Psychrotrophic violacein-producing bacteria isolated from Lake Winnipeg,Canada

Violet and purple bacterial pigmentations are uncommon when considering strict aerobes. Here we report discovery of two novel isolates, P102 and P117 from the freshwater Lake Winnipeg, each with violet to deep purple colony colouration. The relationship between pigment production and growth was investigated under different conditions, including a variety of carbon sources, pH, and temperatures. The violet compounds were purified using polar organic solvents, and then structurally characterized via mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance to be violacein and deoxyviolacein. Strain P117 produced higher concentrations of the darker pigment deoxyviolacein, which resulted in a deeper hue of violet than in cultures of P102. Strain P102, synthesized violacein maximally in liquid rich organic medium at pH 8 and 20 °C, and had 99.3% sequence similarity to the 16S rDNA from Janthinobacterium lividum. Strain P117, related to Massilia violaceinigra sharing 99.2% 16S rDNA sequence similarity, also produced violacein at similar optimal conditions, but developed higher concentrations of pigment at 15 °C. Culture-based methods found that violacein producers composed 0.001% or 0.023% CFU of environmental heterotrophic populations using BG-11 and potato-based media, respectively. Culture-independent high-throughput ribosomal 16S V4 sequencing of environmental DNA was used to detect Gram-negative species known for their production of violacein. Of all bacterial and archaeal sequences present during the fall in littoral waters and sediment of Lake Winnipeg, 5.5% and 6.3%, respectively, belonged to species that have similar pigment, demonstrating the scarcity of violacein producers in this aquatic freshwater system.     

Rainbow smelt population responses to species invasions and change in environmental condition

Invasive species can cause major disruptions in native food webs, yet the impact of species introductions and whether they will become invasive appears to be context-dependent. Rainbow smelt and alewife co-exist as invasive species in the Laurentian Great Lakes and as native species on the Atlantic coast of North America, but in Lake Champlain rainbow smelt is the dominant native forage fish and alewife are invasive. Alewife became abundant by 2007, providing an opportunity to explore the dynamics of these two species in a system where only one is invasive. We used data from a 28-year forage fish survey to compare demographics of rainbow smelt populations in three basins of Lake Champlain with different volumes, nutrient levels, and predator abundances. Rainbow smelt catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) remained constant in the large, deep Main Lake before and after alewife invaded, but decreased in the two smaller basins. Declines were primarily a result of increased age-0 and age-1 mortality. Predation by top piscivores, system productivity, and competition for resources alone could not explain the patterns in CPUE across the basins. The mechanisms that allow alewife and rainbow smelt to co-exist could be related to system volume and oxythermal habitat availability, and may explain why the two species do not negatively affect each other in the Great Lakes. Summer hypoxia in the smaller basins could force individuals into smaller habitat volumes with higher densities of competitors and cannibalistic adult rainbow smelt. Habitat availability may mediate the impact of invasive alewife on native rainbow smelt.     

Investigation of the Anti-Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Activity of (+)-Tanikolide- and (+)-Malyngolide-Based Analogues Prepared by Asymmetric Synthesis

Herein, we report antibacterial and antifungal evaluation of a series of previously prepared (+)-tanikolide analogues. One analogue, (4S,6S)-4-methyltanikolide, displayed promising anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus activity with a MIC of 12.5 µg/mL. Based on the antimicrobial properties of the structurally related (−)-malyngolide, two further analogues (4S,6S)-4-methylmalyngolide and (4R,6S)-4-methylmalyngolide bearing a shortened n-nonyl alkyl side chain were prepared in the present study using a ZrCl₄-catalysed deprotection/cyclisation as the key step in their asymmetric synthesis. When these were tested for activity against anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the MIC increased to 50 µg/mL.     

Detection of water ingress in composite sandwich structures: a magnetic resonance approach

Water ingress inside honeycomb sandwich panels during service has been linked to in-flight failure in some aircraft. There is an ongoing effort to develop nondestructive testing methods to detect the presence of water within the panels. Magnetic resonance (MR) represents an attractive approach in that it is sensitive to moisture. Using a unilateral MR sensor, testing can be applied directly to the surface of the panel. The viability of MR is demonstrated through laboratory imaging of both water within sandwich panels, as well as the adhesive itself. The detection of water using a one-sided handheld MR sensor is presented. It is shown that simple detection, as well as spatial localization of water within sandwich panels is possible.     

Effect of hydrogen spillover on the hydrogenation of 1-hexene over diluted carbon molecular sieve supported Pt catalyst

Pt supported on a carbon molecular sieve (Pt/CMS) was prepared by pyrolysis of polyfurfuryl alcohol containing pre-reduced Pt particles. The catalysts were characterized by hydrogen chemisorption, XRD, N₂ adsorption/desorption and TEM. Hydrogen chemisorption showed that not all the Pt particles were exposed to H₂ molecules. Oxidation treatment made Pt particles more accessible to H₂. Catalyst activity was evaluated by hydrogenation of 1-hexene. Hydrogen spillover was demonstrated by diluting Pt/CMS with activated carbon or hydrogen type zeolite Y. The initial conversion of 1-hexene was increased from 86.5% to 98.5% and to 100% when Pt/CMS was diluted with activated carbon and hydrogen type zeolite, respectively. The high initial conversion was sustained for 6 h in the presence of diluents while the conversion decreased quickly for Pt/CMS alone.     

