PUL-Mediated Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharide Utilization in the Gut Bacteroidetes

Plant cell wall polysaccharides (PCWP) are abundantly present in the food of humans and feed of livestock. Mammalians by themselves cannot degrade PCWP but rather depend on microbes resident in the gut intestine for deconstruction. The dominant Bacteroidetes in the gut microbial community are such bacteria with PCWP-degrading ability. The polysaccharide utilization systems (PUL) responsible for PCWP degradation and utilization are a prominent feature of Bacteroidetes. In recent years, there have been tremendous efforts in elucidating how PULs assist Bacteroidetes to assimilate carbon and acquire energy from PCWP. Here, we will review the PUL-mediated plant cell wall polysaccharides utilization in the gut Bacteroidetes focusing on cellulose, xylan, mannan, and pectin utilization and discuss how the mechanisms can be exploited to modulate the gut microbiota.     

煤矿锚杆机除尘马达改进

针对煤矿进口锚杆机除尘马达频繁出现故障的情况,通过排查除尘装置的安装方式和监测马达工作时的压力状态,查找故障原因,并制定解决方案。通过马达外接单向阀,可满足马达进油口最低安全压力限制的要求,解决了马达频繁损坏的问题,保障了设备工作的稳定性,提高了工作效率。     

Box-Behnken Design a Key Tool to Achieve Optimized PCL/Gelatin Electrospun Mesh

Hybrid electrospun nanofibers of polycaprolactone (PCL)/gelatin are considered as drug-delivery systems for increasing the treatment efficacy in superficial (skin) wounds. Continuous delivery of therapeutic agents, skin extracellular matrix similarity, management of wound exudate, and antimicrobial barrier effect are the major advantages of electrospun nanofibers in skin applications. Additionally, combining the favorable properties of PCL and gelatin, regarding their biocompatibility, biodegradability and mechanical performance have been revealed promising parameters to be considered for blend in hybrid structures. However, the usual optimization protocol of nanofibers’ production in electrospinning is based on the observation of one-variable-at-time being this methodology expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, in this research work, a statistical model based on four input variables namely, the flow rate, the needle-working distance, the applied voltage, and the ratio of PCL in the solution, is developed to predict the behavior of nanofibers. The performance of nanofibers is monitored by measurements of fiber's diameter, mesh's thickness, and mesh's permeability. Overall, the model showed to be statistically significant (p-value < 0.05) and an independent analysis validated the predicted response for optimal condition. Finally, a delivery study is performed to evaluate the electrospun mesh performance as a drug carrier.     

Review on synthesis of porous TiO2-based catalysts for energy conversion systems

Porous TiO₂-based catalysts have recently received remarkable attention in the field of energy conversion systems, including hydrogen/oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen/nitrogen reduction reaction, and photodegradation of pollutants owing to their unique structure, large surface area, and good chemical stability. In this report, we review existing research on porous TiO₂-based catalysts for energy conversion systems during the past four years. First, the advantages of porous TiO₂-based catalysts are introduced. Next, the synthetic approaches in developing porous TiO₂-based catalysts are summarized. The different types of energy conversion systems based on porous TiO₂-based catalysts are then presented. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives in synthesizing porous TiO₂-based catalysts are discussed.     

Mechanisms of Reciprocal Regulation of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH)-Producing and Immune Systems: The Role of GnRH,Cytokines and Their Receptors in Early Ontogenesis in Normal and Pathological Conditions

Different aspects of the reciprocal regulatory influence on the development of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-producing- and immune systems in the perinatal ontogenesis and their functioning in adults in normal and pathological conditions are discussed. The influence of GnRH on the development of the immune system, on the one hand, and the influence of proinflammatory cytokines on the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal system, on the other hand, and their functioning in adult offspring are analyzed. We have focused on the effects of GnRH on the formation and functional activity of the thymus, as the central organ of the immune system, in the perinatal period. The main mechanisms of reciprocal regulation of these systems are discussed. The reproductive health of an individual is programmed by the establishment and development of physiological systems during critical periods. Regulatory epigenetic mechanisms of development are not strictly genetically controlled. These processes are characterized by a high sensitivity to various regulatory factors, which provides possible corrections for disorders.     

