The effect of optimized carbon source on the synthesis and composition of exopolysaccharides produced by Lactobacillus paracasei

This study aimed to predict the optimal carbon source for higher production of exopolysaccharides (EPS) by Lactobacillus paracasei TD 062, and to evaluate the effect of this carbon source on the production and monosaccharide composition of EPS. We evaluated the EPS production capacity of 20 strains of L. paracasei under the same conditions. We further investigated L. paracasei TD 062, which showed the highest EPS-producing activity (0.609 g/L), by examining the associated biosynthesis pathways for EPS. Genomics revealed that fructose, mannose, trehalose, glucose, galactose, and lactose were carbon sources that L. paracasei TD 062 could use to produce EPS. We identified an EPS synthesis gene cluster that could participate in transport, export, and sugar chain synthesis, and generate 6 sugar nucleotides. Experimental results showed that the sugar content of the EPS produced using fermentation with the optimized carbon source (fructose, mannose, trehalose, glucose, galactose, and lactose) increased by 115%. Furthermore, use of the optimized carbon source changed the monosaccharide content of the associated EPS. The results of enzyme activity measurements showed significant increases in the activity of 2 key enzymes involved in the glycoside synthesis pathway. Our study revealed that optimizing the carbon source provided for fermentation not only increased the production of EPS, but also affected the composition of the monosaccharides by increasing enzyme activity in the underlying synthesis pathways, suggesting an important role for carbon source in the production of EPS by L. paracasei TD 062.     

Role of Co in formation of Ni-Ti clusters in maraging stainless steel

The effect of Co addition on the formation of Ni-Ti clusters in maraging stainless steel was studied by three dimensional atom probe (3DAP) and first-principles calculation. The cluster analysis based on the maximum separation approach showed an increase in size but a decrease in density of Ni-Ti clusters with increasing the Co content. The first-principles calculation indicated weaker Co-Ni (Co-Ti) interactions than Co-Ti (Fe-Ti) interactions, which should be the essential reason for the change of distribution characteristics of Ni-Ti clusters in bcc Fe caused by Co addition.     

Structural,morphological, dielectric and magnetic properties of Zn-Zr co-doping yttrium iron garnet

In this study, yttrium iron garnet co-doped with Zn and Zr atoms with a chemical formula Y₃Zn_xZr_xFe_(5−2x)O₁₂ (x = 0.0-0.3) has been successfully prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The effects of doping concentration on the microstructure, crystal structure, magnetic properties, and dielectric properties of Y₃Zn_xZr_xFe_(5−2x)O₁₂ were investigated. The microstructure analysis indicates that co-doping of YIG with Zn and Zr can effectively reduce the grain size of the ceramic. The crystal structure results reveal that the doping concentration of Zn–Zr has substantial influence on the lattice parameters of YIG, such as, increases the lattice constant, crystal cell size, and interplanar spacing. However, the second phase of ZrO₂ appears once x ≥ 0.15. Additionally, the dielectric properties of YIG ferrite can be regulated using this Zn–Zr co-doping method. Zn–Zr co-doping can improve the dielectric stability and reduce the dielectric loss at high temperature. The magnetization measurement shows that the saturation magnetization is stabilized at x < 0.15, and the magnetic loss is decreased with the increase in the doping concentration. Overall, the findings show that the ceramic with x = 0.1 exhibits better properties included high saturation magnetization (24.607 emu/g), low magnetic loss (0.0025 @ 1 MHz), and relatively low dielectric loss (496 @ 400°C).     

Single-Crystalline TiO2(B) Nanobelts with Unusual Large Exposed {100} Facets and Enhanced Li-Storage Capacity

The {100} facet of single-crystalline TiO₂(B) is an ideal platform for inserting Li ions, but it is hard to be obtained due to its high surface energy. Here, the single-crystalline TiO₂(B) nanobelts from H₂Ti₃O₇ with nearly 70% {100} facets exposed are synthesized, which significantly enhances Li-storage capacity. The first-principle calculations demonstrate an ab in-plane 2D diffusion through the exposed {100} facets. As a consequence, the nanobelts can significantly accommodate Li ions in LiTiO₂ formula with specific capacity up to 335 mAh g⁻¹, which is in good agreement with the electrochemical characterizations. Coating with conductive and protective poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), the cut-off discharge voltage is as low as 0.5 V, leading to a capacity of 160.7 mAh g⁻¹ after 1500 cycles with a retention rate of 66% at 1C. This work provides a practical strategy to increase the Li-ion capacity and cycle stability by tailoring the crystal orientation and nanostructures.     

