Occurrence of gangliosides in the common squid and pacific octopus among protostomia

AbstractAcidic lipids from tissues of the common squid Todarodes pacificus and the pacific octopus Octopus vulgaris were characterized. Hepatopancreatic tissues of both animals had complex compositions of resorcinol-positive acidic lipids, many of which became reactive with cholera toxin B subunit and anti-GM1 antibody after in situ treatment with sialidase on TLC. One of the major acidic lipids in squid tissue was isolated and examined for its structure. This acidic lipid was identified to be the ganglioside GD1a based upon the susceptibility to sialidases of different substrate specificity, characterization of reaction products, and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry of the lipid. Hepatopancreatic tissues of squid and octopus also contained acidic lipids that reacted with A2B5, a monoclonal antibody specific to c-series gangliosides. Cerebral ganglia of both animals expressed resorcinol-positive acidic lipids, though their compositional patterns differed from the hepatopancreatic tissues. N-Acetylneuraminic acid was identified as the main species in lipid-bound sialic acid in both tissues. The contents of lipid-bound sialic acid in cerebral ganglia were significantly lower than those of hepatopancreatic tissues in both animals. The present study presents the first evidence for the occurrence of gangliosides in protostomia

Film Rupture And Partial Wetting Over Flat Surfaces

Various technical applications require conditions which prevent thin liquid films from breaking into a series of rivulets, leaving the solid surface partly uncovered and lowering the extension of the liquid free interface. What is needed is both a criterion for the stability of the film to identify the minimum flow rate able to ensure the complete wetting of the surface and, after the film rupture, a method to estimate the wet (active) part of the same surface. At low Reynolds and high Weber numbers, the assumptions of a film with uniform thickness and complete wetting of the transfer surface cannot be considered, even approximately, rigorous, hence, leading to unacceptable inaccuracy of simulation results of the transfer performance in that operative region. Accordingly, the inadequacy of previous theoretical models of devices that use falling films as transfer mediums can be ascribed to a major issue, namely the assumption of complete wetting. As they provide a simple variational method to solve complex, multi-variable problems and directly reach a rational explanation of physical phenomena, extremum principles have led to critical results in the theoretical and technical fields. Hamilton’s principle (or principle of least action), Gauss’ principle of least constraint, as well as Oasager’s extremum principle or Prigogine’s principle of minimum entropy production remain central in modern physics and engineering. In this context and with regard to the previously stated technical aim, the principle of minimising the energy of a given stream-wise section of the film is applied in order to model and investigate the film stability. Specifically, a criterion for defining the film stability is established for a rivulet cross-section shape suitable for predicting the transient evolution of the wetting ability under an imposed fluid distribution width. The evolution from uniform film to the stable rivulet configuration is estimated considering the energy of the system under a Lagrangian approach. The Lagrange equation is written with reference to a single generalized wetting coordinate and its time derivative, under the effect of Rayleigh\u27s dissipation function and a generalized force associated to a scalar potential defined as the energy excess with respect to the local energy minimum. This methodology is extended to include the hysteresis behaviour of the contact angle (considering advancing and receding contact angles) and wettability hysteresis when increasing or decreasing mass flow rates are delivered. Finally, a first qualitative and quantitative validation of the results is presented with reference to the visual data captured on a dedicated experimental test section

Development of General-Purpose Energy System Analysis Simulator "Energy Flow +M"? Static Analysis of Solar Collector

To solve current environmental problems such as global warming and declination of fossil fuels, use of less energy is essential, particularly in the fields of refrigeration and air conditioning. Thus, simulations using complex mathematical models become vital. Simulation technology faces a major challenge because the language of simulation codes varies depending on the programmer. Thereafter, others cannot duplicate the same simulation technology used by their predecessors. To address this, a modular analysis method that generalizes simulation code has been developed. With this method, the general-purpose software analyzing energy system called “ENERGY FLOW +M,” a software enabling analyses that can be conducted without having to specify the model or the method of analysis used, has also been created. The focus of this study was on the solar collector. As the solar collector uses energy from the sun, it is friendly to the global environment. In order to understand the performance of the solar collector, the construction of a simulation model was carried out. Moreover, models of the solar collector and solar radiation were loaded into “ENERGY FLOW +M” to verify their performance. Thus, this simulator allows us to execute simulations of the solar collector from anywhere via the Internet

Influence of the Fluid Distribution Width on the Wettability of Rivulet Flow over Vertical Flat Surfaces

The performance of heat transfer in the processes of evaporation, absorption, distillation and even condensation is affected from the wetting behavior of the liquid film flow on the surface. The complete wetting of the surface is usually required while breaking of thin liquid film is to be avoided. Various experimental settings have been designed by several researchers to investigate the main parameters influencing the stability of the film. However, in order to generalize and properly scale the results, the appropriate dimension of the test section and its influences on the wetting behavior are still unresolved questions that need to be addressed. Three different fluid distribution widths, including 200, 100 and 33 mm, when the geometry of distribution hole, the distance between holes and vertical flat surface are fixed, are carried out. Pure water at ambient temperature is used as working fluid. The measurement is focused on the wettability hysteresis and the shape transition from film to rivulet when the water flow rate are increased or decreased for wetting and dewetting experiments. Visual data captured on the test section under various fluid distribution widths are collected and analyzed using image binarization method to quantify the wetted area. The relation between the wetted area with respect to film Reynolds number and Weber number respectively are presented. The results show that the fluid distribution width can influence the wetting ability. The amount of wetted area, which is used to identify the wetting ability, is quite stable for decreasing flow rates, thus delineating the hysteresis characteristics of the wetting behavior of this solid-liquid pair. In general, a longer distributor width seems to be associated to a lower wetting ability and a lower wetting hysteresis. However, the same observation could not be applied to the results extracted with a 33mm width