Parametric Investigation of Combustion and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Oscillating Linear Engine Alternator

An Oscillating Linear Engine Alternator (OLEA) has the potential to overcome the thermal, mechanical, and combustion inadequacies encountered by the conventional slider-crank engines. The linear engines convert the reciprocating piston motion into electricity, thereby eliminating needless crankshaft linkages and rotational motion. As the dead center positions are not explicitly identified unlike crankshaft engines, the linear engine exhibits different stroke and compression ratio every cycle and should manage the unfavorable events like misfire, rapid load changes, and overfueling without the energy storage of a flywheel. Further, the apparatus control and management strategy is difficult for OLEA when compared to conventional engines and depends on the combustion event influencing the translator dynamics. In this research paper, the MATLAB/Simulink numerical model of a single cylinder, mechanical spring assisted, 2-stroke natural gas fueled, spark-ignited OLEA was investigated to enhance the perception of the coupled system. The effect of combustion and heat transfer characteristics on translator dynamics and performance of OLEA were analyzed by using Wiebe form factors, combustion duration, and heat transfer correlations. Variation in the Wiebe form factors revealed interesting insights into the translator dynamics and in-cylinder thermodynamics of a coupled system. High translator velocity, acceleration, and higher heat transfer rate were favored by low combustion duration

GPCRTree: online hierarchical classification of GPCR function

Background: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play important physiological roles transducing extracellular signals into intracellular responses. Approximately 50% of all marketed drugs target a GPCR. There remains considerable interest in effectively predicting the function of a GPCR from its primary sequence. Findings: Using techniques drawn from data mining and proteochemometrics, an alignment-free approach to GPCR classification has been devised. It uses a simple representation of a protein's physical properties. GPCRTree, a publicly-available internet server, implements an algorithm that classifies GPCRs at the class, sub-family and sub-subfamily level. Conclusion: A selective top-down classifier was developed which assigns sequences within a GPCR hierarchy. Compared to other publicly available GPCR prediction servers, GPCRTree is considerably more accurate at every level of classification. The server has been available online since March 2008 at URL: http://igrid-ext.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/gpcrtree

Insulin Receptor Substrate-1 (IRS-1) and IRS-2 expression levels are associated with prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

The insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway has been implicated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) outcomes and resistance to targeted therapies. However, little is known regarding the molecular mechanisms by which this pathway contributes to the biology of NSCLC. The insulin receptor substrate (IRS) proteins are cytoplasmic adaptor proteins that signal downstream of the IGF-1R and determine the functional outcomes of this signaling pathway. In this study, we assessed the expression patterns of IRS-1 and IRS-2 in NSCLC to identify associations between IRS-1 and IRS-2 expression levels and survival outcomes in the two major histological subtypes of NSCLC, adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). High IRS-2 expression was significantly associated with decreased overall survival in adenocarcinoma (ADC) patients, whereas low IRS-1 cytoplasmic expression showed a trend toward association with decreased overall survival in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients. Tumors with low IRS-1 and high IRS-2 expression were found to be associated with poor outcomes in ADC and SCC, indicating a potential role for IRS-2 in the aggressive behavior of NSCLC. Our results suggest distinct contributions of IRS-1 and IRS-2 to the biology of ADC and SCC that impact disease progression

Haplocheirus sollers.

44 pages : illustrations (1 color), map ; 26 cm.The basalmost alvarezsauroid Haplocheirus sollers is known from a single specimen collected in Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian) beds of the Shishugou Formation in northwestern China. Haplocheirus provides important data about the plesiomorphic morphology of the theropod group Alvarezsauroidea, whose derived members possess numerous skeletal autapomorphies. We present here a detailed description of the cranial anatomy of Haplocheirus. These data are important for understanding cranial evolution in Alvarezsauroidea because other basal members of the clade lack cranial material entirely and because derived parvicursorine alvarezsauroids have cranial features shared exclusively with members of Avialae that have been interpreted as synapomorphies in some analyses. We discuss the implications of this anatomy for cranial evolution within Alvarezsauroidea and at the base of Maniraptora

Constituting monetary conservatives via the 'savings habit': New Labour and the British housing market bubble

The ongoing world credit crunch might well kill off the most recent bubble dynamics in the British housing market by driving prices systematically downwards from their 2007 peak. Nonetheless, the experience of that bubble still warrants analytical attention. The Labour Government might not have been responsible for consciously creating it, but it has certainly grasped the opportunities the bubble has provided in an attempt to enforce a process of agential change at the heart of the British economy. The key issue in this respect is the way in which the Government has challenged the legitimacy of passive welfare receipts in favour of establishing a welfare system based on incorporating the individual into an active asset-holding society. The housing market has taken on new political significance as a means for individuals first to acquire assets and then to accumulate wealth on the back of asset ownership. The ensuing integration of the housing market into an increasingly reconfigured welfare system has permeated into the politics of everyday life. It has been consistent with individuals remaking their political subjectivities in line with preferences for the type of conservative monetary policies that typically keep house price bubbles inflated

