Co-operative mineralization and protein self-assembly in amelogenesis: silica mineralization and assembly of recombinant amelogenins in vitro

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73342/1/j.1600-0722.2006.00288.x.pd

Amelogenin Nanoparticles in Suspension: Deviations from Spherical Shape and pH-Dependent Aggregation

It is well-known that amelogenin self-assembles to form nanoparticles, usually referred to as amelogenin nanospheres, despite the fact that not much is known about their actual shape in solution. In the current paper, we combine SAXS and DLS to study the three-dimensional shape of the recombinant amelogenins rP172 and rM179. Our results show for the first time that amelogenins build oblate nanoparticles in suspension using experimental approaches that do not require the proteins to be in contact with a support material surface. The SAXS studies give evidence for the existence of isolated amelogenin nano-oblates with aspect ratios in the range of 0.45-0.5 at pH values higher than pH 7.2 and show an aggregation of these nano-oblates at lower pH values. The role of the observed oblate shape in the formation of chain-like structures at physiological conditions is discussed as a key factor in the biomineralization of dental enamel

Thermoeconomic Analysis of a Solar Dish Micro Gas-turbine Combined-cycle Power Plant

AbstractA novel solar power plant concept is presented, based on the use of a coupled network of hybrid solar-dish micro gas-turbines, driving a centralized heat recovery steam generator and steam-cycle, thereby seeking to combine the high efficiency of the solar dish collector with a combined-cycle power block. A 150 MWe solar power plant was designed based on this concept and compared with both a conventional combined-cycle power plant and a hybrid solar-tower combined-cycle. The solar dish combined-cycle power plant could reach higher levels of solar integration than other concepts but was shown to be more expensive with current technology; solar electricity costs are double those of the hybrid solar-tower combined cycle

Integrated Design of a Hybrid Gas Turbine-receiver Unit for a Solar Dish System

AbstractAn integrated design concept of a 25 KWel hybrid gas turbine-receiver unit is introduced in this paper. In this design, hot sections(receiver, combustor and turbine) are integrated and located in the center of the unit in order to achieve a compact structure with low heat loss and cooling requirement. A ray tracing model is developed for analyzing the focal plane of the potential parabolic dish design and predicting the radiative flux boundary conditions of the receiver. An impinging cavity receiver, with a cylindrical absorber wall and a semi-spherical bottom, is chosen as the receiver for this hybrid unit. The cooling capacities of different impinging arrangements are calculated to determine the thermal boundary conditions on the cooling side. Finally, the optimal dimensions of the receiver are chosen as well as the impingement cooling design. A ‘single ring’ impinging array was found to be optimal for cooling down the wall temperature of the peak flux region to 1200°C and provide a receiver exit temperature of 840°C

Design and Validation of a Low-cost High-flux Solar Simulator using Fresnel Lens Concentrators

AbstractA systematic design procedure for a high flux solar simulator is presented in this paper. The 84 kWe solar simulator is based on an array of 12 commercially available xenon-arc lamps (each 7 kWe) coupled with silicone-on-glass Fresnel lenses as the optical concentrator. A ray-tracing model of the xenon lamp has been developed based on the real emitter shape and the Fresnel lens optics; simulations performed using a non-sequential Monte Carlo technique have been validated against experimental test data. The results show that 19.7kW of radiative power is delivered on a 200mm diameter target with and a peak flux of 6.73 MW/m2 and an electricity to radiative power efficiency of 23.4%. This research facility will be used as an experimental platform for high flux solar receiver and thermochemical reactor research, as well as for advanced high-temperature material testing

Surface-directed spinodal decomposition on a macroscopic scale in a nitrogen and carbon alloyed steel

Interactions with the macroscopic specimen surface can profoundly modify phase-separation processes. This has previously been observed in liquids and polymer films and is theoretically described by the theory of surface-directed spinodal decomposition (SDSD). Here we report first observations of SDSD in a metallic alloy on a macroscopic scale. The influence of the surface leads to the development of concentric domains extending over the whole 10 mm thick cylindrical steel specimen, due to long-range interactions via elastic stresses and long-range diffusion of the interstitial elements nitrogen and carbon

Technoeconomic Design of a Micro Gas-turbine for a Solar Dish System

AbstractAn integrated approach for the design of a custom-tailored hybrid solar MGT with an integrated solar receiver for the use in a small-scale solar dish unit is presented in order to overcome the inherent limitations of adapting a MGT in the desired power range to solar operation. The resulting MGT-dish equipped with the ‘optimal’ MGT shows a nominal conversion efficiency of 29.6%. Then, a thermoeconomic analysis of the entire system is performed to evaluate and compare the economic and environmental performance of the MGT-dish with a Dish-Stirling system. From an economical point of view the MGT-dish outperforms the dish-Stirling with LCoEs as low as 15.3€cts/kWhel compared to 22.4€cts/kWhel