Techno-economic analysis of Di-butyl ketone, Di-methyl furan and Hydroxymethyl furfural production from biomass based resources

New chemical conversion processes are being developed to convert biobased resources into low oxygen chemical compounds which are characteristic of the fuels and chemicals used today. It is important to analyze the technical and economic feasibility of these pathways at an early stage in development to ensure most useful allocation of further resources. In this study techno-economic analysis was conducted on two representative processes based on chemical catalysts for production of low oxygen chemical compounds, with potential fuel and commodity chemical uses. First process focuses on producing Dibutyl ketone from Levulinic acid which is a platform chemical derived from biomass. Dibutyl ketone can have wide ranging applications as a solvent and as a precursor of fuel range hydrocarbons. In the second process Hydroxymethyl furfural and Dimethyl furan are produced from Fructose. Hydroxymethyl furfural can be a precursor for a wide variety of useful compounds. Dimethyl furan has superior properties for use as a fuel. Engineering process models for these processes were created based on lab scale data. Economic analysis was performed to estimate total capital investment, operating expenses and minimum product selling price. Sensitivity analysis is used to quantify the impact of important parameters on yields, cost and price. Critical technical and economic bottlenecks and uncertainties in the large scale implementation of these processes and chemical conversion pathways in general have been identified. Feasibility of these processes and products for practical applications is discussed and areas for further research and development have been highlighted. Keywords: Techno-economic analysis, Biobased, Fuels, Chemicals, Dibutyl ketone, Hydroxymethyl furfural, Dimethyl fura

Role of the Arabidopsis peptide transporter AtOPT6 in heavy metal detoxification and plant-pathogen interaction

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on March 12, 2009)Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.AtOPT6, is a member of oligopeptide transport (OPT) gene family. In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are nine members in the OPT gene family that are thought to be involved in peptide transport. Spacial and temporal expression of AtOPT6 correlates with transport of peptides in the major sink tissues indicating that this transporter may be involved in long distance transport of peptides to provide organic nitrogen to the developing plant organs. Over-expression of AtOPT6 leads to cadmium hyper-sensitivity and higher accumulation of cadmium and phytochelatins in root tissues. opt6 mutant plants exhibited less sensitivity to virulent pathogen Psuedomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000 and showed minimal chlorosis in leaves. The differential in bacterial growth in opt6 mutant and wild-type plants was abolished when infected with Pst DC3000 COR- strain, indicating a possible role of AtOPT6 in transport of bacterial phytotoxin coronatine. In addition, opt6 mutant plants showed less susceptibility when infected with both cyst and root-knot nematode. Expression of AtOPT6 increased during early stages of both cyst and root-knot nematode infection in and around the developing feeding sites. AtOPT6 mediated transport of various Arabidopsis CLAVATA3/ESR-like (CLE-like) and nematode secreted peptides when expressed in Xenopus. Collectively, these data suggest that AtOPT6 may transport nutrients into the feeding site or AtOPT6 transports plant CLEs or nematode secreted peptides into the infected root cells to induce root differentiation.Includes bibliographical reference

Lymph node dissection in lung cancer surgery

Lung cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related death, often requires surgical resection for early-stage cases, with recent data supporting less invasive resections for tumors smaller than 2 cm. Central to resection is lymph node assessment, an area of controversy worldwide, compounded by advances in minimally invasive techniques. The review aims to assess current standards for lymph node assessment, recent data from the surgical era, and the immunobiological basis of how lymph node metastases impact patient outcomes. The British Thoracic Society guidelines recommend systematic nodal dissection during lung cancer resection, without specifying node removal or sampling. Historical data on mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) survival benefits are inconclusive, although proponents argue for lower recurrence rates. Recent trials such as ACOSOG Z0030 found no survival difference between MLND and nodal sampling, reinforcing the need for robust staging. While lobe-specific dissection strategies have been proposed, they currently lack consensus. JCOG1413 aims to compare the clinical benefits of lobe-specific and systematic dissection. TNM-9 staging revisions emphasize the prognostic significance of single-station N2 involvement. Robotic surgery shows promise, with trials such as RAVAL, which reported comparable outcomes to video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and improved lymph node sampling. Immunobiological insights suggest preserving key immunological sites during lymphadenectomy, especially for patients receiving adjuvant immunotherapy. In conclusion, the standard lymph node resection strategy remains unsettled. The debate between systematic and selective dissection continues, with implications for staging accuracy and patient outcomes. As minimally invasive techniques evolve, robotic surgery emerges as an effective and low-risk approach to delivering optimal lymph node assessment

