Properties of bio-oil and bio-char produced by sugar cane bagasse pyrolysis in a stainless steel tubular reactor

In this study, compositional analysis of the products obtained by thermal degradation of sugar cane bagasse at various pyrolysis temperatures (300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750 and 800 °C) and heating rate (5, 10, 20 and 50 °C/min) was studied. Sugar cane bagasse was pyrolyzed in a stainless steel tubular reactor. The aim of this work was to experimentally investigate how the temperature and heating rate affects liquid and char product yields via pyrolysis and to determine optimal condition to have a better yield of these products. Liquid product (bio-oil) obtained under the most suitable conditions were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, C-NMR and HNMR. In addition, column chromatography was employed to determine the aliphatic fraction (Hexane Eluate); gas chromatography and FT-IR were achieved on aliphatic fractions. For char product (bio-char), the elemental chemical composition and yield of the char were determined. The results of our work showed that the amount of liquid product (bio-oil) from pyrolysis of sugar cane bagasse increases with increasing the final temperature and decreases with increasing the heating rate. The highest yield of liquid product is obtained from the samples at 550 °C and at the heating rate of 5°C/min, the maximal average yield achieved almost 32.80 wt%. The yield of char generally decreases with increasing the temperature, the char yield passes from 39.7 wt% to 21 wt% at the heating rate of 5°C/min and from 32 wt% to 17.2 wt% at the heating rate of 50 °C/min at the same range of temperature (300–800 °C). The analysis of bio-oil showed the presence of an aliphatic character and that it is possible to obtain liquid products similar to petroleum from sugar cane bagasse waste. The solid products (bio-char) obtained in the presence of nitrogen (N2) contain a very important percentage of carbon and high higher heating values (HHV)

Characterisation of Inactivation Domains and Evolutionary Strata in Human X Chromosome through Markov Segmentation

Markov segmentation is a method of identifying compositionally different subsequences in a given symbolic sequence. We have applied this technique to the DNA sequence of the human X chromosome to analyze its compositional structure. The human X chromosome is known to have acquired DNA through distinct evolutionary events and is believed to be composed of five evolutionary strata. In addition, in female mammals all copies of X chromosome in excess of one are transcriptionally inactivated. The location of a gene is correlated with its ability to undergo inactivation, but correlations between evolutionary strata and inactivation domains are less clear. Our analysis provides an accurate estimate of the location of stratum boundaries and gives a high–resolution map of compositionally different regions on the X chromosome. This leads to the identification of a novel stratum, as well as segments wherein a group of genes either undergo inactivation or escape inactivation in toto. We identify oligomers that appear to be unique to inactivation domains alone

New recommendations to reduce unnecessary blood tests after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

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Additional file 5: of Bidirectional promoters exhibit characteristic chromatin modification signature associated with transcription elongation in both sense and antisense directions

Figure S5. H3K27ac distribution on bidirectional gene with different intergenic region in H1 ES cells. The figure shows enrichment of H3K27ac at the bidirectional genes pairs with intergenic distance up to 1000 bp. Intergenic distance is represented as the number of nucleosomes that could potentially be accommodated. Data are shown for the gene pairs which have intergenic region that could contain 2 to 6 nucleosomes assuming 170 bp length for wrapping around each octamer and inclusive of the 20 bp linker. Cumulative expression is calculated by summation of fold enrichment signal at every location in a 4 Kb window for each category and dividing by the highest value of signal in the respective category as described in ‘Methods’. (A) Cumulative enrichment of H3K27ac on bidirectional genes which are asymmetric with respect to their expression profiles. (B) Cumulative enrichment of H3K27ac on bidirectional genes which are symmetric with respect to their expression profiles. (PDF 1135 kb

Additional file 1: of Bidirectional promoters exhibit characteristic chromatin modification signature associated with transcription elongation in both sense and antisense directions

Figure S1. Design of dual reporter vector and bidirectional transcription from bidirectional promoters cloned in antisense orientation. (A) The strategy for introducing eGFP and mCherry under a common regulatory DNA element is shown. This vector construct is designed to provide a quantitative readout in live cells based on strand-specific promoter activity. Intense red and green colors indicate direction of promoter activity. Three constructs are shown in the scheme, in middle is pDR vector with no promoter element, Right side shows construct with CMV promoter antisense to mCherry, left side shows construct with CMV promoter antisense to eGFP. (B) Clones from Fig. 1 in their antisense orientation show the same outcome. (PDF 1427 kb

Additional file 2: of Bidirectional promoters exhibit characteristic chromatin modification signature associated with transcription elongation in both sense and antisense directions