Sparse non-convex Lp regularization for cone-beam X-ray luminescence computed tomography

Cone-beam X-ray luminescence computed tomography (CB-XLCT) is an attractive hybrid imaging modality, and it has the potential of monitoring the metabolic processes of nanophosphors-based drugs in vivo. However, the XLCT imaging suffers from a severe ill-posed problem. In this work, a sparse nonconvex L_p (0?p?L₁ regularization. Further, an iteratively reweighted split augmented lagrangian shrinkage algorithm (IRW_SALSA-L_p) was proposed to efficiently solve the non-convex L_p (0?p?p-values (1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8) in both 3D digital mouse experiments and in vivo experiments. The results demonstrate that the proposed non-convex methods outperform L₂ and L₁ regularization in accurately recovering sparse targets in CB-XLCT. And among all the non-convex p-values, our L_p(1/4?p?相似文献   

Surface structural and solar absorptance features of nitrate-based copper-cobalt oxides composite coatings: Experimental studies and molecular dynamic simulation

The copper and cobalt oxides composites coatings on aluminum substrates have been successfully synthesized via sol-gel method using nitrate-based sol precursors. The composites were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometry. The sol-gel reactions were discussed and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation was integrated into the study to predict molecules assembly properties. The XRD analyses revealed that the CuO and the Co₃O₄ composites were formed after the annealing process with the average difference of the calculated lattice parameters compared to ICDDs was 1.17%. The surface electronic structure was mainly consisted of tetrahedral Cu(I), octahedral Cu(II), tetrahedral Co(II), octahedral Co(III) as well as surface, sub-surface and lattice oxygen O^?. The XRD, XPS and MD simulation results showed that there was minimal (or possibly non-existing) indication of copper-cobalt mixed phase oxides formations. FESEM and AFM surveys revealed that the coating had a porous surface composed of interlinked nanoparticles in the range of ~?10 to ~?40?nm. UV–Vis–NIR reflectance spectra showed that the sol precursors concentration and the dip-drying cycle significantly influenced the absorptance value with optimum absorptance (α) of 88.7% exhibited by coating synthesized using sol concentration of 0.1?M and 10 dip-drying cycles. High absorptance value and simplicity in the synthesis process render the coatings to be very promising candidates for solar selective absorber (SSA) applications.     

Computational Analysis of the Solid-State and Solvation Properties of Carbamazepine in Relation to its Polymorphism

The solvent-dependent polymorphism of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) carbamazepine is interpreted from calculations of the solid-state and API-solvent intermolecular interactions. These simulations suggested that apolar solute-solute interactions could be disrupted by apolar solvents. In contrast, the polar solute-solute interactions were found to be easily disrupted by polar and protic solvents. This is consistent with experimental observations that the crystallization of the metastable form II is more dominant in apolar solvents. The Mercury program remains the gold standard in terms of usability; however, further expansion into more complex simulation techniques could make this package of even greater use in pharmaceutical manufacturing workflows.     

Multi-objective layout optimization for an orbital propellant depot

Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization - The overall layout optimization design of an orbital propellant depot involves the optimization of shape, size, and positions of propellant tanks in...     

Image Super-Resolution Based on Generative Adversarial Networks: A Brief Review

Single image super resolution (SISR) is an important research content in the field of computer vision and image processing. With the rapid development of deep neural networks, different image super-resolution models have emerged. Compared to some traditional SISR methods, deep learning-based methods can complete the superresolution tasks through a single image. In addition, compared with the SISR methods using traditional convolutional neural networks, SISR based on generative adversarial networks (GAN) has achieved the most advanced visual performance. In this review, we first explore the challenges faced by SISR and introduce some common datasets and evaluation metrics. Then, we review the improved network structures and loss functions of GAN-based perceptual SISR. Subsequently, the advantages and disadvantages of different networks are analyzed by multiple comparative experiments. Finally, we summarize the paper and look forward to the future development trends of GAN-based perceptual SISR.