Iron Oxide-Based Catalyst for Catalytic Cracking of Heavy Oil

This chapter describes an iron oxide catalyst containing Zr and Al for production of light hydrocarbons by catalytic cracking of petroleum residual oil in a steam atmosphere. The catalyst was hematite structure and useful for decomposition and desulfurization of residual oil. After lattice oxygen of iron oxide reacted with heavy oil fraction of residual oil, oxygen species generated from steam were supplied to iron oxide lattice and reacts with heavy oil fraction, producing light hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. When the oxygen species were generated from steam, hydrogen species were simultaneously generated from steam. The hydrogen species were transferred to light hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, and residue deposited on the catalyst. Supplies of the hydrogen species to light hydrocarbons suppressed alkene generation. Generation of hydrogen sulfide indicated decomposition of sulfur compounds of residual oil. The sulfur concentration of product oil decreased compared to the concentration of residual oil. Some oxygen species could be transferred to sulfur dioxide. Accordingly, hydrogenation and oxidation by the hydrogen and oxygen species derived from steam provided the decomposition and desulfurization of residual oil with the iron oxide-based catalyst in a steam atmosphere

Ring-size-selective construction of fluorine-containing carbocycles via intramolecular iodoarylation of 1,1-difluoro-1-alkenes

1,1-Difluoro-1-alkenes bearing a biaryl-2-yl group effectively underwent site-selective intramolecular iodoarylation by the appropriate cationic iodine species. Iodoarylation of 2-(2-aryl-3,3-difluoroallyl)biaryls proceeded via regioselective carbon–carbon bond formation at the carbon atoms in β-position to the fluorine substituents, thereby constructing dibenzo-fused six-membered carbocycles bearing a difluoroiodomethyl group. In contrast, 2-(3,3-difluoroallyl)biaryls underwent a similar cyclization at the α-carbon atoms to afford ring-difluorinated seven-membered carbocycles

Anti-soiling effect of power-enhancement coating for photovoltaic modules

Nowadays it has received a lot of remarkable attentions that the decreasing output of Photovoltaic (PV) modules is caused by the dust accumulation influence on the glass surface of PV modules. The surface of PV modules is periodically cleaned with water in enormous PV plants. However there are some problems like the cost of maintenance and the lack of water needed to clean, especially at desert areas. Several proposals have been suggested to decrease dust accumulation on PV modules. However, those durability tests have rarely been reported. In 2010, we have reported the fundamental properties of the power-enhancement coating and results of outdoor exposure test of coated PV modules in Spain. In this paper the antireflective effect of coated PV modules and the anti-soiling effect of coated PV modules with several durability tests are reported as the interim results. It could be estimated that the coated PV modules could generate 2% more power than the uncoated PV modules due to the anti-soling effect. For the second year of outdoor exposure test in Spain, results are similar to those recovered in 2010. The average performance ratio of the coated PV modules in this period is about 1% higher than that of the uncoated PV modules. In summertime without rainfalls, dust on the glass surface of PV modules accumulates gradually and reduces power generation. By observation of these coated and uncoated surfaces of PV modules, it is obvious that the amount of dust on the coated PV modules is lower than the one on the uncoated PV modules, which indicates the antistatic effect of the coating. The antistatic effect remains after several thousand hours of some durability tests.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

<ORIGINAL ARTICLE>A Basic Study to Clarify the Porcelain-Metal Bonding Mechanism : Analysis of the Oxidized Surface of Gold Alloys by Reflection Electron Diffraction

陶材焼付用合金の合金表面を解析することは,その面が溶融した陶材と接するので,両者の界面反応と溶着機構を解明するために必要である。本研究は,卑金属成分として,lnとSnを総量1.5wt%含む金合金を, 1000℃で30sec-60min間,大気中で加熱し,酸化物など,表面状態の変化について,反射電子回折で解析した。 Snのみを添加した合金を除いて,それ以外の合金では,一様な酸化皮膜は形成されず合金そのものが部分的に露出している。生成した酸化物は,In_2O_3,とSnO_2で, In_20_3が広い組成範囲で優先的に形成される。 SnO_2は,Snが0.6wt%以下で,短時間の加熱では,回折リングが観察されないが,長時間の加熱になると観察されるようになる。酸化物の状態に対して加熱時間と卑金属成分濃度の依存性が認められる。高温酸化で生じた表面の凹凸は,加熱時間が増すに伴って増加する。これによって,陶材と合金の機械的結合の向上を期待できるが,合金そのものが露出していることの焼付機構への寄与は不明である。The oxide in contact with porcelain, the top layer of the oxidized surface of an alloy, is of critical importance when considering the reaction at the interface between porcelain and alloy. The present study uses Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction to obtain detailed know-ledge of the oxidized surface of gold alloys containing small amounts of In and Sn (total 1.5 wt%), oxidized at 1000 ℃ in air for 30 sec to 60 min. The oxidized alloy surface is not always covered with a uniform oxide layer, in the case of alloys containing both In and Sn, or In alone, the alloy itself is partially exposed. The roughness of the oxidized surface due to high temperature oxidation increases with increasing oxidation times. In_2O_3, rather than Sn0_2, is preferentially formed when the Sn content is less than 0.6 wt% at short oxidation times, Sn0_2 can not be detected by the reflection electron diffraction

EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA); Scientific Opinion on Dihydrocapsiate

&lt;p&gt;Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety of a synthetic dihydrocapsiate (DHC) as a food ingredient in the context of Regulation (EC) No 258/97 taking into account the comments and objections of a scientific nature raised by Member States. Dihydrocapsiate belongs to a group known as  capsinoids which have been shown to occur naturally in a number of chilli and sweet peppers. The applicant intends to market DHC to food manufacturers as an ingredient for incorporation into foods of various categories at concentration levels varying from 8 to 2050 mg per kg. Considering the proposed uses the mean intake of synthetic DHC was estimated to be around 12 – 13 mg/day (8.1 mg/day for pre-school children); the 97.5&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; percentile intakes of adults and the elderly were estimated to be around 34 mg/day (18.5 mg/day for pre-school children). Calculations based on body weights resulted in the highest intakes being for pre-school children (mean: 0.6 mg/kg bw/day; 97.5&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; percentile: 1.3 mg/kg bw/day). The applicant has provided a range of toxicological studies with DHC. The Panel concludes that it has no safety concerns regarding genotoxicity. Studies on developmental toxicity in rats and rabbits using commercial grade DHC did not show adverse effects on pregnant animals or on foetal growth and development. The no-observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of three subchronic oral toxicity studies in rats was consistently at 300 mg DHC/kg bw/day. The Panel is of the opinion that the margin of safety (MOS) in relation to the NOAEL of 300 mg/kg bw/day is sufficient, including the highest estimated intake of 1.3 mg/kg bw/day for preschool children. The Panel concludes that the novel food ingredient, DHC, is safe under the proposed uses and use levels.&lt;/p&gt

Применение препарата пелокс-400 (пефлоксацин) в лечении острого пиелонефрита

Дана оценка эффективности применения антибактериального препарата пелокс−400 (пефлоксацин) в лечении острого пиелонефрита и рекомендовано его применение в комплексной терапии.The authors assess the efficacy of antibacterial medication рelox−400 (pefloxacin) in treatment of acute pyelonephritis. It is recommended to use it in complex therapy

Genome sequencing in persistently unsolved white matter disorders

Genetic white matter disorders have heterogeneous etiologies and overlapping clinical presentations. We performed a study of the diagnostic efficacy of genome sequencing in 41 unsolved cases with prior exome sequencing, resolving an additional 14 from an historical cohort (n = 191). Reanalysis in the context of novel disease-associated genes and improved variant curation and annotation resolved 64% of cases. The remaining diagnoses were directly attributable to genome sequencing, including cases with small and large copy number variants (CNVs) and variants in deep intronic and technically difficult regions. Genome sequencing, in combination with other methodologies, achieved a diagnostic yield of 85% in this retrospective cohort.Guy Helman, Bryan R. Lajoie, Joanna Crawford, Asako Takanohashi, Marzena Walkiewicz ... Stephen J. Bent ... et al

Adjunctive Dexamethasone Affects the Expression of Genes Related to Inflammation, Neurogenesis and Apoptosis in Infant Rat Pneumococcal Meningitis

