A Jini service to reconstruct tomographic data

Distributed computing that uses dynamic networks will change the way we work and communicate thanks to the interaction of devices and services, that are automatically added and removed from the network as needed. The Jini technology, which is built atop the Java programming language, provides a homogenous view of the network and extends the ability of code to migrate in Java. This software design model simplifies the configuration and access to hardware devices and software services in a network. Thus, it becomes possible to execute new services without pre-installing software on client machines. This new programming paradigm is especially important in medical applications, where the reliable transmission of information is essential. This paper demonstrates how single photon emission computerized tomography data can be iteratively reconstructed using a Jini service.     

Influence of the underneath cavity on buoyant‐forced cooling of the integrated photovoltaic panels in building roof: a thermography study

Airflow around building‐integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has a significant impact on their hygrothermal behavior and degradation. The potential of reducing the temperature of BIPV using an underneath cavity is experimentally and numerically investigated in literature. Most of the models are oversimplified in terms of modeling the impact of 3D flow over/underneath of PV modules, which can result in a non‐uniform surface temperature and consequently a non‐homogenous thermal degradation. Moreover, the simultaneous presence of radiation and convection related to upstream wind, in addition to the combined impact of back‐ventilation and surface convection, is barely addressed in literature. However, these simplifications can result in the unrealistic loading climate conditions. This paper aims to present a unique experimental setup to provide more realistic climate conditions for investigating the ventilation potential of the underneath. The setup consists of a solar simulator and a building prototype with installed PV, placed inside an atmospheric wind tunnel to control upstream wind velocity. Thermography is performed using an infrared camera to monitor the surface temperature of the BIPV. The potential of an underneath cavity with various cavity heights and PV arrangement is further investigated in this paper. The outcome would be eventually useful in the development of practical guidelines for BIPV installation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mixed matrix membranes on the basis of Matrimid and palladium-zeolitic imidazolate framework for hydrogen separation

Iranian Polymer Journal - Gas separation membranes with enhanced performance were developed by the introduction of nanosized palladium particles. In this study, gas separation performance of...     

Innovative Diagnostic Peptide-Based Technologies for Cancer Diagnosis: Focus on EGFR-Targeting Peptides

Active targeting using biological ligands has emerged as a novel strategy for the targeted delivery of diagnostic agents to tumor cells. Conjugating functional targeting moieties with diagnostic probes can increase their accumulation in tumor cells and tissues, enhancing signal detection and, thus, the sensitivity of diagnosis. Due to their small size, ease of chemical synthesis and site-specific modification, high tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, rapid blood clearance, low cost, and biosafety, peptides offer several advantages over antibodies and proteins in diagnostic applications. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most promising cancer biomarkers for actively targeting diagnostic and therapeutic agents to tumor cells due to its active involvement and overexpression in various cancers. Several peptides for EGFR-targeting have been identified in the last decades, which have been obtained by multiple means including derivation from natural proteins, phage display screening, positional scanning synthetic combinatorial library, and in silico screening. Many studies have used these peptides as a targeting moiety for diagnosing different cancers in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials. This review summarizes the progress of EGFR-targeting peptide-based assays in the molecular diagnosis of cancer.     

Experimental investigation of hysteretic dynamic effect in capillary pressure–saturation relationship for two‐phase flow in porous media

Well‐defined laboratory experiments have been carried out to investigate hysteretic dynamic effect in capillary pressure–saturation relationships for two‐phase flow in homogeneous and heterogeneous (layered) porous media. Conceptually, the dependence of the capillary pressure curves on the rate of change of saturation (dS_w/dt) is defined as the dynamic effect in capillary pressure relationship, which is indicated by a dynamic coefficient, τ (Pa s) and it determines the rate at which two‐phase flow equilibrium is reached, i.e., dS_w/dt = 0 where S_w and t are the water saturation and time, respectively. The dependences of τ on various fluid and porous materials properties have been studied in the context of drainage; but, there is limited study for imbibition and the hysteresis of τ?S_w relationships. As such, the emphasis in this article is on reporting τ?S_w curves for imbibition while also demonstrating the hysteresis in the τ?S_w relationships by comparing τ?S_w curves for drainage (previously reported) and imbibition (this study) in carefully designed laboratory experiments. Homogeneous sand samples composed of either fine (small particle size and lower permeability) or coarse (larger particle size and higher permeability) sand have been used for these experiments. Furthermore, a layered domain made of a find sand layer sandwiched between two coarse sand layers is used as a model of heterogeneous domain. The results of the study confirm that the τ?S_w relationships are hysteretic in nature and, as such, the speed to flow equilibrium should vary depending on whether drainage or imbibition takes place. At a particular water saturation, the magnitudes of the dynamic coefficient (τ) are found to be generally higher for imbibition, which imply that the speed to flow equilibrium at the same saturation will be slower for imbibition. © 2013 The Authors. AIChE Journal, published by Wiley on behalf of the AIChE. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. AIChE J, 59: 3958–3974, 2013     

