Optimal heat extraction from an updraft biomass reactor

This paper presents the design of gas-water and gas-air heat exchangers for extraction of thermal energy from updraft biomass gasifiers in the firing rate range 10–120 kg/h. Mathematical models are developed to study the sensitivity of the heat exchanger efficiency and effectiveness to geometric and flow variables. Optimal parameters to suit the biomass reactor have been evolved. The calculated heat transfer coefficients have been compared with experimental results obtained in test gas-water and gas-air heat exchangers with an observed deviation between −25 and + 17%. In conclusion, system efficiencies of about 75–80% can be achieved by choice of appropriate operating flow regimes and heat exchanger sizes.     

Effect of immunosuppression and splenectomy in transplantation sarcomas in mice

After spontaneous regression of transplanted tumours, marked reduction in number of tumours was found when challenged with isogenic tumour cells. The ALS abrogates this effect. Tumour removal by surgical excision of limb and subsequent time scheduled challenge by tumour cells maximally suppress on the 10th day and continues up to the 42nd day the tumorogenic effect. Splenectomy has no effect if done before a day or 3 days after challenge but marked decrease in tumour development was seen when challenged on the 8th day after splenectomy. Amputation and splenectomy together potentiates tumour formation. Only in tumour extrication, does resistance develop up to the 42nd day from surgery. Challenging at a different site in mice with tumours, resulted in prolongation of the intervals of tumour formation. Challenge after surgical removal of tumour after a time lapse, results in marked reduction in number and size of tumours. Surgical tumour extrication after splenectomy and subsequent challenge on 11th day inhibited tumour formation. Whereas splenectomized tumour bearing mice when challenged at a heterosite did not develop resistance.     

Crystallinity,conductivity, and magnetic properties of PVDF‐Fe3O4 composite films

The formation of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles by hydrothermal process has been studied. X‐ray Diffraction measurements were carried out to distinguish between the phases formed during the synthesis. Using the synthesized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, poly(vinyledene fluoride)‐Fe₃O₄ composite films were prepared by spin coating method. Scanning electron microscopy of the composite films showed the presence of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in the form of aggregates on the surface and inside of the porous polymer matrix. Differential Scanning calorimetry revealed that the crystallinity of PVDF decreased with the addition of Fe₃O₄. The conductitivity of the composite films was strongly influenced by the Fe₃O₄ content; conductivity increased with increase in Fe₃O₄ content. Vibration sample magnetometry results revealed the ferromagnetic behavior of the synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles with a Ms value of 74.50 emu/g. Also the presence of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles rendered the composite films magnetic. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Reduces Neonatal Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Long-Lasting Neurobehavioral Deficits and Dopaminergic Neuronal Injury in Adult Rats

Our previous study showed that a single lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment to neonatal rats could induce a long-lasting neuroinflammatory response and dopaminergic system injury late in life. This is evidenced by a sustained activation of microglia and elevated interleukin-1β (IL-1β) levels, as well as reduced tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression in the substantia nigra (SN) of P70 rat brain. The object of the current study was to test whether co-administration of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) protects against LPS-induced neurological dysfunction later in life. LPS (1 mg/kg) with or without IL-1ra (0.1 mg/kg), or sterile saline was injected intracerebrally into postnatal day 5 (P5) Sprague-Dawley male rat pups. Motor behavioral tests were carried out from P7 to P70 with subsequent examination of brain injury. Our results showed that neonatal administration of IL-1ra significantly attenuated LPS-induced motor behavioral deficits, loss of TH immunoreactive neurons, as well as microglia activation in the SN of P70 rats. These data suggest that IL-1β may play a pivotal role in mediating a chronic neuroinflammation status by a single LPS exposure in early postnatal life, and blockading IL-1β might be a novel approach to protect the dopaminergic system against perinatal infection/inflammation exposure.     

Role of Interfacial Carbon layer in the Thermal Diffusivity/Conductivity of Silicon Carbide Fiber-Reinforced Reaction-Bonded Silicon Nitride Matrix Composites

The role of an interfacial carbon coating in the heat conduction behavior of a uniaxial silicon carbide nitride was investigated. For such a composite without an interfacial carbon coating the values for the thermal conductivity transverse to the fiber direction agreed very well with the values calculated from composite theory using experimental data parallel to the fiber direction, regardless of the ambient atmosphere. However, for a composite made with carbon-coated fibers the experimental values for the thermal conductivity transverse to the fiber direction under vacuum at room temperature were about a factor of 2 lower than those calculated from composite theory assuming perfect interfacial thermal contact. This discrepancy was attributed to the formation of an interfacial gap, resulting from the thermal expansion mismatch between the fibers and the matrix in combination with the low adhesive strength of the carbon coating. In nitrogen or helium the thermal conductivity was found to be higher because of the contribution of gaseous conduction across the interfacial gap. On switching from vacuum to nitrogen a transient effect in the thermal diffusivity was observed, attributed to the diffusion-limited entry of the gas phase into the interfacial gap. These effects decreased with increasing temperature, due to gap closure, to be virtually absent at 1000°C.     

