Integration of Hydrogen Systems in Petroleum Refinery

Considering the importance of hydrogen in crude oil refining, it is necessary to ensure its most efficient use to satisfy refinery hydrogen requirements. Effective hydrogen management provides maximum utilization of hydrogen. The mass balance of streams containing hydrogen plays a key role in addressing the hydrogen-network optimization problem. The purpose of this work was to analyze the refinery hydrogen network, composed of hydrogen sources and sinks. Mass integration principles and techniques have been applied in the optimization of the refinery hydrogen network. The methodology of hydrogen network integration is presented in a case study of a local petroleum refinery. The main objectives are to provide different solutions for reducing the amount of hydrogen not properly used in the local refinery and which is mostly sent to the fuel system, as well as the operating costs. Hydrogen pinch analysis is applied for targeting the minimum hydrogen consumption of the hydrogen system. A superstructure-based mathematical model of the hydrogen network is developed to minimize the total operating costs. The non-linear programming optimization problem is solved by using optimization software GAMS. An additional hydrogen purification unit is introduced in the existing hydrogen network and the effect on the overall network is investigated. Network design with two hydrogen purification units has proved to be an optimal solution, with respect to the chosen objective function. These analyses and their results can assist the refinery to reduce and improve the efficiency of hydrogen management. The analyses covered only the existing equipment without additional investment

Influence of Reaction Parameters and Feedstock Type on the Synthesis of Fatty Acid Propyl, Butyl, Isobutyl, Pentyl, and Isopentyl Esters

In recent decades, conventional biodiesel synthesis from methanol or ethanol and sunflower and rapeseed oil as feedstock has also introduced the use of higher and branched alcohols and the use of waste sources of triglycerides. This study examined the influence of reactant molar ratio (5:1–12:1), mass fraction of the potassium hydroxide catalyst (1–3 wt%), time (30–120 min), type of feedstock and alcohol on the conversion of fatty acid alkyl esters. The results showed that the presence of structural branching had a negative influence on the reaction conversion. Regarding the feedstocks, the highest conversions were obtained when using coconut oil rich in short-chain saturated fatty acids, while the conversions of biodiesel obtained from animal fat and unsaturated oils were lower. Molar ratio of the reactants and the mass fraction of the catalyst had the highest influence on the reaction conversion. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Просторни идентитет међународних студената и везаност за град

The hypothesis of this totally novel research in Serbia is that the way in which place may influence the identity of international students integrates a part of their individual identities, but also influences the variability of identities deriving from various contextual factors of the student migration’s origin. Cities can be observed through their respective role in shaping and transforming the international students’ identity. The goal is to examine emotional and functional attachment of international students to the city in which they study, in comparison to these two components of attachment to the place of their origin. The testing of theoretical standpoints is based on qualitative research through focus-group interviews with three designed groups of respondents and the results of this testing will be additionally validated later in triangulation with questionnaires and interviews as complementing research techniques and approaches.Претпоставка овог, у свим аспектима новог истраживања у Србији, јесте да начин на који простор утиче на идентитет академски мобилних, међународних студената интегрише део њихових индивидуалних идентитета, али истовремено утиче на варијабилност идентитета потеклих из различитих контекстуалних фактора исходишта студентских миграција. Градови се могу посматрати кроз њихову улогу у обликовању и трансформацији идентитета међународних студената. Циљ је да се испита емоционална и прагматична везаност међународних студената за град студирања, уз поређење са ова два облика везаности за место из којег потичу. Емпиријска провера теоријских поставки базира се на квалитативном истраживању путем фокус-групних интервјуа са три предефинисане групе испитаника, чији се резултати приказују у раду, а у каснијим фазама истраживања додатно ће бити валидирани у триангулацији са анкетним упитницима и интервјуима као комплементарним истраживачким техникама и приступима

Software defect prediction: do different classifiers find the same defects?

Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.During the last 10 years, hundreds of different defect prediction models have been published. The performance of the classifiers used in these models is reported to be similar with models rarely performing above the predictive performance ceiling of about 80% recall. We investigate the individual defects that four classifiers predict and analyse the level of prediction uncertainty produced by these classifiers. We perform a sensitivity analysis to compare the performance of Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, RPart and SVM classifiers when predicting defects in NASA, open source and commercial datasets. The defect predictions that each classifier makes is captured in a confusion matrix and the prediction uncertainty of each classifier is compared. Despite similar predictive performance values for these four classifiers, each detects different sets of defects. Some classifiers are more consistent in predicting defects than others. Our results confirm that a unique subset of defects can be detected by specific classifiers. However, while some classifiers are consistent in the predictions they make, other classifiers vary in their predictions. Given our results, we conclude that classifier ensembles with decision-making strategies not based on majority voting are likely to perform best in defect prediction.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

A short review of constructing noise map using crowdsensing technology

The advent of crowdsensing technology has provided a promising possibility for monitoring noise pollution in large-scale areas. Constructing noise map by using mobile smart phones in a cost-effective manner is being widely used in the city and industrial plants. In this short paper, the state-of-the-art crowdsensing-based noise map applications are first summarized. Furthermore, open research challenges associated with building up noise map are highlighted

Nonlinear Dispersion Relation and Out-of-Plane Second Harmonic Generation in MoSSe and WSSe Janus Monolayers

Janus transition metal dichalcogenides are an emerging class of atomically thin materials with engineered broken mirror symmetry that gives rise to long-lived dipolar excitons, Rashba splitting, and topologically protected solitons. They hold great promise as a versatile nonlinear optical platform due to their broadband harmonic generation tunability, ease of integration on photonic structures, and nonlinearities beyond the basal crystal plane. Here, we study second and third harmonic generation in MoSSe and WSSe Janus monolayers. We use polarization-resolved spectroscopy to map the full second-order susceptibility tensor of MoSSe, including its out-of-plane components. In addition, we measure the effective third-order susceptibility, and the second-order nonlinear dispersion close to exciton resonances for both MoSSe and WSSe at room and cryogenic temperatures. Our work sets a bedrock for understanding the nonlinear optical properties of Janus transition metal dichalcogenides and probing their use in the next-generation on-chip multifaceted photonic devices.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. SI: 8 pages, 5 figure

The ALS/FTD-related C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion forms RNA condensates through multimolecular G-quadruplexes

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are neurodegenerative diseases that exist on a clinico-pathogenetic spectrum, designated ALS/FTD. The most common genetic cause of ALS/FTD is expansion of the intronic hexanucleotide repeat (GGGGCC)n in C9orf72. Here, we investigate the formation of nucleic acid secondary structures in these expansion repeats, and their role in generating condensates characteristic of ALS/FTD. We observe significant aggregation of the hexanucleotide sequence (GGGGCC)n, which we associate to the formation of multimolecular G-quadruplexes (mG4s) by using a range of biophysical techniques. Exposing the condensates to G4-unfolding conditions leads to prompt disassembly, highlighting the key role of mG4-formation in the condensation process. We further validate the biological relevance of our findings by detecting an increased prevalence of G4-structures in C9orf72 mutant human motor neurons when compared to healthy motor neurons by staining with a G4-selective fluorescent probe, revealing signal in putative condensates. Our findings strongly suggest that RNA G-rich repetitive sequences can form protein-free condensates sustained by multimolecular G-quadruplexes, highlighting their potential relevance as therapeutic targets for C9orf72 mutation-related ALS/FTD

Micromolar Levofloxacin Sensor by Incorporating Highly Crystalline Co3O4 into a Carbon Paste Electrode Structure

In this work, we successfully prepared a modified cobalt oxide (Co3O4) carbon paste electrode to detect Levofloxacin (LEV). By synthesizing Co3O4 nanoparticles through the chemical coprecipitation method, the electrochemical properties of the electrode and LEV were thoroughly investigated using CV, SWV, and EIS, while material properties were scrutinized using ICP-OES, TEM, SEM, and XRD. The results showed that the prepared electrode displayed a better electrocatalytic response than the bare carbon paste electrode. After optimizing SWV, the electrode exhibited a wide linear working range from 1 to 85 μM at pH 5 of BRBS as the supporting electrolyte. The selectivity of the proposed method was satisfactory, with good repeatability and reproducibility, strongly suggesting a potential application for determining LEV in real samples, particularly in pharmaceutical formulations. The practicality of the approach was demonstrated through good recoveries, and the morphology of the materials was found to be closely related to other parameters, indicating that the developed method can provide a cost-effective, rapid, selective, and sensitive means for LEV monitoring. Overall, this project has made significant progress towards developing a reliable method for detecting LEV and has opened up new opportunities for future research in this field

Kloniranje gena za ugljeni hidrat oksidazu iz biljke Lactuca sativa u kvasce saccharomyces cerevisiae i Pichia pastoris

