Stimulation of newborn-like hemoglobin synthesis in adult rats by recombinant human erythropoietin and suppression by aspirin

A study was carried out to determine whether recombinant human erythropoietin can induce newborn-like hemoglobin synthesis in adult rats. A fixed dose of recombinant erythropoietin was administered each time intravenously in each rat for altogether 5 weeks. Blood samples drawn at 7-day intervals were analyzed by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Hematological parameters like red blood cell counts, hematocrit values and reticulocyte counts were evaluated and compared. A significant changing pattern for certain hemoglobin components in red cells of erythropoietin-treated rats was measured compared to their baseline values. However, aspirin (a prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor) intake along with recombinant erythropoietin administration totally abolished the reversion of hemoglobin proportions toward newborn values, but not the increase in hemoglobin synthesis. These data reveal that concurrent prostaglandin synthesis is needed for reversing hemoglobin proportions in adult rats, but not for hemoglobin synthesis per se.     

Optical Interface for Bose-Einstein Condensates Using Permanent Magnetic Traps and Cavity QED

We propose a new type of a hybrid architecture based on the interaction of magnetically trapped ultracold quantum gases in a cavity QED structure. Permanent magnetic traps are integrated with silica based cavity QEDs and waveguides to facilitate the interaction between the atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with optical fields on an atomchip. One of the advantages of the permanent magnetic traps is negligible technical noise, and thus minimal decoherence is achieved in comparison to other conventional methods using current-carrying-wires. The proposed design allows an efficient delivery of optical fields (control/probe) to the magnetically trapped atoms through the fabricated silica waveguides coupled to the micro-cavities. In addition to the control of the ultracold atoms, the optical interface allows for the possibility of connecting several nodes together on the same atom chip, and could be used as part of future quantum information processing devices.     

New least-squares algorithm for model parameters estimation using self-potential anomalies

We have developed a new least-squares minimization approach to depth determination from self-potential (SP) data. By defining the anomaly value at the origin and at any two symmetrical points around the origin on the profile, the problem of depth determination from the residual SP anomaly has been transformed into finding a solution to a nonlinear equation of the form f(z)=0. Procedures are also formulated to estimate the polarization angle, amplitude coefficient and the shape of the buried structure (shape factor). The method is simple and can be used as a rapid method to estimate parameters that produced SP anomalies. The method is tested on synthetic data with and without random errors. It is also applied to a field example from Turkey. In all cases, the model parameters obtained are in good agreement with actual ones.     

Transesterification of non-edible seed oil for biodiesel production: characterization and analysis of biodiesel

Evaluation of Radish (Raphanus sativus) seed oil (RSO) as a non-edible feedstock for biodiesel production was the main target of the present study. Extraction by solvent disclosed that radish seeds contains 33.50 wt.% of oil. Therefore, biodiesel production from it could be beneficial. Optimized base-catalyzed transesterification of RSO with methanol, ethanol and mixed methanol/ethanol was performed, to produce fatty acid methyl esters, fatty acid ethyl esters and mixed fatty acid methyl ethyl esters, respectively. The optimal yields of the methyl esters, ethyl esters and mixed methyl ethyl esters, were 95.55wt.%, 90.66 wt.% and 93.33 wt.%, respectively when the optimal reaction conditions were attained. Fuel properties of the parent oil were positively changed as consequence of transesterification reaction such that they fulfilled the standard limits as prescribed by ASTM D6751. Moreover, fuel properties of (biodiesels + petro diesel) blends conformed ASTM D7467-17 standards indicating their suitability as a fuel for diesel engines. Biodiesels form RSO were analyzed by thin layer chromatography and FTIR spectroscopy, and both techniques conformed its conversion into its corresponding alkyl esters.     

Study of solid-gas-suspensions used for direct absorption of concentrated solar radiation

Suspensions of solid particles of the appropriate diameter in gases have interesting selective absorption properties, as they absorb solar radiation, whereas the emmissivity in the IR range is low. For the numerical evaluation of the important factors governing this absorption, the absorption cross section obtained by Mie Theory was substituted in Beer-Lambert relation for different conditions. For a given concentration and optical depth, the absorption was found to be dependent on the imaginary part, n₂, of the complex index of refraction, n = n₁ − in₂, of the material used. It is also dependent on the size of the particle d (represented by the diameter in case of spherical particles). For solar spectrum (0,2–3 μ) and spherical particles, the recommended values are n₂ 0,6 and d = 0.5 μ. These values may be satisfied by spherical particles of graphite.     

