Abstract: This study addresses the effect of impurities on the
crystallization of Na2CO3 produced within a strategy for capturing
CO2 from flue gases by alkaline absorption. A novel technology -
membrane assisted crystallization - is proposed for Na2CO3
crystallization from mother liquors containing impurities. High purity
of Na2CO3•10H2O crystals was obtained without impacting the
performance of the mass transfer of water vapor through membranes
during crystallization.
Abstract: Shadoo protein (Sho) was described in 2003 as the newest member of Prion protein superfamily [1]. Sho has similar structural motifs like prion protein (PrP) that is known for its central role in transmissible spongiform enchephalopathies. Although a great number of functions have been proposed, the exact physiological function of PrP is not known yet. Investigation of the function and localization of Sho may help us to understand the function of the Prion protein superfamily. Analyzing the subcellular localization of YFP-tagged forms of Sho, we detected the protein in the plasma membrane and in the nucleus of various cell lines. To reveal the localization of the endogenous protein we generated antibodies against Shadoo as well as employed commercially available anti-Shadoo antibodies: i) EG62 anti-mouse Shadoo antibody generated by Eurogentec Ltd.; ii) S-12 anti-human Shadoo antibody by Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc.; iii) R-12 anti-mouse Shadoo antibody by Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc.; iv) SPRN antibody against human Shadoo by Abgent Inc. We carried out immunocytochemistry on non-transfected HeLa, Zpl 2-1, Zw 3-5, GT1-1, GT1-7 and SHSY5Y cells as well as on YFP-Sho, Sho-YFP, and YFP-GPI transfected HeLa cells. Their specificity (in antibody-peptide competition assay) and co-localization (with the YFP signal) were assessed.
Abstract: Size based filtration is one of the common methods
employed to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole
blood. It is well known that this method suffers from isolation
efficiency to purity tradeoff. However, this tradeoff is poorly
understood. In this paper, we present the design and manufacturing
of a special rectangular slit filter. The filter was designed to retain
maximal amounts of nucleated cells, while minimizing the pressure
on cells, thereby preserving their morphology. The key parameter,
namely, input pressure, was optimized to retain the maximal number
of tumor cells, whilst maximizing the depletion of normal blood cells
(red and white blood cells and platelets). Our results indicate that for
a slit geometry of 5 × 40 μm on a 13 mm circular membrane with a
fill factor of 21%, a pressure of 6.9 mBar yields the optimum for
maximizing isolation of MCF-7 and depletion of normal blood cells.
Abstract: A new SUZ-4 zeolite membrane with
tetraethlyammonium hydroxide as the template was fabricated on
mullite tube via hydrothermal sol-gel synthesis in a rotating
autoclave reactor. The suitable synthesis condition was SiO2:Al2O3
ratio of 21.2 for 4 days at 155 °C crystallization under autogenous
pressure. The obtained SUZ-4 possessed a high BET surface area of
396.4 m2/g, total pore volume at 2.611 cm3/g, and narrow pore size
distribution with 97 nm mean diameter and 760 nm long of needle
crystal shape. The SUZ-4 layer obtained from seeding crystallization
was thicker than that of without seeds or in situ crystallization.
Abstract: In this study, oxidative steam reforming of methanol (OSRM) over a Au/CeO2–Fe2O3 catalyst prepared by a depositionprecipitation (DP) method was studied to produce hydrogen in order to feed a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The support (CeO2, Fe2O3, and CeO2–Fe2O3) were prepared by precipitation and co-precipitation methods. The impact of the support composition on the catalytic performance was studied by varying the Ce/(Ce+Fe) atomic ratio, it was found that the 1%Au/CF(0.25) calcined at 300 °C exhibited the highest catalytic activity in the whole temperature studied. In addition, the effect of Au content was investigated and 3%Au/CF(0.25) exhibited the highest activity under the optimum condition in the temperature range of 200 °C to 400 °C. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques: XRD, TPR, XRF, and UV-vis.
