Effect of the nature of the support on the catalytic performance of noble metal catalysts for the water–gas shift reaction

The catalytic activity of supported noble metal catalysts (Pt, Rh, Ru, and Pd) for the WGS reaction is investigated with respect to the physichochemical properties of the metallic phase and the support. It has been found that, for all metal-support combinations investigated, Pt is much more active than Pd, while Rh and Ru exhibit intermediate activity. The turnover frequency (TOF) of CO conversion does not depend on metal loading, dispersion or crystallite size, but depends strongly on the nature of the metal oxide carrier. In particular, catalytic activity of Pt and Ru catalysts, is 1-2 orders of magnitude higher when supported on “reducible” (TiO₂, CeO₂, La₂O₃, and YSZ) rather than on “irreducible” (Al₂O₃, MgO, and SiO₂) metal oxides. In contrast to what has been found in our previous study over Pt/TiO₂ catalysts, catalytic activity of dispersed Pt does not depend on the structural and morphological characteristics of CeO₂, such as specific surface area or primary crystallite size.     

Reversible isomerization and cure monitoring of epoxy azobenzene resins

The photoresponsive behavior of the glycidyloxyazobenzene (GOAB) monomer, synthesized using an improved method, is examined by UV/Vis spectroscopy. The monomer is cured with diethylenetriamine (DETA), forming a new epoxy resin. Proton NMR spectroscopy is used to monitor the completion of the curing reactions. Kinetics for reversible trans and cis isomerization in the cured system and also in the epoxy monomer are identified by UV/Vis spectroscopy during in situ irradiation with appropriate wavelengths (290–320 nm for UV and 400–500 nm for visible). The rates of recovery of the monomer from cis to trans forms are also obtained by heating and storing in the dark. Furthermore, the reactivity of the monofunctional GOAB monomer with a common amine, DETA, as a curing agent, is investigated using isothermal and dynamic heating scans in a DSC pan and by simultaneously monitoring the near‐FTIR spectra. The modified epoxy azobenzene proved to be reactive enough with DETA to form a network that can sustain temperatures of up to 200°C. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40770.     

Locating communities on graphs with variations in community sizes

A fundamental problem in networking and computing is community detection. Various applications like finding web communities, uncovering the structure of social networks, or even analyzing a graph’s structure to uncover Internet attacks are just some of the applications for which community detection is important. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that finds the entire community structure of a network, represented by an undirected, unweighted graph, based on local interactions between neighboring nodes and on an unsupervised centralized clustering algorithm. The novelty of the proposed approach is the fact that the algorithm is based on the use of network coordinates computed by a distributed algorithm. Experimental results and comparisons with the Lancichinetti et al. method (Phys. Rev. E 80(5 Pt 2), 056117, 2009; New J. Phys. 11(3), 033015, 2009) are presented for a variety of benchmark graphs with known community structure, derived by varying a number of graph parameters. Emphasis is given on benchmark graphs with significant variations in the size of their communities. Further experimental results are presented for two real dataset graphs, namely the Enron, and the Epinions graphs, from SNAP, the Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection. The experimental results demonstrate the high performance of our algorithm in terms of accuracy to detect communities, and its computational efficiency.     

Rapid Methods for Frying Oil Quality Determination: Evaluation with Respect to Legislation Criteria

This work focuses on the evaluation of commercially available rapid methods for determining frying oil quality. Five rapid methods differing in principle were selected: FOM320 (Ebro), PCT120 (3M), LRSM (3M), Fritest (Merck) and Viscofrit (Viscofrit). The performance of the methods was examined by use of 184 oil samples produced by controlled frying experiments. Twelve series of frying experiments (45 batches each) were performed in which the oil type (palm, sunflower and olive) and the food type (potatoes, zucchini and minced beef meat) varied. Control thermal oxidation experiments with the same oil types were also performed. Results of the rapid methods were compared to results of analytical methods determining legislation criteria. Namely, the total polar compounds and total polymer compounds were determined using High Pressure Size Exclusion Chromatography with and without prior separation of the polar fraction. Furthermore, determination of the free fatty acid concentration, acidity, viscosity and level of oxidation of the oils using UV spectroscopy were carried out. Principal component analysis and linear regression analysis were used in order to assess the obtained results. Comparison of the results of the rapid methods with the analytical ones showed differences in most examined cases. For many of the examined rapid methods the agreement of the results versus those of analytical methods depended on the food-oil combination used in the frying experiments.     

