Structure-Based Design and Preclinical Characterization of Selective and Orally Bioavailable Factor
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Liu, Hong.
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The presence of homoacetogenesis and hydrogen production-consumption loop significantly hinders the efficient hydrogen recovery in single chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). Furthermore, no effective inhibition method has been proposed against homoacetogens hitherto. In this study, we demonstrated the effectiveness of chloroform as a homoacetogen inhibitor in MECs. In small MECs (320 ml) operated in batch mode, chloroform with concentrations of 0.02% (v/v) and 0.03% (v/v) ceased homoacetogenesis with nonfermentable substrate (acetate), enhancing hydrogen yield and cathodic hydrogen recovery from 21% and 14% to 94% and 90%, respectively. Electrochemical performance was not significantly affected as current density (based on anode surface area) only decreased from 18 A/m 2 to 13 A/m 2 with chloroform concentration increased from 0% (v/v) to 0.03% (v/v). However, when using a fermentable substrate (glucose), the inhibition against homoacetogens by 0.01% (v/v) chloroform led to a significant decrease in current density possibly due to the decreased production of acetate, which reduced the substrate concentration for exoelectrogenesis. Nevertheless, in a larger MEC (10 L), using an immobilized sludge culture and higher glucose concentration (56mM), 0.02% (v/v) chloroform enhanced hydrogen production rate from 0 L/L/D to 4.9 L/L/D and current density from 12-16 A/m 2 to 18-21 A/m 2 . Microbial community analysis revealed that the amount of homoacetogenic Acetobacterium spp. was eliminated in the cathodic biofilms and planktonic cells by chloroform. Future improvement of this method, through reducing the residual chloroform concentration and developing more environment friendly inhibitor using similar mechanisms, may lead to the practical application in MECs.
Software-defined networking (SDN) has enabled elastic networking and resource distribution in cloud computing. The centralization and separation of the Control Plane also offers a high degree of network configurability and management, which can be used to mitigate and manage threats to the network. Space communication networks have historically been restricted and circuit switching in these networks has been a manual process. This study evaluates the potential role of SDN in space communication networks from a networking security standpoint. The evaluation covers the networking security needs of spacecraft missions and their associated assets. The results from the evaluation lead to a risk assessment that identifies vulnerabilities in an SDN-based communications architecture. Security challenges introduced into the network from integrating SDN are also considered. A risk register summarizes the severity of the attack outcomes, as well as occurrence likelihood. The study identifies Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks as a new threat (presently unmitigated by existing security controls) that would be prevalent in an SDN-based space communication environment. A Mininet-based emulation testbed is built to demonstrate the susceptibility of spacecraft flight software to a flooding DoS attack when on an interconnected SDN-managed network. This type of attack would be highly consequential to mission assets, and therefore SDN-based space communications would need to be resilient to such attacks. Future work will need to be performed to fully characterize DoS attack methods that can apply to the space communication scenario, as well as to devise a comprehensive DoS-resilient solution.
This report describes the range of activities performed during the annual reporting period in support of the NASA Code O Success Team - Lifecycle Effectiveness for Strategic Success (COST LESS) team. The overall goal of the COST LESS team is to redefine success in a constrained fiscal environment and reduce the cost of success for end-to-end mission operations. This goal is more encompassing than the original proposal made to NASA for reducing complexity of NASA's Space Communications Infrastructure. The COST LESS team approach for reengineering the space operations infrastructure has a focus on reversing the trend of engineering special solutions to similar problems.