Lymph node dissection in lung cancer surgery

Lung cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related death, often requires surgical resection for early-stage cases, with recent data supporting less invasive resections for tumors smaller than 2 cm. Central to resection is lymph node assessment, an area of controversy worldwide, compounded by advances in minimally invasive techniques. The review aims to assess current standards for lymph node assessment, recent data from the surgical era, and the immunobiological basis of how lymph node metastases impact patient outcomes. The British Thoracic Society guidelines recommend systematic nodal dissection during lung cancer resection, without specifying node removal or sampling. Historical data on mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) survival benefits are inconclusive, although proponents argue for lower recurrence rates. Recent trials such as ACOSOG Z0030 found no survival difference between MLND and nodal sampling, reinforcing the need for robust staging. While lobe-specific dissection strategies have been proposed, they currently lack consensus. JCOG1413 aims to compare the clinical benefits of lobe-specific and systematic dissection. TNM-9 staging revisions emphasize the prognostic significance of single-station N2 involvement. Robotic surgery shows promise, with trials such as RAVAL, which reported comparable outcomes to video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and improved lymph node sampling. Immunobiological insights suggest preserving key immunological sites during lymphadenectomy, especially for patients receiving adjuvant immunotherapy. In conclusion, the standard lymph node resection strategy remains unsettled. The debate between systematic and selective dissection continues, with implications for staging accuracy and patient outcomes. As minimally invasive techniques evolve, robotic surgery emerges as an effective and low-risk approach to delivering optimal lymph node assessment

The Perils of Using Social Media Data to Predict the Spread of Diseases

The data produced by social media engagement is of interest to various organizations and has been used in different applications like marketing, finance and healthcare. Though the potential of mining this data is high, standard data mining processes do not address the peculiarities of social media data. In this paper, we explore the perils of using social media data in predicting the spread of an infectious disease; perils that are mostly related to data quality, textual analysis and location information. We synthesize findings from a literature review and a data mining exercise to develop an adapted data mining process. This process has been designed to minimize the effects of the perils identified and is thus more aligned with the requirements of predicting disease spread using social media data. The process should be useful to data miners and health institution

SCIP 2.0: horizontally extending the Smart Contract Invocation Protocol

A Blockchain is a distributed ledger composed of a network of computers that facilitates the storage and retrieval of data and keeps a record in the form of transactions. Blockchains solve double spending problems and eliminate the need for a trusted third party. Along with providing a transaction processing platform, modern programmable blockchain platforms also provide an execution environment to establish business processes through custom logic in the form of smart contracts. Recent trends show growing interest in blockchain-based applications powered by smart contracts. With a growing number of smart contract enabled blockchain platforms, executing a business process that involves interacting with multiple heterogeneous blockchains has become an intricate task. A previous work proposed the Smart Contract Invocation Protocol (SCIP), a specification that defines a homogeneous interface that encapsulates the blockchain specific interaction details to invoke a smart contract feature. An initial implementation of SCIP, referred to as SCIP Gateway, enabled interaction with Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, and Bitcoin. For each type of supported blockchain, the SCIP gateway has an adapter. Since the initial SCIP gateway implementation in 2019, many new smart contract enabled blockchains have been launched. This thesis proposes analysis of state of the art smart contract enabled blockchain platforms and, based on the analysis, proposes adding four new methods to SCIP and updates to the methods proposed in the previous work. Along with three new adapters for the selected blockchain platforms, as a part of the work, this thesis proposes changes in existing adapters as well. Most importantly, SCIP and SCIP gateway can now allow communication between the client application for a collaborative execution of smart contract invocation(s). Another key feature that allows developers to create new adapters in a programming language-agnostic way has been proposed in this work. Furthermore, a testing framework for executing integration tests has been developed to validate the changes for the new adapters

Lymph node dissection in lung cancer surgery:a comparison between robot-assisted vs. video-assisted thoracoscopic approach

