408 research outputs found

    Flow, thermal and structural application of Ni-foam as volumetric solar receiver

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    Open-cell nickel foams with 92% porosity and uniform pore size and distribution were used in this study. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the behaviour of Ni-foam, when treated as volumetric receivers under concentrated solar radiation while improving their oxidation resistance, in order to make them attractive for such applications. The experimental investigation showed that their efficiency was depending on both materials parameters and flow conditions, the latter affecting the pressure drop and the heat transfer behaviour. The microstructural characterisation of oxide surface morphologies formed on the open-cell Ni foams exposed to concentrated solar radiation is investigated by the use of SEM and EDXS. SEM observations revealed a rapid homogeneous oxidation in the Ni-foam with three different surface oxide structures formed in relation with the process temperature. A novel slurry-based process for aluminising nickel foams while retaining their geometrical properties is applied in order to develop an aluminide-nickel intermetallic coating on a Ni foam thus enhancing the oxidation resistance. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were applied to assess the effectiveness of the aluminising process and determine the optimum parameters of the procedure (slurry composition, holding temperature and time).The authors would like to thank the PROcedes Materiaux et Energie Solaire (PROMES)–Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) for their support in the experimental procedure in the frame of the European Project SOLFACE.Publicad

    Visualization of positive and negative sense viral RNA for probing the mechanism of direct-acting antivirals against hepatitis C virus

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    RNA viruses are highly successful pathogens and are the causative agents for many important diseases. To fully understand the replication of these viruses it is necessary to address the roles of both positive-strand RNA ((+)RNA) and negative-strand RNA ((-)RNA), and their interplay with viral and host proteins. Here we used branched DNA (bDNA) fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to stain both the abundant (+)RNA and the far less abundant (-)RNA in both hepatitis C virus (HCV)- and Zika virus-infected cells, and combined these analyses with visualization of viral proteins through confocal imaging. We were able to phenotypically examine HCV-infected cells in the presence of uninfected cells and revealed the effect of direct-acting antivirals on HCV (+)RNA, (-)RNA, and protein, within hours of commencing treatment. Herein, we demonstrate that bDNA FISH is a powerful tool for the study of RNA viruses that can provide insights into drug efficacy and mechanism of action

    Early events of Bacillus anthracis germination identified by time-course quantitative proteomics

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    Germination of Bacillus anthracis spores involves rehydration of the spore interior and rapid degradation of several of the protective layers, including the spore coat. Here, we examine the temporal changes that occur during B. anthracis spore germination using an isobaric tagging system. Over the course of 17 min from the onset of germination, the levels of at least 19 spore proteins significantly decrease. Included are acid-soluble proteins, several known and predicted coat proteins, and proteins of unknown function. Over half of these proteins are small (less than 100 amino acids) and would have been undetectable by conventional gel-based analysis. We also identified 20 proteins, whose levels modestly increased at the later time points when metabolism has likely resumed. Taken together, our data show that isobaric labeling of complex mixtures is particularly effective for temporal studies. Furthermore, we describe a rigorous statistical approach to define relevant changes that takes into account the nature of data obtained from multidimensional protein identification technology coupled with the use of isobaric tags. This study provides an expanded list of the proteins that may be involved in germination of the B. anthracis spore and their relative levels during germination.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55849/1/5199_ftp.pd

    British HIV Association guidelines for the management of tuberculosis in adults living with HIV 2019

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    The overall purpose of these guidelines is to help physicians manage adults with tuberculosis (TB)/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co‐infection. Recommendations for the treatment of TB in HIV‐positive adults are similar to those in HIV‐negative adults. Of note, the term “HIV” refers to HIV‐1 throughout these guidelines

    Identifiability of flow distributions from link measurements with applications to computer networks

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    We study the problem of identifiability of distributions of flows on a graph from aggregate measurements collected on its edges. This is a canonical example of a statistical inverse problem motivated by recent developments in computer networks. In this paper (i) we introduce a number of models for multi-modal data that capture their spatio-temporal correlation, (ii) provide sufficient conditions for the identifiability of nth order cumulants and also for a special class of heavy tailed distributions. Further, we investigate conditions on network routing for the flows that prove sufficient for identifiability of their distributions (up to mean). Finally, we extend our results to directed acyclic graphs and discuss some open problems.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58107/2/ip7_5_004.pd
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