Applied Research最新文献

Membraneless organelles (MLOs) can assemble via liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS). Here, we review the metastable MLOs driven by LLPS, from multifaceted regards including energy state, molecular interactions, molecular structure, phase transition, and the associations with diseases, to advance the insight into properties and pathogenesis associated with LLPS of biological matter. Read the article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/appl.202300071.

Borassus flabellifer (Palmyra) fruit fiber (PFF) was extracted and converted into biocarbon materials at different carbonization temperatures of 400°C, 600°C, and 800°C under N₂ atmosphere for 1 h. The physicochemical properties of obtained biocarbon materials were investigated via CHNS, SEM-EDX, FTIR, RAMAN, XRD, BET-specific surface area, and TGA techniques. The obtained results were correlated with the capacitive energy storage application of biocarbon materials. The highest specific surface area of 46.36 m² g⁻¹ was observed for the biocarbon materials obtained at 800°C, which also showed superior capacitive performances. The specific capacitances of PFF-derived biocarbon materials obtained at 400°C, 600°C, and 800°C are respectively found to be 28.58, 37.07, and 45.76 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ employing 1M KOH as electrolyte. The biocarbon materials obtained at 800°C showed the highest specific energy and power of 1.99 and 261 W kg⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹.

The noninvasive and label-free electrical characterization of single cells is increasingly gaining interest over the last years. Besides cancer cells, oocytes are in the focus of those investigations. The study of oocytes is relevant for two areas: on the one hand, the quality of mammalian oocytes is important in artificial reproduction technology for a high fertilization yield. On the other hand, amphibian oocytes are well established to be used as host cells for the characterization of ion-channel kinetics for drug screening. For both areas, easy-to-perform and reliable characterization techniques are needed. This mini-review summarizes important developments of characterizing oocytes with microfluidic systems in combination with observer-independent noninvasive electrical sensing. Such miniaturized microfluidic systems can be improved to facilitate multiple oocyte characterizations simultaneously for higher throughput screening.

High-pressure processing (HPP) is considered as gentle preservation technique for especially heat-sensitive food ingredients. So far, the focus has been on the fact that it is called a nonthermal process and high pressure can affect bioavailability, but it is questionable whether the high pressure affects the ingredients themselves. By using an o/w-microemulsion (ME) as a model system, it was possible to investigate the influence of pressure, especially on lipophilic compounds (e.g., carotenoids and vitamin E), without the complexity of a food matrix. The ME consisted of Capryol® TM 90, Tween® 80 or 20, Transcutol® HP and distilled water. Lipophilic and hydrophilic compounds were introduced to the oil phase and to the aqueous phase, respectively. Storage experiments confirmed the applicability for β-carotene and α-tocopherol. HPP of MEs, performed for 10 min at room temperature (RT) and up to 600 MPa, resulted in pressure stability of β-carotene (exceptional at 400 MPa; −11%) and α-tocopherol. Multicomponent ME showed that both had a positive effect on the stability of chlorophyll a/b during HPP. An ME environment was used to facilitate co-oxidation of β-carotene via lipoxygenase (LOX) from an Edamame-based crude enzyme extract and lyophilized LOX-1 from soybeans during storage (RT and 4°C, dark conditions) and HPP treatment. A loss of β-carotene occurred after addition of linoleic acid, whereas effects of added α-tocopherol could be related to β-carotene protection. Overall, the introduced ME for studying HPP effects on lipophilic food ingredients showed promising results as versatile model system for future investigations regarding interactions of phytochemicals.

This work investigates the potential of using Callistemon citrinu flower extract, commonly known as bottlebrush, in the environmentally friendly synthesis of Rhodium nanoparticles (Rh NPs). Callistemon citrinu flower extract contains a high concentration of flavonoids and other phytochemicals. Hence, the extract was used to provide the essential components for an environmentally, sustainable synthesis method of Rh NPs. Different characterization analyses were used to evaluate the different properties of the synthesized particles. UV spectroscopy analysis demonstrated a continuous UV absorption spectrum attributed to the formation of Rh NPs. The XRD data and SAED analysis showed an amorphous nature of the synthesized Rh NPs. The HRTEM imaging provided morphological information about the Rh NPs tested sample, where the efficiency of Callistemon citrinu flower extract as a capping agent was reported. Furthermore, Raman spectra displayed the characteristic vibrational bands of the synthesized Rh NPs. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized samples was tested against several dental pathogens, that play a role in dental caries, Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Bacillus subtilis (BS), Candida albicans (CA), Escherichia coli (Eco), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. Epi). In comparison with the control, Chlorhexidine (CHX), Rh NPs showed a greater impact on C. albicans (20 ≤ Zone of inhibition (ZOI) (mm) ≤ 26). The statistical analysis demonstrated that Rh NPs had a greater mean ZOI than the Callistemon citrinu flower extract. These results reveal the considerable potential and biological capacity Rh NPs have as an antifungal agent for dental applications.

