An integrated approach for coal tailings management

A detailed study on an integrated process featuring three distinct mechanisms (i.e., hydrophobic extraction, coagulation and flocculation) is presented. In this process, fine coals in the tailings stream are extracted into a mineral oil by hydrophobic extraction, while coagulant and flocculant are used to aid effluent clarification by coagulation/flocculation. With a single stage process, a coal‐in‐oil mixture is produced as a potential fuel, while clarifying the water for recycling. The hydrophobicity of coal is found to be a key parameter in coal extraction. The addition of mineral oil prior to flocculant and coagulant, especially in the presence of fine clays, is beneficial for recovering weakly hydrophobic fine coals. Fine clays are found to stabilize coal‐rich oil droplets, reducing coal recovery. The presence of hydrophobic coal enhances droplet coalescence and improves process performance. In a case study using a tailings stream from OBED coal preparation plant, it was found that re‐grinding of original tailings is necessary to expose fresh hydrophobic surfaces. Applying this single stage unit operation to a tailings containing 52% ash, a combustible recovery greater than 85% in the form of coal‐in‐oil mixture at product ash content less than 14 wt% was achieved.     

Characterization of Glutathione Peroxidase 4 in Rat Oocytes,Preimplantation Embryos,and Selected Maternal Tissues during Early Development and Implantation

This study aimed to describe glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) in rat oocytes, preimplantation embryos, and female genital organs. After copulation, Sprague Dawley female rats were euthanized with anesthetic on the first (D1), third (D3), and fifth days of pregnancy (D5). Ovaries, oviducts, and uterine horns were removed, and oocytes and preimplantation embryos were obtained. Immunohistochemical, immunofluorescent, and Western blot methods were employed. Using immunofluorescence, we detected GPx4 in both the oocytes and preimplantation embryos. Whereas in the oocytes, GPx4 was homogeneously diffused, in the blastomeres, granules were formed, and in the blastocysts, even clusters were present mainly around the cell nuclei. Employing immunohistochemistry, we detected GPx4 inside the ovary in the corpus luteum, stroma, follicles, and blood vessels. In the oviduct, the enzyme was present in the epithelium, stroma, blood vessels, and smooth muscles. In the uterus, GPx4 was found in the endometrium, myometrium, blood vessels, and stroma. Moreover, we observed GPx4 positive granules in the uterine gland epithelium on D1 and D3 and cytoplasm of fibroblasts forming in the decidua on D5. Western blot showed the highest GPx4 levels in the uterus and the lowest levels in the ovary. Our results show that the GPx4 is necessary as early as in the preimplantation development of a new individual because we detected it in an unfertilized oocyte in a blastocyst and not only after implantation, as was previously thought.     

The effect of 3D structure design on fire behavior of polyethylene terephthalate glycol containing aluminum hypophosphite and melamine cyanurate

Effect of the shape of 3D printed samples on fire behavior of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PET-G) and PET-G additivated with a mix of aluminum hypophosphite (AHP) and melamine cyanurate as flame retardant, was investigated. The additives improved fire performance (e.g., maximum average rate of heat emission, total oxygen consumption, heat release rate indices) irrespective of structural complexity, favoring carbonaceous char formation. However, at increasing structural complexity, they promoted higher release of smoke, compared to neat PET-G, because of a change in the prevalent retardation mechanism, which became dominated by the flame inhibition action of AHP. Consequently, the synergistic effect obtained combining the two additives, was hindered. Impact of product design on mechanisms of fire retardation helps in devising engineering solutions aimed at meeting required level of fire-safety performance, which should be tailored to the specific product.     

Influence of Paclitaxel and Doxorubicin Therapy of ßIII-Tubulin,Carbonic Anhydrase IX,and Survivin in Chemically Induced Breast Cancer in Female Rat

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of paclitaxel (PTX) and doxorubicin (DOX) therapy on the βIII-tubulin, carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX), and survivin expression in chemically-induced rat mammary tumors. Animals with induced mammary carcinogenesis were randomly divided into treatment groups and an untreated group. The total proportion of tumors, the proportion of carcinoma in situ (CIS), and invasive carcinoma (IC) were evaluated. Protein expression in tumor tissue was determined using IHC. Statistical analysis of the data, evaluated by Fisher-exact test and unpaired t-test. Significantly increased levels of proteins in the tumor cells were confirmed using the IHC method for all studied proteins. The expression of βIII-tubulin, CA IX, and survivin increased significantly after treatment with both cytostatics (PTX and DOX). Depending on the type of tumor, a significant increase in all proteins was observed in IC samples after PTX treatment, and CA IX expression after DOX treatment. In CIS samples, a significant increase of βIII-tubulin and survivin expression was observed after a DOX treatment. The results suggest that βIII-tubulin, survivin, and CA IX may be significant drug resistance markers and the clinical regulation of their activity may be an effective means of reversing this resistance.     

