BANQ餐厅 美国波士顿

正Banq餐厅位是一家新型餐厅,位于便士储蓄银行(Penny Savings Bank)旧大楼以前用来经营银行业务的大厅内。餐厅分成两个部分,前面区域面向华盛顿大街,设计成酒吧,后面的大厅则作为用餐区。然而,这个空间在z轴上以天花板和地面之间的另一个分区为中心进行设计。如果由于餐厅空间活动的多变性而需要保持灵活性——包括两个座位、四个座位和六个座位,以及与聚会和其他活动有关的座位     

DFT simulation of HCl leaching over cellulase-mimetic solid acid catalyst for possible application in biohydrogen production

Cellulase-mimetic solid acid catalysts (CMSAC), having both cellulose-binding and catalytic sites, are known to have much lower activation energy and higher catalytic activity than traditional solid acid catalysts. It is an emerging greener and cost-friendly solution for producing biofuel, such as bio-hydrogen, from lignocellulose. However, in 2018 the widely used CMSAC, sulfonated chloromethyl polystyrene, was found to have its catalytic activity attributed to the in-situ release of HCl during catalytic hydrolysis, which is unexpected. An ab initio quantum calculation based on density functional theory (DFT) is performed to study its reaction mechanism. Results have shown that the most probable mechanism responsible for the in-situ release of HCl is through SN1 nucleophilic substitution. The simulation also predicted a surface reaction activation energy of 1.56 eV (35.97 kcal/mol), along the predicted minimum energy path (MEP). This is the first ab initio study to theoretically predict the HCl leaching mechanism from CMSAC before its industrial application.     

A Time to Kill: Targeting Apoptosis in Cancer

The process of apoptosis is essential for maintaining the physiologic balance between cell death and cell growth. This complex process is executed by two major pathways that participate in activating an executioner mechanism leading to chromatin disintegration and nuclear fragmentation. Dysregulation of these pathways often contributes to cancer development and resistance to cancer therapy. Here, we review the most recent discoveries in apoptosis regulation and possible mechanisms for resensitizing tumor cells to therapy.     

Druggability Assessment for Selected Serine Proteases in a Pharmaceutical Industry Setting

Target druggability assessment is an integral part of the early target characterization and selection process in pharmaceutical industry. Here, we investigate a set of five different serine proteases from the blood coagulation cascade. The aim of this study is twofold. Firstly, leveraging the wealth of available in-house high-throughput screening (HTS) data, we analyze HTS hit rates and discuss their predictive value for the development of small molecule (SMOL) candidates. Purely structure-activity relationship (SAR) based druggability ratings are compared with computational protein-structure based druggability assessments. Secondly, we evaluate the impact of using conformational ensembles from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations instead of single static crystal structures as basis for computational druggability assessments. Based on this study, we recommend incorporating molecular dynamics routinely into the early target characterization process, especially if only a single X-ray structure is available.     

Increased liver and lupus mortalities in 24-year follow-up of the Taiwanese people highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans

BACKGROUND: A follow-up study was designed to compare the 24-year overall and disease-specific mortality in Yucheng people who were highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls/dibenzofurans (PCBs/PCDFs) to that in the background population in Taiwan. In 1979, the Yucheng (oil-disease in Chinese) incident occurred in central Taiwan involving approximately 2000 victims due to ingestion of rice oil contaminated with PCBs/PCDFs. Long-term follow-up of these people has been continued for 24 years. METHODS: Standardized mortality ratios were calculated using the Taiwan population as comparison group. Overall and disease-specific mortality was compared between Yucheng and background populations. RESULTS: Mortality from chronic liver disease and cirrhoses was increased in the Yucheng men, but not in women, in the early period after exposure. Cancer mortality was not increased in the Yucheng population up to 24 years after exposure. SLE in females was highly increased in the later period after PCB/PCDF exposure. Mortality from disease in any other organ system was not significantly different between Yucheng and background populations. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided a long-term mortality picture after the Taiwanese PCB/PCDF exposure incident. In addition to re-confirming the increase in liver mortality, we found high mortality of SLE among exposed population. This finding highlights the importance of further investigating the immunological effects associated with PCB/PCDF exposure.     

Influence of biofilms on the movement of colloids in porous media. Implications for colloid facilitated transport in subsurface environments

Colloid transport through porous media can be influenced by the presence of biofilms. Sterile and non-sterile sand columns were investigated using Laponite RD as model colloid and a highly mucoid strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as model biofilm former. Laponite RD was marked specifically by fluorescent complexes with rhodamine 6G. Breakthrough curves (BTCs) were used as parameters for determination of colloid transport characteristics. In the sterile columns, the colloid was mobile (collision efficiencies from 0.05 to 0.08) both after the presence of Na(+) and Ca(2+) ions followed by deionised water influent. In the biofilm-grown column, the same treatment did not result in colloid retention in the case of Na(+) exposure, but in altered or enhanced colloid transport. In the case of Ca(2+) ions exposure, colloid retention increased with biofilm age. After 3 weeks, almost complete retention was observed. Similar observations were made in columns packed with material from slow sand filtration units. These data reveal the complex interactions between biofilms, cations and colloid transport. Changes in the electrolyte composition of water percolating the subsurface can frequently occur and will result in different colloid transport characteristics with regard to the dominating species of ions and the relative abundance of microbial biofilms. This has to be considered when modelling colloid transport through the subsurface.     

Modularisierung von Gaswäschern für die CO2‐Entfernung aus Biogas

Modularization has been identified as one of the research fields of the ?50 % idea”?. A development methodology for modules must consider both the economies of scale for investment costs and costs of operation and maintenance. In this paper, the impact of an absorber module, which is offered as discretized diameter scaling, on the total process is investigated at the example of the CO₂ separation from biogas. The simulation shows the effect of this approach to the stripper diameter and the energy demand of the process. The calculations form the basis for applying cost models.     

Silica Colloidal Membranes with Enantioselective Permeability

Robust mesoporous membranes composed of silica spheres were surface-modified with chiral selector moieties, including small molecules, macrocycles, and polymers. Diffusion rates of enantiomers of a chiral dye through the resulting asymmetrically modified colloidal membranes were measured and the corresponding permselectivities were calculated. The membranes showed enantioselectivities in the range of 1.2–1.8, which were not significantly affected by the structure of the surface-immobilized chiral electors. This selectivity is on par with most reported polymer-based solid membranes and bulk liquid membranes. The enantioselectivity results from the surface-facilitated mechanism of transport of enantiomers through the mesopores.