Bed collapse dynamics of fluidized beds of nano-powder

Bed collapse experiments have been carried out in fluidized beds of agglomerated nano-powders possessing high void fractions. Transient responses for the local pressure-drop as well as the gas velocity during the collapse were recorded. From the local pressure transient data, occurrences of key events of the collapse dynamics were identified. The first event is the zero pressure-drop condition soon after the flow interruption while the second is the global minimum on the pressure-drop profile that marks the end of the first stage of the bed collapse characterized by fast bed transients. The second stage is a relatively slow process, which ends with the onset of the zero pressure-drop condition again (third event) that reflects particles becoming stationary, thus signaling the completion of the collapse dynamics. The time of the first stage of the collapse is found to vary linearly with the initial fluidization velocity at which the collapse experiment was initiated whereas the total collapse time shows a rather weak dependence on the fluidization velocity. On the other hand, the velocity transients during the collapse follow first-order time lag that can be accurately modeled using a single time constant irrespective of the initial fluidization velocity.     

Outcome among patients with acute renal failure needing continuous renal replacement therapy: A single center study

Outcome of acute renal failure (ARF) and use of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) have shown a consistently high mortality. (1) Evaluate the short-term patient survival. (2) Evaluate dialysis-free survival. (3) Evaluate risk factors associated with overall survival and the continued need for intermittent dialysis. We identified adults (≥18 years) needing CRRT, treated in the critical care units of Froedtert Medical and Lutheran Hospital from January 1, 2003 till December 31, 2005. Patients were divided into two major groups needing CRRT, end stage renal disease (ESRD) (chronic dialysis) and non-ESRD with ARF. Continuous renal replacement therapy was performed with an average of 2 L replacement fluid exchanges/h. Sigma stat software was used for analysis. Comparison was done for noncontinuous variables by chi-square and t test for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. A total of 110 (ESRD 24/non-ESRD 86) patients received CRRT during study period. Over all in-hospital mortality among non-ESRD patients was 63% vs. 46% for ESRD. Among non-ESRD patients who survived, 47% needed intermittent hemodialysis on intensive care unit discharge and 28% continued to need hemodialysis at last follow-up. Among non-ESRD patients alive at discharge, those who were dialysis dependent on last follow-up were older (64.5) than those who did not require dialysis on last follow-up (58.4) P=0.347. Non-ESRD patients who died were in the hospital for an average of 17.5 days compared with 29 days for those who were discharged from the hospital. Patients with ARF needing CRRT have high in-hospital mortality. A significant percentage of patients remained dialysis dependant on last follow-up.     

Infrared waveguide fabrications with an E-beam evaporated chalcogenide glass film

Chalcogenide glasses have a variety of unique optical properties due to the intrinsic structural flexibility and bonds metastability. They are desirable materials for many applications, such as infrared communication sensors, holographic grating, optical imaging, and ultrafast nonlinear optic devices. Here, we introduce a novel electron-beam evaporation process to deposit the good quality arsenic trisulfide (As₂S₃) films and then the As₂S₃ films were used to fabricate the As₂S₃ waveguides with three approaches. The first method is photoresist lift-off. Because of the restriction of thermal budget of photoresist, the As₂S₃ film must be deposited at the room temperature. The second one is the silicon dioxide lift-off process on sapphire substrates, in which the As₂S₃ film could be evaporated at a high temperature (>180 °C) for better film quality. The third one is the plasma etching process with a metal protective thin layer in the pattern development process.     

Healthcare knowledge sharing among a community of specialized physicians

Healthcare organizations strive to make the best use of their organizational knowledge. The collective know-hows of the medical workers directly affect the quality of the delivered healthcare services. This study addresses the healthcare knowledge-sharing among a community of specialized physicians. An extensive study of the literature on knowledge-sharing in industries generally and healthcare organizations specifically were presented. Six focal elements were detected in previous attempts to address the knowledge-sharing status in healthcare organizations. Additionally, three previous models for healthcare knowledge management were analyzed. The studied literature along with the three studied models helped in constructing the framework and suggesting a suitable research methodology for primary data collection. Qualitative approach of in-depth interview technique was used for interviewing eight specialized physicians. The data collected from the interviewees were then analyzed and produced explanatory themes and codes. These themes are physicians’ acquisition of medical knowledge, staff participating in the knowledge sharing, knowledge-sharing culture, ICT-based knowledge sharing and top management involvement. The findings resulted in recognizing four considerations which ought to be taken into account for successful knowledge-sharing activities and learning initiatives in the healthcare organization. Conclusions and recommendations for future studies were presented based on the implications of this research study.     

Evaluating the lucrative role of probiotics in the aquaculture using microscopic and biochemical techniques

The present study focused to elucidate the promising role of probiotics in the fish culture, by employing microscopic and biochemical parameters to rationalize the possible outcomes. After preliminary feeding trial histopathological analysis revealed clear and visible changes in the intestinal and liver cells of CTRL (control group) compared to probiotics supplemented group, the bacterial inoculations resulted in shorten and swelled villi, while liver kupffer cells increased many folds in the CTRL. Moreover, there was clear hypertrophy and lamellar fusion in the gills tissues examined under microscope. Furthermore, intriguing results were obtained, such as a substantial increase in the weight gain, specific growth rate (%BW/day), FCE%, survival%, and improved secretions of amylase, cellulase, and protease activities. Likewise, high crude protein, fats content, while low moisture and total Ash was noticed in EXP I (Probiotics supplemented) compared to CTRL. The microscopic and biochemical analysis disclosed the positive role of probiotics on the fish health, thus we suggest its supplementations in the fish diet.     

