Scale Formation of SOFC Metallic Interconnects in Coal Syngas

Planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) which can use coal syngas as the fuel and stainless steels in their construction have attracted considerable interesting, due to the high power densities and cost-effective manufacturing. However, the components of SOFCs work under a long-term, high temperature corrosive atmosphere, which places a lot of stringent requirements on the materials of the components. For interconnects, since they are simultaneously exposed to air on the cathode side and to fuel on the anode side, the materials must have good oxidation resistance, as well as other electric and mechanical properties. Although extensive research have been done to examine the oxidation behaviors of many potential interconnect materials in air, hydrogen and dual-atmosphere, little oxidation information of these materials in a coal syngas environment are available. Because the oxidation properties of materials in different media are quite different, evaluating the oxidation behavior of these potential interconnect materials in coal syngas is available.In the present work, the oxidation properties of Fe-based ferritic alloys Crofer 22 APU, E-Brite, AISI 430 and a Ni-based alloy Haynes 230 isothermally exposed in coal syngas at 800 oC for 100 hours and 500 hours were studied. Moreover, the effects of pre-oxidized coating and cladding on the oxidation properties of the materials in coal syngas at high temperatures were investigated and both of them could significantly improve the oxidation resistance

Investigation of the molecular basis for silicon biofunctionality

Despite advances in our understanding of the beneficial role of silicon in the biosphere, surprisingly little is known of the molecular mechanism by which silicon is absorbed, transported, accumulated and deposited by organisms. We used silicon-29 NMR spectroscopy to investigate the interaction of the rare amino acid 2,3-trans-3,4-cw-3,4-dihydroxy-L-proline (DHP) with aqueous silicon. Spectral data revealed the structure of three organosilicate complexes that DHP spontaneously forms with aqueous silicon at pH = 7.9, making DHP the first ever known Si-binding amino acid. Such a discovery has potential significance in accounting for silicon’s biological role in hydroxyproline-rich structural glycoproteins found in both mammals and plants. The cell wall morphology of wheat, Triticum aestivum L., grown in either -Si or +Si media was examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The preliminary results indicate that Si-deficiency causes swelling of the parenchyma cell walls, supporting the hypothesis that silicon may enhance cell wall integrity by cross-linking pectic polysaccharide molecules via complexation at the apiofuranose binding sites. Silicon-29 and 13C NMR spectroscopy were used to test this theory at the molecular level. Blood and urine were collected periodically from a human subject following ingestion of 29Si-enriched silicic acid and analyzed by ICP-OES and NMR spectroscopy. In addition to studying the kinetics of Si uptake and excretion, we obtained the first reliable speciation of Si-containing molecules in human biofluids, and demonstrated that mono- and disilicic acid are the predominant species

Exploring personalised autonomous vehicles to influence user trust

Trust is a major determinant of acceptance of an autonomous vehicle (AV), and a lack of appropriate trust could prevent drivers and society in general from taking advantage of such technology. This paper makes a new attempt to explore the effects of personalised AVs as a novel approach to the cognitive underpinnings of drivers’ trust in AVs. The personalised AV system is able to identify the driving behaviours of users and thus adapt the driving style of the AV accordingly. A prototype of a personalised AV was designed and evaluated in a lab-based experimental study of 36 human drivers, which investigated the impact of the personalised AV on user trust when compared with manual human driving and non-personalised AVs. The findings show that a personalised AV appears to be significantly more reliable through accepting and understanding each driver’s behaviour, which could thereby increase a user’s willingness to trust the system. Furthermore, a personalised AV brings a sense of familiarity by making the system more recognisable and easier for users to estimate the quality of the automated system. Personalisation parameters were also explored and discussed to support the design of AV systems to be more socially acceptable and trustworthy

