Effects of Hot-Pressing Parameters and Wax Content on the Properties of Fiberboard Made from Paper Mill Sludge

Primary sludge combined with 20% secondary sludge was used for the manufacture of fiberboard. A factorial design was carried out to determine the effects of panel density, pressing temperature and time, and wax level on the panel properties of fiberboard. Two levels were employed for each of the four variables, and the panel dimensional stability and mechanical properties were analyzed using Design-Expert software. The statistical analysis indicated that internal bonding (IB) was significantly affected by panel density, pressing temperature, and their interaction. Pressing time and wax level were not directly related to IB. Similarly, modulus of rupture (MOR) was dependent strongly on panel density, pressing temperature, and their interaction, but was not affected by pressing time and wax level. The effect of panel density on modulus of elasticity (MOE) was as strong as on MOR, but the effect of pressing temperature was weaker on MOE than on MOR. MOE was also related to pressing time, but not to wax level. Thickness swelling (TS) was not affected by panel density, but it was significantly dependent on pressing temperature and time. Unexpectedly, wax level did not have significant impact on TS

TiEV: The Tongji Intelligent Electric Vehicle in the Intelligent Vehicle Future Challenge of China

TiEV is an autonomous driving platform implemented by Tongji University of China. The vehicle is drive-by-wire and is fully powered by electricity. We devised the software system of TiEV from scratch, which is capable of driving the vehicle autonomously in urban paths as well as on fast express roads. We describe our whole system, especially novel modules of probabilistic perception fusion, incremental mapping, the 1st and the 2nd planning and the overall safety concern. TiEV finished 2016 and 2017 Intelligent Vehicle Future Challenge of China held at Changshu. We show our experiences on the development of autonomous vehicles and future trends

Beef, Casein, and Soy Proteins Differentially Affect Lipid Metabolism, Triglycerides Accumulation and Gut Microbiota of High-Fat Diet-Fed C57BL/6J Mice

Consumption of dietary protein at recommended levels is considered a potential strategy to promote satiety and weight management, but how protein from different dietary sources effect the obesity development, lipid metabolism, and gut microbiota is not known. This study focused on the effects of beef, casein, and soy protein diet on lipid metabolism, triglycerides accumulation, and microbial diversity in colon of C57BL/6J mice, which were given either low-fat diets (LFD, 12% Kcal) or high-fat diets (HFD, 60% Kcal) for 12 weeks. Body and liver weight increased significantly in mice fed a beef protein HFD (HFB), whereas reduced cumulative energy intake was seen in a soy protein HFD (HFS) group. HFB-fed mice showed signs of impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance along with a significant elevation in the concentration of triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, IL1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and leptin in serum. HFB also enhanced lipid accumulation in liver with increased activity of genes important for lipogenesis and hepatic cholesterol metabolism. A 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that HFD, regardless of proteins, significantly enhanced the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes in colonic microbiota. However, HFB not only reduced the abundance of Akkermansia, compared with LFD independent of proteins, but also decreased the abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria such as Anaerotruncus, Butyricicoccus, and Lactobacillus (P < 0.05) compared with HFS and HFC. In conclusion, consumption of HFB does not only affect the gut microbiota composition but also increases the problems related to metabolic syndromes like dyslipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, and triglycerides accumulation in liver, which lead to systemic inflammation and its associated comorbidities, for example, impaired glucose metabolism and insulin resistance

Metabolomics reveals the response of hydroprimed maize to mitigate the impact of soil salinization

Soil salinization is a major environmental stressor hindering global crop production. Hydropriming has emerged as a promising approach to reduce salt stress and enhance crop yields on salinized land. However, a better mechanisitic understanding is required to improve salt stress tolerance. We used a biochemical and metabolomics approach to study the effect of salt stress of hydroprimed maize to identify the types and variation of differentially accumulated metabolites. Here we show that hydropriming significantly increased catalase (CAT) activity, soluble sugar and proline content, decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and peroxide (H2O2) content. Conversely, hydropriming had no significant effect on POD activity, soluble protein and MDA content under salt stress. The Metabolite analysis indicated that salt stress significantly increased the content of 1278 metabolites and decreased the content of 1044 metabolites. Ethisterone (progesterone) was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of unprimed samples in response to salt s tress. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, which relate to scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), was the most significant metabolic pathway related to salt stress. Hydropriming significantly increased the content of 873 metabolites and significantly decreased the content of 1313 metabolites. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate, a methyl donor for methionine, was the most important metabolite produced in the roots of hydroprimed samples in response to salt stress. Plant growth regulator, such as melatonin, gibberellin A8, estrone, abscisic acid and brassinolide involved in both treatment. Our results not only verify the roles of key metabolites in resisting salt stress, but also further evidence that flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and plant growth regulator relate to salt tolerance

