Optimal concentration of mesenchymal stem cells for fracture healing in a rat model with long bone fracture

BACKGROUND There is still no consensus on which concentration of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)to use for promoting fracture healing in a rat model of long bone fracture.AIM To assess the optimal concentration of MSCs for promoting fracture healing in a rat model.METHODS Wistar rats were divided into four groups according to MSC concentrations:Normal saline(C),2.5×10^(6)(L),5.0×10^(6)(M),and 10.0×10^(6)(H)groups.The MSCs were injected directly into the fracture site.The rats were sacrificed at 2 and 6 wk post-fracture.New bone formation[bone volume(BV)and percentage BV(PBV)]was evaluated using micro-computed tomography(CT).Histological analysis was performed to evaluate fracture healing score.The protein expression of factors related to MSC migration[stromal cell-derived factor 1(SDF-1),transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF-β1)]and angiogenesis[vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)]was evaluated using western blot analysis.The expression of cytokines associated with osteogenesis[bone morphogenetic protein-2(BMP-2),TGF-β1 and VEGF]was evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction.RESULTS Micro-CT showed that BV and PBV was significantly increased in groups M and H compared to that in group C at 6 wk post-fracture(P=0.040,P=0.009;P=0.004,P=0.001,respectively).Significantly more cartilaginous tissue and immature bone were formed in groups M and H than in group C at 2 and 6 wk post-fracture(P=0.018,P=0.010;P=0.032,P=0.050,respectively).At 2 wk post fracture,SDF-1,TGF-β1 and VEGF expression were significantly higher in groups M and H than in group L(P=0.031,P=0.014;P<0.001,P<0.001;P=0.025,P<0.001,respectively).BMP-2 and VEGF expression were significantly higher in groups M and H than in group C at 6 wk postfracture(P=0.037,P=0.038;P=0.021,P=0.010).Compared to group L,TGF-β1 expression was significantly higher in groups H(P=0.016).There were no significant differences in expression levels of chemokines related to MSC migration,angiogenesis and cytokines associated with osteogenesis between M and H groups at 2 and 6 wk post-fracture.CONCLUSION The administration of at least 5.0×10^(6)MSCs was optimal to promote fracture healing in a rat model of long bone fractures.

Modeling of an Automatic Optimization System of Cyanide Concentration in Carbon in Leach for Optimal Ore Processing in a Mining Company

The optimization system, which was the subject of our study, is an autonomous chain for the automatic management of cyanide consumption. It is in the phase of industrial automation which made it possible to use the machines in order to reduce the workload of the worker while keeping a high productivity and a quality in great demand. Furthermore, the use of cyanide in leaching tanks is a necessity in the gold recovery process. This consumption of cyanide must be optimal in these tanks in order to have a good recovery while controlling the concentration of cyanide. Cyanide is one of the most expensive products for mining companies. On a completely different note, we see huge variations during the addition of cyanide. Following a recommendation from the metallurgical and operations teams, the control team carried out an analysis of the problem while proposing a solution to reduce the variability around plus or minus 10% of the addition setpoint through automation. It should be noted that this automatic optimization by monitoring the concentration of cyanide, made use of industrial automation which is a technique which ensures the operation of the ore processing chain without human intervention. In other words, it made it possible to substitute a machine for man. So, this leads us to conduct a study on concentration levels in the real world. The results show that the analysis of the modeling of the cyanide consumption optimization system is an appropriate solution to eradicate failures in the mineral processing chain. The trend curves demonstrate this resolution perfectly.

