bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Inactivation of Babesia microti in red blood cells and platelet concentrates
Authors: Tonnetti Laura , Laughhunn Andrew , Thorp Aaron M. , Vasilyeva Irina , Dupuis Kent , Stassinopoulos Adonis , Stramer Susan L. 
Published: September 2017

BACKGROUNDWith an increasing number of recognized transfusion‐transmitted (TT) babesiosis cases, Babesia microti is the most frequently TT parasite in the United States. We evaluated the inactivation of B. microti in red blood cells (RBCs) prepared in Optisol (AS‐5) using amustaline and glutathione (GSH) and in platelet components (PCs) in 100% plasma using amotosalen and low‐energy ultraviolet A (UVA) light.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSIndividual RBCs and apheresis PCs were spiked with B. microti–infected hamster RBCs (iRBCs) to a final concentration of 106 iRBCs/mL and treated with the respective inactivation systems according to the manufacturer's instruction. Samples were collected before (control) and after (test) each treatment. Dilutions of the control samples to 10−6 were inoculated into hamsters, while the test samples were inoculated neat or at 10−1 dilution. At 3 and 5 weeks postinoculation, hamsters were evaluated for B. microti infection by microscopic observation of blood smears and 50% infectivity titers (ID50) were determined. Log reduction was calculated as control log ID50 minus test log ID50.RESULTSParasitemia was detected in hamsters injected with as low as 100,000‐fold diluted control samples, while no parasites were detectable in the blood smears of any hamsters receiving neat test samples. Mean log reduction was more than 5 log/mL by amustaline/GSH for RBCs and more than 4.5 log/mL by amotosalen/UVA for PCs.CONCLUSIONB. microti was inactivated to the limit of detection in RBCs and PCs after the respective inactivation treatment. Complete inactivation of B. microti was achieved in this animal infectivity model, and pathogen reduction treatment inhibited transmission of infection.
Comparison of donor and general population demographics over time: a BEST Collaborative group study
Authors: Goldman Mindy , Steele Whitney R. , Di Angelantonio Emanuele , van den Hurk Katja , Vassallo Ralph R. , Germain Marc , O'Brien Sheila F. ,   Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion Collaborative (BEST) Investigators
Published: September 2017

BACKGROUNDWe compared donor and general population demographics over time to provide insight into current donation patterns and the future adequacy of the blood supply.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSSeventeen blood center members of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative from 12 countries provided the number of donors and people in the general population by demographic category for 2001 and 2011, changes in age criteria, and percentage of first‐time donors. We calculated the median age of donors and the general population and determined the percentage of each group in age and sex cohorts.RESULTSAge criteria vary, with upper limits recently liberalized in several countries. In 2011, the percentage of first‐time donors ranged from 10% to 41%. The median age of the donor and general population increased from 2001 to 2011 in most countries, as did the percentage of the general population over 60. The youngest donor cohort is overrepresented to a variable degree; this tendency increased over time. Although still underrepresented, older donors contributed more in 2011. A large middle‐aged cohort is aging at a rate exceeding the progression of time, while 25‐ to 45‐year‐olds are relatively underrepresented.CONCLUSIONSAll participating countries are experiencing aging of their general population. Donor demographics differ substantially between countries; this can be only partly explained by population demographics and age criteria. Many countries have an aging middle‐aged donor and population cohort and are increasingly relying on their youngest donors to contribute disproportionately to the blood supply.
A survey of weed seed contamination of rice paddy in Cambodia
Authors: Martin R J , Van Ogtrop F , Henson Y , Broeum K , Rien R , Srean P , Tan D K Y 
Published: September 2017

