A Comprehensive Review on Effects of Seawater on Engineering Properties of Concrete

Silicon - The concrete and natural seawater have a complex relationship between them, which requires special attention. Therefore, various studies have been conducted to consider the effects of...     

Correlations Between Mechanical and Index Properties of Sandstone from the Central Salt Range

Journal of Mining Science - A study was conducted to uncover the possible correlations among mechanical and index properties of sandstones from formations of Salt Range area, Punjab, Pakistan. For...     

Epithelial Membrane Protein 2 Suppresses Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Growth by Inhibition of MAPK Pathway

Epithelial membrane proteins (EMP1-3) are involved in epithelial differentiation and carcinogenesis. Dysregulated expression of EMP2 was observed in various cancers, but its role in human lung cancer is not yet clarified. In this study, we analyzed the expression of EMP1-3 and investigated the biological function of EMP2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The results showed that lower expression of EMP1 was significantly correlated with tumor size in primary lung tumors (p = 0.004). Overexpression of EMP2 suppressed tumor cell growth, migration, and invasion, resulting in a G1 cell cycle arrest, with knockdown of EMP2 leading to enhanced cell migration, related to MAPK pathway alterations and disruption of cell cycle regulatory genes. Exosomes isolated from transfected cells were taken up by tumor cells, carrying EMP2-downregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) which participated in regulation of the tumor microenvironment. Our data suggest that decreased EMP1 expression is significantly related to increased tumor size in NSCLC. EMP2 suppresses NSCLC cell growth mainly by inhibiting the MAPK pathway. EMP2 might further affect the tumor microenvironment by regulating tumor microenvironment-associated miRNAs.     

LiTaO3 assisted giant strain and thermally stable energy storage response for renewable energy storage applications

Piezoceramics with composition (1–z) [Bi_0.5(Na_0.84K_0.16)_0.5TiO₃]_0.96–0.04SrTiO₃–zLiTaO₃ (z = 0.00–0.030) were formulated by ordinary firing process following by rapid quenching treatment. Effect of LiTaO₃ on the structural, electrical and energy-storage properties were analyzed. For the composition with molar ratio 0.025, room temperature large-field piezoelectric coefficient (S_max/E_max = d₃₃*) of 885 pm/V at 3.6 kV/mm was recorded. Furthermore, for compositions z = 0.025 and 0.030, broad temperature stable dielectric constants and low losses from ~135 to 350 °C with a small variation of ± 15% was observed. Additionally, the energy density for z = 0.025 was ~0.60 J/cm³ in the broader temperature range of 75–125 °C, along with the energy-storage efficiency of greater than 70%. These observations suggest that the studied piezo-material compositions are promising for the ceramic actuators and capacitor applications.     

Catalytic fast pyrolysis of rice husk: Influence of commercial and synthesized microporous zeolites on deoxygenation of biomass pyrolysis vapors

Research on utilization of abundant rice residue for valuable bioenergy products is still not explored completely. A simple, robust, cheap, and one‐step fast pyrolysis reactor is still a key demand for production of bioenergy products, ie, high quality bio‐oil and biochar. Bio‐oil extracted from fast pyrolysis does not have adequate quality (eg, acidic and highly oxygenated). Catalytic fast pyrolysis using zeolites in the fast pyrolysis process effectively reduces the oxygen content (no H₂ required). In this paper, the zeolites with different pore sizes and shapes (small pore, SAPO‐34 (0.56) and ferrierite (30); medium pore, ZSM‐5 (30), MCM‐22 (30), and ITQ‐2 (30); and large pore zeolite, mordenite (30)) were tested in a drop‐type fixed‐bed pyrolyzer. Catalytic deoxygenation is conducted at 450°C at the catalyst/biomass ratio of 0.1. Zeolite catalysts, its pore size and shape, could influence largely on deoxygenation. It was found that the small pore zeolites did not produce aromatics as compared to higher amount of aromatics formed in case of medium pore zeolites. ZSM‐5 and ITQ‐2 zeolites were especially efficient for the higher deoxygenation of biomass pyrolysis vapors due to better pore dimension and higher acidity.     

Design and development of a clip building block system for MEMS

Microsystem Technologies - This paper describes the design and development of a clip building block system for Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). The system should allow MEMS applications to...     

Analysis of harmonic contents of switching waveforms emitted by the ultra high speed digital CMOS integrated circuits for use in future micro/nano systems applications

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper we outline the influence of transistor model quality and input signal on the estimates of higher order harmonic contents of switching waveforms emitted by...