The cost of cellulase enzymes has limited the feasibility of producing ethanol from fibrous biomass. Traditional submerged fermentation (SmF) was compared to an alternative method of producing cellulase, solid state cultivation (SSC). Results from an economic analysis indicated that the unit costs for cellulase enzyme production were $15.67 (The prices are all 2004 prices in this article, excep...

introduction radon is a colorless and tasteless gas which exists in most soils. it is a substance that poses a potential risk for lung cancer in case a person is exposed to high levels over long periods of time. the environmental protection agency (epa) estimates that 90% of lung cancers per year are caused by radon. the aim of this paper is to estimate the absorbed doses of 222rn by mcnpx simu...

The design and fabrication procedures for implementing a high-density (16-microm center spacing) single-mode fiber (SMF) array are described. The specific application for this array is a parallel optical coherence tomography system for endoscopic imaging. We obtained fiber elements by etching standard single-mode SMF-28 fibers to a diameter of 14-15 microm. We equalized 1-m lengths of fiber to ...

In several bacterial species that show natural transformation, dprA has been described as a competence gene. The DprA protein has been suggested to be involved in the protection of incoming DNA. However, members of the dprA gene family (also called smf) can be detected in virtually all bacterial species, which suggests that their gene products have a more general function. We examined the funct...

Catalytic purification of air containing 250 ppm of toluene assisted by non-thermal plasma was carried out with a novel dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor with an inner electrode made of sintered metal fibers (SMF). The optimization of the reactor performance was carried out by modifying the SMF with Mn and Co oxides, varying the voltage from 12.5 to 22.5 kVand the frequency in the rang...

The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the effect of subchronic exposure of rats to static magnetic field (SMF) and/or zinc treatment on the selected hematological and biochemical parameters. Metallothioneins (MT) and zinc content in kidney and liver were studied. The exposure of rats to SMF for 1h/day during 30 consecutive days induced an increase in hemoglobin concentration,...

BACKGROUND Unwanted submental fat (SMF) may result in an unattractive chin profile and dissatisfaction with appearance. An approved and rigorously tested non-surgical method for SMF reduction is lacking. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ATX-101 for the pharmacological reduction of unwanted SMF in a phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. METHODS Patient...

In this paper, a new alignment method based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is presented. The PSO algorithm is used for locating the optimal coupling position with the highest optical power with three-degrees of freedom alignment. This algorithm gives an interesting results without a need to go thru the complex mathematical modeling of the alignment system. The proposed algor...

In this investigation, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for measuring the refractive index (RI) of liquid organic chemicals. The scheme is based on a single-mode fiber (SMF) sensor and an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). Here, due to the different reflectance (R) between the SMF and organic liquid chemicals, the reflected power level of the backscattering light (BSL) ...

Recent research demonstrated that exposure of mice to both inhomogeneous (3-477 mT) and homogeneous (145 mT) static magnetic fields (SMF) generated an analgesic effect toward visceral pain elicited by the intraperitoneal injection of 0.6% acetic acid. In the present work, we investigated behavioral responses such as writhing, entry avoidance, and site preference with the help of a specially des...