Biomass resources in nature produce a large amount of waste resources (agricultural residues, wood waste, etc.) during agricultural and forestry production processes. Therefore, the effective ...utilization of these solid biomass waste resources has attracted widespread interest. In this paper, a pulsed discharge plasma technology was used to perform catalytic liquefaction experiments on solid biomass sawdust at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and the reaction parameters such as the solid:liquid ratio, liquefaction solvent ratio, and catalyst ratio were optimized. The results showed that the plasma technology achieved a higher liquefaction yield; the optimized reaction parameters were: a solid:liquid ratio of 1:23.4, a liquefaction solvent polyethylene glycol (PEG) / glycerol (GL) ratio of 25:15 (V:V), and an acid volume fraction of 0.188%. In addition, the characteristics of the products of the liquefaction reaction were analyzed and discussed. The liquid products were mainly composed of small molecules. The experiment established that the liquefaction of solid sawdust by high-voltage pulsed discharge plasma can be an effective technical method.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The power utility companies have been trying to identify and locate three-phase transmission line faults in the shortest possible time in order to prevent economic losses. In the last few decades, ...technology used for power system protection has evolved from electromechanical devices to solid state and processor-based intelligent devices. This study presents the design and implementation of a wavelet analysis-based fault detection and identification module that contemplates the analysis of high frequency transients produced during faults. The design was implemented on a cost effective low-end embedded system. The proposed logic employs a multi-resolution wavelet analysis of high frequency details in the range of 5–10 kHz. The amount of high frequency components present in the transformed current signals, obtained after processing, identifies the fault. The ground and line-to-line faults were classified on the basis of the adaptive thresholds obtained from system behaviour. The proposed approach, after the completion of simulations, was implemented on a digital signal controller. The developed fault detection and identification prototype was successful in accurately identifying the power system faults, thus validating the feasibility of the proposed methodology.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
As Canada and the world move rapidly toward increased reliance on wind power generation, self-excited induction generators (SEIGs) will play an important role in distributed wind power generation ...(DWPG). Understanding the significance and prospects of SEIGs in DWPG, first, this paper elucidates the significance of fault detection (FD) and voltage regulation (VR) in the aforementioned application. A comprehensive analysis of VR and faults on niche industrial 7.5-hp copper-rotor SEIG and conventional 7.5-hp aluminum-rotor SEIG is performed through numerical simulations, and the calculated results are validated through experimental investigations. Second, a twofold Daubechies-wavelet-transform-based module is designed for the following: 1) FD and 2) VR, respectively. A discrete-wavelet-transform-based algorithm is proposed and implemented on a low-cost embedded system to provide an economical solution for the aforementioned issues. Thereafter, the aforementioned schemes are tested, and results are investigated.
A critical step of MSCs therapy is dependent on its ability to migrate into the sites of injury, so various approaches have been introduced to boost the migratory ability of MSCs. PGE2 is the major ...prostaglandin generated by COX enzymes and has been implicated in inflammatory response. Evidence indicates that PGE2 can facilitate MSCs migration. Further exploration of the underlying molecular mechanism participating in the promigratory ability of PGE2 may provide a novel strategy to improve MSC transplantation efficacy. In this study, our findings suggested that EP2 prostanoid receptor promotes MSCs migration through activation of FAK and ERK1/2 pathways. Furthermore, MSCs migration induced by PGE2 was blunted by FAK or ERK1/2 inhibitors. EP2-mediated MSCs migration depends on the activation of FAK and ERK1/2. However, the current study did not investigate the migration of MSCs over a blood vessel endothelial barrier. In conclusion, our findings reveal EP2-mediated FAK and ERK1/2 activation was essential for MSCs migration induced by PGE2, indicating that activation of EP2 receptor and FAK/ERK pathways may be a promising strategy to accelerate homing efficiency of MSCs, which in turn enhances therapeutic potential of MSCs transplantation.
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GATA transcription factors are a class of transcriptional regulatory proteins that contain a characteristic type-IV zinc finger DNA-binding domain, which play important roles in plant growth and ...development. The GATA gene family has been characterized in various plant species. However, GATA family genes have not been identified in cucumber. In this study, 26 GATA family genes were identified in cucumber genome, whose physicochemical characteristics, chromosomal distributions, phylogenetic tree, gene structures conserved motifs, cis-regulatory elements in promoters, homologous gene pairs, downstream target genes were analyzed. Tissue expression profiles of cucumber GATA family genes exhibited that 17 GATA genes showed constitutive expression, and some GATA genes showed tissue-specific expression patterns. RNA-seq analysis of green and virescent leaves revealed that seven GATA genes might be involved in the chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Importantly, expression patterns analysis of GATA genes in response to abiotic and biotic stresses indicated that some GATA genes respond to either abiotic stress or biotic stress, some GATA genes such as Csa2G162660, Csa3G017200, Csa3G165640, Csa4G646060, Csa5G622830 and Csa6G312540 were simultaneously functional in resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Overall, this study will provide useful information for further analysis of the biological functions of GATA factors in cucumber.
