Structural optimum design of bistable cylindrical shell for broadband energy harvesting application

AbstractThe shallow cylindrical structure is suitable to develop broadband vibration energy harvesters due to the property of the inherent mechanical bistability. In this letter, the optimum design of the bistable cylindrical shell for broadband energy harvesting application is investigated from the structural point of view. The output power is evaluated by the concept of the harvestable power, which balances the frequency of snap through and the referred output energy associated with each snap through. The non-dimensional harvestable power is analytically expressed as the function of the non-dimensional curvature parameter and one constructed parameter. The universal dependence of the optimal curvature parameter and the associated optimal harvestable power on the constructed parameter is derived, which can be well approximated by the linear relation in double logarithmic coordinate

The Research Progress of Oil Sand Separation Technology in China

From 2007 to 2008, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Langfang Branch launched oil sand resource exploration and the study of hot water separation technology in Fengcheng area, Northwest of Junggar Basin, and the recoverable oil-sand oil resource is 54.98 million tons with the oil content in 7.1-10%, which is distributed in Cretaceous and Jurassic with the thickness of 80-140 meters, the cover depth of oil sand is 50-90 meters. Combining with the characteristics of the oil sand in this area and based on the research of hot water separation mechanism in oil sand, the hot water separation reagent for the oil sand in this area has been successfully developed, and its separation rate reaches 90%, provided that the concentrations of the agent is 4% and the separation temperature is 85 °C. Based on series of study, the construction of testing site, which is capable of processing 10,000 tons oil sand in this area, is completed, and the on-site separation tests of oil sand are launched with the recovery rate of 90% in normal operation, and the hot water separation technology and equipment research & development are successful.Key words: Oil sand; Hot water separation technology; Separation reagent; Test

Impact of Road Bends on Traffic Flow in a Single-Lane Traffic System

Taking the characteristics of road bends as a research object, this work proposes the cellular model (CA) with road bends based on the NaSch model, with which the traffic flow is examined under different conditions, such as bend radius, bend arc length, and road friction coefficiency. The simulation results show that, with the increase of the bend radius, the peak flow will be continuously increased, and the fundamental diagram will become more similar to that of the classic NaSch model; the smaller the bend radius is, the easier it is for the occurrence of blockage; for different bend lengths, all the corresponding traffic flows show that the phenomenon of go-and-stop and the bends exert slight inhibitory effect on traffic flow; under the same bend radius, the inhibition effect of the bends on the traffic flow will be weakened with the increase of the friction coefficiency

Diversifying of Chemical Structure of Native Monascus Pigments

Red Yeast Rice, produced by solid state fermentation of Monascus species on rice, is a traditional food additive and traditional Chinese medicine. With the introduction of modern microbiology and biotechnology to the traditional edible filamentous fungi Monascus species, it has been revealed that the production of red colorant by fermentation of Monascus species involves the biosynthesis of orange Monascus pigments and further chemical modification of orange Monascus pigments into the corresponding derivates with various amine residues. Further study indicates that non-Monascus species also produce Monascus pigments as well as Monascus-like pigments. Based on the chemical modification of orange Monascus pigments, the diversification of native Monascus pigments, including commercial food additives of Red Monascus Pigments® and Yellow Monascus Pigments® in Chinese market, was reviewed. Furthermore, Monascus pigments as well as their derivates as enzyme inhibitors for anti-obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia was also summarized

A Comparative Study of Systolic and Diastolic Mechanical Synchrony in Canine, Primate, and Healthy and Failing Human Hearts.

Aim: Mechanical dyssynchrony (MD) is associated with heart failure (HF) and may be prognostically important in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Yet, little is known about its patterns in healthy or diseased hearts. We here investigate and compare systolic and diastolic MD in both right (RV) and left ventricles (LV) of canine, primate and healthy and failing human hearts. Methods and Results: RV and LV mechanical function were examined by pulse-wave Doppler in 15 beagle dogs, 59 rhesus monkeys, 100 healthy human subjects and 39 heart failure (HF) patients. This measured RV and LV pre-ejection periods (RVPEP and LVPEP) and diastolic opening times (Q-TVE and Q-MVE). The occurrence of right (RVMDs) and left ventricular systolic mechanical delay (LVMDs) was assessed by comparing RVPEP and LVPEP values. That of right (RVMDd) and left ventricular diastolic mechanical delay (LVMDd) was assessed from the corresponding diastolic opening times (Q-TVE and Q-MVE). These situations were quantified by values of interventricular systolic (IVMDs) and diastolic mechanical delays (IVMDd), represented as positive if the relevant RV mechanical events preceded those in the LV. Healthy hearts in all species examined showed greater LV than RV delay times and therefore positive IVMDs and IVMDd. In contrast a greater proportion of the HF patients showed both markedly increased IVMDs and negative IVMDd, with diastolic mechanical asynchrony negatively correlated with LVEF. Conclusion: The present IVMDs and IVMDd findings have potential clinical implications particularly for personalized setting of parameter values in CRT in individual patients to achieve effective treatment of HF

Drosophila S2 Cells Are Non-Permissive for Vaccinia Virus DNA Replication Following Entry via Low pH-Dependent Endocytosis and Early Transcription

Vaccinia virus (VACV), a member of the chordopox subfamily of the Poxviridae, abortively infects insect cells. We have investigated VACV infection of Drosophila S2 cells, which are useful for protein expression and genome-wide RNAi screening. Biochemical and electron microscopic analyses indicated that VACV entry into Drosophila S2 cells depended on the VACV multiprotein entry-fusion complex but appeared to occur exclusively by a low pH-dependent endocytic mechanism, in contrast to both neutral and low pH entry pathways used in mammalian cells. Deep RNA sequencing revealed that the entire VACV early transcriptome, comprising 118 open reading frames, was robustly expressed but neither intermediate nor late mRNAs were made. Nor was viral late protein synthesis or inhibition of host protein synthesis detected by pulse-labeling with radioactive amino acids. Some reduction in viral early proteins was noted by Western blotting. Nevertheless, synthesis of the multitude of early proteins needed for intermediate gene expression was demonstrated by transfection of a plasmid containing a reporter gene regulated by an intermediate promoter. In addition, expression of a reporter gene with a late promoter was achieved by cotransfection of intermediate genes encoding the late transcription factors. The requirement for transfection of DNA templates for intermediate and late gene expression indicated a defect in viral genome replication in VACV-infected S2 cells, which was confirmed by direct analysis. Furthermore, VACV-infected S2 cells did not support the replication of a transfected plasmid, which occurs in mammalian cells and is dependent on all known viral replication proteins, indicating a primary restriction of DNA synthesis

Cogena, a novel tool for co-expressed gene-set enrichment analysis, applied to drug repositioning and drug mode of action discovery

This work was supported by the portfolio of translational research of the National Institutes for Health Research Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit at Barts, the UK Medical Research Council (JID-2015-0339), Major Research Plan of The National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number U1435222], Plan for Innovative Graduate Student at NUDT [grant number B140202], Plan for interdisciplinary joint PhD students at NUDT and China Scholarship Council [to ZJ]