Performance Enhancement of Induced Draft Counter Flow Wet Cooling Tower with Different Types of Modified Shaped Fill Assembly

This paper presents an experimental analysis of heat transfer using different shaped fills in a counter flow induced draft cooling tower. The main objective is to determine and compare the characteristics of the cooling tower using newly shaped (splash and film) fills and the regular used fills. The newly shaped fills are inverted U-shape cross-sectional splash fill and film fill with ripple plates. The obtained results show that the performance is affected by the type and arrangement of the fills. The modified splash fill has increased the wetted surface area of fill within the same volume compared to regular fills. The film fill with ripple plates has been used such that water from the distribution device ran down on both surfaces of each ripple plate. By the arrangement of ripple plates, cooling loss by premature dropping off of water has been avoided. Performance factors like range, approach, effectiveness, cooling capacity, evaporation loss, percent loss are calculated from collected data for newly shaped fills, and regular shaped fills. It is observed that range, effectiveness, and cooling capacity increases with both newly shaped fills. When ripple plated film fill is used; range, effectiveness, and cooling capacity is found highest among the different shape of fills used in this study. At the same time evaporation loss and percent loss are found lowest for inverted-U shaped splash fill.

A novel approach for fast prediction of hydraulic vulnerability in conifers

<p>Global warming calls for fast and easily applicable methods to measure hydraulic vulnerability in conifers since they are one of the most sensitive plant groups regarding drought stress. Classical methods to determine P<sub>50</sub>, i.e. the water potential resulting in 50% conductivity loss, are labor intensive and prone to errors. In this study, the empirical relationship between percent loss of hydraulic conductivity and relative water loss in sapwood of six conifer species was used to establish a novel proxy for P<sub>50</sub>. Our new proxy P<sub>25W</sub>, defined as 25% of relative water loss induced by air injection, is easy and fast to measure and correlates strongly with P<sub>50</sub> (r = 0.95) as well as with functional wood traits such as the tracheid wall/lumen ratio (r = -0.87). The method is regarded as a strong new phenotyping tool for screening trees for drought sensitivity.</p>

STUDY OF CHICKPEA VARIETIES AGAINST PULSE BEETLE (CALLOSOBRUCHUS CHINENSIS) IN STORAGE

Maximum fecundity was found on genotype RVSSG-38. The adult emergence on different genotypes ranged from 7.0 to 18.0. Genotype RVSSG-44 recorded maximum percent loss in seed weight. Genotype RVSSG-43 had minimum percentage of seed infestation. Susceptibility index of pulse beetle on different genotypes of chickpea showed that there were no significant differences among different genotypes. Infestation percentage positively and significantly associated with protein content in fresh seed and infested seed. Seed size and seed shape of the genotypes did not influence the fecundity, adult emergence, total development period and susceptibility index of pulse beetle.

Evaluation of Local Weed Flora of South Gujarat for Dry Flower Products

An investigation was carried out to explore and evaluate the weed flora to obtain dried ornamentals for making of dry flower products. Nine species of weeds viz., Dinebra arabica, Argyreia speciosa, Setaria verticillata, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Cyperus rotundus, Celosia argentea, Digitaria sanguinalis, Echinochloa colonum and Eragrostis pilosa growing locally in the south Gujarat region were evaluated for the study. Either inflorescence or leaves of the weeds employing press drying method were evaluated for their dried ornamental value in the year 2015-2017. Among different weeds, maximum percent loss in weight after drying was observed in the leaves of Argyreia speciosa followed by the inflorescence of Echinochloa colonum after drying. No shattering was observed in the dried leaves of Argyreia speciosa and dried inflorescence of Celosia argentea and Cyperus rotundus while maximum shattering in the inflorescence was observed in the dried inflorescence of Echinochloa colonum. Maximum time taken for drying (5.87-6.1 days) was required in Argyreia speciosa (leaves) followed by inflorescence of Celosia argentea (4.3- 4.41 days) and Setaria verticillata (4.3-4.37 days) in both the years and pooled data. Maximum shelf life after drying (more than 170 days) was observed in the dried leaves of Argyreia speciosa which was at par with dried inflorescence of Celosia argentea. Ornamental value was found to be the best in the dried leaves of Argyreia speciosa and dried inflorescence of Celosia argentea and Setaria verticillata with highest visual score of (5), followed by Echinochloa colonum and Eragrostis pilosa with 4 as visual score as observed in both the years.