A Neuroprotective Bovine Colostrum Attenuates Apoptosis in Dexamethasone-Treated MC3T3-E1 Osteoblastic Cells

Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO) is one of the most common secondary forms of osteoporosis. GIO is partially due to the apoptosis of osteoblasts and osteocytes. In addition, high doses of dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic glucocorticoid receptor agonist, induces neurodegeneration by initiating inflammatory processes leading to neural apoptosis. Here, a neuroprotective bovine colostrum against glucocorticoid-induced neuronal damage was investigated for its anti-apoptotic activity in glucocorticoid-treated MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells. A model of apoptotic osteoblastic cells was developed by exposing MC3T3-E1 cells to DEX (0–700 μM). Colostrum co-treated with DEX was executed at 0.1–5.0 mg/mL. Cell viability was measured for all treatment schedules. Caspase-3 activation was assessed to determine both osteoblast apoptosis under DEX exposure and its potential prevention by colostrum co-treatment. Glutathione reduced (GSH) was measured to determine whether DEX-mediated oxidative stress-driven apoptosis is alleviated by colostrum co-treatment. Western blot was performed to determine the levels of p-ERK1/2, Bcl-XL, Bax, and Hsp70 proteins upon DEX or DEX plus colostrum exposure. Colostrum prevented the decrease in cell viability and the increase in caspase-3 activation and oxidative stress caused by DEX exposure. Cells, upon colostrum co-treated with DEX, exhibited higher levels of p-ERK1/2 and lower levels of Bcl-XL, Bax, and Hsp70. Our data support the notion that colostrum may be able to reduce DEX-induced apoptosis possibly via the activation of the ERK pathway and modulation of the Hsp70 system. We provided preliminary evidence on how bovine colostrum, as a complex and multi-component dairy product, in addition to its neuroprotective action, may affect osteoblastic cell survival undergoing apoptosis.     

Coupling characteristics of laser diodes to high numerical aperture thermally expanded core fibers

We numerically calculate the coupling loss coefficients of Laser Diode (LD) to high numerical aperture (HNA) thermally expanded core (TEC) fiber coupling in terms of lateral, longitudinal and angular misalignments. The propagating fields in the HNA-TEC fiber are obtained by Galerkin’s method and the coupling loss coefficients are calculated by the overlap integral technique. Our numerical results are compared with recently available experimental data. It is demonstrated that, in HNA-TEC fibers the lateral and longitudinal tolerances were effectively enlarged in comparison with those of conventional SMF-28. It is also found that TEC fibers are good candidates for free-space LD-to-fiber optical coupling scheme with long working distance. However, the angular tolerance of the HNA-TEC fiber is lower than that of the SMF-28.     

Tissue-Specific Methylation Biosignatures for Monitoring Diseases: An In Silico Approach

Tissue-specific gene methylation events are key to the pathogenesis of several diseases and can be utilized for diagnosis and monitoring. Here, we established an in silico pipeline to analyze high-throughput methylome datasets to identify specific methylation fingerprints in three pathological entities of major burden, i.e., breast cancer (BrCa), osteoarthritis (OA) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Differential methylation analysis was conducted to compare tissues/cells related to the pathology and different types of healthy tissues, revealing Differentially Methylated Genes (DMGs). Highly performing and low feature number biosignatures were built with automated machine learning, including: (1) a five-gene biosignature discriminating BrCa tissue from healthy tissues (AUC 0.987 and precision 0.987), (2) three equivalent OA cartilage-specific biosignatures containing four genes each (AUC 0.978 and precision 0.986) and (3) a four-gene pancreatic β-cell-specific biosignature (AUC 0.984 and precision 0.995). Next, the BrCa biosignature was validated using an independent ccfDNA dataset showing an AUC and precision of 1.000, verifying the biosignature’s applicability in liquid biopsy. Functional and protein interaction prediction analysis revealed that most DMGs identified are involved in pathways known to be related to the studied diseases or pointed to new ones. Overall, our data-driven approach contributes to the maximum exploitation of high-throughput methylome readings, helping to establish specific disease profiles to be applied in clinical practice and to understand human pathology.     

Biodegradable,Drug‐Loaded Nanovectors via Direct Hydration as a New Platform for Cancer Therapeutics

The stabilization and transport of low‐solubility drugs, by encapsulation in nanoscopic delivery vectors (nanovectors), is a key paradigm in nanomedicine. However, the problems of carrier toxicity, specificity, and producibility create a bottleneck in the development of new nanomedical technologies. Copolymeric nanoparticles are an excellent platform for nanovector engineering due to their structural versatility; however, conventional fabrication processes rely upon harmful chemicals that necessitate purification. In engineering a more robust (copolymeric) nanovector platform, it is necessary to reconsider the entire process from copolymer synthesis through self‐assembly and functionalization. To this end, a process is developed whereby biodegradable copolymers of poly(ethylene glycol)‐block‐poly(trimethylene carbonate), synthesized via organocatalyzed ring‐opening polymerization, undergo assembly into highly uniform, drug‐loaded micelles without the use of harmful solvents or the need for purification. The direct hydration methodology, employing oligo(ethylene glycol) as a nontoxic dispersant, facilitates rapid preparation of pristine, drug‐loaded nanovectors that require no further processing. This method is robust, fast, and scalable. Utilizing parthenolide, an exciting candidate for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), discrete nanovectors are generated that show strikingly low carrier toxicity and high levels of specific therapeutic efficacy against primary ALL cells (as compared to normal hematopoietic cells).