基于空间谱的多天线盲频谱感知算法

现有的频谱感知算法主要在时间、频率以及地理空间维度进行检测,对角度维的利用尚不成熟。将多天线技术中的到达角（AOA, angle of arrival）估计算法应用到频谱感知领域,提出了2种基于空间谱的盲频谱感知算法,分别为最大—最小延迟相加谱值比检测和平均—最小延迟相加谱值比检测。利用空域匹配滤波的优势,新算法在低信噪比下得到了较高的检测概率,同时为角度维的频谱接入提供了AOA信息,从而提高了频谱利用率。此外,运用随机矩阵理论,推导了检测阈值和检测概率的理论值。仿真结果表明,在Nakagami-m信道下,提出的算法具有比现有盲感知算法更优的检测性能。     

Oxy‐fuel combustion technology: current status,applications, and trends

The increased level of emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuels represents one of the main barriers toward the reduction of greenhouse gases and the control of global warming. In the last decades, the use of renewable and clean sources of energies such as solar and wind energies has been increased extensively. However, due to the tremendously increasing world energy demand, fossil fuels would continue in use for decades which necessitates the integration of carbon capture technologies (CCTs) in power plants. These technologies include oxycombustion, pre‐combustion, and post‐combustion carbon capture. Oxycombustion technology is one of the most promising carbon capture technologies as it can be applied with slight modifications to existing power plants or to new power plants. In this technology, fuel is burned using an oxidizer mixture of pure oxygen plus recycled exhaust gases (consists mainly of CO₂). The oxycombustion process results in highly CO₂‐concentrated exhaust gases, which facilitates the capture process of CO₂ after H₂O condensation. The captured CO₂ can be used for industrial applications or can be sequestrated. The current work reviews the current status of oxycombustion technology and its applications in existing conventional combustion systems (including gas turbines and boilers) and novel oxygen transport reactors (OTRs). The review starts with an introduction to the available CCTs with emphasis on their different applications and limitations of use, followed by a review on oxycombustion applications in different combustion systems utilizing gaseous, liquid, and coal fuels. The current status and technology readiness level of oxycombustion technology is discussed. The novel application of oxycombustion technology in OTRs is analyzed in some details. The analyses of OTRs include oxygen permeation technique, fabrication of oxygen transport membranes (OTMs), calculation of oxygen permeation flux, and coupling between oxygen separation and oxycombustion of fuel within the same unit called OTR. The oxycombustion process inside OTR is analyzed considering coal and gaseous fuels. The future trends of oxycombustion technology are itemized and discussed in details in the present study including: (i) ITMs for syngas production; (ii) combustion utilizing liquid fuels in OTRs; (iii) oxy‐combustion integrated power plants and (iv) third generation technologies for CO₂ capture. Techno‐economic analysis of oxycombustion integrated systems is also discussed trying to assess the future prospects of this technology. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heat transfer enhancement in hydromagnetic dissipative flow past a moving wedge suspended by H2O-aluminum alloy nanoparticles in the presence of thermal radiation

This letter investigates the two dimensional magnetohydrodynamic Falkner Skan flow of water saturated with AA7072–H₂O and AA7075–H₂O nanoparticles over a moving wedge. Influence of viscous dissipation and thermal radiation is also under consideration. The model is reduced into nondimensional form by using defined self-similar transformations. Then, numerical study (Runge-Kutta numerical scheme) is carried out for solution purpose. The effects of pertinent flow parameters are discussed in the flow regimes by means of graphical aid. Graphical results for special cases (static wedge and when the movement of flow and wedge is in opposite direction) of the model are also elucidated graphically. It is noted that fluid velocity decreases for volumetric fraction and magnetic force favor the velocity. Significant effects of thermal radiation and nanoparticles volume fraction pointed for thermal filed and the influence of Eckert number is almost inconsequential. For more radiative fluid heat transfer coefficient decreases and nanoparticles volumetric fraction favor the local rate of heat transfer. In the presence of AA7075 nanoparticles, rate of heat transfer is quite rapid as compared to that of AA7072 nanoparticles. To validate the present computations, some present results are compared with already existing results in the literature and found better agreement between them. Finally, major points of the study ingrained in the last section of the letter.     

Banana peel: an effective biosorbent for aflatoxins

This work reports the application of banana peel as a novel bioadsorbent for in vitro removal of five mycotoxins (aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) and ochratoxin A). The effect of operational parameters including initial pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature were studied in batch adsorption experiments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and point of zero charge (pH_pzc) analysis were used to characterise the adsorbent material. Aflatoxins’ adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 15 min, with highest adsorption at alkaline pH (6–8), while ochratoxin has not shown any significant adsorption due to surface charge repulsion. The experimental equilibrium data were tested by Langmuir, Freundlich and Hill isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm was found to be the best fitted model for aflatoxins, and the maximum monolayer coverage (Q₀) was determined to be 8.4, 9.5, 0.4 and 1.1 ng mg^?1 for AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 respectively. Thermodynamic parameters including changes in free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH) and entropy (ΔS) were determined for the four aflatoxins. Free energy change and enthalpy change demonstrated that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. Adsorption and desorption study at different pH further demonstrated that the sorption of toxins was strong enough to sustain pH changes that would be experienced in the gastrointestinal tract. This study suggests that biosorption of aflatoxins by dried banana peel may be an effective low-cost decontamination method for incorporation in animal feed diets.