Sludge Pre-Treatment through Ozone Application: Alternative Sludge Reuse Possibilities for Recirculating Aquaculture System Optimization

Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) reduce water consumption by efficient filtration to maintain appropriate levels of accumulating compounds and sludge. Sludge is mechanically separated by drum filters and disposed of to the detriment of overall system water budgets. Dissolved nitrogen compounds are reduced via nitrification–denitrification filters, requiring commercial external carbon sources. The reuse of sludge after ozone pre-treatment may represent the next step in RAS optimization. The present study analyzes the content of sludge from RAS and tests ozonation as a pre-treatment for recycling as carbon source. The dissociative effect of ozone and the physicochemical changes due to ozonation lead to a significant increase in soluble carbon availability. Predominantly long-chain fatty acid (FA) (saturated and unsaturated) with 16 and 18 carbon atoms independently of the treatment were found in the profiles. Saturated FA concentrations in solution increased after 20, 40, and 60 min ozonation. The solid content of the sludge was practically unaffected by ozonation in terms of FA profile: only saturated FA slightly increases after 40 min treatment. The implications of these findings for denitrifying bacteria are discussed.

Abbreviations: Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS); Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs)     

Effect of ultrasound on thermoset polyurethane: NMR relaxation and diffusion measurements

Recycling of rubber-based materials is of increasing industrial environmental importance. In order to characterize the effect of ultrasound on polymer networks, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation and pulsed-gradient diffusion measurements were made at 70.5 °C in polyurethane rubber (PUR) and foam after subsequent treatment by intense ultrasound. The proton transverse relaxation decay was analyzed in terms of molecular and segmental mobilities of all motional species, a chemical and physical network as well as diffusing sol. The diffusivity spectrum, measurable in foams, reflected the changing molecular weight distribution of low-molecular weight sol and oligomers. It was observed that the effect of ultrasound was less pronounced in PUR than rubbers like SBR, PDMS and BR owing to its low degree of unsaturation. The investigation on the foams is the first of its kind to be reported.     

A new combined computational and NMR-spectroscopical strategy for the identification of additional conformational constraints of the bound ligand in an aprotic solvent

This study documents the feasibility of switching to an aprotic medium in sugar receptor research. The solvent change offers additional insights into mechanistic details of receptor--carbohydrate ligand interactions. If a receptor retained binding capacity in an aprotic medium, solvent-exchangeable protons of the ligand would not undergo transfer and could act as additional sensors, thus improving the level of reliability in conformational analysis. To probe this possibility, we first focused on hevein, the smallest lectin found in nature. The NMR-spectroscopic measurements verified complexation, albeit with progressively reduced affinity by more than 1.5 orders of magnitude, in mixtures of up to 50% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Since hevein lacks the compact beta-strand arrangement of other sugar receptors, such a structural motif may confer enhanced resistance to solvent exchange. Two settings of solid-phase activity assays proved this assumption for three types of alpha- and/or beta-galactoside-binding proteins, that is, a human immunoglobulin G (IgG) subfraction, the mistletoe lectin, and a member of the galectin family of animal lectins. Computer-assisted calculations and NMR experiments also revealed no conspicuous impact of the solvent on the conformational properties of the tested ligands. To define all possible nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) contacts in a certain conformation and to predict involvement of exchangeable protons, we established a new screening protocol applicable during a given molecular dynamics (MD) trajectory and calculated population densities of distinct contacts. Experimentally, transferred NOE (tr-NOE) experiments with IgG molecules and the disaccharide Gal'alpha1-3Galbeta1-R in DMSO as solvent disclosed that such an additional crosspeak, that is, Gal'OH2--GalOH4, was even detectable for the bound ligand under conditions in which spin diffusion effects are suppressed. Further measurements with the plant lectin and galectins confirmed line broadening of ligand signals and gave access to characteristic crosspeaks in the aprotic solvent and its mixtures with water. Our combined biochemical, computational, and NMR-spectroscopical strategy is expected to contribute notably to the precise elucidation of the geometry of ligands bound to compactly folded sugar receptors and of the role of water molecules in protein--ligand (carbohydrate) recognition, with relevance to areas beyond the glycosciences.     

Approximate Symmetry Detection in Partial 3D Meshes

Symmetry is a common characteristic in natural and man‐made objects. Its ubiquitous nature can be exploited to facilitate the analysis and processing of computational representations of real objects. In particular, in computer graphics, the detection of symmetries in 3D geometry has enabled a number of applications in modeling and reconstruction. However, the problem of symmetry detection in incomplete geometry remains a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a vote‐based approach to detect symmetry in 3D shapes, with special interest in models with large missing parts. Our algorithm generates a set of candidate symmetries by matching local maxima of a surface function based on the heat diffusion in local domains, which guarantee robustness to missing data. In order to deal with local perturbations, we propose a multi‐scale surface function that is useful to select a set of distinctive points over which the approximate symmetries are defined. In addition, we introduce a vote‐based scheme that is aware of the partiality, and therefore reduces the number of false positive votes for the candidate symmetries. We show the effectiveness of our method in a varied set of 3D shapes and different levels of partiality. Furthermore, we show the applicability of our algorithm in the repair and completion of challenging reassembled objects in the context of cultural heritage.     

