Radiation dose survey in a paediatric cardiac catheterisation laboratory equipped with flat-panel detectors

Flat-panel X-ray detectors for fluoroscopy represent a modern imaging equipment that is being implemented in paediatric cardiac catheterisation laboratories. Infants and children represent a group of patients with a high radiosensitivity. A survey of 273 (126 diagnostic and 147 therapeutic) paediatric catheterisations was performed to investigate the radiation doses delivered by the new X-ray system. Statistical parameters (75th, 50th and 25th percentiles) of dose-area product (DAP) and fluoroscopy time are reported for patients divided into six age groups: 0-30 d, >1-12 m, >1-3, >3-5, >5-10 and >10-15 y. For accurate risk estimation, effective dose (E) has been determined for all patients using the PCXMC software. For diagnostic procedures, the third quartile of E ranges from 11.3 mSv for newborns to 7 mSv for children of 10-15 y. Therapeutic procedures are more complex than diagnostic. Consequently, the third quartile of E is 22.6 mSv (0-30 d), 18.6 (>1-12 m), 13.3 (>1-3 y), 21.5 (>3-5 y), 17.8 (>5-10 y) and 34.1 mSv (>10-15 y). Dose conversion factors, which relate the DAP and E, have been estimated for each age group. The results of this study may serve as a first step in the optimisation process, in order to make full use of the dose reduction potential of flat-panel systems.     

UNIFORMITY ASSESSMENT OF CARBON FIBRES DISPERSION IN CEMENT PASTE BY IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENTS

An alternating current was applied to measure the impedance of a hardened cement paste with various contents of carbon fibres. When the free water content in the hardened cement paste is 90%-98%, and the measuring frequency 500Hz, an approximate linear relationship was found between fibre content and impedance of the composite. Based on this relationship , a new attempt was made to evaluate the dispersion uniformity of carbon fibres in cement paste by impedance measurement. The standard deviation S and the coefficient of vriation S/Xi     

钢-碳混合纤维体系对水泥复合材料性能的影响

研究了钢－碳纤维组成的混合体系对水泥基复合材料结构和性能的影响。研究表明,采用通常的工艺过程,由于碳纤维的不充分分散而对复合材料结构产生损害,导致复合材料的性能降低。因此,特采用以均匀分散碳纤维为目的的“两阶段”搅拌工艺。纤维分散性的改善,使两种不同的纤维的作用得到发挥,从而显著改善了复合材料的强度和抵抗变形的能力。     

Performance of Two Industrial Dryers for Fish Feed

Performance and energy efficiency of two types of dryers for fish feed are compared. The first dryer was a belt dryer located at a fish feed production facility in Norway. The second dryer was a counterflow multideck dryer at a fish feed production facility in Chile. In both dryers there was only a slight decrease in drying rate over the dryer. Product samples showed a standard deviation of 0.45% on an average moisture content of 10.2% (wb) for the belt dryer and 0.49% on an average of 8.6% (wb) for the counterflow dryer. Mass and heat balances showed good accuracy. In order to compare the energy use of both dryers, normalized energy consumption and efficiency were calculated for equal feed and air inlet temperatures using two methods: the primary energy method and the energy difference method. The average normalized specific energy consumption for the belt dryer was 3,386 kJ/kg water evaporation (primary energy method) and 2,970 kJ/kg (energy difference method), with efficiencies of 56 and 64%, respectively. For the counterflow dryer the average specific energy consumption was 2,893 kJ/kg (primary energy method) and 2,393 kJ/kg (energy difference method), with efficiencies of 70 and 85%, respectively.     

Measurements of Particle Residence Time Distributions in A Co-Current Spray Dryer

ABSTRACT

Measurements of particle residence time distributions by means of tracer analysis were done in a co-current pilot plant spray dryer operated with a pressure–nozzle. A system is described for injecting tracer into the feedstream just before the nozzle. Tracer concentrations were measured in two product streams: the tower product stream (mean particle size 134 microns) and the cyclone product stream (mean particle size 67 microns). The measurements show a very wide range of residence times: some particles have residence times shorter than 3 seconds, others have residence times longer than 10 minutes. The median of the distribution is 58·5 _s for the tower product stream and 42.2 _s for the cyclone product stream.     