Production of Isopropyl and Methyl Esters from Yellow Mustard Oil/IPA Miscellas

Using an isopropyl alcohol (IPA):flour [volume:weight (ml:g)] ratio of 1.5:1 per stage of extraction resulted in an oil yield of 86.3%. The combined miscella (IPA + oil), which contained 90.6 wt% IPA, 9.8 wt% oil, and 2.1 wt% water, was used as a feedstock for biodiesel production by transesterification. Transesterification of the IPA/oil miscella dehydrated using adsorption on 4Å molecular sieves with 1.2 wt% (based on oil) potassium hydroxide for 2 h at 72 °C converted only 29% of the feed to esters. The addition of methanol (MeOH) resulted in an ester yield of 87%, consisting of 79% methyl ester and 7% isopropyl ester when starting with an IPA:oil:MeOH molar ratio of 146:1:30. By increasing the KOH catalyst to 3 wt%, the ester yield increased to 94%. To increase the ester yield, the miscella was pretreated with sulfuric acid. This resulted in a reduction of the IPA content, the removal of other impurities such as phospholipids, and reduction of the water mass fraction to less than 1%. When IPA was used as a cosolvent with methanol in the transesterification process, a very high ester conversion (>99%) was achieved. The biodiesel produced was compliant with ASTM standards, showing that IPA can be used as a solvent for oil extraction from yellow mustard flour.     

Contribution of intermolecular interactions to constructing supramolecular architecture: Synthesis, structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis of a new hybrid of polyoxomolybdate and ((1H-tetrazole-5-yl) methyl)morpholine

A new soluble organic–inorganic hybrid based on polyoxomolybdate, [C₆H₁₂N₅O]₃[(PO₄)Mo₁₂O₃₆]·6H₂O (1), has been successfully synthesized and characterized by using elemental analysis, IR, UV spectroscopies, ¹H NMR technique, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. According to the results of X-ray crystallography the anion [(PO₄)Mo₁₂O₃₆]³⁻ has a typical Keggin structure and the Mo–O distances of Mo–O–Mo bonds are alternately short and long in the polyoxoanion structure. Hirshfeld surface analyses, especially d_norm surface and fingerprint plots, are used for decoding intermolecular interactions in the crystal network and contribution of component units for the construction of the 3D architecture. The results indicate that in 1 the hydrogen bond interaction play a main role in the construction of the 3D architecture, especially the CHO interaction which overruns the classic NHO, NHO hydrogen bond interactions; van der Waals force between the peripheral atoms of component units cannot be ignored.     

A silica supported Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst prepared by the sol/gel technique: Operating conditions, catalytic properties and characterization

A Co/Fe catalyst was prepared using the sol/gel technique in order to study its catalytic activity and selectivity in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The effect of a range of operation variables such as pressure, temperature and H₂/CO molar feed ratio on the catalytic performance of 40%Fe/60%Co/15 wt.%SiO₂/1.5 wt.%K catalyst was investigated. It was found that the optimum operating conditions is a H₂/CO = 2/1 molar feed ratio at 350 °C temperature and 3 bar pressure. Characterization of both precursor and calcined catalysts was carried out using XRD, SEM, EDS, TPR, BET surface area measurements and thermal analysis methods such as TGA and DSC. It was observed that all of the different operation variables influenced the structure, morphology and catalytic performance of the catalysts.     

Evaluation of Four Tree Algorithms in Predicting and Investigating the Changes in Aquifer Depth

One of the key elements in improved management and better planning for aquifer maintenance is the ability to predict changes in aquifer depth. In order to forecast changes in aquifer depth in Qazvin plain, four methods, including Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Reduced Error Pruning Trees (RepTree), M5-Pruned (M5P), and M5Rule, were used in this work. The absolute mean error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R2) data show that the CART algorithm performs better than other algorithms at forecasting changes in aquifer depth. The CART algorithm's prediction findings showed that the aquifer's behavior in the two seasons was entirely different. In the first stage, which began in November and continued through April, there was an annual average depth of 0.045 m. The aquifer depth has been greatly influenced by rising precipitation and falling air temperature. The aquifer experiences an average decline of 0.15 m in the second portion, which runs from May to October. Aquifer depth has significantly decreased as a result of declining natural water supplies and rising agricultural water use. It is advised to utilize a crop scheme with reduced water need when rainfall reduces due to the strong effect of changes in aquifer depth from rainfall with a delay of one to three months ago.

     

Analysis and Optimization of Current-Driven Passive Mixers in Narrowband Direct-Conversion Receivers

Properties of the current-driven passive mixer are explored to maximize its performance in a zero-IF receiver. Since there is no reverse isolation between the RF and baseband sides of the mixer, the mixer reflects the baseband impedance to the RF and vice versa through simple frequency shifting. It is also shown that in an IQ down-conversion system the lack of reverse isolation causes a mutual interaction between the two quadrature mixers, which results in different high- and low-side conversion gains, and unexpected IIP2 and IIP3 values. With a thorough and accurate mathematical analysis it is shown how to design this mixer and its current buffer, and how to size components to get the best linearity, conversion gain and noise figure while alleviating the IQ cross-talk problem.