Male reproductive competition can select for condition-dependent, conspicuous traits that signal some aspect of fighting ability and facilitate assessment of potential rivals. However, the underlying mechanisms that link the signal to a male’s current condition are difficult to investigate in wild populations, often requiring invasive experimental manipulation. Here, we use digital photographs and chest skin samples to investigate mechanisms of a visual signal used in male competition in a wild primate, the red chest patch in geladas (Theropithecus gelada). We analyzed photographs collected during natural (n=144) and anesthetized conditions (n=38) to understand variability in male and female chest redness, and we used chest skin biopsies (n=38) to explore sex differences in gene expression. Male and female geladas showed similar average redness, but males exhibited a wider within-individual range in redness under natural conditions. These sex differences were reflected at the molecular level, with 10.5% of genes exhibiting significant sex differences in expression. Subadult males exhibited intermediate gene expression patters between adult males and females, pointing to mechanisms underlying the development of the red chest patch. We found that genes more highly expressed in males were associated with blood vessel development and maintenance but not with androgen or estrogen activity. Together, our results suggest male gelada redness variability is driven by increased blood vessel branching in the chest skin, providing a potential link between male chest redness and current condition as increased blood circulation to exposed skin could lead to heat loss in the cold, high-altitude environment of geladas.

Quantifying floodplain flows is critical to multiple river management objectives, yet how vegetation within floodplains dissipates flow energy lacks comprehensive characterization. Utilizing over 3.4 million discharge measurements, in conjunction with aboveground biomass and canopy height measurements from NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), this study characterizes the floodplain roughness coefficient Manning’s n and its determinates across the continental United States. Estimated values of n show that flow resistance in floodplains decreases as flow velocity increases but increases with the fraction of vegetation inundated. A new function (RMSE = 0.024, r2 = 0.74) is proposed for predicting n based on GEDI vegetation characteristics and flow velocity, with GEDI derived n values improving predictions of discharge relative to those based only on land cover. This analysis provides evidence of key hydraulic patterns of energy dissipation in floodplains, and integration of the proposed function into flood and habitat models may reduce uncertainty.

This work aimed to report a rare case of a non-calcifying Pindborg Tumor involving the right mandible. The absence of calcifications in the calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor presents a diagnostic challenge and prognostic implications. A literature review of the sixteen reported clinical cases of this scarce variant was performed.

On June 26-28, 2020, the International Conference on Software and Systems Processes (ICSSP 2020) and the International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE 2020) were held in virtual settings during the first year of the COVID pandemic. Several submissions to the joint event have been selected for inclusion in this special issue, focusing on impactful and timely contributions to Machine Learning (ML). At present, many in our field are enthusiastic about the potential of ML, yet some risks should not be casually overlooked or summarily dismissed. Each ML implementation is subtly different from any other implementation, and the risk profile varies greatly based on the approach adopted and the implementation context. The ICSSP/ICGSE 2020 Program Committees have encouraged submissions that explore the risks and benefits associated with ML so that the important discussion regarding ML efficacy and advocacy can be further elaborated. Four contributions have been included in this special issue.

A 31-year-old female previously known case of lupus nephritis , presented with feverish feeling and headache for 2 weeks and abdominal pain for 5 days. Extra Pulmonary(Genital) TB was diagnosed after radiological and histological examination. Successful treatment was done with quadruple therapy and low-dose steroids.

In this paper, we investigate an efficient technique for solving fractional differential equations (FDEs). The proposed technique is based upon Legendre polynomials to construct reproducing kernel spaces, the ε-approximate method is presented in space, and stability and convergence analysis are given by analyzing the condition number of the matrix of the linear system. Finally, comparison with the existing algorithm by the numerical experiments illustrates that efficiency and stability of the proposed method.

A 65-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease (PD) underwent spine surgery under general anesthesia, 13 hours after the last medication for PD. Postoperatively, negative pressure pulmonary edema developed following upper airway obstruction, a possible complication of PD. Oxygenation improved with high-flow nasal cannula therapy. Continued medication might have prevented such complications.

