Mathematical modeling of the electric spark ignition of the coal-water particle fuel under conditions relevant to the internal combustion engines

The results of the mathematical simulation of the coal-water fuel particle in the conditions of electric-spark discharge have been given. It has been found that the CWF particle can ignite even in a relatively low (Tg<500K) ambient temperature. It has been shown that the strength of the current and ambient temperature have a significant effect on the characteristics and conditions of ignition

catena-Poly[[diaqua­dichlorido­manganese(II)]-μ-1,1′-bis­(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmeth­yl)ferrocene]

In the title complex, [FeMn(C8H8N3)2Cl2(H2O)2]n, the MnII atom, located on an inversion center, is octa­hedrally coordinated by two N atoms from two adjacent 1,1′-bis­(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ylmeth­yl)ferrocene (btmf) ligands and two Cl atoms forming the equatorial plane, with the axial positions occupied by two O atoms of coordinated water mol­ecules. The btmf ligands link adjoining MnII atoms into a zigzag chain along the a axis. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, which link the chains, forming a two-dimensional layer parallel to (10); O—H⋯Cl inter­actions link the layers, forming a three-dimensional network

Improved very short-term spatio-temporal wind forecasting using atmospheric regimes

We present a regime‐switching vector autoregressive method for very short‐term wind speed forecasting at multiple locations with regimes based on large‐scale meteorological phenomena. Statistical methods for wind speed forecasting based on recent observations outperform numerical weather prediction for forecast horizons up to a few hours, and the spatio‐temporal interdependency between geographically dispersed locations may be exploited to improve forecast skill. Here, we show that conditioning spatio‐temporal interdependency on “atmospheric modes” derived from gridded numerical weather data can further improve forecast performance. Atmospheric modes are based on the clustering of surface wind and sea‐level pressure fields, and the geopotential height field at the 5000‐hPa level. The data fields are extracted from the MERRA‐2 reanalysis dataset with an hourly temporal resolution over the UK; atmospheric patterns are clustered using self‐organising maps and then grouped further to optimise forecast performance. In a case study based on 6 years of measurements from 23 weather stations in the UK, a set of 3 atmospheric modes are found to be optimal for forecast performance. The skill of 1‐ to 6‐hour‐ahead forecasts is improved at all sites compared with persistence and competitive benchmarks. Across the 23 test sites, 1‐hour‐ahead root mean squared error is reduced by between 0.3% and 4.1% compared with the best performing benchmark and by an average of 1.6% over all sites; the 6‐hour‐ahead accuracy is improved by an average of 3.1%

The role of temporary accommodation buildings for post-disaster housing reconstruction

The number of houses damaged or destroyed after disasters is frequently large, and re-housing of homeless people is one of the most important tasks of reconstruction programmes. Reconstruction works often last long and during that time, it is essential to provide victims with the minimum conditions to live with dignity, privacy, and protection. This research intends to demonstrate the crucial role of temporary accommodation buildings to provide spaces where people can live and gradually resume their life until they have a permanent house. The study also aims to identify the main problems of temporary accommodation strategies and to discuss some principles and guidelines in order to reach better design solutions. It is found that temporary accommodation is an issue that goes beyond the simple provision of buildings, since the whole space for temporary settlement is important. Likewise, temporary accommodation is a process that should start before a disaster occurs, as a preventive pre-planning. In spite of being temporary constructions, these housing buildings are one of the most important elements to provide in emergency scenarios, contributing for better recovery and reconstruction actions.The first author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, FCT, through grant SFRH/BD/73853/2010

Green synthesis of triclinic (anorthic) phase AgCoPO4nanoparticles: opticalstudies and theoretical modelling

We report the plant-mediated synthesis, structural investigation, optical properties and theoretical modelling of atriclinic (anorthic) phase AgCoPO4nanoparticles for thefirst time. As part of green chemistry, the secondarymetabolites in the leaf extract ofCanna indicawere engaged as the reducing/capping agent for the metal nano-particles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the presence of an anorthic AgCoPO4phase, crystallised in a triclinicstructure with P -1 space group. Optical studies using UV-vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence are reported.Transmission electron microscopy suggests the formation of quasi-nanocube morphology, unlike the conventionalspherically-shaped nanoparticles via plant-mediated reduction method. Elemental composition of the nanohybridwas confirmed by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (E.D.S.). Evidence of crystallinity was supported byselected area electron diffraction (SAED). Study of the dynamic anisotropy of the nanohybrid at optimised statesuggests its proposed application as optical material in colourimetric metal nanoparticles-mediated sensors

Engineering of sugar metabolism in Lactococcus lactis

Short English Summary Lactococcus lactis is a lactic acid bacterium used in the dairy industry. This thesis decribes the genetic engineering performed on the sugar metabolism of L. lactis. Besides our fundamental interest for sugar metabolism and its regulation in L. lactis, this project had the interest of the dairy industry. L. lactis strains were made with improved lactose and galactose consumption rates, to produce dairy products with lower (ga)lactose concentrations. This is beneficial for individuals suffering from lactose intolerance of galactosemia. These people cannot consume lactose or galactose respectively, or they will get sick. Therefore they have a life-long dietary restriction for products containing lactose or galactose. Normally, L. lactis prefers the sugar glucose for growth, and the bacterium will first use all the glucose from the growth medium. To make a strain preferring (ga)lactose, resulting in lower (ga)lactose concentrations in the end-product, glucose metabolism was disrupted in L. lactis. The glucose left-over in the medium can be used as natural sweetener. Fundamentally, also some new discoveries were done. This work defined a new glucose transporter and a new galactose transporter in L. lactis. Furthermore, the three different glucose transporters were characterized. Also the regulatory effect of the use of the different transporters on the total glucose metabolism was investigated. Besides this, the gene coding for the enzyme being the bottleneck in galactose metabolism was determined and the enzyme was characterized.