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common pathogen causing non-epidemic bacterial meningitis worldwide. The immune response and inflammatory processes contribute to the pathophysiology. Hence, the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone is advocated as adjuvant treatment although its clinical efficacy remains a question at issue. In experimental models of pneumococcal meningitis, dexamethasone increased neuronal damage in the dentate gyrus. Here, we investigated expressional changes in the hippocampus and cortex at 72 h after infection when dexamethasone was given to infant rats with pneumococcal meningitis. Nursing Wistar rats were intracisternally infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae to induce experimental meningitis or were sham-infected with pyrogen-free saline. Besides antibiotics, animals were either treated with dexamethasone or saline. Expressional changes were assessed by the use of GeneChip® Rat Exon 1.0 ST Arrays and quantitative real-time PCR. Protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, cytokines and chemokines were evaluated in immunoassays using Luminex xMAP® technology. In infected animals, 213 and 264 genes were significantly regulated by dexamethasone in the hippocampus and cortex respectively. Separately for the cortex and the hippocampus, Gene Ontology analysis identified clusters of biological processes which were assigned to the predefined categories “inflammation”, “growth”, “apoptosis” and others. Dexamethasone affected the expression of genes and protein levels of chemokines reflecting diminished activation of microglia. Dexamethasone-induced changes of genes related to apoptosis suggest the downregulation of the Akt-survival pathway and the induction of caspase-independent apoptosis. Signalling of pro-neurogenic pathways such as transforming growth factor pathway was reduced by dexamethasone resulting in a lack of pro-survival triggers. The anti-inflammatory properties of dexamethasone were observed on gene and protein level in experimental pneumococcal meningitis. Further dexamethasone-induced expressional changes reflect an increase of pro-apoptotic signals and a decrease of pro-neurogenic processes. The findings may help to identify potential mechanisms leading to apoptosis by dexamethasone in experimental pneumococcal meningitis

Systematic design of an extractive distillation for maximum-boiling azeotropes with heavy entrainers

Extractive distillation is one of the most attractive approaches for separating azeotropic mixtures. Few contributions have been reported to design an extractive distillation for separating maximum-boiling azeotropes and no systematic approaches for entrainer screening have been presented. A systematic approach to design of two-column extractive distillation for separating azeotropes with heavy entrainers has been proposed. A thermodynamic feasibility analysis for azeotropes with potential heavy entrainers was first conducted. Then, five important properties are selected for entrainer evaluation. Fuzzy logic and develop membership functions to calculate attribute values of selected properties have been used. An overall indicator for entrainer evaluation is proposed and a ranking list is generated. Finally, the top five entrainers from the ranking list have been selected and use process optimization techniques to further evaluate selected entrainers and generate an optimal design. The capability of the proposed method is illustrated using the separation of acetone–chloroform azeotropes with five potential entrainers

Identification and Validation of Novel Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for Staging Early Alzheimer's Disease

Ideally, disease modifying therapies for Alzheimer disease (AD) will be applied during the 'preclinical' stage (pathology present with cognition intact) before severe neuronal damage occurs, or upon recognizing very mild cognitive impairment. Developing and judiciously administering such therapies will require biomarker panels to identify early AD pathology, classify disease stage, monitor pathological progression, and predict cognitive decline. To discover such biomarkers, we measured AD-associated changes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome.CSF samples from individuals with mild AD (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] 1) (n = 24) and cognitively normal controls (CDR 0) (n = 24) were subjected to two-dimensional difference-in-gel electrophoresis. Within 119 differentially-abundant gel features, mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) identified 47 proteins. For validation, eleven proteins were re-evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Six of these assays (NrCAM, YKL-40, chromogranin A, carnosinase I, transthyretin, cystatin C) distinguished CDR 1 and CDR 0 groups and were subsequently applied (with tau, p-tau181 and Aβ42 ELISAs) to a larger independent cohort (n = 292) that included individuals with very mild dementia (CDR 0.5). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analyses using stepwise logistic regression yielded optimal biomarker combinations to distinguish CDR 0 from CDR>0 (tau, YKL-40, NrCAM) and CDR 1 from CDR<1 (tau, chromogranin A, carnosinase I) with areas under the curve of 0.90 (0.85-0.94 95% confidence interval [CI]) and 0.88 (0.81-0.94 CI), respectively.Four novel CSF biomarkers for AD (NrCAM, YKL-40, chromogranin A, carnosinase I) can improve the diagnostic accuracy of Aβ42 and tau. Together, these six markers describe six clinicopathological stages from cognitive normalcy to mild dementia, including stages defined by increased risk of cognitive decline. Such a panel might improve clinical trial efficiency by guiding subject enrollment and monitoring disease progression. Further studies will be required to validate this panel and evaluate its potential for distinguishing AD from other dementing conditions