Employment, Motherhood and Wellbeing: A Discourse on the Trio within Public Organisations in Southwest Nigeria

African women in public service experience some issues in their bid to juggle between their jobs and parenting; however, not much is available within the literature to explain these dynamics. This study seeks to document this by understanding their experiences, the coping strategies adopted and the implications on the respondents’ wellbeing and that of their children. For quantitative data, a total number of one hundred and sixty questionnaires were purposively administered to mothers with infants working within the selected organizations and complemented with twenty in-depth interview schedules. Findings: a majority (40.0 percent) of the respondents were aged 31-40 years. About 73.0 percent claimed their challenges include how to combine paid employment with motherhood while 26 .9 percent attributed it to finance. Respondents mentioned that their children experience diarrhoea and malaria (22.2 percent), loss of appetite and weakness (23.1 percent) while they are away to work. On the part of the mothers, 62.3 percent claimed that their major challenges are stress and in ability to focus on their work. Respondents further argued that child spacing (7.5 percent) and support from husband (17.5 percent) are part of their coping mechanisms. Working mothers need a more conducive atmosphere for career development and parenting.

fitplc - an R package to fit hydraulic vulnerability curves

We describe a toolkit to fit hydraulic vulnerability curves, such as the percent loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity ('PLC curves') as a function of the water potential. The toolkit is implemented as an R package, and is thus free to use and open source. The package fits the Weibull or sigmoidal function to measurements of PLC, conductance or conductivity, at corresponding leaf or stem water potentials. From the fitted curve, estimates of Px (the water potential at which x% conductivity is lost, e.g. the P50), and slope parameter (Sx) are provided together with confidence intervals (CI) around the fitted line. The CIs are estimated with the bootstrap. We also demonstrate the advantages of using mixed-effects models in situations where multiple individuals are measured on a species, as compared to the more traditional approach of fitting curves separately and averaging the parameters. We demonstrate the use of the new package with example data on seven species measured with two different techniques.

Mechanical Compromise of Partially Lacerated Flexor Tendons

Tendons function to transmit loads from muscle to move and stabilize joints and absorb impacts. Functionality of lacerated tendons is diminished, however clinical practice often considers surgical repair only after 50% or more of the tendon is lacerated, the “50% rule.” Few studies provide mechanical insight into the 50% rule. In this study cyclic and static stress relaxation tests were performed on porcine flexor tendons before and after a 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, or 2.75 mm deep transverse, midsubstance laceration. Elastic and viscoelastic properties, such as maximum stress, change in stress throughout each test, and stiffness, were measured and compared pre- and post-laceration. Nominal stress and stiffness parameters decreased, albeit disproportionately in magnitude, with increasing percent loss of cross-sectional area. Conversely, mean stress at the residual area (determined using remaining intact area at the laceration cross section) exhibited a marked increase in stress concentration beginning at 47.2% laceration using both specified load and constant strain analyses. The marked increase in stress concentration beginning near 50% laceration provides mechanical insight into the 50% rule. Additionally, a drastic decrease in viscoelastic stress parameters after only an 8.2% laceration suggests that time-dependent mechanisms protecting tissues during impact loadings are highly compromised regardless of laceration size.

Media Clips: NFL Players' Life Expectancy; Transit of Venus

Students analyze items from the media to answer related mathematical questions. The mathematics involved in this month's clips includes percent loss and gain, proportional reasoning, and the application of Kepler's laws, which involve exponential equations and regression.

