Shredding energy consumption of GFRP composite waste

This work investigated effect of glass fibre fabric structures, feedstock feed rate and screen size on specific shredding energy of glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) waste via a two-level factorial design of experiment study. Four types of fabric structure, i.e. unidirectional (UD), biaxial (BIAX), triaxial (TRIAX) and chopped strand mat (CSM), were impregnated separately with unsaturated polyester resin to manufacture GFRP plates. The shredding energy was measured using a two-wattmeter approach. During shredding, CSM demonstrated a relatively flat power consumption curve compared to other fabric types. It was also noticed that the GFRP plate reinforced with more complex woven structure, i.e. TRIAX, required higher energy for shredding, especially with a combination of high feed rate and small screen size. It was found that mechanical efficiency was only around 8.2-15.7% and 0.8-2.2% for shredding at feed rate of 60 kg/hr and 10 kg/hr respectively. It was also found that adopting a larger screen size and lower feed rate could reduce the specific shredding energy

Genomic analysis of a novel antarctic bacterium, cryobacterium sp. SO2 provides insights into its genomic potential for production of antimicrobial compounds

A novel strain of Cryobacterium designated as SO2, was isolated from the Antarctic. Hence, this study was undertaken to gain further insight into the antimicrobial compounds and secondary metabolites produced by Cryobacterium sp. SO2. It was found that strain SO2 is a Gram-positive that exhibits an irregular rod shape, which formed yellow to orange pigmented colonies on semi-solid media. Strain SO2 grows at temperatures ranging from 4 to 25 ºC. It has a complete genomic size of 4.097 Mb. SO2 has a DNA G+C content of 68.43%, and genomic annotation showed that the genome contained 3,862 CDS, 10 rRNA, 55 tRNA and 1 tm-RNA. Phylogenetic and OrthoANI analysis suggested Cryobacterium sp. strains SO1, N22, TMB1-8, LW097, TMN39-1, C. zongtaii TMN-42, C. arcticum PAMC27867 and C. soli GCJ02 as its closest phylogenetic neighbour. Genome annotation shows that strain SO2 confers β-lactamase class A, cephalosporin-C deacetylases, and 27 drug-resistance or efflux coding genes, and allows resistance to ceftazidime. Functional annotation identifies 28.74% of predicted genes are of unknown functions. Genome mining indicates that there are six putative secondary metabolite gene clusters in strain SO2. They are made up of RRE-containing, terpene, beta-lactone, T3PKS, NAPAA, and 2dos. This finding shows strain SO2 harbours genes that may be involved in the production of compounds with antibacterial and antioxidant activities

Studies of Prototype CsI(Tl) Crystal Scintillators for Low-Energy Neutrino Experiments

Crystal scintillators provide potential merits for the pursuit of low-energy low-background experiments. A CsI(Tl) scintillating crystal detector is being constructed to study low-energy neutrino physics at a nuclear reactor, while projects are underway to adopt this technique for dark matter searches. The choice of the geometrical parameters of the crystal modules, as well as the optimization of the read-out scheme, are the results of an R&D program. Crystals with 40 cm in length were developed. The detector requirements and the achieved performance of the prototypes are presented. Future prospects for this technique are discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figure

The association between distal findings and proximal colorectal neoplasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: Whether screening participants with distal hyperplastic polyps (HPs) detected by flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) should be followed by subsequent colonoscopy is controversial. We evaluated the association between distal HPs and proximal neoplasia (PN)/advanced proximal neoplasia (APN) in asymptomatic, average-risk patients. Methods: We searched Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from inception to 30 June 2016 and included all screening studies that examined the relationship between different distal findings and PN/APN. Data were independently extracted by two reviewers with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. We pooled absolute risks and odds ratios (ORs) with a random effects meta-analysis. Seven subgroup analyses were performed according to study characteristics. Heterogeneity was characterized with theI2 statistics. Results: We analyzed 28 studies (104,961 subjects). When compared with normal distal findings, distal HP was not associated with PN (OR=1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.89–1.51,P=0.14,I2=40%) or APN (OR=1.09, 95% CI=0.87–1.36,P=0.39,I2=5%), while subjects with distal non-advanced or advanced adenoma had higher odds of PN/APN. Higher odds of PN/APN were observed for more severe distal lesions. Weaker association between distal and proximal findings was noticed in studies with higher quality, larger sample size, population-based design, and more stringent endoscopy quality-control measures. The Egger’s regression tests showed allP>0.05. Conclusions: Distal HP is not associated with PN/APN in asymptomatic screening population when compared with normal distal findings. Hence, the presence of distal HP alone detected by FS does not automatically indicate colonoscopy referral for all screening participants, as other risk factors of PN/APN should be considered

A remark on non-Abelian classical kinetic theory

It is known that non-Abelian classical kinetic theory reproduces the Hard Thermal/Dense Loop (HTL/HDL) effective action of QCD, obtained after integrating out the hardest momentum scales from the system, as well as the first higher dimensional operator beyond the HTL/HDL level. We discuss here its applicability at still higher orders, by comparing the exact classical effective action obtained in the static limit, with the 1-loop quantum effective potential. We remark that while correct types of operators arise, the classical colour algebra reproduces correctly the prefactor of the 4-point function $tr A_0^4$ only for matter in asymptotically high dimensional colour representations.Comment: 6 page

Serum IL-8 is a marker of white-matter hyperintensities in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Introduction Neuroinflammation and cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) have been implicated in cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study aimed to examine serum inflammatory markers in preclinical stages of dementia and in AD, as well as to investigate their associations with concomitant CeVD. Methods We performed a cross-sectional case–control study including 96 AD, 140 cognitively impaired no dementia (CIND), and 79 noncognitively impaired participants. All subjects underwent neuropsychological and neuroimaging assessments, as well as collection of blood samples for measurements of serum samples interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor α levels. Subjects were classified as CIND or dementia based on clinical criteria. Significant CeVD, including white-matter hyperintensities (WMHs), lacunes, and cortical infarcts, was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Results After controlling for covariates, higher concentrations of IL-8, but not the other measured cytokines, were associated with both CIND and AD only in the presence of significant CeVD (CIND with CeVD: odds ratios [ORs] 4.53; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5–13.4 and AD with CeVD: OR 7.26; 95% CI 1.2–43.3). Subsequent multivariate analyses showed that among the types of CeVD assessed, only WMH was associated with higher IL-8 levels in CIND and AD (WMH: OR 2.81; 95% CI 1.4–5.6). Discussion Serum IL-8 may have clinical utility as a biomarker for WMH in AD. Longitudinal follow-up studies would help validate these findings

ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile:Coronaviridae 2023

The family Coronaviridae includes viruses with positive-sense RNA genomes of 22-36 kb that are expressed through a nested set of 3' co-terminal subgenomic mRNAs. Members of the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae are characterized by 80-160 nm diameter, enveloped virions with spike projections. The orthocoronaviruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus are extremely pathogenic for humans and in the last two decades have been responsible for the SARS and MERS epidemics. Another orthocoronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, was responsible for the recent global COVID-19 pandemic. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Coronaviridae which is available at www.ictv.global/report/coronaviridae.</p

Prospects of Scintillating Crystal Detector in Low-Energy Low-Background Experiments

Scintillating crystal detector offers potential advantages in low-energy (keV-MeV range) low-background experiments for particle physics and astrophysics. The merits are discussed using CsI(Tl) crystal as illustrations. The various physics topics which can be pursued with this detector technology are summarized. A conceptual design for a generic detector is presented.Comment: 20 pages, 1 tables, 7 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physic