3D NUMERICAL STUDY OF MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY IN LIQUID METAL TAYLOR-COUETTE FLOW

This purpose is about a 3D study of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability in liquid matal Taylor-Couette flow, this problem is receiving more and more research interest due to its application in the engineering, oceanography and the astrophysical research The Taylor-Couette system consists of two coaxial cylinders in differential rotation, which is considered as a hydrodynamic model system, allowed researchers to progress in understanding the laminar-turbulent transition phenomena. A set of states found in narrow gap of Taylor-Couette systems where the outer cylinder is held fixed and the inner cylinder speed increased. The symmetry breaking parameter is the Taylor number Ta that gives a measure of the ratio of centrifugal forces to viscous forces. When the liquid is replaced by an electrically conducting fluid and an external magnetic field is applied, this leads to MHD Taylor-Couette flow. Additional body force, Lorentz force, acting on the fluid arises. Lorentz force is in the direction perpendicular to both magnetic and electric fields. The behaviour of flow depends on strength and geometry of applied field, magnetic and electric properties of the liquid, cylinders and endplates. In this work, the MHD instability Taylor-Couette flow is considered for liquid sodium with its magnetic Prandtl number Pm <1. The results of pressure and angular momentum in the Taylor-Couette flow under the effect of an external uniform axial magnetic field B=4 Tesla are investigated numerically for the different cases of electrically conducting or insulating walls at the Ekman cell, at the middle of the first Taylor-votex flow (TVF) and between two cells

GEOTECHNICAL AND CHEMICAL STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF THE MARBLE QUARRY IN THE ALENTEJO AREA, PORTUGAL

This work is a part of an economic project where the knowledge of the surface layers morphology and composed phases identification is essential for the control of any industrial process. In order to improve and increase the production, the quality and the quantity of a marble industry chain. A detailed study of the filling materials of the quarry aimed of this work has been carried out using a different, innovative, and economic methodology. With the intention to determine the nature, composition, and quality of the marble in the quarry of the Alentejo area, we proceed to many physical, mechanical tests, structural and chemical analysis. This work will be divided into two major parts which concern: i) the geotechnical study and ii) the structural and chemical analysis of the marble collect in the quarry. Geological observation and geotechnical study [1, 2] allowed us to determine the geological nature (color, size shape, and hardness),physical (mass, porosity, density and saturation coefficient) and mechanical properties (strength, impact and wear resistance tests). Chemical part [3, 4], consists in the determination of the constitution of the material including phases and elemental composition. Hence, the characterization of the material will be carried out using X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and Energy dispersive Spectrometer (EDS). When, morphology, distribution of the formed phases and structural defects will be determined by mean of the electronic scanning microscope. This work is a part of the project "Quality Control of Ornamental Stone Blocks" with the reference ALT20-03-0247- FEDER-017659 BRO.Project "Quality Control of Ornamental Stone Blocks" with the reference ALT20-03-0247- FEDER-017659 BRO and ICT-ref a UIDB/0468

Effect of Annealing on the Properties of Nanocrystalline CdS Thin Films Prepared by CBD Method

The CdS thin films were deposited on glass substrate by chemical bath deposition (CBD). The effect of annealing temperature on the morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties of the crystalline CdS films were investigated for different annealing temperature (as deposited, 300, 400 and 500 °C).The annealing time is 1 h. The materials have been prepared using simple aqueous solutions containing cadmium sulfate, as source of cadmium, and thiourea as source of sulfur and ammonium hydroxide as the complexing agent. The temperature of the bath was maintained at low temperature of 80 °C. The surface morphological properties studied by SEM and AFM respectively. The structural properties of CdS thin film was studied by X-ray diffraction. The optical parameter such as transmittance and energy band gap of the films with thermal annealing temperature was investigated by UV-Visible spectrophotometer. The variation of band gap values of CdS thin film samples were found to be in the range of 2.37 to 2.5 eV. Electrical resistivity measurements were carried out in four-probe Van Der Pauw geometry at room temperature by the Hall measurement. SEM image confirmed that film of smooth surface morphology

The genome sequence and effector complement of the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini

