559 research outputs found
Antibacterial effect of orange Monascus pigment against Staphylococcus aureus
The objective of this work was to research the antibacterial effects of orange pigment, which was separated from Monascus pigments, against Staphylococcus aureus. The increase of the diameter of inhibition zone treated with orange pigment indicated that orange pigment had remarkable antibacterial activities against S. aureus. Orange pigment (10 mg ml−1) had a strong destructive effect on the membrane and structure of S. aureus by the analysis of scanning electron microscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) further demonstrated that the cell membrane was seriously damaged by orange pigment, which resulted in the leakage of protein from S. aureus cells. A significant decrease in the synthesis of DNA was also seen in S. aureus cells exposed to 10 mg ml−1 orange pigment. All in all, orange pigment showed excellent antibacterial effects against S. aureus
Magnetic phase diagrams of the Kagome staircase compound Co3V2O8
At zero magnetic field, a series of five phase transitions occur in Co3V2O8.
The Neel temperature, TN=11.4 K, is followed by four additional phase changes
at T1=8.9 K, T2=7.0 K, T3=6.9 K, and T4=6.2 K. The different phases are
distinguished by the commensurability of the b-component of its spin density
wave vector. We investigate the stability of these various phases under
magnetic fields through dielectric constant and magnetic susceptibility
anomalies. The field-temperature phase diagram of Co3V2O8 is completely
resolved. The complexity of the phase diagram results from the competition of
different magnetic states with almost equal ground state energies due to
competing exchange interactions and frustration.Comment: Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron
Systems, 2 pages, 2 figure
Thermal expansion and pressure effect in MnWO4
MnWO4 has attracted attention because of its ferroelectric property induced
by frustrated helical spin order. Strong spin-lattice interaction is necessary
to explain ferroelectricity associated with this type of magnetic order.We have
conducted thermal expansion measurements along the a, b, c axes revealing the
existence of strong anisotropic lattice anomalies at T1=7.8 K, the temperature
of the magnetic lock-in transition into a commensurate low-temperature
(reentrant paraelectric) phase. The effect of hydrostatic pressure up to 1.8
GPa on the FE phase is investigated by measuring the dielectric constant and
the FE polarization. The low- temperature commensurate and paraelectric phase
is stabilized and the stability range of the ferroelectric phase is diminished
under pressure.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures. SCES conference proceedings, houston, TX, 2007.
to be published in Physica
Optimization of protein extraction from tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) seed using response surface methodology
Optimization of extraction ratio (ER) of tree peony seed protein (TPSP) was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The second-degree equation for ER of TPSP had high coeffi cient (0.9625) of determination. The probability (P) value of regression model signifi cance was less than 0.001 by analysis of central composite rotatable design. Relationships of ER to pH, liquid/solid ratio, squares of all factors, and cross-product factors (x2x3, x2x4, x3x4) were signifi cant (P1x2, x1x3, x1x4) were not signifi cant factors (P>0.05). Optimum extraction conditions were 3.42 h, pH 9.50, 50.80 ºC, and 9.54 ml g–1 of liquid/solid ratio with the maximum ER (43.60%) . SDS-PAGE indicated TPSP had mainly four proteins (180, 100, 60, and 35 kDa) with four subunits of 60, 48, 38, and 23 kDa. TPSP had a good amino acid composition with abundant essential amino acids (39.76%) determined by amino acid analysis
Thermal Fatigue Life Prediction of Ventilation Air Methane Oxidation Bed
Thermal flow-reversal oxidation is the main technology that can effectively reduce emissions of ventilation air methane. As the core component of coal mine ventilation oxidation devices, honeycomb ceramic oxidation beds play a decisive role in the functionality of these devices. The thermal fatigue properties of mullite ceramic – which is commonly used in oxidation beds – was tested in the present research. Then, the service life of the oxidation bed was predicted according to the intensity attenuation law and the thermal fatigue experimental data. The results of the fatigue experiment indicated that in general, the bending strength of mullite ceramics decreases as thermal shocks increase. At higher temperature differences, the bending strength decreased at greater rates. At the temperature differences between 600 and 800°C, the bending strength initially declined. Then, after reaching a certain value, it remained unchanged for a while before declining again. The results of the equation that was developed from intensity attenuation theory and the thermal fatigue experimental data indicate that the thermal fatigue life of an oxidation bed is about 1–8 months. The predicted result is consistent with actual working conditions
