Purification,characterisation and application of α‐l‐rhamnosidase from Penicillium citrinum MTCC‐8897

An α‐l ‐rhamnosidase secreted by <i>Penicillium citrinum</i> MTCC‐8897 has been purified to homogeneity from the culture filtrate of the fungal strain using ammonium sulphate precipitation and cation‐exchange chromatography on carboxymethyl cellulose. The sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the purified enzyme gave a single protein band corresponding to the molecular mass 51.0 kDa. The native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis also gave a single protein band confirming the enzyme purity. The <i>K</i><sub>m</sub> and <i>V</i><sub>max</sub> values of the enzyme for p‐nitrophenyl α‐l ‐rhamnopyranoside were 0.36 mm and 22.54 μmole min<sup>?1</sup> mg<sup>?1</sup>, respectively, and <i>k</i><sub>cat</sub> value was 17.1 s<sup>?1</sup> giving <i>k</i><sub>cat</sub>/<i>K</i><sub>m</sub> value of 4.75 × 10<sup>4</sup> m <sup>?1 </sup>s<sup>?1</sup>. The pH and temperature optima of the enzyme were 7.0 and 60 °C, respectively. The purified enzyme liberated l ‐rhamnose from naringin, rutin, hesperidin and wine, indicating that it has biotechnological application potential for the preparation of l ‐rhamnose and other pharmaceutically important compounds from natural glycosides containing terminal α‐l ‐rhamnose and also in the enhancement of wine aroma.     

Synthesis and characterisation of fluorescent pyrene‐end‐capped polylactide fibres

Fluorescent markers are critical for tracking the position and movement of molecules both <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro</i>. Conventionally, synthetic dyes are non‐covalently added to polymers for fluorescent tracking, but often diffuse away. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, a facile method for the synthesis of fluorescent poly(lactic acid) nano‐/microfibres for biomedical applications using solution spin blowing. Pyrene‐end‐capped poly(l ‐lactide) (PLLA) derivatives were synthesised using the ring‐opening polymerisation of l ‐lactide and they were characterised using spectroscopic and thermal analyses. Submicrometre‐sized fluorescent fibres were produced from these PLLA derivatives using solution blow spinning techniques generating polymer blends and core–shell fibres. Such system could be further exploited to incorporate electrically conductive carbon allotropes via the pyrene aromaticity, producing fluorescent and electrically active fibres for <i>in vitro</i> monitoring and electrical stimulation. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of light exposure on chlorophyll,sugars and vitamin C content of fresh‐cut celery (Apium graveolens var. dulce) petioles

Effects of light exposure (24 μmol m<sup>?2</sup> s<sup>?1</sup>) on fresh‐cut celery nutritional quality were evaluated during 8‐day storage at 7 °C using darkness as control. Light exposure preserved 47% chlorophyll <i>a</i> and 48% chlorophyll b contents more than darkness at the end of storage. Sucrose, reducing sugar and glucose contents in light‐stored petioles were 17%, 25% and 67% higher than those in dark‐stored petioles after 8‐day storage, respectively, thus resulting in higher total soluble solids content in light condition. Moreover, l ‐ascorbic acid content increased at 2‐day storage in light condition and was 46% more than in darkness at the end of storage. The fresh weight loss significantly increased in all petioles, and this increase was markedly accelerated by light exposure with a maximum of 1.43% at the end of storage. Dry matter content was induced more by light exposure than by darkness at 2‐day storage.     

On globally stable adaptive control providing l 1 tracking performance for linear discrete-time systems

Existing adaptive control algorithms at best guarantee that the tracking error is a <i>l</i> <sub>2</sub> sequence. This paper presents globally stable adaptive control algorithms for linear discrete-time systems providing <i>l</i> <sub>1</sub> tracking performance. Two algorithms with different degree of complexity are proposed, one for the case of known control directions, and a separate algorithm for the case of unknown control directions. It is demonstrated that in both cases the tracking error is <i>l</i> <sub>1</sub> sequence, while the input and output signals are uniformly bounded.     