SummaryCambodia has experienced a rapid shift from transplanted to hand broadcast seeded rice, with a consequent increase in seeding rates from 25–30 to 100–200 kg ha−1. To reduce costs, farmers keep their own seed for sowing with the risk of greater weed seed contamination of the sowing seed. A survey of weed seed contamination in harvested rice paddy was conducted in two provinces of Cambodia (Battambang and Takeo) at the end of the wet season in 2016. Farmers were interviewed about rice‐seeding practices, and a total of 110 farmers' fresh paddy samples were inspected for weed seed contamination from the two provinces. Sowing seed samples collected from 28 seed producer lots and 71 samples of farmer‐kept seed were also analysed for weed seed contamination. In both provinces, the majority of farmers kept their own seed or bought seed from a neighbour. Farm‐kept seed for sowing accounted for 88% of sown seed in Battambang and 89% in Takeo. Seeds of 41 different weed species from 13 plant families were found in the farmers' freshly harvested paddy samples. Overall, farmers managed to reduce the number of weed propagules by 60% and seed producers by 95%. There was no significant difference between farmer‐kept seed and seed producer/seed company seed for the total number of weed seeds present. When shown photos, farmers' rankings of the 10 most common weed species found in freshly harvested paddy did not closely correspond to the actual weed seed frequency in the paddy. When farmers were asked to rank the frequency of weeds in their fields without the option to choose from a list, they ranked the weeds differently. Farmers ranked Ischaemum rugosum, Echinochloa spp. and Fimbristylis miliacea as the three most frequent weed species in their fields. The most frequent weeds in harvested paddy, apart from weedy rice, were I. rugosum and Melochia corchorifolia. Farmers did not rank M. corchorifolia as a frequently occurring weed, and most farmers could not recognise M. corchorifolia from photographs. The priority for improved seed hygiene is to place the emphasis on assisting farmers to further improve their seed purification techniques and to caution them to inspect seed before purchasing from neighbours, seed producers and seed companies in the absence of the implementation of seed certification regulation.
Numerical Analysis of Mild Combustion Regimes Under Air and Oxyfuel Conditions
Authors: Lin Wang , Zhaohui Liu , Axelbaum Richard L. 
Published: September 2017

Reactive structures of hot diluted methane counter-flow diffusion flames have been characterized under air-fuel and oxy-fuel combustion condition, by using a standard OPPDIF code with a WSGGM model and a validated detail chemical mechanism. The result shows the gaseous radiation makes the peak temperature be lower and the distributions of temperature change greatly.
Characteristic of vanishing of pyrolytic region and increasing of thickness of heat release zones are investigated in detail. The reason for these is the overlap of zones for the positive heat release and the negative heat release. Meanwhile, the combustion regions are established based on Xf –Tf –ΔT sketch map. The results show that MILD combustion is easier to be achieved under oxy-fuel conditions but it is also easier to blown off.
Moreover, reaction pathways for feedback combustion and MILD combustion under both air- and oxy-fuel conditions are analyzed. The chemical reaction rate decreases one order of magnitude under MILD combustion. Also, the decreasing of the production of OH and H and the addition of CO2 makes the C1 branch the C2 branch changes greatly under both conditions for MILD combustion.
Advanced Power Plant Concept With Application of Exhaust CO2 to Liquid Fuel Production
Authors: Chudnovsky B. , Levin L. , Talanker A. , Kunin A. , Cohen J. , Harpaz R. , Karni J. 
Published: September 2017

Today there is a growing concern about the ramifications of global warming resulting from the use of fossil fuels and the associated carbon dioxide emissions. Oxy-fuel combustion is a promising response to this issue, since the product of the combustion is a CO2 rich flue gas, which requires no further separation from other emission gases and thus can be sequestrated, or utilized.
Here we present an analysis of a novel technology for combining oxy-fuel combustion with utilization of the CO2 rich flue gas for syntetic fuel production. The technology concept involves a new method of using concentrated solar energy for the dissociation of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2). Simultaneously, the same device can dissociate water (H2O) to hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). The CO, or the mixture of CO and H2 (called Syngas), can then be used as a gaseous fuel (e.g. in power plants), or converted to a liquid fuel (e.g. methanol), which is relatively easy to store and transport, and can be used in motor vehicles and electricity generation facilities. The oxygen produced in the process can be used in oxy-fuel combustion or other advanced combustion methods in power plants.
In this study it is assumed that a typical sub-critical, 575 MW, coal firing power plant is converted to oxy-fuel combustion. The flue gases from that power plant are then used as raw material for fuel production. The aim of the study is to estimate the optimal conceptual design of a power generation plant, including liquid/gaseous fuel generation facility.
In the present study we used a series of special models for simulating the heat balance, heat transfer, performance and emissions of an oxy-fuel converted utility boiler. We also employed cycle simulation software that facilitates the optimization of an electricity generation plant with CO2 conversion to liquid fuel and usage of the fuel produced from CO2 for additional electricity production.
The simulation results show that the amount of fuel produced, additional power generated and power station self consumption may be changed over a wide range, depending on the size of the solar field, which provides the energy for the liquid fuel production.
The paper includes an overview of some of the key technical considerations of the new concept of CO2 conversion to fuel. Based on the obtained results it may be concluded that the methodology presented in this study is an attractive option for CO2 emission reduction, which can be implemented in existing and/or new power generation units. The technology proposed in this paper is not indented as an alternative for replacing coal combustion with natural gas, however may be used effectively with oxy-fuel combustion of either coal or natural gas.
Investigation of Thermal Conductivity Variation of Biomass Products With Moisture
Authors: Dikici Birce , Narasimha Parvesh R. B. , Kamdar Shruti D. 
Published: September 2017

