The narcotic properties of xenon and the prospects for its use in anesthesiology

An alkaline phosphatase was purified from conidia of a Neurospora crassa wild type strain. The M(r) of the purified native enzyme was estimated as ca 145,000 and 110,000 by gel filtration, in the presence and absence of magnesium ions, respectively. A single polypeptide band of M(r) 36,000 was detected by SDS-PAGE, suggesting that the native enzyme was a tetramer of apparently identical subunits. Conidial alkaline phosphatase was an acidic protein (pl = 4.0 +/- 0.1), with 40% carbohydrate content. Optimal pH was affected by substrate concentration and magnesium ions. Low concentrations of calcium ions (0.1 mM) had slight stimulatory effects, but in excess (5 mM) caused protein aggregates with decreased activity. The enzyme specificity against different substrates was compared with those reported for constitutive or Pi-repressible alkaline phosphatases produced by N. crassa. The results suggested that the conidial alkaline phosphatase represented a different class among other such enzymes synthesized by this organism.     

Improvement of the cogeneration plant economy by using heat accumulator

The optimisation code ACOM (Advanced Cogeneration Optimisation Model) is used with purpose of assessing influence of the district heat accumulator on the Elektrana-Toplana (EL-TO) Zagreb cogeneration plant economic performance. The plant supplies hot water for district heating, steam for industry and electric power. It is possible to achieve economic benefits by charging the accumulator during the day time, when the electricity price is high, and by releasing district heat during cheap night hours, when other parts of equipment may be shut down. The consequences of this strategy are the decrease of total annual electricity production and fuel consumption, whereby the savings of some 1.8 mil Euro/a are achieved with the reduction of CO₂ emission by about 23,000 t/a or 6.4% and SO_x by about 200 t/a or 16.9%.     

An approach for reduction of the volume loss in the rigid-plastic FEM using two-step updating procedure

The volume loss, as a direct consequence of the geometry updating procedure used in the conventional penalty rigid-plastic finite element method (RPFEM), is primarily caused by the application of the widely used forward Euler time integration method. In order to decrease this undesired consequence, the combination of the two-step Adams-Bashforth time integration method and the volumetrically elastic and deviatorically RPFEM is proposed as a new approach. The cylinder upsetting process was simulated using in-house finite element code. The results of simulations, obtained for the various levels of friction factors and height reductions, show that the proposed method gives a significantly lower volume loss. Also, the results of the friction factor determination procedure utilising the ring compression test for three lubrication conditions demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method.     

Load Management Scheme Using Air Conditioning Electric Power Consumption and Photovoltaic Power System Generation

In the last few decades, in the world and also in the European Union, considerable resources had been invested in the rapid development of renewable energy sources and distributed generation in general. At the same time, power consumption is continuously increasing, and consumers are becoming more complex, which ultimately requires new investments in the distribution network. Concept of smart grids is generally accepted as a possible solution. Smart grid is a concept with many elements, where monitoring and control of every element in the chain of production, transmission, distribution and final consumption enable much more efficient delivery and use of electricity. One of the elements of smart grid efficiency is the ability of real-time demand-supply balancing. This balancing is carried out by monitoring of consumption and redistribution of electricity among individual end users, according to their needs. The aim of this paper is creating algorithm for real-time load management using power measurements. Algorithm for real-time load management at the ETFOS （Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Osijek）, Croatia is created based on measurements of photovoltaic power plant production, the power consumption of air conditioning system and the faculty building total electricity consumption. Expected result of real-time re-dispatching of air conditioners consumption, depending on the level of electricity production in photovoltaic power plant is decreasing peak demand of the faculty.     

Robust predictive control strategy applied for propofol dosing using BIS as a controlled variable during anesthesia

This paper presents the application of predictive control to drug dosing during anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery. The performance of a generic predictive control strategy in drug dosing control, with a previously reported anesthesia-specific control algorithm, has been evaluated. The robustness properties of the predictive controller are evaluated with respect to inter- and intrapatient variability. A single-input (propofol) single-output (bispectral index, BIS) model of the patient has been assumed for prediction as well as for simulation. A set of 12 patient models were studied and interpatient variability and disturbances are used to assess robustness of the controller. Furthermore, the controller guarantees the stability in a desired range. The applicability of the predictive controller in a real-life environment via simulation studies has been assessed.      

Architecture of the Mobile Environment for Intelligent Genetic Search and Proxy Caching

As the number of documents and servers on Internet grows with the enormous speed, it becomes necessary to design efficient algorithms and tools for search and retrieval of documents. Also, the number of accesses to servers on Internet constantly grows. Congestion of servers and links can be alleviated using proxy caches. Latency on Web can be reduced using prefetching and caching. Efficient search of documents can be done with improved genetic algorithm that exploits the principles of temporal and spatial locality. Mobile agents can be used to optimize network traffic for distributed applications. This paper describes several existing solutions to the problem and discusses the implementation of Java distributed object application for experimenting with genetic search and proxy caching algorithms for Internet.     

Utilization of sunflower seeds in tahina and halawa processing

Sunflower seeds were cleaned, roasted, decorticated and ground to a smooth thick oily suspension (tahina). Chemical analysis showed that sunflower tahina-like butter contained higher ether extract (62·3%) than sesame tahina (55·3%). Sesame tahina was higher in ash and carbohydrate contents, while the protein content was similar in both. Microscopic examination of stained films indicated that the system in sunflower tahina was essentially a suspension of solid particles in a continuous oil phase (water in oil system). Oil separation in sunflower tahina was followed during storage at room temperature for 90 days. The addition of glycerol monostearate had a pronounced stabilizing action resulting in reducing oil separation from 11·8% to 6·25%. The peroxide value of sunflower tahina oil increased during storage, reaching a maximum value after 60 days' storage, then decreased. The oxidative stability of sunflower oil was increased with the addition of 0·02% butylated hydroxy anisole (BHA) and 0·02% butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT).Organoleptic evaluation showed no significant differences between sunflower and sesame halawas in texture and flavor except that the color of sunflower halawa was distinctly darker. The chemical analysis emphasized the high caloric, as well as nutritive value, of sunflower halawa. The use of Egyptian sunflower seeds in tahina and halawa tahiniamaking would reduce the importation of sesame seeds.     

Model experiments with CaO,MgO and calcinated dolomite for fluoride removal in a wet scrubbing system with sea water in recirculation

Fluoride removal was studied from saline waters using CaO, MgO and calcined natural dolomite (all fired at 1273 K), as an alternative for lime slurry neutralization process. Fluoride in the form of HF was added to sea water, saline groundwater or distilled water from 50 to 158 mg dm^?3. The amount of added CaO, MgO and CaO·MgO varied from 80 to 560 mg dm^?3. Concentrations of soluble fluoride, calcium, magnesium and pH were determined in supernatant. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the precipitated solids. All three processes show very good removal of fluoride from saline water, within 90 min designed for technological process (soluble fluoride varied from 5 to 25 mg dm^?3). It can be assumed that fluoride is either present in the form of an amorphous salt or is incorporated into the crystal lattice of one of the identified solids (CaCO₃, CaCO₃·H₂O, Mg(OH)₂, Mg₂SiO₄).