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The pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains incompletely understood. In previous studies, we observed the activation of Tyr kinase Src by high glucose (HG) and showed that Src is required for MAPK activation and synthesis of collagen IV in cultured rat mesangial cells (MCs). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also important mediators of DN, and our present study aimed to investigate the role of Src in HG-induced ROS generation. In MCs, we found that HG led to ROS accumulation that was blocked by Src inhibitors or Src-specific siRNA. Downstream of Src, Vav2 was phosphorylated/activated leading to Rac1-dependent NADPH oxidase activation. Long-term HG exposure resulted in Src-dependent Nox4 protein induction. Nox2-specific siRNA abrogated ROS production only in short-term HG, while Nox4-specific siRNA blocked ROS production only in long-term HG. Taken together, our data indicate Src to be important in mediating ROS generation from both Nox2- and Nox4-containing NADPH oxidases.

The pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains incompletely understood. In previous studies, we observed the activation of Tyr kinase Src by high glucose (HG) and showed that Src is required for MAPK activation and synthesis of collagen IV in cultured rat mesangial cells (MCs). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also important mediators of DN, and our present study aimed to investigate the role of Src in HG-induced ROS generation. In MCs, we found that HG led to ROS accumulation that was blocked by Src inhibitors or Src-specific siRNA. Downstream of Src, Vav2 was phosphorylated/activated leading to Rac1-dependent NADPH oxidase activation. Long-term HG exposure resulted in Src-dependent Nox4 protein induction. Nox2-specific siRNA abrogated ROS production only in short-term HG, while Nox4-specific siRNA blocked ROS production only in long-term HG. Taken together, our data indicate Src to be important in mediating ROS generation from both Nox2- and Nox4-containing NADPH oxidases.

Bibliography: leaves 167-176. / viii, 176 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / This thesis aims to attach dyes to amino acids in a protein. The study examines the 1,4-addition (Michael type) of the nucleophilic groups present in a protein onto a conjugated alkyne reactive group bound to a dye moiety. The initial studies examine the reactivity of individual amino acids with nucleophilic side chains which are common in proteins towards conjugated alkynes. The second stage of the project requires the synthesis of a series of compounds such as those where a dye is attached to a conjugated alkyne via a spacer unit. The reactivity of these compounds with the individual amino acids is studied, as well as the attachment of compounds of this type to, initially, short peptides, and later to a protein such as wool. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Chemistry, 1997?

Bibliography: leaves 167-176. / viii, 176 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / This thesis aims to attach dyes to amino acids in a protein. The study examines the 1,4-addition (Michael type) of the nucleophilic groups present in a protein onto a conjugated alkyne reactive group bound to a dye moiety. The initial studies examine the reactivity of individual amino acids with nucleophilic side chains which are common in proteins towards conjugated alkynes. The second stage of the project requires the synthesis of a series of compounds such as those where a dye is attached to a conjugated alkyne via a spacer unit. The reactivity of these compounds with the individual amino acids is studied, as well as the attachment of compounds of this type to, initially, short peptides, and later to a protein such as wool. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Chemistry, 1997?

