Replacing fossil fuels wtih solar energy in an SME in UK and Kurdistan, Iraq: Kansas fried chicken case study

Energy management and analysis are more common in large companies since they have the resources and commitment to assign such tasks to employee compared to SMEs. Only a very small proportion of the overall business costs pertains to energy requirements and therefore SMEs pay little attention to energy analysis and management. Fossil fuels, which cause issues related to global warming, can viably be replaced with renewable energy sources such as solar energy. Trends in solar cell development are likely to yield a potential solution to problems generated by an over reliance on fossil fuels. Solar solutions are relatively simple to implement in SMEs than in large corporation and the combined impact small businesses is likely to be much greater. A micro-business has been utilized as a cases study for the purposes of illustration in the UK and Kurdistan-Iraq. Even though Kurdistan-Iraq is abundant in oil and gas, its climatic favour the implementation of solar cells which can replace the existing use of non-renewable fossil fuel. Our comparative study suggests that solar can replaced a reasonable amount of the energy needs even in the UK and a much higher amount in Kurdistan-Iraq. Using 20% efficient solar, can replace 23% and 70% of the energy requirements of the microbusiness in UK and Kurdistan-Iraq respectively

Cardiomyocyte contractile function at 25°C in low fat (LF) or high fat (HF)-fed C57 mice with or without TUDCA treatment (300 mg/kg for 15 days).

<p>A: Representative traces depicting cell shortening in LF and HF-fed mice; B: Representative traces depicting cell shortening in LF and HF-fed mice with TUDCA treatment; C: Resting cell length; D: Peak shortening (PS, normalized to resting cell length); E: Maximal velocity of shortening (+dL/dt); F: Maximal velocity of relengthening (−dL/dt); G: Time-to-PS (TPS); and I: Time-to-90% relengthening (TR₉₀). Mean±SEM, n = 60–64 cells from 3 mice per group, *p<0.05 (two-way ANOVA).</p

Expression of ER stress proteins in myocardium from low fat (LF) or high fat (HF)-fed C57 mice with or without TUDCA treatment (300 mg/kg for 15 days).

<p>A: Representative gel blots depicting levels of GRP78/BiP, pPERK, PERK, CHOP, eIF2α, peIF2α and α-tubulin (as loading control) using specific antibodies; B: GRP78/Bip expression; C: pPERK-to-PERK ratio; D: pIRE-1 level; E: CHOP expression; and F: peIF2α-to-eIF2α ratio. Mean±SEM; sample sizes are denoted in the bar graphs, *p<0.05 (two-way ANOVA).</p

Levels of insulin signaling cascades in myocardium from low fat (LF) or high fat (HF)-fed C57 mice with or without TUDCA treatment (300 mg/kg for 15 days).

<p>A: pIRS-1-to-IRS-1 ratio; B: pJNK-to-JNK ratio; C: pcJun-to-cJun ratio; and D: pERK-to-ERK ratio. Insets: Representative gel blots of total and phosphorylated IRS-1, JNK, cJun and ERK using specific antibodies. α-tubulin was used as the loading control. Mean±SEM; sample sizes are denoted in the bar graphs; *p<0.05 (two-way ANOVA).</p

Levels of total and phosphorylated Akt, AMPK, ACC and GSK-3β in myocardium from low fat (LF) or high fat (HF)-fed C57 mice with or without TUDCA treatment (300 mg/kg for 15 days).

<p>A: Representative gel blots of Akt, pAkt, AMPK, pAMPK, ACC, pACC, GSK-3β, pGSK-3β and α-tubulin (loading control) using specific antibodies. B: pAkt-to-Akt ratio; C: pAMPK-to-AMPK ratio; D: pACC-to-ACC ratio; and E: pGSK-3β-to-GSK-3β ratio; Meanυ±SEM; sample sizes are denoted in the bar graphs; *p<0.05 (two-way ANOVA).</p

Correction: Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid Mitigates High Fat Diet-Induced Cardiomyocyte Contractile and Intracellular Ca²⁺ Anomalies

Correction: Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid Mitigates High Fat Diet-Induced Cardiomyocyte Contractile and Intracellular Ca²⁺ Anomalie

Intracellular Ca²⁺ and intracellular Ca²⁺ regulatory protein properties in hearts from low fat (LF) or high fat (HF)-fed C57 mice with or without TUDCA treatment (300 mg/kg for 15 days).

<p>A: Representative traces depicting intracellular Ca²⁺ transients in LF and HF-fed mice; B: Representative traces depicting Ca²⁺ transients in LF and HF-fed mice with TUDCA treatment; C: Baseline intracellular Ca²⁺ levels; D: Rise in intracellular Ca²⁺ in response to electrical stimulus shown as changes in Fura-2 fluorescence intensity (ΔFFI); E: Single exponential intracellular Ca²⁺ decay rate; F: Representative gel blots depicting levels of SERCA2a, Na⁺-Ca²⁺ exchanger (NCX), total/phosphorylated phospholamban (pPLB) and α-tubulin (loading control) using specific antibodies; G: SERCA2a expression; H: NCX expression; and I: pPLB (Ser¹⁶)-to-PLB ratio. Mean±SEM, n = 44–47 cells from 3 mice (panels A-E); or denoted in the graphs (panels F-I); *p<0.05 (two-way ANOVA).</p

Summary of the RNA-Seq data in ovaries during fruit set.

<p>Summary of the RNA-Seq data in ovaries during fruit set.</p

Differentially expressed genes identified by RNA-Seq during fruit set.

<p>The number of up- and down-regulated DEGs in ovaries at 4DPAP, 4DPAT and 4DPGT with respect to (A) 2DAA and (B) 6DPE, respectively during fruit set.</p

DEGs involved in MADS-box and homeobox family during fruit set.

<p>The fold-change value is represented by the Log2 Ratio.</p><p>DEGs involved in MADS-box and homeobox family during fruit set.</p