NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF CO-FLOWING IMMISCIBLE LIQUIDS IN CO-AXIAL MICROTUBES

This research developed dimensionless correlations, based on the numerical simulations, for the boundaries between the dripping, transition and jetting regimes. Additional correlations are also developed for the radius and formation frequency of disperse droplet in the dripping regime and the transition regime, when the total volume of the satellite droplets is less than 1% of the disperse primary droplets

Mutual information and correlations across topological phase transitions in topologically ordered graphene zigzag nanoribbons

Graphene zigzag nanoribbons, initially in a topologically ordered state, undergo a topological phase transition into crossover phases distinguished by quasi-topological order. We computed mutual information for both the topologically ordered phase and its crossover phases, revealing the following results: (i) In the topologically ordered phase, A-chirality carbon lines strongly entangle with B-chirality carbon lines on the opposite side of the zigzag ribbon. This entanglement persists but weakens in crossover phases. (ii) The upper zigzag edge entangles with non-edge lines of different chirality on the opposite side of the ribbon. (iii) Entanglement increases as more carbon lines are grouped together, regardless of the lines' chirality. No long-range entanglement was found in the symmetry-protected phase in the absence of disorder.Comment: A featured paper published in a special issue titled 'Entanglement Entropy and Quantum Phase Transitions' within the journal 'Entropy'. (This is the published version.

Phase Diagram and Crossover Phases of Topologically Ordered Graphene Zigzag Nanoribbons: Role of Localization Effects

We computed the phase diagram of the zigzag graphene nanoribbons as a function of on-site repulsion, doping, and disorder strength. The topologically ordered phase undergoes topological phase transitions into crossover phases, which are new disordered phases with a nonuniversal topological entanglement entropy with significant variance. The topological order is destroyed by competition between localization effects and on-site repulsion. We found that strong on-site repulsion and/or doping weakens the nonlocal correlations between the opposite zigzag edges. In one of the crossover phases, both $\frac{e^-}{2}$ fractional charges and spin-charge separation were absent; however, charge-transfer correlations between the zigzag edges were possible. Another crossover phase contains $\frac{e^-}{2}$ fractional charges, but no charge transfer correlations. In low-doped zigzag ribbons the interplay between electron localization and on-site repulsion contributes to the spatial separation of quasi-degenerate gap-edge states and protects the charge fractionalization against quantum fluctuations. In all these effects, mixed chiral gap-edge states play an important role. The properties of nontopological strongly disordered and strongly repulsive phases are also observed. Each phase of the phase diagram has a different zigzag-edge structure

An Experimental Study on the Thermal Conductivity of Concrete Containing Coal Bottom Ash Aggregate

Thermal conductivity plays a significant role in efficient energy usage, especially in the construction field. Low thermal conductivity is preferable because lower thermal conductivity will increase the thermal insulation provided by the concrete and reduce the heating and cooling costs for residential and commercial buildings. To accomplish this goal, porous materials can be considered for use in concrete. Additionally, researchers have had challenges producing high-strength concrete with low thermal conductivity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of replacing crushed fine aggregates with coal bottom ash (CBA) on the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of high-strength concrete. The concrete properties, including unit weight, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity, were measured. The experimental results revealed that the thermal conductivity of the CBA concrete decreased as the unit weight of the CBA concrete decreased, and the thermal conductivity also decreased as the compressive strength decreased. Finally, the relationships between the thermal conductivity, unit weight, and compressive strength of the CBA concrete were also examined

Fully-automatic deep learning-based analysis for determination of the invasiveness of breast cancer cells in an acoustic trap

A single-beam acoustic trapping technique has been shown to be very useful for determining the invasiveness of suspended breast cancer cells in an acoustic trap with a manual calcium analysis method. However, for the rapid translation of the technology into the clinic, the development of an efficient/accurate analytical method is needed. We, therefore, develop a fully-automatic deep learning-based calcium image analysis algorithm for determining the invasiveness of suspended breast cancer cells using a single-beam acoustic trapping system. The algorithm allows to segment cells, find trapped cells, and quantify their calcium changes over time. For better segmentation of calcium fluorescent cells even with vague boundaries, a novel deep learning architecture with multi-scale/multi-channel convolution operations (MM-Net) is devised and constructed by a target inversion training method. The MM-Net outperforms other deep learning models in the cell segmentation. Also, a detection/quantification algorithm is developed and implemented to automatically determine the invasiveness of a trapped cell. For the evaluation of the algorithm, it is applied to quantify the invasiveness of breast cancer cells. The results show that the algorithm offers similar performance to the manual calcium analysis method for determining the invasiveness of cancer cells, suggesting that it may serve as a novel tool to automatically determine the invasiveness of cancer cells with high-efficiency. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement.1

