Search

Due to water scarcity over the globe finding ways of re-using wastewater is becoming more and more essential so as to put less strain upon natural resources. This paper provides new insights in particular by introducing for the first time the necessity of taking a balanced approach when using pinch analysis; cooling water demand can be as important as energy demand for inland locations particularly when externalities are taken into account. This is particularly important for Kazakhstan which is a dry, inland country, where climate change is exacerbating issues around water usage. Recent sharp reductions in the flow of the Zhayik river in the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan has magnified the water shortage in the Atyrau region and forced the government to develop new water policies to address this most urgent and serious matter. This paper analysed the water consumption of the main water consumers, the Atyrau oil refinery (AR) with respect to the country’s other refineries and found that there has been a significant performance gap. Recently modernisation at AR has sought to transition it from open loop wastewater treatment to closed loop wastewater treatment. Not only has this significantly reduced the water intake from the Zhayik river but there is now zero discharge to the evaporation ponds. Eliminating this discharge prevents soil and groundwater contamination. Conventional methods of wastewater treatment within the framework of modernisation project, called “Tazalyq”, are able to remove the majority of contaminants. However, this is still not sufficient to deal with small stable oil droplets (<5 μm). Methods to further enhance the treatment such as membrane technology and segregation are discussed. The former can concentrate small stable droplets without further use of chemicals, and the permeate is quality water that can be recycled. Pilot plant results on the use of reverse osmosis to treat blowdown water are also included. Implementation of this process would reduce water demand by circa10%. Such an addition to modernisation project would further reduce the water intake from Zhayik river.

CaO/CaCO3energy storage is a promising technology to solve the intermittency of solar energy. Fluidized-bed reactors serve as crucial devices for calcination and carbonation in CaO/CaCO3energy storage system. This work presents the first observation of defluidization occurring in CaO/CaCO3energy storage process. The mechanism of defluidization was investigated through the exothermic experiment and computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method. Furthermore, the defluidization in the exothermic stage was mitigated by simultaneous nano-silica coating and SiO2fines addition. The result indicates that high CO2concentration (>80 %), small particle size (0.075–0.18 mm) and low initial bed temperature (700–800 °C) result in the defluidization. The defluidization leads to low exothermic performance of CaO particles and serious uneven temperature distribution in the exothermic stage during CaO/CaCO3energy storage process. The simulation result indicates that carbonation proceeding at zero-order kinetics leads to rapid CO2absorption in the emulsion phase. The absorption of CO2in the emulsion phase surpasses the replenishment of CO2from the bubbles, resulting in the contraction of the emulsion phase, which is the cause of defluidization in the exothermic stage. The combination of nano-silica coating for CaO and SiO2fines addition enhances the porosity in the emulsion phase, thereby facilitating the diffusion of CO2from the bubbles into the emulsion phase. Thus, the defluidization of CaO particles is eliminated by simultaneously coating with 5 wt% nano-silica and adding 3 wt% SiO2fines (50–75 μm). After this improvement in fluidization, the bed temperature difference is only 12 % of that in defluidization. Furthermore, the effective conversion of CaO particles increases by 10 % compared with that in defluidization. These findings are helpful for solving the defluidization of CaO particles in CaO/CaCO3energy process.

Organic lasers with broad emission bands in near-infrared (NIR) region are crucial for their applications in laser communication, night-vision as well as bioimaging owing to the abundance of selectable lasing wavelengths. However, for most organic gain materials, gain regions are limited in a small wavelength range because of the fixed energy level systems. Herein, we design a strategy to realize NIR organic lasers with broad emission bands based on tunable energy level systems induced by cascaded excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT). A novel gain material named DHNN was developed, which can undergo a cascaded double-ESIPT process supporting four-level and six-level systems simultaneously. By doping DHNN into polystyrene microspheres, NIR lasers with tunable emission bands can be achieved based on the careful modulation of microcavities. Finally, organic lasers with an ultra-broad emission band ranging from 700 nm to 900 nm was successfully achieved by harnessing four-level and six-level systems simultaneously.

