Computational modelling of unsaturated flow of liquid in heap leaching—using the results of column tests to calibrate the model

Unsaturated flow of liquid in a bed of uniform and spherical ore particles is studied numerically and experimentally. An unsteady and two-dimensional model is developed based on the mass conservation equations of liquid phase in the bed and in the particles. The model equations are solved using a fully implicit finite difference method giving the distribution of the degree of saturation in the particles and in the bed and the vertical velocity of flow in the bed, as well as, the effect of periodic infiltration on the above distributions. To calibrate the computational model, several column tests are performed using periodic infiltration of water on 40 cm high columns composed of ore having particles smaller than 25 mm. The numerical analysis shows that (a) the results obtained from numerical modelling under the same operating conditions as used for column tests, are in good agreement with those from experimental procedure, (b) the degree of saturation of the bed and the time required to reach steady state conditions depend on the inflow of water and intrinsic permeability of the bed and (c) the velocity fluctuations and the fluctuations of the degree of saturation in the bed depend on the inflow of water, period of infiltration, height and intrinsic permeability of the bed.     

Electrokinetic power generation of non-Newtonian fluids in a finite length microchannel

In order to examine the effects of the fluid type as the electrolyte solvent on the efficiency of electrokinetic energy conversion, a comparative numerical study among three different fluid types of a transient electrokinetic flow through a single circular finite length microchannel has been conducted. The system was initially at an equilibrium non-flow state, and a step change in flow was applied and the calculation proceeding until steady state was achieved. The analysis was based on non-dimensional transport governing equations that were scaled using Debye length as the characteristic length scale and diffusion time as characteristic time scale. The fluid types considered were shear thinning, Newtonian, and shear thickening, and a power law modeled them with the scaled flow behavior index having values of 0.2, 1.0, and 1.8. In order to isolate the electrokinetic effects of the different relationships between the shear strain rate and shear stress, the flow consistency index was adjusted so that in all the cases the flow rate and total pressure drop matched that of water at 25 °C. All other fluid and interfacial properties were the same for all cases. The key observational difference between the various fluid types was that their different axial velocity profile acted on essential the same free charge density profiles. Consequently, the convection current density (i.e., the radial distribution of charge being advected along the channel) was strongly affected by the fluid type. Integration of this quantity to calculate the convection current showed that for the particular fluid properties chosen the shear thinning fluid was 20 % higher than the Newtonian fluid, while the shear thickening fluid was only 4 % lower than the Newtonian fluid. Combined with the effects, these different currents have on the streaming potential, the shear thinning fluid was 50 % more effective in converting flow work to electrical work than the Newtonian fluid, while the shear thickening fluid was only 16 % lower than the Newtonian fluid.     

In vivo efficacy of antimicrobial-coated fabric from prosthetic heart valve sewing rings

Escherichia coli tRNA(Val) with pyrimidine substitutions for the universally conserved 3'-terminal adenine can be readily aminoacylated. It cannot, however, transfer valine into polypeptides. Conversely, despite being a poor substrate for valyl-tRNA synthetase, tRNA(Val) with a 3'-terminal guanine is active in in vitro polypeptide synthesis. To better understand the function of the 3'-CCA sequence of tRNA in protein synthesis, the effects of systematically varying all three bases on formation of the Val-tRNA(Val):EF-Tu:GTP ternary complex were investigated. Substitutions at C74 and C75 have no significant effect, but replacing A76 with pyrimidines decreases the affinity of valyl-tRNA(Val) for EF-Tu:GTP, thus explaining the inability of these tRNA(Val) variants to function in polypeptide synthesis. Valyl-tRNA(Val) terminating in 3'-guanine is readily recognized by EF-TU:GTP. Dissociation constants of the EF-Tu:GTP ternary complexes with valine tRNAs having nucleotide substitutions at the 3' end increase in the order adenine < guanine < uracil; EF-Tu has very little affinity for tRNA terminating in 3' cytosine. Similar observations were made in studies of the interaction of 3' end mutants of E. coli tRNA(Ala) and tRNA(Phe) with EF-Tu:GTP. These results indicate that EF-Tu:GTP preferentially recognizes purines and discriminates against pyrimidines, especially cytosine, at the 3' end of aminoacyl-tRNAs.     

Rigid vs compliant contact: an experimental study on biped walking

Multibody System Dynamics - Contact modeling plays a central role in motion planning, simulation and control of legged robots, as legged locomotion is realized through contact. The two prevailing...     

Orientation variance discrimination in amblyopia

Our previous results showed that while amblyopes can efficiently integrate visual signals, they are poor at segregating signals in noise. This could be either because integration detectors have broader bandwidths or because of a selective extrastriate segregation anomaly. One consequence of the former would be poorer variance discrimination. Using a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm, observers were asked to judge the orientational variance for arrays of 16 Gabors. All observers, be they normal or amblyopic, could perform the task similarly, although at high spatial frequencies, amblyopic eyes needed slightly more incremental variance than the normal eyes. We conclude that normals and amblyopes integrate signals in a similar way.     

