Ketone bodies,glucose and glutamine as lipogenic precursors in human diploid fibroblasts

Incorporation of [¹⁴C] from acetoacetate, D(-)- and L(+)-3-hydroxybutyrate, glucose, glutamine, acetate and palmitate in cellular lipids were studied in cultures in human diploid fibroblasts (HDF). The results showed that acetoacetate was 2–10 times more effective as a lipogenic precursor than was either D- or L-3-hydroxybutyrate. Its extent of incorporation into lipids was 2- to 8-fold more than the other precursors examined under conditions when the overall rates of nonsaponifiable and saponi-fiable lipogenesis as measured by³H₂O incorporation were essentially unchanged. Acetoacetate supported both saponifiable and nonsaponifiable lipid syntheses with half-saturation values (K_m app.) of 185 μM and 30 μM, respectively. Glucose stimulated acetoacetate incorporation into lipids whereas, conversely, acetoacetate inhibited [¹⁴C] glucose incorporation into lipids. The presence of low density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol (@40 μg cholesterol/mL) inhibited the incorporation of [¹⁴C] from acetoacetate 56% into nonsaponifiable lipids; the inhibition was consistently higher (75%) when [¹⁴C] glucose or glutamine were the precrusors. The loss of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase activity upon addition of LDL-cholesterol was greater than the suppression of [¹⁴C] incorporation from acetoacetate or glucose into nonsaponifiable lipids. In the presence of glucose, [¹⁴C] acetoacetate was incorporated into 3-βOH sterols (digitonin precipitable). 7.7±1.1 times more effectively than was [¹⁴C] glucose. The results suggest that HDF would be a suitable model to investigate the effects of various precrusors of HMG CoA on the rate of cholesterol biosynthesis.     

Thermodynamics of metal reactants for ammonia synthesis from steam,nitrogen and biomass at atmospheric pressure

Catalytic ammonia synthesis at approximately 30 MPa and 800 K consumes about 5% of the global annual natural gas production causing significant CO₂ emissions. A conceptual solar thermochemical reaction cycle to produce NH₃ at near atmospheric pressure without natural gas is explored here and compared to solar thermochemical steam/air reforming to provide H₂ used in the Haber‐Bosch process for NH₃ synthesis. Mapping of Gibbs free energy planes quantifies the tradeoff between the yield of N₂ reduction via metal nitridation, and NH₃ liberation via steam hydrolysis vs. the temperatures required for reactant recovery from undesirably stable metal oxides. Equilibrium composition simulations suggest that reactants combining an ionic nitride‐forming element (e.g., Mg or Ce) with a transition metal (e.g., MgCr₂O₄, MgFe₂O₄, or MgMoO₄) may enable the concept near 0.1 MPa (at maximum 64 mol % yield of Mg₃N₂ through nitridation of MgFe₂O₄ at 1,300 K, and 72 mol % of the nitrogen in Mg₃N₂ as NH₃ during hydrolysis at 500 K). © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3203–3213, 2012     

Formic acid decomposition on Au catalysts: DFT,microkinetic modeling,and reaction kinetics experiments

A combined theoretical and experimental approach is presented that uses a comprehensive mean‐field microkinetic model, reaction kinetics experiments, and scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging to unravel the reaction mechanism and provide insights into the nature of active sites for formic acid (HCOOH) decomposition on Au/SiC catalysts. All input parameters for the microkinetic model are derived from periodic, self‐consistent, generalized gradient approximation (GGA‐PW91) density functional theory calculations on the Au(111), Au(100), and Au(211) surfaces and are subsequently adjusted to describe the experimental HCOOH decomposition rate and selectivity data. It is shown that the HCOOH decomposition follows the formate (HCOO) mediated path, with 100% selectivity toward the dehydrogenation products (CO₂ + H₂) under all reaction conditions. An analysis of the kinetic parameters suggests that an Au surface in which the coordination number of surface Au atoms is ≤4 may provide a better model for the active site of HCOOH decomposition on these specific supported Au catalysts. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1303–1319, 2014     

Low Velocity Impact,Fatigue and Visco-elastic Behaviour of Carbon/E-glass Intra-ply fibre-Reinforced Nano-silica Toughened Epoxy Composite

Silicon - This current research dealing the effect of adding high stiffness carbon fibre along with E-glass fibre and addition of nano-silica particles as a toughening agent in epoxy resin. The...     