The interaction between sites A, B and X with passivation molecules is restricted when the conventional passivation strategy is applied in perovskite (ABX3) photovoltaics. Fortunately, the revolving A-site presents an opportunity to strengthen this interaction by utilizing an external field. Herein, we propose a novel approach to achieving an ordered magnetic dipole moment, which is regulated by a magnetic field via the coupling effect between the chiral passivation molecule and the A-site (formamidine ion) in perovskites. This strategy can increase the molecular interaction energy by approximately four times and ensure a well-ordered molecular arrangement. The quality of the deposited perovskite film is significantly optimized with inhibited nonradiative recombination. It manages to reduce the open-circuit voltage loss of photovoltaic devices to 360 mV and increase the power conversion efficiency to 25.22%. This finding provides a new insight into the exploration of A-sites in perovskites and offers a novel route to improving the device performance of perovskite photovoltaics.The crystal orientation of metal halide perovskites can be proficiently modulated through the magnetic dipole moments generated by chiral molecules interacting with the perovskites, regulating by an external magnetic field.

Complicated multilevel micro/nanostructures have attracted great attention as essential basic components of integrated optoelectronic devices. However, precise synthesis of these well-designed micro/nanostructures is still a major challenge. In this report, a series of near-infrared emissive multilevel branched organic microwires with different integrated levels are successfully fabricated for the first time by a facile self-assembly approach based on our well designed and synthesized (2E,2′E)-1,1′-(1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene-2,6-diyl)bis(3-(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)prop-2-en-1-one) (DHNBP). The growth mechanism is attributed to lattice matching between (100) and (010) crystal planes, with an interplanar spacing mismatch rate as low as 5.3%. Benefiting from the uniaxial oriented molecular packing mode of the crystal, the well-prepared microwires have outstanding optical properties. More significantly, the branched structures can work as optical logic gates and optical signal processors. Therefore, this synthesis method for multilevel branched microwires will potentially facilitate the development of organic integrated optoelectronics.

Near-infrared (NIR) solid-state lasers (SSLs) have advanced telecommunication, spectroscopy, and medical diagnosis. However, the development of organic NIR SSLs still faces severe challenges due to the low stimulated emission of narrow-band-gap molecules and the lack of the effective four-level energy system for population inversion. Here, we fabricated organic single-crystal nanowire arrays based on an excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT)-active organic small molecule. The dynamic intramolecular proton transfer within ∼2.5 ps verified the establishment of the four-level energy system. Consequently, room-temperature single-mode 775-nm lasing with a low lasing threshold Pthof 9.9 μJ cm−2is achieved from the nanowire arrays with the length of L = 10 μm. Our work gives the unambiguous demonstration of the mechanism of ESIPT lasers and the first realization of organic nanolaser arrays over 760 nm, which will boost the practical application of integrated organic coherent light sources at near-infrared wavelength.

The directly irradiated reactor is suitable for the solar calciner in calcium looping energy storage technology. However, the low optical absorption performance of CaCO3is disadvantageous for its decomposition under direct irradiation. In this work, a directly irradiated fluidized-bed reactor was designed for calcium looping energy storage. The top of the fluidized-bed reactor can receive the simulated solar irradiation from the xenon lamp with a maximum irradiation intensity of 260 kW/m2. The energy storage characteristics of CaCO3under fluidization and static conditions were compared. The effect of the irradiation intensity on the solar–thermal conversion efficiency was investigated. Furthermore, the energy storage characteristics of Mn-impregnated CaCO3were also studied. The results indicate that direct irradiation leads to a high temperature difference in the bed. The temperature difference in the fluidization state is 30% lower than that under the static condition. Increasing the irradiation intensity enhances the decomposition efficiency of CaCO3. However, a high radiation efficiency exacerbates irradiation reflection, reducing the solar–thermal conversion efficiency. Mn impregnation enhanced the optical absorption performance of CaCO3. The optical absorbance of Mn-impregnated CaCO3with a CaCO3/Mn mass ratio of 100:3 is 0.83, which is 6 times higher than that of CaCO3. The solar–thermal conversion efficiency of Mn-impregnated CaCO3increases by 25% compared with CaCO3at 200 kW/m2. This work further promotes the application of directly irradiated fluidized-bed reactors in calcium loop energy storage.