Soft Sensor for Ammonia Concentration at the Ammonia Converter Outlet Based on an Improved Group Search Optimization and BP Neural Network

The ammonia synthesis reactor is the core unit in the whole ammonia synthesis production. The ammonia concentration at the ammonia converter outlet is a significant process variable, which reflects directly the production efficiency. However, it is hard to be measured reliably online in real applications. In this paper, a soft sensor based on BP neural network (BPNN) is applied to estimate the ammonia concentration. A modified group search optimization with nearest neighborhood (GSO-NH) is proposed to optimize the weights and thresholds of BPNN. GSO-NH is integrated with BPNN to build a soft sensor model. Finally, the soft sensor model based on BPNN and GSO-NH (GSO-NH-NN) is used to infer the outlet ammonia concentration in a real-world application. Three other modeling methods are applied for comparison with GSO-NH-NN. The results show that the soft sensor based on GSO-NH-NN has a good prediction performance with high accuracy. Moreover, the GSO-NH-NN also provides good generalization ability to other modeling problems in ammonia synthesis production.

A biarc-based shape optimization approach to reduce stress concentration effects

In order to avoid stress concentration, the shape boundary must be properly designed via shape optimiza- tion. Traditional shape optimization approach eliminates the stress concentration effect by using free-form curve to present the design boundaries without taking the machin- ability into consideration. In most numerical control （NC） machines, linear as well as circular interpolations are used to generate the tool path. Non-circular curves, such as non- uniform rotational B-spline （NURBS）, need other more ad- vanced interpolation functions to formulate the tool path. Forming the circular tool path by approximating the opti- mal free curve boundary with arcs or biarcs is another op- tion. However, these two approaches are both at a cost of sharp expansion of program code and long machining time consequently. Motivated by the success of recent researches on biarcs, a reliable shape optimization approach is pro- posed in this work to directly optimize the shape boundaries with biarcs while the efficiency and precision of traditional method are preserved. Finally, the approach is validated by several illustrative examples.

Stress concentration coefficients of optimized cope-hole welded detail

The fatigue performance of optimized welded detail has been investigated by fatigue experiments of three welded specimens under different loadings.In addition,local finite element models of this welded detail were established using finite element software ANSYS.The influences of different factors such as plate thickness,plate gap and initial geometric imperfections on the stress concentration coefficient(SCC) were discussed.The experimental results indicate that the fatigue life of three specimens for this welded detail is 736,000,1,044,200 and 1,920,300 times,respectively.The web thickness,the filler plate thickness and the initial geometric imperfection have relatively less effect on the SCCs of this welded detail.However,cope-hole radius is influential on the SCCs of the web and the weld.The SCC of weld is significantly affected by the weld size and plate gap,but the SCCs of other parts of the welded detail are hardly affected by the plate gap.

Optimization of copper extraction for bioleaching of complex Cu-polymetallic concentrate by moderate thermophiles

Effects of initial pH, temperature, liquid volume, rotation speed, galvanic interaction （pyrite ratio） and pulp density on bioleaching of complex Cu-polymetallic concentrate were investigated. The results indicated that the copper extraction at pH 1.5 was 1.5 and 1.4 times that at pH 1.0 and pH 2.0 respectively. The copper extraction obtained at 45 ℃ was 1236.8%higher than that at 50 ℃. With the increase of rotation speed or the decrease of liquid volume, copper extraction was improved obviously. Copper extraction was improved gradually with the increase of pyrite ratio. However, when the ratio was higher than 20.0%, no further increase in copper extraction was observed. And the statistically significant interactive effects on copper extraction were found between temperature and pH, and temperature and pyrite ratio.

A Hybrid Neural Network Model for Marine Dissolved Oxygen Concentrations Time-Series Forecasting Based on Multi-Factor Analysis and a Multi-Model Ensemble

