Synthesis of Cholesterol‐Substituted Glycopeptides for Tailor‐Made Glycocalyxification of Artificial Membrane Systems

Synthetic minimal membrane systems are extremely useful for better understanding of complex cellular structures and cell surface processes. We have developed a facile method for synthesis of cholesterylated peptides, each bearing a carbohydrate moiety and a fluorescent tag. The position of the cholesterol moiety on the peptide can be controlled by using a new Fmoc‐protected cholesterol‐triazole‐lysine group, which we constructed by means of solid‐phase peptide synthesis. We succeeded in integrating the glyco modules into giant unilamellar vesicles by electroformation or infusion in buffer solution. The glyco‐decorated liposomes were recognized by a lectin and had unique topological membrane features. In conclusion, this work is a proof of principle for the functionalization of artificial membranes with a primitive synthetic glycocalyx useful for studying carbohydrate–protein interactions on a simplified cell‐like membrane surface.     

An improved model for surround suppression by steerable filters and multilevel inhibition with application to contour detection

Psychophysical and neurophysiological evidence about the human visual system shows the existence of a mechanism, called surround suppression, which inhibits the response of an edge in the presence of other similar edges in the surroundings. A simple computational model of this phenomenon has been previously proposed by us, by introducing an inhibition term that is supposed to be high on texture and low on isolated edges. While such an approach leads to better discrimination between object contours and texture edges w.r.t. methods based on the sole gradient magnitude, it has two drawbacks: first, a phenomenon called self-inhibition occurs, so that the inhibition term is quite high on isolated contours too; previous attempts to overcome self-inhibition result in slow and inelegant algorithms. Second, an input parameter called “inhibition level” needs to be introduced, whose value is left to heuristics. The contribution of this paper is two-fold: on one hand, we propose a new model for the inhibition term, based on the theory of steerable filters, to reduce self-inhibition. On the other hand, we introduce a simple method to combine the binary edge maps obtained by different inhibition levels, so that the inhibition level is no longer specified by the user. The proposed approach is validated by a broad range of experimental results.     

CFD Modelling of the 3D Spatial and Temporal Distribution of 1-methylcyclopropene in a Fruit Storage Container

In this paper, a direct model based on explicit geometry of stacked products in boxes was developed and used to study the diffusion, convection and adsorption of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) gas in cool stores for apple fruit. The discrete element method was employed to generate random stacking of spherical products in a box. A three-dimensional finite volume-based computational fluid dynamics model was developed, verified and used to study the distribution and partitioning of the 1-MCP gas inside loaded container. The study addressed the gas distribution in a 500 L container with or without air circulation. For each case, 80 kg Jonagold apples at 1 °C and a 1-MCP dose of 1 μL L^?1 was used to collect validation data. In the presence of air circulation, diffusion–convection in air and diffusion adsorption in the product was applied. Simulations were performed with an unstructured tetrahedral mesh using the software ANSYS-CFX, a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver. The case without air circulation was modelled as a diffusion problem in air and diffusion coupled with adsorption inside the product. Convection–diffusion–adsorption model parameters that were previously developed and validated were applied. The estimated equilibrium distribution of the 1-MCP gas equals 11, 34 and 55 % as unbounded in fruit, bonded in fruit and remaining in container, respectively. Profiles of free (unbounded) and adsorbed (bounded) 1-MCP concentrations inside fruit were estimated for reduced dosages: 0.5, 0.3, 0.1 and 0.02 μL L^?1.     

高效经济的涤棉混纺织物染色后处理

涤棉混纺织物常规染色工艺工序多，耗时长，加工成本高。为提高生产效能，降低工艺成本，德国司马化学公司（ZSM）开发了ZETESAL NPC染色后处理剂，作为新REACTIVE Flash染色体系的一个部分。该体系是经济的加工工艺与高牢度品质的结合，且生产稳定安全性高。     

Penetration dynamics and interface defeat capability of silicon carbide against long Rod impact

To determine the behavior of silicon carbide (SiC) against long rod impact a detailed study with experiments in the velocity range from 0.8 to 3 km/s at normal impact conditions was performed in recent years. Interest ranged from penetration performance of intact and pre-damaged SiC to interface defeat capability of SiC. Together with impact data in the hypervelocity regime this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the penetration dynamics of SiC over a wide velocity range and during different phases of the penetration process.     

