Instant Energy Research Articles

The unexpected truth about dates and hypoglycemia.

Background:Dates are a concentrated source of essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates (CHOs), which are necessary for the maintenance of optimum health. Most of the CHOs in dates come from sugars including glucose and fructose. Dates are commonly consumed in Saudi Arabia, particularly at the time of breaking the fast to provide instant energy and maintain blood sugar level. However, dates may cause hypoglycemia in a rare condition named as heredity fructose intolerance (HFI), and a few families have been to see us with a history of that nature. This is to report the preliminary results of an on-going study of a group of patients who get symptoms of hypoglycemia following the ingestion of dates and have suffered for years without an accurate diagnosis.Methodology:This report is based on three patients, from the same family, living in a date growing region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The patients had been to several medical centers without getting any definite answers or diagnosis until they were referred to the Gastroenterology Clinic of King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, KSA. The data were obtained by careful history and laboratory investigations, and a final diagnosis of HFI made on fructose intolerance test (FIT).Results:The patients reported that they had avoided eating dates because of various symptoms, such as bloating, nausea, and even hypoglycemia when larger amounts were consumed. Their other symptoms included sleepiness, sweating, and shivering. After full examinations and necessary laboratory tests based on the above symptoms, FIT was performed and the patients were diagnosed with HFI. They were referred to a dietitian who advised a fructose-free diet. They felt well and were free of symptoms.Conclusion:HFI may remain undiagnosed until adulthood and may lead to disastrous complications and even death. The diagnosis can only be suspected after a careful dietary history is taken supported by FIT. This can prevent serious complications. Restricting dietary fructose may give relief from symptoms in a high proportion of patients with this disorder.

Burst of red light turbocharges cells

Shining red light on skin or cells in a dish gives an instant energy boost that could help heal wounds, relieve pain and combat medical conditions such as male infertility. The healing effect was first reported 40 years ago, but the way it works was a mystery. Now it seems that the red light alters the physical properties of water, which turbocharges the chemical reactions that provoke a cell's energy, according to work led by Andrei Sommer of the University of Ulm in Germany.

Stability of the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell–Boltzmann system for short range interaction

The Cauchy problem of the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell–Boltzmann system for short range interaction is investigated. For perturbative initial data with suitable regularity and integrability, we prove the large time stability of solutions to the relativistic Vlasov–Maxwell–Boltzmann system, and also obtain as a byproduct the convergence rates of solutions. For the proof, a new interactive instant energy functional is introduced to capture the the macroscopic dissipation and the very weak electro-magnetic dissipation of the linearized system. A refined time–velocity weighted energy method is also applied to compensate the weaker dissipation of the linearized collision operator in the case of non-hard potential models. The results also extend the case of “hard ball” model considered by Guo and Strain (2012) to the short range interactions.

Formulation of Zinc Rich Coconut Nutribar Designed for Athletes

The main dietary goal for athletes is to obtain competent nutrition to improve health, fitness and sports performance. Athletes require nutritious convenient foods like nutribars to provide instant energy and other nutrients. Zinc supplementation has been shown to increase anabolic hormone status to meet catabolic activity in athletes which is profound during training. In the current study nutribar was formulated using zinc rich food sources namely dehydrated coconut meat, cashewnuts, pumpkin seeds and cocoa. Two variations of the nutribar were prepared variation I using dark chocolate and variation II with milk chocolate. The samples were subjected to organoleptic evaluation using a 9 point Hedonic scale by semi trained panel members. The nutribars were also analyzed for selected nutrients using standardized procedures. The mean score obtained for over all acceptability was 8.0±0.632, 8.7±0.458 and 8.5±0.5 by the control, variations I and II respectively. Variations I and II had obtained a mean score of more than 8.0 for flavour and taste, while the control sample had obtained lesser scores. The zinc content of variations I and II was 7.38 mg & 5.2 mg being greater than the control.