Abstract: Movable power sources of proton exchange
membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the important research done in the
current fuel cells (FC) field. The PEMFC system control influences
the cell performance greatly and it is a control system for industrial
complex problems, due to the imprecision, uncertainty and partial
truth and intrinsic nonlinear characteristics of PEMFCs. In this paper
an adaptive PI control strategy using neural network adaptive Morlet
wavelet for control is proposed. It is based on a single layer feed
forward neural networks with hidden nodes of adaptive morlet
wavelet functions controller and an infinite impulse response (IIR)
recurrent structure. The IIR is combined by cascading to the network
to provide double local structure resulting in improving speed of
learning. The proposed method is applied to a typical 1 KW PEMFC
system and the results show the proposed method has more accuracy
against to MLP (Multi Layer Perceptron) method.
Abstract: Membrane distillation (MD) is a rising technology for
seawater or brine desalination process. In this work, an air gap
membrane distillation (AGMD) performance was investigated for
aqueous NaCl solution along with natural ground water and seawater.
In order to enhance the performance of the AGMD process in
desalination, that is, to get more flux, it is necessary to study the
effect of operating parameters on the yield of distillate water. The
influence of operational parameters such as feed flow rate, feed
temperature, feed salt concentration, coolant temperature and air gap
thickness on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux have
been investigated for low and high salt solution. the natural
application of ground water and seawater over 90 h continuous
operation, scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and
reduction in flux represents 23% for ground water and 60% for
seawater, in 90 h. This reduction was eliminated (less than 14 %) by
acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in
apply of AGMD for the ground water as well as seawater
desalination over today-s conventional RO operation.
Abstract: The upgrading of low quality crude natural gas (NG) is attracting interest due to high demand of pipeline-grade gas in recent years. Membrane processes are commercially proven technology for the removal of impurities like carbon dioxide from NG. In this work, cross flow mathematical model has been suggested to be incorporated with ASPEN HYSYS as a user defined unit operation in order to design the membrane system for CO2/CH4 separation. The effect of operating conditions (such as feed composition and pressure) and membrane selectivity on the design parameters (methane recovery and total membrane area required for the separation) has been studied for different design configurations. These configurations include single stage (with and without recycle) and double stage membrane systems (with and without permeate or retentate recycle). It is shown that methane recovery can be improved by recycling permeate or retentate stream as well as by using double stage membrane systems. The ASPEN HYSYS user defined unit operation proposed in the study has potential to be applied for complex membrane system design and optimization.
Abstract: Thirty six samples from each (aerobic and anoxic)
activated sludge were collected from two wastewater treatment plants
with MBRs in Berlin, Germany. The samples were prepared for count
and definition of fungal isolates; these isolates were purified by
conventional techniques and identified by microscopic examination.
Sixty tow species belonging to 28 genera were isolated from
activated sludge samples under aerobic conditions (28 genera and 58
species) and anoxic conditions (26 genera and 52 species). The
obtained data show that, Aspergillus was found at 94.4% followed by
Penicillium 61.1 %, Fusarium (61.1 %), Trichoderma (44.4 %) and
Geotrichum candidum (41.6 %) species were the most prevalent in all
activated sludge samples. The study confirmed that fungi can thrive
in activated sludge and sporulation, but isolated in different numbers
depending on the effect of aeration system. Some fungal species in
our study are saprophytic, and other a pathogenic to plants and
animals.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of
EBV infection in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma (NHL) occurring in Jordanian patients. A total of 55
patients with lymphoma were examined in this study. Of 55 patients,
30 and 25 were diagnosed as HL and NHL, respectively. The four
HL subtypes were observed with the majority of the cases exhibited
the mixed cellularity (MC) subtype followed by the nodular sclerosis
(NS). The high grade was found to be the commonest subtype of
NHL in our sample, followed by the low grade. The presence of EBV
virus was detected by immunostating for expression of latent
membrane protein-1 (LMP-1). The frequency of LMP-1 expression
occurred more frequent in patients with HL (60.0%) than in patients
with NHL (32.0%). The frequency of LMP-1 expression was also
higher in patients with MC subtype (61.11%) than those patients with
NS (28.57%). No age or gender difference in occurrence of EBV
infection was observed among patient with HL. By contrast, the
prevalence of EBV infection in NHL patients aged below 50 was
lower (16.66%) than in NHL patients aged 50 or above (46.15%). In
addition, EBV infection was more frequent in females with NHL
(38.46%) than in male with NHL (25%). In NHL cases, the
frequency of EBV infection in intermediate grade (60.0%) was high
when compared with frequency of low (25%) or high grades (25%).
