Sirtuins as Important Factors in Pathological States and the Role of Their Molecular Activity Modulators

Sirtuins (SIRTs), enzymes from the family of NAD⁺-dependent histone deacetylases, play an important role in the functioning of the body at the cellular level and participate in many biochemical processes. The multi-directionality of SIRTs encourages scientists to undertake research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of their action and the influence that SIRTs have on the organism. At the same time, new substances are constantly being sought that can modulate the action of SIRTs. Extensive research on the expression of SIRTs in various pathological conditions suggests that regulation of their activity may have positive results in supporting the treatment of certain metabolic, neurodegenerative or cancer diseases or this connected with oxidative stress. Due to such a wide spectrum of activity, SIRTs may also be a prognostic markers of selected pathological conditions and prove helpful in assessing their progression, especially by modulating their activity. The article presents and discusses the activating or inhibiting impact of individual SIRTs modulators. The review also gathered selected currently available information on the expression of SIRTs in individual disease cases as well as the biological role that SIRTs play in the human organism, also in connection with oxidative stress condition, taking into account the progress of knowledge about SIRTs over the years, with particular reference to the latest research results.     

Influence of SiC microstructure on its corrosion behavior in molten FLiNaK salt

The influence of the microstructure on the corrosion rate of three monolithic SiC samples in FLiNaK salt at 900 °C for 250 h was studied. The SiC samples, labeled as SiC-1, SiC-2, and SiC-3, had corrosion rates of 0.137, 0.020, and 0.043 mg/cm²h, respectively. Compared with grain size and the presence of special grain boundaries (i.e., Σ3), the content of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) appeared to have the strongest influence on the corrosion rate of SiC in FLiNaK salt, since the corrosion rate increased six times as the concentration of high-angle grain boundaries increased from 19 to 32% for SiC-2 and SiC-1, respectively. These results stress the importance of controlling the content of HAGBs during the production process of SiC.     

Psychrophilic hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor: techno-economic assessment and kinetic modelling

Independent hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater containing mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) was extensively assessed under psychrophilic conditions (15–25 °C). A lab-scale ASBR was operated at pH of 5.50, and different organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.00, 1.67, 2.67, and 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The hydrogen yield (HY) progressed from 134.32 ± 10.79 to 189.09 ± 22.35 mL/gMEG_initial at increasing OLR from 1.00 to 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The maximum hydrogen content of 47.44 ± 3.60% was achieved at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d, while methane content remained low (17.76 ± 1.27% at OLR of 1.0 gCOD/L/d). Kinetic studies using four different mathematical models were conducted to describe the ASBR performance. Furthermore, two batch-mode experiments were performed to optimize the nitrogen supplementation as a nutrient (C/N ratio), and assess the impact of salinity (as gNaCl/L) on hydrogen production. HY substantially dropped from 62.77 ± 4.09 to 6.02 ± 0.39 mL/gMEG_initial when C/N ratio was increased from 28.5 to 114.0. Besides, the results revealed that salinity up to 10.0 gNaCl/L has a relatively low inhibitory impact on hydrogen production. Eventually, the cost/benefit analysis showed that environmental and energy recovery revenues from ASBR were optimized at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d (payback period of 7.13 yrs).     

Phase-composition dependent domain responses in (K0.5Na0.5)NbO3-based piezoceramics

Lead-free (K_0.5Na_0.5)NbO₃-based (KNN) piezoceramics featuring a polymorphic phase boundary (PPB) between the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases at room temperature are reported to possess high piezoelectric properties but with inferior cycling stability, while the ceramics with a single tetragonal phase show improved cycling stability but with lower piezoelectric coefficients. In this work, electric biasing in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study is conducted on two KNN-based compositions, which are respectively at and off PPB. Our observations reveal the distinctive domain responses in these two ceramics under cyclic fields. The higher domain wall density in the poled KNN at PPB contributes to the high piezoelectric properties. Upon cycling, however, a new microstructure feature, “domain intersection”, is directly observed in this PPB composition. In comparison, the off-PPB KNN ceramic develops large domains during poling, which experience much less extent of disruption during cycling. Our comparative study provides the basis for understanding the relation between phase composition and piezoelectric performance.     

