Processing Variants Research Articles

Genetic Prediction Modeling in Large Cohort Studies via Boosting Targeted Loss Functions.

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) aim to predict a trait from genetic information, relying on common genetic variants with low to medium effect sizes. As genotype data are high-dimensional in nature, it is crucial to develop methods that can be applied to large-scale data (large and large ). Many PRS tools aggregate univariate summary statistics from genome-wide association studies into a single score. Recent advancements allow simultaneous modeling of variant effects from individual-level genotype data. In this context, we introduced snpboost, an algorithm that applies statistical boosting on individual-level genotype data to estimate PRS via multivariable regression models. By processing variants iteratively in batches, snpboost can deal with large-scale cohort data. Having solved the technical obstacles due to data dimensionality, the methodological scope can now be broadened-focusing on key objectives for the clinical application of PRS. Similar to most methods in this context, snpboost has, so far, been restricted to quantitative and binary traits. Now, we incorporate more advanced alternatives-targeted to the particular aim and outcome. Adapting the loss function extends the snpboost framework to further data situations such as time-to-event and count data. Furthermore, alternative loss functions for continuous outcomes allow us to focus not only on the mean of the conditional distribution but also on other aspects that may be more helpful in the risk stratification of individual patients and can quantify prediction uncertainty, for example, median or quantile regression. This work enhances PRS fitting across multiple model classes previously unfeasible for this data type.

Development of a Waste Management Strategy in a Steel Company

The management of waste, especially ferrous waste, poses great problems in the steel industry due to strict regulations on preventing, reducing, or even eliminating the factors that generate a high degree of environmental pollution (landfills resulting from the steel industry and adjacent industries—mining, energy, etc.). The present paper presents a synthesis of the specialized literature regarding the processes used, both worldwide and nationally, regarding the transformation of raw materials (ores or concentrates) and iron-containing waste (steel mill dust, mill scale and scale, sludge from agglomeration factories, sideritic waste, etc.) into by-products that can be used in the steel industry. For technological reasons, the option of pelletizing powdered waste was applied—in laboratory conditions, according to its own recipes, with results that justify the application of the technology on an industrial scale (appearance after hardening; drop resistance). The aim of the paper was to identify a practical solution; based on this solution, original conceptual models of organizational strategies (management and processing, respectively, recovery of ferrous waste within steel companies) were developed, such as a concentration strategy, diversification, vertical integration, etc. Within graphical representations of the proposed strategies, other processing variants were mentioned: agglomeration; briquetting.

Influence of the material history on the properties of recycled glass fiber reinforced polypropylene - impact of screw speed during injection molding

The changing properties of thermoplastic injection molding compounds during mechanical recycling complicate their use in structural lightweight engineering applications. Above that, an impact of the often unknown processing history on the recycled materials can be assumed, since it influences the material structure and degradation. In the present work it is investigated, how the shear load in plastification affects the properties of recycled glass fiber reinforced polypropylene during multiple processing cycles. Based on a design of experiments five processing cycles with different screw speeds are performed resulting in 47 different processing variants (screw speed, processing cycle). The samples undergo mechanical (tensile, impact), rheological (Melt Volume Rate) and morphological (fiber length distribution) tests. It was determined that the influence of the processing cycle is crucial for material degradation and properties. Also the screw speed setting directly affects the processing behaviour since it influences the melt temperature and viscosity. However, for the chosen process parameters, no clear influence of the screw speed on the resulting mechanical, rheological and morphological properties is found. The study suggests that knowledge of the screw speed setting is not essential for circular economy scenarios, as long it does not exceed the common processing recommendations.

