Thermal Properties of Shape-Stabilized Phase Change Materials Based on Porous Supports for Thermal Energy Storage

The use of phase change materials (PCM) for thermal energy storage (TES) is of great relevance, especially for the exploitation, in various ways, of the major ecological resource offered by solar energy. Unfortunately, the transition to the liquid state of PCM requires complex systems and limits their application. The goal of producing shape-stabilized phase change materials (SSPCM) is mainly pursued with the use of media capable of containing PCM during solid/liquid cycles. In this work, four cheap shape stabilizers were considered: sepiolite, diatomite, palygorskite and zeolite and two molten salts as PCM, for medium (MT) and high temperature (HT). The SSPCM, produced with an energy saving method, showed good stability and thermal storage performances. Diatomite reaches up to 400% wt. of encapsulated PCM, with a shape stabilization coefficient (SSc) of 97.7%. Zeolite exhibits a SSc of 87.3% with 348% wt. of HT-PCM. Sepiolite contains 330% wt. of MT-PCM with an SSc of 82.7. Therefore, these materials show characteristics such that they can be efficiently used in thermal energy storage systems, both individually and inserted in a suitable matrix (for example a cementitious matrix).

Codon stabilization coefficient as an index for prediction of codon bias and its potential applications

SummaryDifferent methods of mRNA half-life measurements are available, but genome-wide measurements of mRNA half-life in yeast showed a weak correlation between the methods. Moreover, when we compared mRNA half-life determined by these methods with other cellular measurements such as mRNA and protein abundance low correlation was found. To clarify this matter, we analyzed mRNA half-life datasets from nine different groups to determine the most accurate method of measurement. Since codon optimality is one of the significant determinants of mRNA stability, we used the codon stabilization coefficient (CSC) as a reference for mRNA half-life measurement accuracy. After CSC calculation for each dataset, we find strong positive correlations between the CSC from some datasets with other parameters that reflect codon optimality such as tRNA abundance and ribosome residence time. By the use of CSC parameter, we observed that most genes contain non-optimal codons and that codon bias exists toward optimized and non-optimized genes. We also observed that stretches of non-optimal are not randomly distributed since it causes impacts on translation.

Emulational Analysis of Concrete Pouring in Steel-Pipe Arch Rib of Fei Shuiya Bridge

Fei Shuiya Bridge is a half-through steel-pipe concrete arch bridge with uniform catenary. Based on sufficiently considering the principle of symmetrically loading rib concrete, the pouring process of concrete is calculated through MIDAS/Civil 6.71. Structural distortion, bearing-force characteristics and stabilization coefficient of each phase are given. Structural security is discussed too. Conclusions have a certain reference value for the same bridge in pouring the rib concrete.