Modeling And Experimental Study On A Direct Expansion Based Enhanced Dehumidification Air Conditioning System

Direct expansion (DX) air conditioning (A/C) systems are widely used for controlling indoor air temperature and humidity in various buildings in hot and humid climates since they are simpler and more energy efficient, and generally cost less to own and maintain. However, it is often problematic for a DX A/C system to provide desired humidity control due to the current system design trends, variable weather conditions and the commonly used control strategies for DX A/C systems. Therefore, a standalone DX based enhanced dehumidification air conditioning (EDAC) system is proposed to provide suitable indoor humidity control at different seasons. There are two evaporators in the EDAC system, thus it could act as a dehumidifier (ADO mode) on the days when less or no additional cooling is required by employing one evaporator as a reheating coil, or act as an enhanced dehumidification A/C system (EDAC mode) by functioning two evaporators to separately deal with sensible and latent cooling. A prototype experimental EDAC system was established in a laboratory. The operational characteristics of the EDAC system at ADO mode in terms of the moisture removal capacity (MRC), the specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) and the resulted supply air temperature were investigated and reported in this paper. Firstly, the experimental results on operational characteristics are reported. Secondly, the development of a steady-state mathematical model for the ADO mode of the EDAC system is presented. The developed model was thereafter used to study the influence of different sizes of the evaporator and the reheating coil on the operational characteristic of the EDAC system at ADO mode. The study results could lead to a better understanding of the operational characteristics of the EDAC system, facilitating its design, operation and control

Dextromethorphan in the treatment of early myoclonic encephalopathy evolving into migrating partial seizures in infancy

Epileptic encephalopathy with suppression-burst in electroencephalography (EEG) can evolve into a few types of epileptic syndromes. We present here an unusual case of early myoclonic encephalopathy that evolved into migrating partial seizures in infancy. A female neonate initially had erratic myoclonus movements, hiccups, and a suppression-burst pattern in EEG that was compatible with early myoclonic encephalopathy. The seizures were controlled with dextromethorphan (20 mg/kg), and a suppression-burst pattern in EEG was reverted to relatively normal background activity. However, at 72 days of age, alternating focal tonic seizures, compatible with migrating partial seizures in infancy, were demonstrated by the 24-hour EEG recording. The seizures responded poorly to dextromethorphan. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of early myoclonic encephalopathy evolving into migrating partial seizure in infancy. Whether it represents another age-dependent epilepsy evolution needs more clinical observation

1,1′-Methyl­enedipyridinium dichloride monohydrate

In the crystal structure of the title salt, C11H12N2 2+·2Cl−·H2O, the dication adopts a butterfly shape [dihedral angle between rings = 69.0 (1)°] with the water mol­ecule lying in the V-shaped cavity. Each O—H bond of the water molecule lies parallel to an aromatic ring and forms an O—H⋯Cl inter­action to a chloride anion. The methyl­ene C atom in the dication and the water O atoms lie on special positions of twofold site symmetry

PERCEPTION FIELD FOR A MOBILE DEVICE TO PROVIDE REAL-TIME DEPTH ESTIMATION FOR DETECTED OBJECTS

A mobile computing device (e.g., a mobile phone, camera, tablet computer, wearable and/or headset device) may include an integrated display device (e.g., a presence-sensitive screen) at which a user interface is presented to provide perception field functionality, which enables real-time depth estimation for static or moving objects that are detected by the mobile computing device based on sensory input from an onboard camera. In various examples, this functionality may be embodied in a portable and flexible library (e.g. Android library) that is installed on the mobile computing device. The purpose of perception field monitoring is to provide fast and efficient algorithms for spatial object mapping to enable real-time distance estimation of static and moving objects on a mobile computing device. The implementation of these algorithms may provide spatial location information of targeted objects, as well as distance information associated with objects that are detected by the device. In certain cases, mobile applications executing on the device may utilize such information to provide assistance to visually impaired users by creating audible alerts

p-Cu2O-shell/n-TiO2-nanowire-core heterostucture photodiodes

This study reports the deposition of cuprous oxide [Cu2O] onto titanium dioxide [TiO2] nanowires [NWs] prepared on TiO2/glass templates. The average length and average diameter of these thermally oxidized and evaporated TiO2 NWs are 0.1 to 0.4 μm and 30 to 100 nm, respectively. The deposited Cu2O fills gaps between the TiO2 NWs with good step coverage to form nanoshells surrounding the TiO2 cores. The p-Cu2O/n-TiO2 NW heterostructure exhibits a rectifying behavior with a sharp turn-on at approximately 0.9 V. Furthermore, the fabricated p-Cu2O-shell/n-TiO2-nanowire-core photodiodes exhibit reasonably large photocurrent-to-dark-current contrast ratios and fast responses

MG63 Osteoblast-Like Cells Exhibit Different Behavior when Grown on Electrospun Collagen Matrix versus Electrospun Gelatin Matrix

