Direct Injection of CRISPR/Cas9-Related mRNA into Cytoplasm of Parthenogenetically Activated Porcine Oocytes Causes Frequent Mosaicism for Indel Mutations

Some reports demonstrated successful genome editing in pigs by one-step zygote microinjection of mRNA of CRISPR/Cas9-related components. Given the relatively long gestation periods and the high cost of housing, the establishment of a single blastocyst-based assay for rapid optimization of the above system is required. As a proof-of-concept, we attempted to disrupt a gene (GGTA1) encoding the α-1,3-galactosyltransferase that synthesizes the α-Gal epitope using parthenogenetically activated porcine oocytes. The lack of α-Gal epitope expression can be monitored by staining with fluorescently labeled isolectin BS-I-B₄ (IB4), which binds specifically to the α-Gal epitope. When oocytes were injected with guide RNA specific to GGTA1 together with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and human Cas9 mRNAs, 65% (24/37) of the developing blastocysts exhibited green fluorescence, although almost all (96%, 23/24) showed a mosaic fluorescent pattern. Staining with IB4 revealed that the green fluorescent area often had a reduced binding activity to IB4. Of the 16 samples tested, six (five fluorescent and one non-fluorescent blastocysts) had indel mutations, suggesting a correlation between EGFP expression and mutation induction. Furthermore, it is suggested that zygote microinjection of mRNAs might lead to the production of piglets with cells harboring various mutation types.     

Selecting supplier combination based on fuzzy multicriteria analysis

Existing multicriteria analysis (MCA) methods are probably ineffective in selecting a supplier combination. Thus, an MCA-based fuzzy 0-1 programming method is introduced. The programming relates to a simple MCA matrix that is used to select a single supplier. By solving the programming, the most feasible combination of suppliers is selected. Importantly, this result differs from selecting suppliers one by one according to a single-selection order, which is used to rank sole suppliers in existing MCA methods. An example highlights such difference and illustrates the proposed method.     

Combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and nonlinear methods to analyze the copolymerization of phosphonic acid derivatives

We demonstrate in this study that the combination of modern inline monitoring methods [here: inline nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)] with simulations gains more exact and profound kinetic results than previously used methods like linearization without that combination. The ¹H-NMR spectroscopic data (more than 100 data points) are used to construct the copolymerization diagram. The reactivity ratios are obtained applying the van Herks nonlinear least square method. The examination of the radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with (2-{[2-(ethoxycarbonyl)prop-2-en-1-yl]oxy}ethyl) phosphonic acid (ECPPA) as important adhesive monomer used in dentistry yields reactivity ratios of r_HEMA = 1.83; r_ECPPA = 0.42. The copolymerization diagram reflects nonideal, non-azeotropic copolymerization. The sequence distribution of the obtained by Monte Carlo simulation indicates the generation of statistical copolymers. As an important finding, it is demonstrated that the repeating units responsible for etching and adhesion are arranged over the whole polymer chain, which is necessary to achieve proper functionality. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48256.     

An experimental approach towards increasing mechanical durability of extruded fish feed in the drying process

Mechanical durability of extruded fish feed must be optimized to lower economic losses as well as emission of organic matter to aquatic environments. The glass transition hypothesis for viscoelastic biopolymers is demonstrated and confirmed experimentally to be valid for extruded fish feed pellets. It is proposed and demonstrated that it is important to avoid early glass transition onset, to optimize the obtained mechanical durability. From the proposed glass transition hypothesis, immediate process relevance to the pre-drying transport mechanism is demonstrated. Furthermore, measured mechanical durability is found to range from 1.5 to 5.0% loss, for different combinations of drying parameters.     

Morphology of Flashing Feeds at Critical Fluid Properties in Larger Pipes

Tailored conditioning and control of flashing feeds in industrial applications requires knowledge of the evolving flow morphology and phase fractions along the feed pipe. Design methods obtained from reference systems (e.g. water-air) are hardly applicable for commercial scales and critical fluid properties (e.g. high vapor densities, low surface tension). In this study, the flow morphology of flashing feeds in a novel refrigerant test rig at critical fluid properties was analyzed using wire-mesh sensors at two locations along the feed pipe and experimental data from the water-air system.     

