Two-step purification strategy for enhanced recovery of recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen from Pichia pastoris

Univariate screening on factors affecting the purification performance of recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) on ion exchange chromatography (IEC) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and the establishment of a two-step purification strategy were performed. Amongst four IEC adsorbents examined, the use of Q Sepharose XL IEC adsorbent under optimized conditions together with optimized SEC purification was able to efficiently purify HBsAg. An established purification strategy comprising the two techniques further demonstrated adaptability for scale-up operations with a final total purification factor (PF) of 94.82 ± 16.20, HBsAg purity of 95.48% and recovery yield of 78.07%.     

Heat transfer and fluid flow of nanofluids in laminar radial flow cooling systems

Nanofluids are considered as interesting alternatives to conventional coolants. It is well known that traditional fluids have limited heat transfer capabilities when compared to common metals. It is therefore quite conceivable that a small amount of extremely fine metallic particles placed in suspension in traditional fluids will considerably increase their heat transfer performances. A numerical investigation into the heat transfer enhancement capabilities of coolants with suspended metallic nanoparticles inside a radial, laminar flow cooling configuration is presented. Temperature dependant nanofluid properties are evaluated from experimental data available in recent literature. Results indicate that considerable heat transfer increases are possible with the use of relatively small volume fractions of nanoparticles. Generally, however, these are accompanied by considerable increases in wall shear-stress. Results also show that predictions obtained with temperature variable nanofluid properties yield greater heat transfer capabilities and lower wall shear stresses when compared to predictions using constant properties.     

Pre-treatment of kraft pulp bleach plant effluent by selected ultrafiltration membranes

Three ultrafiltration membranes in series with molar mass cutoffs of 130,000, 15,000, and 5,000 Da, respectively were used to pretreat Kraft pulp bleach plant effluent prior to biological treatment. The TOC (total organic carbon), COD (chemical oxygen demand) and AOX (adsorbable organic halogen) reductions for the permeate were 65, 70 and 85%, respectively with no significant change of toxicity. Treatment of the ultrafiltration permeate using tighter ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes with molar mass cutoffs less than 1,500 Da, yielded TOC and AOX reductions of 90 and 99%, respectively with a permeate Microtox EC₅₀ level of 100%.     

Low energy electron storage ring with tunable compaction factor

A low energy electron storage ring is designed to have many desirable properties, such as varying momentum compaction factor, damping partition numbers, favorable betatron tunes for multiturn accumulations, and excellent dynamic aperture. This storage ring can be used for debunching rf linac beams in one turn, for compression of linac pulses, and more importantly for a compact photon source based on inverse Compton scattering of laser beams.     

New temperature dependent thermal conductivity data for water-based nanofluids

This paper presents effective thermal conductivity measurements of alumina/water and copper oxide/water nanofluids. The effects of particle volume fraction, temperature and particle size were investigated. Readings at ambient temperature as well as over a relatively large temperature range were made for various particle volume fractions up to 9%. Results clearly show the predicted overall effect of an increase in the effective thermal conductivity with an increase in particle volume fraction and with a decrease in particle size. Furthermore, the relative increase in thermal conductivity was found to be more important at higher temperatures. Obtained results compare favorably with certain data sets and theoretical models found in current literature.     

Factors affecting clients' project dispute resolution satisfaction in Hong Kong

The use of project dispute resolution satisfaction (DRS) as a project success measurement responds to the increasing concern over the spread of the dispute epidemic within the construction industry in Hong Kong. The DRS of a project is considered as favourable where disputes are resolved within the site level. With the use of 48 project data sets and the technique of multivariate discriminant analysis, a discriminant model function was derived to classify projects into favourable DRS and adverse DRS. The multivariate discriminant analysis model function identified eight discriminating variables, among which the degree of design changes offered the highest separation power. The reliability of the discrminating variables was reinforced by a separate relative importance index study. Through the use of principal component factor analysis, these variables were grouped into three factors generically described as substantive influence, facilitation and indirect influence.     