Adaptive robust boundary control of shaft vibrations under perturbations with unknown upper bounds

This paper presents robust and adaptive boundary control designs to stabilize the two‐dimensional vibration of hybrid shaft model. The hybrid shaft is mathematically represented by a set of partial differential equations, governing the shaft vibrations, coupled to ordinary differential equations, describing rigid body spinning and dynamic boundary conditions. The control objective is to stabilize the transverse vibrations of the perturbed shaft while regulating the spinning rate. To achieve this, the paper first establishes robust boundary control laws that fulfil the control objective in the presence of modeling uncertainties and external disturbances operating over the shaft domain and boundary. Lyapunov‐based analyses show that the proposed robust control exponentially stabilizes the shaft with vanishing distributive perturbations, while assuring ultimately bounded vibrations in the case of nonvanishing perturbations. Then, adaptive control philosophy is utilized to achieve redesigned robust controllers that only use online adaptation of control gains without acquiring the knowledge of bounds on perturbations, as well as dynamic parameters. An advantage of this design is avoiding an overconservative robust control law, which may induce poor stability and chattering in tackling system perturbations with unknown upper bounds. Simulations through finite element method illustrate the results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplified anode architecture for PEMFC systems based on alternative fuel feeding: Experimental characterization and optimization for automotive applications

The need to reduce PEMFC systems cost as well as to increase their durability is crucial for their integration in various applications and especially for transport applications. A new simplified architecture of the anode circuit called Alternating Fuel Feeding (AFF) offers to reduce the development costs. Requiring a new stack concept, it combines the simplicity of Dead-End Anode (DEA) with the operation advantages of the hydrogen recirculation. The three architectures (DEA, recirculation and AFF) are compared in terms of performance on a 5-kW test bench in automotive conditions, through a sensitivity analysis. A gain of 17% on the system efficiency is observed when switching from DEA to AFF. Moreover, similar performances are obtained both for AFF and for recirculation after an accurate optimization of the AFF tuning parameters. Based on DoE data, a gain of 25% on the weight of the anodic line has been identified compared to pulsed ejector architecture and 43% with the classic recirculation architecture with blower only (Miraï).     

聚合氯化铝铁的制备、使用及混凝机制研究

以氯化铝和氯化铁为原料制备出一系列不同铝铁物质的量比及碱化度的无机高分子混凝剂——聚合氯化铝铁（PAFC）,并应用于地表水的混凝处理过程。考察PAFC的混凝效能及产生的絮体特性,进而对其使用条件进行优化并分析混凝机制。结果表明,PAFC为多羟基桥连的铝铁聚合物,水解后发生电中和作用使胶粒脱稳,而后通过羟桥和氧桥联接产生架桥和卷扫沉淀作用,混凝效果优异。PAFC的pH适用范围较宽,但铝铁物质的量比对其水解过程影响较大,在铝铁物质的量比为7:1、碱化度为0.5、投加量为10 mg/L时,絮体的粒度及生长速度最大,此时浊度和UV₂₅₄的去除率分别达84.93%和78.52%。此外,正交实验的结果表明水力条件对PAFC的混凝效能影响显著,其最佳使用条件为：快搅时间为20 s、快搅速度为200 r/min、慢搅时间为15 min、慢搅速度为40 r/min。     

Engineering grain boundary anisotropy to elucidate grain growth behavior in alumina

Current grain growth models have evolved to account for the relationship between grain boundary energy/mobility anisotropy and the five degrees of grain boundary character. However, the role of grain boundary networks on overall growth kinetics remains poorly understood. To experimentally investigate this problem, a highly textured Al₂O₃ was fabricated by colloidal casting in a strong magnetic field to engineer a unique spatial distribution of grain boundary character. Microstructural evolution was quantified and compared to an untextured sample. From this comparison, a prevalence of (0001)/(0001) terminated grain boundaries with anisotropic networks were identified in the textured sample. These boundaries and their networks were found to be driving grain growth at a faster rate than predicted by models. These findings will allow better modelling of grain growth in real systems by experimentally exploring the impact thereon of grain boundary plane anisotropy and relative energy/mobility differences between neighboring boundaries.     

荔浦市岩质崩塌形成条件及失稳运动特征

通过对荔浦市境内碳酸盐岩区岩质崩塌及该区域地质环境条件的调查,总结了岩质崩塌的规模、发育高度、控制结构面等发育特征,分析了岩质崩塌形成条件,并判断岩质崩塌的失稳运动特征。本文以一处危岩为例,用无人机进行三维扫描并分析其形成原因及预测其失稳运动特征。