Prediction-based energy policy for mobile virtual desktop infrastructure in a cloud environment

Using cloud services from mobile devices has become a growing trend because of its mobility and convenience. However, mobile devices join and leave cloud services more frequently than traditional computers, which causes energy inefficiency in a cloud data center. Waste, in the form of energy and cooling requirements, particularly occurs when a mobile device disconnects from a service, but the cloud servers, known as virtual machines (VMs), continue running. The VMs should transition to lower-power states instead remaining active. However, transition to a lower-power state causes a service delay when users reconnect to the service because VMs in a lower-power state are not ready to serve. Therefore, an efficient energy policy must not only maximize energy savings but also minimize service delays. In this paper, we propose two approaches to energy efficiency: an Instant Energy Policy (IEP) that can quickly find an appropriate low-power state based on a predicted disconnection time and a Prediction-based Energy Policy (PrEP) that determines when to transition VMs to a low-power state and when to return them to the active state based on each users activity history. IEP predicts the unknown disconnection time using the multisize sliding windows workload estimation technique, which supports a non-stationary environment. This method can quickly obtain an energy policy, but it is limited when disconnection time fluctuates widely. PrEP presents an improved approach to achieve an optimal global result with respect to both energy consumption and service delay. Through simulations with a real-world dataset collected by the MIT Human Dynamics Lab, we show that PrEP provides approximately 20% power saving over the benchmark policies while guaranteeing minimal service delay.

Peculiarities of the single and repetitive pulse threshold pump power for stimulated Brillouin scattering in long optical fibres

It is shown that in the undepleted pulsed pump regime of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) the duration of a Stokes pulse in long optical fibres increases by the doubled time of flight for a pump pulse through a fibre. A consequence of this is up to three times difference between the SBS threshold power in a single pump pulse regime when the instant power or energy of the scattered radiation is measured. A distinguishing peculiarity of a repetitive pump pulse regime is a stepwise reduction of the threshold power with the decrease of an interpulse interval when the interval equals the doubled time of flight for a pump pulse through a fibre.

A physical model of sea wave period from altimeter data

AbstractA physical model for sea wave period from altimeter data is presented. Physical roots of the model are in recent advances of the theory of weak turbulence of wind‐driven waves that predicts the link of instant wave energy to instant energy flux to/from waves. The model operates with wave height and its spatial derivative and does not refer to normalized radar cross‐section σ0 measured by the altimeter. Thus, the resulting formula for wave period does not contain any empirical parameters and does not require features of particular satellite altimeter or any calibration for specific region of measurements. A single case study illustrates consistency of the new approach with previously proposed empirical models in terms of estimates of wave periods and their statistical distributions. The paper brings attention to the possible corruption of dynamical parameters such as wave steepness or energy fluxes to/from waves when using the empirical approaches. Applications of the new model to the studies of sea wave dynamics are discussed.

Optimal large-time decay of the relativistic Landau–Maxwell system

The Cauchy problem of the relativistic Landau–Maxwell system in R3 is investigated. For perturbative initial data with suitable regularity and integrability, we obtain the optimal large-time decay rates of the relativistic Landau–Maxwell system. For the proof, a new interactive instant energy functional is introduced to capture the macroscopic dissipation and the very weak electromagnetic dissipation of the linearized system. The iterative method is applied to handle the time-decay rates of the full instant energy functional because of the regularity-loss property of the electromagnetic field.

Distribution patterns of polyphenols and alkaloids in instant coffee, soft and energy drinks, and tea

A previously developed method of HPLC-DAD-Fl has been used for the determination of phytochemical profiles in different types of drinks: instant coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, and different types of tea (green, white, black, and red tea). Using data on the concentrations of 20 main phytochemicals (phenolic acids, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, flavones, and alkaloids) it was possible to identify most of the sample types. Chlorogenic and caffeic acids, and caffeine are the main target compounds in instant coffee; in soft and energy drinks, only caffeine was found. Tea has a more complex phytochemical composition. Unfermented tea is mainly composed of flavan-3-ols and alkaloids, with a high caffeine concentration. Black tea is composed of alkaloids and low levels of flavan-3-ols, which are affected by oxidative reactions during the fermentation. Flavonols are present in lower concentrations in all kinds of teas. The identified phytochemical distribution patterns were used to correctly differentiate instant coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, unfermented tea and fermented tea (within fermented tea, black tea from red tea can also be differentiated).