Multi-response optimization of processing variants to fabricate graphene reinforced Al 2124 metal matrix composite using friction stir processing

The development in metal matrix composites (MMCs) using nanomaterials has propelled quite a significant amount leading to diverse applications. Al 2124 alloy/composites have applications in aerospace engineering, since physical and mechanical properties are of primary importance. Recently Al 2124/20 vol% B4C (AMC220bc) have been introduced in the market supplied by AMC (Aerospace Metal Composites) processed through powder metallurgy. Foreseeing the applications of Al 2124 MMCs, research is needed to look into the properties of Al 2124-reinforced graphene (GNP) fabricated by friction stir processing (FSP). Processing parameters in FSP are significantly important that dictate the end properties of MMCs. Graphene-reinforced Al 2124 has been produced acquiring processing parameters consisting of tool rotation speed, tool transverse speed and plunge depth at constant groove width, and tool geometry by using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. Optimization was performed using desirability functional analysis (DFA) by accounting for multi-characteristic performances consisting of density and hardness. From this research, optimum parameters were identified considering the peak value of composite desirability (dG) through DFA. Taguchi analysis showed that tool rotation speed has a strong influence compared to tool transverse speed and plunge depth. Results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that tool rotation speed contributes majorly compared with other factors. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also conducted for the confirmation test, where it was seen that GNPs (in the form of stacked fragmented clusters) were homogeneously dispersed in the Al 2124 metal matrix, provided that all composites were free from defects.

Analysis of methods for processing oily mill scale and oily sludge for iron and steel production

The paper considers the main methods of processing oily mill scale and oily sludge for iron and steel production. At present, the issue of processing such waste is highly relevant for iron and steel works. The iron content allows regards them as a valuable technogenic raw material. But direct processing is complicated by the high oil content. The authors describe thermal processing variants with and without regeneration of oil products, physicochemical methods and briquetting. A desludging method with the help of Rotor Impulse Machines (RIM) is described in sufficient detail; its main advantages are presented. A very promising direction in the development of new technologies for the processing of oily sludge is the combination of physicochemical, mechanical, magnetic and other methods of desludging with the regeneration of oils.

Simplified Optimal Estimation of Time-Varying Electromyogram Standard Deviation (EMGσ): Evaluation on Two Datasets.

To facilitate the broader use of EMG signal whitening, we studied four whitening procedures of various complexities, as well as the roles of sampling rate and noise correction. We separately analyzed force-varying and constant-force contractions from 64 subjects who completed constant-posture tasks about the elbow over a range of forces from 0% to 50% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). From the constant-force tasks, we found that noise correction via the root difference of squares (RDS) method consistently reduced EMG recording noise, often by a factor of 5–10. All other primary results were from the force-varying contractions. Sampling at 4096 Hz provided small and statistically significant improvements over sampling at 2048 Hz (~3%), which, in turn, provided small improvements over sampling at 1024 Hz (~4%). In comparing equivalent processing variants at a sampling rate of 4096 Hz, whitening filters calibrated to the EMG spectrum of each subject generally performed best (4.74% MVC EMG-force error), followed by one universal whitening filter for all subjects (4.83% MVC error), followed by a high-pass filter whitening method (4.89% MVC error) and then a first difference whitening filter (4.91% MVC error)—but none of these statistically differed. Each did significantly improve from EMG-force error without whitening (5.55% MVC). The first difference is an excellent whitening option over this range of contraction forces since no calibration or algorithm decisions are required.

