Rock mass movements around development workings in various density of standing-and-roof-bolting support

Presented measurement results of roof rocks and wall rock movements of underground development workings after their drifting. The research was carried out in the coal mine workings with standing-and-roof bolting support. There were various density of the support, so the aim of the special monitoring programme was to determine movement intensity of rock mass in the premises of the heading area. There were four types of research did by the authors. They measured convergence, roof layers separation using telltales and sonic probes and load bearing of the headings’ roofs by hydraulic dynamometers. Evaluation of fracture zone around the heading and investigation the load zone caused by failed roof rocks may become a basement for the determination of support parameters of the workings. The combined system of standing support and roof bolting seems to be an essential for underground headings protection. Supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Nr of Projects (4T12A00229)     

Spontaneous formation of gold microplates during reduction‐coupled removal of noble metals using Dowex M4195 resin

The present work reports the novel phenomenon of spontaneous formation of gold microplates. The effect is observed as a consequence of , , , and sorption on the Dowex M4195 resin. Therefore an attempt to explain the phenomenon mechanism is made. The research is covering sorption, kinetic and thermodynamic studies. The shapes of formed gold single plates are determined. The uptakes of Au(III), Pt(IV), Pd(II), and Re(VII) tests have been conducted using a batch method from single‐component metals solutions in 0.1M HCl. The sorption‐reduction phenomenon has been assessed by executed SEM, FTIR, XRD, and XPS studies. The greatest sorption capacity, combined with reduction‐coupled removal phenomenon, has been achieved for gold (5.5 mmol Au·g^?1 at 9°C). Executed SEM and XRD analyzes prove formation of gold single crystals during present process, furthermore reduction of rhenium is indicated by XPS analysis. Based on the obtained FTIR and Raman's spectra, the reduction phenomenon is probably followed by resins’ functional groups oxidation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42425.     

Metabolism and tissue distribution of label from [9,10-methylene-14C] sterculic acid in the rat

The metabolism of¹⁴C-sterculic acid, labeled in the methylene carbon of the cyclopropene ring, was investigated in Wistar rats. Comparison of the distribution of radioactivity in tissue and excreta as a function of time showed that the free sterculic acid was metabolized faster than the methyl ester and that the sterculic acid administered by intragastric intubation was absorbed and metabolized at a faster rate than that administered by intraperitoneal injection. The concentration of label in blood serum reached a maximum 2 hr after intubation and then rapidly declined. Incorporation of radioactivity into most organs peaked at 4 hr with liver peaking at a maximum of 11% of the administered dose and other organs at less than 1%. Label in depot fat steadily increased to 8% at 26 hr. Less than 1% of the administered dose was expired in CO₂ in the same time period. Excretion of label reached a maximum of 48% in urine and 11% in feces by 16 hr. The majority of the label in liver was in the fatty acid portion of the lipid fraction. The relative amount of label in microsomal and mitochondrial subcellular fractions of liver changed with time suggesting that these organelles may be involved in the metabolism of sterculic acid. Rats fed control diets appeared to metabolize sterculic acid in the same manner, but at a slower rate than rats acclimated to dietary cyclopropene fatty acids. Low recovery of label in expired air showed that the methylene carbon of the cyclopropene ring was not oxidized to CO₂. These data suggest that rats readily absorb sterculic acid and excrete labeled compounds primarily in the urine. Technical Paper No. 4409, Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331.     

Synthesis and Investigations of Building Blocks with Dibenzo[b,f] Oxepine for Use in Photopharmacology

The synthesis of photoswitchable azo-dibenzo[b,f]oxepine derivatives and microtubule inhibitors were described. Subsequently, we examined the reaction of methoxy derivative 3-nitrodibenzo[b,f]oxepine with different aldehydes and in the presence of BF₃·OEt₂ as a catalyst. Our study provided a very concise method for the construction of the azo-dibenzo[b,f]oxepine skeleton. The analysis of products was run using experimental and theoretical methods. Next, we evaluated the E/Z isomerization of azo-dibenzo[b,f]oxepine derivatives, which could be photochemically controlled using visible-wavelength light.     

Oxo-Titanium(IV) Complex/Polymer Composites—Synthesis,Spectroscopic Characterization and Antimicrobial Activity Test

The emergence of a large number of bacterial strains resistant to many drugs or disinfectants currently used contributed to the search of new, more effective antimicrobial agents. In the presented paper, we assessed the microbiocidal activity of tri- and tetranuclear oxo-titanium(IV) complexes (TOCs), which were dispersed in the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The TOCs were synthesized in reaction to Ti(OR)₄ (R = ⁱPr, ⁱBu) and HO₂CR’ (R’ = 4-PhNH₂ and 4-PhOH) in a 4:1 molar ratio at room temperature and in Ar atmosphere. The structure of isolated oxo-complexes was confirmed by IR and Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial activity of the produced composites (PMMA + TOCs) was estimated against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and S. aureus ATCC 25923) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and E. coli ATCC 25922) bacteria and yeasts of Candida albicans ATCC 10231. All produced composites showed biocidal activity against the bacteria. Composites containing {Ti₄O₂} cores and the {Ti₃O} core stabilized by the 4-hydroxybenzoic ligand showed also high activity against yeasts. The results of investigations carried out suggest that produced (PMMA + TOCs) composites, due to their microbiocidal activity, could find an application in the elimination of microbial contaminations in various fields of our lives.     

Rheological Studies on Potato Starch Pastes at Low Concentrations. Part III: Simplified Measurements of Absolute Characteristics of Pasting

Results of measurements of pasting characteristics of starch which are carried out in the rotatory viscometer with co-axial cylinders may be expressed in absolute viscosity units. The measurements can significantly be simplified if the rotor of the construction presented in this paper is applied. The rotor may play the role of a stirrer and the measurement cylinder at the same time. The work conditions (stirring - measurement) may be alternated, without any additional manipulations in the measurement system, only by a change of a angular velocity of the rotor. The rotor of the construction presented here can be also useful in rheology measurements of dispersion which sedimentates.     

New Core-Shell Nanostructures for FRET Studies: Synthesis,Characterization, and Quantitative Analysis

This work describes the synthesis and characterization of new core-shell material designed for Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) studies. Synthesis, structural and optical properties of core-shell nanostructures with a large number of two kinds of fluorophores bound to the shell are presented. As fluorophores, strongly fluorescent rhodamine 101 and rhodamine 110 chloride were selected. The dyes exhibit significant spectral overlap between acceptor absorption and donor emission spectra, which enables effective FRET. Core-shell nanoparticles strongly differing in the ratio of donors to acceptor numbers were prepared. This leads to two different interesting cases: typical single-step FRET or multistep energy migration preceding FRET. The single-step FRET model that was designed and presented by some of us recently for core-shell nanoparticles is herein experimentally verified. Very good agreement between the analytical expression for donor fluorescence intensity decay and experimental data was obtained, which confirmed the correctness of the model. Multistep energy migration between donors preceding the final transfer to the acceptor can also be successfully described. In this case, however, experimental data are compared with the results of Monte Carlo simulations, as there is no respective analytical expression. Excellent agreement in this more general case evidences the usefulness of this numerical method in the design and prediction of the properties of the synthesized core-shell nanoparticles labelled with multiple and chemically different fluorophores.     

BioS2Net: Holistic Structural and Sequential Analysis of Biomolecules Using a Deep Neural Network

Background: For decades, the rate of solving new biomolecular structures has been exceeding that at which their manual classification and feature characterisation can be carried out efficiently. Therefore, a new comprehensive and holistic tool for their examination is needed. Methods: Here we propose the Biological Sequence and Structure Network (BioS2Net), which is a novel deep neural network architecture that extracts both sequential and structural information of biomolecules. Our architecture consists of four main parts: (i) a sequence convolutional extractor, (ii) a 3D structure extractor, (iii) a 3D structure-aware sequence temporal network, as well as (iv) a fusion and classification network. Results: We have evaluated our approach using two protein fold classification datasets. BioS2Net achieved a 95.4% mean class accuracy on the eDD dataset and a 76% mean class accuracy on the F184 dataset. The accuracy of BioS2Net obtained on the eDD dataset was comparable to results achieved by previously published methods, confirming that the algorithm described in this article is a top-class solution for protein fold recognition. Conclusions: BioS2Net is a novel tool for the holistic examination of biomolecules of known structure and sequence. It is a reliable tool for protein analysis and their unified representation as feature vectors.     

Recent advancements in the application of non-thermal plasma technology for the seafood industry

Abstract

Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is one of the most promising minimal processing methods for the food industry. However up until recently there are limited studies which would report the application and effect of NTP on processed seafood. The objective of this review is to highlight the recent findings and advancements in the application of NTP within the fish and other seafood industry, including direct application of fresh and dried fish and seafood with as well as indirect application of plasma activated water and seafood industry wastewater purification. The article also summarizes the effect of plasma treatment on microbiological quality, physicochemical and sensory properties and oxidation rate of treated fish and seafood. NTP has high potential to be used within various fields of seafood industry. It is especially effective in treatment of dried seafood products, but the use of plasma activated water during various processing steps such as seafood washing could be also beneficial. Moreover NTP could also be used as a cost effective and environmentally friendly method for seafood wastewater purification.