Evaluation of particle recovery from microalgae

Coccoliths are micro-structured biomineral particles found in cell protective covering layers of coccolithophore species. They are mainly composed of CaCO₃ and their individual crystal entities are arranged in such a way that they construct complex and unique structures. This complexity is found down to the individual particle level and appears to have promising properties to offer. This study focuses on the essential step prior to any kind of implementation, which is the recovery of the material. It summarizes cleaning protocols found in literature, compares them for the first time for the same freshly cultivated material and addresses challenges that still need to be overcome. Further, it highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the best cleaning protocols, suggests optimizations with promising results and uses size distribution measurements to analyse the recovery efficiency. To that end, further characterization techniques, new for coccoliths, are introduced and used to improve our current knowledge of the particles behaviour.     

Modified La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ cathodes with the infiltration of Er0.4Bi1.6O3 for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

Aiming to lower the activation energy and expedite the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process of La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ (LSCF) cathodes for application in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs), Er_0.4Bi_1.6O₃ (ESB) modified LSCF was prepared by infiltrating using organic solvents. The infiltration of ESB dramatically reduces the polarization resistances of LSCF cathodes (from 0.27 to 0.11 Ω cm² at 700 °C, from 0.58 to 0.25 Ω cm² at 650 °C), and lowers their activation energy (from 100.28 to 97.15 kJ mol^?1). Also, ESB makes the rate-limiting step of LSCF cathodes at high frequency change from the charge transfer process on the cathode to the adsorption and diffusion of oxygen on cathode surface. The single cell with ESB infiltrated LSCF cathodes shows a peak power density of 469 mW cm^?2 at 700 °C using humid hydrogen and air as fuels and oxidants, respectively, as well as a good short-term stability for 50 h.     

Study on thermolysis process of a new hydrated and protonated perovskite-like oxides H2K0.5Bi2.5Ti4O13·yH2O

A protonated form of the n?=?4 layered bismuth containing perovskite-like titanate K_2.5Bi_2.5Ti₄O₁₃ belonging to Ruddlesden-Popper phases was prepared via ion exchange reaction of interlayer K⁺ with protons. Its composition was investigated by TG ICP and EDX analysis was found to be H₂K_0.5Bi_2.5Ti₄O₁₃·H₂O. The thermal behavior of the obtained phase was investigated by STA coupled with mass-spectrometry, the structural changes, happening with the sample during heating, were examined by XRD. It was shown that the as-prepared hydrated phase undergoes two-stage dehydration at low temperatures (up to 160?°C). The further heating leads to the gradual decomposition and crystallization of new phases, notably Bi₂Ti₂O₇, Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ and Bi₂Ti₄O₁₁. The morphology of the as-prepared sample and samples after heat treatment was examined using SEM.     

ZerNet: Convolutional Neural Networks on Arbitrary Surfaces Via Zernike Local Tangent Space Estimation

In this paper, we propose a novel formulation extending convolutional neural networks (CNN) to arbitrary two-dimensional manifolds using orthogonal basis functions called Zernike polynomials. In many areas, geometric features play a key role in understanding scientific trends and phenomena, where accurate numerical quantification of geometric features is critical. Recently, CNNs have demonstrated a substantial improvement in extracting and codifying geometric features. However, the progress is mostly centred around computer vision and its applications where an inherent grid-like data representation is naturally present. In contrast, many geometry processing problems deal with curved surfaces and the application of CNNs is not trivial due to the lack of canonical grid-like representation, the absence of globally consistent orientation and the incompatible local discretizations. In this paper, we show that the Zernike polynomials allow rigourous yet practical mathematical generalization of CNNs to arbitrary surfaces. We prove that the convolution of two functions can be represented as a simple dot product between Zernike coefficients and the rotation of a convolution kernel is essentially a set of 2 × 2 rotation matrices applied to the coefficients. The key contribution of this work is in such a computationally efficient but rigorous generalization of the major CNN building blocks.