292 research outputs found
Control Optimization of Combined Cooling and Power System with Prime Mover of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-gas Turbine for Building Application
© 2017 The Authors. This paper presents a control strategy for a combined cooling and power (CCP) system using a prime mover of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with bottoming cycle of gas turbine (GT) for building application. Dynamic simulation model of the CCP system was developed in TRNSYS 17, and the control strategy was developed for year-round operation in response to the changing climatic and loading conditions. The capacity ratio of cells in operation; the ratio of exhaust heat delivered to GT; and the ratio of cooling load shared between absorption and compression chillers were chosen as the decision variables in the control strategy. In order to minimize the system energy consumption, particle swarm optimization (PSO) was constructed in MATLAB and coupled with TRNSYS 17 for control optimization. It was found that with the proposed control strategy, the yearly energy saving of the SOFC-GT CCP system would be 6.89% compared to the reference case
Patients with refractory cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at high risk for CMV disease and non-relapse mortality
AbstractPre-emptive therapy is an effective approach for cytomegalovirus (CMV) control; however, refractory CMV still occurs in a considerable group of recipients after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Until now, hardly any data have been available about the clinical characteristics and risk factors of refractory CMV, or its potential harmful impact on the clinical outcome following allo-HSCT. We studied transplant factors affecting refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT, and the impact of refractory CMV on the risk of CMV disease and non-relapse mortality (NRM). We retrospectively studied 488 consecutive patients with CMV infection after allo-HSCT. Patients with refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT had a higher incidence of CMV disease and NRM than those without refractory CMV (11.9% vs. 0.8% and 17.1% vs. 8.3%, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that refractory CMV infection in the 100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for CMV disease (hazard ratio (HR) 10.539, 95% CI 2.467â45.015, p 0.001), and that refractory CMV infection within 60â100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for NRM (HR 8.435, 95% CI 1.511â47.099, p 0.015). Clinical factors impacting on the risk of refractory CMV infection included receiving transplants from human leukocyte antigen-mismatched family donors (HR 2.012, 95% CI 1.603â2.546, p <0.001) and acute graft-versus-host disease (HR 1.905, 95% CI 1.352â2.686, p <0.001). We conclude that patients with refractory CMV infection during the early stage after allo-HSCT are at high risk for both CMV disease and NRM
Pulsars as Fantastic Objects and Probes
Pulsars are fantastic objects, which show the extreme states of matters and
plasma physics not understood yet. Pulsars can be used as probes for the
detection of interstellar medium and even the gravitational waves. Here I
review the basic facts of pulsars which should attract students to choose
pulsar studies as their future projects.Comment: Invited Lecture on the "First Kodai-Trieste Workshop on Plasma
Astrophysics", Kodaikanal Obs, India. Aug.27-Sept.7th, 2007. In: "Turbulence,
Dynamos, Accretion Disks, Pulsars and Collective Plasma Processes". Get a
copy from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4020-8867-
Interplay of Electron-Phonon Interaction and Electron Correlation in High Temperature Superconductivity
We study the electron-phonon interaction in the strongly correlated
superconducting cuprates. Two types of the electron-phonon interactions are
introduced in the model; the diagonal and off-diagonal interactions which
modify the formation energy of the Zhang-Rice singlet and its transfer
integral, respectively. The characteristic phonon-momentum and
electron-momentum dependence resulted from the off-diagonal coupling
can explain a variety of experiments. The vertex correction for the
electron-phonon interaction is formulated in the SU(2) slave-boson theory by
taking into account the collective modes in the superconducting ground states.
It is shown that the vertex correction enhances the attractive potential for
the d-wave paring mediated by phonon with around
which corresponds to the half-breathing mode of the oxygen
motion.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
in NonCommutative Standard Model
We study the top quark decay to b quark and W boson in the NonCommutative
Standard Model (NCSM). The lowest contribution to the decay comes from the
terms quadratic in the matrix describing the noncommutative (NC) effects while
the linear term is seen to identically vanish because of symmetry. The NC
effects are found to be significant only for low values of the NC
characteristic scale.Comment: 11 page Latex file containing 2 eps figures (redrawn). More
discussion included. To appear in PR
Prunella vulgaris: A comprehensive review of chemical constituents, pharmacological effects and clinical applications.
Prunella vulgaris (PV) is a perennial herb belonging to the Labiate family and is widely distributed in northeastern Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and China. It is reported to display diverse biological activities including anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammation as determined by in vitro or in vivo studies. So far, about 200 compounds have been isolated from PV plant and majority of these have been characterized mainly as triterpenoids, sterols and flavonoids, followed by coumarins, phenylpropanoids, polysaccharides and volatile oils. This review summarizes and analyzes the current knowledge on the chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, mechanisms of action and clinical applications of the PV plant including its potential as a future medicinal plant. Although some of the chemical constituents of the PV plant and their mechanism of action have been investigated the biological activities of many of these remain unknown and further clinical trials are required to further enhance its reputation as a medicinal plant
Mechanisms underlying a thalamocortical transformation during active tactile sensation
During active somatosensation, neural signals expected from movement of the sensors are suppressed in the cortex, whereas information related to touch is enhanced. This tactile suppression underlies low-noise encoding of relevant tactile features and the brainâs ability to make fine tactile discriminations. Layer (L) 4 excitatory neurons in the barrel cortex, the major target of the somatosensory thalamus (VPM), respond to touch, but have low spike rates and low sensitivity to the movement of whiskers. Most neurons in VPM respond to touch and also show an increase in spike rate with whisker movement. Therefore, signals related to self-movement are suppressed in L4. Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons in L4 show similar dynamics to VPM neurons. Stimulation of halorhodopsin in FS interneurons causes a reduction in FS neuron activity and an increase in L4 excitatory neuron activity. This decrease of activity of L4 FS neurons contradicts the "paradoxical effect" predicted in networks stabilized by inhibition and in strongly-coupled networks. To explain these observations, we constructed a model of the L4 circuit, with connectivity constrained by in vitro measurements. The model explores the various synaptic conductance strengths for which L4 FS neurons actively suppress baseline and movement-related activity in layer 4 excitatory neurons. Feedforward inhibition, in concert with recurrent intracortical circuitry, produces tactile suppression. Synaptic delays in feedforward inhibition allow transmission of temporally brief volleys of activity associated with touch. Our model provides a mechanistic explanation of a behavior-related computation implemented by the thalamocortical circuit
Dynamic protein methylation in chromatin biology
Post-translational modification of chromatin is emerging as an increasingly important regulator of chromosomal processes. In particular, histone lysine and arginine methylation play important roles in regulating transcription, maintaining genomic integrity, and contributing to epigenetic memory. Recently, the use of new approaches to analyse histone methylation, the generation of genetic model systems, and the ability to interrogate genome wide histone modification profiles has aided in defining how histone methylation contributes to these processes. Here we focus on the recent advances in our understanding of the histone methylation system and examine how dynamic histone methylation contributes to normal cellular function in mammals
Measurements of J/psi --> p \bar{p}
The process J/\psi --> p \bar{p} is studied using 57.7 X 10^6 J/\psi events
collected with the BESII detector at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider.
The branching ratio is determined to be Br(J/\psi --> p \bar{p})=(2.26 +- 0.01
+- 0.14) X 10^{-3}, and the angular distribution is well described by
\frac{dN}{d cos\theta_p}=1+\alpha\cos^2\theta_p with \alpha = 0.676 +- 0.036 +-
0.042, where \theta_p is the angle between the proton and beam directions. The
value of \alpha obtained is in good agreement with the predictions of
first-order QCD.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, RevTex4, Submitted to Phys.Lett.
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