Improving the Environmental Safety of Combustion Products in the Development of Designs of Magnetic-Electric Activators for Industrial Gas Combustion

The aim of this research was to examine the combustion process of the magnetic-electric activation of hydrocarbon-containing waste gases for heat generation. A method for analyzing the composition of the gases was also developed. Keywords: industrial gas combustion, magnetic-electric activation, heat generation

The murburn precepts for photoreception

Murburn concept is a redox mechanistic scheme involving interactive equilibriums of discretized or organized proteins/substrates molecules, unbound ions and radicals (or reactive species); which may afford selective/specific electron transfers, particularly at phospholipid interfaces. Earlier, we have applied murburn concept to provide parsimonious explanations (grounded in thermodynamics and kinetics) for various physiological/bioenergetic routines like xenobiotic metabolism, unusual dose responses, aerobic respiration, thermogenesis, homeostasis, trans-membrane potential, oxygenic photosynthesis, etc. While proposing the murburn model for photophosphorylation, we had projected that the murburn mechanism could also be relevant for photoreception physiology. Herein, we expand on this aspect and present the basic scheme and evidence in support for the murburn model of photoreception, with retinal/opsin as the salient photon-impingement response-transducing element. In alignment with our earlier murburn schemes, we propose that diffusible reactive oxygen species (DROS, as exemplified by superoxide, which is currently deemed a toxic product of all-trans retinal and NADPH oxidase interactions) is produced in rod/cone cells upon photoactivation and it plays a crucial role in the visual cycle. This is supported by the fact that layers of photoreceptive neural cells precede the rod/cone cells (with respect to the presentation to oncoming light ray/photon), there exists high oxygen demand in retina, copious ROS are detected in functional retina, NAD(P)H/reductase is involved in the cycle, events occur at sub-micrometer dimensioned phospholipid disks stacked to stabilize DROS and minimize free protons (quite like the thylakoids that harbor carotenoids in chloroplasts and cyanobacteria), etc. In the new scheme, photo-electric activation leads to charge separation and hyperpolarization. This electro-chemical signaling serves is the front-runner to a trigger for action potential relay along a neuron and the superoxide mediated phosphorylation of GDP bound to transducin serves as the initiator of signal transduction cascade. The newly proposed scheme allows a facile electrical connectivity of the retina-photoreceptors with the brain via the optic nerve, and is anatomically correlated with the structure and resolution or retina, and is kinetically viable.

AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF THE PLC PROGRAMS FOR THE SEQUENTIAL CONTROL OF PNEUMATIC ACTUATORS

Nowadays, programmable logic controllers (PLC) are widely used in many automated systems, especially for the control of various actuators. The most common PLC programming is performed by either using a ladder diagram or a structured text. The paper presents the automatic generation of PLC programs for the purpose of sequentially controlling pneumatic actuators. In this paper, the pneumatic actuators are supplied and controlled by 5/2-way as well as 5/3-way bistable pneumatic valves with electric activation. The valve type depends on the number of positions in which the actuator should come, and the position sensors are used for detecting its movement. The characteristic encoding of the movement of actuators, position sensors and control commands is performed. The advantages of the automatic generation of the PLC commands and the entire program described in this paper are illustrated in a real example.

Peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS): better call it stretch?

Left atrial (LA) strain is gaining more and more relevance in medical literature, with many applications in different clinical setting. The term “strain”, meaning deformation, is applied to the contraction phase of the left ventricle (LV), due to its myocardial shortening along the longitudinal axis, to the LA relaxation phase, correlated to its distensibility and elastic compliance in receiving blood from the pulmonary veins, and even to LA contraction consequent to the electric activation of LA myocardium. This manuscript describes main anatomical and physiological characteristic of the left atrium and discusses the use of the term strain from terminological and conceptual points of view.

Dielectrophoresis Separation of Colon Cancer Cell

Separation of cancer cells from the other biological cells is important for clinical cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment. In this presentation, we use conventional dielectrophoresis (c-DEP) in a microfluidic chip to manipulate and collect colorectal cancer HCT116 cell. It is noticed that at particular AC frequency band, the HCT116 cell are deflected to a side channel from a main channel clearly after the electric activation. This motion caused by negative DEP can be used to separate the cancer cell from others. In this manuscript, we report the chip design, flow condition, the DEP spectrum of the cancer cell, and the separation and collection efficiency as well.