Increasing Angiogenesis Factors in Hypoxic Diabetic Wound Conditions by siRNA Delivery: Additive Effect of LbL-Gold Nanocarriers and Desloratadine-Induced Lysosomal Escape

Impaired wound healing in people with diabetes has multifactorial causes, with insufficient neovascularization being one of the most important. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) plays a central role in the hypoxia-induced response by activating angiogenesis factors. As its activity is under precise regulatory control of prolyl-hydroxylase domain 2 (PHD-2), downregulation of PHD-2 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) could stabilize HIF-1α and, therefore, upregulate the expression of pro-angiogenic factors as well. Intracellular delivery of siRNA can be achieved with nanocarriers that must fulfill several requirements, including high stability, low toxicity, and high transfection efficiency. Here, we designed and compared the performance of layer-by-layer self-assembled siRNA-loaded gold nanoparticles with two different outer layers—Chitosan (AuNP@CS) and Poly L-arginine (AuNP@PLA). Although both formulations have exactly the same core, we find that a PLA outer layer improves the endosomal escape of siRNA, and therefore, transfection efficiency, after endocytic uptake in NIH-3T3 cells. Furthermore, we found that endosomal escape of AuNP@PLA could be improved further when cells were additionally treated with desloratadine, thus outperforming commercial reagents such as Lipofectamine^® and jetPRIME^®. AuNP@PLA in combination with desloratadine was proven to induce PHD-2 silencing in fibroblasts, allowing upregulation of pro-angiogenic pathways. This finding in an in vitro context constitutes a first step towards improving diabetic wound healing with siRNA therapy.     

Construction of new iodide selective electrodes based on bis(trans-cinnamaldehyde)1,3-propanediimine(L) zinc(II) chloride [ZnLCl2] and bis(trans-cinnamaldehyde) 1,3-propanediimine(L) cadmium(II) chloride [CdLCl2]

New plasticized PVC membranes iodide selective electrodes have been prepared by incorporating bis(trans-cinnamaldehyde)1,3-propanediimine zinc(II) chloride [ZnLCl2] and bis(trans-cinnamaldehyde) 1,3-propandiimine cadmium(II) chloride [CdLCl2] on the surface of graphite disk electrodes. At optimum value of variables the proposed electrodes have selective response to iodide with respect to a number of inorganic and organic anions with near-Nernstian slopes of − 60 ± 1.9 and − 58.5 ± 1.9 mV/decade of iodide concentration over the range 1.0 × 10^− 6-1.0 × 10^− 1 M with detection limits of 4.0 × 10^− 7 and 3.0 × 10^− 7 M for the electrodes based on [ZnLCl₂] and [CdLCl₂], respectively. The electrodes based on both ionophores have response times of about (6 s), with stable reproducible response during 2 months, while their responses is independent of pH over the range 2.5-10.5. The proposed electrodes successfully have been applied for evaluation of iodide ion content in real samples with complicated matrices including water and pharmaceutical samples.     

The Effect of d-orbital Electrons of Transition Metals on the Electronic and Magnetic Properties of GaN:TM (TM: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co)

Based on the density functional theory and using the plane wave pseudopotential method, we study the effect of number of d-orbital electrons on the electronic and magnetic properties of GaN:TM (TM: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co). We consider the TM impurity in the samples studied to be 6.25%. Self- and non-self-consistent calculations are performed to calculate the density of states (DOSs) of the samples. Our results show that doping magnetic ions on the host semiconductor can induce spin polarization in the band gap of the doped sample. Cr and Mn doping leads to the ferromagnetic phase, while Fe and Co doping leads to the anti-ferromagnetic phase. In other words, as the number of d-orbital electrons increase, a transition from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase is observed. Besides, the gap between the valence band and the non-bonding states of the d-orbitals is reduced, and a reverse behavior is observed for the gap between the conduction band and the antibonding states of the d-orbitals. In addition, the magnetic moment of each transition metal is calculated.     

Analysis of the effects of inlet temperature frequency in fully developed laminar duct flows

Unsteady heat transfer for a fully developed laminar flow inside a parallel-plate channel and circular duct that are subjected to a periodically varying inlet temperature is studied. The thermal capacitance of the duct wall and the boundary condition that accounts for external convection are considered. An exact solution is presented for this extended Graetz problem as the result of using a new methodology based on a variational method. The quasi-steady approach that employs a heat transfer coefficient at the liquid–solid interface is also investigated, and the results are compared with the variational solution. The damping and phase lag coefficients as functions of the inlet temperature frequency are presented in graphical form.     

Honeymoon fast-set adhesives for glulam and fingerjoints of higher natural materials content

Addition of flavonoid tannin extract to the PRF component A of a PRF/Tannin honeymoon fast set adhesive system for glulam and fingerjointing yields (PRF?+?Tannin)/Tannin adhesive systems where the total percentage of natural material can be as high as 65% (2/3) of total adhesive resin solids without any loss of either long term performance or fast curing rate.