Dissolved oxygen(DO)is an important indicator of aquaculture,and its accurate forecasting can effectively improve the quality of aquatic products.In this paper,a new DO hybrid forecasting model is proposed that includes three stages:multi-factor analysis,adaptive decomposition,and an optimizationbased ensemble.First,considering the complex factors affecting DO,the grey relational(GR)degree method is used to screen out the environmental factors most closely related to DO.The consideration of multiple factors makes model fusion more effective.Second,the series of DO,water temperature,salinity,and oxygen saturation are decomposed adaptively into sub-series by means of the empirical wavelet transform(EWT)method.Then,five benchmark models are utilized to forecast the sub-series of EWT decomposition.The ensemble weights of these five sub-forecasting models are calculated by particle swarm optimization and gravitational search algorithm(PSOGSA).Finally,a multi-factor ensemble model for DO is obtained by weighted allocation.The performance of the proposed model is verified by timeseries data collected by the pacific islands ocean observing system(PacIOOS)from the WQB04 station at Hilo.The evaluation indicators involved in the experiment include the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency(NSE),Kling–Gupta efficiency(KGE),mean absolute percent error(MAPE),standard deviation of error(SDE),and coefficient of determination(R^(2)).Example analysis demonstrates that:①The proposed model can obtain excellent DO forecasting results;②the proposed model is superior to other comparison models;and③the forecasting model can be used to analyze the trend of DO and enable managers to make better management decisions.

Ice concentration assimilation in a regional ice-ocean coupled model and its application in sea ice forecasting

A reasonable initial state of ice concentration is essential for accurate short-term forecasts of sea ice using ice-ocean coupled models. In this study, sea ice concentration data are assimilated into an operational ice forecast system based on a com- bined optimal interpolation and nudging scheme. The scheme produces a modeled sea ice concentration at every time step, based on the difference between observational and forecast data and on the ratio of observational error to modeled error. The impact and the effectiveness of data assimilation are investigated. Significant improvements to predictions of sea ice extent were obtained through the assimilation of ice concentration, and minor improvements through the adjustment of the upper ocean properties. The assimilation of ice thickness data did not significantly improve predictions. Forecast experiments show that the forecast accuracy is higher in summer, and that the errors on five-day forecasts occur mainly around the marginal ice zone.

Design optimization of highly efficient spectrum-splitting and beam-concentrating diffractive optical element for lateral multijunction solar cells

Two improved algorithms are proposed to extend a diffractive optical element （DOE） to work under the broad spec- trum of sunlight. An optimum design has been found for the DOE, with a weighted average optical efficiency of about 6.8% better than that of the previous design. The optimization of designing high optical efficiency DOEs will pave the way for future designs of high-efficiency, low-cost lateral multijunction solar cells based on such a DOE.

Measurement of cytoplasmic Ca^(2+) concentration in Saccharomyces cerevisiae induced by air cold plasma

In this study, a novel approach to measure the absolute cytoplasmic Caconcentration([Ca]cyt) using the Caindicator fluo-3 AM was established. The parameters associated with the probe fluo-3 AM were optimized to accurately determine fluorescence intensity from the Ca-bound probe. Using three optimized parameters(final concentration of 6 m M probe,incubation time of 135 min, loading probe before plasma treatment), the maximum fluorescence intensity(F?=?527.8 a.u.) and the minimum fluorescence intensity(F?=?63.8 a.u.) were obtained in a saturated Casolution or a solution of lacking Ca. Correspondingly, the maximum [Ca]cytinduced by cold plasma was 1232.5 n M. Therefore, the Caindicator fluo-3 AM was successfully applied to measure the absolute [Ca]cytin Saccharomyces cerevisiae stimulated by cold plasma at atmospheric air pressure.

Long-term operation optimization of circulating cooling water systems under fouling conditions

Fouling caused by excess metal ions in hard water can negatively impact the performance of the circulating cooling water system(CCWS)by depositing ions on the heat exchanger's surface.Currently,the operation optimization of CCWS often prioritizes short-term flow velocity optimization for minimizing power consumption,without considering fouling.However,low flow velocity promotes fouling.Therefore,it's crucial to balance fouling and energy/water conservation for optimal CCWS long-term operation.This study proposes a mixed-integer nonlinear programming(MINLP)model to achieve this goal.The model considers fouling in the pipeline,dynamic concentration cycle,and variable frequency drive to optimize the synergy between heat transfer,pressure drop,and fouling.By optimizing the concentration cycle of the CCWS,water conservation and fouling control can be achieved.The model can obtain the optimal operating parameters for different operation intervals,including the number of pumps,frequency,and valve local resistance coefficient.Sensitivity experiments on cycle and environmental temperature reveal that as the cycle increases,the marginal benefits of energy/water conservation decrease.In periods with minimal impact on fouling rate,energy/water conservation can be achieved by increasing the cycle while maintaining a low fouling rate.Overall,the proposed model has significant energy/water saving effects and can comprehensively optimize the CCWS through its incorporation of fouling and cycle optimization.

