Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are efficient and clean power generation devices. Lowtemperature
SOFC (LTSOFC) has been developed since high-temperature SOFC (HTSOFC) is not
feasible to be commercialized due to cost. Lowering the operation temperature reduces its substantial
performance resulting from cathode polarization resistance and overpotential of cathode. The
development of composite cathodes regarding mixed ionic-electronic conductor (MIEC) and ceriabased
materials for LTSOFC minimizes the problems significantly and leads to an increase in
electrocatalytic activity for the occurrence of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Lanthanum-based
materials such as lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ) have been discovered
recently, which offer great compatibility with ceria-based electrolyte to be applied as composite
cathode materials for LTSOFC. Cell performance at lower operating temperature can be maintained
and further improved by enhancing the ORR. This paper reviews recent development of various ceriabased
composite cathodes especially related to the ceria-carbonate composite electrolytes for
LTSOFC. The influence of the addition of metallic elements such as silver (Ag), platinum (Pt) and
palladium (Pd) towards the electrochemical properties and performance of LSCF composite cathodes
are also discussed.
Thermodynamic chemical equilibrium analysis using, total Gibbs energy minimization method, was carried out for methane oxidation to higher hydrocarbons. For a large methane conversion and a high selectivity to higher hydrocarbons, the system temperature and oxygen concentration played a vital role, whereas, the system pressure only slightly influenced the two variables. Numerical results showed that the conversion of methane increased with the concentration of oxygen and reaction temperature, but it decreased with pressure. Nevertheless, the presence of oxygen suppressed the formation of higher hydrocarbons which mostly consisted of aromatics, but enhanced the formation of hydrogen. As the system pressure increased, the aromatics, olefins and hydrogen yields diminished, but the paraffin yield improved. Carbon monoxide seemed to be the major oxygen-containing equilibrium product from methane oxidation, whilst almost no H2O, CH3OH and HCOH were detected although traces amount of carbon dioxide were formed at relatively lower temperature and higher pressure. The total Gibbs energy minimization method is useful to theoretically analyze the feasibility of methane conversion to higher hydrocarbons and syngas at the selected temperature and pressure.
This study examined the physicochemical properties of rice flours with five different particle sizes (≤63, 80, 100, 125, and 140 μm) prepared by dry milling and their effects on textural properties of laksa noodles. Rice flour with the smallest particle size had the highest water absorption index, peak viscosity, hot paste viscosity, breakdown, final or cold paste viscosity and gel hardness, but the lowest gelatinization temperature. Reduction of rice flour particle size improved textural properties of laksa noodle. Laksa noodle produced from rice flour with the smallest particle size had the best textural properties.
Background:
Prevention of hypothermia in patients undergoing major posterior approach spinal surgery can be difficult, as a
large body surface is exposed to the cold environment of the operating theatre. We compared the efficacy of a
new under-body forced-air warming blanket with that of a resistive heating blanket in preventing hypothermia.
Methods:
Sixty patients undergoing major posterior approach spinal surgery lasting for more than 2 hours were randomly
assigned to warming with a full under-body forced-air warming blanket or three segments of resistive heating
blankets, both set at 42°C. The ambient temperature was kept near 20°C. Nasopharyngeal, rectal and axillary
temperatures were measured at regular intervals. Changes in core temperature (average of nasopharyngeal
and rectal) over time were compared by the independent t-test.
Results:
The characteristics of the patients were comparable. The baseline core temperature was 36.36 ±0.38°C in the
forced-air group and 36.27 ± 0.46°C in the resistive heating group. During the first hour, the core temperature
decreased similarly from baseline in both groups. From 100 minutes after induction until the end of the surgery,
core temperature rose in both groups. At the end of surgery, the core temperature was increased by 0.08
± 0.09°C from baseline in the forced-air group but decreased by 0.40 ±0.04°C from baseline in the resistive
heating group. The difference in the change of the core temperature, at the end of the surgery, between the
two groups is statistically significant (P
In this study the effects of phosphorus and nitrogen levels, temperature and light-dark cycle on the algal growth potential (AGP) of an Antarctic Chlorococcum isolated from an ephemeral stream at Reeve Hill, Antarctica was investigated. The highest AGP was attained when the cultures were grown at high nitrogen concentration (329.87 mg NO3-N/l) and low phosphorus concentration (2.6 mg PO4-P/l) at 4ºC on a 12 h:12 h light-dark cycle. The results showed that Chlorococcum sp. required a high concentration of nitrogen, low concentration of phosphorus, low temperature with equal lengths of light and dark period (12 h:12 h) for optimum growth.