Astaxanthin esters are a major form of astaxanthin found in nature. However, the exact mechanisms of the biosynthesis and storage of astaxanthin esters were previously unknown. We found that Schizochytriumsp. synthesized both astaxanthin and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-enriched lipids. The major type of astaxanthin produced was free astaxanthin along with astaxanthin–DHA monoester and other esterified forms. DHA accounted for 41.0% of the total fatty acids from astaxanthin monoesters. These compounds were deposited mainly in lipid droplets. The biosynthesis of the astaxanthin esters was mainly carried out by a novel diacylglycerol acyltransferase ScDGAT2–1, while ScDGAT2–2 was involved only in the production of triacylglycerol. We also identified astaxanthin ester synthases from the astaxanthin-producing algae Haematococcus pluvialisand Chromochloris zofingiensis, as well as a thraustochytrid Hondaea fermentalgianawith an unknown carotenoid profile. This investigation enlightens the application of thraustochytrids for the production of both DHA and astaxanthin and provides enzyme resources for the biosynthesis of astaxanthin esters in the engineered microbes.

Based on the Free scale S12 processor as the main MCU, the article have designed the hardware circuit of the electronic parking brake system control unit, and on the basis I have made the rational analysis of the control of the total the electronic parking brake system. The analysis and experiment results show that the design can realize the basic function of EPB, to a great extent, it also improve the reliability of the system, fault self-checking ability and delayed its working life and just right to satisfy the most basic and most critical requirements of the system: As part of the braking system, it should have the reliability and security.

Application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the design of the road sweeper is a new and effective method for the feasibility analysis. By using CFD technology to analyze the flow field of the road sweeper airstream system, we can obtain the characteristic parameters before it is manufactured, so that the analysis and design of the airstream system can be carried out simultaneously. Studies have shown that combining with the specific engineering practice, the application of CFD on the flow field simulation has a certain reference value for the design and optimization of the sweeper airstream system.

Mesoscale convective system (MCS) has a great influence on the air flight, this article used infrared cloud image data detected by FY2D static satellite, through TBB and area threshold found the MCS from cloud image, then calculated and analyzed the adjacent period of MCS’ cloud area ,centroid position, the development strength and some other characteristic changes to test whether it meet the targets matching principle, finally, discriminated whether the signed cloud were the same target cloud so as to realize the automatic tracking of MCS.

The mesoscale convective system (MCS) has a great influence on the Aviation flight, this article used infrared satellite cloud image data detected by FY2D and eigenvalue method to research MCS’ identification to accurately identify the MCS cloud. Firstly, satellite image binarization processing and edge detection ,to extract the large boundary gray gradient cloud. Then, calculating cloud’s geometric center coordinates , cloud size ,centroid coordinates, the average TBB values, ellipticity and some other eigenvalue and eigenvector. Finally, selecting those which meet to the MCS identification criterion to realize the automatic identification of MCS.

With the realization of physical memristors, using memristors to perform stateful logic operations has been demonstrated feasible. In such operations, memristors simultaneously serve as latches and logic gates, thus enabling the in-situ computing which may open a new computing paradigm for computer architecture. In this paper, we first analyze two types of typical memristive stateful logic gates to reveal the working mechanism of the stateful logic, and then review the recent researches on the memristive stateful logic, and finally discuss the pros and cons of the stateful logic. We reach the conclusion that the stateful logic promises a novel computing paradigm which may revolutionize the conventional computer architecture, while its development is currently subjected to the state drift problem and is constrained by the lack of a general design methodology and physically verification.

