Water removal is a key technology for enhancing efficient utilization of lignite in power generation. An inherent characteristic of lignite, attributed to the large amount of water kept within the ...fuel, is the factor decreasing the thermal efficiency of lignite-fired power plants. This paper presents the research results on investigating the drying kinetics of Belchatow lignite excavated in the Central Poland in prior to developing a water removal system. Lignite drying test was conducted in superheated steam atmosphere at the temperature range of 110-170 °C. Spherically shaped samples, of which the diameter is 2.5 mm, was used. The experimental results were then analysed with previously conducted measurements of 5, 10, 30 mm samples to investigate the influence of particle size. The presented analysis shows the agreement of the evaluated drying rate at the CDRP to the experimental data. The obtained experimental results were used to predict the drying behaviour of the group of particles. The proposed investigation clarifies the size dependence of the drying characteristics of the multisize group of lignite particles.
Introduction: Whipple’s disease is a chronic systemic infectious disorder with Tropheryma whipplei as an etiologic agent, occurring rarely and affecting numerous organs and systems. The variety of ...symptoms and a non-typical course make it difficult to establish a proper diagnosis.
Purpose: In this study, etiopathogenesis, diagnostics and treatment of Whipple’s disease were presented based on the case report of 60-year-old man diagnosed with Whipple’s disease.
Case presentation: Persistent diarrhoea with weight loss, lymphadenopathy in the abdominal cavity and moderate microcytic anemia predominated in the clinical picture. Diagnosis was put based on the clinical picture and macroscopic assessment of the small intestine and the presence of macrophages filled with a PAS-positive substance in the lamina propria. To deepen diagnostics, samples collected were assessed showing macrophages with the damaged mucosa, containing numerous elongated micro-organisms whose ultrastructure corresponded to Tropheryma whipplei. The patient’s clinical conditions improved after antibiotic therapy.
Conclusions: It is vital to remember about Whipple’s disease in patients with chronic diseases due to a non-specific clinical picture and difficulties in establishing a proper diagnosis. When the disease is diagnosed unequivocally, proper and effective antibiotic therapy should be instituted immediately.
Introduction: Proper nutrition and physical activity are very important elements in the proper functioning and development of children. The lack of daily, systematic physical effort in younger and ...younger age groups is a public health problem. Purpose: To evaluate the nutrition and physical activity of children attending primary school. Materials and methods: The study was conducted among 707 pupils form randomly selected elementary schools using the authors’ own questionnaire in the school year 2013/2014. The questionnaire included questions on selected dietary habits and physical activity as well as the socio-economic conditions of the families. Results: Among the studied children, 88.6% consumed 4 or 5 meals a day. There was a statistically significant relationship between the number of meals consumed and the age of the children. Breakfast was consumed by 86.4% of children, more often residents of the city than the village (88.0% vs. 81.7%, p <0.05). Daily consum-ption of second breakfast was declared by 71.5% of boys and 74.2% of girls. The vast majority of the studied students (86.8%) have always taken part in physical education classes. Outdoor leisure time was declared by 75% of the surveyed children. Rural students showed greater involvement in outdoor activities than students from the city (86.1% vs. 70.2%, p <0.001). A total of 62.2% of boys and 51.8% of girls (p <0.05) participated in sports activities. Conclusions: Inappropriate nutrition and lack of physical activity affected both girls and boys, and the abnormalities were dependent on where they lived and were age-related.
The M26 hotspot of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is one of the best-characterized eukaryotic hotspots of recombination. The hotspot requires a seven bp sequence, ATGACGT, that serves as ...a binding site for the Atf1-Pcr1 transcription factor, which is also required for activity. The M26 hotspot is active in meiosis but not mitosis and is active in some but not all chromosomal contexts and not on a plasmid. A longer palindromic version of M26, ATGACGTCAT, shows significantly greater activity than the seven bp sequence. Here, we tested whether the properties of the seven bp sequence were also true of the longer sequence by placing one, two, or three copies of the sequence into the ade6 gene, where M26 was originally discovered. These constructs were tested for activity when located on a plasmid or on a chromosome in mitosis and meiosis. We found that two copies of the 10bp M26 motif on a chromosome were significantly more active for meiotic recombination than one, but no further increase was observed with three copies. However, three copies of M26 on a chromosome created an Atf1-dependent mitotic recombination hotspot. When located on a plasmid, M26 also appears to behave as a mitotic recombination hotspot; however, this behavior most likely results from Atf1-dependent inter-allelic complementation between the plasmid and chromosomal ade6 alleles.
•Three tandem copies of M2610 create an Atf1-dependent mitotic recombination hotspot.•Two copies of M2610 doubles the frequency of meiotic recombination.•On a plasmid, M2610 shows Atf1-dependent complementation with some ade6 alleles.
Snacking in children according to age Pac, P; Gladka, A; Maciorkowska, M ...