PHLPP Negatively Regulates Cell Motility Through Inhibition of Akt Activity and Integrin Expression in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is currently the fourth leading cause for cancer-related mortality. Malignant progression of pancreatic cancer depends not only on rapid proliferation of tumor cells but also on increased cell motility. In this study, we showed that increased PHLPP expression significantly reduced the rate of migration in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells whereas knockdown of PHLPP had the opposite effect. In addition, cell motility at the individual cell level was negatively regulated by PHLPP as determined using time-lapse imaging. Interestingly, the expression of β1 and β4 integrin proteins were decreased in PHLPP overexpressing cells and increased in PHLPP knockdown cells whereas the mRNA levels of integrin were not altered by changes in PHLPP expression. In determining the molecular mechanism underlying PHLPP-mediated regulation of integrin expression, we found that inhibition of lysosome activity rescued integrin expression in PHLPP overexpressing cells, thus suggesting that PHLPP negatively controls cell motility by inhibiting Akt activity to promote lysosome-dependent degradation of integrins. Functionally, the increased cell migration observed in PHLPP knockdown cells was effectively blocked by the neutralizing antibodies against β1 or β4 integrin. Taken together, our study identified a tumor suppressor role of PHLPP in suppressing cell motility by negatively regulating integrin expression in pancreatic cancer cells

Cross-Linked ZnO Nanowalls Immobilized onto Bamboo Surface and Their Use as Recyclable Photocatalysts

A novel recyclable photocatalyst was fabricated by hydrothermal method to immobilize the cross-linked ZnO nanowalls on the bamboo surface. The resultant samples were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) techniques. FTIR spectra demonstrated that the cross-linked wurtzite ZnO nanowalls and bamboo surface were interconnected with each other by hydrogen bonds. Meanwhile, the cross-linked ZnO nanowalls modified bamboo (CZNB) presented a superior photocatalytic ability and could be recycled at least 3 times with a photocatalytic efficiency up to 70%. The current research provides a new opportunity for the development of a portable and recycled biomass-based photocatalysts which can be an efficiently degraded pollutant solution and reused several times

Tibetan sheep have a high capacity to absorb and to regulate metabolism of SCFA in the rumen epithelium to adapt to low energy intake

The nutritional intake of Tibetan sheep on the harsh Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is often under maintenance requirements, especially during the long, cold winter. However, they have adapted well and even thrive under these conditions. The aim of the present study was to gain insight into how the rumen epithelium of Tibetan sheep has adapted to the consumption of low-energy-level diets. For this purpose, we compared Tibetan and small-tailed Han sheep (n 24 of each breed, all wethers and 1 center dot 5 years of age), which were divided randomly into one of four groups and offered ad libitum diets of different digestible energy (DE) densities: 8 center dot 21, 9 center dot 33, 10 center dot 45 and 11 center dot 57 MJ DE/kg DM. The Tibetan sheep had higher rumen concentrations of total SCFA, acetate, butyrate and iso-acids but lower concentrations of propionate than small-tailed Han sheep. The Tibetan sheep had higher absorption capability of SCFA due to the greater absorption surface area and higher mRNA expression of the SCFA absorption relative genes than small-tailed Han sheep. For the metabolism of SCFA in the rumen epithelium, the small-tailed Han sheep showed higher utilisation of the ketogenesis pathway than Tibetan sheep; however, Tibetan sheep had greater regulation capacity in SCFA metabolism pathways. These differences between breeds allowed the Tibetan sheep to have greater capability of absorbing SCFA and better capacity to regulate the metabolism of SCFA, which would allow them to cope with low energy intake better than small-tailed Han sheep

A New Modulation Recognition Method Based on Flying Fish Swarm Algorithm

The modulation recognition method based on deep learning plays a significant role in the intelligent communication system. To further improve the recognition rate, especially in the case of small samples with a low signal-to-noise ratio, this paper proposes a new modulation recognition method based on flying fish swarm algorithm. First, Short-Time Fourier Transform, Choi-Williams Distribution, and Cyclic Spectrum are combined to complete multi-channel signal processing. Second, AlexNet, VGGNet, GoogLeNet, and ResNet are transferred to realize feature extraction. Third, the support vector machine classifies the modulations after dimension reduction and feature fusion. Finally, the flying fish swarm is proposed to optimize the signal processing methods, the types of networks, the layers of networks, the dimensions of features, and the parameters of the support vector machine. The method can accurately recognize BPSK, QPSK, OQPSK, 8PSK, 4ASK, QAM16, QAM32, and QAM64. The simulation results show that the average recognition rate of modulation is 94.5% at SNR of 0 dB and 84.7% at SNR of −4 dB. Besides, the proposed modulation recognition method possesses good robustness under low SNR conditions