Modeling and Predictive Control of Carbon Dioxide Removal Unit by Aqueous Alkanolamine

The objectives of this project are to develop modeling and predictive control for Carbon dioxide removal unit by aqueous alkanolamine, compare its performance with an existing PI controller and to reduce carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption from a gas processing plant. Carbon dioxide removal unit is a plant to remove and eliminate carbon dioxide by aqueous alkanolamine. It absorbs impurities of natural gas; carbon dioxide, mercaptant and hydrogen sulfide. Modeling and Predictive Control is an advance technology which can be used to control and implement in process and overcome the problem. By reducing carbon dioxide and energy consumption, it will also result in the reducing amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere which is the main cause of global warming, corrosion of equipment, pipeline and reduce the heating value of the process. There are 4 methods to complete the project which are step testing, system identification, MPC installation and lastly compare Modeling and predictive control with existing PI control. The performance of MPC and PI are compared by using disturbance rejection method which is shows the performance to achieve and maintain the set point of percentage mole fraction of CO2 and main stage temperature at tray no.17. Modeling and Predictive control is a better performance than PI control according to its performance to achieve and maintain at a set point. Consequently, develop Modeling and Predictive Control in amine adsorption technology helps the process to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of natural gas manufacturer and minimize energy use of reboiler duty

Medical tourism in Thailand: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of medical tourism in Thailand and the impact of such tourism on the Thai health system and economy. METHODS: In 2010, we checked the records of all visits to five private hospitals that are estimated to cover 63% of all foreign patients. We reviewed hospital records of foreign patients and obtained data on their countries of origin, diagnoses and interventions. We surveyed 293 medical tourists to collect demographic characteristics and information on their expenditure and travelling companions. To help understand the impact of medical tourism on the Thai health system, we also interviewed 15 hospital executives and 28 service providers from the private hospitals. FINDINGS: We obtained 911,913 records of hospital visits, of which 324,906 came from 104,830 medical tourists. We estimated that there were 167,000 medical tourists in Thailand in 2010. Of the medical tourists who attended our study hospitals, 67,987 (64.8%) came from the eastern Mediterranean region or Asia and 109,509 (34%) of them were treated for simple and uncomplicated conditions - i.e. general check-ups and medical consultations. The mean self-reported non-medical expenditure was 2750 United States dollars. According to the hospital staff interviewed, medical tourism in 2010 brought benefits to - and apparently had no negative impacts on - the Thai health system and economy. CONCLUSION: We estimate that the total number of medical tourists visiting Thailand is about 10% of previous national government estimates of 1.2 million. Such tourists appear to bring economic benefits to Thailand and to have negligible effects on the health system

A quantitative screen for metabolic enzyme structures reveals patterns of assembly across the yeast metabolic network.

Despite the proliferation of proteins that can form filaments or phase-separated condensates, it remains unclear how this behavior is distributed over biological networks. We have found that 60 of the 440 yeast metabolic enzymes robustly form structures, including 10 that assemble within mitochondria. Additionally, the ability to assemble is enriched at branch points on several metabolic pathways. The assembly of enzymes at the first branch point in de novo purine biosynthesis is coordinated, hierarchical, and based on their position within the pathway, while the enzymes at the second branch point are recruited to RNA stress granules. Consistent with distinct classes of structures being deployed at different control points in a pathway, we find that the first enzyme in the pathway, PRPP synthetase, forms evolutionarily conserved filaments that are sequestered in the nucleus in higher eukaryotes. These findings provide a roadmap for identifying additional conserved features of metabolic regulation by condensates/filaments

The impact of medical tourism on the domestic economy and private health system: a case study of Thailand