A document by Ayah El-Qaderi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background: Pruritus has been reported as an adverse drug reaction to arsenic trioxide, but the association of arsenic exposure with pruritus has not been systematically investigated. To investigate the association of arsenic exposure with pruritus, we performed observational, interventional, and Mendelian randomization studies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Shimen, China. A Mendelian randomization study was conducted to confirm the causal relationship between susceptibility to arsenic toxicity, in terms of genetically predicted percentages of monomethylated arsenic (MMA%) and dimethylated arsenic (DMA%) in urine, and chronic pruritus in the UK Biobank participants. Then, a case-control study in Shimen participants was conducted to determine the biomarker for pruritus, and arsenite-treated mice were used to confirm the biomarker. Last, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of naloxone, a μ-opioid receptor antagonist, in arsenic-exposed patients with pruritus in Shimen. Results: Hair arsenic showed a dose-response relationship with the intensity of itch in 1092 participants. The Mendelian randomization analysis confirmed the causal relationship in the UK Biobank participants, with odds ratios of 1.043 for MMA% and 0.904 for DMA% above versus under median. Serum β-endorphin was identified as a significant biomarker associated with the intensity of itch. Consistently, treatment with arsenite in mice upregulated the level of β-endorphin. The randomized controlled trial showed that treatment with sublingual naloxone significantly relieved the intensity of itch in arsenic-exposed participants. Conclusion: Arsenic exposure is associated with pruritus, and β-endorphin serves as a biomarker of pruritus. Naloxone relieves pruritus in patients with [arseniasis](javascript:;).

Aim: This research aimed to study the association of drug interactions and sociodemographic, clinical, and functional characteristics in nonagenarians with hyperpolypharmacy. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of an evaluation performed by the Multiprofessional Care for the Oldest-old Project in 2016, with participants identified with hyperpolypharmacy. Results: Results revealed that 69% of 29 participants had at least one major drug interaction, 41% had 10 or more moderate interactions, and 59% had minor interactions. The study revealed significant relationships for major drug interactions with the characteristics of recurrent urinary tract infections, anxiety, and palpitations. The study found near significance for white color, not good general health and appetite, depression, and impaired cognition. For moderate drug interaction, findings showed a relationship near significance for females, perception of not good general health and appetite, hypertension, diabetes, urinary infection, depression scale change, agitation, pain, fatigue, and a fear of falling. For minor drug interactions, the study revealed significant findings for an association with depression, and apathy or sleepiness. There were findings near significance for an association with white color, diabetes, agitation, pain, fatigue, and cough. Conclusion: Drug interactions are highly prevalent among nonagenarians with hyperpolypharmacy, with clinical and quality of life impact. Thus they must be constantly evaluated for the presence of drug interactions at all levels of care, whether in primary care or in specialized care. A study with larger sample size and longitudinal contour is proposed to prove the importance of our observations.

Objectives: To evaluate whether preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) can improve pregnancy and neonatal outcomes for patients with limited good-quality embryos. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: University hospital. Population: A total of 1,553 patients who intended to pursue PGT-A for the first time but obtained only two or less good-quality embryos on day 3 after oocyte retrieval were divided into two groups: 997 in the PGT-A group and 556 in the drop-out group of withdrawing PGT-A due to poor embryological outcome. Results: After adjusting for potential confounding factors, PGT-A group exhibited significantly lower cumulative rates of biochemical pregnancy (19.96% vs. 30.22%, P-adj < 0.001), clinical pregnancy (17.55% vs. 23.38%, P-adj < 0.001) and live birth (14.14% vs. 16.19%, P-adj = 0.005) per oocyte retrieval and longer median time to pregnancy and live birth compared with drop-out group. However, significant increases in rates of biochemical pregnancy (72.16% vs. 35.50%, P-adj < 0.001), clinical pregnancy (61.86% vs. 26.98%, P-adj < 0.001), and live birth (48.45 vs. 18.26%, P-adj < 0.001) per transfer were found in the PGT-A group. No significant differences were observed in cumulative miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy rates, number of ETs needed per live birth and neonatal outcomes. Conclusion: PGT-A failed to improve cumulative live birth rate or shorten time to pregnancy, but optimized pregnancy outcomes per transfer for patients with limited good-quality embryos. Keywords: preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy, cumulative live birth rate, live birth rate per transfer, neonatal outcomes

Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with heart failure associated with a reduced EF (HFrEF) was associated with a significantly lower rate of a composite endpoint of death from any cause or hospitalization for worsening heart failure (HF) than medical therapy in the CASTLE-AF trial. In patients with HF and also with a preserved EF (HFpEF), AF is known to be associated with increased mortality. Although the particular benefit in patients with an EF >35% may suggest the need for prospective randomized control trial data in patients with HF to assess the role of ablation as a first-line therapy as Sessions AJ, et al. stated, we believe at present that 1) whether there is structural heart disease detected by cardiac images and 2) whether the left atrial voltage is generally low, should be assessed “before ablation” in each patient with HF to achieve a successful ablation.

A high-throughput image analysis pipeline was developed to facilitate root phenotyping by reducing time-consuming labeling while maintaining phenotyping accuracy. This pipeline leverages a deep learning-based tool named SLEAP (SLEAP Estimates Animal Poses) which is designed to automate the detection of distinct morphological landmarks. By training SLEAP to detect the root branch points, tips, and midline of each root imaged in a gel cylinder, we were able to robustly and efficiently recover the root system geometry. We trained models to identify these landmarks on primary, lateral, and seminal roots across a range of crop plants, including soybean, rice, canola, and pennycress. We find that our SLEAP models are robust across genotypes and experiments, enabling automated root system quantification at the rate of hundreds of plants per hour. Using predictions of root landmark locations, we developed Python-based pipelines to extract phenotypic traits, including tip depths, root lengths, convex hulls, root angles, measures of curviness, and lateral root distribution (available at https://github.com/talmolab/sleap-roots). In order to extract meaningful patterns from this high-dimensional description of plant phenotypes, we use machine learning-based methods for dimensionality reduction and manifold embedding, allowing us to capture the statistical structure of root phenotypes present in our screens. In future work, we will use these quantitative phenotypic traits as a predictor for root system traits that enhance carbon sequestration capabilities in genome-wide association studies.

Yeongtae Kim, Nyunhee Kim, Eunsook An, Younguk kim, JaeYoung Kim, Chaewon Lee, JeongHo Baek, HwangWeon Jeong, Hyenso Ji, Song Lim Kim