Iron Speciation in Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) Biofortified by Common Breeding

The iron storage protein ferritin is a potential vehicle to enhance the iron content of biofortified crops. With the aim of evaluating the potential of ferritin iron in plant breeding, we used species‐specific isotope dilution mass spectrometry to quantify ferritin iron in bean varieties with a wide range of total iron content. Zinc, phytic acid, and polyphenols were also measured. Total iron concentration in 21 bean varieties ranged from 32 to 115 ppm and was positively correlated with concentrations of zinc (P = 0.001) and nonferritin bound iron (P < 0.001). Ferritin iron ranged from 13% to 35% of total iron and increased only slightly in high iron beans (P = 0.007). Concentrations of nonferritin bound iron and phytic acid were correlated (P = 0.001), although phytic acid:iron molar ratio decreased with increasing iron concentration (P = 0.003). Most iron in high iron beans was present as nonferritin bound iron, which confirms our earlier finding showing that ferritin iron in beans was lower than previously published. As the range of ferritin iron content in beans is relatively narrow, there is less opportunity for breeders to breed for high ferritin. The relevance of these findings to the extent of iron absorption depends on resolving the question of whether ferritin iron is absorbed or not to a greater extent than nonferritin bound iron.     

25th Anniversary Article: Charge Transport and Recombination in Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes

This article reviews the basic physical processes of charge transport and recombination in organic semiconductors. As a workhorse, LEDs based on a single layer of poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) (PPV) derivatives are used. The hole transport in these PPV derivatives is governed by trap‐free space‐charge‐limited conduction, with the mobility depending on the electric field and charge‐carrier density. These dependencies are generally described in the framework of hopping transport in a Gaussian density of states distribution. The electron transport on the other hand is orders of magnitude lower than the hole transport. The reason is that electron transport is hindered by the presence of a universal electron trap, located at 3.6 eV below vacuum with a typical density of ca. 3 × 10¹⁷ cm^?3. The trapped electrons recombine with free holes via a non‐radiative trap‐assisted recombination process, which is a competing loss process with respect to the emissive bimolecular Langevin recombination. The trap‐assisted recombination in disordered organic semiconductors is governed by the diffusion of the free carrier (hole) towards the trapped carrier (electron), similar to the Langevin recombination of free carriers where both carriers are mobile. As a result, with the charge‐carrier mobilities and amount of trapping centers known from charge‐transport measurements, the radiative recombination as well as loss processes in disordered organic semiconductors can be fully predicted. Evidently, future work should focus on the identification and removing of electron traps. This will not only eliminate the non‐radiative trap‐assisted recombination, but, in addition, will shift the recombination zone towards the center of the device, leading to an efficiency improvement of more than a factor of two in single‐layer polymer LEDs.     

A variance propagation algorithm for stochastic heat and mass transfer problems in food processes

A variance propagation algorithm for stochastic coupled heat and mass transfer problems subjected to first order autoregressive random process boundary conditions was developed. The algorithm is based on the finite element formulation of Luikov's coupled heat and mass transfer equations and involves the numerical solution of coupled Lyapunov and Sylvester matrix differential equations. It offers a cheap alternative to the Monte Carlo method for the computation of the mean value and variance of the temperature and moisture content field. The algorithm is generally applicable and can easily be inserted in any existing finite element code. Also, it can be extended to other types of random processes. The algorithm was applied to analyse the drying of a soybean kernel. Simulation results show that random fluctuations of the process conditions may cause considerable variability of the temperature and the moisture content within the drying soybean kernel. This is an important feature to take into account for the design of a drying process, and for thermal food processes in general. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Common polymorphisms in genes encoding the human mineralocorticoid receptor and the human amiloride-sensitive sodium channel

We have examined the human mineralocorticoid receptor gene and the genes encoding the three subunits of the human amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel. Eight new common polymorphisms were identified in these genes which may be useful in genotyping and linkage analysis.     

Surgical rehabilitation of stomal disease

The Authors report their experience in the surgical rehabilitation of patients with complicated ileo- or colostomy. Mechanical and psychosocial implications as well as different rehabilitative methods are discussed. The results of a surgical protocol in the treatment of stomal diseases observed in 63 patients are herein reported. In 14 patients the surgical treatment was performed in general anaesthesia, while in 49 local anaesthesia was used. The latter was better tolerated by the patients. In conclusion, surgery should play a major role in this rehabilitation protocol, either in terms of prevention or definitive treatment.