Extracellular proteolytic activation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa aminopeptidase (PaAP) and insight into the role of its non-catalytic N-terminal domain.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes several endopeptidases, including elastase, alkaline proteinase (Apr), a lysine-specific endopeptidase (LysC), and an aminopeptidase (PaAP), all of which are important virulence factors. Activation of the endopeptidases requires removal of an inhibitory N-terminal propeptide. Activation of pro-PaAP, in contrast, requires C-terminal processing. The activating proteases of pro-PaAP and their cleavage site(s) have not yet been defined. Studying pro-PaAP processing in a wild type P. aeruginosa strain and strains lacking either elastase or both elastase and Apr, we detected three processing variants, each ~56 kDa in size (AP56). Activity assays and N- and C-terminal sequence analyses of these variants pointed at LysC as the principal activating protease, cleaving a Lys512-Ala513 peptide bond at the C-terminal end of pro-PaAP. Elastase and/or Apr are required for activation of LysC, suggesting both are indirectly involved in activation of PaAP. To shed light on the function(s) of the N-terminal domain of AP56, we purified recombinant AP56 and generated from it the 28 kDa catalytic domain (AP28). The kinetic constants (Km and Kcat) for hydrolysis of Leu-, Lys-, Arg- and Met-p-nitroanilide (pNA) derivatives by AP56 and AP28 were then determined. The catalytic coefficients (Kcat/Km) for hydrolysis of all four substrates by AP28 and AP56 were comparable, indicating that the non-catalytic domain is not involved in hydrolysis of small substrates. It may, however, regulate hydrolysis of natural peptides/proteins. Lys-pNA was hydrolyzed 2 to 3-fold more rapidly than Leu-pNA and ~8-fold faster than Arg- or Met-pNA, indicating that Lys-pNA was the preferred substrate.

Neutrophil myeloperoxidase harbors distinct site-specific peculiarities in its glycosylation

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCAs) are directed against lysosomal components of neutrophils. ANCAs directed to proteinase 3 and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in particular are associated with distinct forms of small vessel vasculitides. MPO is an abundant neutrophil-derived heme protein that is part of the antimicrobial defense system. The protein is typically present in the azurophilic granules of neutrophils, but a large portion may also enter the extracellular space. It remains unclear why MPO is frequently the target of antibody-mediated autoimmune responses. MPO is a homodimeric glycoprotein, posttranslationally modified with complex sugars at specific sites. Glycosylation can strongly influence protein function, affecting its folding, receptor interaction, and backbone accessibility. MPO potentially can be heavily modified as it harbors 5 putative N-glycosylation sites (10 in the mature dimer). Although considered important for MPO structure and function, the full scope and relative abundance of the glycans attached to MPO is unknown. Here, combining bottom-up glycoproteomics and native MS approaches, we structurally characterized MPO from neutrophils of healthy human donors. We quantified the relative occupancy levels of the glycans at each of the five sites and observed complex heterogeneity and site-specific glycosylation. In particular, we detected glycosylation phenotypes uncommon for glycoproteins in the extracellular space, such as a high abundance of phosphorylated high-mannose species and severely truncated small glycans having the size of paucimannose or smaller. We hypothesize that the atypical glycosylation pattern found on MPO might contribute to its specific processing and presentation as a self-antigen by antigen-presenting cells.

Influence of Various Processing Parameters on the Microbial Community Dynamics, Metabolomic Profiles, and Cup Quality During Wet Coffee Processing.

Post-harvest wet coffee processing is a commonly applied method to transform coffee cherries into green coffee beans through depulping or demucilaging, fermentation, washing, soaking, drying, and dehulling. Multiple processing parameters can be modified and thus influence the coffee quality (green coffee beans and cup quality). The present study aimed to explore the impacts of these parameters, including processing type (depulping or demucilaging), fermentation duration, and application of soaking, on the microbial community dynamics, metabolite compositions of processing waters (fermentation and soaking) and coffee beans, and resulting cup quality through a multiphasic approach. A large-scale wet coffee processing experiment was conducted with Coffea arabica var. Catimor in Yunnan (China) in duplicate. The fermentation steps presented a dynamic interaction between constant nutrient release (mainly from the cherry mucilage) into the surrounding water and active microbial activities led by lactic acid bacteria, especially Leuconostoc and Lactococcus. The microbial communities were affected by both the processing type and fermentation duration. At the same time, the endogenous coffee bean metabolism remained active at different stages along the processing, as could be seen through changes in the concentrations of carbohydrates, organic acids, and free amino acids. Among all the processing variants tested, the fermentation duration had the greatest impact on the green coffee bean compositions and the cup quality. A long fermentation duration resulted in a fruitier and more acidic cup. As an ecological alternative for the depulped processing, the demucilaged processing produced a beverage quality comparable to the depulped one. The application of soaking, however, tempered the positive fermentation effects and standardized the green coffee bean quality, regardless of the preceding processing practices applied. Lastly, the impact strength of each processing parameter would also depend on the coffee variety used and the local geographical conditions. All these findings provide a considerable margin of opportunities for future coffee research.