Effects of plasma treatment on biocompatibility of poly[(L‐lactide)‐co‐(ϵ‐caprolactone)] and poly[(L‐lactide)‐co‐glycolide] electrospun nanofibrous membranes

Poly[(l ‐lactide)‐<i>co </i>‐(<i>? </i>‐caprolactone)] (PLCL) and poly[(l ‐lactide)‐<i>co </i>‐glycolide] (PLGA) copolymers are widely used in neural guide tissue regeneration. In this research, the surface modification of their hydrophilicity was achieved using plasma treatment. Attachment and proliferation of olfactory ensheathing cells on treated electrospun membranes increased by 26 and 32%, respectively, compared to the untreated PLCL and PLGA counterparts. Cells cultivated on both the PLCL and PLGA membranes showed high viability (>95%) and healthy morphologies with no evidence of cytotoxic effects. Cells grown on treated electrospun fibres displayed significant increases in mitochondrial activity and reductions in membrane leakage when compared to untreated samples. The results suggested that plasma treatment of the surface of the polymers enhanced both cell viability and growth without incurring any cytotoxic effects. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Sparse LMS/F algorithms with application to adaptive system identification

Standard least mean square/fourth (LMS/F) is a classical adaptive algorithm that combined the advantages of both least mean square (LMS) and least mean fourth (LMF). The advantage of LMS is fast convergence speed while its shortcoming is suboptimal solution in low signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) environment. On the contrary, the advantage of LMF algorithm is robust in low SNR while its drawback is slow convergence speed in high SNR case. Many finite impulse response systems are modeled as sparse rather than traditionally dense. To take advantage of system sparsity, different sparse LMS algorithms with <i>l</i><sub>p</sub>‐LMS and <i>l</i><sub>0</sub>‐LMS have been proposed to improve adaptive identification performance. However, sparse LMS algorithms have the same drawback as standard LMS. Different from LMS filter, standard LMS/F filter can achieve better performance. Hence, the aim of this paper is to introduce sparse penalties to the LMS/F algorithm so that it can further improve identification performance. We propose two sparse LMS/F algorithms using two sparse constraints to improve adaptive identification performance. Two experiments are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms by computer simulation. In the first experiment, the number of nonzero coefficients is changing, and the proposed algorithms can achieve better mean square deviation performance than sparse LMS algorithms. In the second experiment, the number of nonzero coefficient is fixed, and mean square deviation performance of sparse LMS/F algorithms is still better than that of sparse LMS algorithms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Versuchsplanerische Untersuchung der Umesterung von Sojaöl mit Ethanol im Mikroreaktor

Base‐catalyzed transesterification of fats and oils with primary alcohols in discontinuous operation is an established batch process for the biodiesel production. However, the application of microreaction technology and continuous flow process lead to an increase of process intensification. The ethanol/soy bean oil ratio at low flow rates as well as the reactor geometry have the most evident effects on the fatty acid ethyl ester yield of KOH‐catalyzed ethanolysis of soy bean oil in microreactors. The influence of the catalyst concentration is of a lower importance.     

型壳中央散热对一种单晶高温合金凝固组织与持久性能的影响

单晶凝固过程中温度场均匀性控制对单晶制备过程特别重要。本文以国内广泛应用的第二代单晶高温合金DD6为研究对象,研究型壳中央散热对其凝固组织与持久性能的影响。结果表明,与合金中柱型壳相比,石墨中柱型壳能有效地改善单晶凝固过程中温度场的均匀性,提高温度梯度,有利于保持单晶凝固过程中热流方向的平直。因此,石墨中柱型壳有利于降低一次枝晶间距,细化γ-γ’共晶相,减少单晶生长方向与[001]方向的角度差,使单晶高温合金获得较高的持久寿命。     

基于四元极谐变换矩与显著特征的图像鲁棒哈希算法

为了增强哈希序列对各种几何变换攻击的鲁棒性,设计基于四元极谐变换矩与显著特征的图像鲁棒哈希算法。引入线性插值与自适应Wiener滤波器,实现初始图像的预处理;计算预处理图像的颜色向量角度,并基于Fourier变换,得到其对应的幅度信息,以获取两个不同的频谱;计算两个频谱的残差,确定图像中的局部显著性区域;通过LBP算子,提取显著特征;基于四元极谐变换(Quaternion Polar Harmonic Transform,QPHT),获取预处理图像的QPHT矩;联合显著特征与QPHT矩,形成过渡哈希数组。引入Logistic映射,定义加密函数,实现对过渡哈希数组的加密,输出最终的哈希序列,以增强其抗碰撞性能。测量源图像与可疑图像之间的哈希序列所对应的l₂范数距离,并将其与优化阈值比较,对图像的真实性做出判断。在多种几何变换攻击下完成测试,输出数据显示:较当前准确性较高的哈希方法而言,该算法具有更理想的鲁棒性与识别准确率。     

水热法合成羟基磷灰石

本文进行了水热法合成羟基磷灰石的实验室研究,研究了配料比,反应温度和时间的影响,确定了适宜工艺条件。化学分析和红外光谱测定结果表明合成产品以羟基磷灰石为主;经洗涤的产品可达到较高的纯度。