Prediction of concentration for microalgae using image analysis

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Maintaining the optimum growth rate and estimating the concentration of microalgae are critical in improving microalgae production. An efficient concentration...     

HEAT TRANSFER IN A CONDUCTIVE-HEATING AGITATED DRYER

The heat transfers between the heating plane and the granular materials in both the “Stationary heating-plane type” and the “Moving heating-plane type” of the conductive-heating agitated dryers were discussed mainly from the view point of the scale-up of the dryer. Under the condition of complete mixing in the bed of bulk materials, the heat transfer models proposed for both the two types of dryers can predict the heat transfer coefficients in any sizes of the dryers. However, the complete mixing is not usually accomplished in the large scale of dryer. Hence, an “Incomplete mixing model” was proposed to estimate the effect of the incompleteness of mixing on the heat transfer coefficient. In this model, the incompleteness of mixing can be apparently taken into consideration only by increasing the contact time.     

Smooth switching LPV controller design for LPV systems

This paper presents a method to design a smooth switching gain-scheduled linear parameter varying (LPV) controller for LPV systems. The moving region of the gain-scheduling variables is divided into a specified number of local subregions as well as subregions for the smooth controller switching, and one gain-scheduled LPV controller is assigned to each of the local subregions. For each switching subregion, a function interpolating two local LPV controllers associated with its neighborhood subregions is designed to satisfy the constraint of smooth transition of controller system matrices. The smooth switching controller design problem amounts to solving a feasibility problem which involves nonlinear matrix inequalities. To find a solution to the feasibility problem, an iterative descent algorithm which solves a series of convex optimization problems is proposed. The usefulness of the proposed controller design method is demonstrated with a control example of a flexible ball-screw drive system.     

Heat transfer in an indirect-heat agitated dryerWärmeübertragung in indirekt beheizten Trommeltrocknern

The heat transfer coefficients between the heating plane and the granular material under agitation in a small indirect-heat agitated dryer with both moving and stationary heating planes were measured in order to obtain data for its design and to analyse the heat transfer mechanism. Based on the ‘particle heat transfer model’ suggested by Schlünder and partly revised by Mollekopf and Martin, heat transfer models for both types of heating planes were proposed to correlate the observed heat transfer coefficients. Comparison between the experimental and calculated heat transfer coefficients showed no serious deviation in either case. Using these models, it is possible to estimate the heat transfer coefficient between the heating plane and the granular material in this type of dryer.     

A parameter set division and switching gain-scheduling controllers design method for time-varying plants

This paper presents a new technique to design switching gain-scheduling controllers for plants with measurable time-varying parameters. By dividing the parameter set into a sufficient number of subsets, and by designing a robust controller to each subset, the designed switching gain-scheduling controllers achieve a desired L₂-gain performance for each subset, while ensuring stability whenever a controller switching occurs due to the crossing of the time-varying parameters between any two adjacent subsets. Based on integral quadratic constraints theory and Lyapunov stability theory, a switching gain-scheduling controllers design problem amounts to solving optimization problems. Each optimization problem is to be solved by a combination of the bisection search and the numerical nonsmooth optimization method. The main advantage of the proposed technique is that the division of the parameter region is determined automatically, without any prespecified parameter set division which is required in most of previously developed switching gain-scheduling controllers design methods. A numerical example illustrates the validity of the proposed technique.     

Influence of Oil Viscosity,Chemical Oil Structure,and Chemical Additives on Friction Loss of Spur Gears (Concerning the Influence of Synthetic Oil and Mineral Oil)

The friction loss of gears and its quantitative estimation are important problems because of their relevance to energy conservation and load-carrying capacity. Recent research results do not provide satisfactory estimates of friction loss of spur gears. Therefore, the authors carried out experiments to study the influences of lubricating oil viscosity and additives, as well as base oil type and load and rotational speed on friction loss of spur gears. Base oil types used were paraffin mineral, poly-α-olefin, and polyglycol with several oil viscosities. An EP and a mild EP additive were studied in these oils. Finally, the temperature rise of teeth of gears as a function of friction power loss was investigated, and an empirical formula for calculating the temperature rise of the spur gear teeth was derived.     