Structure–Activity Relationships of Benzenesulfonamide‐Based Inhibitors towards Carbonic Anhydrase Isoform Specificity

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are implicated in a wide range of diseases, including the upregulation of isoforms CA IX and XII in many aggressive cancers. However, effective inhibition of disease‐implicated CAs should minimally affect the ubiquitously expressed isoforms, including CA I and II, to improve directed distribution of the inhibitors to the cancer‐associated isoforms and reduce side effects. Four benzenesulfonamide‐based inhibitors were synthesized by using the tail approach and displayed nanomolar affinities for several CA isoforms. The crystal structures of the inhibitors bound to a CA IX mimic and CA II are presented. Further in silico modeling was performed with the inhibitors docked into CA I and XII to identify residues that contributed to or hindered their binding interactions. These structural studies demonstrated that active‐site residues lining the hydrophobic pocket, especially positions 92 and 131, dictate the positional binding and affinity of inhibitors, whereas the tail groups modulate CA isoform specificity. Geometry optimizations were performed on each ligand in the crystal structures and showed that the energetic penalties of the inhibitor conformations were negligible compared to the gains from active‐site interactions. These studies further our understanding of obtaining isoform specificity when designing small molecule CA inhibitors.     

Spatial and Temporal Resolution of Conjugate Conduction-Convection Thermal Resistance

A transient, 3-D solution to the heat conduction equation with a small square heat source on an adiabatic surface and Newtonian convection on the opposite side was obtained using Green's functions. The geometry conservatively models conduction spreading resistance encountered by small, concentrated heat sources such as light-emitting diodes and integrated circuits in general, mounted to larger substrates such as the base of a heat sink experiencing Newtonian convection. The solution is presented for a range of nondimensional parameters. Superposition techniques can also be used to extend the applicability of the current solution to the temperature prediction of arbitrary heat flux patterns in certain cases. This technique only holds for applications where the heat transfer coefficient is not a function of temperature, such as thermal management strategies designed to rely on forced convection with air.     

ADYTIA: Adaptive and Dynamic TCP Interface Architecture for heterogeneous networks

Due to the widespread popularity and usage of Internet of things (IoT)‐enabled devices, there is an exponential increase in the data traffic generated from these IoT devices. Most of these devices communicate with each other using heterogeneous links having constraints such as latency, throughput, and interference from concurrent transmissions. This results in an extra burden on the underlying communication infrastructure to manage the traffic within these constraints between source and destination. However, most of the existing applications use different Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) variants for traffic management between these devices and are dependent on the stage of the sender, irrespective of the application types and link characteristics. Each operating system (OS) has different TCP variant for all applications, irrespective of path characteristics. Hence, a single TCP variant cannot select the best suitable link, which results in degradation in throughput compared to the existing default. Moreover, it cannot use the full capacity of the available link for different applications and network links, especially in heterogeneous network such as IoT. To cope up with these challenges, in this paper, we propose an Adaptive and Dynamic TCP Interface Architecture (ADYTIA). ADYTIA allows the usage of different TCP variants based on application and link characteristics, irrespective of the physical links of the entire path. It allows the usage of different TCP variants based on their design principle across heterogeneous technologies, platforms, and applications. ADYTIA is implemented on NS‐2 and Linux kernel for real testbed experiments. Its ability to select the best suitable TCP variant results in 20% to 80% improvement in throughput compared with the existing default and single TCP variant on Linux and Windows.     

Pr（Ⅲ） and Nd（Ⅲ） Absorption Spectroscopic Probe to Investigate Interaction with Lysozyme （HEW）

Pr（ Ⅲ ） and Nd（ Ⅲ ） can be utilized as absorption spectroscopic probes to investigate the interaction of biomolecules like Lysozyme （HEW） with Ca（ Ⅱ ） in-vitro ; the most abundant metal ion in the human body system. The spectroscopic techniques involving comparative absorption, absorption difference, and quantitative intensity analysis using 4f-4f transitions are utilized for changes in the inner sphere coordination pattern of Pr（ Ⅲ ） and Nd（Ⅲ ） in solution as well as in solid state. The present study deals with an important biomolecule in human metabolism, that is, Lysozyme （HEW）. The absorption er-Condon the probab spectral parameters such as the oscillator strength （P）, the Judd-Ofelt （Tλ） intensity parameters, and the Slatinter electronic parameters are calculated using chi square methods. The obtained results are used to determine le geometry of the complex in the solution, the nature of the bond between Pr（Ⅲ）/Nd（Ⅲ） with lysozyme, and the inner sphere coordination environment of f-f transitions. The results obtained from various experimental conditions are utilized to investigate the coordination changes in the Pr（Ⅲ）/Nd（Ⅲ） complexes caused by different coordinating sites of lysozyme, normalized bite, denticity, the solvent nature, the coordination number, the nature of bond and other parameters to mimic the interaction of the Ca（ Ⅱ ） ion with such biomolecule.     

Set size, novelty, and visual pop-out in infancy.

The effects of set size and novelty on visual pop-out in 6-month-old infants was assessed in a perceptual-identification (memory reactivation) paradigm in which infants, trained and tested in their own homes, viewed a mobile containing a unique novel or familiar object amidst different numbers of familiar or novel distractors, respectively. Unique objects of both types popped out at all set sizes except the largest, where there was modest evidence that familiar distractors speeded processing (Experiment 1). When the proportion of familiar targets in a display of intermediate set size was increased, however, infants no longer detected the familiar target (Experiment 2). These findings offer additional support for the proposition that visual pop-out in infants and adults is the same phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)