Integration of Photovoltaic Cells in Solar Drying Systems

Photovoltaic (PV) cells have not been sufficiently used in drying processes in the past, particularly for solar drying, due to their high price and low efficiency. This is now changing due to the important scientific and technological recent developments in the PV field. An increase in the number of published scientific works related to the integration of PV cells is clearly visible. It is revealed that PV cells are integrated in drying systems for two essential reasons. The first relates to their use as a part of the solar collector (generally solar air collector), which permits an improvement of their low efficiency. As a result, and in most of the studied cases, the total solar collector efficiency has reached 70%. The second reason relates to the recycling of the electrical energy consumed by other drying system components such as fans. The recycled electrical energy was directly used for instant energy consumption or stored in batteries. The main application of PV cells is their use in direct- and indirect-type forced convection dryers, generally for food and herb drying. In a study case, an economic analysis has shown that payback is dependent on the ratio of the PV cell surface to the total solar collector surface, with the possibility of an optimum payback in less than one year. In another study case, an additional heat pump significantly improved the performance of the photovoltaic–thermal (PV/T) solar dryer, reaching an efficiency of 70%. A proper design of solar drying plays an important role in attaining optimum results. In this case, particular care is given to the design of solar dryers with a detailed presentation of the influence of the different parameters such as the surface of the PV cell, geographical location, and materials used. For most of the presented systems, efficiency is calculated after application of the heat and mass balance for each solar dryer compound.

Performance of a solar still integrated with evacuated tube collector in natural mode

This paper presents the thermal analysis of a solar still integrated with evacuated tube collector in natural mode. Performance has been predicted theoretically in terms of water and inner glass cover temperatures, yield, energy and exergy efficiencies during typical summer day of New Delhi (India). The variation of instant overall energy and exergy efficiencies has been found to be in the range of 5.1–54.4% and 0.15–8.25% respectively during the sunshine hours for 0.03m water depth, which decreases with increase in depth. Further, the system has been optimized for the number of evacuated tubes integrated and water depth in basin for nearly the same maximum water temperature attainable (≈94°C) in each combination. The best combination among has been found by integration of 10 evacuated tubes with water depth of 0.03m (total 52.5kg water mass) in the basin. The respective daily energy and exergy efficiencies have been obtained as 33.0% and 2.5% and maximum among with daily yield of 3.8kg/m2.

Hypertension in a young boy: an energy drink effect

BackgroundUse of energy drinks has significantly increased in recent times. Besides athletes, teenagers and students are among the most common consumers. However, popularity is also increasing among the younger and older age groups. Most of the users believe that they are a good source of instant energy and are unaware of its high Caffeine content resulting in harmful effects on health.Case presentationWe report the case of a young boy who presented with palpitations and high blood pressure as a result of energy drinks usage. He had been consuming a “Sting” energy drink on regular basis while studying for long hours during his O’ level Exams. His medical examination revealed Sinus tachycardia and high blood pressure. Rest of the examination and lab workup was within normal limits. His pulse and blood pressure returned to normal range after discontinuing Sting usage.ConclusionSeveral studies have reported numerous health hazards including cardiac effects associated with energy drinks. Warning labeling should be done on these drinks regulating the content of Caffeine and its harmful effects on health.

Electrochemical treatment of wastewater containing chlorophenols using boron-doped diamond film electrodes

The electrochemical treatment of wastewater containing chlorophenols (2-monochlorophenol, 4-monochlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol) was carried out experimentally with synthetic boron-doped diamond (BDD) thin film electrodes. Current vs time curves under different cell voltages were measured. Removal rate of COD, instant current efficiency (ICE) and energy consumption were investigated under different current densities. The influence of supporting media is reported, which plays an important role in determining the global oxidation rate. The oxidative chloride is stronger than peroxodisulphate. The electrochemical characteristics of boron-doped diamond electrodes were investigated in comparison with active coating Ti substrate anode (ACT). The experimental results show that BDD is markedly superior to ACT due to its different absorption properties.