The temperature profile of a cryogenic system for cooling of beryllium filter of a small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument of TRIGA MARK II PUSPATI research reactor was investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and simulation. The efficient cooling of beryllium filter is important for obtaining higher cold neutron transmission for the SANS instrument. This paper presents the transient CFD results of temperature distributions via the thermal link to the beryllium and simulation of heat
flux. The temperature simulation data are also compared with the experimental results for the cooling time and distribution to the beryllium.
In this study, various methods and applications of flat plate solar collectors are discussed and pictorial representations are presented. Low temperature applications of flat plate collectors are identified in solar cooking, solar water heating, space and air heating, industrial heating plants and in agricultural produce drying processes. Basic equations, as presented by many researchers in the performances of flat plate collectors, are also presented. The review discusses the analysis of losses from flat plate collectors towards obtaining the overall heat loss coefficient which indicate the performance of flat plate collectors.
Glaciozyma antarctica PI12, is a psychrophilic yeast isolated from Antarctic sea. In this work, Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) from cells exposed to three different temperatures; 15 °C, 0 °C and -12 °C were generated to identify genes associated with cold adaptation. A total of 5376 clones from each library were randomly picked and sequenced. Comparative analyses from the resulting ESTs in each condition identified several groups of genes required for cold adaptation. Additionally, 319 unique transcripts that encoded uncharacterised functions were identified in the -12 °C library and are currently unique to G. antarctica. Gene expression analysis using RT-qPCR revealed two of the unknown genes to be up-regulated at -12 °C compared to 0 °C and 15 °C. These findings further contribute to the collective knowledge into G. antarctica cold adaptation and as a resource for understanding the ecological and physiological tolerance of psychrophilic microbes in general.
Cs2Pb(MoO4)2crystals were prepared by crystallization from their own melt, and the crystal structure has been studied in detail. At 296 K, the molybdate crystallizes in the low-temperature α-form and has a monoclinic palmierite-related superstructure (space group C2/m, a = 2.13755(13) nm, b = 1.23123(8) nm, c = 1.68024(10) nm, β = 115.037(2)°, Z = 16) possessing the largest unit cell volume, 4.0066(4) nm3, among lead-containing palmierites. The compound undergoes a distortive phase transition at 635 K and incongruently melts at 943 K. The electronic structure of α-Cs2Pb(MoO4)2was explored by using X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy methods. For α-Cs2Pb(MoO4)2, the photoelectron core-level and valence-band spectra and the XES band representing the energy distribution of Mo 4d and O 2p states were recorded. Our results allow one to conclude that the Mo 4d and O 2p states contribute mainly to the central part and at the top of the valence band, respectively, with also significant contributions throughout the whole valence-band region of the molybdate under consideration.
During low-temperature exposure, temperate plant species increase their freezing tolerance in a process termed cold acclimation. The molecular mechanisms involved in cold acclimation have been mostly investigated in Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition, other Brassicaceae species related to A. thaliana have been employed in recent years to study plant stress responses on a phylogenetically broader basis and in some cases with extremophile species with a much higher stress tolerance. In this paper, we briefly summarize cold acclimation responses in A. thaliana and current knowledge about cold acclimation in A. thaliana relatives with special emphasis on Eutrema salsugineum and two closely related Thellungiella species. We then present a transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of cold acclimation in five A. thaliana and two E. salsugineum accessions that differ widely in their freezing tolerance. Differences in the cold responses of the two species are discussed.
Garcinia mangostana L. (mangosteen) seed is recalcitrant, prone to low temperature and drying which limit its long-term storage. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the metabolic changes throughout its development, to shed some light into the recalcitrant nature of this seed. We performed metabolomics analysis on mangosteen seed at different stages of development; six, eight, ten, twelve and fourteen weeks after anthesis. Seed samples were subjected to methanol extraction prior analysis using liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The MS data acquired were analyzed using ProfileAnalysis (version 2.1). This data article refers to the article entitled "Metabolomics analysis of developing Garcinia mangostana seed reveals modulated levels of sugars, organic acids and phenylpropanoid compounds" (Mazlan et al., 2018) [1].
