Strategies to Improve the Efficiency of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Mammalian oocytes can reprogram differentiated somatic cells into a totipotent state through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which is known as cloning. Although many mammalian species have been successfully cloned, the majority of cloned embryos failed to develop to term, resulting in the overall cloning efficiency being still low. There are many factors contributing to the cloning success. Aberrant epigenetic reprogramming is a major cause for the developmental failure of cloned embryos and abnormalities in the cloned offspring. Numerous research groups attempted multiple strategies to technically improve each step of the SCNT procedure and rescue abnormal epigenetic reprogramming by modulating DNA methylation and histone modifications, overexpression or repression of embryonic-related genes, etc. Here, we review the recent approaches for technical SCNT improvement and ameliorating epigenetic modifications in donor cells, oocytes, and cloned embryos in order to enhance cloning efficiency.     

Monitoring and control of the biogas process based on propionate concentration using online VFA measurement.

Simple logic control algorithms were tested for automatic control of a lab-scale CSTR manure digester. Using an online VFA monitoring system, propionate concentration in the reactor was used as parameter for control of the biogas process. The propionate concentration was kept below a threshold of 10 mM by manipulating the feed flow. Other online parameters such as pH, biogas production, total VFA, and other individual VFA were also measured to examine process performance. The experimental results showed that a simple logic control can successfully prevent the reactor from overload, but with fluctuations of the propionate level due to the nature of control approach. The fluctuation of propionate concentration could be reduced, by adding a lower feed flow limit into the control algorithm to prevent undershooting of propionate response. It was found that use of the biogas production as a main control parameter, rather than propionate can give a more stable process, since propionate was very persistent and only responded very slowly to the decrease of the feed flow which lead to high fluctuation of biogas production. Propionate, however, was still an excellent parameter to indicate process stress under gradual overload and thus recommended as an alarm in the control algorithm.     

Transitional Thermal Creep of Early Age Concrete

Couplings between creep of hardened concrete and temperature∕water effects are well-known. Both the level and the gradients in time of temperature or water content influence the creep properties. In early age concrete the internal drying and the heat development due to hydration increase the effect of these couplings. The purpose of this work is to set up a mathematical model for creep of concrete that includes the transitional thermal effect. The model governs both early age concrete and hardened concrete. The development of the material properties in the model is assumed to depend on the hydration process and the thermal activation of water in the microstructure. The thermal activation is assumed to be governed by the Arrhenius principle, and the activation energy of the viscosity of water is found applicable in the analysis of the experimental data. Changes in temperature create an imbalance in the microstructure termed the microprestresses, which reduce the stiffness of the concrete and increase the creep rate. The aging material is modeled in an incremental way reflecting the hydration process in which new layers of cement gel solidify in a stress free state and add stiffness to the material. Analysis of experimental results for creep of early age and hardened concrete either at different constant temperature levels or for varying temperature histories illustrate the model.     

Comparison of UASB and EGSB reactors performance, for treatment of raw and deoiled palm oil mill effluent (POME)

Anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent (POME) and deoiled POME was investigated both in batch assays and continuous reactor experiments using up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors. The methane potential determined from batch assays of POME and deoiled POME was 503 and 610 mL-CH(4)/gVS-added, respectively. For the treatment of POME in continuously fed reactors, both in UASB and EGSB reactors more than 90% COD removal could be obtained, at HRT of 5 days, corresponding to OLR of 5.8 gVS/(L-reactor.d). Similar methane yields of 436-438 mL-CH(4)/gVS-added were obtained for UASB and EGSB respectively. However, for treatment of deoiled POME, both UASB and EGSB reactors could operate at lower OLR of 2.6 gVS/(L-reactor.d), with the methane yield of 600 and 555 mL-CH(4)/gVS-added for UASB and EGSB, respectively. The higher methane yield achieved from the deoiled POME was attributed to lower portion of biofibers which are more recalcitrant compared the rest of organic matter in POME. The UASB reactor was found to be more stable than EGSB reactor under the same OLR, as could be seen from lower VFA concentration, especially propionic acid, compared to the EGSB reactor.     

ROBUST OBSERVER DESIGN FOR THERMOACOUSTIC DYNAMICS WITH DISTRIBUTED‐DELAY HEAT INPUT

This paper develops a strategy for the design of robust observers upon thermoacoustic dynamics with both spatial and temporal dimension‐infiniteness, model‐truncation error and exogenous disturbance. It helps the identification of their assumed flame dynamics that is feedback‐interconnected with the thermoacoustic dynamics in a combustion chamber and is usually to‐be‐identified. This paper formulates the proceedings to the proposed strategy and performs numerical tests for such a strategy.     