走向可持续设计与绿色设计的医疗建筑

<正>议题的背景2008年某期《华尔街日报》曾报道,到公元2050年地球总人口数量将从现在的69.1亿增加到91.9亿多。因此,人类对于稀有资源和不可再生资源的需求将会加剧,同时也将急需新的开发资源的     

Evaluation of pipe whip impacts on neighboring piping and walls of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant

Stress corrosion cracks have been discovered in Group Distribution Headers (GDH) at the Ignalina and Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plants. This increases the probability that a guillotine pipe break can occur that creates a whipping pipe (GDH) with the potential to damage surrounding structures—i.e. adjacent GDH and its attached piping or adjacent reinforced concrete compartment wall. The GDH is the most important component for reactor safety in case of an accident. Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) piping is connected to the GDH piping such that, during an accident, coolant passes from the ECSS into the GDH.Presented in this paper is the transient analysis of a Group Distribution Header following a guillotine break at the blind end of the header. Using a very conservative force loading function, the transient response of a whipping RBMK-1500 GDH along with neighboring concrete walls and pipelines is obtained using finite element methodology.The results of the study, assuming that the impacted GDH does not suffer stress corrosion cracking, indicate that the structural integrity of the compartment should be maintained and failure should not propagate from GDH to GDH.     

Simulating the Feasibility of Using Liquid Micro-Jets for Determining Electron–Liquid Scattering Cross-Sections

The extraction of electron–liquid phase cross-sections (surface and bulk) is proposed through the measurement of (differential) energy loss spectra for electrons scattered from a liquid micro-jet. The signature physical elements of the scattering processes on the energy loss spectra are highlighted using a Monte Carlo simulation technique, originally developed for simulating electron transport in liquids. Machine learning techniques are applied to the simulated electron energy loss spectra, to invert the data and extract the cross-sections. The extraction of the elastic cross-section for neon was determined within 9% accuracy over the energy range 1–100 eV. The extension toward the simultaneous determination of elastic and ionisation cross-sections resulted in a decrease in accuracy, now to within 18% accuracy for elastic scattering and 1% for ionisation. Additional methods are explored to enhance the accuracy of the simultaneous extraction of liquid phase cross-sections.     

An Adaptive M-Estimator and Its Application to a Selection Problem

A robust adaptive estimation procedure for location estimation problems is developed. Classification in this procedure is done on the basis of skewness and tailweight, using two statistics that are ratios of linear functions of sample order statistics. The associated estimators are of the general type known as M-estimators, Following the development of the adaptive location estimation procedure, an application to the k population selection problem is given. Monte Carlo results show the superiority of the adaptive procedure to the sample means procedure, the rank sum procedure, and the previously developed adaptive procedure of Randles, Ramberg, and Hogg.     

Shock tube studies of methyl butanoate pyrolysis with relevance to biodiesel

Methyl butanoate pyrolysis and decomposition pathways were studied in detail by measuring concentration time-histories of CO, CO₂, CH₃, and C₂H₄ using shock tube/laser absorption methods. Experiments were conducted behind reflected shock waves at temperatures of 1200–1800 K and pressures near 1.5 atm using mixtures of 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1% methyl butanoate in Argon. A novel laser diagnostic was developed to measure CO in the ν₁ fundamental vibrational band near 4.56 μm using a new generation of quantum-cascade lasers. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy with second-harmonic detection (WMS-2f) was used to measure CO₂ near 2752 nm. Methyl radical was measured using UV laser absorption near 216 nm, and ethylene was monitored using IR gas laser absorption near 10.53 μm. An accurate methyl butanoate model is critical in the development of mechanisms for larger methyl esters, and the measured time-histories provide kinetic targets and strong constraints for the refinement of the methyl butanoate reaction mechanism. Measured CO mole fractions reach plateau values that are the same as the initial fuel mole fraction at temperatures higher than 1500 K over the maximum measurement time of 2 ms or less. Two recent kinetic mechanisms are compared with the measured data and the possible reasons for this 1:1 ratio between MB and CO are discussed. Based on these discussions, it is expected that similar CO/fuel and CO₂/fuel ratios for biodiesel molecules, particularly saturated components of biodiesel, should occur.     

Hub relay network design for daily driver routes

Hub-based relay networks for long haul trucking offer an opportunity to improve the work–life balance of drivers while simultaneously supporting faster delivery through near-continuous flow of containers from source to destination. In this paper, we develop a model for deciding hub location and sizing along with the routing of loads. Costs of hub construction and operation, transportation and penalties for multi-day driver trips are included. Both deterministic and two-stage stochastic programming models have been formulated in this paper. The goal is to determine the optimal hub and route decisions so that overall cost is minimised. A case study on the highway network for the Western United States demonstrates the computational tractability of the approach along with the importance of considering demand uncertainty.