Removal of Cu(II) by biosorption onto coconut shell in fixed-bed column systems

Biosorption of Cu(II) onto coconut shell, an agricultural biomaterial, was studied in a fixed-bed column. The Cu(II) biosorption column had the best performance at 10 mg L^?1 inlet Cu(II) concentration, 10 mL min^?1 flow rate and 20 cm bed depth. The equilibrium uptake of Cu(II) amounted to 7.25 mg g^?1. The simulation of the breakthrough curve was successful with the BDST and Yoon–Nelson models, but the entire breakthrough curve was best predicted by the Clark model. The design of a fixed bed column for Cu(II) removal from wastewater by biosorption onto coconut shell can be done based on these models.     

Enzymatic Synthesis of Enantiopure α‐ and β‐Amino Acids by Phenylalanine Aminomutase‐Catalysed Amination of Cinnamic Acid Derivatives

The phenylalanine aminomutase (PAM) from Taxus chinensis catalyses the conversion of α‐phenylalanine to β‐phenylalanine, an important step in the biosynthesis of the N‐benzoyl phenylisoserinoyl side‐chain of the anticancer drug taxol. Mechanistic studies on PAM have suggested that (E)‐cinnamic acid is an intermediate in the mutase reaction and that it can be released from the enzyme's active site. Here we describe a novel synthetic strategy that is based on the finding that ring‐substituted (E)‐cinnamic acids can serve as a substrate in PAM‐catalysed ammonia addition reactions for the biocatalytic production of several important β‐amino acids. The enzyme has a broad substrate range and a high enantioselectivity with cinnamic acid derivatives; this allows the synthesis of several non‐natural aromatic α‐ and β‐amino acids in excellent enantiomeric excess (ee >99 %). The internal 5‐methylene‐3,5‐dihydroimidazol‐4‐one (MIO) cofactor is essential for the PAM‐catalysed amination reactions. The regioselectivity of amination reactions was influenced by the nature of the ring substituent.     

A Scaffold-Hopping Strategy toward the Identification of Inhibitors of Cyclin G Associated Kinase

We recently reported the discovery of isothiazolo[4,3-b]pyridine-based inhibitors of cyclin G associated kinase (GAK) displaying low nanomolar binding affinity for GAK and demonstrating broad-spectrum antiviral activity. To come up with novel core structures that act as GAK inhibitors, a scaffold-hopping approach was applied starting from two different isothiazolo[4,3-b]pyridines. In total, 13 novel 5,6- and 6,6-fused bicyclic heteroaromatic scaffolds were synthesized. Four of them displayed GAK affinity with K_d values in the low micromolar range that can serve as chemical starting points for the discovery of GAK inhibitors based on a different scaffold.     

Multi-expansion modal reduction: A pragmatic semi–a priori model order reduction approach for nonlinear structural dynamics

A novel model order reduction scheme for nonlinear finite element (NL-FE) structural dynamics models is proposed in this work, which enables an overall accelerated model evaluation. The proposed multi-expansion modal (MEM) reduction employs a set of modal bases evaluated for a number of representative statically deformed configurations, combined with these static deformation patterns, to obtain a reduced order basis (ROB). This ROB is then exploited in an a priori element sampling to obtain a hyper-reduced model based on the energy-conserving sampling and weighting approach. The proposed element sampling scheme uses a nonnegative L₁ optimization of the element weights where an equality between the projected and hyper-reduced linearized stiffness matrix or static deformation forces is added. A procedure and several guidelines on the reduced order model setup and evaluation are presented, with specific attention to how the presented approach allows to exploit existing NL-FE frameworks. The MEM approach is validated numerically on an academic cantilever beam model and is shown to provide good accuracy and consistent convergence properties.