In conclusion, analysis of LMP-1 expression indicates an important
role for this viral oncogene in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated
malignant lymphomas. These data also support the previous findings
that people with EBV may develop lymphoma and that efforts to
maintain low lymphoma should be considered for people with EBV
infection.
Abstract: Synthetic juice clarification was done through spiral
wound ultrafiltration (UF) membrane module. Synthetic juice was
clarified at two different operating conditions, such as, with and
without permeates recycle at turbulent flow regime. The performance
of spiral wound ultrafiltration membrane was analyzed during
clarification of synthetic juice. Synthetic juice was the mixture of
deionized water, sucrose and pectin molecule. The operating
conditions are: feed flowrate of 10 lpm, pressure drop of 413.7 kPa
and Reynolds no of 5000. Permeate sample was analyzed in terms of
volume reduction factor (VRF), viscosity (Pa.s), ⁰Brix, TDS (mg/l),
electrical conductivity (μS) and turbidity (NTU). It was observe that
the permeate flux declined with operating time for both conditions of
with and without permeate recycle due to increase of concentration
polarization and increase of gel layer on membrane surface. For
without permeate recycle, the membrane fouling rate was faster
compared to with permeate recycle. For without permeate recycle,
the VRF rose up to 5 and for with recycle permeate the VRF is 1.9.
The VRF is higher due to adsorption of solute (pectin) molecule on
membrane surface and resulting permeateflux declined with VRF.
With permeate recycle, quality was within acceptable limit. Fouled
membrane was cleaned by applying different processes (e.g.,
deionized water, SDS and EDTA solution). Membrane cleaning was
analyzed in terms of permeability recovery.
Abstract: Legionella pneumophila is involved in more than 95%
cases of severe atypical pneumonia. Infection is mainly by
inhalation the indoor aerosols through the water-coolant systems.
Because some Legionella strains may be viable but not culturable,
therefore, Taq polymerase, DNA amplification and semi-nested-PCR
were carried out to detect Legionella-specific 16S-rDNA sequence.
For this purpose, 1.5 litter of water samples from 77 water-coolant
system were collected from four different hospitals, two nursing
homes and one student hostel in Kerman city of Iran, each in a brand
new plastic bottle during summer season of 2006 (from April to
August). The samples were filtered in the sterile condition through
the Millipore Membrane Filter. DNA was extracted from membrane
and used for PCR to detect Legionella spp. The PCR product was
then subjected to semi-nested PCR for detection of L. pneumophila.
Out of 77 water samples that were tested by PCR, 30 (39%) were
positive for most species of Legionella. However, L. pneumophila
was detected from 14 (18.2%) water samples by semi-nested PCR.
From the above results it can be concluded that water coolant
systems of different hospitals and nursing homes in Kerman city of
Iran are highly contaminated with L. pneumophila spp. and pose
serious concern. So, we recommend avoiding such type of coolant
system in the hospitals and nursing homes.
Abstract: Non-uniform current distribution in polymer
electrolyte membrane fuel cells results in local over-heating,
accelerated ageing, and lower power output than expected. This
issue is very critical when fuel cell experiences water flooding. In
this work, the performance of a PEM fuel cell is investigated under
cathode flooding conditions. Two-dimensional partially flooded
GDL models based on the conservation laws and electrochemical
relations are proposed to study local current density distributions
along flow fields over a wide range of cell operating conditions.
