Kinetic pathways of multi-phase surfactant systems

The relaxation following a temperature quench of two-phase (lamellar and sponge phase) and three-phase (lamellar, sponge and micellar phase) samples, has been studied in an SDS/octanol/brine system. In the three-phase case we have observed samples that are initially mainly sponge phase with lamellar and micellar phase on the top and bottom respectively. Upon decreasing temperature most of the volume of the sponge phase is replaced by lamellar phase. During the equilibriation we have observed three regimes of behaviour within the sponge phase: (i) disruption in the sponge texture, then (ii) after the sponge phase homogenises there is a lamellar nucleation regime and finally (iii) a bizarre plume connects the lamellar phase with the micellar phase. The relaxation of the two-phase sample proceeds instead in two stages. First lamellar drops nucleate in the sponge phase forming a onion `gel' structure. Over time the lamellar structure compacts while equilibriating into a two phase lamellar/sponge phase sample. We offer possible explanatioins for some of these observations in the context of a general theory for phase kinetics in systems with one fast and one slow variable.Comment: 1 textfile, 20 figures (jpg), to appear in PR

Patterns of Sponge Abundance Across a Gradient of Habitat Quality in the Wakatobi Marine National Park, Indonesia

Sponges are important components of reef communities worldwide, fulfilling a number of important functional roles. Habitat degradation caused by the loss of hard corals has the potential to cause increases in sponge abundance and percentage cover as they gain access to resources such as space and food. In this study we compared sponge densities and percentage cover at sites with varying hard coral cover in the Wakatobi Marine National Park, Indonesia (WMNP). We found significant differences in sponge densities at the study sites but no significant difference in sponge densities on different surface angles. Unexpectedly, we also found a weak positive correlation between coral cover and sponge density. This indicates that spatial competition is unlikely to be the most important factor determining sponge abundance in the WMNP. In contrast to sponge density data, we found that sponge percentage cover and hard coral cover were weakly negatively correlated, but found no significant difference in sponge percentage cover between the study sites. Finally, multivariate analysis of the benthic communities at the study sites indicated that while sites with higher coral cover were characterised by coral (proportionally), lower coral cover sites were characterised by algae and sponges. This suggests that although there was no significant difference in sponge percentage cover between the study sites conditions that led to the loss of hard coral at lower quality sites mean that these sites are characterised by sponges and algae rather than by any other groups of benthic organisms

Multi-Omic Profiling of Melophlus Sponges Reveals Diverse Metabolomic and Microbiome Architectures that Are Non-overlapping with Ecological Neighbors.

Marine sponge holobionts, defined as filter-feeding sponge hosts together with their associated microbiomes, are prolific sources of natural products. The inventory of natural products that have been isolated from marine sponges is extensive. Here, using untargeted mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that sponges harbor a far greater diversity of low-abundance natural products that have evaded discovery. While these low-abundance natural products may not be feasible to isolate, insights into their chemical structures can be gleaned by careful curation of mass fragmentation spectra. Sponges are also some of the most complex, multi-organismal holobiont communities in the oceans. We overlay sponge metabolomes with their microbiome structures and detailed metagenomic characterization to discover candidate gene clusters that encode production of sponge-derived natural products. The multi-omic profiling strategy for sponges that we describe here enables quantitative comparison of sponge metabolomes and microbiomes to address, among other questions, the ecological relevance of sponge natural products and for the phylochemical assignment of previously undescribed sponge identities

Biology and fishery of Florida's commercial sponges

This fact sheet gives information on the biology and commercial value of sponges found in Florida. Five species in Florida are harvested commercially. Three of these, sheepswool sponge, yellow sponge, and the grass sponge are the primary marketed sponges. (2pp.

SUBTITUSI TEPUNG TALAS PADA PEMBUATAN PRODUK BERAGI (Chocolate Sponge Bread, Pizza, Roti Boy)