Figure S2. Characterization of the bidirectional gene pair NFYA-OARD1. (A) The figure shows relative expression of NFYA-OARD1 in Jurkat cells as measured by quantitative RT-PCR analysis. The expression levels are normalized to GAPDH (B) Fluorescence images of the NFYA-OARD1 intergenic region when cloned into the pDR vector. The orientation of each clone with respect to NFYA is depicted below each set of images. Scale bar denotes 400 μm. (C) Flow cytometry plots of cells transfected with NFYA-OARD1 cloned into pDR vector in which NFYA is in sense orientation to mCherry. As a control NFYA cloned into eGFP-N1 vector was used wherein NFYA drives the expression of GFP. The axes denoting mCherry and eGFP are depicted adjacent to the plots. (PDF 1434 kb

Comparative sequence analyses of genome and transcriptome reveal novel transcripts and variants in the Asian elephant Elephas maximus

The Asian elephant Elephas maximus and the African elephant Loxodonta africana that diverged 5-7 million years ago exhibit differences in their physiology, behaviour and morphology. A comparative genomics approach would be useful and necessary for evolutionary and functional genetic studies of elephants. We performed sequencing of E. maximus and map to L. africana at similar to 15X coverage. Through comparative sequence analyses, we have identified Asian elephant specific homozygous, non-synonymous single nucleotide variants (SNVs) that map to 1514 protein coding genes, many of which are involved in olfaction. We also present the first report of a high-coverage transcriptome sequence in E. maximus from peripheral blood lymphocytes. We have identified 103 novel protein coding transcripts and 66-long non-coding (lnc)RNAs. We also report the presence of 181 protein domains unique to elephants when compared to other Afrotheria species. Each of these findings can be further investigated to gain a better understanding of functional differences unique to elephant species, as well as those unique to elephantids in comparison with other mammals. This work therefore provides a valuable resource to explore the immense research potential of comparative analyses of transcriptome and genome sequences in the Asian elephant

(Invisible) Internet infrastructure labor

This panel looks at information infrastructure labor in order to understand the work that is often invisible to many Internet users. Through this inquiry, we aim to open up the black box of the how the monolithic Internet works. We aim to show how the work of some becomes invisible to others and how these labor relations produce Internet infrastructure. “Information labor” has historically been underexamined in studies of “information revolutions,” (Blok, 2003: 5). Downey has examined information labor in studies of “Telegraph Messenger Boys” and gives a helpful framework for thinking about labor “within their internetworked institutions” in relation to occupational identities, products, changing technical systems and production of technological spaces (Downey, 2002: 13). Downy revealed the dual roles of messenger boys as workers and commodities that were an integral part within changing business strategies of telegraphy and telecommunication industry. Information labor is not isolated in these internetworked institutions, it is involved in popular discourses about jobs and technical systems. Downey’s messenger boys are examples of how one person’s work can be invisible information infrastructure to others. As Downy contextualized the invisible messenger workforces in the era of telegraph and telecom, researchers are looking at various forms of online activities from a labor perspective, considering value creation and opportunities for capital accumulation in activities such as: (a) participation in communities; (b) use of Google, YouTube, Facebook and other online social media platforms; and (c) creation of media/content (e.g. Sholtz, 2012). Some arguments about “digital labor” have endeavored to blur the line between production and consumption, complicating traditional labor frameworks. Other arguments have centered on how “value” is created online and whether this “work” is exploitative or agentic or whether it is even “labor” at all. In general, “digital labor” includes participation in communities, social media platforms, and internet culture production, but not to the work that is involved in maintaining the underlying Internet on which much of this activity happens. In this panel we aim to extend analysis of “digital labor” and “information labor” to Internet infrastructure labor. Scholars who write about Internet infrastructure, those who Sandvig calls “relationists,” note that infrastructure is often invisible, but also importantly relational — one person’s infrastructure is another person’s daily work (Sandvig, 2013). While the relational framing of infrastructure can be problematically recursive, here we attempt to stabilize “infrastructure”: if we think of the Internet infrastructure relationally, the concern of this panel is invisible work in Internet infrastructure that facilitates the “digital labor.” We take from scholars like Terranova and Downey a political economy framework, and from “infrastructure studies” the imperative to “get in the guts.” We focus on specific labor in order to “make comprehensible the invisible negotiations that are producing the infrastructure” (Sandvig, 2013). Panelists present papers that address and are not limited to the following questions: - How does Internet infrastructure work become invisible? - How does labor shape how the Internet infrastructure works? - What does a labor perspective bring to infrastructure studies? - What are the social and technical divisions of labor? - How are Internet infrastructure laborers bound to the understandings of the Internet itself? - How is Internet infrastructure labor bound or in opposition to traditional ideas of “class”? References:  Aad Blok, “Introduction,” in Uncovoring Labour in Information Revolusions, 1750-2000 ed. Aad Blok and Greg Downey, (Cambridge University Press, 2003): 5 Greg Downey, Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor, Technology and Geography, 1850-1950 (London: Routledge, 2002): 13. Trebor Sholtz, ed. Digital Labor: the Internet as Playground and Factory, (London: Routledge, 2012). Tiziana Terranova, “Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy,” Social Text 63, vol. 18, no. 2 (2000). Christian Sandvig, “Internet as Infrastructure,” The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies ed. William Dutton (Oxford University Press, 2013)