Effect of exchanging PbO with NiO on the structure and optical parameters action of some lanthanum borate oxide glasses

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - This work is an attempt to estimate the effect of the exchanging of PbO with NiO on the optical and structural parameters for some...     

Interval analysis of mode shapes to identify damage in beam structures

Various damage detection methods have been proposed by several researchers in the past few decades. Amongst them, the efficiency of mode shapes in detecting damage has been demonstrated by many researchers when further processed. In most cases, the processing involves expansion or reduction of the mode shape data. However, vital information that are damage-prints are often lost during processing of the mode shape data. In addition, most of these processes involve long and complex computation, thus, leading to inaccurate damage identification. In this study, a simple and fast damage identification technique is proposed to identify damage in beam structures. Interval analysis is applied to the mode shapes of a beam structure in the damaged and undamaged states. The interval situations of each of the beam's segment via mode shape are derived to obtain the upper and lower bounds and the derived bounds are compared. To establish a relationship for identify the damaged point, a possibility of damage existence is defined for each segment of the beam structure. The mode shape increment is defined as the increase in the mode shape value. Furthermore, a damage measure index that provide enhance damage information is obtained as the product of the possibility of damage existence and mode shape increment. A numerical model of a simply supported steel beam is applied to demonstrate this method by imposing damage through thickness reduction of elements in segments. In addition, a parametric analysis is carried out to evaluate noise effect by considering varying damage severities and different noise levels. The results showed that this method is simple and provides considerable accurate results.     

Food-grade carrageenans and their implications in health and disease

Food additives, often used to guarantee the texture, shelf-life, taste, and appearance of processed foods, have gained widespread attention due to their increased link to the growing incidence of chronic diseases. As one of the most common additives, carrageenans have been used in human diets for hundreds of years. While classified as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption, numerous studies since the 1980s have suggested that carrageenans, particularly those with random coil conformations, may have adverse effects on gastrointestinal health, including aggravating intestinal inflammation. While these studies have provided some evidence of adverse effects, the topic is still controversial. Some have suggested that the negative consequence of the consumption of carrageenans may be structure dependent. Furthermore, pre-existing conditions may predispose individuals to varied outcomes of carrageenan intake. In this review, structure–function relationships of various carrageenans in the context of food safety are discussed. We reviewed the molecular mechanisms by which carrageenans exert their biological effects. We summarized the findings associated with carrageenan intake in animal models and clinical trials. Moreover, we examined the interactions between carrageenans and the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal disorders. This review argues for personalized guidance on carrageenan intake based on individuals’ health status. Future research efforts that aim to close the knowledge gap on the effect of low-dose and chronic carrageenan intake as well as interactions among food additives should be conducive to the improved safety profile of carrageenans in processed food products.     

Dynamics of lipid droplets in the endometrium and fatty acids and oxylipins in the uterine lumen,blood, and milk of lactating cows during diestrus

Our objective was to investigate the lipid content of uterus, blood plasma, and milk at early, mid, and late diestrus. Lactating cows (n = 30) had the estrous cycle and ovulation synchronized by administration of exogenous hormones. Cows were blocked by parity and assigned randomly to receive transcervical uterine flushing and biopsy on d 5 (early diestrus), 10 (mid diestrus) or 15 (late diestrus) of the estrous cycle. Flushing and endometrial biopsy were performed in the uterine horn ipsilateral to the corpus luteum. The recovered flushing was used for analyses of lipid composition by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and the biopsy was used for investigation of lipid droplet abundance in endometrial cryosections using a neutral lipid fluorescent dye. In addition, blood and milk samples were collected from all cows on d 5, 10, and 15. All blood samples were used to measure the concentration of progesterone in plasma, and all milk samples were used to determine milk composition. Subsamples of blood plasma and milk were also used to evaluate the composition of fatty acids and oxylipins using the same methodology used for uterine flushing samples. The abundance of lipid droplets in the endometrium increased 1.9-fold from d 5 to 10, and 2-fold from d 10 to 15. Concentration of long-chain fatty acids and oxylipins in uterine flushing were, on average, 2.2 and 2.5 times greater in samples collected on d 15 compared with those collected on d 5 and 10. These differences were not observed in blood and milk, suggesting that accumulation of fatty acids and oxylipins in the uterus is regulated locally. In addition to concentration, the profile of individual fatty acids and oxylipins in uterine lumen changed substantially during diestrus. The main categories with increased abundance at late diestrus were mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and oxylipins derived from arachidonic acid, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid. In conclusion, fatty acids and oxylipins accumulate in the uterine lumen during diestrus and might work as a mechanism to supply these lipids to the developing conceptus at late diestrus, when the onset of elongation occurs and substantial synthesis of biomass and cell signaling by lipid mediators are required.     

Sustainable ammonia production through process synthesis and global optimization

Current ammonia production technologies have a significant carbon footprint. In this study, we present a process synthesis and global optimization framework to discover the efficient utilization of renewable resources in ammonia production. Competing technologies are incorporated in a process superstructure where biomass, wind, and solar routes are compared with the natural gas-based reference case. A deterministic global optimization-based branch-and-bound algorithm is used to solve the resulting large-scale nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem (MINLP). Case studies for Texas, California, and Iowa are conducted to examine the effects of different feedstock prices and availabilities. Results indicate that profitability of ammonia production is highly sensitive to feedstock and electricity prices, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) restrictions. Under strict 75% GHG reductions, biomass to ammonia route is found to be competitive with natural gas route, whereas wind and solar to ammonia routes require further improvement to compete with those two routes. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: e16498 2019     

Study on the friction interface evolution during rotary friction welding of tube

In this study, evolution characteristics of the friction interface during rotary friction welding of tube were investigated. The friction interface that obtained at different welding stage were observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The results show that the friction interface transforms from sliding friction state to visco-plastic deformation state when the welding torque reaches the peak value. In addition, based on the thermodynamic framework extracted from the maximum entropy production principle, an analytical model for transition criterion from sliding friction to visco-plastic deformation was established. The model was verified by the corresponding experimental results of eight alloys, which indicated that the accuracy and generality of the model is satisfactory.