The aim of this paper is to investigate the thermal conductivity of various biomass products and investigate the thermal conductivity when moisture is added. In this study, the biomass used was seeds from Bermuda grass and a mix of wildflowers (e.g. Lupine, flax, Coreopsis and Shasta daisy).
Thermal diffusivity is calculated with a transient, one-dimensional conduction experiment. The experiments on aluminum is performed to test the experimental test setup to ensure the accuracy of the technique. Before obtaining the biomass thermal conductivity tests, the actual thermal conductivity values are obtained with the C-Therm TCi Thermal Conductivity Analyzer and the tests are carried out and compared with these values. Next, moisture is infused into biomass samples by addition of water from 10% to 30% with increments of 5%. An increase in thermal conductivity with moisture is observed for both biomass samples and the results are presented. In our tests, the moisture increased the thermal conductivity about 78% for Bermuda grass seed and 122% for Wild Flower seed.
Creep Damage Assessment of Notched Material Made of a Solidification Control Ni-Base Superalloy Using the EBSD Method
Authors: Kobayashi Daisuke , Takeuchi Tsutomu , Nakabeppu Katsushi 
Published: September 2017

Changes in misorientation with deformation were measured by various misorientation analysis methods using the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) method, and quantitative assessments were attempted to estimate the amount of strain or damage. Misorientations were correlated with macroscopic plastic or creep strains for comparative well-strained materials such as austenitic stainless steels.
Ni-base superalloys used for components requiring high temperature strength such as gas turbine blades, have low ductility with precipitation of the γ’ phase in grains, therefore the change of crystal orientation was considered to be extremely suppressed in comparison with austenitic stainless steels. In addition, it was anticipated that the extremely large grains of Ni-base superalloys made it difficult to properly assess the damage as misorientation. However, with the current advances in the EBSD acquisition systems in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy, it has become possible to make unprecedented resolved measurements of the local crystal structure distribution at a millimeter scale.
In particular, in order to assess the damage of gas turbine blades, the complex blade inner cooling system complicates the distribution of temperatures and stresses in the blades, which implies that it is required to assess the influence of geometry at stress concentrated regions in addition to the condition of temperatures, stresses and creep fatigue wave forms.
To date, in the case of the conventional casting material or the same geometry notched specimen of the directionally solidified (DS) superalloy, the average misorientation which means the grain reference orientation deviation (GROD) within grains in a certain predetermined evaluation area including the notch increases linearly up to the initiation of creep cracks regardless of the testing temperatures, strain rates and the effect of fatigue under the creep dominant condition. However, the different notch geometry of the DS superalloy shows the different characteristics of the misorientation development.
This paper focuses on a misorientation parameter which can assess the creep crack initiation life independent of the geometry at stress concentrated regions. In order to assess the creep crack initiation life at various stress concentrated areas of the DS superalloy, the development of a unified life assessment method independent of the individual notch geometries was discussed. As a result of this study, a parameter dividing the GROD by the initial notch opening value, φ0, was proposed and it was confirmed that the proposed parameter, GROD/φ0 shows similar characteristics with the relative notch opening displacement (RNOD) curves which correspond to the local strain energy and the initiation of creep crack at the notch tip independent of the geometry at a stress concentrated region.
Axial Flow Compressor Real-Time Tip Clearance Analysis and Experimental Verification
Authors: Cheng Lu , Zhao Shizhi , Liu Weibing , Ai Song , Fan Xiaoping 
Published: September 2017

The tip clearance of the compressor has always been a key part in both the design and operation of gas turbine. Surge margin and aerodynamic performance of the compressor will be affected if the tip clearance is too large, while risk of rubbing between the blades and casing will arise if the tip clearance is too small. Generally speaking, the calculation and analysis of tip clearance under stable design condition is relatively easy, because the metal temperature field of both rotor and stator components that significantly affect the tip clearance is in stable condition at that time. However, the transient tip clearance under start-up and shut-down condition is difficult to be calculated and analyzed, due to the fact that both the aerodynamic parameters and metal temperature field are instable, and complicated heat-exchange occurs between the metal components and gas.
In this paper, the transient deformation of both rotor and stator components of compressor of a certain gas turbine is analyzed in detail by using thermo-solid coupling analysis technology, finally obtained real-time tip clearance. The non-contact measurement technology is used to measure the tip clearance during operation of the unit. The experimental result indicates that the real-time tip clearance value obtained by the calculation method in the paper is in a very good agreement with the measured value. In addition, both the analysis and experimental results show that the moment of smallest tip clearance usually happens at shut-down progress and the influence of tip clearance must be considered when designing unit’s running curve.
Exergoenvironmental Evaluation for a Coal-Fired Power Plant of Near-Zero Air Pollutant Emission
Authors: Hong Xiliang , Chen Jianhong , Sheng Deren , Li Wei 
Published: September 2017

