Effect of Covalent Conjugation with Polyphenols by Free Radical Method on Gel Properties of Soybean Protein-Stabilized Emulsion

In this study, a covalent conjugate between ferulic acid (FA) and soybean protein isolate (SPI) was prepared by free radical method and was used to prepare gluconolactone (GDL)-induced emulsion gels. The effects of covalent binding to FA on SPI structure, emulsion properties and emulsion gel characteristics were investigated. The optimum concentration of FA was determined as 150 μmol/g protein based on intermolecular forces, textural properties, and water-holding capacity of SPI-FA (SFA) stabilized emulsion gels. Under this condition, spectral analysis showed that FA had a fluorescence quenching effect on SPI, and after covalent binding to FA, a decrease in the β-folded content and an increase in the α-helix, β-turn and random coil contents of SPI appeared. The absolute value of zeta potential and interfacial protein content of SFA stabilized emulsions increased, and the mean particle size and apparent viscosity decreased. The final storage modulus (G’) of SFA stabilized emulsion gels increased, and the changes in relaxation times and peak ratios observed in low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements indicated that the SFA stabilized emulsion gels had better hydration properties. Moreover, they had a more uniform and dense porous network structure. These results show that SPI covalently bound to 150 μmol/g protein of FA is valuable in the preparation of emulsion gels

Electrochemical reforming of ethanol with acetate Co-Production on nickel cobalt selenide nanoparticles

The energy efficiency of water electrolysis is limited by the sluggish reaction kinetics of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). To overcome this limitation, OER can be replaced by a less demanding oxidation reaction, which in the ideal scenario could be even used to generate additional valuable chemicals. Herein, we focus on the electrochemical reforming of ethanol in alkaline media to generate hydrogen at a Pt cathode and acetate as a co-product at a NiCoSe anode. We first detail the solution synthesis of a series of NiCoSe electrocatalysts. By adjusting the Ni/Co ratio, the electrocatalytic activity and selectivity for the production of acetate from ethanol are optimized. Best performances are obtained at low substitutions of Ni by Co in the cubic NiSe phase. Density function theory reveals that the Co substitution can effectively enhance the ethanol adsorption and decrease the energy barrier for its first step dehydrogenation during its conversion to acetate. However, we experimentally observe that too large amounts of Co decrease the ethanol-to-acetate Faradaic efficiency from values above 90% to just 50 %. At the optimized composition, the NiCoSe electrode delivers a stable chronoamperometry current density of up to 45 mA cm, corresponding to 1.2 A g, in a 1 M KOH + 1 M ethanol solution, with a high ethanol-to-acetate Faradaic efficiency of 82.2% at a relatively low potential, 1.50 V vs. RHE, and with an acetate production rate of 0.34 mmol cm h.This work was supported by the start-up funding at Chengdu University. It was also supported by the European Regional Development Funds and by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through the project SEHTOP (ENE2016-77798-C4-3-R), MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ project, and NANOGEN (PID2020-116093RB-C43). X. Wang, C. Xing, X. Han, R. He, Z. Liang, and Y. Zhang are grateful for the scholarship from China Scholarship Council (CSC). X. Han and J. Arbiol acknowledge funding from Generalitat de Catalunya 2017 SGR 327. ICN2 acknowledges support from the Severo Ochoa Programme (MINECO, Grant no. SEV-2013-0295). IREC and ICN2 are funded by the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya

Nickel iron diselenide for highly efficient and selective electrocatalytic conversion of methanol to formate