Relationship between Creativity, Imitation, and Cultural Diversity

There are both benefits and drawbacks to cultural diversity. It can lead to friction and exacerbate differences. However, as with biological diversity, cultural diversity is valuable in times of upheaval; if a previously effective solution no longer works, it is good to have alternatives available. What factors give rise to cultural diversity? This paper describes a preliminary investigation of this question using a computational model of cultural evolution. The model is composed of neural network based agents that evolve fitter ideas for actions by (1) inventing new ideas through modification of existing ones, and (2) imitating neighbors'' ideas. Numerical simulations indicate that the diversity of ideas in a population is positively correlated with both the proportion of creators to imitators in the population, and the rate at which creators create. This is the case for both minimum and peak diversity of actions over the duration of a run.     

Morphology and mechanical properties of poly(propylene)/polystyrene blends compatibilized with polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-co-propylene)

Compatibilizing effects of diblock copolymer polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-co-propylene) (SEP) on the morphology and mechanical properties of immiscible blends of poly(propylene) (PP) and polystyrene (PS) were investigated. Notched impact strength, yield stress, elongation at yield and Young's modulus were determined as a function of different weight ratios of PP and PS and different amounts of added SEP as well. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a two-phase morphology of PP/PS blends, which exhibit poor mechanical properties. Even 2,5 wt.-% of SEP added to PP/PS blends can improve the notched impact strength and elongation at yield compared to non-compatibilized PP/PS blends. 10 wt.-% of SEP compatibilizer converted the brittle PP/PS blend to quite impactresistant polymeric material. Mechanical properties were improved because of the morphological changes and increased interfacial adhesion as a result of SEP localization between PP and PS phases. An analysis of yield stress data in terms of theoretical models showed that yield stress values of binary PP/PS blends can be predicted with Nielsen's model.     

Combinatorial synthesis of new cationic lipids and high-throughput screening of their transfection properties

Here we describe the first synthesis-screening approach for the identification and optimization of new cationic lipids for gene transfer in various cell lines. Combinatorial solid-phase chemistry was used to synthesize a library of new cationic lipids based on 3-methylamino-1,2-dihydroxypropane as the polar, cationic lipid part. As the nonpolar lipid part, different hydrocarbon chains were bound to the amino group of the scaffold and the amino group was further methylated to afford constantly cationic lipids. Lipids were synthesized in both configurations and as racemates, and the counter ions were also varied. By using a fully automated transfection screening method and COS-7 cells, the cationic lipid N,N-ditetradecyl-N-methyl-amino-2,3-propanediol (KL-1-14) was identified as a candidate lipid for the development of an improved transfection reagent. Screening the transfection properties of KL-1-14 in numerous combinations with the helper lipids dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) and cholesterol (Chol) revealed that Chol is the most suitable helper lipid and the best KL-1-14/Chol ratio is 0.5-0.7. Compared to the standard transfection lipid N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium methyl sulfate (DOTAP), transfection efficiency was improved by a factor of about 40. Furthermore, by using R- and S-configured KL-1-14, it could be shown that the configuration of the lipids had no significant influence on its transfection efficiency. The highest transfection efficiencies were achieved with chloride as the counter ion. The new lipofection reagent was further tested to transfect the cell lines MDA-MB-468, MCF-7, MDCK-C7, and primary dentritic cells (DC), which are important for the development of new anticancer gene therapy strategies. Even in these cells, KL-1-14/Chol (1:0.6) had improved transfection efficiencies, which were about two to four times higher than for DOTAP.     

PEAK-INSENSITIVE NON-PARAMETRIC SPECTRUM ESTIMATION

Abstract. We study the problem of non-parametric spectrum estimation of a stationary time series that might contain periodic components. In this case the periodogram ordinates have a significant amplitude at frequencies near the frequencies of the periodic components. These can be regarded as outliers in an asymptotically exponential sample. We develop a non-parametric estimator for the spectral density that is insensitive to these outliers in the frequency domain. This is done by robustifying the usual kernel estimator (smoothed periodogram) by means of M-estimation in the frequency domain. We propose to use data-tapered periodograms, which yield a drastic improvement of the procedure, typically for the contaminated situation. This is both shown theoretically and supported by means of simulation. We show consistency of the resulting estimator in the general case, and asymptotic normality in the special case of a Gaussian time series, whether contamination is present or not. Finally we illustrate the finite sample performance of the estimating procedure by some simulation results and by application to the Canadian lynx trappings data.     

Membrane proteins: from sequence to structure

The prediction of protein structure from sequence has been along-standing goal of molecular biology. Integral membrane proteins,once abhorred by protein chemists and crystallographers becauseof their insolubility and stubborn refusal to yield good crystals,now appear to hold great promises for efficient structure predictionand engineering. This is mainly due to the constraints on permissiblestructures imposed by the lipid environment, and to the apparentuncoupling between an initial membrane targeting and insertionprocess which determines the overall topological arrangementof the transmembrane segments and a subsequent –condensation—of these segments into a unique folded state. Recent work suggeststhat the membrane insertion process is controlled by simplesequence elements composed of different combinations of longhydrophobic regions and flanking charged residues. In this reviewwe sketch the most unportant structural rules relating aminoacid sequence to membrane insertion to fully folded molecule,and their use for prediction and protein-engineering purposes.