC) content of distilled water samples by about 88% and of tap water by 98%. Extraction with hexane of equal volumes of water samples before and after H₂O₂/u.v. treatment followed by gas chromatographic analysis of the concentrated extracts indicated that about 12% of the electron-capturing, residual organics remained after this treatment. These results support the conclusion drawn from total organic carbon analysis that this simple method yields water nearly free of organic impurities.     

Semi-automated cervical smear pre-screening systems: an evaluation of the Cytoscan-110

This paper reports a test of a system for provision of machine assistance in cervical cytology screening. The hypothesis tested was that if the results of examination by a screener of a small number of high-ploidy cells on specially prepared monolayers, automatically selected and presented by the system, were combined with machine measurement of cell and cell population characteristics, it would be possible to distinguish conditions requiring further action on the part of a cytology service from those in which the patient could safely be signed out. The system appeared broadly capable of this discrimination, with a false-negative error not significantly different (for the numbers tested) on CIN1 and more severe cases to that obtaining for routine screening of the parallel PAP smears, and also to results obtained by a panel of three observers. The machine system appeared to do better than other systems in selecting borderline cases for review, but this may have been an artefact of the method of evaluation used: all results were compared with a 'reference diagnosis', which was computed using statistical techniques to integrate diagnostic information from all available sources. The false-negative error-rate of the system amounted to 5% of high-grade cases, 17% of CIN1's and 29% of borderlines, but were not substantially different from the FN rates for other reporting systems on the same material. The proportion of negative cases referred back for full cytological diagnosis was 34%. Despite this high false-positive rate, the system is potentially cost-effective in use.     

Influence of the Ethylene Glycol, Water Treatment and Microwave Irradiation on the Characteristics and Performance of VPO Catalysts for n-Butane Oxidation to Maleic Anhydride

In this paper, the preparation of vanadium phosphate catalysts was shown to be improved by (1) using V₂O₅ and ethylene glycol as starting and reducing agent material, respectively for VOPO₄ · 2H₂O, (2) subsequent water treatment and (3) microwave irradiation. In particular, the preparation route, based on the reduction of VOPO₄ · 2H₂O with various alcohols, is described in detail and contrasted with other three established methods performed by using ethylene glycol and isobutyl alcohol as reductant and solvent for V₂O₅ or distilled water as a solvent material. The preparation of catalyst precursor is carried out by two different methods, namely conventional heating and microwave irradiation. With this new technique, catalysts derived from the reduction of VOPO₄ · 2H₂O by ethylene glycol exhibit substantially higher surface area (typically >40 m² g^?1) and activity. In fact, the surface area of the catalyst is significantly enhanced when the precursor is refluxed by distilled water and dried by microwave heating. The characterization of catalysts was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmer–Teller (BET) surface area measurement, temperature programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), temperature-programmed reaction (TPRn) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This study shows that employing ethylene glycol as reducing agent, followed by adding the water treatment step to catalyst synthesis procedure, and using microwave irradiation would give rise to enhanced surface area, activity and selectivity of the catalyst. Moreover, it introduces a more energy efficient procedure for preparation of vanadium phosphate catalyst used in selective oxidation of n-butane process.     

Photoluminescence,FTIR, and electrical characterization of samarium(III) chloride‐doped polyaniline

The synthesized polyaniline (PANI) is doped with different concentrations of Samarium(III) chloride (SmCl₃). The electrical conductivity of doped PANI samples has been measured in the temperature range (300–400K). It has been found that dc conductivity increases with the increase of dopant concentration. Different parameters, based on the conductivity, such as pre‐exponential factor (σ₀) and activation energy (ΔE) have also been calculated. These parameters exhibit information about the nature and suitability of the dopant. Doped samples are characterized by FTIR and photoluminescence studies, which show the interaction of dopant with PANI. Two sharp peaks of different intensities from PL spectra at 388 and 604nm have appeared in doped PANI, which might be due to the effect of SmCl₃. It has been observed that SmCl₃ (dopant) shows noticeable changes in the electrical and spectroscopic properties of doped PANI. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Isogeometric analysis of coupled thermo-elastodynamic problems under cyclic thermal shock

The isogeometric analysis (IGA) method was extended for the solution of the coupled thermo-elastodynamic equations. The dimensionless formulation was accepted in discretization of the uncoupled and coupled thermoelasticity equations and the Generalized Newmark method was used in the time integration procedure. First, the performance of the proposed method was verified against a two-dimensional benchmark example subjected to constant thermal shock with available exact analytical solutions. Then a two-dimensional half-space benchmark example under thermal shock was solved. Finally, cyclic thermal shock (CTS) loading was applied on the half-space problem. The results dedicated that IGA can be used as a suitable approach in the analysis of the general thermomechanical problems.