Image processing is a type of memory-access-intensive application which puts a great pressure on memory access speed and bandwidth. Memristors has the ability of both memory and computing. With this property, we have designed and implemented image logic operations in memristor memory system, which could save a large amount of memory access at relatively low memory space price. Based on this work, we use image logic operations with memristors into edge detection of binary image. The main idea is as follows. First, we use XOR operation of neighboring pixels to determine whether there is an edge and get the vertical edges and horizontal edges, respectively. Then, we combine the edges in two directions to obtain the whole edge image of the original image. The experimental results show that, our design is right in function, and could reduce memory access considerably.

Promoting beta-cell survival is crucial for the prevention of beta-cell failure in diabetes. Thiazolidinediones, a widely used drug to improve insulin sensitivity in clinical practice, is found to have a protective effect on islet beta-cell. To date, the mechanism underlying the protective role of thiazolidinedione on beta-cell survival remain largely unknown. Activation of autophagy was detected by transmission electron microscopy, western blot, and GFP-LC3 transfection. Cell viability was examined by WST-8. Cell apoptosis was demonstrated by DAPI and Annexin V/PI staining. Colony formation assay was used to detect long-term cell viability. We demonstrated that rosiglitazone-treated beta-cells were more resistant to palmitate-induced apoptosis. The conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and accumulated autophagosomes were found to be upregulated in rosiglitazone-treated cells. Inhibition of autophagy augmented palmitate-induced apoptosis with rosiglitazone treatment, suggesting that autophagy plays an important role in the survival function of rosiglitazone on beta-cells. Furthermore, we showed that rosiglitazone could induce AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and reduce p70S6 kinase phosphorylation. Inhibition of AMPK impaired autophagy activation and enhanced palmitate-induced apoptosis during rosiglitazone treatment. These findings reveal that rosiglitazone-induced autophagy contributes to its protective function on beta-cells during palmitate treatment.Promoting beta-cell survival is crucial for the prevention of beta-cell failure in diabetes. Thiazolidinediones, a widely used drug to improve insulin sensitivity in clinical practice, is found to have a protective effect on islet beta-cell. To date, the mechanism underlying the protective role of thiazolidinedione on beta-cell survival remain largely unknown. Activation of autophagy was detected by transmission electron microscopy, western blot, and GFP-LC3 transfection. Cell viability was examined by WST-8. Cell apoptosis was demonstrated by DAPI and Annexin V/PI staining. Colony formation assay was used to detect long-term cell viability. We demonstrated that rosiglitazone-treated beta-cells were more resistant to palmitate-induced apoptosis. The conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and accumulated autophagosomes were found to be upregulated in rosiglitazone-treated cells. Inhibition of autophagy augmented palmitate-induced apoptosis with rosiglitazone treatment, suggesting that autophagy plays an important role in the survival function of rosiglitazone on beta-cells. Furthermore, we showed that rosiglitazone could induce AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and reduce p70S6 kinase phosphorylation. Inhibition of AMPK impaired autophagy activation and enhanced palmitate-induced apoptosis during rosiglitazone treatment. These findings reveal that rosiglitazone-induced autophagy contributes to its protective function on beta-cells during palmitate treatment.

This paper develops one method to characterize nano dimension standards using Scanning White Light Interference Sensor (SWLIS) based on Nano Measurement Machine (NMM). The experimental results show the average value of SHS8-440 low step height standard is 44.15 nm and SHS8-100.0 high step height standard is 100.29 μm, with a standard deviation of 0.30 nm and 0.03 μm, respectively. Also, SWLIS is performed to measure and characterize step height standards, which cover most of the conventional step height standards produced by VLSI Standards Incorporated (VLSI). Additionally, atomic force microscope (AFM) is used as a beneficial supplement due to low lateral resolution of optical methods. The average value of TGZ1_PTB 1D grating from NT-MDT Company is 3000.2 nm with a standard deviation of 0.3 nm by AFM.