Rust fungi cause serious yield reductions on crops, including wheat, barley, soybean, coffee, and represent real threats to global food security. Of these fungi, the flax rust pathogen Melampsora lini has been developed most extensively over the past 80 years as a model to understand the molecular mechanisms that underpin pathogenesis. During infection, M. lini secretes virulence effectors to promote disease. The number of these effectors, their function and their degree of conservation across rust fungal species is unknown. To assess this, we sequenced and assembled de novo the genome of M. lini isolate CH5 into 21,130 scaffolds spanning 189 Mbp (scaffold N50 of 31 kbp). Global analysis of the DNA sequence revealed that repetitive elements, primarily retrotransposons, make up at least 45% of the genome. Using ab initio predictions, transcriptome data and homology searches, we identified 16,271 putative protein-coding genes. An analysis pipeline was then implemented to predict the effector complement of M. lini and compare it to that of the poplar rust, wheat stem rust and wheat stripe rust pathogens to identify conserved and species-specific effector candidates. Previous knowledge of four cloned M. lini avirulence effector proteins and two basidiomycete effectors was used to optimize parameters of the effector prediction pipeline. Markov clustering based on sequence similarity was performed to group effector candidates from all four rust pathogens. Clusters containing at least one member from M. lini were further analyzed and prioritized based on features including expression in isolated haustoria and infected leaf tissue and conservation across rust species. Herein, we describe 200 of 940 clusters that ranked highest on our priority list, representing 725 flax rust candidate effectors. Our findings on this important model rust species provide insight into how effectors of rust fungi are conserved across species and how they may act to promote infection on their hosts.This work was funded by a grant from the CSIRO Transformational Biology Capability Platform to Adnane Nemri. Claire Anderson was supported by an ARC Discovery Grant (DP120104044) awarded to David A. Jones and Peter N. Dodds

Improved detection of biomarkers in cervico-vaginal mucus (CVM) from postpartum cattle

peer-reviewedBackground In the postpartum cow, early diagnosis of uterine disease is currently problematic due to the lack of reliable, non-invasive diagnostic methods. Cervico-vaginal mucus (CVM) is an easy to collect potentially informative source of biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of uterine disease in cows. Here, we report an improved method for processing CVM from postpartum dairy cows for the measurement of immune biomarkers. CVM samples were collected from the vagina using gloved hand during the first two weeks postpartum and processed with buffer alone or buffer containing different concentrations of the reducing agents recommended in standard protocols: Dithiothriotol (DTT) or N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC). Total protein was measured using the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay; interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8 and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) were measured by ELISA. Results We found that use of reducing agents to liquefy CVM affects protein yield and the accuracy of biomarker detection. Our improved protocol results in lower protein yields but improved detection of cytokines and chemokines. Using our modified method to measure AGP in CVM we found raised levels of AGP at seven days postpartum in CVM from cows that went on to develop endometritis. Conclusion We conclude that processing CVM without reducing agents improves detection of biomarkers that reflect uterine health in cattle. We propose that measurement of AGP in CVM during the first week postpartum may identify cows at risk of developing clinical endometritis

Enhanced Intelligent Energy Management System for a Renewable Energy-based AC Microgrid

This paper proposes an enhanced energy management system (EEMS) for a residential AC microgrid. The renewable energy-based AC microgrid with hybrid energy storage is broken down into three distinct parts: a photovoltaic (PV) array as a green energy source, a battery (BT) and a supercapacitor (SC) as a hybrid energy storage system (HESS), and apartments and electric vehicles, given that the system is for residential areas. The developed EEMS ensures the optimal use of the PV arrays&rsquo; production, aiming to decrease electricity bills while reducing fast power changes in the battery, which increases the reliability of the system, since the battery undergoes fewer charging/discharging cycles. The proposed EEMS is a hybrid control strategy, which is composed of two stages: a state machine (SM) control to ensure the optimal operation of the battery, and an operating mode (OM) for the best operation of the SC. The obtained results show that the EEMS successfully involves SC during fast load and PV generation changes by decreasing the number of BT charging/discharging cycles, which significantly increases the system&rsquo;s life span. Moreover, power loss is decreased during passing clouds phases by decreasing the power error between the extracted power by the sources and the required equivalent; the improvement in efficiency reaches 9.5%

Effect of zinc/cadmium proportion in CdS layers deposited by CBD method

Cadmium poisoning and the cost of panel recovery which is very expensive and difficult in the buffer layers of CdS in solar cell, for these two drawbacks, we do a search on the effect of proportion of zinc/cadmium in the properties layers of CdS. For this, our studies study the properties of CdxZn1-xS layers deposited by chemical bath (CBD). CdZnS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition (CBD) with different deposition protocols to optimize deposition parameters such as temperature, deposition time, ion concentrations and pH. The surface morphology, structural, optical and chemical properties of the CdZnS thin films were studied by SEM, XRD, Raman and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The transmittance is 80% in the visible region 300 nm - 800 nm; the crystalline structure is hexagonal and cubic, the grain size is between 9.95 to 25.82 nm. It is observed that the transmittance and the shape change with the concentration of zinc in the solution; this result favors the application of these films in solar cells application