Jinjeong Lee, Su Jung Ra, Sung Mi Kim, Eunhee Kim, Myeong-Jin Kang,

Approaches to Medication Review and Care Integration in IranMahdi Dankoub1,21 School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran2 School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDear Editor,I have read with interest the study by Payen et al who focused on medication review (MR) as an integrated care intervention (ICI) (1). They assessed association of this intervention with shifts in two important healthcare outcome and in turn health impact variables. Their study demonstrated that, among hospitalized older adults (HOA), MR did not coincide a decrease in the mean number of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). However, it was associated with a significant reduction in the number of hospital readmissions at 30 days.Based on two studies of pharmacy prescriptions in Tehran, the overall prevalence of PIMs among the elderly was estimated to be between 26% in 2014 and 31.2% in 2017.(2, 3). These colleagues also considered related factors in their sub-group analyses. PIMs was significantly higher among general practitioners (GPs) than among medical specialists. Benzodiazepines and pain killers were the two drug classes most frequently misprescribed. PIMs affected the elderly with health insurance more frequently compared with those without, but it was not statistically significant. In the case of the continuation of these PIM trends in our country, it seems that our health policy makers could greatly benefit from the findings in Payen et al investigation. In other words, ICIs and in particular MR could be used to improve the prescribing habits of entire Iranian doctors which work within a largely “fragmented” rather than “integrated” health care environments.In March 2019, the international Medication Use Review (MUR) network, consisting of 11 countries including Iran, was launched to look further at the opportunities for optimizing medication use and ensuring medication safety at three levels amongst patients at risk of polypharmacy (4). According to this MUR, factors which had more impact included access to electronic lists of medicines as well as medical records. On the other hand, barriers to medication safety included unfamiliarity with those electronic facilities amongst physicians, pharmacists and patients. Other barriers cited in this review were: inappropriate health financing models, insufficient workforce collaboration and high workload and forms of poor health infrastructure (4).Since older people are frequently exposed to polypharmacy and adverse drug events, MR which facilitates shared decision-making could be used for treatment recommendations (5). Dautzenberg et al. demonstrated that MR in isolation did not significantly reduce hospital readmissions. They showed however that whenever this ICI was combined with other interventions such as medication reconciliation, patient education, professional education, and transitional care, it was associated with a lower risk of hospital readmissions.(6) Another Iranian investigation sheds light on the other side of the matter nonetheless. This study of the elderly users of primary health centers in Tehran concluded that in any reform for making healthcare more integrated, priority should be given to medication use awareness (7). They also emphasize on the importance of applying educational strategies that are more suitable and hence influential in making the elderly aware of PIM risks (7).Based on these findings, it appears that despite several organizational obstacles, key stakeholders in Iran are increasingly exploring the untouched potentials and possibilities of ICIs.1. Payen A, Godard-Sebillotte C, Sourial N, Soula J, Verloop D, Defebvre M-M, et al. The impact of including a medication review in an integrated care pathway: A pilot study. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2022.2. Saboor M, Kamrani AA, Momtaz YA, Sahaf R. Prevalence and associated factors of potentially inappropriate medications among Iranian older adults. Med Glas (Zenica). 2019;16(1):121-7.3. Kargar M, Atrianfar F, Rashidian A, Heidari K, Noroozian M, Gholami K, et al. Prescribing for geriatrics in Tehran; is it appropriate and rational? Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2019;33:143.4. Tuula A, Volmer D, Jõhvik L, Rutkovska I, Trečiokienė I, Merks P, et al. Factors Facilitating and Hindering Development of a Medication Use Review Service in Eastern Europe and Iran-Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study. Healthcare (Basel). 2021;9(9).5. Beuscart JB, Pelayo S, Robert L, Thevelin S, Marien S, Dalleur O. Medication review and reconciliation in older adults. Eur Geriatr Med. 2021;12(3):499-507.6. Dautzenberg L, Bretagne L, Koek HL, Tsokani S, Zevgiti S, Rodondi N, et al. Medication review interventions to reduce hospital readmissions in older people. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021;69(6):1646-58.7. Ziaeefar H, Tajvar M, Yaseri M, Pourreza A. Evaluation of Elderly’s Integrated Healthcare components in primary healthcare centers of Tehran, Iran. J Educ Health Promot. 2021;10:222.

Ziling Chen1, Jialei Wang2, Xuan Li1, Jian Jin1

Mutations at positions 452 and 486 of the spike glycoprotein receptor binding domain (RBD) in the SARS-CoV-2 XBC.1 variant were analysed from the viewpoint of change in hydrophobicity and amino acid charge. A decrease in hydrophobicity due to mutations at positions 452 and 486 in the spike glycoprotein was observed, which might affect the infectivity of the XBC.1 variant. L452M and F486P improve the hACE2-RBD binding affinity, which might negatively impact the efficacy of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, primarily based on spike glycoprotein. Notably, the mutation L452M in XBC.1 also indicates its probable zoonotic links.

Compute-in-memory (CIM) architecture is an effective way to reduce the energy efficiency of convolutional neural networks (DNNs). This letter presents a time-domain compute-in-memory design based on pulse width modulation. Unique-weight convolution method is proposed for multi-bits convolutional operations. A time-charge domain quantizer is also presented to quantify the computation pulses of multi-rows in parallel. Fabricated in 28nm CMOS technology, this design achieves 56.9% and 67.3% accuracy, 59.84Tops/W and 67.45Tops/W energy efficiency for 1-8-b AlexNet and VGG16, respectively.