Effect of physical properties of polymer on ion implantation

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) of polymer materials is inherently difficult because the voltage across the sheath is reduced by the voltage drop across the insulator due to dielectric capacitance and charge accumulating on the insulator surface. The spatiotemporal evolutions of plasma sheath, energy and dose of ions are simulated by particle-in-cell (PIC) model for ion implantation into insulator materials. Statistical results can be achieved through scouting each ion motion in the plasma sheath. Based on the PIC model, the secondary electron emission (SEE) coefficient is determined according to the instant energy of implanting ions. Effects of thickness, dielectric constant and SEE coefficient on sheath evolution, dose and energy of incident ions are studied. The ion implantation doses and the share of high-energy incident ions are basically equivalent to the case of implantation of conductor ions, when the polymer thickness is less than 200 m, relative dielectric constant is more than 7, and SEE coefficient is less than 0.5. The numerical simulation of ion implantation into polymer can effectively provide a scientific and experimental basis for PIII of insulators and semiconductors.

The study on adaptability and effect of mesh-inducing for plasma immersion ion implantation on non-conductor polymer

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) of non-conductor polymer materials is inherently difficult because the voltage across the sheath is reduced by the voltage drop across the insulator due to dielectric capacitance and charge accumulation on the insulator surface. Based on the particle-in-cell (PIC) model, the secondary electron emission (SEE) coefficient is related to the instant energy of implanting ions. Statistical results can be obtained through scouting each ion in the plasma sheath. The evolution of surface potential is simulated for ion implantation on insulator materials. The effects of thickness, dielectric constant and SEE coefficient on the surface bias potential and the effect of mesh-inducing are studied. For thicker non-conductor polymer, it is difficult to achieve omni-directional implantation by self-bias. The mesh-assisted PIII can improve the equivalent surface potential, suppress the emission of secondary electrons and provide an effective way for ion implantation on insulator.

Electrochemical Treatment of Wastewater Containing Chlorophenols Using Boron-Doped Diamond Film Electrodes

The electrochemical treatment of wastewater containing 2, 4, 6-trichlorophenol has been carried out experimentally with synthetic boron-doped diamond (BDD) thin film electrodes. Removal rate of COD, instant current efficiency (ICE) and energy consumption were investigated under different current density. The influence of supporting media is reported, which plays an important role in determining the global oxidation rate. The oxidative chloride is stronger than peroxodisulphate. The electrochemical characteristics of boron-doped diamond electrodes were investigated in comparison with active coating Ti substrate anode (ACT). The experimental results show that BDD is markedly superior to ACT due to its different absorption properties.

Nutritional and physiological role of medium-chain triglycerides and medium-chain fatty acids in piglets

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are found at higher levels in milk lipids of many animal species and in the oil fraction of several plants, including coconuts, palm kernels and certain Cuphea species. Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) and fatty acids are efficiently absorbed and metabolized and are therefore used for piglet nutrition. They may provide instant energy and also have physiological benefits beyond their energetic value contributing to several findings of improved performance in piglet-feeding trials. MCTs are effectively hydrolyzed by gastric and pancreatic lipases in the newborn and suckling young, allowing rapid provision of energy for both enterocytes and intermediary hepatic metabolism. MCFAs affect the composition of the intestinal microbiota and have inhibitory effects on bacterial concentrations in the digesta, mainly on Salmonella and coliforms. However, most studies have been performed in vitro up to now and in vivo data in pigs are still scarce. Effects on the gut-associated and general immune function have been described in several animal species, but they have been less studied in pigs. The addition of up to 8% of a non-esterified MCFA mixture in feed has been described, but due to the sensory properties this can have a negative impact on feed intake. This may be overcome by using MCTs, allowing dietary inclusion rates up to 15%. Feeding sows with diets containing 15% MCTs resulted in a lower mortality of newborns and better development, particularly of underweight piglets. In conclusion, MCFAs and MCTs offer advantages for the improvement of energy supply and performance of piglets and may stabilize the intestinal microbiota, expanding the spectrum of feed additives supporting piglet health in the post-weaning period.