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized via low-temperature sucrose ester micelle-mediated hydrothermal processing route using titanium isopropoxide as the precursor. X-ray diffractometer revealed that the samples possessed a mixed crystalline phases consisting of anatase and brookite in which anatase was the main phase. Upon increasing the hydrothermal reaction temperature, the degree of crystallinity of the nanoparticles improved and their morphology transformed from bundles of needles to rods and to spheres. Photocatalytic behaviour of the as-synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by photodegradation of methylene blue solution in an ultraviolet A irradiating photoreactor. The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited higher photocatalytic performance as compared to the commercial counterpart.
This study investigates the southwest monsoon circulation and temperature along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia by using the Regional Ocean Modeling System at 9 km resolution. The simulated circulation shows strong northward flowing western boundary currents along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia with maximum speed of approximately of 0.6-0.7 ms-1. The western boundary current, that extends to a depth of about 35 m, continues flowing northward up to approximately 7oN where it changes direction eastward. The circulation along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia is also characterized by two anti-cyclonic eddies. Furthermore, an elongated of cooler sea surface temperature that stretches along the coast was also simulated. The existence of this cool SST pattern is associated with coastal upwelling process due to localized lifting of isotherms near the coast as a response to the southerly-southwesterly wind stress along the coast during the southwest monsoon.
Mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change at regional level require downscaled projection of future climate states. This paper examined the possible changes of future climate extremes over Malaysia based on the IPCC SRES A1B emission scenario. The projected changes at 17 stations were produced by bias correcting the UKMO PRECIS downscaling simulation output. The simulation expected higher probability of rainfall extreme occurrences over the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia during the autumn transitional monsoon period. In addition, possible early monsoon rainfall was projected for certain stations located over East Malaysia. The simulation also projected larger increase of warm temperature extremes but smaller decrease of cold extremes, suggesting asymmetric expansion of the temperature distribution. The impact of the elevated green house gases (GHG) is higher in the night time temperature extremes as compared to the day time temperature extremes. The larger increment of warm night frequencies as compared to the warm day suggests smaller diurnal temperature ranges under the influence of higher greenhouse gases. Stations located in East Malaysia were projected to experience the largest increase of warm night occurrence.
Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have been synthesized using the chemical coprecipitation method. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were likely formed via dissolution-recrystallization process. During the precipitation process, ferrihydrite and Fe(OH)2 particles formed aggregates and followed by the formation of spherical Fe3O4 particles. The synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibited superparamagnetic behavior and in single crystal form. The synthesis temperature and the degree of agitation during the precipitation were found to be decisive in controlling the crystallite and particle size of the produced Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Lower temperature and higher degree of agitation were the favorable conditions for producing smaller particle. The magnetic properties (saturation magnetization and coercivity) of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles increased with the particle size.
Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) brushes on silicon substrate was constructed and molecular weight and polydispersity index was controlled precisely. Molecular behavior of the PNIPA grafted surface was observed by using captive bubble contact angle method. A very interesting phenomenon of high density PNIPA grafted membrane with a chloride terminal molecule was observed. The contact angle of high density PNIPA-Cl increased sharply while the temperature rises above 32oC. But in the case of PNIPA gel surface the contact angle result decreases sharply while the temperature reaches above lower critical solution temperature (LCST). In order to identify the reason behind this abnormal behavior of PNIPA-Cl grafted membrane, the terminal chloride molecule of PNIPA chain was modified to less electronegative azide (-N3) as well as carboxylic acid (-COOH). Finally it was found that terminal molecule of high density PNIPA grafted membrane has a great influences on the wettability change of PNIPA membrane in water by changing the temperature.