Comparison of the Processing of Epoxy Resins in Pultrusion with Open Bath Impregnation and Closed-Injection Pultrusion

In this study, the influence of the open bath and closed-injection pultrusion (CIP) processing methods of epoxy resins on the quality of glass fiber composites was investigated. In addition to the state-of-the-art epoxy resin system with long pot life, new resin systems with short pot life have recently been developed. These systems require processing by closed-injection pultrusion. The epoxies with long pot life allow both processing variants. The experimental work was carried out with two types of injection and impregnation chambers (ii_chamber), namely with a conical and a teardrop design. Fully impregnated composites, which were used for further analyses, could be produced by using the conical ii_chamber. The composite properties of the open bath and the conical ii_chamber impregnation methods were compared. No significant influence on the bending stress could be determined; the interlaminar shear strength was up to 10% better with open bath impregnation than with ii_chamber. For the composites investigated, it was shown that the open bath and ii_chamber impregnation methods can be used to produce parts with partially comparable properties, as demonstrated for the epoxy formulation with long pot life. These results indicate that processing of epoxy systems with a short pot life is also possible by closed-injection pultrusion. Furthermore, the influence on the composite properties of the time interval between the mixing of an epoxy resin and processing in an open bath was investigated. No significant effect on the bending stress and interlaminar shear strength could be determined.

Processing Variants in Medium-Mn Steels

This paper highlights some recent efforts to extend the use of medium-Mn steels for applications other than intercritically batch-annealed steels with exceptional ductility (and strengths in the range of about 1000 MPa). These steels are shown to enable a range of promising properties. In hot-stamping application concepts, elevated Mn concentration helps to stabilize austenite and to provide a range of attractive property combinations, and also reduces the processing temperatures and likely eliminates the need for press quenching. The “double soaking” concept also provides a wide range of attractive mechanical property combinations that may be applicable in cold-forming applications, and could be implemented in continuous annealing and/or continuous galvanizing processes where Zn-coating would typically represent an additional austempering step. Quenching and partitioning of steels with elevated Mn concentrations have exhibited very high strengths, with attractive tensile ductility; and medium-Mn steels have been successfully designed for quenching and partitioning using room temperature as the quench temperature, thereby effectively decoupling the quenching and partitioning steps.

Automatic classification of defective photovoltaic module cells in electroluminescence images

Electroluminescence (EL) imaging is a useful modality for the inspection of photovoltaic (PV) modules. EL images provide high spatial resolution, which makes it possible to detect even finest defects on the surface of PV modules. However, the analysis of EL images is typically a manual process that is expensive, time-consuming, and requires expert knowledge of many different types of defects.In this work, we investigate two approaches for automatic detection of such defects in a single image of a PV cell. The approaches differ in their hardware requirements, which are dictated by their respective application scenarios. The more hardware-efficient approach is based on hand-crafted features that are classified in a Support Vector Machine (SVM). To obtain a strong performance, we investigate and compare various processing variants. The more hardware-demanding approach uses an end-to-end deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that runs on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Both approaches are trained on 1968 cells extracted from high resolution EL intensity images of mono- and polycrystalline PV modules. The CNN is more accurate, and reaches an average accuracy of 88.42%. The SVM achieves a slightly lower average accuracy of 82.44%, but can run on arbitrary hardware. Both automated approaches make continuous, highly accurate monitoring of PV cells feasible.