Two Energy Release Processes for CMEs: MHD Catastrophe and Magnetic Reconnection
It remains an open question how magnetic energy is rapidly released in the
solar corona so as to create solar explosions such as solar flares and coronal
mass ejections (CMEs). Recent studies have confirmed that a system consisting
of a flux rope embedded in a background field exhibits a catastrophic behavior,
and the energy threshold at the catastrophic point may exceed the associated
open field energy. The accumulated free energy in the corona is abruptly
released when the catastrophe takes place, and it probably serves as the main
means of energy release for CMEs at least in the initial phase. Such a release
proceeds via an ideal MHD process in contrast with nonideal ones such as
magnetic reconnection. The catastrophe results in a sudden formation of
electric current sheets, which naturally provide proper sites for fast magnetic
reconnection. The reconnection may be identified with a solar flare associated
with the CME on one hand, and produces a further acceleration of the CME on the
other. On this basis, several preliminary suggestions are made for future
observational investigations, especially with the proposed KuaFu satellites, on
the roles of the MHD catastrophe and magnetic reconnection in the magnetic
energy release associated with CMEs and flares.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Adv. Spa. Res., in press
Recognizing basal cell carcinoma on smartphone‐captured digital histopathology images with a deep neural network
Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154530/1/bjd18026.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154530/2/bjd18026_am.pd
Determination of oxygen stoichiometry in the mixed-valent manganites
The possible redox (oxidation reduction) chemical methods for precisely
determining the oxygen content in the perovskite manganites including
hole-doped La1-xCaxMnOy and electron-doped La1-xTexMnOy compounds are
described. For manganites annealed at different temperatures, the oxygen
content of the samples was determined by a redox back titration in which the
powder samples taken in a quartz crucible were dissolved in (1+1) sulfuric acid
containing an excess of sodium oxalate, and the excess sodium oxalate was
titrated with permanganate standard solution. The results indicate that the
method is effective and highly reproducible. Moreover, the variation of oxygen
content is also reflected in significantly affecting the electrical transport
property of the samples, which is mainly considered to be closely related to
introduce oxygen vacancies in the Mn-O-Mn network.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure. J. Magn. Magn .Mater (accepted
Black Hole Growth Is Mainly Linked to Host-galaxy Stellar Mass Rather Than Star Formation Rate
We investigate the dependence of black-hole accretion rate (BHAR) on host-galaxy star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M∗) in the CANDELS/GOODS-South field in the redshift range of 0.5≤z<2.0. Our sample consists of ≈18000 galaxies, allowing us to probe galaxies with 0.1≲SFR≲100 M⊙ yr−1 and/or 108≲M∗≲1011 M⊙. We use sample-mean BHAR to approximate long-term average BHAR. Our sample-mean BHARs are derived from the Chandra Deep Field-South 7 Ms observations, while the SFRs and M∗ have been estimated by the CANDELS team through SED fitting. The average BHAR is correlated positively with both SFR and M∗, and the BHAR-SFR and BHAR-M∗ relations can both be described acceptably by linear models with a slope of unity. However, BHAR appears to be correlated more strongly with M∗ than SFR. This result indicates that M∗ is the primary host-galaxy property related to black-hole growth, and the apparent BHAR-SFR relation is largely a secondary effect due to the star-forming main sequence. Among our sources, massive galaxies (M∗≳1010M⊙) have significantly higher BHAR/SFR ratios than less-massive galaxies, indicating the former have higher black-hole fueling efficiency and/or higher SMBH occupation fraction than the latter. Our results can naturally explain the observed proportionality between MBH and M∗ for local giant ellipticals, and suggest their MBH/M∗ is higher than that of local star-forming galaxies. Among local star-forming galaxies, massive systems might have higher MBH/M∗ compared to dwarfs
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