Polyols Prepared from Ring-Opening Epoxidized Soybean Oil by a Castor Oil-Based Fatty Diol

Several biorenewable vegetable oil-based polyols with different molecular weights and various hydroxyl functionalities were successfully prepared by ring-opening epoxidized soybean oil with a castor oil-based fatty diol. It was found that several factors, including reaction time, reaction temperature, and molar ratios between epoxidized soybean oil and castor oil diol, affect structures and rheology behaviors of the final polyols. Proton NMR, FT-IR, GPC, and rheometry results revealed that the hydroxyl functionalities, molecular weight, and viscosity of the polyols could be tailored by controlling the above-mentioned factors. Besides, the role of solvents in the epoxy ring-opening process was investigated as well

Hydraulic Characteristics and Measurement of Rotating Stall Suppression in a Waterjet Propulsion System

Rotating stall as a kind of ship stall causes noise, vibration and unstable operation of a waterjet propulsion system and sometimes it can even cause fracture of blades and destruction of other flow passage components. To investigate the suppression of the rotating stall, a complete 3-D waterjet propulsion system model has been developed which contains an inlet passage, a propulsion pump and a nozzle. Hydraulic performance and flow characteristics are predicted by using a numerical simulation, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. For suppressing the rotating stall, separators are set in the outlet of the inlet passage. The analysis has shown the following: the rotating stall zone is found to be significant on the external characteristic curve in the low flow rate condition. Also, in the same condition a large scale flow separation region occurs in the propulsion pump, which is more intense at the rim of the impeller. The rotating stall of the propulsion pump system is controlled by setting separators at the outlet of the inlet passage. The recommended parameters of the separators are 0.5 D0 (length), 0.1 D0 (height), 0.4 D0 (location), 0.025 D0 (thickness), 4 (number of separators), where D0 presents the outlet diameter of the inlet passage

Response of bacterioplankton community structure to an artificial gradient of pCO2 in the Arctic Ocean

In order to test the influences of ocean acidification on the ocean pelagic ecosystem, so far the largest CO2 manipulation mesocosm study (European Project on Ocean Acidification, EPOCA) was performed in Kings Bay (Kongsfjorden), Spitsbergen. During a 30 day incubation, bacterial diversity was investigated using DNA fingerprinting and clone library analysis of bacterioplankton samples. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the PCR amplicons of the 16S rRNA genes revealed that general bacterial diversity, taxonomic richness and community structure were influenced by the variation of productivity during the time of incubation, but not the degree of ocean acidification. A BIOENV analysis suggested a complex control of bacterial community structure by various biological and chemical environmental parameters. The maximum apparent diversity of bacterioplankton (i.e., the number of T-RFs) in high and low pCO2 treatments differed significantly. A negative relationship between the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and pCO2 levels was observed for samples at the end of the experiment by the combination of T-RFLP and clone library analysis. Our study suggests that ocean acidification affects the development of bacterial assemblages and potentially impacts the ecological function of the bacterioplankton in the marine ecosystem

Effects of oil-in-water based nanolubricant containing TiO2 nanoparticles in hot rolling of 304 stainless steel

Energy saving and improvement of product quality are of crucial importance in hot rolling of 304 stainless steel. In this paper, oil-in-water (O/W) based nanolubricants containing TiO2 nanoparticles were developed to reduce the rolling force and improve the surface quality of rolled 304 stainless steel product. Practical hot rolling tests with and without application of lubricant were conducted to systematically investigate the effects of the developed O/W based nanolubricants on the rolling force, surface roughness, oxide scale thickness and tribological behaviour. The obtained results indicate that the nanoparticles can enter the deform zone with oil droplets to take a lubrication effect. The optimal lubrication effect can be achieved when the O/W (1% oil mass fraction) based nanolubricant with a TiO2 mass fraction of 1.5% was applied. The novel nanolubricant has a great potential to be applied in the hot steel rolling, to realise the cost-effective and environmental-friendly manufacturing process

Ocean Acidification Regulates the Activity, Community Structure, and Functional Potential of Heterotrophic Bacterioplankton in an Oligotrophic Gyre

Ocean acidification (OA), a consequence of increased global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is considered a major threat to marine ecosystems. Its effects on bacterioplankton activity, diversity, and community composition have received considerable attention. However, the direct impact of OA on heterotrophic bacterioplankton is often masked by the significant response of phytoplankton due to the close coupling of heterotrophic bacterioplankton and autotrophs. Here we investigated the responses of a heterotrophic bacterioplankton assemblage to high pCO2 (790-ppm) treatment in warm tropical western Pacific waters by conducting a microcosm experiment in dark for 12 days. Heterotrophic bacterioplankton abundance and production were enhanced by OA over the first 6 days of incubation, while the diversity and species richness were negatively affected. Bacterioplankton community composition in the high pCO2 treatment changed faster than that in the control. The molecular ecological network analysis showed that the elevated CO2 changed the overall connections among the bacterial community and resulted in a simple network under high CO2 condition. Species-specific responses to OA were observed and could be attributed to the different life strategies and to the ability of a given species to adapt to environmental conditions. In addition, high-throughput functional gene array analysis revealed that genes related to carbon and nitrogen cycling were positively affected by acidification. Together, our findings suggest that OA has direct effects on heterotrophic bacterioplankton in a low-latitude warm ocean and may therefore affect global biogeochemical cycles