Characteristics of acid soluble collagen and pepsin soluble collagen from scale of spotted golden goatfish (Parupeneus heptacanthus)

Acid soluble collagen (ASC) and pepsin soluble collagen (PSC) were extracted from scale of spotted golden goatfish (Parupeneus heptacanthus) with the yields of 0.46% and 1.20% (based on dry weight basis), respectively. Both ASC and PSC were characterised as type I collagen, containing α₁ and α₂ chains. β and γ components were also found in both collagens. Based on FTIR spectra, the limited digestion by pepsin did not disrupt the triple helical structure of collagen. ASC and PSC contained glycine (336–340 residues/1000 residues) as the major amino acid and had imino acids of 186–189 residues/1000 residues. Maximal transition temperatures (T_max) were 41.58 and 41.01 °C for ASC and PSC, respectively. From zeta potential analysis, net charge of zero was found at pH 4.96 and 5.39 for ASC and PSC, respectively. Both collagens exhibited high solubility in acidic pH (2–4) and were soluble in the presence of NaCl at concentration up to 20 and 30 g/l for ASC and PSC, respectively.     

Identification and cultivation of hydrogenotrophic methanogens from palm oil mill effluent for high methane production

By means of biorefinery, biogas production through anaerobic digestion is one of the most common treatments of wastewater in the palm oil industry. After biogas production, the treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) is generally discharged into the environment. However, certain level of hazardous compounds still exists in the treated wastewater, which can lead to the pollution of water bodies. In this study, we have investigated the dynamics of volatile organic acids dwelling in consecutive POME treatment lagoons as well as identified, and categorized, microbial species responsible for the treatment process. Bacteria and methanogens, both hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic, related to methane production were identified using mcrA and 16S rRNA genes specific primers. Two hydrogenotrophic methanogens, Methanoculleus marisnigri and Methanoculleus chikugoensis, were found abundant in accordance with high formate concentration throughout the process of anaerobic digestion. This study has also isolated eight consortia of microbes that yielded different methane productions by utilizing formate as the substrate in the synthetic medium. The consortia of a group, containing M. marisnigri, M. chikugoensis, uncultured bacteria, Aminobacterium sp., and Ruminobacillus xylanolyticum, produced the highest methane yield of 259 mL/g COD after 25 days of incubation in the laboratory. The findings from this study are contributing to optimize and increase biogas production in POME, which will allow higher efficiency in palm oil mill wastewater treatment.     

Porosity enhancement of activated carbon by hydrolyzed lignin from black liquor

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - In this work, the porosity enhancement of activated carbon by hydrolyzed lignin extracted from black liquor was studied. Lignin was treated before...     

Periodic reconfiguration of general-purpose fixtures in a dedicated FMS

Fixtures dedicated to a given part type in an FMS can sometimes become bottlenecks to some FMSs as demand variability increases. Past research indicates that the increased operating flexibility associated with general-purpose fixtures may be a key to the efficient scheduling of even those FMSs dedicated to producing a small number of part types over a known planning horizon. However, the increased time required to reconfigure general-purpose fixtures to meet current demand may also create a bottleneck in the loading area. Increases in the defect rate associated with improper fixture assembly and part alignment are also possible. One solution may be to reconfigure general-purpose fixtures off line according to specific demand schedules for the period, and then to treat them as pseudo-dedicated fixtures until the next period. This would utilize some of the flexibility associated with general-purpose fixtures, while reducing the negative drawbacks associated with incremental loading time and alignment errors.The research reported in this article simulates an existing FMS, using fixtures dedicated to individual part types, and compares the results to those collected using a group of general-purpose fixtures that are reconfigured each week, based on current demand for each part type, and used in a pseudo-dedicated fashion. Three simulation experiments are run with increasing coefficients of variation in the input distributions used to generate demand.Performance is measured by system throughput, proportion of parts tardy, and average tardiness. The simulation results show that while overall system performance decreases as the level of demand mix variability increases, this negative impact is significantly less severe when using pseudo-dedicated, general-purpose fixtures.     

Antifoaming effect of chemical compounds in manure biogas reactors

A precise and efficient antifoaming control strategy in bioprocesses is a challenging task as foaming is a very complex phenomenon. Nevertheless, foam control is necessary, as foam is a major operational problem in biogas reactors. In the present study, the effect of 14 chemical compounds on foam reduction was evaluated at concentration of 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.5% v/v_sample, in raw and digested manure. Moreover, two antifoam injection methods were compared for foam reduction efficiency. Natural oils (rapeseed and sunflower oil), fatty acids (oleic, octanoic and derivative of natural fatty acids), siloxanes (polydimethylsiloxane) and ester (tributylphosphate) were found to be the most efficient compounds to suppress foam. The efficiency of antifoamers was dependant on their physicochemical properties and greatly correlated to their chemical characteristics for dissolving foam. The antifoamers were more efficient in reducing foam when added directly into the liquid phase rather than added in the headspace of the reactor.