The model results show a direct association between cathode inlet
humidity increases and that of average current density but the
system becomes more sensitive to flooding. The anode inlet
relative humidity shows a similar effect. Operating the cell at
higher temperatures would lead to higher average current densities
and the chance of system being flooded is reduced. In addition,
higher cathode stoichiometries prevent system flooding but the
average current density remains almost constant. The higher anode
stoichiometry leads to higher average current density and higher
sensitivity to cathode flooding.
Abstract: Impaired fertility may be the result of indirect
consumption of anti-fertility agents through food. Monosodium
glutamate (MSG) has been widely used as food additive, flavour
enhancer and included in vaccines. This study focuses in determining
the gonadotoxic and cytotoxic effect of MSG on selected sperm
parameters such as sperm viability, sperm membrane integrity and
testes cytoarchitecture of male mice via histological examination to
determine its effect on spermatogenesis. Twenty-four Mus musculus
were randomly divided into 4 groups and given intraperitoneal
injections (IP) daily for 14 days of different MSG concentrations at
250, 500 and 1000mg/kg MSG to body weight to induce obesity.
Saline was given to control group. Mice were sacrificed and analysis
revealed abnormalities in values for sperm parameters and damages
to testes cytoarchitecture of male mice. The results recorded
decreased viability (p0.05) with degenerative structures in seminiferous tubule of
testes. The results indicated various implications of MSG on male
mice reproductive system which has consequences in fertility
potential.
Abstract: The possibility of producing drinking water from
brackish ground water using Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD)
process was studied. It is a rising technology for seawater or brine
desalination process. The process simply consists of a flat sheet
hydrophobic micro porous PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum
pump without a condenser for the water recovery or trap. In this
work, VMD performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution
and natural ground water. The influence of operational parameters
such as feed flow rate (30 to 55 l/h), feed temperature (313 to 333 K),
feed salt concentration (5000 to 7000 mg/l) and permeate pressure
(1.5 to 6 kPa) on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux
have been investigated. The maximum flux reached to 28.34 kg/m2 h
at feed temperature, 333 K; vacuum pressure, 1.5 kPa; feed flow rate,
55 l/h and feed salt concentration, 7000 mg/l. The negligible effects
in the reduction of permeate flux found over 150 h experimental run
for salt water. But for the natural ground water application over 75 h,
scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and 29% reduction
in the permeate flux over 75 h. This reduction can be eliminated by
acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in
apply of VMD for the ground water purification over today-s
conventional RO operation.
Abstract: Transcription factor p53 has a powerful tumor
suppressing function that is associated with many cancers. However,
p53 of the molecular weight was higher make the limitation across to
skin or cell membrane. Thymidine dinucleotide (pTT), an
oligonucleotide, can activate the p53 transcription factor. pTT is a
hydrophilic and negative charge oligonucleotide, which delivery in to
cell membrane need an appropriate carrier. The aim of this study was
to improve the bioavailability of the nucleotide fragment, thymidine
dinucleotide (pTT), using elasic liposome carriers to deliver the drug
into the skin. The study demonstrate that dioleoylphosphocholine
(DOPC) incorporated with sodium cholate at molar ratio 1:1 can
archived the particle size about 220 nm. This elastic liposome could
penetration through skin from stratum corneum to whole epidermis by
confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Moreover, we observed
the the slight increase in generation of p53 by western blot.
Abstract: Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process can be
used for water purification or the desalination of salt water. The
process simply consists of a flat sheet hydrophobic micro porous
PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum pump without a condenser
for the water recovery or trap. The feed was used aqueous NaCl
solution. The VMD experiments were performed to evaluate the heat
and mass transfer coefficient of the boundary layer in a membrane
module. The only operating parameters are feed inlet temperature,
and feed flow rate were investigated. The permeate flux was strongly
affected by the feed inlet temperature, feed flow rate, and boundary
layer heat transfer coefficient. Since lowering the temperature
polarization coefficient is essential enhance the process performance
considerable and maximizing the heat transfer coefficient for
maximizes the mass flux of distillate water. In this paper, the results
of VMD experiments are used to measure the boundary layer heat
transfer coefficient, and the experimental results are used to reevaluate
the empirical constants in the Dittus- Boelter equation.