Electrospinning is a simple and efficient method of fabricating a non-woven polymeric nanofiber matrix. However, using fluorinated alcohols as a solvent for the electrospinning of proteins often results in protein denaturation. TEM and circular dichroism analysis indicated a massive loss of triple-helical collagen from an electrospun collagen (EC) matrix, and the random coils were similar to those found in gelatin. Nevertheless, from mechanical testing we found the Young's modulus and ultimate tensile stresses of EC matrices were significantly higher than electrospun gelatin (EG) matrices because matrix stiffness can affect many cell behaviors such as cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. We hypothesize that the difference of matrix stiffness between EC and EG will affect intracellular signaling through the mechano-transducers Rho kinase (ROCK) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and subsequently regulates the osteogenic phenotype of MG63 osteoblast-like cells. From the results, we found there was no significant difference between the EC and EG matrices with respect to either cell attachment or proliferation rate. However, the gene expression levels of OPN, type I collagen, ALP, and OCN were significantly higher in MG63 osteoblast-like cells grown on the EC than in those grown on the EG. In addition, the phosphorylation levels of Y397-FAK, ERK1/2, BSP, and OPN proteins, as well as ALP activity, were also higher on the EC than on the EG. We further inhibited ROCK activation with Y27632 during differentiation to investigate its effects on matrix-mediated osteogenic differentiation. Results showed the extent of mineralization was decreased with inhibition after induction. Moreover, there is no significant difference between EC and EG. From the results of the protein levels of phosphorylated Y397-FAK, ERK1/2, BSP and OPN, ALP activity and mineral deposition, we speculate that the mechanism that influences the osteogenic differentiation of MG63 osteoblast-like cells on EC and EG is matrix stiffness and via ROCK-FAK-ERK1/2

Simple security proof of coherent-one-way quantum key distribution

Coherent-one-way quantum key distribution (COW-QKD), which requires a simple experimental setup and has the ability to withstand photon-number-splitting attacks, has been not only experimentally implemented but also commercially applied. However, recent studies have shown that the current COW-QKD system is insecure and can only distribute secret keys safely within 20 km of the optical fiber length. In this study, we propose a practical implementation of COW-QKD by adding a two-pulse vacuum state as a new decoy sequence. This proposal maintains the original experimental setup as well as the simplicity of its implementation. Utilizing detailed observations on the monitoring line to provide an analytical upper bound on the phase error rate, we provide a high-performance COW-QKD asymptotically secure against coherent attacks. This ensures the availability of COW-QKD within 100 km and establishes theoretical foundations for further applications.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Beating the fault-tolerance bound and security loopholes for Byzantine agreement with a quantum solution

Byzantine agreement, the underlying core of blockchain, aims to make every node in a decentralized network reach consensus. Classical Byzantine agreements unavoidably face two major problems. One is $1/3$ fault-tolerance bound, which means that the system to tolerate $f$ malicious players requires at least $3f+1$ players. The other is the security loopholes from its classical cryptography methods. Here, we propose a strict quantum Byzantine agreement with unconditional security to break this bound with nearly $1/2$ fault tolerance due to multiparty correlation provided by quantum digital signatures. Our work strictly obeys the original Byzantine conditions and can be extended to any number of players without requirements for multiparticle entanglement. We experimentally demonstrate three-party and five-party quantum consensus for a digital ledger. Our work indicates the quantum advantage in terms of consensus problems and suggests an important avenue for quantum blockchain and quantum consensus networks.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. All comments are welcome

Adenovirus-Mediated Somatic Genome Editing of Pten by CRISPR/Cas9 in Mouse Liver in Spite of Cas9-Specific Immune Responses

CRISPR/Cas9 derived from the bacterial adaptive immunity pathway is a powerful tool for genome editing, but the safety profiles of in vivo delivered Cas9 (including host immune responses to the bacterial Cas9 protein) have not been comprehensively investigated in model organisms. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a prevalent human liver disease characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the liver. In this study, we used adenovirus (Ad) vector to deliver a Streptococcus pyogenes–derived Cas9 system (SpCas9) targeting Pten, a gene involved in NASH and a negative regulator of the PI3K-AKT pathway, in mouse liver. We found that the Ad vector mediated efficient Pten gene editing even in the presence of typical Ad vector-associated immunotoxicity in the liver. Four months after vector infusion, mice receiving the Pten gene-editing Ad vector showed massive hepatomegaly and features of NASH, consistent with the phenotypes following Cre-loxP-induced Pten deficiency in mouse liver. We also detected induction of humoral immunity against SpCas9 and the potential presence of an SpCas9-specific cellular immune response. Our findings provide a strategy to model human liver diseases in mice and highlight the importance considering Cas9-specific immune responses in future translational studies involving in vivo delivery of CRISPR/Cas9

Depletion of TRRAP induces p53-independent senescence in liver cancer by downregulating mitotic genes

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive subtype of liver cancer with few effective treatments and the underlying mechanisms that drive HCC pathogenesis remain poorly characterized. Identifying genes and pathways essential for HCC cell growth will aid the development of new targeted therapies for HCC. Using a kinome CRISPR screen in three human HCC cell lines, we identified transformation/transcription domain-associated protein (TRRAP) as an essential gene for HCC cell proliferation. TRRAP has been implicated in oncogenic transformation, but how it functions in cancer cell proliferation is not established. Here, we show that depletion of TRRAP or its co-factor, histone acetyltransferase KAT5, inhibits HCC cell growth via induction of p53- and p21-independent senescence. Integrated cancer genomics analyses using patient data and RNA-sequencing identified mitotic genes as key TRRAP/KAT5 targets in HCC, and subsequent cell cycle analyses revealed that TRRAP- and KAT5-depleted cells are arrested at G2/M phase. Depletion of TOP2A, a mitotic gene and TRRAP/KAT5 target, was sufficient to recapitulate the senescent phenotype of TRRAP/KAT5 knockdown. CONCLUSION: Our results uncover a role for TRRAP/KAT5 in promoting HCC cell proliferation via activation of mitotic genes. Targeting the TRRAP/KAT5 complex is a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC