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The dry-gel conversion method (DGC) is a promising synthesis protocol for preparing magnetic zeolite composites as it yields homogeneous composite particles with more rapid crystallization, smaller reactor volume, and less waste production than the conventional hydrothermal method. This work investigates the optimal conditions for preparing magnetic BEA-type zeolites using the DGC method, including the gel/water ratio, crystallization temperature and time. Precursor dry-gel incorporating well-dispersed magnetite was subjected to crystallization under water vapor atmosphere with a gel/water ratio of 0.5–2, crystallization temperature of 140–200 °C for 1.5–12 h, followed by characterization using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The optimum conditions were found to be gel/water ratio of 1 and crystallization at 180 °C for 12 h. Magnetic properties of collected samples were evaluated using a vibrating-sample magnetometer after calcination at 400–500 °C for 12 h. Products calcined below 450 °C showed good magnetic properties. Adsorption of sulfadiazine using the BEA and magnetic BEA-type zeolites was evaluated in a 10–50 mg/l range. Results revealed favorable multilayer-type adsorption of sulfadiazine onto both non-magnetic and magnetic BEA-type zeolites (Freundlich model). These indicate that DGC method is suitable for preparing high-silica magnetic BEA-type zeolites with potential for antibiotic removal.

The prediction of an occult invasive component in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) before surgery is of clinical importance because the treatment strategies are different between pure DCIS without invasive component and upgraded DCIS. We demonstrated the potential of using deep learning models for differentiating between upgraded versus pure DCIS in DCIS diagnosed by core-needle biopsy. Preoperative axial dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 352 lesions were used to train, validate, and test three different types of deep learning models. The highest performance was achieved by Recurrent Residual Convolutional Neural Network using Regions of Interest (ROIs) with an accuracy of 75.0% and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.796. Our results suggest that the deep learning approach may provide an assisting tool to predict the histologic upgrade of DCIS and provide personalized treatment strategies to patients with underestimated invasive disease.

Metal/carbon composite plating is an effective strategy for improving and adding properties to metal plating by incorporating carbon materials into the metal matrices. Copper (Cu) is widely applied, particularly in the areas of heat management and electronic packaging owing to its high thermal and electrical conductivities, which can be further improved together with improvements in mechanical properties by compositing it with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, because hydrophobic CNTs are hardly dispersible in aqueous solutions, additional intense acid treatment or the addition of dispersants is required for their dispersion. Moreover, previous studies have reported that these methods suffer from deterioration of composite material performance through the destruction of the CNT surface or the inclusion of dispersants into the plating. Therefore, in this study, the electrodeposition of a Cu/CNT composite in a non-aqueous solvent that can disperse CNTs without any additional treatment is investigated. The experimental results show that it is possible to deposit Cu from a N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone containing copper iodide and potassium iodide. Furthermore, Cu/CNT composite platings containing CNTs up to 0.12 mass% were prepared by constant current electrolysis, and applying pulse electrolysis can increase the CNTs content up to 0.22 mass%.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether support vector machine (SVM) trained with radiomics features based on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could predict the upgrade of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnosed by core needle biopsy (CNB) after surgical excision.Materials and methodsThis retrospective study included a total of 349 lesions from 346 female patients (mean age, 54 years) diagnosed with DCIS by CNB between January 2011 and December 2017. Based on histological confirmation after surgery, the patients were divided into pure (n = 198, 56.7%) and upgraded DCIS (n = 151, 43.3%). The entire dataset was randomly split to training (80%) and test sets (20%). Radiomics features were extracted from the intratumor region-of-interest, which was semi-automatically drawn by two radiologists, based on the first subtraction images from dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was used for feature selection. A 4-fold cross validation was applied to the training set to determine the combination of features used to train SVM for classification between pure and upgraded DCIS. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) were calculated to evaluate the model performance using the hold-out test set.ResultsThe model trained with 9 features (Energy, Skewness, Surface Area to Volume ratio, Gray Level Non Uniformity, Kurtosis, Dependence Variance, Maximum 2D diameter Column, Sphericity, and Large Area Emphasis) demonstrated the highest 4-fold mean validation accuracy and AUC of 0.724 (95% CI, 0.619–0.829) and 0.742 (0.623–0.860), respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC using the test set were 0.733 (0.575–0.892) and 0.7 (0.558–0.842), 0.714 (0.608–0.820) and 0.767 (0.651–0.882), respectively.ConclusionOur study suggested that the combined radiomics and machine learning approach based on preoperative breast MRI may provide an assisting tool to predict the histologic upgrade of DCIS.

Coating technology is decisively important for metallization of ceramic materials and ceramic metal sealing technology. Previous studies have shown that the network-like structure after penetration of molten aluminum can significantly improve the strength of joint components. However, the direct aluminum coating method is limited by the shape of the substrate. To obtain a dense aluminum film on the surface of B4C, in this study, aluminum was deposited by pulse electroplating in EMIC–AlCl3 ionic liquid. The deposited metals were observed and analyzed by SEM–EDS and XRD. A Vickers hardness tester was adopted as an auxiliary equipment to clarify the film quality. The results show that frequency and duty cycle have significant effects on crystal orientation. The content of oxides in the contact gap reduces the bonding strength of the deposited metal, which provides experimental basis for metal electrodeposition on B4C.

The removal of Zn from wastewater generated from the Zn-based electroplating manufacturing process is essential because the regulation limit of Zn concentration in wastewater is becoming stricter in Japan. However, achieving this through conventional methods is difficult, especially for small and medium enterprises in the plating industry. Therefore, a suitable Zn-removal method with a low cost but high performance and Zn selectivity is required. The application of adsorbents is one possible solution. Mesoporous silica (MS) is a well-known adsorbent with controllable pore size, high specific surface area (SSA), high acid resistance, and ease of surface modification. In this study, we modified the surfaces of MSs with different initial pore sizes by amino groups and investigated their Zn removal performances. The effect of pore size on amine modification using (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane and on adsorption performance in a single system was investigated along with Zn adsorption selectivity in the Zn–Ni binary system. Amine-modified MS prepared from MS with an initial pore size of 1.9 nm showed drastically lower performance compared to those prepared from MS with an initial pore size larger than 2.8 nm. Zn-selectivity in the Zn–Ni binary system, containing equal amounts of Zn and Ni, was found to reach a maximum of 21.6 when modifying MS with an initial pore size of 2.8 nm.

Diamond/Cu composites are considered promising heat spreader materials; however, improving the interfacial adhesion between diamond and Cu is a challenge in manufacturing these composites. We focus...

As a new trial to improve the corrosion resistance of the Fe-W alloy platings, Fe-W alloys incorporating a small amount of Zn, namely novel ternary Fe-W-Zn alloy platings, are prepared by constant current electrolysis using citrate-ammonia baths. In this study, the effects of bath pH on elemental composition, morphology, plating structure, and corrosion resistance of the electrodeposited ternary alloy platings are investigated. The W content of the electrodeposited alloys showed a maximum of 31.5 at.% at pH 8.0 and an inverse correlation was observed between the W content and current efficiency in the investigated pH range. The Zn content tended to decrease with increasing bath pH, and the structure of alloy platings gradually refined along with the increase in the amount of Zn incorporated into the Fe-W alloy. Potentiodynamic polarization test results reveal fine granular structured ternary Fe-W-Zn alloy prepared at pH 8.0, containing approximately 1.6 at.% of Zn, which showed distinctly enhanced corrosion resistance in a 1 M H2SO4 solution compared to binary Fe-W alloy and ternary alloys prepared at pH 6.0, 7.0, and 9.0. It has been found that the bath pH has a great influence on the elemental composition of the ternary alloys, which significantly affects the plating structure and corrosion resistance of the alloy platings.

Many types of explosions often occur in industrial settings, and research is being conducted to identify the causes and establish preventive measures. The aim of this study is to investigate slag yards, where metal residues are cooled in the steel industry, often causing steam explosions. The cause of accidents and explosion simulation analyses were used to investigate the sources of steam explosions in a slag yard. The explosion intensity of 4 kg of TNT was measured for the purpose of predicting the intensity of a steam explosion. This was compared with a simulation of explosion damage that occurred in 2017. These results could not be produced from small-scale experiments, and they indicate that damage resulting from actual explosions poses a potential risk to pipes that cannot be directly observed. We conclude that this damage can lead to a domino accident, and this study provides results for estimating the possibility of future damage.

Alternative splicing mediated by various splicing factors is important for the regulation of plant growth and development. Our recent reports have shown that a temperature-dependent interaction between Arabidopsis thaliana splicing factor 1 (AtSF1) and FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) pre-mRNA introns controls the differential production of FLM-β transcripts at different temperatures, eventually resulting in temperature-responsive flowering. However, the molecular and genetic interactions between the AtSF1-FLM module and floral activator genes remain unknown. Here, we aimed to identify the interactions among AtSF1, FLM, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), and LEAFY (LFY) by performing molecular and genetic analyses. FT and TWIN SISTER OF FT (TSF) expression in atsf1-2 mutants significantly increased in the morning and middle of the night at 16 and 23 °C, respectively, under long-day conditions. In addition, ft mutation suppressed the early flowering of atsf1-2 and atsf1-2 flm-3 mutants and masked the temperature response of atsf1-2 flm-3 mutants, suggesting that FT is a downstream target gene of the AtSF1-FLM module. LFY expression significantly increased in the diurnal samples of atsf1-2 mutants and in the shoot apex regions of atsf1-2 ft-10 mutants at different temperatures. The chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay revealed that FLM directly binds to the genomic regions of LFY but not of APETALA1 (AP1). Moreover, lfy mutation suppressed the early flowering of flm-3 mutants, suggesting that LFY is another target of the AtSF1-FLM module. Our results reveal that the AtSF1-FLM module spatially modulates temperature-dependent flowering by regulating FT and LFY expressions.

A simple and effective method of fine particle sampling at the convection pass inlet in a boiler that burns solid recovered fuel is developed and demonstrated. The fine particles, which are assumed to be mineral salt in flue gas, easily combine with other fly ashes and then attach to the superheater tubes and form clinkers. This clinker deposits on the tubes cause deterioration of the boiler performance and lead to tube corrosion. Two commercially available chemical agents, ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) and borax solution, used for clinker control are tested to monitor their activity on clinker formation. When ammonium sulfate is applied, the PM2.5 particles of fly ash collected in the convection pass inlet increased. When borax solution is used, the PM10 particles are almost completely removed. The borax solution seems to absorb molten salt in the flue gas and make fine particles grow, whereas ammonium sulfate increases the 2.5 μm particles by changing the metal chlorides to metal sulfates. The borax solution shows potential to control fine particles, and especially PM10 particles. However, both additives increased sub-70 μm particles of convection pass bottom ash.

A novel Zn/Zn-Mg/Zn multilayer coating is prepared on steel plate by PVD. The effect of the multilayer structure comprising Zn-Mg interlayer on the corrosion resistance is discussed. The corrosion resistance is evaluated by the salt spray test, and the corrosion progression is analyzed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and corrosion products observation. Eluted Mg ions from the Zn-Mg interlayer form a porous Mg corrosion product layer that permeates chlorine ions, assists the coating transform to Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O phase. Improved corrosion resistance of the coating can be explained by the rapid increasement of the impedance by the formation of the protective Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O phase.

The corrosion resistance of materials composed of metal is an essential property for preventing material deterioration caused by corrosion. In this study, we demonstrate that corrosion resistance can be significantly improved through the electrodeposition of molybdenum oxide onto a metal plating containing iron-group elements. Mo oxide can be electrodeposited using a simple plating bath, low current density, and short deposition time, exhibiting a fascinating metallic gloss appearance. GI-XRD and XPS analyses revealed that amorphous Mo oxide adhered to the substrate by a seed layer partially reduced to metallic Mo by the iron-group element in the substrate, based on the principle of “induced co-deposition.” A Mo oxide coating with a thickness of approximately 100 nm decreases the corrosion current density of Ni-W plating by approximately 5 times and the passivation current density by approximately 10 times in a 3 mass% NaCl solution. Mo oxide coatings represent an attractive strategy for improving the corrosion resistance of various metal materials containing iron-group elements.

In this study, Ni-W/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite platings are electrodeposited onto steel plate as a possible coating material for the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) bipolar plate, which requires high corrosion resistance under acidic environment and low contact resistance. The dispersibility of CNT in the plating bath is improved by surface modification of CNT through hydrothermal treatment in mixed acid solution. The change in electrodeposition behavior of Ni-W plating by CNT addition is investigated by cathodic polarization measurement. The corrosion resistance under acidic environment is evaluated using 0.5M H2SO4 solution and contact resistance of the composite platings is measured and compared with Ni and Ni-W plating. The surface modification of CNT through hydrothermal treatment is found to increase the CNT content in the Ni-W/CNT composite plating up to 0.33 mass.% and sufficient incorporation of hydrothermally treated CNT in Ni-W plating results in low contact resistance and enhanced corrosion resistance than pristine Ni-W plating.

Small changes in temperature affect plant ecological and physiological factors that impact agricultural production. Hence, understanding how temperature affects flowering is crucial for decreasing the effects of climate change on crop yields. Recent reports have shown that FLM-β, the major spliced isoform of FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM)—a flowering time gene, contributes to temperature-responsive flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the molecular mechanism linking pre-mRNA processing and temperature-responsive flowering is not well understood. Genetic and molecular analyses identified the role of an Arabidopsis splicing factor SF1 homolog, AtSF1, in regulating temperature-responsive flowering. The loss-of-function AtSF1 mutant shows temperature insensitivity at different temperatures and very low levels of FLM-β transcript, but a significantly increased transcript level of the alternative splicing (AS) isoform, FLM-δ. An RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay revealed that AtSF1 is responsible for ambient temperature-dependent AS of FLM pre-mRNA, resulting in the temperature-dependent production of functional FLM-β transcripts. Moreover, alterations in other splicing factors such as ABA HYPERSENSITIVE1/CBP80 (ABH1/CBP80) and STABILIZED1 (STA1) did not impact the FLM-β/FLM-δ ratio at different temperatures. Taken together, our data suggest that a temperature-dependent interaction between AtSF1 and FLM pre-mRNA controls flowering time in response to temperature fluctuations.

Combustion of SRF (solid recycled fuel) and biomass with potassium (K), sodium (Na), and chlorine (Cl) contents can result in operational problems such as hard deposit formation and convection pass tube corrosion. Two types of commercially available chemical additives, ammonium sulfate [(NH4)2SO4] and borax solution, were examined to elucidate their effect on hard deposit formation and the particle composition of fly ash on the convection pass of a commercial CFBC (circulating fluidized bed combustion) boiler. The addition of ammonium sulfate/borax solution hindered metal chloride formation and reduced the amount of hard deposit formation on the convection pass tubes. Both the alkali and potassium chloride content and the point load hardness of the hard deposit were reduced, while the melting temperature increased according to the borax solution use. When chemical additives were employed, the particle size distribution of the fly ash shifted to coarse particles. In particular, SEM (scanning electron microscopy) images of the fly ash particles revealed the attachments of fine particles to the ash particles. These were assumed to be mineral salts attached to the coarse particles, which increased the overall particle size distribution.

Compositing diamonds with high thermally conductive metals, such as copper, have attracted much attention in recent years. In this study, we prepared copper/diamond composites by electroplating and investigated the effect of the surface functionalization of diamond on the interfacial adhesion of copper and diamond in the composite. Oxygen-containing groups were introduced on the diamond surface by a hydrothermal treatment and amino groups were further introduced using a silane coupling agent. Surface functionalization of diamond with both these groups led to drastically increased wettability against the copper sulfate solution and improved the interfacial adhesion of copper and diamond in the composite. Compared with that of the plating based on pristine diamond, the thermal conductivity of the platings based on diamond functionalized with oxygen-containing groups and amino groups increased by 42 and 31 W m[Formula: see text] K[Formula: see text], respectively. Thus, diamond surface functionalization effectively improved the adhesion at the copper/diamond interface in electroplated copper/diamond composites.

Conventionally, EAB-type zeolites are crystallized by hydrothermal synthesis for many days under agitational synthesis conditions such as rotation or stirring. In the present study, EAB-type zeolite is obtained by hydrothermal synthesis within 12 h under static synthesis conditions for the first time. The effects of crystallization temperature, aging of the precursor sol, and addition of seed crystals are investigated. The results reveal that EAB-type zeolite can be obtained when using a precursor sol with short aging time followed by hydrothermal synthesis in a very narrow temperature range 110 °C−120 °C under static synthesis condition. Addition of seed crystals is found to suppress the formation of SOD-type zeolite, the primary phase at high hydrothermal synthesis temperatures, while it does not increase the crystallization rate of EAB-type zeolite. Furthermore, the crystallization behavior at 120 °C is examined by varying the synthesis time. EAB-type zeolite with invariably twinned plate-like morphology starts to crystallize between synthesis time of 3 to 6 h at 120 °C under the static synthesis condition.

Although copper is an effective heat-dissipation material, a material with a higher thermal conductivity is required to meet the demands of future electronics. Carbon materials (CMs) are of great interest owing to their excellent thermal conductivities; however, it is difficult to apply CMs individually because of their brittleness and low formability. CM/copper composites are expected to overcome these drawbacks. Diamond is of special interest for preparing composites because they do not require control of orientation owing to their isotropic thermal conductivity, but unfortunately, diamond and copper generally show poor interfacial adhesion. Therefore, designing an interface to improve their adhesion is essential to realizing high thermal conductivity. In this study, SiC-coated diamonds were adopted to fabricate diamond/copper composite platings by electrodeposition for the first time. Electrodeposition was carried out in a copper sulfate bath containing pristine and SiC-coated diamonds. The formation of SiC slightly decreased the current efficiency but did not significantly affect the diamond content of the plating. The sample with the nano-diamond/copper composite plating containing 1.07 mass% (2.72 vol%) of SiC-coated nano-diamonds exhibited a thermal conductivity 46 Wm−1 K−1 higher than that of the sample with pure copper plating. From observations of the diamond/copper interface using micron-sized diamonds as a model, an obvious gap was observed between the diamonds and the copper when using pristine diamonds, whereas no gaps were observed when using the SiC-coated diamonds. SiC formation significantly improved the adhesion between the diamonds and copper. In addition, copper was directly deposited onto the surfaces of the SiC-coated diamonds in contrast to pristine diamonds, which showed no sign of deposition.

Herein, we report the electrodeposition of a novel ternary Fe–W–Zn alloy. Ternary alloys with compositions of Fe–(29.08–35.96 at.%) W–(1.73–8.16 at.%) Zn were prepared by potentiostatic deposition in citrate–ammonia aqueous solution equipped with an anode chamber. The electrodeposition behavior of the ternary Fe–W–Zn alloys and the effect of the Zn addition were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and in situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurements. Ternary alloys with glossy appearances and smooth surface morphologies were fabricated, with a maximum current efficiency of approximately 43%. Incorporating Zn into the Fe–W alloy structure transformed the alloy structure into an amorphous-like nanocrystalline structure and refined the crystal size to a minimum of 1.45 nm. Potentiodynamic polarization test results showed that the corrosion resistance of the ternary Fe–W–Zn alloy with approximately 2 at.% Zn was distinctly improved compared to the binary Fe–W alloy, both in 1 M H2SO4 solution and neutral 3 mass% NaCl solution. Notably, the corrosion resistance was even better than Ni–W alloy in 1 M H2SO4 solution, with its unique passivation behavior. The incorporation of Zn was found to be effective for tuning the corrosion properties of Fe–W alloys.

Despite the excellent corrosion resistance and the widespread application of Zn-Ni plating in industrial fields, the toxicity of Ni to the human body has caused the demand for alternative plating that does not contain harmful elements. In this respect, ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating, which includes a third element Mo in binary Zn-Fe plating, has been considered as a promising alternative for Zn-Ni plating. In this study, the corrosion resistance of ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating was evaluated and compared with conventional Zn and Zn-Fe plating by impedance measurements and cyclic corrosion tests (CCT). Furthermore, formation of a multi-layer structure via additional Mo-oxide coating over the ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating was attempted to increase the corrosion resistance. Experimental results show that ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating has higher impedance but lower corrosion resistance for CCT and that the Mo-oxide coating significantly enhances the corrosion resistance of the ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating selectively by a factor of approximately 10. The role of the formation of multi-layer structure in improving the corrosion resistance of the ternary Zn-Fe-Mo plating is discussed through the structure change of the plating and the generated corrosion products.

Pure Mg films are laminated on hot-dip Zn-55Al-1.6Si-coated steel by physical vapor deposition. Ar gas pressure and deposition time are varied to control the crystal alignment and thickness of the Mg films. Potentiodynamic polarization tests, neutral salt spray tests (SST) and cyclic corrosion tests (CCT) are employed to evaluate the corrosion resistances of Mg laminated Zn-55Al-1.6Si-coated steel. The results show that lamination of Mg films enhance the corrosion resistance, especially against the cross-section by a factor of 2 to 10. The corrosion resistance is significantly affected by Mg film thickness. Polarization test results indicate that corrosion resistance of Mg films is slightly improved by crystal alignment against (101) plane. The effects of Mg films on corrosion process of Zn-55Al-1.6Si-coated steel are investigated via analysis of corrosion products formed during the SST and CCT. Lamination of Mg films seem to hinder the corrosion process by cathodic protection and formation of protective Mg corrosion products at defective areas through Mg ion migration while the underlying Zn-55Al-1.6Si coating protects steel substrate surface. The improvement in corrosion resistance under different corrosion environments of SST and CCT is explained by the transformation of Mg corrosion products from magnesium hydroxide to a more protective hydromagnesite.

In this study, Indonesia low rank coal, which has moisture content of around 26%, is dried less than 5% by using a laboratory-scale (batch type) steam fluidized-bed dryer in order to produce the low-moisture, high rank coal. Normally, CCS (carbon capture and storage) process discharges CO2 and steam mixture gas around 100-150 ℃ of temperature after regeneration reactor. The final purpose of this research is to dry low rank coal by using the outlet gas of CCS process. At this stage, steam is used as heat source for drying through the heat exchanger and CO2 is used as fluidizing gas to the dryer. The experimental variables were the steam flow rate ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 kg/hr, steam temperature ranging from 100 to 130 ℃, and bed height

This research explores the production of low-moisture, high-rank coal using a batch-type, laboratory-scale, circulating fluidized bed to dry low-rank Indonesian coal with a high moisture content of 35 wt%. The operation was performed using air as a fluidization gas in a riser (a 4-m-tall pipe with an inner diameter of 0.04 m) at a gas velocity ranging from 2.0 to 2.7 m/s and a riser temperature of 80 to 150°C. The electric heaters were installed in the upper part of a downcomer to prevent the condensation of the evaporated moist- ure. The drying rate of the coal was investigated in terms of the inlet gas temperature, the gas velocity, and the drying time in order to determine the optimum operating conditions. Changes in the moist- ure content of the coal, before and after the experiments, were char- acterized by a proximate analysis, an ultimate analysis, the higher heating value (HHV), the lower heating value (LHV), a particle size analysis, and by the equilibrium moisture content. The results show that ...

A number of countries are mixing wood biomass with coal in existing coal-fired power plants according to the implementation of renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and cap-and-trade systems; problems arise due to mixing of the two fuels which have different combustion reactivities. In the previous work, research on glycerol impregnated hybrid fuel (Hybrid Coal by Korea Institute of Energy Research; HCK) was conducted for the diversification of bioliquid and issues to be resolved through further study in the application of glycerol to Hybrid Coal were noted. As a solution, a hydrogel having a small quantity of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) added to glycerol was applied in the present work. PVA allowed the solidification of glycerol and contributed to the binding energy being stronger among glycerol derivatives and the surface of coal pore; thus, the fuel loss by readsorption of water can be inhibited by setting hydrogel into coal pores.

Upgrading low-rank coal (LRC) through various strategies is always an important issue. Here, we report the production of hybrid coals and an evaluation of their characteristics for use as a fuel in power plants. The hybrid coals (HCKs) were prepared by a combination of drying and biomass impregnation into an Indonesian LRC followed by a pre-carbonization process. We used a top-spray fluidized-bed reactor for drying, biomass impregnation, and pre-carbonization to produce hybrid coals that have improved fuel characteristics in terms of heating value, moisture re-adsorption, and combustion patterns. A systematic study reveals that experimental parameters, such as a bed temperature, bioliquid spraying procedure and pre-carbonization temperature strongly influence the characteristics of the resulting hybrid coal, meaning that they have an important role in upgrading LRC. In particular, the hybrid coal prepared by a process of simultaneous drying and bioliquid spraying followed by pre-carbonization at 200 ∼ 300°C showed high contents of fixed carbon, an improved heating value, lower moisture adsorption, and single combustion patterns in which the characteristics were dramatically upgraded for practical use as a fuel in power plants. In addition, the simultaneous process using a fluidized-bed reactor has great potential because it can achieve process simplification, reduce manufacturing costs, and handle coal particles easily.

The formation of spherical aggregates during the growth of cell population has long been observed under various conditions. We observed the formation of such aggregates during proliferation of Huh-7.5 cells, a human hepatocarcinoma cell line, in a microfabricated low-adhesion microwell system (SpheroFilm; formed of mass-producible silicone elastomer) on the length scales up to 500 μm. The cell proliferation was also tracked with immunofluorescence staining of F-actin and cell proliferation marker Ki-67. Meanwhile, our complementary 3D Monte Carlo simulations, taking cell diffusion and division, cell-cell and cell-scaffold adhesion, and gravity into account, illustrate the role of these factors in the formation of spheroids. Taken together, our experimental and simulation results provide an integrative view of the process of spheroid formation for Huh-7.5 cells.