Recent advancements in proximal remote sensing have increased the spatial and temporal resolution of data collection, as well as the availability of these technologies for applications to precision agriculture. These sensors have allowed the collection of new and large quantities of data, which have been used to successfully determine phenotypes and parametrize crop growth models. So far, these data streams have been mostly used separately, though they contain unique structural, spatial, and spectral information. Thus, this research aims to integrate these disparate data sources to improve estimations of agronomically important crop traits. In this study, we examine two high-throughput and relatively inexpensive remote platforms: unoccupied ground vehicles (UGV) and unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAV). Data were collected on maize hybrids from the Genomes to Fields initiative over 5 years, from 2018 to 2022, in Aurora, NY. We used ground rovers to collect lidar scans, which were converted to point clouds, to construct the three-dimensional sub-canopy architecture of maize plants. Multispectral sensors, covering red, green, blue, red-edge, and near infrared (NIR) were deployed on a UAV platform to characterize maize canopies. Machine learning methods, including autoencoders, will be used to extract latent phenotypes from the lidar point clouds and multispectral images. Ultimately, these will be used to predict manually measured traits, such as yield, in order to compare the prediction accuracies of models using these measurements separately and jointly.  

Paranoid individuals have restricted abilities to test their beliefs for reality. Among them are writers touting mysterious theories. Certain war instigators are paranoid in their tendency to present themselves as liberators, world saviors etc. Paranoiacs may be aggressive against delusional goals. Some mentally healthy people are susceptible to paranoid appeals, a predisposing condition being fear of strangers and projection of hatred upon them. The projection mechanism in some individuals is the aberration of shame. Being unable to tolerate shame, they project it onto others. Repressed shame may cause aggression. This review applies the above considerations to the conflict in Ukraine. Among others, the lack of knowledge about other countries, misleading propaganda, suppressed envy and shame contribute to hostility against welfare states. Some topics discussed here are associated with shame, reflected by the comparatively low life expectancy and world highest abortion rate in Russia. In this connection, drawbacks of the healthcare are discussed here. If the global power shifts to Russia, it will come along with losses of certain values. The quality of many services, products and foodstuffs will decline. Autocratic management style will spread also in the healthcare and science. If the world is becoming multicentric, armed conflicts of various magnitudes may become permanent. There would be a vicious circle of overpopulation and homicide. International tensions provide motives for birth rate elevation: the demographic growth is believed to strengthen defenses and sovereignty. Environmental damage and exhaustion of non-renewable resources are proportional to the population size. The only thinkable alternative is a global leadership centered in most developed parts of the world. Among advantages of globalization are the ecological and demographic management, prevention of conflicts and warfare. Large projects could be accomplished by the globalized humankind to improve the life quality of billions, creating many jobs, being a reasonable alternative to excessive military expenditures. Confidence-building measures, international trust and reliability are needed. Instead of machismo and militarism, propaganda should popularize the image of scrupulous and hardworking people. Ukraine must become a testing ground for the international cooperation.

A document by Shuyu Wu. Click on the document to view its contents.

The on-chip extraction of dynamic information from a scene can be addressed with either frame-based CMOS vision, also called smart image sensors, or with dynamic vision sensors, also known as event cameras. When implemented with a pinned photodiode (PPD) as 4-transistor active pixel sensors (4T-APS) the former brings about the benefit of low temporal noise and dark current but without high dynamic range (HDR). The latter comes with the benefits of HDR and fast event detection rate at a low power consumption. The drawback is the background activity noise, which leads to additional hardware or algorithms to keep it low. In essence, the taxonomy of dynamic information extraction with image sensors is that of global shutter solutions and event cameras, each of which with their pros and cons. This paper digs in such differences and similarities focused on mismatch and noise through a global shutter 4T-APS implementation with local HDR incorporated in 180 nm CMOS technology vs conventional logarithmic event sensors found in the literature.