Raf Kinase Inhibitory Protein Protects Cells against Locostatin-Mediated Inhibition of Migration

Raf Kinase Inhibitory Protein (RKIP, also PEBP1), a member of the Phosphatidylethanolamine Binding Protein family, negatively regulates growth factor signaling by the Raf/MAP kinase pathway. Since an organic compound, locostatin, was reported to bind RKIP and inhibit cell migration by a Raf-dependent mechanism, we addressed the role of RKIP in locostatin function.We analyzed locostatin interaction with RKIP and examined the biological consequences of locostatin binding on RKIP function. NMR studies show that a locostatin precursor binds to the conserved phosphatidylethanolamine binding pocket of RKIP. However, drug binding to the pocket does not prevent RKIP association with its inhibitory target, Raf-1, nor affect RKIP phosphorylation by Protein Kinase C at a regulatory site. Similarly, exposure of wild type, RKIP-depleted HeLa cells or RKIP-deficient (RKIP(-/-)) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) to locostatin has no effect on MAP kinase activation. Locostatin treatment of wild type MEFs causes inhibition of cell migration following wounding. RKIP deficiency impairs migration further, indicating that RKIP protects cells against locostatin-mediated inhibition of migration. Locostatin treatment of depleted or RKIP(-/-) MEFs reveals cytoskeletal disruption and microtubule abnormalities in the spindle.These results suggest that locostatin's effects on cytoskeletal structure and migration are caused through mechanisms independent of its binding to RKIP and Raf/MAP kinase signaling. The protective effect of RKIP against drug inhibition of migration suggests a new role for RKIP in potentially sequestering toxic compounds that may have deleterious effects on cells

Software Citation Implementation Challenges

The main output of the FORCE11 Software Citation working group (https://www.force11.org/group/software-citation-working-group) was a paper on software citation principles (https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.86) published in September 2016. This paper laid out a set of six high-level principles for software citation (importance, credit and attribution, unique identification, persistence, accessibility, and specificity) and discussed how they could be used to implement software citation in the scholarly community. In a series of talks and other activities, we have promoted software citation using these increasingly accepted principles. At the time the initial paper was published, we also provided guidance and examples on how to make software citable, though we now realize there are unresolved problems with that guidance. The purpose of this document is to provide an explanation of current issues impacting scholarly attribution of research software, organize updated implementation guidance, and identify where best practices and solutions are still needed

Osteogenic lineage restriction by osteoprogenitors cultured on nanometric grooved surfaces – the role of focal adhesion maturation

The differentiation of progenitor cells is dependent on more than biochemical signalling. Topographical cues in natural bone extracellular matrix guide cellular differentiation through the formation of focal adhesions, contact guidance, cytoskeletal rearrangement and ultimately gene expression. Osteoarthritis and a number of bone disorders present as growing challenges for our society. Hence, there is a need for next generation implantable devices to substitute for, or guide, bone repair in vivo. Cellular responses to nanometric topographical cues need to be better understood in vitro in order to ensure the effective and efficient integration and performance of these orthopaedic devices. In this study, the FDA approved plastic polycaprolactone, was embossed with nanometric grooves and the response of primary and immortalised osteoprogenitor cells observed. Nanometric groove dimensions were 240 nm or 540 nm deep and 12.5 μm wide. Cells cultured on test surfaces followed contact guidance along the length of groove edges, elongated along their major axis and showed nuclear distortion, they formed more focal complexes and a lower proportions of mature adhesions relative to planar controls. Down-regulation of the osteoblast marker genes RUNX2 and BMPR2 in primary and immortalised cells was observed on grooved substrates. Down-regulation appeared to directly correlate with focal adhesion maturation, indicating the involvement of ERK 1/2 negative feedback pathways following integrin mediated FAK activation

Jet-induced cratering of a granular surface with application to lunar spaceports

The erosion of lunar soil by rocket exhaust plumes is investigated experimentally. This has identified the diffusion-driven flow in the bulk of the sand as an important but previously unrecognized mechanism for erosion dynamics. It has also shown that slow regime cratering is governed by the recirculation of sand in the widening geometry of the crater. Scaling relationships and erosion mechanisms have been characterized in detail for the slow regime. The diffusion-driven flow occurs in both slow and fast regime cratering. Because diffusion-driven flow had been omitted from the lunar erosion theory and from the pressure cratering theory of the Apollo and Viking era, those theories cannot be entirely correct.Comment: 13 pages, link to published version: http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?090000

Probing Purcell enhancement and photon collection efficiency of InAs quantum dots at nodes of the cavity electric field

The interaction of excitonic transitions with confined photonic modes enables tests of quantum physics and design of efficient optoelectronic devices. Here we study how key metrics such as Purcell factor, β factor, and collection efficiency are determined by the non-cavity modes that exist in real devices, taking the well-studied micropillar cavity as an example. Samples with dots at different positions in the cavity field allow us to quantify the effect of the non-cavity modes and show that the zero-phonon line and the phonon-assisted emission into the cavity mode H E 11 is suppressed by positioning dots at the field node