Effects of Hyperbaric Hypoxia on Some Enzyme Systems in the Mammalian Liver

The metabolic effects of hypobaric hypoxic stress on the mammalian liver were studied. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity of mouse liver homogenates were measured after exposure to an equivalent altitude of 36,000 feet and compared to controls kept at zero altitude. After six and twelve hour incubation periods, the altitude exposed samples demonstrated a significantly higher LDH activity than controls. SDH activity remained unchanged from controls after six hours but was significantly lower than controls after a 12 hour exposure to altitude. It is concluded that the changes in enzyme activity reflect a metabolic control mechanism attempting to maintain adequate energy production during periods of exposure to hypobaric hypoxic stress

Oxygen Toxicity in the Mammalian Liver

The effect of hyperbaric oxygen tensions on the oxygen consumption of mouse liver homogenates was investigated. It was found that hyperbaric oxygen rapidly inhibits the oxidative metabolism of the mammalian liver. Mouse liver homogenate exposed to an oxygen tension of 3837.8 mm Hg for 30 minutes demonstrated a 50.6% reduction in oxygen consumption compared to controls exposed to nitrogen at ambient pressure. The effects of reduced glutathione as a protective agent against hyperbaric oxygen toxicity were also examined. Liver homogenates pretreated with reduced glutathione and exposed to hyperbaric oxygen tensions demonstrated greater activity than untreated controls. It is concluded that: (1) Reduced glutathione protects important enzymes associated with oxidative metabolism by keeping them in a reduced and viable state, and (2) Reduced glutathione can stimulate oxygen consumption by increasing succinate formation through a reduced glutathione - succinate shunt

Latent Heat Storage with Phase Change Materials (PCMs)

Latent heat thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) is attractive since providing a high energy density storage due to the phase change by solidification/melting at constant temperature. Relative to sensible heat energy storage systems, latent heat storage with PCMs requires a smaller weight and volume of material for a given amount of captured/stored energy, and has the capacity to store heat of fusion at a constant or nearly constant temperature, thus maintaining a high and constant temperature difference between the heat exchanging surface and the PCMs.The present review paper will summarize the required properties of PCMs, with their respective advantages and disadvantages; the current state of development and manufacturing; the development of PCM applications, including their incorporation into heat exchangers, insertion of a metal matrix into the PCM, the use of PCM dispersed with high conductivity particles. PCM uses will be illustrated through some case-studies

On-line scheduling method of manufacturing system based on VS algorithm for reference pattern

In this paper, a scheduling method is developed provide planning for manufacturing plants with multiple coordinating cells. The controls for reconfigurable manufacturing systems have to be capable not only of identifying exceptions on-line, but also simultaneously developing on-line strategies for unpredictable customer order changes or inaccurate estimate of processing times. The approach exploits virtual supervisor (VS) concept developing an algorithm which provides access to all system information during program execution and thus can readily monitor the overall system performance creating reference pattern. The goal is to minimize expected costs of part tardiness and/or earliness. A solution methodology based on a combined Lagrangian relaxation, VS-Patterns, Maxwell equations and temporal difference is developed to reduce the computational requirements for large problems. Sequences pattern shows that near optimal schedules can be obtained a dual solution for on-line implementation

The Dutch version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2 (BRIEF-2)

The BRIEF-2 (Gioia et al., 2015) is a widely used questionnaire to measure daily behavior related to executive function behaviors in the home and school environment of children between 5 and 18 years old. The current study was conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the BRIEF-2 in a representative Dutch-speaking norm sample. Using methods from classical test theory and network theory, we examined the reliability and validity of the BRIEF-2. The results indicated that the BRIEF-2 can be considered as a valid and reliable questionnaire that provides information on the role of executive function in the child’s and adolescent’s functioning in the home and school environment.</p