Nonlinear Hyperbolic Rigid Heat Conductor of the Coleman Type

A one-dimensional nonlinear hyperbolic homogeneous isotropic rigid heat conductor proposed by Coleman is analyzed using the method of weakly nonlinear geometric optics. For such a model the law of conservation of energy, the dissipation inequality, the Cattaneo's equation, and a generalized energy-entropy relation with a parabolic variation of the energy and entropy along the heat-flux axis, are postulated. First, it is shown that the model can be described by a non-homogeneous quasi-linear hyperbolic matrix partial differential equation of the first order for an unknown vector u = (θ, Q) ^T , where θ and Q are the dimensionless absolute temperature and heat-flux fields, respectively. Next, the Cauchy problem for the matrix equation with a weakly perturbed initial condition is formulated, and an asymptotic solution to the problem in terms of the amplitudes σ_α (α = 1, 2) that satisfy a pair of nonlinear first order partial differential equations, is obtained. The Cauchy problem is then solved in a closed form when the initial data are suitably restricted. Numerical examples are included.     

Amyloid Directed Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Nanowires and Their Applications in Hybrid Photovoltaic Devices

This paper reports β‐lactoglobulin amyloid protein fibrils directed synthesis of Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) hybrid nanowires. Protein fibrils act as templates to generate closely packed TiO₂ nanoparticles on the surface of the fibrils using titanium (IV) bis (ammonium lactato) dihydroxide (TiBALDH) as precursor, resulting in the TiO₂–coated amyloid hybrid nanowires. These amyloid fibrils also exhibit complexation with a luminescent water‐soluble semiconductive polythiophene (P3HT). TiO₂ nanowires behave as electron acceptor while, P3HT as electron donor. In this way, amyloid‐TiO₂ hybrid nanowires can serve in heterojunction photovoltaic devices. To demonstrate this, a photovoltaic active layer is prepared by spin coating the blended mixture of polythiophene‐coated fibrils and amyloid‐TiO₂ hybrid nanowires. The current–voltage characteristics of these photovoltaic devices exhibit excellent fill factor of 0.53, photovoltaic current density of 3.97 mA·cm^?2 and power conversion efficiency of 0.72%, highlighting a possible future role for amyloid‐based templates in donor–acceptor devices, organic electronics and hybrid solar cells.     

Experimental and modeling studies on the enantio-separation of 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl-(R),(S)-leucine by continuous liquid–liquid extraction in a cascade of centrifugal contactor separators

The continuous enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction of aqueous 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl-(R),(S)-leucine (A_R,S) using O-(1-t-butylcarbamoyl)-11-octadecylsulfinyl-10,11-dihydro-quinine (C, a cinchona alkaloid) as extractant in 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) was studied experimentally in a countercurrently operated pilot scale cascade of six centrifugal contactor separators (CCS) at 294 K. The extractant was efficiently recovered by back-extraction in a single CCS allowing the cascade to be run continuously for 10 h. The steady-state ee of A_R (ee_R) in the raffinate was 42% at a 99% yield, the A_S was obtained with high purity (98% ee_S) and a yield of 55% in the back-extraction raffinate. In total 2.23 g of A_S was obtained at steady-state operation from 8.11 g racemate feed. Deterioration of the ee in time was not observed, demonstrating the robustness of the chemistry. The experiments were modeled using an equilibrium stage approach. The correlation between model and experiment was satisfactory. The model was applied to optimize the production of both enantiomers in >97% ee. At zero reflux, 12 stages are required for 99% ee for both enantiomers. Application of a reflux allows a 25% reduction of the total liquid flow through the system by reduction of the wash feed as well as a reduction in the number of stages from 12 to 11. With a configuration of 12 CINC-V02’s operating at an aqueous feed flow of 360 mL/min, the model predicts that 17.7 kg racemate per week may be separated into both enantiomers with 99% ee using only 60 g of extractant.     

Effect of Inverse Doped Surface Layer in Schottky Barrier Modification: A Numerical Study

Poisson’s equation and the drift–diffusion equations are used to simulate the current–voltage characteristics of a Schottky diode with an inverse doped surface layer. The potential inside the bulk semiconductor near the metal–semiconductor contact is estimated by simultaneously solving these equations, and then current as a function of bias through the Schottky diode is calculated. The Schottky diode parameters are extracted by fitting of simulated data to the thermionic emission diffusion equation. The simulation is carried out for various inverse layer thicknesses and doping concentrations. The obtained diode parameters are analyzed to study the effect of the inverse layer thickness and doping concentration on Schottky diode modification and its behavior at low temperatures. It is shown that an increase in the inverse layer thickness and doping concentration leads to Schottky barrier height enhancement and a change in the ideality factor. The temperature dependences of the Schottky barrier height and ideality factor are also studied.     

Microstructure features of failure and mechanical properties of ultra-fine grained Ti–6AL–4V ELI alloy at 300–77 K

Experimental investigation of mechanical characteristics and failure regularities of the ultra-fine grained Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy, produced by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), have been carried out under the uniaxial tension at 300 and 77 K. These characteristics have been compared for the different structural states of the Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy, distinguished by the average grain size and by the morphology of α and β phases. It has been established that the combination of the heat treatment, ECAP, and the extrusion of the Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy leads to a considerable increase of the alloy’s strength in comparison with the initial state (54% at 300 K and 78% at 77 K) with preserving the reasonable values of the ductility (3–4% elongation to the neck beginning and 5–10% to the failure). For all investigated structural states of the Ti–6Al–4V ELI alloy only ductile failure was observed at 300 and 77 K. The fracture surface consists of regions failed under normal and shear stresses. In shear failure regions of fracture surface only elongated dimples were present.