Превращение пентан-гексановой фракции на Zr-содержащих каталитических системах

The tightening environmental standards for motor fuels on the one hand and the rapid growth of high quality motor fuel consumption on the other hand poses the problem of refining to reduce the amount of aromatics and in particular benzene in commercial products. Currently recycling oil is essential to the overall petroleum refining complex. To increase the depth of processing, and most important for the production of high octane components of motor fuels meeting the Euro-5 requirements, different processing variants hydrotreated fractions, among which the most modern process is isomerization. And because of this isomerization – as a process of producing components of gasoline with a high octane number and a low aromatic content became widespread. This work is devoted to the research activity of the two catalyst systems containing zirconium in its composition, in the conversion of pentane-hexane fraction, which is the raw material of isomerization process in refineries. The study was conducted in a laboratory flow-type reactor with a fixed catalyst bed. Analysis of the gaseous and liquid products of transformation was performed by gas-liquid chromatography. On the basis of analysis of experimental data, we can conclude that the two systems studied most active catalyst in the isomerization of pentane-hexane fraction is a system based on zeolite. When used which is possible to obtain liquid products with a low content of unbranched alkanes and high in isoparaffins that have high octane numbers and are safe components of motor fuels from an environmental point of view.

Long-term changes in naturally produced honey depending on processing and temperature

Profitability of beekeeping is one of the factors influencing the number of beekeepers and hence the number of managed honey bee colonies. Profitability of beekeeping can be increased by the production of high-quality honey, which sells better. Such a high-quality honey should conform not only to the requirements of legislation but also to the quality criteria of different beekeeper organizations and customer demands on honey as a premium natural product. In order to develop recommendations for improved honey production technology in conventional beekeeping, we analyzed the effect of honey processing and storage on honey quality. Four different honeys each were processed in three different ways and subsequently stored at constant temperatures 12 or 21 °C or at temperatures fluctuating between –12 and 33 °C. Organoleptic properties and physico-chemical parameters were evaluated before, during and after 2 years of storage. For each honey type, the different temperatures and processing variants resulted in nine completely different honey samples in respect of crystallization and color. Hydroxymethylfurfural increase and loss of invertase activity were the highest at 21 °C, as expected. However, extreme temperatures and temperature variations caused less damage to the honey than storage at room temperature. According to our investigations, a natural high-quality honey can be produced through homogenization of the honey to induce a fine granulation and a creamy texture and storage at constant cold temperature.

Tropospheric products of the second GOP European GNSS reprocessing (1996–2014)

Abstract. In this paper, we present results of the second reprocessing of all data from 1996 to 2014 from all stations in International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe (EUREF) Permanent Network (EPN) as performed at the Geodetic Observatory Pecný (GOP). While the original goal of this research was to ultimately contribute to the realization of a new European Terrestrial Reference System (ETRS), we also aim to provide a new set of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) tropospheric parameter time series with possible applications to climate research. To achieve these goals, we improved a strategy to guarantee the continuity of these tropospheric parameters and we prepared several variants of troposphere modelling. We then assessed all solutions in terms of the repeatability of coordinates as an internal evaluation of applied models and strategies and in terms of zenith tropospheric delays (ZTDs) and horizontal gradients with those of the ERA-Interim numerical weather model (NWM) reanalysis. When compared to the GOP Repro1 (first EUREF reprocessing) solution, the results of the GOP Repro2 (second EUREF reprocessing) yielded improvements of approximately 50 and 25 % in the repeatability of the horizontal and vertical components, respectively, and of approximately 9 % in tropospheric parameters. Vertical repeatability was reduced from 4.14 to 3.73 mm when using the VMF1 mapping function, a priori ZHD (zenith hydrostatic delay), and non-tidal atmospheric loading corrections from actual weather data. Raising the elevation cut-off angle from 3 to 7° and then to 10° increased RMS from coordinates' repeatability, which was then confirmed by independently comparing GNSS tropospheric parameters with the NWM reanalysis. The assessment of tropospheric horizontal gradients with respect to the ERA-Interim revealed a strong sensitivity of estimated gradients to the quality of GNSS antenna tracking performance. This impact was demonstrated at the Mallorca station, where gradients systematically grew up to 5 mm during the period between 2003 and 2008, before this behaviour disappeared when the antenna at the station was changed. The impact of processing variants on long-term ZTD trend estimates was assessed at 172 EUREF stations with time series longer than 10 years. The most significant site-specific impact was due to the non-tidal atmospheric loading followed by the impact of changing the elevation cut-off angle from 3 to 10°. The other processing strategy had a very small or negligible impact on estimated trends.