In the 21st century, medical tourism has emerged as a prosperous industry. Its growth has been fostered by increasing healthcare costs, long waiting lists for nonemergency operations and a lack of service availability in many developed countries. This has resulted in a reverse phenomenon of patients travelling from developed countries to developing ones to seek affordable healthcare and prompt services. Developing countries in particular have established a variety of strategies to benefit from this profitable market. However, the negative implications of the cross-border movement of services have raised concerns. Quality of services and continuity of care for patients are key concerns in source countries, and inequity, in terms of access to services, rising healthcare costs and the ‘internal brain drain’ of healthcare personnel are concerns in destination countries. It is widely believed that there are substantial economic benefits to be gained from medical tourism, but this belief is not based on a firm empirical foundation. Similarly, there is a lack of empirical evidence concerning the impacts on the health systems of destination countries. The divergence of views and overall lack of evidence affords the potential for policy incoherence between trade and health. This study intends to address this gap in the literature through an empirical assessment of both medical tourism and the healthcare profiles of medical tourists. The overall aim of the study is to assess the impact of medical tourism on the Thai economy and domestic private health system. Thailand was selected as a appropriate country for a case study due to its significant medical tourism industry. This study presents the most extensive and detailed research on medical tourism and its effects on the private health system to date, by drawing on 324,906 patient records in the five largest private hospitals in the country. The key findings are that medical tourists in Thailand are non-homogenous. Comparisons present differences between them and non-medical tourists and Thai private patients in terms of demography and service profiles. The majority are likely to be opportunistic tourists, especially patients who use out-patient departments. Furthermore, the actual number of medical tourists is far fewer than is generally suggested, although they and their companions contribute disproportionately to the Thai economy in terms of medical and tourism-related spending. In terms of medical services, there is no difference between the critical aspects of care given to Thai and foreign patients. Hospitals make use of spare capacity to serve the demand of foreigners. However, foreign patients might be partially responsible for a shortage of high calibre doctors in public hospitals. Hence, if it wishes to continue with its “Medical hub” policy, there is an evident need for the Thai government to consider carefully the overall “cost” of this policy

Preparation of mineral-binding poly (ethylene sodium phosphate) conjugates for biomedical applications

関西大

A quantitative screen for metabolic enzyme structures reveals patterns of assembly across the yeast metabolic network

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Noree, C., Begovich, K., Samilo, D., Broyer, R., Monfort, E., & Wilhelm, J. E. A quantitative screen for metabolic enzyme structures reveals patterns of assembly across the yeast metabolic network. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 30(21), (2019): 2721-2736, doi:10.1091/mbc.E19-04-0224.Despite the proliferation of proteins that can form filaments or phase-separated condensates, it remains unclear how this behavior is distributed over biological networks. We have found that 60 of the 440 yeast metabolic enzymes robustly form structures, including 10 that assemble within mitochondria. Additionally, the ability to assemble is enriched at branch points on several metabolic pathways. The assembly of enzymes at the first branch point in de novo purine biosynthesis is coordinated, hierarchical, and based on their position within the pathway, while the enzymes at the second branch point are recruited to RNA stress granules. Consistent with distinct classes of structures being deployed at different control points in a pathway, we find that the first enzyme in the pathway, PRPP synthetase, forms evolutionarily conserved filaments that are sequestered in the nucleus in higher eukaryotes. These findings provide a roadmap for identifying additional conserved features of metabolic regulation by condensates/filaments.We thank Douglass Forbes for comments on the manuscript, Susanne Rafelski for the gift of the pVTU-mito-dsRed plasmid, and Brian Zid for the gift of the pKT-mNeonGreen plasmid. Work at the Wilhelm lab was supported by a grant from the Hughes Collaborative Innovation Award program of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the James Wilhelm Memorial Fund. Kyle Begovich is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellow

Increased uptake of putrescine in the Rhizosphere inhibits competitive root colonization by Pseudomonas fluoresecens strain WCS365

Microbial Biotechnolog

The glycolytic enzyme phosphofructokinase-1 assembles into filaments.

Despite abundant knowledge of the regulation and biochemistry of glycolytic enzymes, we have limited understanding on how they are spatially organized in the cell. Emerging evidence indicates that nonglycolytic metabolic enzymes regulating diverse pathways can assemble into polymers. We now show tetramer- and substrate-dependent filament assembly by phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK1), which is considered the "gatekeeper" of glycolysis because it catalyzes the step committing glucose to breakdown. Recombinant liver PFK1 (PFKL) isoform, but not platelet PFK1 (PFKP) or muscle PFK1 (PFKM) isoforms, assembles into filaments. Negative-stain electron micrographs reveal that filaments are apolar and made of stacked tetramers oriented with exposed catalytic sites positioned along the edge of the polymer. Electron micrographs and biochemical data with a PFKL/PFKP chimera indicate that the PFKL regulatory domain mediates filament assembly. Quantified live-cell imaging shows dynamic properties of localized PFKL puncta that are enriched at the plasma membrane. These findings reveal a new behavior of a key glycolytic enzyme with insights on spatial organization and isoform-specific glucose metabolism in cells