We have cloned the gene for carbohydrate oxidase (CHO) from Lactuca sativa in two species of yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris). The synthetic gene Department for Plant Physiology, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković', drate oxidase (1821 bp) from L. sativa cloned into the vector pUC57 and inserted into plasmids pYES2 and pGAP using Escherichia coli DH5α strain. The P. pastoris strain X-33 and the S. cerevisiae strain InvSC1 were used for extracellular expression of CHO. After transformation of P. pastoris X-33 with CHO-pGAP construct none of the colonies showed CHO activity. Two samples displayed a band which did not exist in the sample with the empty vector similar to the molecular weight of CHO. The S. cerevisiae stran InvSC1 has been also transformed with CHO-pYES constructs. Three colonies grew on the plate with cells transformed with the construct. One of the samples showed a band corresponding to about 110 kDa, but no CHO activity was recorded in this case either. Cloning of the foreign genes and heterologous expression in yeasts is widely used in biotechnology, but sometimes can be very dependent on the gene sequence and strain used. In order to obtain active CHO enzyme the further studies on purification and refolding of expressed protein are necessary.Ugljeni hidrat-oksidaza (CHO) iz zelene salate (Lactuca sativa) je enzim koji je do danas nedovoljno ispitan. Vrlo se malo zna o njegovoj strukturi i funkciji. CHO pripada velikoj familiji ugljenihidrat-oksidaza, koje oksiduju šećere. Svaki od članova ove velike familije dobio je ime po supstratu koji oksiduje. Oksidaze iz ove familije enzima imaju kako sličnu ulogu tako i sličnu strukutru. Sve ili većina ovih enzima su monomeri, čiji se polipeptidni lanac uvija u dva domena. Jedan od domena vezuje flavinski kofaktor, a drugi domen je supstrat vezujući. Većina njih oksidaciju supstrata vrši po takozvanom ping-pong mehanizmu. Sve oksidaze iz karbohidrat-oksidaza familije, pa među njima i enzim koji je predmet ove studije (CHO), danas su našle veliku primenu u industriji. CHO se može primenjivati kako u medicinskoj djagnostici, konkretno u biosenzorima za određivanje glukoze u krvi, u prehrambenoj industriji, poljoprivredi, proizvodnji hleba, deterdženata i u raznim drugim industrijskim oblastima. Problem sa ovim enzimom, kao i sa ostalim članovima ove familije, jeste niska koncentracija u prirodnim izvorima. Zato su danas razvijene različite metode rekombinantne tehnologije, kojima se dobijaju ovi enzimi. U ovom radu opisano je kloniranje gena za CHO iz zelene salate u dve vrste kvasaca (Saccharomyces cerevisiae i Pichia pastoris). Sintetički gen za CHO (1821 bp) iz zelene salate kloniran je u vektor pUC57. Escherichia coli soj DH5α korišćen je za kloniranje gena i održavanje plazmida. P. pastoris soj X-33 i S. cerevisiae soj InvSC1 korišćeni su za ekstracelularnu ekspresiju CHO. Aktivnost CHO određena je ABST esejom, a promena absorbance merena je na 405 nm. Potvrda prisustva enzima rađena je na DNK agaroznoj elektroforezi i SDS-PAGE. Posle transformacije P. pastoris X-33, nijedan od klonova nije pokazivao aktivnost CHO. Posle prve fermentacije, kolonije su testirane na SDS-PAGE. Kako su dva uzorka pokazala trake, koje ne postoje na praznom vektoru, ove trake bi mogle odgovarati željenom enzimu, CHO. Traka se nalazi na molekulskoj masi koja je veća od teoretske (više od 120 kDa). Enzim bi mogao biti glikolizovan i zbog toga pokazivati ovako velike vrednosti za molekulsku masu. S. cerevisiae soj InvSC1 transformisan je konstruktom CHO-pZES. Posle 24 sata, tri kolonije su porasle na ploči na kojoj su bile ćelije transformisane pomenutim konstruktom. Uzorci su testirani na SDS-PAGE. Jedan uzorak je pokazao traku na oko 110 kDa, ali aktivnost CHO nije potvrđena takođe. Cilj ove studije je bio kloniranje CHO u kvascima S. cerevisiae i P. pastoris, kao i njena ekspresija u ovim, danas široko primenjivanim ekspresionim sistemima