Real-time precise point positioning augmented with high-resolution numerical weather prediction model

The tropospheric delay is one of the major error sources in precise point positioning (PPP), affecting the accuracy and precision of estimated coordinates and convergence time, which raises demand for a reliable tropospheric model, suitable to support PPP. In this study, we investigate the impact of three tropospheric models and mapping functions regarding position accuracy and convergence time. We propose a routine to constrain the tropospheric estimates, which we implemented in the in-house developed real-time PPP software. We take advantage of the high spatial resolution (4 × 4 km2) numerical weather prediction Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and near real-time GNSS data combined by the least-squares collocation estimation to reconstruct the tropospheric delays. We also present mapping functions calculated from the WRF model using the ray-tracing technique. The performance tests are conducted on 14 Polish EUREF Permanent Network (EPN) stations during 3 weeks of different tropospheric conditions: calm, standard and severe. We consider six GNSS data processing variants, including two commonly used variants using a priori ZTD and mapping functions from UNB3m and VMF1-FC models, one with a priori ZTD and mapping functions calculated directly from WRF model and three variants using the aforementioned mapping functions but with ZTD model based on GNSS and WRF data used as a priori troposphere and to constrain tropospheric estimates. The application of a high-resolution GNSS/WRF-based ZTD model and mapping functions results in the best agreement with the official EPN coordinates. In both static and kinematic modes, this approach results in an average reduction of 3D bias by 20 and 10 mm, respectively, but an increase of 3D SDs by 1.5 and 4 mm, respectively. The application of high-resolution tropospheric model also shortens the convergence time, for example, for a 10 cm convergence level, from 67 to 58 min for the horizontal components and from 79 to 63 min for the vertical component.

Laser polishing of ground aluminum surfaces with high energy continuous wave laser

Conventional polishing of components is a time- and labor-intensive process. Moreover, manual polishing mostly depends on the processor's abilities. In accordance with these and additional difficulties, there is a strong need for automatable and efficient variants. For this purpose, polishing by means of laser beam, which enables a contact free and automatable processing of surfaces, provides a promising alternative. This paper investigates the laser polishing of the aluminum alloy AlSi9MnMg. Aluminum poses a particular challenge for laser polishing, due to high level of reflection, high thermal conductivity, and high coefficient of thermal expansion. For the investigations, a disk laser with a maximum power of 4000 W was used. The processing took place with pulsed wave laser beam at a pulse frequency of 1000 Hz and a minimal pulse duration of 0.3 ms as well as a continuous wave laser beam. The beam guidance was done by 1D-scanner optics in a highly pure inert gas atmosphere. The samples were first generated by vacural pressure and gravity die casting and afterward (belt) ground with a grain size of mesh 180 resulting in a roughness of the initial surfaces from Ra = 1 μm to Ra = 4 μm. A cleaning of the surfaces by means of short pulsed wave laser beam with ns pulse duration followed. The samples were analyzed quantitatively by perthometer for determining surface characteristics Ra, Rz, and Rt according to EN ISO 4288 as well as qualitatively using a white light interferometer and a microscope. First of all, the influence of the manufacturing process of the components on the laser polishing was investigated. A dependence is detected on laser polishing with pulsed and continuous wave laser beam, resulting in more favorable pressure die casted samples compared with gravity die casted samples. Both laser processing variants lead to a reduction of roughness of the initial surfaces in the range of Ra = 2.17 μm to Ra = 2.34 μm to a minimum roughness reached by laser polishing with pulsed wave laser beams of Ra = 0.19 μm and with continuous wave to a minimum of Ra = 0.15 μm. The achieved area rates at a continuous wave mode ranged between 20 and 60 cm2/min, whereas pulsed wave laser beams achieved only 5.5 cm2/min due to hardware-specific limits of the used system.