1-Chloro­methyl-1H-1,2,3-benzotriazole

In the title compound, C7H6ClN3, the benzotriazole ring is essentially planar with a maximum deviation of 0.0110 (15)Å, and makes a dihedral angle of 0.46 (8)° with the benzene ring. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked through inter­molecular C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming chains along the c axis

Identification of the chemical components of ethanol extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides and evaluation of their in vitro antioxidant and anti tumor activities

Purpose: To determine the characteristic chemical components of the ethanol extract of Chenopodium ambrosioides and evaluate their antioxidant and anti-tumor effects in vitro. Methods: The plant powder (5 g) was extracted with 1 L of 80 % ethanol at room temperature for 45 min, and then placed at 60 oC at varying microwave power and duration to obtain optimal extraction conditions. Characteristic chemical components were detected using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Kaempferitrin was isolated from the 80 % ethanol extract using a D101 macroporous resin column, and its content was assessed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The antioxidant effect of kaempferitrin was evaluated by its ability to scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) radicals, while its anti-proliferation activity in human liver cancer cells SMMC-7721 was determined using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) reagent. Results: Three characteristic components of ethanol extract of C. ambrosioides were obtained, namely, kaempferitrin, kaempferol-3-O-apigenin-7-O-rhamnoside and kaempferol-3-O-acetylapigenin-7-O-rhamnoside. Kaempferitrin was shown to possess strong DPPH radical and moderate ABTS radical scavenging activities. Kaempferitrin significantly inhibited the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells at doses of 4 and 8 μg/mL, with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 0.38 μM (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Kaempferitrin extracted from C. ambrosioides has antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. The results reported here indicate that C. ambrosioides may have potential use in herbal medicine practice

Altered Gut Microbiota in Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune-mediated disorder, the etiology of which involves both environmental factors and genetics. While the exact factors responsible for predisposition to MG remain elusive, it is hypothesized that gut microbiota play a critical role in the pathogenesis of MG. This study investigated whether gut microbiota are altered in MG patients by comparing the fecal microbiota profiles of MG patients to those of age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Phylotype profiles of gut microbial populations were generated using hypervariable tag sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were assessed by gas chromatographic analyses. The results demonstrated that, compared to the healthy cohort, the gut microbiota of the MG group was changed in terms of the relative abundances of bacterial taxa, with sharply reduced microbial richness, particularly in the genus Clostridium. The fecal SCFA content was significantly lower in the MG group. Furthermore, microbial dysbiosis was closely related to the levels of inflammatory biomarkers in the sera of MG patients

Application of blends of walnut oil and palm stearin in soft spread base oil

To study the application of palm stearin and walnut oil blends in the base oil of soft spreads, the compatibility and crystalline properties of blends were determined. The results show that the SFC curves of blends changed in accordance with the characteristics of best SFC curve of soft spread when the content of walnut oil reached 20%, indicating the blends are suitable for soft spread base oil. At different temperatures, there were different compatibility between walnut oil and palm stearin. And the compatibility gradually became better with the increase of temperature. When the temperature was higher than 33.3 ℃, walnut oil and palm stearin can be completely compatible at all ratios. The yield value of palm stearin was much higher than the optimal yield value of soft spread, which means poor spread ability. The yield value of blends deceased upon addition of walnut oil. When the content of walnut oil was higher than 30%, the yield values of blends were in the range of soft spreads. Rheological temperature scanning results show that a strong crystal network existed in PST and the blends when the processing temperature was lower than 30 ℃, and can maintain a stable form during transportation and storage; it can also quickly melt near body temperature to give a similar taste to soft spread. The crystals in the blends are mainly β′ form. The results laid the foundation for the application of blends of palm stearin and walnut oil in soft spread

Using Bioinformatics Approach to Explore the Pharmacological Mechanisms of Multiple Ingredients in Shuang-Huang-Lian

Due to the proved clinical efficacy, Shuang-Huang-Lian (SHL) has developed a variety of dosage forms. However, the in-depth research on targets and pharmacological mechanisms of SHL preparations was scarce. In the presented study, the bioinformatics approaches were adopted to integrate relevant data and biological information. As a result, a PPI network was built and the common topological parameters were characterized. The results suggested that the PPI network of SHL exhibited a scale-free property and modular architecture. The drug target network of SHL was structured with 21 functional modules. According to certain modules and pharmacological effects distribution, an antitumor effect and potential drug targets were predicted. A biological network which contained 26 subnetworks was constructed to elucidate the antipneumonia mechanism of SHL. We also extracted the subnetwork to explicitly display the pathway where one effective component acts on the pneumonia related targets. In conclusions, a bioinformatics approach was established for exploring the drug targets, pharmacological activity distribution, effective components of SHL, and its mechanism of antipneumonia. Above all, we identified the effective components and disclosed the mechanism of SHL from the view of system