CD20, CD22, CD23, but Not CD37 Expression on CD19+ B-Cells Is Altered by Exogenous Factors in a Sub-Population of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL/SLL) Patients,

Abstract 3685 Introduction: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL/SLL) is a lymphoproliferative disorder that is characterized by the slow accumulation of malignant B cells. Patients follow heterogeneous clinical courses. The effectiveness of Rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb), is limited because target B cells from CLL patients express low levels of CD20. We previously reported that human serum suppresses CD20 expression ex vivo. Therefore, understanding mechanisms of low expression of CD20 as well as other target surface receptors would benefit CLL patients. New therapies such as epratuzumab (anti-CD22 mAb), lumiliximab (anti-CD23 mAb), and TRU-016 (anti-CD37 SMIP protein) are being investigated as alternative means to treat CLL. We therefore investigated CD20, CD22, CD23, and CD37 expression during ex vivo culture of CLL B cells from thirteen patients with and without human serum albumin (HSA), normal donor serum (NS), autologous CLL serum (CS), fetal bovine serum (FBS), IL2, IL4, IL13, IL15, IL21, TNFα, IFNα, IFNγ, G-CSF, or GM-CSF. Methods: Peripheral blood (PB) from thirteen CLL patients and five healthy normal donors was obtained with IRB approval. Nine CLL patients were Rai 0/1, one Rai 4, and three unknown. Prognosis, as determined by cytogenetics and/or FISH, was: four good, three intermediate, one poor, and five unknown. Beta-2 Microglobulin (B2M) ranged from 1.4–7.1 mg/L. CD19+ cells, isolated by positive magnetic selection, were cultured in AIM-V serum-free media at 37°C, 5% CO2, 100% humidity for 0, 24, 48, and 96 hours. Cells were either untreated, treated with 5% serum, or 5ng/mL cytokine. Receptor expression was measured by multivariate flow cytometry and calculated as percent loss or increase in response to treatment. Data was presented as mean ± SEM and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test as compared to HSA treatment. Results: Prior to culture, CD19+ CLL cells had 11.7±1.7% CD20, 40.3±7.9% CD22, 60.6±6.8% CD23, and 81.6±2.7% CD37 positive expression (N=13). Analysis of untreated CLL cells cultured for 96 hours showed that the CLL patients subdivided into two groups based on changes in CD20 expression: variable (72.5±7.4% CD20+, N=9) and stable (27.2±4.2% CD20+, N=4). Within the variable group, losses in CD20 expression resulted from treatment as compared to HSA were: NS (40.2±3.6%, p<0.05), CS (43.6±8.8%, p<0.05), FBS (37.2±5.0%, p=0.064), IL2 (11.5±5.1%, p=0.860), IL4 (33.3±8.9%, p=0.185), and IL13 (24.2±9.1%, p=0.596). The percent loss in CD20 expression due to IL4 was significantly greater than IL2 (p<0.05). Percent losses in CD22 expression were: NS (62.4±9.4%, p<0.05), CS (63.2±8.1%, p<0.05), and FBS (66.6±6.8%, p<0.05). No loss in CD37 expression was significant. Percent increases in CD23 expression were: IL4 (253.7±79.4%, p=0.930) and IL13 (86.7±77.9%, p=0.377). Within the stable group after treatment, percent losses in CD22 were: IL2 (40.0±10.1%, p=1.000) and IL4 (29.1±6.5%, p=0.114). Percent increase in CD37 expression was: FBS (53.3±18.3%, p<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings show that cells from CLL patients form groups based on the ability of cells to maintain low CD20 expression after serum-free culture for 96 hours: variable and stable. Only CLL cells within the variable group have a high upregulation of CD20. These patient samples respond to serum through a reduction of CD20. In addition, suppression of CD20 expression due to IL4 or IL13 treatment was similar to that of serum. Both IL4 and IL13 share a common receptor that signals through the JAK/STAT pathway, suggesting downstream signals may be responsible for suppression of CD20 expression in CLL. Similarly, CLL patients belonging to the variable group also have reduced expression of CD22 in response to serum. Loss of CD23 expression in CLL cells cultured over time, in the absence of IL4 or IL13 treatment, may be predictive of poor clinical outcomes in patients treated with the anti-CD23 monoclonal antibody. CD20, CD22, and CD23 are susceptible to environmental cues, whereas expression of CD37 remained high throughout culture and independent of treatment. As a result, we predict CD37 to be a good target for treating CLL due to its stability. Ongoing clinical trials with TRU-016 or other agents that specifically target CD37 may therefore be of potential therapeutic benefit. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.