Comparison of Potential Sites in China for Erecting a Hybrid Solar Tower Power Plant with Air Receiver

AbstractIn this work transient simulation results of a hybrid solar tower power plant with openvolumetric receiver technology are presented for several locations in China. The openvolumetric receiver uses ambient air as heat transfer fluid and the hybridization can be realized with additional firing. The solar receiver and/or the additional firing heat up the air which is then passed through a boiler of a conventional Rankine cycle. The simulated plantis based on the configuration of the solar thermal test and demonstration power plant located in Jülich (STJ). The investigatedplant operates in hybrid - parallelmode which allows a constant power generation. The meteorological data for the different sites in China was taken from the software Meteonorm in a time resolution of one hour. The solar tower power simulation tool was developed in the simulation environment MATLAB/Simulink

Designed Azolopyridinium Salts Block Protective Antigen Pores In Vitro and Protect Cells from Anthrax Toxin

Background:Several intracellular acting bacterial protein toxins of the AB-type, which are known to enter cells by endocytosis, are shown to produce channels. This holds true for protective antigen (PA), the binding component of the tripartite anthrax-toxin of Bacillus anthracis. Evidence has been presented that translocation of the enzymatic components of anthrax-toxin across the endosomal membrane of target cells and channel formation by the heptameric/octameric PA63 binding/translocation component are related phenomena. Chloroquine and some 4-aminoquinolones, known as potent drugs against Plasmodium falciparium infection of humans, block efficiently the PA63-channel in a dose dependent way.Methodology/Principal Findings:Here we demonstrate that related positively charged heterocyclic azolopyridinium salts block the PA63-channel in the μM range, when both, inhibitor and PA63 are added to the same side of the membrane, the cis-side, which corresponds to the lumen of acidified endosomal vesicles of target cells. Noise-analysis allowed the study of the kinetics of the plug formation by the heterocycles. In vivo experiments using J774A.1 macrophages demonstrated that the inhibitors of PA63-channel function also efficiently block intoxication of the cells by the combination lethal factor and PA63 in the same concentration range as they block the channels in vitro.Conclusions/Significance:These results strongly argue in favor of a transport of lethal factor through the PA63-channel and suggest that the heterocycles used in this study could represent attractive candidates for development of novel therapeutic strategies against anthrax. © 2013 Beitzinger et al