The present study is focused primarily upon the fluid mechanics of microchannel reactors for synthesis gas production. The effect of surface features on the reactor performance is explored for the steam reforming reaction. The conversion rate is used to compare the reactor performance of different configurations. For the purpose of comparison, a baseline case is modeled which is a straight channel of the same dimensions as those for the cases with surface features in terms of channel length, channel width, and gap size. The reactor performance with surface features is quantitatively measured using different enhancement factors. The results indicate that the surface features are preferably at oblique angles, neither parallel nor perpendicular to the direction of net flow past a surface. Flow boiling can achieve very high convective heat transfer coefficients, and that coupled with the isothermal fluid allows the heat transfer wall to remain at quasi-constant temperature along the flow direction. Due to the existence of vapor slugs, severe flow and pressure oscillation may occur in microchannel boiling. Critical heat flux occurs when the temperature difference reaches a point where the heat transfer rate changes from nucleate and bubbly flow to local dry out and gas phase resistance starts to dominate heat transfer. As the momentum is increased at higher Reynolds numbers, the relative vorticity or angular force to spin the fluid also increases and thus the number of contacts or collisions with or near the active surface feature walls is also increased. The performance enhancement of the active surface features relative to a corresponding featureless or flat or smooth wall is typically improved as the residence time is decreased.Fluid mechanics of microchannel reactors for synthesis gas productionJunjie ChenDepartment of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, 454000, P.R. ChinaCorresponding author, E-mail address: cjjtpj@163.comAbstractThe present study is focused primarily upon the fluid mechanics of microchannel reactors for synthesis gas production. The effect of surface features on the reactor performance is explored for the steam reforming reaction. The conversion rate is used to compare the reactor performance of different configurations. For the purpose of comparison, a baseline case is modeled which is a straight channel of the same dimensions as those for the cases with surface features in terms of channel length, channel width, and gap size. The reactor performance with surface features is quantitatively measured using different enhancement factors. The results indicate that the surface features are preferably at oblique angles, neither parallel nor perpendicular to the direction of net flow past a surface. Flow boiling can achieve very high convective heat transfer coefficients, and that coupled with the isothermal fluid allows the heat transfer wall to remain at quasi-constant temperature along the flow direction. Due to the existence of vapor slugs, severe flow and pressure oscillation may occur in microchannel boiling. Critical heat flux occurs when the temperature difference reaches a point where the heat transfer rate changes from nucleate and bubbly flow to local dry out and gas phase resistance starts to dominate heat transfer. As the momentum is increased at higher Reynolds numbers, the relative vorticity or angular force to spin the fluid also increases and thus the number of contacts or collisions with or near the active surface feature walls is also increased. The performance enhancement of the active surface features relative to a corresponding featureless or flat or smooth wall is typically improved as the residence time is decreased.Keywords: Fluid mechanics; Microchannel reactors; Surface features; Synthesis gas; Catalyst deactivation; Energy efficiency1. IntroductionA synthesis gas product is a product comprising primarily carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Reformed hydrocarbons may be further reacted in one or more shift reactors to form additional hydrogen in the process stream and separated in a separation unit, such as a pressure swing adsorption unit, to form a hydrogen product [1, 2]. Synthesis gas is conventionally used to produce synthesis gas products such as synthetic crude, or further upgraded to form intermediate or end products [3, 4]. The synthesis gas may also be used to produce one or more oxygenates, for example, ethers and alcohols. Synthesis gas can be produced from methane-containing feedstocks by any number of primary synthesis gas generation reactors [5, 6]. For example, synthesis gas can be produced in a steam methane reformer, an endothermic reactor where reaction is carried out either in heat exchange reactors, or by other means where substantial heat may be transferred to the reacting fluid, such as in the case of autothermal reforming, where a portion of the feedstock is combusted inside the reactor to provide heat for steam reforming