Proyek Akhir ini bertujuan untuk: (1) memperoleh formula yang tepat pada produk chocolate sponge bread, pizza dan roti boy dengan subtitusi tepung talas, (2) mengetahui teknik pengolahan yang tepat pada produk chocolate sponge bread, pizza dan roti boy dengan subtitusi tepung talas, (3) mengetahui penyajian yang tepat pada produk chocolate sponge bread, pizza dan roti boy dengan subtitusi tepung talas, (4) mengetahui daya terima masyarakat terhadap produk chocolate sponge bread, pizza dan roti boy dengan subtitusi tepung talas. Penelitian dan pengembangan dilakukan pada bulan Februari 2012-Juni 2012 di Laboratorium Boga PTBB FT UNY. Metode penelitian menggunakan R&D dengan model perpaduan ADDIE dan 4D yang menghasilkan: (1) analisis resep dari 3 sumber yang berbeda, (2) desain rancangan meliputi rancangan formula resep, rancangan gambar produk, dan rancangan penyajian, (3) pembuatan dan pengujian produk melalui 2 tahap, yaitu tahap validasi I dan validasi II dinilai oleh dosen, serta uji panelis oleh 30(tiga puluh) panelis semi terlatih, (4) pameran produk. Metode pengumpulan data dilakukan pada saat uji panelis dengan memberikan borang penerimaan panelis meliputi rasa, warna, aroma, tekstur, dan penyajian. Data hasil uji panelis kemudian disimpulkan mengenai hasil penerimaan oleh panelis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: (1) formula yang tepat pada pembuatan chocolate sponge bread tepung talas adalah 80%:20% (tepung terigu:tepung talas), pizza tepung talas 70%:30% (tepung terigu:tepung talas) dan roti boy tepung talas 80%:20% (tepung terigu:tepung talas), (2) teknik pengolahan yang tepat pada chocolate sponge bread tepung talas meliputi: penimbangan, pencampuran bahan (straight dough method), pengulian, proofing dan pengovenan, untuk pengolahan sponge cake meliputi proses: pencampuran bahan, pengocokkan (teknik sponge) dan pengovenan, teknik pengolahan pizza tepung talas meliputi: penimbangan, pencampuran bahan (straight dough method), pengulian, proofing, pengovenan, teknik pengolahan roti boy tepung talas meliputi: penimbangan, pencampuran bahan (straight dough method), pengulian, proofing, dan pengovenan dan untuk topping roti boy menggunakan teknik pencampuran creaming, (3) penyajian yang tepat pada chocolate sponge bread tepung talas diberi topping butter cream dan potongan cherry diatasnya, menggunakan cup cesses sebagai alas roti dan disajikan dengan piring persegi empat, pizza tepung talas menggunakan garnish daun pitersely dan disajikan dengan piring berbentuk bulat, roti boy tepung talas penyajian menggunakan plastik transparan untuk kemasan dan piring berbentuk bulat untuk tempat saji, (4) hasil penilaian oleh 30 panelis semi terlatih untuk chocolate sponge bread tepung talas adalah 80% diterima oleh panelis, pizza tepung talas 100% diterima oleh panelis, dan roti boy tepung talas 74% diterima oleh panelis

Survival and growth of cut vs hooked commercial sponges in the Florida Keys

The present project was undertaken for the purpose of establishing whether a change in harvesting technique -- cutting rather than tearing the sponge loose-- could insure sponge regeneration and thus reduce the possibility of overfishing in the Florida Keys. (14pp.

A gradient model of vegetation and climate utilizing NOAA satellite imagery. Phase 1: Texas transect

A climatological model/variable termed the sponge (a measure of moisture availability based on daily temperature maxima and minima, and precipitation) was tested for potential biogeograhic, ecological, and agro-climatological applications. Results, depicted in tabular and graphic form, suggest that, as generalized climatic index, sponge is particularly appropriate for large-area and global vegetation monitoring. The feasibility of utilizing NOAA/AVHRR data for vegetation classification was investigated and a vegetation gradient model that utilizes sponge and AVHRR data was initiated. Along an east-west Texas gradient, vegetation, sponge, and AVHRR pixel data (channels 1 and 2) were obtained for 12 locations. The normalized difference values for the AVHRR data when plotted against vegetation characteristics (biomass, net productivity, leaf area) and sponge values along the Texas gradient suggest that a multivariate gradient model incorporating AVHRR and sponge data may indeed be useful in global vegetation stratification and monitoring

Cell cycle analysis of primary sponge cell cultures

Proliferation of sponge cells is generally measured via cell counts or viability assays. However, more insight into the proliferative state of a sponge cell population can be obtained from the distribution of the cells over the different phases of the cell cycle. Cell cycle distribution of sponge cells was measured via flow cytometry after staining the DNA with propidium iodide. The five sponges studied in this paper all showed a large fraction of cells in G1/G0 compared to G2/M and S, indicating that cells were not actively dividing. In addition, some sponges also showed a large apoptotic fraction, indicating cell death. Additional apoptosis measurements, based on caspase activity, showed that harvesting and dissociation of sponge tissue to initiate a primary cell culture was directly correlated with an increase in apoptotic cells. This indicates that for the development of cell cultures, more attention should be given to harvesting, dissociation, and quality of starting material. Finally, cultivation conditions used were ineffective for proliferation, since after 2 d of cultivating Haliclona oculata cells, most cells shifted towards the apoptotic fraction, indicating that cells were dying. For development of in vitro sponge cell cultures, flow cytometric cell cycle analysis is a useful method to assess the proliferative state of a sponge cell culture and can be used to validate improvements in harvesting and dissociation, to select sponges with good proliferative capacities and to study the influence of culture conditions for stimulating cell growth

Nanostructural organization of naturally occurring composites - part II: silica-chitin-based biocomposites

Investigations of the micro- and nanostructures and chemical composition of the sponge skeletons as examples for natural structural biocomposites are of fundamental scientific relevance. Recently, we show that some demosponges (Verongula gigantea, Aplysina sp.) and glass sponges (Farrea occa, Euplectella aspergillum) possess chitin as a component of their skeletons. The main practical approach we used for chitin isolation was based on alkali treatment of corresponding external layers of spicules sponge material with the aim of obtaining alkali-resistant compounds for detailed analysis. Here, we present a detailed study of the structural and physicochemical properties of spicules of the glass sponge Rossella fibulata. The structural similarity of chitin derived from this sponge to invertebrate alpha chitin has been confirmed by us unambiguously using physicochemical and biochemical methods. This is the first report of a silica-chitin composite biomaterial found in Rossella species. Finally, the present work includes a discussion related to strategies for the practical application of silica-chitin-based composites as biomaterials