The electro-oxidation of methanol to formate is an interesting example of the potential use of renewable energies to add value to a biosourced chemical commodity. Additionally, methanol electro-oxidation can replace the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction when coupled to hydrogen evolution or to the electroreduction of other biomass-derived intermediates. But the cost-effective realization of these reaction schemes requires the development of efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts. Here, a noble metal-free catalyst, Ni1−xFexSe2 nanorods, with a high potential for an efficient and selective methanol conversion to formate is demonstrated. At its optimum composition, Ni0.75Fe0.25Se2, this diselenide is able to produce 0.47 mmol cm−2 h−1 of formate at 50 mA cm−2 with a Faradaic conversion efficiency of 99%. Additionally, this noble-metal-free catalyst is able to continuously work for over 50 000 s with a minimal loss of efficiency, delivering initial current densities above 50 mA cm−2 and 2.2 A mg−1 in a 1.0 m KOH electrolyte with 1.0 m methanol at 1.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. This work demonstrates the highly efficient and selective methanol-to-formate conversion on Ni-based noble-metal-free catalysts, and more importantly it shows a very promising example to exploit the electrocatalytic conversion of biomass-derived chemicals.J.L. obtained International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program (Talent-Introduction program No. YJ20190126) in 2019 and is grateful for the project (2019M663468) funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. This work was supported from the UESTC start-up funding, the Recruitment Program of Thousand Youth Talents, and the Natural Science Foundation of China (22072013). It was also supported by the European Regional Development Funds and by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through the project SEHTOP (ENE2016-77798-C4-3-R) and VALPEC (ENE2017-85087-C3). C.X., Y.Z., and T.Z. are grateful for the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for scholarship support. T.Z., and J.A. acknowledge funding from Generalitat de Catalunya 2017 SGR 327. ICN2 acknowledges support from the Severo Ochoa Programme (MINECO, Grant no. SEV-2013-0295). T.Z. has received funding from the CSC-UAB PhD scholarship program. M.C.S. has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754510 (PROBIST) and the Severo Ochoa programme. IREC and ICN2 are funded by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Part of the present work has been performed in the framework of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Materials Science PhD program. J.L. is a Serra Húnter Fellow and is grateful to MICINN/FEDER RTI2018-093996-B-C31, GC 2017 SGR 128 and to ICREA Academia program.Peer reviewe

Missing Data Imputation Method Combining Random Forest and Generative Adversarial Imputation Network

(1) Background: In order to solve the problem of missing time-series data due to the influence of the acquisition system or external factors, a missing time-series data interpolation method based on random forest and a generative adversarial interpolation network is proposed. (2) Methods: First, the position of the missing part of the data is calibrated, and the trained random forest algorithm is used for the first data interpolation. The output value of the random forest algorithm is used as the input value of the generative adversarial interpolation network, and the generative adversarial interpolation network is used to calibrate the position. The data are interpolated for the second time, and the advantages of the two algorithms are combined to make the interpolation result closer to the true value. (3) Results: The filling effect of the algorithm is tested on a certain bearing data set, and the root mean square error (RMSE) is used to evaluate the interpolation results. The results show that the RMSE of the interpolation results based on the random forest and generative adversarial interpolation network algorithms in the case of single-segment and multi-segment missing data is only 0.0157, 0.0386, and 0.0527, which is better than the random forest algorithm, generative adversarial interpolation network algorithm, and K-nearest neighbor algorithm. (4) Conclusions: The proposed algorithm performs well in each data set and provides a reference method in the field of data filling

Status Recognition of Marine Centrifugal Pumps Based on a Stacked Sparse Auto-Encoder

Marine centrifugal pumps (MCPs) are widely used in ships, so it is important to identify their status accurately for their maintenance. Due to the influence of load, friction, and other non-linear factors, the vibration signal of an MCP shows non-linear and non-stationary characteristics, and it is difficult to extract the state characteristics contained in the vibration signal. To solve the difficulty of feature extraction of non-linear non-stationary vibration signals generated by MCPs, a novel MCP frequency domain signal feature extraction method based on a stacked sparse auto-encoder (SSAE) is proposed. The characteristic parameters of MCP frequency domain signals are extracted via the SSAE model for classification training, and different statuses of MCPs are identified. The vibration signals in different MCP statuses were collected for feature extraction and classification training, and the MCP status recognition accuracy based on the time domain feature and fuzzy entropy feature was compared. According to the test data, the accuracy of MCP status recognition based on the time domain feature is 71.2%, the accuracy of MCP status recognition based on the fuzzy entropy feature is 87.7%, and the accuracy of MCP status recognition based on the proposed method is 100%. These results show that the proposed method can accurately identify each status of an MCP under test conditions

Sr2Fe1.4Mn0.1Mo0.5O6-δ perovskite cathode for highly efficient CO2 electrolysis

High-temperature solid oxide cells afford chemical storage of renewable electricity. In particular, the electrochemical conversion of the greenhouse gas CO2 is attracting increasing interest to facilitate a sustainable energy technology. In this work, the effectiveness of perovskite-structured Sr2Fe1.4Mn0.1Mo0.5O6-δ (SFMM0.1) for use as cathode material for CO2 electrolysis has been investigated. Both parent Sr2Fe1.5Mo0.5O6-δ (SFM) and SFMM0.1 are found to be redox stable in air and 5% H2/Ar at 850 °C. Electrical conductivity relaxation experiments and first-principle calculations reveal that oxygen transport, CO2 adsorption and reduction kinetics are enhanced upon doping of SFM with Mn. The faster CO2 reduction kinetics observed for SFMM0.1 relative to SFM is reflected in a lower polarization resistance when both materials are used as single-phase electrodes in symmetrical cells. The polarization resistance in 50% CO/CO2 at 800 °C decreases from 1.15 Ω cm2 for SFM to 0.60 Ω cm2 for SFMM0.1. Under similar conditions, the polarization resistance decreases further to 0.50 Ω cm2 for a symmetrical cell with dual-phase SFMM0.1-SDC (samaria-doped ceria) electrodes. Unprecedented performance is demonstrated when SFMM0.1-SDC is integrated as the cathode in a solid oxide cell for electrolysis of pure CO2, achieving a current density of 1.35 A cm2 at 800 °C at 1.5 V