Review of the book "Essentials of Tibetan traditional medicine" by Thinley Gyatso & Chris Hakim

The Essentials of Tibetan Traditional Medicine by Thinley Gyasto and Chris Hakim is a good attempt to represent Tibetan Ancient Medical knowledge in a very simplified manner. This can be understood by any Herbalist or a lay person alike as it is so simple. I have a chance to stay in Dharamshala in 1960's, then in the province of Punjab, now is part of Himachal Pradesh, another state of India. The Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute for Tibetan Medicine is at the height of 8000 feet in Himalayas, which is akin to Tibetan environment. Thus, developing and using Tibetan medicine in its natural surrounding is a time honoured thought for Traditional Medical system. The book is a mini Ayurveda (The Science of Life). The three disorders of Vata (wind), Kaph (phlegm) and Pitta (bile) are the main seat for description, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. While such exact translation of these disorders have been discussed and analyzed in different ways now in Ayurveda, the Tibetans maintain the same meaning as can be translated in English. The vitiated Vata (wind), Kaph (phlegm) and Pitta (bile) produce according to their disturbances, which effect various vital organs of the human body causing related diseases. As one can understand the meaning of existence, style of living and medicines in a place are commensurate with environmental conditions. The heights of Tibetan plateau in Himalayas, the snow and cold weather with low oxygen and increased ultraviolet exposures allow one to need more energy for better survival, thus, sugarcane juice, sugar products and honey are essential for providing instant energy to human body. Various meat products (high proteins) are needed to sustain heat energy for muscular function. The book describes treatments conforming to the needs of people of Tibet. The spices like coriander, pepper, cardamom etc. along with mineral pitch are good for digesting meat proteins and help energy needs. Thus, the book provides, the needed formudlations, combinations of Indian and Chinese herbs and meat products which will suit Tibetan people and can be helpful in cold climate countries also, where oxygen levels are low due to environmental pollution and there is increase in ultraviolet rays of sun because of ozone depletion (ozone holes) causing many ill effects on health specially skin cancers. During my visit to the cold Indo-Tibetan high mountains with low oxygen levels and 9 times more ultraviolet ray's exposures, making skin to peel often, I found Jaggery (crude sugar) use was the most energy provider along with some local wines used by Tibetans. I recommend this book for general readers and medical professionals, who are interested in the value of complementary medicine (amchis of Tibetan) for human health and diseases.

Estimation of Explosion Energy Yield at Chernobyl NPP Accident

The value of the 133Xe/133mXe isometric activity ratio for the stationary regime of reactor work is about 35, and that for an instant fission (explosion) is about 11, which allowed estimation of the nuclear component of the instant (explosion) energy release during the NPP accident. Atmospheric xenon samples were taken at the trajectory of accident product transfers (in the Cherepovetz area); these samples were measured by a gamma spectrometer, and the 133Xe/133mXe ratio was determined as an average value of 22.4. For estimations a mathematic model was elaborated considering both the value of instant released energy and the schedule of reactor power change before the accident, as well as different fractionation conditions on the isobaric chain. Comparison of estimated results with the experimental data showed the value of the instant specific energy release in the Chernobyl NPP accident to be 2·105–2·106 J/Wt or 6·1014–6·1015 J (100–1,000 kt). This result is matched up to a total reactor power of 3,200 MWt. However this estimate is not comparable with the actual explosion scale estimated as 10t TNT. This suggests a local character of the instant nuclear energy release and makes it possible to estimate the mass of fuel involved in this explosion process to be from 0.01 to 0.1% of total quantity.

State of charge estimation using an unscented filter for high power lithium ion cells

High power lithium ion batteries are increasingly used in power tools, hybrid electric vehicles and military applications, as a transient power source capable of delivering instant energy, around a relatively fixed state of charge (SOC). Maintaining the battery within pre-specified limits for SOC is important, since lithium ion batteries are prone to safety and/or performance issues during overcharge or rapid discharge below the cut-off voltages. With an increase in the number of cells used in the battery, SOC has a crucial role in cell balancing and optimization of the pack performance. Several techniques have been proposed for the SOC estimation. Most of the existing literature supports an empirical model based on either an electric circuit, arbitrary pole placement or an analytical expression with an arbitrary set of parameters. In spite of their simplicity, the empirical battery models do not provide information on the physical cell limitations. Alternatively, a rigorous electrochemical cell model, aimed at incorporating transport, kinetic and thermodynamic limitations, can be used to estimate parameters that hold a physical significance and hence provide an accurate measure of the cell performance. However, the demand for onboard estimation devices requires estimation techniques that are computationally efficient. In this work, estimation of the SOC of a lithium ion cell using an unscented filtering algorithm is illustrated. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methodology are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.