Extremely low temperatures present various challenges to life that include ice formation and effects on metabolic capacity. Psyhcrophilic microorganisms typically have an array of mechanisms to enable survival in cold temperatures. In this study, we sequenced and analysed the genome of a psychrophilic yeast isolated in the Antarctic region, Glaciozyma antarctica. The genome annotation identified 7857 protein coding sequences. From the genome sequence analysis we were able to identify genes that encoded for proteins known to be associated with cold survival, in addition to annotating genes that are unique to G. antarctica. For genes that are known to be involved in cold adaptation such as anti-freeze proteins (AFPs), our gene expression analysis revealed that they were differentially transcribed over time and in response to different temperatures. This indicated the presence of an array of adaptation systems that can respond to a changing but persistent cold environment. We were also able to validate the activity of all the AFPs annotated where the recombinant AFPs demonstrated anti-freeze capacity. This work is an important foundation for further collective exploration into psychrophilic microbiology where among other potential, the genes unique to this species may represent a pool of novel mechanisms for cold survival.
Cold plasma (low pressure) technology has been effectively used to boost the germination and growth of various crops in recent decades. The durability of these plasma-treated seeds is essential because of the need to store and distribute the seeds at different locations. However, these ageing effects are often not ascertained and reported because germination and related tests are carried out within a short time after the plasma-treatment. This research aims to fill that knowledge gap by subjecting three different types of seeds (and precursors): Bambara groundnuts (water), chilli (oxygen), and papaya (oxygen) to cold plasma-treatment. Common mechanisms found for these diverse seed types and treatment conditions were the physical and chemical changes induced by the physical etching and the cold plasma on the seeds and subsequent oxidation, which promoted germination and growth. The high glass transition temperature of the lignin-cellulose prevented any physical restructuring of the surfaces while maintaining the chemical changes to continue to promote the seeds germination and growth. These changes were monitored over 60 days of ageing using water contact angle (WCA), water uptake, electrical conductivity, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The vacuum effect was also investigated to separate its effect from cold plasma (low pressure). This finding offers a framework for determining how long agricultural seeds that have received plasma treatment can be used. Additionally, there is a need to transfer this research from the lab to the field. Once the impact of plasma treatment on seeds has been estimated, it will be simple to do so.
The majority of the Earth's ecosystem is frigid and frozen, which permits a vast range of microbial life forms to thrive by triggering physiological responses that allow them to survive in cold and frozen settings. The apparent biotechnology value of these cold-adapted enzymes has been targeted. Enzymes' market size was around USD 6.3 billion in 2017 and will witness growth at around 6.8% CAGR up to 2024 owing to shifting consumer preferences towards packaged and processed foods due to the rising awareness pertaining to food safety and security reported by Global Market Insights (Report ID-GMI 743). Various firms are looking for innovative psychrophilic enzymes in order to construct more effective biochemical pathways with shorter reaction times, use less energy, and are ecologically acceptable. D-Galactosidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the glycosidic oxygen link between the terminal non-reducing D-galactoside unit and the glycoside molecule. At refrigerated temperature, the stable structure of psychrophile enzymes adjusts for the reduced kinetic energy. It may be beneficial in a wide variety of activities such as pasteurization of food, conversion of biomass, biological role of biomolecules, ambient biosensors, and phytoremediation. Recently, psychrophile enzymes are also used in claning the contact lens. β-D-Galactosidases have been identified and extracted from yeasts, fungi, bacteria, and plants. Conventional (hydrolyzing activity) and nonconventional (non-hydrolytic activity) applications are available for these enzymes due to its transgalactosylation activity which produce high value-added oligosaccharides. This review content will offer new perspectives on cold-active β-galactosidases, their source, structure, stability, and application.
In understanding stress response mechanisms in fungi, cold stress has received less attention than heat stress. However, cold stress has shown its importance in various research fields. The following study examined the cold stress response of six Pseudogymnoascus spp. isolated from various biogeographical regions through a proteomic approach. In total, 2541 proteins were identified with high confidence. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis showed diversity in the cold stress response pathways for all six Pseudogymnoascus spp. isolates, with metabolic and translation-related processes being prominent in most isolates. 25.6% of the proteins with an increase in relative abundance were increased by more than 3.0-fold. There was no link between the geographical origin of the isolates and the cold stress response of Pseudogymnoascus spp. However, one Antarctic isolate, sp3, showed a distinctive cold stress response profile involving increased flavin/riboflavin biosynthesis and methane metabolism. This Antarctic isolate (sp3) was also the only one that showed decreased phospholipid metabolism in cold stress conditions. This work will improve our understanding of the mechanisms of cold stress response and adaptation in psychrotolerant soil microfungi, with specific attention to the fungal genus Pseudogymnoascus.