Activation of Protein Kinase G After Repeated Cocaine Administration Is Necessary for the Phosphorylation of α-Amino-3-Hydroxy-5-Methyl-4-Isoxazolepropionic Acid Receptor GluA1 at Serine 831 in the Rat Nucleus Accumbens

Phosphorylation of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors in the striatum plays a crucial role in regulating the receptor-coupled signaling cascades leading to behavioral changes associated with psychostimulant exposure. The present study determined if activation of protein kinase G (PKG) contributes to the phosphorylation of AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit at the position of serine 831 (GluA1-S831) in the rat nucleus accumbens (NAc) after repeated cocaine administration. The results demonstrated that repeated intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of cocaine (20 mg/kg) once a day for seven consecutive days significantly increased the level of phosphorylated (p)GluA1-S831. This increase was decreased by the intra-NAc infusion of either the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) analog, Rp-8-Br-PET-cGMPS (5 nmol/1 μL), or the PKG inhibitor, KT5823 (2 nmol/1 μL). Repeated cocaine administration increased PKG binding activity to GluA1. This increase in GluA1-S831 phosphorylation after repeated cocaine administration was decreased by the intra-NAc infusion of the synthetic peptide (Tat-tagged interfering peptide (Tat-GluA1-i)), that interferes with the binding of PKG to GluA1. Intra-NAc infusion of the interfering peptide also reduced the repeated cocaine-induced increase in locomotor activity. These findings suggest that activated PKG, after repeated exposure to cocaine, binds to AMPA receptor GluA1 and is required for the phosphorylation of S831, contributing to behavioral changes

Bioconversion of CO to formate by artificially designed carbon monoxide:formate oxidoreductase in hyperthermophilic archaea

Ferredoxin-dependent metabolic engineering of electron transfer circuits has been developed to enhance redox efficiency in the field of synthetic biology, e.g., for hydrogen production and for reduction of flavoproteins or NAD(P)+. Here, we present the bioconversion of carbon monoxide (CO) gas to formate via a synthetic CO:formate oxidoreductase (CFOR), designed as an enzyme complex for direct electron transfer between non-interacting CO dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase using an electron-transferring Fe-S fusion protein. The CFOR-introduced Thermococcus onnurineus mutant strains showed CO-dependent formate production in vivo and in vitro. The maximum formate production rate from purified CFOR complex and specific formate productivity from the bioreactor were 2.2????????0.2 ??mol/mg/min and 73.1????????29.0 mmol/g-cells/h, respectively. The CO-dependent CO2 reduction/formate production activity of synthetic CFOR was confirmed, indicating that direct electron transfer between two unrelated dehydrogenases was feasible via mediation of the FeS-FeS fusion protein

Cost-effectiveness of a medication event monitoring system for tuberculosis management in Morocco

BACKGROUND: Digital health technologies have been used to enhance adherence to TB medication, but the cost-effectiveness remains unclear. METHODS: We used the real data from the study conducted from April 2014 to December 2020 in Morocco using a smart pillbox with a web-based medication monitoring system, called Medication Event Monitoring Systems (MEMS). Cost-effectiveness was evaluated using a decision analysis model including Markov model for Multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB from the health system perspective. The primary outcome was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per disability adjusted life-year (DALY) averted. Two-way sensitive analysis was done for the treatment success rate between MEMS and standard of care. RESULTS: The average total per-patient health system costs for treating a new TB patient under MEMS versus standard of care were $398.70 and$155.70, respectively. The MEMS strategy would reduce the number of drug-susceptible TB cases by 0.17 and MDR-TB cases by 0.01 per patient over five years. The ICER of MEMS was $434/DALY averted relative to standard of care, and was most susceptible to the TB treatment success rate of both strategies followed by the managing cost of MEMS. CONCLUSION: MEMS is considered cost-effective for managing infectious active TB in Morocco