Natural gas production from reservoirs is often associated with water, which poses numerous challenges, such as methane hydrate formation, sludge, corrosion and flow assurance issues in gas processing plants and sales gas transmission pipelines. To effectively remove water from natural gas, there is a need to design, compare and modify dehydration plants. This study investigated the performance difference between a conventional triethylene glycol (TEG)-based dehydration system with a cooler at the TEG inlet to the contactor, and a newly proposed TEG-based dehydration system with a heat exchanger replacing the cooler at the TEG inlet with the contactor. The advanced process simulation software Aspen HYSYS was used to design and compare two dehydration system configurations. The modified design configuration exhibited better performance in terms of energy conservation and water-removal capability. The material balance of molar flow, mass flow and volume flow of dry gas produced in the absorber/contactor column showed a higher volume of dry gas produced in the modified system configuration, indicating that it is a better design. The modified design configuration also produced dry gas within the recommended temperature range for underground storage and transmission. There was a significant difference in the percentage difference of 64% between the conventional and modified designs in terms of energy consumption, whereas the percentage differences of 0% and 0.6% showed nonsignificant and significant differences between the two plant design configurations. Both plant design configurations showed a significant reduction (from 0.005 to 0.0002 mol%) in the water composition of natural gas after the simulation.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of administering the antibiotic florfenicol (FFC) through dietary means on Oreochromis niloticus. The experiment involved exposing the fish to FFC at doses 0–10 times the therapeutic dose of 15 mg/kg biomass per day for 10 consecutive days. The group receiving the therapeutic dose showed 100% survival on the 10th day of dosing. Histological analysis revealed dose-dependent changes in the spleen, including an increase in sinusoidal space, splenic necrosis, white pulp proliferation, splenitis, and red pulp hemorrhages. Additionally, there was an exponential rise in leukocyte counts accompanied by a significant decrease in erythrocyte counts, indicating the development of anemia due to FFC. The observed splenic histological damage, along with increased erythrophagia, erythro-membrane breakage, and poikilocytosis, highlighted the splenotoxic and hemotoxic effects of FFC at higher doses. Importantly, these toxic effects showed considerable reduction upon discontinuation of FFC dosing. The study emphasized the need to consider FFC-induced splenotoxic and hemotoxic outcomes in O. niloticus during its application in aquaculture.

There are challenges in the utilization of soybean-based foods due to undesirable associated flavors. This study aimed to prepare soybean based yoghurt with different amounts of lemon grass extract in the ratios of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 µL/L of soy yoghurt as shown by Figure 1. The Table 1 and 2 summarized results of different treatments of Soybeans based yoghurt analyzed for protein by Kjedhal method, fats by Soxhlet method, total ash by muffle furnace method. Soluble crude fiber was determined by dry oven method, pH, titratable acidity, syneresis and viscosity, by AOAC method, total phenolic compounds by spectrophotometric method. Sensory analysis was done by effective tests with 10 panelists using five hedonic scale tools. From the study, the results indicate that moisture content range from (89.3 to 89.6%); protein content (5.5−6.8%); fat (2.7−3.6%); total ash (0.43−0.53%); crude fiber (0.06−0.33%) and carbohydrate (0.59−0.93%). The level of pH range from 4.30 to 5.59; viscosity (2.85−3.17 pa.s); titratable acidity, (0.01−0.07 gL) and synersis (6.44−7.56) and total phenolic compound (8.59−18.40 mg/g). Most of the parameters did not show any significant variations while the pH and total phenolic compounds varied significantly between the treatments. In addition, Figure 2 detailed sensory evaluation results of treatments and that the treatment with highest level of lemon grass extract was the most liked. In conclusion, incorporation of lemon grass extract can help improved the level of phenolic compounds and sensory properties of yoghurt.

The bio-based methacrylates 9-(methacryloyloxy)-10,18-dihydroxyoctadecanoic acid/9,18-dihydroxy-10-(methacryloyloxy)octadecanoic acid isomer mixture and 22-methacryloyloxydocosanoic acid were synthesized from 9,10-epoxy-18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid and 22-hydroxydocosanoic acid. The white crystalline 9,10-epoxy-18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid and cream-colored 22-hydroxydocosanoic acid were isolated from both the bark of Betula pendula and cork of Quercus suber after extraction of the milled plant materials with methanol, treating the insoluble residues with 2-propanole containing suspended sodium hydroxide, application of a working up procedure developed in this work for the resulting mixture, and purification of the products obtained. The new bio-based methacrylates show higher reactivity in the photoinitiated polymerization in comparison with the commercial laurylmethacrylate as detected by photo-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). For comparison, traditional free radical polymerization of the new bio-based methacrylates was carried out in dimethylsulfoxide using 2,2'-azobis-(2-propionitrile) as initiator. Furthermore, the quantitative conversion of the bio-based monomers during the photoinitiated polymerization makes these bio-based monomers interesting for application in coatings. As expected, the photopolymer made from the 9-(methacryloyloxy)-10,18-dihydroxyoctadecanoic acid/9,18-dihydroxy-10-(methacryloyloxy)octadecanoic acid isomer mixture is amorphous. Interestingly, the photopolymer made from the 22-methacryloyloxydocosanoic acid contains crystalline structures as detected by DSC investigation.

This work elucidates the control of integrating a nonminimum phase system via a series cascade scheme with fractional-order P.I. (Proportional–Integral) plus D (Derivative) controller. The traditional Internal Model Control (IMC) is adopted for inner loop controller design. The feedback D controller is synthesized with the outer loop process model, showing the proposed work's universality. The outer loop controller is suggested in the IMC framework after the accountability of fractional-filter and inverse response compensator. This combination is revealed to enhance performance without compromising robustness. The Riemann sheet principle is explored to compute the stability of the suggested controller. The sensitivity analysis has asserted the robustness. More importantly, the optimal value of controller settings is achieved via the Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm. This TLBO algorithm uses an objective function that minimizes Integral Square Error. Two illustrative problems are utilized to examine the recommended control structure's virtue.