Alkali release characteristics of blended cements

This paper presents results of an experimental program conducted to investigate the capacity of hydration products of different cementing materials to retain “bound” alkalis when the alkalinity of the surrounding solution drops. The study covered paste samples containing high-alkali Portland cement and various levels of silica fume and/or fly ash. The results showed that the ability of the hydration products of cement-fly ash systems to bind alkalis is a function of the CaO content of the fly ash, the binding increasing as the calcium content decreases. High-alkali fly ashes (Na₂O_e > 5.0% and CaO in the range of 15% to 20%) showed considerable amounts of alkali contributed to the test solutions. Silica fume does not have a high capacity to retain alkalis in its hydration products; however, ternary blends containing silica fume and fly ash have excellent capacity to bind and retain alkalis.     

Dreissena in Lake Ontario 30 years post-invasion

We examined three decades of changes in dreissenid populations in Lake Ontario and predation by round goby (Neogobius melanostomus). Dreissenids (almost exclusively quagga mussels, Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) peaked in 2003, 13 years after arrival, and then declined at depths <90 m but continued to increase deeper through 2018. Lake-wide density also increased from 2008 to 2018 along with average mussel lengths and lake-wide biomass, which reached an all-time high in 2018 (25.2 ± 3.3 g AFTDW/m²). Round goby densities were estimated at 4.2 fish/m² using videography at 10 to 35 m depth range in 2018. This density should impact mussel populations based on feeding rates, as indicated in the literature. While the abundance of 0–5 mm mussels appears to be high in all three years with measured length distributions (2008, 2013, 2018), the abundance of 5 to 12 mm dreissenids, the size range most commonly consumed by round goby, was low except at >90 m depths. Although the size distributions indicate that round goby is affecting mussel recruitment, we did not find a decline in dreissenid density in the nearshore and mid-depth ranges where goby have been abundant since 2005. The lake-wide densities and biomass of quagga mussels have increased over time, due to both the growth of individual mussels in the shallower depths, and a continuing increase in density at >90 m. Thus, the ecological effects of quagga mussels in Lake Ontario are likely to continue into the foreseeable future.     

A comprehensive assessment of supported titania photocatalysts in a fluidized bed photoreactor: Photocatalytic activity and adherence stability

Titania (TiO₂) was immobilized onto hydroxylated glass beads (HGB) via the thermal bonding and sol–gel coating methods. The photocatalytic activity and adherence stability of the prepared supported photocatalysts were studied in a fluidized bed photoreactor. P25 thermally bonded HGB was found to be more active than sol–gel coated HGB prepared with the same immobilization conditions, while both of them exhibited poor adherence stability, i.e., large amounts of immobilized TiO₂ detached from HGB during the degradation. The adherence stability was improved with limited extents by increasing the calcination temperature or reducing the coverage of TiO₂ on HGB, but either of these approaches resulted in lower activity. The poor adherence stability was ascribed to the fluid shear force and particle friction in fluidized bed, as well as the insufficient bonding between TiO₂ and HGB in terms of the bonding mechanism.

Hydroxylated quartz sands (HQS) and silica gel beads (SGB) were further studied and used as supports. Results have shown that the adherence stability was significantly improved with SGB but only slightly improved with HQS. Characterizations results showed that a coarser surface and more surface Si–OH groups could improve the adherence stability of supported TiO₂ photocatalysts.     

Simultaneous measurement of gas and solid holdups in multiphase systems using ultrasonic technique

Ultrasonic technique has been recently developed to measure dispersed phase holdups in multiphase flows. The experimental results obtained in this work have shown that the fluctuations of the sound speed and attenuation of ultrasound are well-defined functions with solid and gas holdups in liquid-solid and gas-liquid two-phase flows. When both solid particles and gas bubbles are present in a liquid flow, gas bubbles appear to be a dominant factor for the instability of ultrasound signals. These findings lead to a new approach for simultaneous detection of gas and solid holdups in a gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow. In this work, canonical analysis and optimization methods are successfully applied to differentiate the contributions of gas bubbles and solid particles to the ultrasonic signals recorded from three-phase systems. The gas and solid holdups determined by the proposed approach are in a good agreement with the experimental results obtained using differential pressure transducers and conductivity probes.     

Crystallization Behaviors of amino-terminated polyurethane (ATPU)-grafted polypropylene

Summary A melt-grafting approach was employed to prepare a novel functional polypropylene(FPP)—amino-terminated polyurethane grafted polypropylene (PP-g-ATPU). The crystallization behaviors of PP and PP/FPP blends were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The effects of FPP composition on crystallization behavior, crystal transformation, and morphology of PP/FPP crystalline were investigated. The results showed that at a low dosage (<2.0 wt%) ATPU acted as a heterogeneous nucleation agent during the crystallization of PP/FPP blends. However, when the content of ATPU reached 2.0 wt% or higher, ATPU deteriorated the crystallization of PP or PP/FPP blends. The crystallite size decreased and the number of crystallites increased as the ATPU content increased. The Avrami analysis was adopted to describe the isothermal crystallization process. The difference in the exponent n between PP and PP/FPP suggested that the isothermal crystallization kinetics of PP/FPP blends followed a three-dimensional growth via heterogeneous nucleation. In terms of the half-time of the crystallization, t_1/2, the crystallization rate of functional PP blends was faster than that of PP homopolymer at a given crystallization temperature.