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Background C3a, a complement component stimulates hepatocyte proliferation. In this study, we investigated whether a functional peptide from its C terminal, YAAALGLAR (C3aP), enhanced liver function after steatotic liver transplantation in a rat model. Methods Livers of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats fed a high-fat diet for 2 months were used as donors. Their liver parenchyma displayed over 60% macrovesicular steatosis upon histopathologic examination. Weight and age-matched isogeneic SD rats were used as recipients of orthotopic liver transplantations (OLTs). Before OLT, the donor livers were perfused with University of Wisconsin solution supplemented with 10 mg/L C3aP. Postoperatively, 0.1 mL of 100 μg/mL C3aP was administered daily intraperitoneally to the experimental group. Recipients without C3aP intraperitoneal administration were the control group. We examined the survival rates, histopathologic changes, and hepatic functions of recipients. Results Six of the 10 control recipients died within 3 days posttransplantation; however, among the experimental group, 8 of 10 recipients survived beyond 7 days. Histopathologic examination showed that at day 3 posttransplantation, hepatocyte steatosis was notably reversed in the experimental group with cells undergoing active mitosis. In contrast, massive parenchymal necrosis was observed among the control group without notable hepatocyte proliferation. Furthermore, serum enzyme levels among the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group at day 3 postoperatively. Conclusion C3aP stimulated hepatocyte proliferation and reversed fatty degradation of hepatocytes, thus enhancing hepatic function and prolonging the survival of recipients of steatotic liver transplantations.

SUMMARY This paper develops a comprehensive methodology to optimize the planning of acquiring motor carriers in transportation companies. A conceptual framework describing the nature of the asset acquisition planning problem is posited, followed by the detailed development of a network flows–based optimization model. A study is undertaken at a Canadian transportation company that examines current acquisition planning for heavy trucking equipment. This is followed by a discussion of findings, managerial implications and directions for future research.

In this study, electromagnetic induction heating is developed to achieve a rapid mold surface heating. Both a circular coil and a rectangular coil of single turn were properly designed for induction heating experiments on a flat steel mold plate. For heating efficiency comparison, the second circular coil of the same length as rectangular coil and multiple turn coil of rectangular shape in rectangular form were also utilized. Mold plate surface temperature distribution during induction heating process was measured using infrared thermal image system. Simulation technology was also developed by integration of both thermal and electromagnetic analysis modules of ANSYS. Coil current, coil to plate distance and heating time were varied for both experiments and simulations. The capability and accuracy of simulations on the induction heating were verified via experiments. The simulated temperature distributions show reasonable agreement with measured results. In addition, the multiple-turn coil provides better heating efficiency as well as more uniformity in temperature distribution of the heated object.

This study investigated the feasibility of using granular activated carbon (GAC) to remove bromate ion (BrO3-) and assimilable organic carbon (AOC) from drinking water through a rapid small-scale column test (RSSCT) method and a pilot-scale study. Results from RSSCT indicated that the GAC capacity for BrO3- removal was dependent on the GAC type, empty bed contact time (EBCT), and source water quality. The GAC with a high number of basic groups and higher pHpzc values showed an increased BrO3- removal capacity. BrO3- removal was improved by increasing EBCT. The high EBCT provides a greater opportunity for BrO3- to be adsorbed and reduced to Br- on the GAC surface. On the other hand, the presence of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and anions, such as chloride, bromide, and sulfate, resulted in poor BrO3- reduction. In the GAC pilot plant, a GAC column preloaded for 12 months achieved a BrO3- and AOC removal range from 79-96% and 41-75%, respectively. The BrO3- amount removed was found to be proportional to the influent BrO3- concentration. However, the BrO3- removal rate apparently decreased with increasing operation time. In contrast, the AOC apparently increased during the long-term operation period. This may be a result of the contribution due to new GAC being gradually transformed into biological activated carbon (BAC), and the bacterial biomass adsorbed on GAC surface hindering BrO3- reduction by GAC either by blocking pores or adsorbing at the activated sites for BrO3- reduction.

The time response functions of an ultrafast quenched plastic scintillation detector used to measure neutron time of flight spectra were calibrated by utilizing cosmic rays and implosion neutrons from DT-filled capsules at the Shenguang II laser facility. These sources could be regarded as δ function pulses due to their much narrower time widths than those of the time response functions of the detection system. The results showed that the detector responses to DT neutrons and to cosmic rays were 1.18 and 0.96 ns FWHM, respectively.

SG-II, a 8-beam Nd:glass laser with an output energy capability of 6kJ at 1.053μm, was built and direct-drive implosions were successfully performed early in 2000. Both exploding pusher and ablative targets were imploded using glass capsules with diameters of 200 and 500μm, and a wall thickness of about 1μm. The deuterium and tritium (DT) gas pressure filled in these capsules were 2.0 and 0.5MPa, respectively. Sophisticated diagnostics were deployed to measure laser absorption, hot electron temperature and fraction, thermal electron temperature, neutron yields, ion temperature, temporally resolved x-ray images, fuel areal density, alpha particle image, and so on. Significant results, such as neutron yields up to 4 × 109 for exploding pushers with 100-ps laser pulse irradiation and 6 × 108 for ablative targets with 1-ns pulses and clear x-ray images to see the compression process, were obtained. Numerical simulations were conducted to optimize target and laser parameter design and to duplicate the results afterwards with the specific shot parameters used in the experiment.

In this study, electromagnetic induction heating is developed to achieve a rapid mold surface heating. Both a single turn of circular coil and a spiral coil were properly designed for induction heating experiments on a flat steel mold plate. Mold surface temperature distribution during induction heating process was measured using infrared thermal image system. Simulation tool was also developed by integration of both thermal and electromagnetic analysis modules of ANSYS. The capability and accuracy of simulations on the induction heating were verified via experiments. To evaluate the practical purpose of induction heating on the real injection molding, a mold plate, roughly about an inset size of cellular phone housing, designed with four cooling channel design and running 12deg coolant were utilized for the demo experiment. After 3 seconds' induction heating, mold surface temperature increases from 110degC to 180degC. It takes another 24 seconds for mold surface to cool down to 110degC. The rapid heating and cooling of mold surface temperatures using induction technology was successfully illustrated via both experiments and simulations.

The fusion fuel ion temperature is a very important implosion dynamics parameter in initial confinement fusion (ICF) research. It is often determined by the neutron time of flight (TOF) technique,1 , 2 which utilizes the neutron Doppler broadening due to the center-of-mass motion of the reacting ions in the fusion fuel. However, the relative yield method has an advantage when the neutron yield is low. On this condition the detector must be placed at a closer distance from the fuel-filled implosion capsule for enough statistical counts, which will cause a narrower neutron TOF width and thus a greater error as the detection system has a certain response time. But it is possible to employ a suitable fuel mixture in which different reactions occur simultaneously although the implosion neutron yield is sensitive not only to the ion temperature alone. Supposing that the final density ratio of the different fusion fuel components in the compressed microballoon core remains constant as compared with the initial one, the relative yield depends only on the ratio of averaged for the different reactions, where σ and v denote the reaction cross section and the relative velocity, respectively. Since the dependence of on temperature is different for different reactions, the relative yield ratio can reflect the ion temperature.3, 4