Characteristics of Paper Mill Sludge and Its Utilization for the Manufacture of Medium Density Fiberboard

De-inking paper sludge (DPS) and primary sludge (PS) containing 20% secondary sludge from a paper mill were characterized as to their suitability for the manufacture of medium density fiberboard. Compared with DPS, PS had a lower ash content, higher holocellulose content, more and longer fibers, lower pH, and higher buffering capacity. These characteristics make PS a better fiber resource for fiberboard than DPS. Fiberboards were manufactured at the Pilot Plant of Forintek (Québec City, QC, Canada) using virgin spruce-pine-fir fiber (SPF) and PS or DPS at different sludge/SPF weight ratios with 12% ureaformaldehyde resin. At an equal sludge/SPF weight ratio, PS-SPF panels had much higher mechanical properties than did DPS-SPF panels. At a PS/SPF weight ratio of 7:3, the mechanical properties of PS-SPF panels were higher than the requirements of ANSI A208.2-2002 MDF standard for Grade 120 in terms of internal bond strength, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, and thickness swelling. With DPS/SPF weight ratios as low as 3:7, the tested mechanical properties of DPS-SPF panels could meet the requirements of ANSI A208.2-2002 MDF standard for Grade 120

Overexpression of Heat Shock Protein 70 Ameliorates Meat Quality of Broilers Subjected to Pre-Slaughter Transport at High Ambient Temperatures by Improving Energy Status of Pectoralis Major Muscle and Antioxidant Capacity

The induction of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) potentially mediates meat-quality development under stress conditions. To investigate the effects and mechanism of HSP70 on the meat quality of the pectoralis major (PM) muscles of broilers exposed to pre-slaughter transport, a total of 168 broilers were intraperitoneally injected with L-glutamine (Gln) or saline. Twenty-four hours later, broilers were subjected to transport or held under normal living conditions. The results indicated that acute Gln supplementation significantly increased HSP70 expression in the PM of transported broilers (p p p p < 0.05). Overall, this work indicated that HSP70 could effectively improve the meat quality of transported broilers by improving the energy status, inhibiting glycolytic influx, and restoring redox homeostasis

Photonic Crystal Fiber Plasmonic Sensor Based on Dual Optofluidic Channel

A hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor with a dual optofluidic channel based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect is proposed. The sensor characteristic is numerically explored by software integrated with the finite element method (FEM). The numerical results show that, when the analyte refractive index (RI) varies from 1.32 to 1.38, high linearity between resonance wavelength and analyte RI is obtained and the value of adjusted R2 is up to 0.9993. Simultaneously, the proposed sensor has maximum wavelength sensitivity (WS) of 5500 nm/RIU and maximum amplitude sensitivity (AS) of 150 RIU&minus;1, with an RI resolution of 1.82 &times; 10&minus;5 RIU. Besides, owing to a simple structure and good tolerance of the proposed sensor, it can be easily fabricated by means of existing technology. The proposed sensor suggests promising applications in oil detection, temperature measurement, water quality monitoring, bio-sensing, and food safety

Numerical Investigation of a Short Polarization Beam Splitter Based on Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber with As2S3 Layer

A polarization beam splitter is an important component of modern optical system, especially a splitter that combines the structural flexibility of photonic crystal fiber and the optical modulation of functional material. Thus, this paper presents a compact dual-core photonic crystal fiber polarization beam splitter based on thin layer As2S3. The mature finite element method was utilized to simulate the performance of the proposed splitter. Numerical simulation results indicated that at 1.55 &mu;m, when the fiber device length was 1.0 mm, the x- and y-polarized lights could be split out, the extinction ratio could reach &minus;83.6 dB, of which the bandwidth for extinction ratio better than &minus;20 dB was 280 nm. It also had a low insertion loss of 0.18 dB for the x-polarized light. In addition, it can be completely fabricated using existing processes. The proposed compact polarization beam splitter is a promising candidate that can be used in various optical fields