Progress in health sciences,
06/2017, Letnik:
7, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Introduction: One of the major nutritional mistakes committed by children and adolescents is snacking between meals. Sweet or salty snacks are rich in simple sugars, fats, preservatives and dyes, and ...poor in minerals and vitamins. Their excessive consumption can lead to the development of diet-related diseases in the future.
Purpose: To evaluate the nutrition of children and adolescents with a focus on snacking between meals.
Materials and methods: The study included 162 students from Bialystok schools, of which primary school students accounted for 30.2%, junior high school 38.3%, high school 31.5%. The questionnaire used by the authors contained 27 questions.
Results: Regular meals were consumed by only 55.1% of primary school students, 35.5% of junior high school, and 37.3% of high school students. Two and fewer meals a day were consumed by 1.6% to 5.8% of the students studied. First breakfast was omitted by 18.4% of the students in elementary school, 16.1% of junior high school, and 15.7% of high school. Second breakfast was omitted by 12.9% to 17.6% of the respondents.Sweet products instead of a second breakfast were consumed by 44.9% of primary school students, 61.3% of junior high school, and 64.7% of high school students. Snacking most often occurred in the respondents' home (69.4% of elementary school students, 43.5% of secondary level students, and 52.9% of high school students). Water in school was drunk by 85.7% of primary level students, 56.5% of junior high school, and 51.0% of high school. The main source of knowledge about nutrition for 61.2% of primary level students was the family, while television, radio, and the Internet were the main sources of knowledge for 62.7% of high school students.
Conclusions: The regularity of eating in the study group decreased with the studied students’ age. The most popular products in the group of younger students were salty snacks and sweets. Healthy snacking was observed more frequently in the group of high school students. The main place of snacking was the home. The primary source of knowledge about nutrition for primary school students was the family and for high school students the mass media.
Microwave doppler radar offers significant improvements for unobtrusive heart and respiration measurement. Radar monitoring enables non-contact measurement, through clothing, of heart and respiration ...rate, which is desired in several applications ranging from medical sleep laboratory measurements to home health care measurements and stress monitoring. The use of high frequency radar (>; 10 GHz) instead of lower frequencies (~2.4 GHz) increases the signal-to-noise-ratio of the signal and enables the utilization of commercial radar modules. However, if high frequency radar is used, linear combining of quadrature radar channels is inadequate. Instead, a nonlinear channel combining algorithm is needed. The combining can be performed with an arctangent function if center, amplitude error, and phase error are estimated accurately and corrected. In this paper, we show that the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) center estimation algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art center estimation algorithm precision-wise and is computationally less complex. The simulated results show that the root mean squared error with the LM method is always less than 1%, while it is around 5%-13% with the compared method, depending on the breathing signal model used. In addition, the computational complexity of the LM method stays almost constant as the size of the data set increases, whereas with the reference method, it increases exponentially. In this paper, the LM method is validated both with simulations and with real data.
We have used X-rays to study the structure of photomagnetic, heterostructured films of nickel hexacyanochromate and cobalt hexacyanoferrate Prussian blue analogs on poly(ethylene terephthalate) solid ...supports. The nature of the interface between supporting polymer and Prussian blue analog is investigated and either positive or negative ions will bind to the surface depending upon pre-treatment. For heterostructured films fabricated using layers of a few hundred nanometers, each layer retains a crystal structure similar to that in the homogeneous phase, while heterostructured films that layer nanometer scale layers result in a solid solution of the two compounds that may have bond deformation. Regardless of layering thickness, these sequential adsorption films are polycrystalline.
► We have synthesized tri-layered heterostructures of Prussian blue analogs. ► Different solid support pretreatment bonds either cations or anions from the network. ► Films are polycrystalline having the same crystal structures as parent phases. ► Structure probes suggest bond-length deformation in mixed phase films.
The object of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of variable temperature X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD) to investigate solid-state reactions using aspartame as a model compound.
...Aspartame exists as a hemihydrate (ASH) under ambient conditions and converts to aspartame anhydrate (ASA) at approximately 130 degrees C. ASA on further heating to approximately 180 degrees C undergoes decomposition (intramolecular cyclization) to form a diketopiperazine derivative (DKP). The dehydration as well as the decomposition kinetics were studied isothermally at several temperatures. The unique feature of this technique is that it permits simultaneous quantification of the reactant as well as the product.
While the dehydration of ASH appeared to follow first-order kinetics, the cyclization of ASA was a nucleation controlled process. The rate constants were obtained at various temperatures, which permitted the calculation of the activation energies of dehydration and cyclization from the Arrhenius plots. The activation energy of dehydration was also calculated according to the method described by Ng (Aust. J. Chem., 28:1169-1178, 1975) and the two values were in good agreement.
The study demonstrates that XRD is an excellent complement to thermal analysis and provides direct information about the solid-states of various reaction phases.
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