Large-scale deep excavation may affect the bearing capacity of piles inside the excavation zone. It does not only cause the loss of friction, but also change the stress state of the subsoil. In this paper, nonlinear finite element technique is employed to investigate the bearing capacity of piles influenced by the deep excavation. Parameters of soil are obtained by back analysis on the pile static load test results. The bearing capacity of the piles during excavation is analyzed by performing FEM modeling under three conditions using the calibrated parameters. The numerical study shows that the loss ratio of vertical bearing capacity of pile foundation caused by excavation unloading is 34%.

This paper presents a low cost pressure sensor for SHU dexterous hand and outlines the pressure experiments performed. The sensor is based on the semiconductive material, and multi-layer structure. The operating principle of the sensor is explained. The experimental results demonstrate the sensor has linear properties and can provide available information.

Generally the process of hull part cutting is that the part can not be cut until the previous part has been cut. This mode is poor cutting efficiency and high cutting cost. Based on the famous Seven Bridges Problems, this paper models the cutting problem and then presents a brand-new cutting technology, the bridge cutting. In this technology, only one pierce point is enough to cut off all the parts that lie in the same level. The example shows that the technology is effective for reducing the numbers of pierce points and shortening the length of idle cutting path, which not only improves the cutting efficiency but also saves the cutting cost.

In order to fully reuse existing resources and meet the changing demands, a flexible architecture for enterprise application is proposed in this paper, which is composed of logic interpret engine, data provider and component. Logic interpret engine is used to interpret the instructions received from user interface. Data provider is responsible for pulling data from different devices and providing data for logic interpret engine by uniform interface. Components are charged for the rendering of user interface. Practical results show that the architecture can be quickly applied to different demands.

Astaxanthin is a highly value-added keto-carotenoid compound. The astaxanthin 3S,3′S-isomer is more desirable for food additives, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals due to health concerns about chemically synthesized counterparts with a mixture of three isomers. Biosynthesis of 3S,3′S-astaxanthin suffers from limited content and productivity. We engineered Yarrowia lipolyticato produce high levels of 3S,3′S-astaxanthin. We first assessed various β-carotene ketolases (CrtW) and β-carotene hydroxylases (CrtZ) from two algae and a plant. HpCrtW and HpCrtZ from Haematococcus pluvialisexhibited the strongest activity in converting β-carotene into astaxanthin in Y. lipolytica. We then fine-tuned the HpCrtW and HpCrtZ transcriptional expression by increasing the rounds of gene integration into the genome and applied a modular enzyme assembly of HpCrtW and HpCrtZ simultaneously. Next, we rescued leucine biosynthesis in the engineered Y. lipolytica, leading to a five-fold increase in biomass. The astaxanthin production achieved from these strategies was 3.3 g/L or 41.3 mg/g dry cell weight under fed-batch conditions, which is the highest level reported in microbial chassis to date. This study provides the potential for industrial production of 3S,3′S-astaxanthin, and this strategy empowers us to build a sustainable biorefinery platform for generating other value-added carotenoids in the future.

•Polymorphic microsatellites were identified from genome survey sequences.•High genetic diversity was revealed in both wild and hatchery populations by SSR.•The hatchery populations were indicated in the early stage of domestication.

We present a mathematical (ordered pull-through; OPT) model of the cell-density profile for the mammalian lens epithelium together with new experimental data. The model is based upon dimensionless parameters, an important criterion for inter-species comparisons where lens sizes can vary greatly (e.g. bovine (approx. 18 mm); mouse (approx. 2 mm)) and confirms that mammalian lenses scale with size. The validated model includes two parameters: β/α, which is the ratio of the proliferation rate in the peripheral and in the central region of the lens; and γGZ, a dimensionless pull-through parameter that accounts for the cell transition and exit from the epithelium into the lens body. Best-fit values were determined for mouse, rat, rabbit, bovine and human lens epithelia. The OPT model accounts for the peak in cell density at the periphery of the lens epithelium, a region where cell proliferation is concentrated and reaches a maximum coincident with the germinative zone. The β/αratio correlates with the measured FGF-2 gradient, a morphogen critical to lens cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. As proliferation declines with age, the OPT model predicted age-dependent changes in cell-density profiles, which we observed in mouse and human lenses.