Background: TNM staging is the most important prognosticator for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Staging has significant implications for the treatment modality for these patients. Lymph node dissection in robot-assisted thoracoscopic (RATS) surgery remains an area of ongoing evaluation. In this study, we aim to compare lymph node dissection in RATS and VATS approach for lung resection in NSCLC patients. Methods: We retrospectively compiled a database of 717 patients from July 31, 2015–July 7, 2022, who underwent either a wedge resection, segmentectomy or lobectomy. We analysed the database according to lymph node dissection. The database was divided into RATS (n = 375) and VATS (n = 342) procedures. Results: The mean number of lymph nodes harvested overall with RATS was 6.1 ± 1.5 nodes; with VATS approach, it was 5.53 ± 1.8 nodes. The mean number of N1 stations harvested was 2.66 ± 0.8 with RATS, 2.36 ± 0.9 with VATS. RATS approach showed statistically higher lymph node dissection rates compared to VATS (p = 0.002). Out of the 375 RATS procedures, 26 (6.4%) patients undergoing a RATS procedure were upstaged from N0/N1 staging to N2. N0/N1–N2 upstaging was reported in 28 of 342 (8.2%) patients undergoing a VATS procedure. The majority of upstaging was seen in N0–N2 disease: 19 of 375 (5%) for RATS and 23 of 342 (6.7%) for VATS. Conclusions: We conclude that in RATS procedures, there is a higher rate of lymph node dissection compared to VATS procedures. Upstaging was mostly seen in N0–N2 disease, this was observed at a higher rate with VATS procedures

Estimating the Effect of Connected and Autonomous vehicles (CAVs) on Capacity and Level of Service at Freeway Merge Segments

The aim of the study was to obtain Capacity adjustment factors and Break points which can be utilized for Highway Capacity Manual (HCM6) methodology in obtaining Level of Service for freeways when Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are present inside the traffic stream. Accordingly, various two-lane heterogeneous flow scenarios were modelled which included variations in free-flow speed and percent of heavy vehicles wherein the possible impact of the CAVs on the current traffic system was analyzed. Each scenario was first calibrated inside VISSIM to replicate the results from HCM6 and later CAVs were introduced in various proportions inside the traffic stream of conventional vehicles to access performance improvements using VISSIM. It was concluded that CAVs do improve system capacity and resulted in longer free-flow phase, which is a direct effect of the increased road capacity. Up to 25% CAV-penetration rate, the road capacity increased gradually and beyond 25%, the growth rate was largely decided by the improved capability of the CAVs compared to conventional vehicles. An improved capability corresponded to a higher capacity growth rate and a higher capacity. CAVs with higher penetration rates also resulted in longer free-flow phases but only a few of the scenarios saw a minor improvement in density, which was due to the assumptions and driving behavior parameters utilized to model driving behavior for different vehicle classes

The immunobiology of B Lymphocytes in non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer, after breast cancer, worldwide. However, it is still the leading cause of cancer-specific mortality globally, contributing to 18% of all cancer-related deaths. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) makes up 85% of lung cancers and dependent on the stage, is amenable to a wide of treatments from surgery to systemic therapy. Immune responses within the tumour microenvironment have increasingly been implicated as determining factors in tumour progression and aggressiveness, and the focus has predominated on T-cell biology. The immune response is a complex interplay between the primary tumour and microenvironment, T and B cells. The role of the B cell in tumour survival is unclear but clearly has a function as tumour infiltration is commonly reported. Through deep phenotyping and multispectral tissue imaging techniques, we identified key differences in the effector and suppressive B cell composition between the tumour and peripheral blood compartments. IL10 positive suppressive B regulatory phenotypes were significantly more abundant in the circulation of patients who recurred post-operatively. Using a broad spectrum immunome array, we employed machine learning techniques and identified an auto-antibody signature in the serum of NSCLC patients that was highly predictive for post-operative recurrence in two independent cohorts. In addition to the techniques described above, we utilised functional ex vivo B cell assays to interrogate the response to checkpoint blockade in advanced disease patients and how this relates to B cell dynamics. Our findings demonstrated that lack of a suppressive B cell “brake” predisposed patients to high grade immune related adverse events post-treatment. Moreover, the B cells from toxicity patients were not only functionally defective in their ability to produce IL10 but also displayed a pan cytokine failure affecting pro-inflammatory cytokines thus suggesting B cell exhaustion in these patients. These findings significantly enhanced our understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of auto-immune toxicity secondary to checkpoint blockade with anti PD-1/PDL-1. In summary, this study aimed to explore the role of B cell biology in NSCLC by employing deep phenotyping and functional assay techniques at the blood and tissue level in both early and advanced stage disease. Our findings are likely to be informative in biomarker development for predicting response to treatment, post-operative relapse and for therapeutic adjuvant polyepitopic vaccine strategies in high-risk patients