Reactive distillation has enormous potential for the economical synthesis of tertiary ethers. Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has been commercially produced with this technology since the early 1980s and it appears that the process also has application for Ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and other ethers. However, the combination of reaction and distillation in a single unit operation produces a process complexity that inhibits expeditious design and tight control, and presents a technology risk for potential developers. This particularly applies to hybrid reactive distillation where both reactive and non-reactive column sections are employed.The steady state simulation of a series of reactive distillation columns and processes for the production of ETBE and MTBE illuminated a number of important issues related to the optimal design techniques. Many of these issues are peculiar to reactive distillation and would not reasonably be anticipated without a priori knowledge of the phenomena involved. For example, the addition of theoretical equilibrium stages and an increase in the reflux ratio do not always have a directionally equivalent effect. The trade-off between energy consumption and capital cost which is the basis for most distillation designs cannot always be applied to reactive distillation. Importantly, the use of standard modelling techniques for equilibrium processes was also validated for reactive distillation design.The use of residue curve diagrams and reactive residue curve diagrams for the design of reactive distillation processes was investigated and shown to provide useful information regarding the feasibility of reaction-separations. Combined with simulation tools (e.g. Pro/II and SpeedUp), these techniques form the basis of a proposed design strategy for hybrid reactive distillation. It is important to apply these design tools appropriately and to ++ / select the correct process for a given application. The optimal design must also consider economics and the relative values of products, reactants and energy. These issues were studied with respect to ETBE production for gasoline oxygenation.The complexity of hybrid reactive distillation not only presents design challenges but potentially makes the process more difficult to control. Dynamic simulations of ETBE and MTBE reactive distillation processes were used to explore some unusual dynamic phenomena and to elucidate the process non-linearity and bidirectionality of reactive distillation. The presence of multiple steady states for some reactive distillation columns has been documented previously but the analysis of this behaviour has been incomplete and somewhat flawed. It was shown that the distinction between molar inputs and physically realisable mass or volumetric inputs is crucial and that multiplicity could be present in one case and not in the other. Multiplicity that is only observed with molar inputs (relatively common) was termed pseudo-multiplicity. Pseudo-multiplicity has few implications for the operation and control of practical reactive distillation processes although most literature examples of multiple steady states fall into this category. Four distinct causes of output multiplicity were identified including one new cause, reaction hysteresis, which is only applicable to hybrid reactive distillation. It was shown, using dynamic simulations, that transitions between parallel steady states are possible for a range of physically realisable and practical disturbances. This contrasts with other work in the area, which examines only unrealisable events and control schemes.An extensive analysis of reactive distillation control was also undertaken with respect to ETBE and MTBE hybrid columns. Manual (open-loop) control was shown to be impractical due to ++ / the need to sustain the operating conditions at close to the optimal values in order to produce acceptable process performance. One-point composition control was found to be relatively easy to implement and effective with either an energy-balance or a material-balance control scheme provided only one steady state was present. Where multiple steady states exist, there are restrictions on the feasible control structures due to unavoidable instability in the inventory controllers. For example, if multiple steady states exist for the one value of the reboiler duty, only the bottoms product draw rate can be used to control the reboiler sump level. Thus, a material-balance control structure that uses the reboiler duty to control the sump level cannot be implemented in practice. Two-point control was also investigated and found to effectively prevent transitions between parallel steady states. Although more complex and difficult to implement than one-point control, a two-point scheme could be used successfully to control both the product composition and the reactant conversion and this could be desirable in some cases.A reactive distillation pilot plant was designed and operated for ETBE synthesis from ethanol and a locally available refinery hydrocarbon stream. The design of the pilot plant was based on simulation studies and the objective of operating in the industrially significant ranges of product purity and isobutene conversion. A fully automatic control system was designed and installed on the pilot plant to permit precise control of the manipulated variables and the framework to implement a range of control structures and schemes.Keywords: reactive distillation; process simulation; process design; process control; dynamic simulation; multiplicity; bidirectionality; distillation control; inferential control; pilot plant design and operation.