Profitability of olive mill pomace composting as a bioeconomy alternative

La bioeconomía circular está muy presente en la agenda política actual, como consecuencia de la preocupación de la sociedad por el medio ambiente. Este nuevo paradigma se presenta como una oportunidad para el sector del olivar y de los aceites de oliva, dada la gran cantidad de subproductos que genera y su potencial de valorización. Entre las alternativas existentes para la valorización del alperujo y el hojín producido en las almazaras, el compostaje se presenta como una alternativa técnicamente viable, a pesar de lo cual su implantación es escasa. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la rentabilidad financiera del compostaje de subproductos de la almazara, identificar los principales factores que la determinan y realizar un análisis de sensibilidad de estos. Para ello, se ha analizado la inversión necesaria y los costes de explotación de la actividad de compostaje, arrojando como resultado un margen comercial negativo (-3,64 €/t de compost), considerando la situación actual. No obstante, el margen comercial pasa a ser positivo (+9,52 €/t de compost) al no considerar el coste de oportunidad relativo a la venta del alperujo a la extractora. El análisis de sensibilidad indica que el precio de dicha venta, el precio del combustible y el precio del estiércol son los principales factores limitantes para la rentabilidad de la actividad. Asimismo, se incluye un análisis pormenorizado del efecto de la distancia a la extractora sobre el coste de producción del compost, obteniéndose que para distancias superiores a los 54 km el margen comercial es positivo.The circular bioeconomy is top-ranked among the priorities of the political agenda due to society's concern for the environment. This new paradigm is presented as an opportunity for the olive oil sector due to the large quantities of by products generated and their potential for valorization. Among the existing alternatives for valorizing olive pomace and olive leaves produced in olive mills, composting is presented as a technically feasible alternative, although its implementation is scarce. This study aims to analyze the financial profitability for olive mills of by-products composting, identify the main factors that determine this profitability, and conduct a sensitivity analysis regarding these factors. For this purpose, the investment and operating costs required for the composting activity have been assessed, determining that, under the current situation, the commercial margin of the activity is negative (−€3.64/t of compost). Without considering the sale price of olive pomace to the extractor industry (which represents an opportunity cost for other valorization alternatives, like composting), the commercial margin is estimated to be positive (+€9.52/t of compost). The sensitivity analysis has shown that fuel price, the sale price of the olive pomace to the extractor industry, and the manure price are the main limiting factors for the profitability of the composting valorization alternative. A detailed analysis of the effect of the distance to the pomace oil extraction industry on the cost of the compost produced was also carried out, showing that the commercial margin is positive for distances greater than 54 km

Determination of atmospheric mercury during the North Sea experiment

Total gaseous mercury (TGM) and rainwater were collected on board of two research vessels (F. S. ALKOR and R.V. BELGICA) positioned 200 km apart in the center of the North Sea during the North Sea Experiment, September 1991. On the F. S. ALKOR (up-wind ship) TGM concentrations ranged from 0.7 to 2.6 ng.m(-3) with an average of 1.5 ng.m(-3) and on the R. V. BELGICA (down-wind ship) TGM ranged from 0.7 to 1.9 ng.m(-3) with an average of 1.2 ng.m(-3). An average 20% decrease is observed from the up-wind to the downwind ship. which may largely be affected by entrainment into the free troposphere. An overall removal (entrainment) velocity of 0.95 cm.s(-1) was calculated for the whole experiment. The average removal velocity was 0.5 cm.s(-1) for dry periods and varied between 1 to 5 cm.s(-1) during rain events. Rainwater concentrations varied between 5 and 25 ng.l(-1). Based on these data an annual wet deposition flux of 1.08 ng Hg cm(-2) yr(1-) was estimated for the North Sea

An Approach to Line Balancing on Virtual Supervisor Induction Method and Intelligent Agents

This approach develops a method for solving the line-balancing problem, which is based on two stages. The works in a first stage is to identify the task of workstation, the assignment of the tasks to stations on the line and the recognized balance delay. In this stage we propose the induction VS method, which allows further identify the exact position between pieces, machine into a workstation and also between extern workstation, as well as intracellular and intercellular part. This way each task is identified and measured. In the second stage is to carry out a macro-approach to choose the resource to perform each of them. The hybrid intelligent agent architecture is proposed for this second stage, which has consideration of machining sequence. The integration between both technologies allows us to develop new hybrid architecture capable to reduce the computational time in the deliberative layers fundamentally. Finally, a reconfigurable testbed has been proposed for future experiments and results to evaluate this new balancing method. Some previous computational experiments provide that the proposed approach is efficient to solve practical transfer line design for balancing problem

The impact of trust on private equity contracts

This paper adresses the impact of trust on private equity contracts. Trust between investor and entrepreneur is essential to help overcome control problems, especially in an environment with severe agency risks and incomplete contracts. In this study, information about the effects of trust is collected using a simulation with 144 entrepreneurs and investors. We find that trust has an impact on the desired contracts of entrepreneurs, but not on that of investors. Our findings suggest that for parties, faced with potentially large agency problems (investors), trust and control seem to play complementary roles. On the other hand, for parties faced with smaller agency problems (entrepreneurs), trust seems to be a substitute for control