Survey and Analysis of VoIP Frame Aggregation Methods over A-MSDU IEEE 802.11n Wireless Networks

The IEEE 802.11n standard has provided prominent features that greatly contribute to ubiquitous wireless networks. Over the last ten years, voice over IP (VoIP) has become widespread around the globe owing to its low-cost or even free call rate. The combination of these technologies (VoIP and wireless) has become desirable and inevitable for organizations. However, VoIP faces a bandwidth utilization issue when working with 802.11 wireless networks. The bandwidth utilization is inefficient on the grounds that (i) 80 bytes of 802.11/RTP/UDP/IP header is appended to 10–730 bytes of VoIP payload and (ii) 765 µs waiting intervals follow each 802.11 VoIP frame. Without considering the quality requirements of a VoIP call, be including frame aggregation in the IEEE 802.11n standard has been suggested as a solution for the bandwidth utilization issue. Consequently, several aggregation methods have been proposed to handle the quality requirements of VoIP calls when carried over an IEEE 802.11n wireless network. In this survey, we analyze the existing aggregation methods of VoIP over the A-MSDU IEEE 802.11n wireless standard. The survey provides researchers with a detailed analysis of the bandwidth utilization issue concerning the A-MSDU 802.11n standard, discussion of the main approaches of frame aggregation methods and existing aggregation methods, elaboration of the impact of frame aggregation methods on network performance and VoIP call quality, and suggestion of new areas to be investigated in conjunction with frame aggregation. The survey contributes by offering guidelines to design an appropriate, reliable, and robust aggregation method of VoIP over 802.11n standard.     

Flexible High-Performance Photovoltaic Devices based on 2D MoS2 Diodes with Geometrically Asymmetric Contact Areas

Optoelectronic performance of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs)-based solar cells and self-powered photodetectors remain limited due to fabrication challenges, such as difficulty in doping TMDs to form p–n junctions. Herein, MoS₂ diodes based on geometrically asymmetric contact areas are shown to achieve a high current rectification ratio of ≈10⁵, facilitating efficient photovoltaic charge collection. Under solar illumination, the device demonstrates a high open-circuit voltage (V_oc) of 430 mV and a short-circuit current density (J_sc) of −13.42 mA cm⁻², resulting in a high photovoltaic power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.16%, the highest reported for a lateral 2D solar cell. The diodes also show a high photoresponsivity of 490.3 mA W⁻¹, and a large photo detectivity of 4.05 × 10¹⁰ Jones, along with a fast response time of 0.8 ms under 450 nm wavelength at zero bias for self-powered photodetection applications. The device transferred on a flexible substrate shows a high photocurrent and PCE retentions of 94.4%, and 88.2% after 5000 bending cycles at a bending radius of 1.5 cm, respectively, demonstrating robustness for flexible optoelectronic applications. The simple fabrication process, superior photovoltaic properties, and high flexibility suggests that the geometrically asymmetric MoS₂ device architecture is an excellent candidate for flexible photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications.     

Micro-climatic environmental conditions inside a greenhousewith a built-in solar distillation system

A numerical study was carried out to investigate the micro-climatic environmental conditions inside a greenhouse-distillation system, self-sufficient for irrigating water. The greenhouse consists of the planting cavity, circulating air channels and roof solar distiller for the production of a rather modest rate of irrigating water. A turbulent, steady-state flow, energy and humidity concentration equations were solved using the numerical code FLUENT 6.1. Velocity vectors, steam function, isotherms and temperature and humidity distribution inside the greenhouse present the resultant: micro-climatic environmental conditions. The results are presented for hot days where cold and humid air (from the evaporative cooler) enters the greenhouse from one side and is circulated through the partially porous cavity (representing the plants) and flows through air flow channels and leaves from a vertical thermal chimney. The results show that, with the selected inlet flow conditions, the flow velocity, temperature, and relative humidity can be within the comfort values for plant growth. The effect of some important environmental, design, and operational parameters on greenhouse micro-climatic conditions has also been highlighted.     

Exploiting wavefront parallelism on large-scale shared-memorymultiprocessors

Wavefront parallelism, in which parallelism is limited to hyperplanes in an iteration space, can arise when compilers apply tiling to loop nests to enhance locality. Previous approaches for scheduling wavefront parallelism focused on maximizing parallelism; balancing workloads, and reducing synchronization. In this paper, we show that on large-scale shared-memory multiprocessors, locality is a crucial factor. We make the distinction between intratile and intertile locality and show that as the number of processors grows, intertile locality becomes more important. We consider and experimentally evaluate existing strategies for scheduling wavefront parallelism. We show that dynamic self-scheduling can be efficiently used on a small number of processors, but performs poorly at large scale because it does not enhance intertile locality. By contrast, static scheduling strategies enhance intertile locality for small tiles, maintaining parallelism and resulting in better performance at large scale. Results from a Convex SPP1000 multiprocessor demonstrate the importance of taking intertile locality into account. Static scheduling outperforms dynamic self-scheduling by a factor of up to 2.3 on 30 processors     

Stochastic finite element analysis of the free vibration of laminated composite plates

Using the Stochastic Finite Element Method (SFEM) to perform reliability analysis of the free vibration of composite plates with material and fabrication uncertainties has received much attention lately. In this work the stochastic analysis is performed using the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM-method 2) and the Second-Order Reliability Method (SORM). The basic random variables include laminae stiffness properties and material density, as well as the randomness in ply orientation angles. Modeling of the composite behavior utilizes a nine-noded isoparametric Lagrangian element based on the third-order shear deformation theory. Calculating the eigenvectors at the mean values of the variables proves to be a reasonable simplification which significantly increases solution speed. The stochastic finite element code is validated using comparisons with results of Monte Carlo simulation technique with importance sampling. Results show that SORM is an excellent rapid tool in the stochastic analysis of free vibration of composite plates, when compared to the slower Monte Carlo simulation techniques.