Role of miRNAs and alternative mRNA 3′-end cleavage and polyadenylation of their mRNA targets in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy

miRNAs play critical roles in heart disease. In addition to differential miRNA expression, miRNA-mediated control is also affected by variable miRNA processing or alternative 3′-end cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) of their mRNA targets. To what extent these phenomena play a role in the heart remains unclear. We sought to explore miRNA processing and mRNA APA in cardiomyocytes, and whether these change during cardiac hypertrophy. Thoracic aortic constriction (TAC) was performed to induce hypertrophy in C57BL/6J mice. RNA extracted from cardiomyocytes of sham-treated, pre-hypertrophic (2days post-TAC), and hypertrophic (7days post-TAC) mice was subjected to small RNA- and poly(A)-test sequencing (PAT-Seq). Differential expression analysis matched expectations; nevertheless we identified ~400 mRNAs and hundreds of noncoding RNA loci as altered with hypertrophy for the first time. Although multiple processing variants were observed for many miRNAs, there was little change in their relative proportions during hypertrophy. PAT-Seq mapped ~48,000 mRNA 3′-ends, identifying novel 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs) for over 7000 genes. Importantly, hypertrophy was associated with marked changes in APA with a net shift from distal to more proximal mRNA 3′-ends, which is predicted to decrease overall miRNA repression strength. We independently validated several examples of 3′UTR proportion change and showed that alternative 3′UTRs associate with differences in mRNA translation. Our work suggests that APA contributes to altered gene expression with the development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and provides a rich resource for a systems-level understanding of miRNA-mediated regulation in physiological and pathological states of the heart.

Assessment of T-History Method Variants to Obtain Enthalpy–Temperature Curves for Phase Change Materials With Significant Subcooling

To assess the potential of thermal energy storage systems using phase change materials (PCMs), numerical simulations rely on an enthalpy–temperature curve (or equivalent specific heat curve) to model the PCM thermal storage behavior. The so-called “T-history method” can be used to obtain an enthalpy–temperature curve (H versus T) through conventional laboratory equipment and a simple experimental procedure. Different data processing variants of the T-history method have been proposed yet no systematic comparison between these versions exists in the literature nor is there a consensus as to which should be used to obtain reliable enthalpy–temperature curves. In this paper, an inorganic salt hydrate is tested in both heating and cooling. Four different data processing variants of the T-history method are used to characterize the PCM and produce enthalpy–temperature curves for this original experimental data set. Differences in the results produced by the different methods are discussed, the issues encountered are indicated, and possible approaches to overcome these problems are provided. A specific variant is recommended when using the T-history method to determine enthalpy–temperature curves. For PCMs that exhibit subcooling, an alternative interpretation using an absolute temperature interval is described so that the subcooling phase is taken into account in the enthalpy–temperature curve.

Studies on Fe-Cr-Ni-Si-B Bulk Metallic Glass for Automotive Applications

Researches and developments were carried out for obtaining of bulk metallic glass (BMG) from the Fe-Cr-Ni-Si-B system. The used processing methods were copper mold casting and melt spinning method. The resulted materials are in form of sheets with sizes of 69.7 x 64 x 3/1.5 mm and of strips with thickness less than 50 microns, which were obtained by varying the melt spin technological parameters. The both processing variants are not suitable for obtaining such of alloy in bulk metallic glass form. Adding of zirconium to this alloy produces bulk metallic glasses only for the melt spin products. The DSC analysis emphases that the zirconium modified alloy processed by melt spinning method exhibits a high glass forming ability (GFA).