Non-coding RNAs in exosomes and adipocytes cause fat loss during cancer cachexia

Cancer Cachexia (CC) is a disease that changes various metabolisms in human body. Fat metabolism is significantly affected in CC, leading to fat loss. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in adipocytes and exosomes secreted by tumor play an important role in fat loss. However, there is no related reviews summarizing how ncRNAs contribute to fat loss during CC. This review screens recent articles to summarize how ncRNAs are packaged, transported in exosomes, and play the role in fat loss. Not only does this review summarize the mechanisms, we also point out the research orientations in the future

Optical Asymmetric Cryptosystem Based on Dynamic Foveated Imaging and Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition

In this paper, we propose an asymmetric cryptosystem based on dynamic foveated imaging and bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD). Firstly, a novel dynamic foveated imaging algorithm is developed to transform a plaintext image to a globally ambiguous and locally clear image. Then, the image is passed through a phase-truncated Fourier transform system to generate a white noise image. The resulting image is encoded using BEMD to produce an encrypted image. The proposed cryptosystem offers two distinct decryption methods, allowing the receiver to obtain a decrypted image from a specific frame or a combination of frames, depending on the unique keys. This encryption scheme significantly expands the key space and strengthens the system’s anti-iterative attack capability. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness, security and robustness of the proposed cryptosystem

The efficacy of pegylated interferon alpha-2a and entecavir in HBeAg-positive children and adolescents with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract Background and objectives Pegylated interferon alpha-2a (peg-IFN α-2a) and entecavir (ETV) are both recommended as the first-line antiviral drugs for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) at present. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety between peg-IFN α-2a and ETV initial therapy in children and adolescents with CHB and investigate the potential factors affecting the treatment response during the first 48 weeks. Methods We retrospectively selected 70 treatment-naïve children and adolescents with CHB who received peg-IFN α-2a(n = 26) or ETV(n = 44) as initial therapy and completed 48-week follow-up for data analysis. Blood samples before treatment were collected from 26 patients of the cohort to assess the cytokine profiles. Results We found that initial peg-IFN therapy results in higher rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) serological response (SR) but lower rates of virological and biochemical response rates compared to ETV at week 48. As for achieving hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) SR, peg-IFN was comparable to ETV in the univariate analysis and turned out to be better than ETV after adjustment for important baseline factors. We also found that elevated pre-treatment IL-18 level was significantly associated with HBeAg SR, and remained as the only independent factor of predicting HBeAg SR after adjustment for other important factors. No serious adverse effects of the 2 drugs were reported during the 48-week follow-up. Conclusions comparing to ETV, peg-IFN was superior in achieving HBsAg and HBeAg SR; higher baseline IL-18 levels were independently associated with HBeAg SR in this study of children and adolescents with CHB

Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonate Catalyzed by DBU Derived Basic Ionic Liquids

In this work, 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU), 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]-5-nonene (DBN), and imidazole (MIM)-derived bromide ionic liquids (ILs) were synthesized and used to catalyze the cycloaddition reactions of carbon dioxide (CO2) with several kinds of epoxides to form cyclic carbonates. The DBU derived bromide ionic liquid system was found to have the best catalytic activity among all the tested ILs. The influences of reaction conditions (including temperature, pressure and reaction time) on the reaction of CO2 to propylene oxide (PO) were studied to show the best conditions of 120 degrees C, 1 MPa, 2.5 h catalyzed by 2 mol% DBU-derived bromide ionic liquid, with the conversion of PO and the selectivity of propylene carbonate (PC) reaching 99% and 99%, respectively. Under the optimum reaction conditions, the ionic liquid system could be reused at least five times without decrease in selectivity and conversion. NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations were used to reveal the hydrogen-bond interaction between ionic liquids and reagent, based on which the reaction mechanism was proposed.</p