A critical review of the current progress of plastic waste recycling technology in structural materials

One of the main environmentally threatening factors is plastic waste which generates in great quantity and causes severe damage to both inhabitants and the environment. Commonly, plastic waste generated on the land ends up in water bodies, resulting in detrimental solid impacts on the aquatics via poisoning and flooding the marine ecosystem. Exploring various approaches to convert plastic wastes into new products known as an efficient way to manage them and to enhance the sustainability of the environment, discussed in this article. Moreover, The limitation of the application of plastic waste for construction purposes is also considered. It is wind up that the usage of plastic waste for construction purposes will significantly rectify the sustainability of our environment and also be regarded as a trustworthy source of materials for applying in conventional materials such as concrete and asphalt

Poly(I:C) induces intense expression of c-IAP2 and cooperates with an IAP inhibitor in induction of apoptosis in cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is increasing evidence that the toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) is an interesting target for anti-cancer therapy. Unfortunately, most laboratory investigations about the impact of TLR3 stimulation on human malignant cells have been performed with very high concentrations - 5 to 100 μg/ml - of the prototype TLR3 ligand, poly(I:C). In a previous study focused on a specific type of human carcinoma - nasopharyngeal carcinoma - we have shown that concentrations of poly(I:C) as low as 100 ng/ml are sufficient to induce apoptosis of malignant cells when combined to a pharmacological antagonist of the IAP family based on Smac mimicry.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This observation prompted us to investigate the contribution of the IAP family in cell response to poly(I:C) in a variety of human malignant cell types.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report a rapid, intense and selective increase in c-IAP2 protein expression observed under stimulation by poly(I:C)(500 ng/ml) in all types of human malignant cells. In most cell types, this change in protein expression is underlain by an increase in c-IAP2 transcripts and dependent on the TLR3/TRIF pathway. When poly(I:C) is combined to the IAP inhibitor RMT 5265, a cooperative effect in apoptosis induction and/or inhibition of clonogenic growth is obtained in a large fraction of carcinoma and melanoma cell lines.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Currently, IAP inhibitors like RMT 5265 and poly(I:C) are the subject of separate therapeutic trials. In light of our observations, combined use of both types of compounds should be considered for treatment of human malignancies including carcinomas and melanomas.</p

Cellular dissection of psoriasis for transcriptome analyses and the post-GWAS era

Abstract Background Genome-scale studies of psoriasis have been used to identify genes of potential relevance to disease mechanisms. For many identified genes, however, the cell type mediating disease activity is uncertain, which has limited our ability to design gene functional studies based on genomic findings. Methods We identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with altered expression in psoriasis lesions (n = 216 patients), as well as candidate genes near susceptibility loci from psoriasis GWAS studies. These gene sets were characterized based upon their expression across 10 cell types present in psoriasis lesions. Susceptibility-associated variation at intergenic (non-coding) loci was evaluated to identify sites of allele-specific transcription factor binding. Results Half of DEGs showed highest expression in skin cells, although the dominant cell type differed between psoriasis-increased DEGs (keratinocytes, 35%) and psoriasis-decreased DEGs (fibroblasts, 33%). In contrast, psoriasis GWAS candidates tended to have highest expression in immune cells (71%), with a significant fraction showing maximal expression in neutrophils (24%, P < 0.001). By identifying candidate cell types for genes near susceptibility loci, we could identify and prioritize SNPs at which susceptibility variants are predicted to influence transcription factor binding. This led to the identification of potentially causal (non-coding) SNPs for which susceptibility variants influence binding of AP-1, NF-κB, IRF1, STAT3 and STAT4. Conclusions These findings underscore the role of innate immunity in psoriasis and highlight neutrophils as a cell type linked with pathogenetic mechanisms. Assignment of candidate cell types to genes emerging from GWAS studies provides a first step towards functional analysis, and we have proposed an approach for generating hypotheses to explain GWAS hits at intergenic loci.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109537/1/12920_2013_Article_485.pd

Co-ordinated Role of TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 in the Innate Response to Rhinovirus in Bronchial Epithelium

The relative roles of the endosomal TLR3/7/8 versus the intracellular RNA helicases RIG-I and MDA5 in viral infection is much debated. We investigated the roles of each pattern recognition receptor in rhinovirus infection using primary bronchial epithelial cells. TLR3 was constitutively expressed; however, RIG-I and MDA5 were inducible by 8–12 h following rhinovirus infection. Bronchial epithelial tissue from normal volunteers challenged with rhinovirus in vivo exhibited low levels of RIG-I and MDA5 that were increased at day 4 post infection. Inhibition of TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 by siRNA reduced innate cytokine mRNA, and increased rhinovirus replication. Inhibition of TLR3 and TRIF using siRNA reduced rhinovirus induced RNA helicases. Furthermore, IFNAR1 deficient mice exhibited RIG-I and MDA5 induction early during RV1B infection in an interferon independent manner. Hence anti-viral defense within bronchial epithelium requires co-ordinated recognition of rhinovirus infection, initially via TLR3/TRIF and later via inducible RNA helicases