Use of a smartphone-based Student Response System in large active-learning Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics classrooms

Smartphones are a promising tool as student response systems (SRS) for interactive teaching due to their widespread diffusion. Here, the main purpose is to assess the efficacy of smartphone-based SRS in large classroom settings of undergraduate Thermodynamics, as representative of engineering courses requiring high-level cognitive skills for problem solving. Four sets of multiple-choice questions were presented during the course. Overall, the results refer to 1055 students between control and SRS classes, each corresponding to a3 years period.One of the main results of this work is the strong linear correlation between the average questionnaire score and the final exam grade (R² = 0.91). A similar correlation, although with a lower value of R², is already found in the first questionnaire, thus showing the SRS high predictive power of class performance. The results of this study provide guidance for a quantitative use of smartphone-based SRS in teaching basic disciplines. The SRS monitoring capability allows early detection of struggling students, thus paving the way to personalized tutoring and improved student engagement in active learning practices. This approach is especially important in emergency situations, such as the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic, when distance learning is widely adopted, and remote interactive tools are highly needed.     

Vitamin A fortification: Recent advances in encapsulation technologies

Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient whose deficiency is still a major health concern in many regions of the world. It plays an essential role in human growth and development, immunity, and vision, but may also help prevent several other chronic diseases. The total amount of vitamin A in the human diet often falls below the recommended dietary allowance of approximately 900–1000 $\mu$g/day for a healthy adult. Moreover, a significant proportion of vitamin A may be degraded during food processing, storage, and distribution, thereby reducing its bioactivity. Finally, the vitamin A in some foods has a relatively low bioavailability, which further reduces its efficacy. The World Health Organization has recommended fortification of foods and beverages as a safe and cost-effective means of addressing vitamin A deficiency. However, there are several factors that must be overcome before effective fortified foods can be developed, including the low solubility, chemical stability, and bioavailability of this oil-soluble vitamin. Consequently, strategies are required to evenly disperse the vitamin throughout food matrices, to inhibit its chemical degradation, to avoid any adverse interactions with any other food components, to ensure the food is palatable, and to increase its bioavailability. In this review article, we discuss the chemical, physical, and nutritional attributes of vitamin A, its main dietary sources, the factors contributing to its current deficiency, and various strategies to address these deficiencies, including diet diversification, biofortification, and food fortification.     

A new analysis of two phase flow on hydrogen production from water electrolysis

It is clear that the entire world have to research, develop, demonstrate and plan for alternative energy systems for shorter term and also longer term. As a clean energy carrier, hydrogen has become increasingly important. It owes its prestige to the increase within the energy costs as a result of the equivocalness in the future availability. Two phase flow and hydrogen gas flow dynamics effect on performance of water electrolysis. Hydrogen bubbles are recognized to influence energy and mass transfer in gas-evolving electrodes. The movement of hydrogen bubbles on the electrodes in alkaline electrolysis is known to affect the reaction efficiency. Within the scope of this research, a physical modeling for the alkaline electrolysis is determined and the studies about the two-phase flow model are carried out for this model. Internal and external forces acting on the resulting bubbles are also determined. In this research, the analytical solution of two-phase flow analysis of hydrogen in the electrolysis is analyzed.     

PID Control of Planar Nonlinear Uncertain Systems in the Presence of Actuator Saturation

This paper investigates PID control design for a class of planar nonlinear uncertain systems in the presence of actuator saturation. Based on the bounds on the growth rates of the nonlinear uncertain function in the system model, the system is placed in a linear differential inclusion. Each vertex system of the linear differential inclusion is a linear system subject to actuator saturation. By placing the saturated PID control into a convex hull formed by the PID controller and an auxiliary linear feedback law, we establish conditions under which an ellipsoid is contractively invariant and hence is an estimate of the domain of attraction of the equilibrium point of the closed-loop system. The equilibrium point corresponds to the desired set point for the system output. Thus, the location of the equilibrium point and the size of the domain of attraction determine, respectively, the set point that the output can achieve and the range of initial conditions from which this set point can be reached. Based on these conditions, the feasible set points can be determined and the design of the PID control law that stabilizes the nonlinear uncertain system at a feasible set point with a large domain of attraction can then be formulated and solved as a constrained optimization problem with constraints in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Application of the proposed design to a magnetic suspension system illustrates the design process and the performance of the resulting PID control law.