either subsequently or in the same location as the combustion [7, 8]. Synthesis gas can also be produced from methane-containing feedstocks by dry reforming, catalytic or thermal partial oxidation and other processes.Various feedstocks can be used to produce synthesis gas and industry desires to process multiple feedstocks [9, 10]. Industry desires the ability to change from one feedstock to another during operation without shutting down the reactor [11, 12]. For example, a synthesis gas producer may desire to use natural gas for six months, naphtha for three months, and then a mixture of natural gas and naphtha for two months [13, 14]. Industry desires to process different feedstocks at optimal energy efficiency while avoiding carbon formation in the primary synthesis gas reactor [15, 16]. In addition to being able to process multiple feedstocks, industry desires to be able to process a feedstock where the composition, particularly the light hydrocarbon concentration in the feedstock, varies over time [17, 18]. For example, synthesis gas may be produced from a refinery off-gas where the light hydrocarbon concentration varies depending upon the refinery operation [19, 20]. If the feedstock contains higher hydrocarbons than methane, that is, hydrocarbons having two or more carbon atoms are used in the steam reforming process, the risk for catalyst deactivation by carbon deposition in the primary synthesis gas generation reactor is increased [21, 22]. Industry desires to avoid carbon formation in the synthesis gas generation reactor.In order to reduce the risk of carbon deposition in the primary synthesis gas generation reactor, hydrogen and synthesis gas production processes may employ at least one catalytic reactor prior to the primary synthesis gas generation reactor where the catalytic reactor is operated at conditions less prone to hydrocarbon cracking than the primary synthesis gas generation reactor [23, 24]. These reactors positioned before the primary synthesis gas generation reactors are referred to as pre-reformers [25, 26]. Pre-reformers can be operated adiabatically or convectively heated by indirect heat transfer with combustion products gases from the primary synthesis gas generation reactor [27, 28]. The activity of the catalyst in the pre-reformer may degrade with use. Industry desires to compensate for the degradation of the pre-reforming catalyst through operational changes to avoid carbon formation in the primary synthesis gas generation reactor while maintaining optimal energy efficiency of the overall process [29, 30]. In hydrogen and synthesis gas production processes employing pre-reformers and steam methane reformers, the hydrocarbon feedstock may be mixed with hydrogen for a resultant stream having one to five percent hydrogen by volume, and subsequently subjected to a hydrodesulphurization pretreatment to remove Sulphur [31, 32]. The hydrocarbon feedstock may also be treated to remove olefins in a hydrogenation reactor. In case hydrogen is present in the feedstock, additional hydrogen might not be added [33, 34]. For steam reforming of heavy naphtha, hydrogen concentrations as high as about 50 percent by volume of hydrogen are known where the mixture is subsequently pretreated in a hydrodesulphurization unit and a hydrogenation reactor [35, 36]. Even higher hydrogen concentrations are possible depending on the feedstock provided.The feedstock, after pretreating, is combined with superheated steam to form mixed feed having a prescribed steam-to-carbon molar ratio [37, 38]. The steam-to-carbon molar ratio is the ratio of the molar flow rate of steam in the mixed feed to the molar flow rate of hydrocarbon-based carbon in the mixed feed. The steam-to-carbon molar ratio for steam methane reforming of natural gas typically ranges from 2 to 5, but can be as low as 1.5. The steam-to-carbon molar ratio is generally higher for steam methane reforming of feedstock containing a greater number of higher hydrocarbons, for example, propane, butane, propane and butane mixtures, and naphtha. Higher steam flow rates are used to suppress carbon formation and enhance the steam reforming reaction. However, higher steam-to-carbon molar ratios disadvantageously decrease the energy efficiency of the reforming process. Industry desires to improve the energy efficiency of steam-hydrocarbon reforming systems [39, 40]. A significant disadvantage which inhibits the wider use of fuel cells is the lack of a widespread hydrogen infrastructure. Hydrogen has a relatively low volumetric efficiency and is more difficult to store and transport than the hydrocarbon fuels currently used in most power generation systems. One way to overcome this difficulty is the use of reformers to convert the hydrocarbons to a hydrogen-rich gas stream that can be used as a feed for fuel cells [41, 42]. Fuel reforming processes, such as steam reforming, partial oxidation, and autothermal reforming, can be used to convert hydrocarbon fuels into a