Exploring the prospects of the fifth quarter in the 21st century

A variable proportion of slaughtered livestock, generally referred to as the fifth quarter, is not part of the edible dressed meat and regarded as animal byproduct. In order for the fifth quarter to play a significant role in the current effort toward a circular bio-based economy, it has to successfully support food security, social inclusivity, environmental sustainability, and a viable economy. The high volume of these low-value streams and their nutrient-dense nature can facilitate their position as a very important candidate to explore within the context of a circular bio-based economy to achieve some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). While these sources have been traditionally used for various applications across different cultures and industries, it seems evident that their full potential has not yet been exploited, leaving these products more like an environmental burden rather than valuable resources. With innovation and well-targeted interdisciplinary collaborations, the potential of the fifth quarter can be fully realized. The present review intends to explore these low-value streams, their current utilization, and their potential to tackle the global challenges of increasing protein demands while preventing environmental degradation. Factors that limit widespread applications of the fifth quarter across industries and cultures will also be discussed.     

Relativistic red‐black trees

This paper presents algorithms for concurrently reading and modifying a red‐black tree (RBTree). The algorithms allow wait‐free, linearly scalable lookups in the presence of concurrent inserts and deletes. They have deterministic response times for a given tree size and uncontended read performance that is at least 60% faster than other known approaches. The techniques used to derive these algorithms arise from a concurrent programming methodology called relativistic programming. Relativistic programming introduces write‐side delay primitives that allow the writer to pay most of the cost of synchronization between readers and writers. Only minimal synchronization overhead is placed on readers. Relativistic programming avoids unnecessarily strict ordering of read and write operations while still providing the capability to enforce linearizability. This paper shows how relativistic programming can be used to build a concurrent RBTree with synchronization‐free readers and both lock‐based and transactional memory‐based writers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高效液相色谱法测定母乳及牛乳中总核苷酸含量

建立高效液相色谱测定母乳和牛乳中总核苷酸含量和组成的分析方法。总核苷酸包括游离核苷酸、游离核苷、核苷聚合物及加合物等不同来源的可利用核苷总量。利用酶解法释放出母乳中的核苷,以硼化聚丙烯酰胺凝胶（Affi-Gel 601）作为固相萃取介质进行样品净化,用反相高效液相色谱仪检测,内标法定量,检测结果以核苷酸计。且针对母乳样品的特性,增加高温灭活步骤进行样品前处理,以检测母乳中核苷酸的天然含量及组成。对所建方法进行全面验证,结果表明其具有良好的线性,相关系数（r2）均在0.999以上;母乳中各核苷酸的检出限和定量限分别在0.18～0.45 mg/L和0.60～1.51 mg/L之间;母乳基质中3 种不同加标水平下总核苷酸的回收率均在99%～108%之间,连续3 d 6 次检测结果的相对标准偏差在0.8%～7.8%之间,显示了良好的准确性及精密度。然后进一步利用所建检测方法,评估母乳及5 种市面常见的牛乳中的核苷酸总量及组成用以验证该方法的适用性。该方法的灵敏度、准确性及精密度均可满足对母乳和牛乳样品中天然的核苷酸含量及组成的测定要求。本研究为今后大样本量调查母乳及牛乳样品中核苷酸的含量和组成提供了更加科学准确的方法。     

Charged nucleobases and their potential for RNA catalysis

Catalysis in living cells is carried out by both proteins and RNA. Protein enzymes have been known for over 200 years, but RNA enzymes, or "ribozymes", were discovered only 30 years ago. Developing insight into RNA enzyme mechanisms is invaluable for better understanding both extant biological catalysis as well as the primitive catalysis envisioned in an early RNA-catalyzed life. Natural ribozymes include large RNAs such as the group I and II introns; small RNAs such as the hepatitis delta virus and the hairpin, hammerhead, VS, and glmS ribozymes; and the RNA portion of the ribosome and spliceosome. RNA enzymes use many of the same catalytic strategies as protein enzymes, but do so with much simpler side chains. Among these strategies are metal ion, general acid-base, and electrostatic catalysis. In this Account, we examine evidence for participation of charged nucleobases in RNA catalysis. Our overall approach is to integrate direct measurements on catalytic RNAs with thermodynamic studies on oligonucleotide model systems. The charged amino acids make critical contributions to the mechanisms of nearly all protein enzymes. Ionized nucleobases should be critical for RNA catalysis as well. Indeed, charged nucleobases have been implicated in RNA catalysis as general acid-bases and oxyanion holes. We provide an overview of ribozyme studies involving nucleobase catalysis and the complications involved in developing these mechanisms. We also consider driving forces for perturbation of the pK(a) values of the bases. Mechanisms for pK(a) values shifting toward neutrality involve electrostatic stabilization and the addition of hydrogen bonding. Both mechanisms couple protonation with RNA folding, which we treat with a thermodynamic formalism and conceptual models. Furthermore, ribozyme reaction mechanisms can be multichannel, which demonstrates the versatility of ribozymes but makes analysis of experimental data challenging. We examine advances in measuring and analyzing perturbed pK(a) values in RNA. Raman crystallography and fluorescence spectroscopy have been especially important for pK(a) measurement. These methods reveal pK(a) values for the nucleobases A or C equal to or greater than neutrality, conferring potential histidine- and lysine/arginine-like behavior on them. Structural support for ionization of the nucleobases also exists: an analysis of RNA structures in the databases conducted herein suggests that charging of the bases is neither especially uncommon nor difficult to achieve under cellular conditions. Our major conclusions are that cationic and anionic charge states of the nucleobases occur in RNA enzymes and that these states make important catalytic contributions to ribozyme activity. We conclude by considering outstanding questions and possible experimental and theoretical approaches for further advances.     