Orientational Effects and Random Mixing in 1‑Alkanol + Nitrile Mixtures

1-Alkanol + alkanenitrile or + benzonitrile systems have been investigated by means of the molar excess functionsenthalpies (Hm E ), isobaric heat capacities (Cp,m E ), volumes (Vm E ), and entropiesand using the Flory model and the concentration−concentration structure factor (SCC(0)) formalism. From the analysis of the experimental data available in the literature, it is concluded that interactions are mainly of dipolar type. In addition, large Hm E values contrast with rather low Vm E values, indicating the existence of strong structural effects. Hm E measurements have been used to evaluate the enthalpy of the hydroxyl−nitrile interactions (ΔHOH−CN). They are stronger in methanol systems and become weaker when the alcohol size increases. In solutions with a given short chain 1-alkanol (up to 1-butanol), the replacement of ethanenitrile by butanenitrile weakens the mentioned interactions. Application of the Flory model shows that orientational effects exist in methanol or 1- nonanol, or 1-decanol + ethanenitrile mixtures. In the former solution, this is due to the existence of interactions between unlike molecules. For mixtures including 1-nonanol or 1-decanol, the systems at 298.15 K are close to their UCST (upper critical solution temperature), and interactions between like molecules are dominant. Orientational effects also are encountered in methanol or ethanol + butanenitrile mixtures because self-association of the alcohol plays a more important role. Aromaticity effect seems to enhance orientational effects. For the remainder of the systems under consideration, the random mixing hypothesis is attained to a rather large extent. Results from the application of the SCC(0) formalism show that homocoordination is the dominant trend in the investigated solutions, and are consistent with those obtained from the Flory model

Orientational Effects and Random Mixing in 1-Alkanol + Alkanone Mixtures

1-Alkanol + alkanone systems have been investigated through the data analysis of molar excess functions, enthalpies, isobaric heat capacities, volumes and entropies, and using the Flory model and the formalism of the concentrationconcentration structure factor (SCC(0)). The enthalpy of the hydroxyl-carbonyl interactions has been evaluated. These interactions are stronger in mixtures with shorter alcohols (methanol-1-butanol) and 2-propanone or 2-butanone. However, effects related to the self-association of alcohols and to solvation between unlike molecules are of minor importance when compared with those which arise from dipolar interactions. Physical interactions are more relevant in mixtures with longer 1-alkanols. The studied systems are characterized by large structural effects. The variation of the molar excess enthalpy with the alcohol size along systems with a given ketone or with the alkanone size in solutions with a given alcohol are discussed in terms of the different contributions to this excess function. Mixtures with methanol show rather large orientational effects. The random mixing hypothesis is attained to a large extent for mixtures with 1-alkanols ≠ methanol and 2-alkanones. Steric effects and cyclization lead to stronger orientational effects in mixtures with 3-pentanone, 4-heptanone, or cyclohexanone. The increase of temperature weakens orientational effects. Results from SCC(0) calculations show that homocoordination is predominant and support conclusions obtained from the Flory model.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, under Project FIS2010-1695

Near-Precise Parameter Approximation for Multiple Multiplications on A Single DSP Block

DSP blocks are one of the efficient solutions to implement multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations on FPGAs. However, since the DSP blocks have wide multiplier and adder blocks, MAC operations using low bit-length parameters lead to an underutilization. Hence, an efficient approximation technique is introduced. The technique includes manipulation and approximation of the low bit-length parameters based upon a Single DSP - Multiple Multiplication (SDMM) execution. The accuracy of the developed optimization technique was evaluated for different CNN weight bit precisions using the Alexnet and VGG-16 networks and the ImageNet ILSVRC-2012 dataset. The optimization can be implemented without loss of accuracy in almost all cases, while it causes slight accuracy losses in a few cases. Through these optimizations, multiple parameter multiplications are performed in a single DSP block at the cost of a small hardware overhead. As a result of our optimizations, the parameters are represented in a different format on off-chip memory, providing up to 33% compression without any hardware cost. A prototype systolic array architecture was implemented employing our optimizations on a Xilinx Zynq FPGA. It reduced the number of DSP blocks by 66.6%, 75%, and 83.3% for 8, 6, and 4-bit input variables, respectively.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Signal Processing System