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2006. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary P. Miles. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-66).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Typescript. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 43 pages. Includes Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική πραγματεύεται τη διόρθωση του συντελεστή ισχύος με διάταξη αντιστάθμισης που περιλαμβάνει πυκνωτές οι οποίοι τροφοδοτούνται από ζεύγος αντιπαράλληλων θυρίστορ. Η διάταξη αυτή τοποθετείται παράλληλα με το φορτίο και στόχος είναι να επιτευχθεί πλήρης αντιστάθμιση της άεργου ισχύος παλμοδοτώντας κατάλληλα τα ελεγχόμενα ημιαγωγικά στοιχεία. Τα ημιαγωγικά στοιχεία που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν, δηλαδή τα θυρίστορ, έχουν υπολογιστεί και επιλεγεί με βάση τις προδιαγραφές της διάταξης που έπρεπε να κατασκευαστεί. Η εργασία αυτή εκπονήθηκε στο Εργαστήριο Ηλεκτρομηχανικής Μετατροπής Ενέργειας του Τμήματος Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Τεχνολογίας Υπολογιστών της Πολυτεχνικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Σκοπός είναι η μελέτη της λειτουργικής συμπεριφοράς διατάξεων που χρησιμοποιούνται για τη μείωση της άεργου ισχύος που παράγεται από τη λειτουργία εξοπλισμού μεσαίων και μεγάλων καταναλωτών. Η άεργος ισχύς προκύπτει είτε από τη διαφορά φάσεως της βασικής αρμονικής του ρεύματος με την τάση του δικτύου, που οφείλεται στη φύση του φορτίου, είτε από την ύπαρξη ανώτερων αρμονικών όταν έχουμε μη ημιτονοειδείς κυματομορφές τάσης και ρεύματος, δηλαδή στην περίπτωση που έχουμε διακοπτικά στοιχεία. Αποτέλεσμα της δημιουργίας άεργου ισχύος είναι η επιβάρυνση του δικτύου, λόγω επιπρόσθετων απωλειών και κατ’ επέκταση η οικονομική επιβάρυνση του καταναλωτή. Αρχικά έγινε διερεύνηση της λειτουργικής συμπεριφοράς του κυκλώματος και αποφασίσθηκε να προσομοιωθεί χρησιμοποιώντας το λογισμικό προσομοίωσης του Matlab, το Simulink. Η προσομοίωση γενικά παρέχει τη δυνατότητα εξοικονόμησης χρόνου, εφόσον είναι συνήθως ευκολότερη η μελέτη της επίδρασης μιας παραμέτρου στη συμπεριφορά του συστήματος σε σύγκριση με την πραγματοποίηση της ίδιας μελέτης στο εργαστήριο. Ως πρώτο βήμα της διαδικασίας προσομοίωσης μελετήθηκε η αξιοπιστία των μετρητικών διατάξεων που περιλαμβάνονται στη βιβλιοθήκη του λογισμικού. Διαπιστώθηκε ότι ενώ για ημιτονοειδή μεγέθη τα αποτελέσματα είναι ακριβή, για μη ημιτονοειδή μεγέθη είναι ανακριβή. Για το λόγο αυτό αναπτύχθηκαν μετρητικές διατάξεις ενεργού, άεργου και φαινόμενης ισχύος στο περιβάλλον του Matlab, Simulink. Στη συνέχεια έγινε προσομοίωση της διάταξης αντιστάθμισης της άεργου ισχύος με πυκνωτές όπου αναδεικνύεται η ανάγκη χρήσης πυκνωτών διαφορετικής τιμής, καθώς το φορτίο μεταβάλλεται. Κατόπιν έγινε διερεύνηση της λειτουργίας με πυκνωτές ελεγχόμενους από διακόπτες, στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση θυρίστορ, μέσω του προγράμματος προσομοίωσης ηλεκτρικών κυκλωμάτων Simulink του Matlab. Ερευνήθηκε η λειτουργία της διάταξης με ωμικό και ωμικό επαγωγικό φορτίο, και με διαφορετικές γωνίες έναυσης. Τα τέλος έγινε προσομοίωση της υπό μελέτη διάταξης και ο καθορισμός και η δοκιμή της φιλοσοφίας ελέγχου . Για την επιβεβαίωση των αποτελεσμάτων της προσομοίωσης κρίθηκε απαραίτητη η κατασκευή πειραματικής διάταξης. Για το λόγο αυτό σχεδιάστηκαν και υλοποιήθηκαν: α) το κύκλωμα ισχύος και όλα τα απαραίτητα περιφερειακά για τη λειτουργία του 10 β) το κύκλωμα παλμοδότησης γ) η πλακέτα του μικροεπεξεργαστή Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δόθηκε στο κύκλωμα ανίχνευσης του μηδενός, καθώς η τάση πάνω στα θυρίστορ είναι μη ημιτονοειδές μέγεθος. Το επόμενο βήμα ήταν η κατασκευή των προγραμμάτων παλμοδότησης για το μικροεπεξεργαστή. Ο μικροεπεξεργαστής που χρησιμοποιήθηκε είναι ο dsPIc30F4011 της Microchip. Αρχικά κατασκευάστηκε ένα απλό πρόγραμμα παλμοδότησης για τον έλεγχο της σωστής λειτουργίας της διάταξης και κατόπιν το πρόγραμμα που χρησιμοποιήσαμε για τη βέλτιστη δυνατή αντιστάθμιση. Τέλος έγιναν οι μετρήσεις στο εργαστήριο έχοντας προς αντιστάθμιση ένα RL φορτίο στο οποίο μεταβάλλαμε την αντίσταση και ως εκ τούτου τις τιμές της παρεχόμενης ισχύος. / -

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Revisión por pares