A single diffractive optical element implementing spectrum-splitting and beam-concentration functions simultaneously with high diffraction efficiency

In this paper,a novel method is proposed and employed to design a single diffractive optical element（DOE） for implementing spectrum-splitting and beam-concentration（SSBC） functions simultaneously.We develop an optimization algorithm,through which the SSBC DOE can be optimized within an arbitrary thickness range according to the limitations of modern photolithography technology.Theoretical simulation results reveal that the designed SSBC DOE has a high optical focusing efficiency.It is expected that the designed SSBC DOE should have practical applications in high-efficiency solar cell systems.

Practice of High Concentration Sludge for Efficient Nutrient Removal from Municipal Sewage

ECOSUNIDE is a new activated sludge process based on the sludge concentration optimization theory.With it,we carried out a high sludge concentration by changing influent mode and distributing carbon source in a reasonable way,which can improve the ecological superiority of nitrification and denitrification for the growth of phosphorous accumulating organisms(PAOs)and nitrifiers and raised the nutrient removal efficiency of municipal sewage treatment plants.In 2007,we adopted this technique in Linyi Sewage Treatment Plant in Shandong Province,China.After the reconstruction,we achieved the high efficiency of nutrient removal with low investment under the dynamic load of the secondary sewage treatment plant.The effluent water qualities meet the classⅠ-A criteria specified in Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant(GB 18918-2002)and the rest effluent indexes meet the classⅠ-B criteria.Besides,we have above 20% operating cost cut by stopping the internal reflux without power charge increased and any new pool structures built.

Peak Shaving Strategy of Concentrating Solar Power Generation Based on Multi-Time-Scale and Considering Demand Response

According to the multi-time-scale characteristics of power generation and demand-side response(DR)resources,as well as the improvement of prediction accuracy along with the approaching operating point,a rolling peak shaving optimization model consisting of three different time scales has been proposed.The proposed peak shaving optimization model considers not only the generation resources of two different response speeds but also the two different DR resources and determines each unit combination,generation power,and demand response strategy on different time scales so as to participate in the peaking of the power system by taking full advantage of the fast response characteristics of the concentrating solar power(CSP).At the same time,in order to improve the accuracy of the scheduling results,the combination of the day-ahead peak shaving phase with scenario-based stochastic programming can further reduce the influence of wind power prediction errors on scheduling results.The testing results have shown that by optimizing the allocation of scheduling resources in each phase,it can effectively reduce the number of starts and stops of thermal power units and improve the economic efficiency of system operation.The spinning reserve capacity is reduced,and the effectiveness of the peak shaving strategy is verified.

Reagent optimization for on-line simultaneous polarographic determination of trace amounts of Cu^(2+), Cd^(2+) and Co^(2+) in the presence of anextremely large excess of Zn^(2+)

Reagents are optimized for the simultaneous determination of trace amounts of Cu^(2+), Cd^(2+) and Co^(2+) in zinc sulfate solution, which contains an extremely large excess of Zn^(2+). First, the reagents and their doses for the experiment are selected according to the characteristics of the zinc sulfate solution. Then, the reagent doses are optimized by analyzing the influence of reagent dose on the polarographic parameters(i.e. half-wave potential E_(1/2) and limiting diffusion current I_p). Finally, the optimization results are verified by simultaneously determining trace amounts of Cu^(2+), Cd^(2+) and Co^(2+) in the presence of an extremely large excess of Zn^(2+). The determination results indicate that the optimized reagents exhibit wide linearity, low detection limits, high accuracy and good precision for the simultaneous determination of trace amounts of Cu^(2+), Cd^(2+) and Co^(2+) in the presence of an extremely large excess of Zn^(2+).