Defect-Related Physical-Profile-Based X-Ray and Neutron Line Profile Analysis

Diffraction line broadening is caused by different defects present in crystalline materials: (1) small coherent domains, (2) dislocations, (3) other types of microstrains, (4) twin boundaries, (5) stacking faults, (6) chemical inhomogeneities, and (7) grain-to-grain second-order internal stresses. Line profile analysis provides qualitative and quantitative information about defect types and densities, respectively. Line profiles can broaden, be asymmetric, and be shifted, and these features can be anisotropic in terms of hkl indices. A few thumb rules help qualitative selection of lattice defect types. If the breadths do not increase globally with hkl, the defects are of size type, i.e., either the domain size is small or twinning or faulting, or both, is present. Whenever the breadths increase globally, the defects produce microstrains. Physically based profile functions can be determined for the different defect types and hkl anisotropy. The qualitative input about defect types based on different experimental observations allows adequate quantitative evaluation of the densities of different defect types by using physically modeled profile functions.     

Trans isomeric octadecenoic acids are related inversely to arachidonic acid and DHA and positively related to mead acid in umbilical vessel wall lipids

Long-chain PUFA play an important role in early human neurodevelopment. Significant inverse correlations were reported between values of trans isomeric and long-chain PUFA in plasma lipids of preterm infants and children aged 1–15 yr as well as in venous cord blood lipids of full-term infants. Here we report FA compositional data of cord blood vessel wall lipids in 308 healthy, full-term infants (gestational age: 39.7±1.2 wk, birth weight: 3528±429 g, mean±SD). The median (interquartile range) of the sum of 18-carbon trans FA was 0.22 (0.13)% w/w in umbilical artery and 0.16 (0.10)% w/w in umbilical vein lipids. Nonparametric correlation analysis showed significant inverse correlations between the sum of 18-carbon trans FA and both arachidonic acid and DHA in artery (r=−0.38, P<0.01, and r=−0.20, P<0.01) and vein (r=−0.36, P<0.01, and −0.17, P<0.01) wall lipids. In addition, the sum of 18-carbon trans FA was significantly positively correlated to Mead acid, a general indicator of EFA deficiency, in both artery (r=+0.35, P<0.01) and vein (r=+0.31, P<0.01) wall lipids. The present results obtained in a large group of full-term infants suggest that maternal trans FA intake is inversely associated with long-chain PUFA status of the infant at birth.     

Flexible microelectronics: New application for thin‐film transistors in fingerprint sensors

Abstract— Thin‐film transistors (TFTs) are field‐effect transistors that can be used to create large‐scale‐integrated (LSI) circuits. The combination of high‐performance TFTs and transfer technology of the TFTs has the potential to foster the rise of a new flexible microelectronics industry. This paper discusses the current status of flexible microelectronics, using a TFT fingerprint sensor (FPS) as an example. Technology used in active‐matrix displays can easily be applied to the TFT FPS. TFT technology should not be confined to the display industry; its use should be expanded into the semiconductor industry. With the result presented in this paper, we declare a new era of flexible microelectronics open.     

Influence of the thermal effect on the TEM00 mode output power of a laser-diode side-pumped solid-state laser

A fraction of pump power has been converted to TEM(00) mode laser power for a side-pumped solid-state laser by use of a space-dependent rate equation. We investigated the pump-to-mode (TEM(00)) ratio when scaling laser-diode side-pumped solid-state lasers to high-power levels by including the thermal effect in the space-dependent rate equation. Based on the assumption that Gaussian pump power is the same at any cross section of a laser rod, we resolved the output power with a space-dependent rate equation; temperature distribution in the laser rod was obtained; the optical path difference distribution was derived, and we estimated the diffraction losses that result from thermally induced spherical aberration by use of the Strehl intensity ratio. We determined that thermally induced diffraction losses are strongly dependent on pump power and on the pump-to-mode ratio.