A rapid method for stereospecific glyceride analysis and its application to soybean and oat varieties

Rapid methods for the analysis of glyceride structure were explored so they could be applied to the determination of the extent of variation in glyceride structure of oilseed crops and possible use in oil crop breeding. For analysis of the sn-2-position of glycerol and the generation of diglycerides for stereospecific analysis, a method was adopted in which pancreatic lipase hydrolysis of the triglycerides and subsequent separation of the mono- and diglycerides was achieved on one thin layer silica gel plate;Attempts to phosphorylate diglycerides for stereospecific analysis of the glycerides on thin layer plates either with the enzyme diglyceride kinase or phenyldichlorophosphate were unsuccessful. But if the diglycerides were phosphorylated with phenyldichlorophosphate in a test tube, the phosphatide that were formed could be hydrolyzed with snake venom and the products separated on a single thin layer silica gel plate. These procedures made a reasonably rapid method possible;These methods were applied to a number of varieties and plant introductions of soybeans, Glycine max, and a closely related wild species, Glycine soya. A number of oat varieties, Avena sativa, and a closely related wild species, Avena sterilis, were also analyzed. The results were similar to those previously reported for soybeans and other oilseed plants. There was a linear relationship between the amount of a fatty acid on a particular position of glycerol and the amount of the fatty acid in the whole oil. Lines were fitted to the data by linear regression. None of the varieties and introductions tested varied widely from the linear relation. The plants deviating most from the linear relations need to be advanced a generation and retested to determine if the variation is genetic or environmental

A rapid method for stereospecific glyceride analysis and its application to soybean and oat varieties

Rapid methods for the analysis of glyceride structure were explored so they could be applied to the determination of the extent of variation in glyceride structure of oilseed crops and possible use in oil crop breeding. For analysis of the sn-2-position of glycerol and the generation of diglycerides for stereospecific analysis, a method was adopted in which pancreatic lipase hydrolysis of the triglycerides and subsequent separation of the mono- and diglycerides was achieved on one thin layer silica gel plate;Attempts to phosphorylate diglycerides for stereospecific analysis of the glycerides on thin layer plates either with the enzyme diglyceride kinase or phenyldichlorophosphate were unsuccessful. But if the diglycerides were phosphorylated with phenyldichlorophosphate in a test tube, the phosphatide that were formed could be hydrolyzed with snake venom and the products separated on a single thin layer silica gel plate. These procedures made a reasonably rapid method possible;These methods were applied to a number of varieties and plant introductions of soybeans, Glycine max, and a closely related wild species, Glycine soya. A number of oat varieties, Avena sativa, and a closely related wild species, Avena sterilis, were also analyzed. The results were similar to those previously reported for soybeans and other oilseed plants. There was a linear relationship between the amount of a fatty acid on a particular position of glycerol and the amount of the fatty acid in the whole oil. Lines were fitted to the data by linear regression. None of the varieties and introductions tested varied widely from the linear relation. The plants deviating most from the linear relations need to be advanced a generation and retested to determine if the variation is genetic or environmental.</p

Affordances, experimentation and actualization of FinTech : A blockchain implementation study

Blockchain, the technology underlying bitcoin, is an emerging financial technology (FinTech) that is poised to have strategic impacts on organizations. Because it is a new phenomenon, there are few studies on blockchain, and those studies have focused mainly on the technology's potential impacts, whereas how to effectively implement it in an organization remains unknown. Our study intends to fill that gap. Using affordance-actualization (A-A) theory as the theoretical lens, we conducted a case study of blockchain implementation in an organization that has effectively implemented it. We identify three affordances of blockchain in the organization and a process model whereby these affordances are actualized. The process model extends A-A theory by adding an experimentation phase where blockchain's use cases within the organization are identified, developed and tested through conceptual adaptation and constraint mitigation. Our study makes important theoretical contributions to the literature on A-A theory, blockchain, information technology (IT) implementation, and strategic information systems (SIS). Our study can also help IT practitioners to implement blockchain effectively and extract value from their investment

Enhanced Compressive Property of Al Composite Foams at Elevated Temperatures via Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation

The present work investigates the compressive property of Al matrix composite foams at different temperatures between room temperature and 200 °C. Elevated temperature results in a decreased compressive strength and energy absorption capacity of as-received Al foams. Therefore, to maintain the compressive property, the Al2O3 ceramic coating was deposited on the Al struts of the foams by the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process to form Al2O3/Al composite foams. As a consequence, the composite foams exhibit a higher compressive strength and energy absorption capacity as compared with the as-received Al foams at both room temperature and elevated temperatures because of the reinforced effect of the Al2O3 ceramic on the foam strut. The related mechanisms were explained by fractography, microstructure observation and phase composition analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD)

Optimal procurement strategy for off-site prefabricated components considering construction schedule and cost

The implementation of prefabricated buildings is hindered by the high construction cost. To address this problem, it is important to determine the efficient leverage of the supply capacity of local factories to assure just-in-time delivery to the construction site, as well as to accurately model the various types of cost to achieve a near-optimal procurement strategy. This paper describes a mathematical model to optimize the procurement of prefabricated components. A genetic algorithm is applied to efficiently obtain the minimum total cost that includes installation cost, business management cost and loan interest cost. Finally, a number of numerical experiments are conducted, showing that the procurement strategy generated from the proposed mathematical model is better than the traditional procurement strategy in terms of construction duration reductions and total cost savings. The component procurement method proposed in this paper improves the scientific management ability of decision-makers, and provides purchasing framework for other prefabricated structural forms

Microwave-Assisted Fabrication of Bimetallic PdCu Nanocorals with Enhanced Peroxidase-Like Activity and Efficiency for Thiocyanate Sensing

Nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics (nanozymes) are an emerging alternative of traditional bioenzymes that holds great promise in a variety of fields. The activity and efficiency of most current nanozymes, however, are lower than those of natural enzymes, which will inevitably hinder their wider applications. Thus, the development of new nanozymes with favorable catalytic properties is urgently desired. In this work, we reported a coral-structured bimetallic PdCu nanozyme that exhibited enhanced peroxidase activity and efficiency. The coral-like nanozyme fabricated by a microwave-assisted wet-chemical method was composed of assembled PdCu branches. In a comparison with pure Pd, the bimetallic PdCu had an enhanced ability to catalyze the reaction of colorless tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to its blue oxide (TMBox) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculation indicated that the insertion of Cu atoms into the Pd lattice would increase the Pd⁰ proportion and decrease the adsorption difficulty of H₂O₂, both of which finally resulted in improvements in the catalytic activity and efficiency. It was further found that thiocyanate (SCN^–) could inhibit the color reaction by decreasing the activity of PdCu selectively. On the basis of this principle, SCN^– in the much wider range of 0.001–100 μM could be detected, along with a limit of detection down to 1 nM