Presence of lactoferrin in a bovine skim milk fraction with acid phosphatase activity

The aim of this study was to determine the principal active molecules in the acid phosphatase (AcP) fraction of skim milk origin using immunostaining and AcP staining. The AcP fraction was separated from skim milk at 0.38 m NaCl using carboxymethyl cellulose chromatography at pH 5.2. The molecular mass of the active molecule in AcP fraction was estimated to be 80 kDa by immunostaining and AcP staining. The 80 kDa protein was analyzed by a protein sequencer, using the automated Edman degradation method; the first thirteen N-terminal amino acid sequence obtained were shown to be APRKNVRWXTIXQ. For that amino acid sequence, there was 84% (11/13 residues) homology with the amino acid sequence of bovine lactoferrin (LF). The AcP fraction and commercial LF showed a similar AcP activity profile, having an optimum pH of 4.5 and temperature of 60 °C. Thus, the AcP fraction from bovine skim milk was isolated and the principal active molecule present was tentatively identified as LF.     

Simulation analysis of site design and layout planning to mitigate thermal environment of riverside residential development

The present study explains the application of a numerical simulation to investigate the thermal environment of a new riverside residential development in summer. The case study area consists of more than one hundred two-story detached houses built next to a river near Tokyo, Japan. According to the meteorological data, prevailing wind directions are at an angle to the northbound river flow affecting the microclimate of the study area in terms of surface temperature of land and buildings, air temperature and wind distribution at pedestrian height. These factors have been estimated using the stepwise CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulation of radiation, conduction and convection. This method leads to an improvement of outdoor thermal environment by manipulating the site design and layout planning scenarios. The effect of river, permeable pavements and green space on thermal environment is examined by the site design options. Likewise, the impact of building arrangement is evaluated using alternative layout planning scenarios. In total, five scenarios have been simulated for the proposed sustainable development as explained in the paper. Above simulations provided an insight into the mitigation effects of each countermeasure. It is also shown that the management of inflow paths and the creation of wind paths for the interior of the site have the potentials to improve the outdoor thermal environment of riverside residential development.     

Radiative heat transfer by flowing multiphase medium—part II. An analysis on heat transfer of laminar flow in an entrance region of circular tube

An analysis has been performed on the heat transfer with thermal radiation by flowing gaseous suspensions of solid and/or liquid fine particles in an inlet section of circular tube. The examination of the results on temperature profiles of both phases and heat transfer parameters illustrates that the multiphase medium is pertinent to heat transfer at high and extremely high temperatures because of the absorption behavior of the dispersed phase for thermal radiation and the results are summarized for wide ranges of parameters such as loading ratio, heat transfer characteristics between two phases, optical thickness of a duct, interaction parameter of conduction with radiation, etc. The interactions between the convection to fluid and the radiation are. thereafter, examined in some details.     

A New Hypothetical Concept in Metabolic Understanding of Cardiac Fibrosis: Glycolysis Combined with TGF-β and KLF5 Signaling

The accumulation of fibrosis in cardiac tissues is one of the leading causes of heart failure. The principal cellular effectors in cardiac fibrosis are activated fibroblasts and myofibroblasts, which serve as the primary source of matrix proteins. TGF-β signaling pathways play a prominent role in cardiac fibrosis. The control of TGF-β by KLF5 in cardiac fibrosis has been demonstrated for modulating cardiovascular remodeling. Since the expression of KLF5 is reduced, the accumulation of fibrosis diminishes. Because the molecular mechanism of fibrosis is still being explored, there are currently few options for effectively reducing or reversing it. Studying metabolic alterations is considered an essential process that supports the explanation of fibrosis in a variety of organs and especially the glycolysis alteration in the heart. However, the interplay among the main factors involved in fibrosis pathogenesis, namely TGF-β, KLF5, and the metabolic process in glycolysis, is still indistinct. In this review, we explain what we know about cardiac fibroblasts and how they could help with heart repair. Moreover, we hypothesize and summarize the knowledge trend on the molecular mechanism of TGF-β, KLF5, the role of the glycolysis pathway in fibrosis, and present the future therapy of cardiac fibrosis. These studies may target therapies that could become important strategies for fibrosis reduction in the future.