Points on maps that stand for geographic objects such as settlements are generally connected by road networks. However, in the existing algorithms for point cluster simplification, points are usually ...viewed as discrete objects or their distances are considered in Euclidean spaces, and therefore the point cluster generalization results obtained by these algorithms are sometimes unreasonable. To take roads into consideration so that point clusters can be simplified in appropriate ways, the network Voronoi diagram is used and a new algorithm is proposed in this paper. First, the weighted network Voronoi diagram is constructed taking into account the weights of the points and the properties of the related road segments. Second, the network Voronoi polygons are generated and two factors (i.e., the area of the network Voronoi polygon and the total length of the dilated road segments in the polygon) are considered as the basis for point simplification. Last, a Cartesian coordinate system is built based on the two factors and the point clusters are simplified by means of the “concentric quadrants”. Our experiments show that the algorithm can effectively and correctly transmit types of information in the process of point cluster simplification, and the results are more reasonable than that generated by the ordinary Voronoi-based algorithm and the weighted Voronoi-based algorithm.
In this era of advanced computing where complex algorithms and expensive approaches are used to determine the machine parameters of a synchronous machine (SM), this paper proposes a novel, ...economical, and yet fundamental approach toward estimation of the d- and q-axis fields and damper circuit parameters of a low-/medium-power wound-field SM. The proposed novel methodology employs fundamental voltage, current, and flux linkage relationships of the three-phase wound-field SM in a-b-c reference frame theory. First, the proposed methodology has been explained in detail using analytical equations and then employed to determine the aforementioned parameters of a small laboratory SM. Other equivalent circuit parameters have been determined using conventional tests. Further validation of the proposed methodology was performed using two other larger machines with different nameplate ratings. Moreover, the aforementioned parameters of the larger machines were also experimentally determined using IEEE standard tests. Finally, a comparison of the results obtained employing the conventional and the proposed methodologies was performed, and the proposed methodology has been established to be valid as the results are in close agreement.
Although wrinkling is not appreciated in some of its manifestations, there are other instances for which it is essential to study and comprehend various physical phenomena related to wrinkling. ...Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have some excellent intrinsic properties, i.e., high aspect ratio, percolation function, and good mechanical strength that have potential to affect wrinkling. Since the production period of bacterial cellulose is longer, it is efficient to use CNC as a substitute for bacterial cellulose in such applications. The network structure of bacterial cellulose can be mimicked by CNC fabric, which comprises several wrinkled CNC layers.
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Even with sufficient oxygen, tumor cells use glycolysis to obtain the energy and macromolecules they require to multiply, once thought to be a characteristic of tumor cells known as the “Warburg ...effect”. In fact, throughout the process of carcinogenesis, immune cells and stromal cells, two major cellular constituents of the tumor microenvironment (TME), also undergo thorough metabolic reprogramming, which is typified by increased glycolysis. In this review, we provide a full-scale review of the glycolytic remodeling of several types of TME cells and show how these TME cells behave in the acidic milieu created by glucose shortage and lactate accumulation as a result of increased tumor glycolysis. Notably, we provide an overview of putative targets and inhibitors of glycolysis along with the viability of using glycolysis inhibitors in combination with immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Understanding the glycolytic situations in diverse cells within the tumor immunological milieu will aid in the creation of subsequent treatment plans.
A novel kind of hydrochar adsorbent, modified by CuO-ZnO and derived from chitosan or starch, was synthesized for H2S adsorption. The prepared adsorbent was characterized by BET, XRD, EDX, SEM, and ...XPS. The results showed that the modified hydrochar contained many amino groups as functional groups, and the nanometer metal oxide particles had good dispersion on the surface of the hydrochar. The maximum sulfur capacity reached 28.06 mg/g-adsorbent under the optimized conditions. The amine group significantly reduced the activation energy between H2S and CuO-ZnO conducive to the rapid diffusion of H2S among the lattices. Simultaneously, cationic polyacrylamide as a steric stabilizer could change the formation process of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles, which made the particle size smaller, enabling them to react with H2S sufficiently easily. This modified hydrochar derived from both chitosan and starch could be a promising adsorbent for H2S removal.
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