VARIATIONS IN THE SOLVENT EXTRACTION BEHAVIOR OF BIFONCTIONAL PHOSPHORUS-BASED COMPOUNDS MODIFIED WITH TBP

ABSTRACT

The solvent extraction of americium from nitric acid by several modified bifunctional extractants in CCl₄has been investigated. For all the compounds examined, addition of a modifier such as tributylphosphate (TBP) enhances distribution ratios at high aqueous acidities. The effect of the modifier at lower acidities varies depending on the basicity of the bifunctional extractant. While the most basic extractants show significantly reduced distribution ratios from lower acid solutions upon TBP addition, for the less basic compounds only slight reductions or, in some cases, even moderate increases in extraction are observed. Studies of the effect of modifier basicity on extraction behavior have also been carried out. The changes in distribution ratios with modifiers fall within the range of variations observed for diluent effects with extractants of this type. Increases in high acid distribution ratios upon TBP addition to an extractant as simple as trioctylphosphine oxide indicate that this modification of extraction behavior may be of general use for a wide range of neutral extractants     

The Separation of Beryllium from Selected Elements Using the Dipex® Extraction Chromatographic Resin

Abstract

An extraction chromatographic resin containing the acidic chelating organophosphorus extractant, Dipex^®, sorbed onto an inert polymeric substrate has been evaluated for the separation of beryllium from a wide range of elements. The elements selected comprise those which can interfere with the determination of beryllium by inductively coupled plasma‐atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐AES) and matrix elements which commonly occur in environmental and industrial samples. Based on batch uptake measurements, a method that separates beryllium from all potential ICP‐AES spectral interfering elements using a single extraction chromatographic column is outlined. The chromatographic parameters of the separation method have been optimized using simulated samples generated using the digestion process employed in beryllium analyses by the Y‐12 National Security Complex and simulated ground water samples.     

The Characterisation of Pluripotent and Multipotent Stem Cells Using Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy shows potential as a benign, objective and rapid tool to screen pluripotent and multipotent stem cells for clinical use. It offers a new experimental approach that provides a holistic measurement of macromolecular composition such that a signature representing the internal cellular phenotype is obtained. The use of this technique therefore contributes information that is complementary to that acquired by conventional genetic and immunohistochemical methods.     

Retrofitting social housing: reflections by tenants on adopting and living with retrofit technology

Retrofit has been described as one of the major engineering challenges of the twenty-first century (Kelly 2009). However, the industry needs to look beyond regarding the problem as restricted to the physical upgrade of properties. Asset managers, engineers and installers work on and in people’s homes and, in many cases, are subsequently changing the way householders use their homes to meet their comfort and wider energy needs. Here we consider how the twin issues of adopting and living with retrofit technologies have affected groups of residents in social housing. We discuss issues of trust, social norms, engagement and concern that have shaped the adoption process, as well as investigating the everyday experience of living with new configurations of energy consumption. The findings have relevance not only for the social housing sector but also raise questions as to how to effectively deliver programmes such as the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation within the UK.     

Comparison of the Effect of Individual and Combined Zr and Mn Additions on the Fracture Behavior of Al-Cu-Li Alloy AA2198 Rolled Sheet

The effect of individual and combined addition of dispersoid-forming alloying elements Zr and Mn on the fracture behavior of the Al-Cu-Li alloy 2198 has been investigated by the Kahn tear test. Overall, the standard baseline 2198 alloy containing only Zr exhibited the best performance, while the alloy with the combined presence of Zr and Mn was slightly inferior. The lowest properties were seen for a Zr-free 2198-0.4Mn alloy variant. In the T351 temper fracture initiated at coarse constituent particles that formed large cavities and microvoid sheets linked the initial sites of void growth. In the Mn-containing alloys microvoids clearly nucleated at the coarser Al₂₀Cu₂Mn₃ dispersoids within the microstructure, while this was not identifiable for the finer coherent Al₃Zr dispersoids. However, this difference in the mechanism of cavity linkage had little effect on the overall toughness of the materials, which was more closely related to the effect of Mn and Zr on the level of recrystallization. Extended artificial aging promoted grain boundary decohesion due to the precipitation of high densities of T₁ particles on GBs and favored a cleavage fracture mode. Particle decohesive fracture was also promoted by T₁ precipitation on the Mn dispersoids.