Abstract: Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) with
5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is an alternative therapy for treating
superficial cancer, especially for skin or oral cancer. ALA, a precursor
of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is present as
zwitterions and hydrophilic property which make the low permeability
through the cell membrane. Collagen is a traditional carrier; its
molecular composed various amino acids which bear positive charge
and negative charge. In order to utilize the ion-pairs with ALA and
collagen, the study employed various pH values adjusting the net
charge. The aim of this study was to compare a series collagen form,
including solution, gel and sponge to investigate the topical delivery
behavior of ALA. The in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy
(CLSM) study demonstrated that PpIX generation ability was different
pattern after apply for 6 h. Gel type could generate high PpIX, and
archived more deep of skin depth.
Abstract: Perth will run out of available sustainable natural
water resources by 2015 if nothing is done to slow usage rates,
according to a Western Australian study [1]. Alternative water
technology options need to be considered for the long-term
guaranteed supply of water for agricultural, commercial, domestic
and industrial purposes. Seawater is an alternative source of water for
human consumption, because seawater can be desalinated and
supplied in large quantities to a very high quality.
While seawater desalination is a promising option, the technology
requires a large amount of energy which is typically generated from
fossil fuels. The combustion of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases
(GHG) and, is implicated in climate change. In addition to
environmental emissions from electricity generation for desalination,
greenhouse gases are emitted in the production of chemicals and
membranes for water treatment. Since Australia is a signatory to the
Kyoto Protocol, it is important to quantify greenhouse gas emissions
from desalinated water production.
A life cycle assessment (LCA) has been carried out to determine
the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of 1 gigalitre (GL)
of water from the new plant. In this LCA analysis, a new desalination
plant that will be installed in Bunbury, Western Australia, and known
as Southern Seawater Desalinization Plant (SSDP), was taken as a
case study. The system boundary of the LCA mainly consists of three
stages: seawater extraction, treatment and delivery. The analysis
found that the equivalent of 3,890 tonnes of CO2 could be emitted
from the production of 1 GL of desalinated water. This LCA analysis
has also identified that the reverse osmosis process would cause the
most significant greenhouse emissions as a result of the electricity
used if this is generated from fossil fuels
Abstract: The operation performance of a valveless micro-pump
is strongly dependent on the shape of connected nozzle/diffuser and
Reynolds number. The aims of present work are to compare the
performance curves of micropump with the original straight
nozzle/diffuser and contoured nozzle/diffuser under different back
pressure conditions. The tested valveless micropumps are assembled
of five pieces of patterned PMMA plates with hot-embracing
technique. The structures of central chamber, the inlet/outlet
reservoirs and the connected nozzle/diffuser are fabricated with laser
cutting machine. The micropump is actuated with circular-type PZT
film embraced on the bottom of central chamber. The deformation of
PZT membrane with various input voltages is measured with a
displacement laser probe. A simple testing facility is also constructed
to evaluate the performance curves for comparison.
In order to observe the evaluation of low Reynolds number
multiple vortex flow patterns within the micropump during suction
and pumping modes, the unsteady, incompressible laminar
three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are
solved. The working fluid is DI water with constant thermo-physical
properties. The oscillating behavior of PZT film is modeled with the
moving boundary wall in way of UDF program. With the dynamic
mesh method, the instants pressure and velocity fields are obtained
and discussed.Results indicated that the volume flow rate is not
monotony increased with the oscillating frequency of PZT film,
regardless of the shapes of nozzle/diffuser. The present micropump
can generate the maximum volume flow rate of 13.53 ml/min when
the operation frequency is 64Hz and the input voltage is 140 volts.
The micropump with contoured nozzle/diffuser can provide 7ml/min
flow rate even when the back pressure is up to 400 mm-H2O. CFD
results revealed that the flow central chamber was occupied with
multiple pairs of counter-rotating vortices during suction and
pumping modes. The net volume flow rate over a complete
oscillating periodic of PZT