Three Dimensional Measurements of Asphaltene Deposition in a Transparent Micro-Channel

This study describes a novel experimental approach to directly measure the thicknesses of asphaltene deposits in micro-channels. The thickness of the asphaltene deposit is estimated using a visualization technique based on 3D digital microscopy. The working fluid is a mixture of n-heptane and dead oil. Induced by the addition of n-heptane, the asphaltenes present in crude oil phase separate at ambient temperature to form aggregates of asphaltene-rich phase. Part of the asphaltene aggregates deposit on the walls of the transparent micro-channel. A two-dimensional profile of the deposit across the channel at selected axial sections is measured. The influences of injection mixture volume on the growth of the thickness of deposited asphaltenes is investigated using two experimental conditions, (i) varying elapsed time at constant flow rate and (ii) increasing the flow rate at a constant elapsed time. In both cases the deposit thickness of asphaltene (δ) increases with the total injection volume (V). The experimental results obtained in this work provide new insights into the deposition process at the micro-scale level, which can be used to facilitate the development of more accurate numerical model for this applicatio

FACTUAL: A Benchmark for Faithful and Consistent Textual Scene Graph Parsing

Textual scene graph parsing has become increasingly important in various vision-language applications, including image caption evaluation and image retrieval. However, existing scene graph parsers that convert image captions into scene graphs often suffer from two types of errors. First, the generated scene graphs fail to capture the true semantics of the captions or the corresponding images, resulting in a lack of faithfulness. Second, the generated scene graphs have high inconsistency, with the same semantics represented by different annotations. To address these challenges, we propose a novel dataset, which involves re-annotating the captions in Visual Genome (VG) using a new intermediate representation called FACTUAL-MR. FACTUAL-MR can be directly converted into faithful and consistent scene graph annotations. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate that the parser trained on our dataset outperforms existing approaches in terms of faithfulness and consistency. This improvement leads to a significant performance boost in both image caption evaluation and zero-shot image retrieval tasks. Furthermore, we introduce a novel metric for measuring scene graph similarity, which, when combined with the improved scene graph parser, achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) results on multiple benchmark datasets for the aforementioned tasks. The code and dataset are available at https://github.com/zhuang-li/FACTUAL .Comment: 9 pages, ACL 2023 (findings

catena-Poly[[[tetra­aqua­neodymium(III)]-di-μ-isonicotinato] chloride]

In the title complex, {[Nd(C6H4NO2)2(H2O)4]Cl}n, the NdIII cation is located on a twofold rotation axis and coordinated by four isonicotiniate anions and four water mol­ecules in a distorted square-anti­prismatic geometry. The carboxyl­ate groups of the isonicotinate anions bridge the NdIII cations, forming polymeric chains running along the c axis. The Cl− anion is located on a twofold rotation axis and is linked to the polymeric chains via O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonding. Inter­molecular O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds are also present in the crystal structure

Experimental investigation of Asphaltene deposition in a transparent mini-channel

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.One of the most recurring flow assurance problems in oil and gas industry is associated to the formation of organic and inorganic deposits in the wellbores and the near-wellbore regions. In particular, the depositions of asphaltene in wellbores represent both a major obstacle for petroleum engineers and a challenging topic for scientists. This paper focuses on experimental investigation of asphaltene deposition in transparent mini-channel. The working fluid is a mixture of heptane and crude oil. Induced by the addition of n-heptane, the dissolved asphaltene in crude oil precipitates to form asphaltene particles which deposit on the walls of the transparent mini-channel at ambient temperature. The thickness of asphaltene deposition is estimated using a visualization technique based on 3D microscopy. The thickness of the deposition layer is quantified and the two-dimensional profile of the deposition at selected axial section is measured. The obtained experimental results provide new insights into the deposition process in micro-scale and will be used to validate a developed numerical model.dc201

Two Distinct Binding Modes of a Protein Cofactor with its Target RNA

Like most cellular RNA enzymes, the bI5 group I intron requires binding by a protein cofactor to fold correctly. Here, we use single-molecule approaches to monitor the structural dynamics of the bI5 RNA in real time as it assembles with its CBP2 protein cofactor. These experiments show that CBP2 binds to the target RNA in two distinct modes with apparently opposite effects: a “nonspecific” mode that forms rapidly and induces large conformational fluctuations in the RNA, and a “specific” mode that forms slowly and stabilizes the native RNA structure. The bI5 RNA folds though multiple pathways toward the native state, typically traversing dynamic intermediate states induced by nonspecific binding of CBP2. These results suggest that the protein cofactor-assisted RNA folding involves sequential nonspecific and specific protein-RNA interactions. The nonspecific interaction increases the local concentration of CBP2 and the number of conformational states accessible to the RNA, potentially promoting the formation of specific RNA-protein interactions

Protective Effects of Sheng-Mai-San on Right Ventricular Dysfunction during Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia in Mice

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and failure contribute to the increasing morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular diseases; however, current treatment strategies are grossly inadequate. Sheng-Mai-San (SMS) has been used to treat heart diseases for hundreds of years in China, and its protective effects on RV have not been observed. The present study was to investigate the protective effects of SMS aqueous extract on RV dysfunction in chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) mice model. The results showed that CIH mice model presented RV dysfunction and maladaptive compensation after 28-day-CIH and SMS treatment significantly reversed these changes. Diastolic function of RV was restored and systolic dysfunction was attenuated, including elevation of RV stroke volume and fractional shortening, as well as pulmonary circulation. Structurally, SMS treatment inhibited RV dilation, cardiomyocytes vacuolization, ultrastructure abnormalities, and the expression of cleaved caspase-3. Of importance, SMS showed remarkable antioxidant activity by decreasing the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), increasing the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), as well as inhibiting the overexpression of 3-NT in RV. Our results indicate that SMS preserve RV structure and function in CIH-exposed mice by involving regulation in both ROS and Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) production

A new algorithm for dual-rate systems frequency response computation in discrete control systems

This paper addresses an easy computation of the multiple components of the response to a sinusoidal input of a dual-rate linear time-invariant discrete system from the Bode diagram of LTI systems arising from a lifted representation. Based on those results, a generalized Bode diagram is suggested. Some new conclusions derived from this conceptual interpretation are introduced. This diagram provides a better insight in the frequency-response issues in multivariable control than the standard singular value decomposition of the lifted model. As an application, the output ripple suppression in a multirate control scheme is presented.The work of J. Salt was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under Grant TEC2012-31506, and that of A. Sala by grant DPI2011-27845-C02-01 by the same institution.Salt Llobregat, JJ.; Sala Piqueras, A. (2014). A new algorithm for dual-rate systems frequency response computation in discrete control systems. Applied Mathematical Modelling. 38(23):5692-5704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2014.04.054S56925704382