hydrogen rich gas. In addition to the desired product hydrogen, undesirable byproduct compounds such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are found in the product gas. For many uses, such as fuel for proton exchange membrane or alkaline fuel cells, these contaminants reduce the value of the product gas in part due to the sensitivity of proton exchange membrane fuel cells to carbon monoxide and sulfur [43, 44]. In a conventional steam reforming process, a hydrocarbon feed is vaporized, mixed with steam, and passed over a steam reforming catalyst. The majority of the feed hydrocarbon is converted to a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The reforming product gas is typically fed to a water-gas shift bed in which much of the carbon monoxide is reacted with steam to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen [45, 46]. However, water-gas shift beds tend to be large complex units that are typically sensitive to air, further complicating their startup and operation.The present study is focused primarily upon the method and apparatus for steam reforming methanol. Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and mixtures thereof, can be removed from the hydrogen-rich reformate by subjecting the hydrogen-rich reformate to one or more of a water gas shift reaction, methanation, and selective oxidation. The present design provides a method of generating electricity comprising the steps of reducing the sulfur content of the sulfur-containing hydrocarbon fuel, catalytically converting the reduced-sulfur hydrocarbon fuel to hydrocarbons, steam reforming the mixture of hydrocarbons at a steam reforming temperature in a catalyst bed to produce a reformate comprising hydrogen and carbon dioxide, fixing at least a portion of the carbon dioxide in the reformate with a carbon dioxide fixing material in the catalyst bed to produce a hydrogen-rich reformate, and feeding the hydrogen-rich reformate to an anode of a fuel cell, wherein the fuel cell consumes a portion of the hydrogen rich reformate and produces electricity, an anode tail gas and a cathode tail gas. The method can further include the step of feeding at least a portion of the tail gases to a combustor or anode tail gas oxidizer to produce an exhaust gas for use in the steam reforming of sulfur-containing hydrocarbon fuels. Optionally, but preferably, the method further includes the step of reducing the amount of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the hydrogen-rich reformate by subjecting the hydrogen-rich reformate to one or more of a water gas shift reaction, methanation and selective oxidation. An integrated system in which tail gas from the fuel cell and hydrogen storage system is used to provide heat needed to reform the feed fuel and regenerate the calcium oxide bed. This study aims to feed the hydrogen-rich reformate to an anode of a fuel cell, wherein the fuel cell consumes a portion of the hydrogen-rich reformate and produces electricity, an anode tail gas, and a cathode tail gas. Particular emphasis is placed upon a fuel cell configured to receive the hydrogen-rich reformate from the fuel processor and wherein the fuel cell consumes a portion of the hydrogen-rich reformate and produces electricity, an anode tail gas, and a cathode tail gas.2. MethodsThe microchannel reactor is illustrated schematically in Figure 1 for the steam reforming process. A catalytic reaction channel is a channel containing a catalyst, where the catalyst may be heterogeneous or homogeneous. A homogeneous catalyst may be co-flowing with the reactants. Microchannel apparatus is similarly characterized, except that a catalyst-containing reaction channel is not required. The sides of a microchannel are defined by reaction channel walls. These walls are preferably made of a hard material such as a ceramic, an iron-based alloy such as steel, or a Ni-based, Co-based, or Fe-based superalloy [47, 48]. They also may be made from plastic, glass, or other metal such as copper, aluminum and the like. The choice of material for the walls of the reaction channel may depend on the reaction for which the reactor is intended. In some cases, reaction chamber walls are comprised of a stainless steel or Inconel® which is durable and has good thermal conductivity [49, 50]. The alloys should be low in sulfur, and in some cases are subjected to a desulfurization treatment prior to formation of an aluminide. Typically, reaction channel walls are formed of the material that provides the primary structural support for the microchannel apparatus. Microchannel apparatus can be made by known methods, and in some cases are made by laminating interleaved plates, and preferably where shims designed for reaction channels are interleaved with shims designed for heat exchange. Some microchannel apparatus includes at least 10 layers laminated in a device, where each of these layers contain at least 10 channels; the device may contain other layers with less channels.