Thermodynamic simulation of complex Pb-Bi concentrate oxidative bath smelting process

The element partitioning in a Pb-Bi concentrate oxygen-rich bath smelting process was studied using thermodynamic equilibrium simulation method. Effects of oxygen to feed ratio(OFR) and sulfur dioxide partial pressure(pSO2) on the partitionings of Bi, Pb, As, Sb, Cu and Ag were analyzed and compared with industrial data. The results suggested that the optimal OFR was between 6.3 and 6.8 kmol/t to maximize Bi, Pb, Cu and Ag partitioning in the metal phase. Further increase of OFR led to the drop of metal partitioning and increase of slag liquidus temperature. High pSO2 led to high deportment of Bi and Pb in the gas phase mainly in the form of sulfides, suggesting that a low pSO2 was conducive for reducing the dust ratio.

Optimization of SRAP-PCR Reaction System in Flax

Part of wild flax species and cultivated species were used as materials for optimizing SRAP-PCR reaction system, and concentration gradient test was made for all factors in order to select and establish the optimal program and system fitting for amplifying high diversity, good reproducible and clear bands. This program and system could well meet the requirement of flax SRAP and prove that SRAP marker was feasible for researching genetic polymorphism of flax.

The forward and inverse problem of cardiac magnetic fields based on concentric ellipsoid torso-heart model

This paper constructs a concentric ellipsoid torso-heart model by boundary element method and investigates the impacts of model structures on the cardiac magnetic fields generated by both equivalent primary source--a current dipole and volume currents. Then by using the simulated magnetic fields based on torso-heart model as input, the cardiac current sources--an array of current dipoles by optimal constrained linear inverse method are constructed. Next, the current dipole array reconstruction considering boundaries is compared with that in an unbounded homogeneous medium. Furthermore, the influence of random noise on reconstruction is also considered and the reconstructing effect is judged by several reconstructing parameters.

Analysis of minimum specific energy consumption and optimal transport concentration of slurry pipeline transport systems

Slurry pipeline transport is widely used in several industrial processes.Calculating the specific power consumption(SPC)and determining the best working conditions are important for the design and operation of transportation systems.Based on the Shanghai Jiao Tong University high-concentration multi-sized slurry pressure drop(SJTU-HMSPD)pipeline-resistance-calculation model,the SJTU-SPC model for calculating the power required to transport a unit volume of solid materials over a unit pipeline length is established for a slurry transport system.The said system demonstrates a uniformity coefficient in the 1.26–7.98 range,median particle size of 0.075–4 mm,particle volume concentration of 10–60%,and pipeline diameter of 0.203–0.8 m.The results obtained were successfully verified against existing experimental data.The influence of parameters,such as particle-gradation uniformity coefficient,median particle size,pipe diameter,and particle volume concentration,on the SPC were analysed.The results revealed that the greater is the uniformity coefficient,the smaller is the minimum specific energy consumption and the larger the optimal transport concentration for a constant,median particle size slurry.As observed,the optimal transport concentration for broad-graded sand equalled approximately 48%.These results supplement the conclusions of existing research,indicating that the optimal transport concentration is approximately 30%and provides theoretical support for high concentration transportation of broad graded slurry.

Optimization of RNA Secondary Structure Prediction with SHAPE(Selective 2'-hydroxyl Acylation Analyzed by Primer Extension)Chemistry

SHAPE （selective T-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension） chemistry has been widely used in the prediction of RNA secondary structure at single-nucleotide solution. This study was designed to determine the optimal concentrations of RNA and modifying reagent in SHAPE analysis to improve the accura- cy of structure prediction. The results showed that at the ratio of N-methylisatuic anhydride （NMIA） （μmol/L） to RNA （0μmol/L） of 13： 20, the resulting concen- tration of full-length RNA was the highest, and the sequencing signal was the strongest. So, this ratio is optimal for the analysis and prediction of RNA secondary structure in SHAPE chemistry.