Owing to the growing environmental concerns, super-critical and ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plants dominate the electricity generation with the demand of near-zero air pollutant emission in China. Therefore, it is highly expected to assess the environmental impact and optimize the design at global and local levels. Exergoenvironmental analysis is a valid approach to investigate the formation of environmental impacts (EIs) associated with energy conversion systems at the component level. It generates information crucial for designing systems with a lower overall environmental impact, based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and exergy analysis.
A 600 MW supercritical coal-fired system with and without dust, SO2 and NOx mitigation controls was analyzed. Heat transfer in the boiler, condenser (CND), low pressure cylinder (LP), air preheater (APH) show high potential to decrease the environmental impact due to high exergy destructions. The deaerator (DEA), induced draft fan (IDF), forced draft fan (FDF) should be focussed on construction design and manufacturing optimization. Purification units reveal high benefit for reducing EI produced by coal combustion, but there is a large space for the EI saving for it. The specific EI of electricity in China is much greater than European.
Economic Analysis for Nozzle Governing With Overload Valve Regulation Technology
Authors: Fangbo Jing , Qiang Lai , Dongliang Wei , Xianhui Chen , Yongqiang Yuan 
Published: September 2017

With the implementation of low-carbon economy policy, clean energy (such as wind and solar energy) has been developing rapidly, and the percentage is increasing year by year; On the other hand, with a steadily growing percentage of residential electricity consumption and commercial electricity consumption, resulting in large electricity load difference between peak and valley, the load related requirements of modern steam power plants are noticeably changing. Whereas the past units being designed in base load now have to take part in peak load, and usually in a low load operation, unable to play its advantages of high efficiency in design load.
In the article the current three main governing methods (i.e. nozzle governing, throttling governing and bypass governing) for steam turbine will be discussed and evaluated under economical criteria focused on the above described challenges for future power generating technologies. A new governing method is Nozzle governing with Overload Valve Regulation, which keeps the advantage that main steam pressure of the Nozzle governing steam turbine is higher under partial load conditions, and weakens the influence of the low efficiency of governing stage on high pressure turbine, effectively improves the efficiency of steam turbine unit under partial load conditions.
In the turbine adopted the new governing method of Nozzle governing with Overload Valve Regulation, the first stage is governing stage, divided into several groups. Main steam from boiler goes through the main stop valve and main steam control valve in sequence, and then turns to the governing stage. When the load is below 85%THA, main steam control valve I, II and III are fully opened, main steam control valve IV is fully closed, and the unit is in sliding pressure operation. When the load is 85%THA, the main steam pressure can reach the rated pressure. With the load increasing, main steam control valve IV starts to open, but the main steam pressure maintains the rated pressure, adjusted to THA when main steam control valve IV is fully opened and the flowrate of governing stage reaches the maximum. In the load more than THA condition, the bypass valve starts to open, the main steam goes through the bypass steam room into the certain stage (as fourth), to meet the requirements of the super load, adjusted to VWO (about 108%THA) when the bypass valve is fully opened.
Through the detailed description about the scheme set and calculation analysis about economy benefit of the new regulation technology of Nozzle governing with Overload Valve Regulation, it shows that with the annual load range of 40%THA–85%THA, the economy of turbine adopted the new regulation technology is better than bypass governing by about 21.6 kJ/kW.h. (CSPE)
Out Line of the Osaki CoolGen Project
Authors: Ishida Keiichi 
Published: September 2017

Coal is a valuable primary energy source that has excellent supply stability and economic efficiency. Japan has extremely low energy self-sufficiency and coal-fired power generation is positioned as an important base load power supply. One urgent issue we face is to find realistic countermeasures that greatly reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants which produce a large volume of CO2 emissions. Therefore, we have launched the Osaki CoolGen Project since April 2012 as an “Integrated Coal Gasification Fuel Cell Combined Cycle (IGFC) Demonstration Project” subsidized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (until 2015 FY) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (from 2016 FY). This project aims to realize innovative low-carbon coal-fired power generation that combines an IGFC, an extremely efficient coal-fired power generation technology with high-performance CO2 capture technology for the purpose of dramatically reducing CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generation. This project consists of three steps. The first step will implement demonstration tests of the oxygen-blown Integrated coal Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) which is the base technology for IGFC.
Toward the start of demonstration testing in March 2017, construction was started in March 2013 and commissioning was started in April 2016. In the second step, we plan to carry out demonstration tests of the oxygen-blown IGCC with CO2 capture equipment. In the third step, we plan to demonstrate an IGFC system combining the demonstration plant of the second step with a fuel cell.