Creechtimmons8046

A sudden surge in the number of translucent and oval-shaped waxy spots caused a serious production loss of the papermaking process. Envonalkib inhibitor The investigation of the spots revealed that the alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) sizing agent caused the waxy spot problem. A ultraviolet/visible (UV/vis) spectrometry method for the quantitative analysis of AKD was developed and used to reduce the waxy spot problem in paper products. The results showed that the method could be used to quantify AKD in both papermaking stock and white water. The major factors in the papermaking wet end that were associated with the waxy spot problem were evaluated, and practical approaches to solving the AKD retention problem and the waxy spot problem were proposed and implemented. The dosage of a retention aid was found to be the principal factor controlling AKD retention. However, varying the retention aid dosage resulted in the deterioration of the paper formation; therefore, this was not a suitable solution to the waxy spot problem. The type of fixing agent and AKD used was found to be the secondary factor affecting the AKD retention and papermaking system cleanliness. Mill trials were conducted on a paper machine to examine the effects of different fixing agents and AKD types on AKD retention and the waxy spot count at the reel. This approach identified a combination of fixing agent and AKD type that substantially improved AKD retention and reduced the formation of translucent waxy spots in the resulting paper products.Since 2007, repeated outbreaks of Zika virus (ZIKV) have affected millions of people worldwide and created a global health concern with major complications like microcephaly and Guillain Barre's syndrome. To date, there is not a single Zika-specific licensed drug present in the market. However, in recent months, several antiviral molecules have been screened against ZIKV. Among those, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a green tea polyphenol, has shown great virucidal potential against flaviviruses including ZIKV. The mechanistic understanding of EGCG-targeting viral proteins is not yet entirely deciphered except that little is known about its interaction with viral envelope protein and viral protease. We designed our current study to find inhibitory actions of EGCG against ZIKV NS3 helicase. NS3 helicase performs a significant role in viral replication by unwinding RNA after hydrolyzing NTP. We employed molecular docking and simulation approach and found significant interactions at the ATPase site and also at the RNA binding site. Further, the enzymatic assay has shown significant inhibition of NTPase activity with an IC50 value of 295.7 nM and Ki of 0.387 ± 0.034 μM. Our study suggests the possibility that EGCG could be considered as a prime backbone molecule for further broad-spectrum inhibitor development against ZIKV and other flaviviruses.Starch content is an important parameter indicating the state of harvest maturity of fresh cassava root. Nowadays, the methods used for estimating the starch content in the field are the measurement of root weight, size, or snapping force. These methods are simple but the results are rather incorrect. For this reason, a developed portable visible and near-infrared spectrometer(350-1050 nm) was used to estimate rapidly and nondestructively starch content in fresh cassava root. The best starch prediction model received from the full wavelength region was able to predict the starch content with a correlation coefficient of prediction (r p) of 0.825, standard errors of prediction of 2.502%, and bias of -0.115%. Moreover, the predicted values were not significantly different from the actual values obtained from the standard method at 95% confidence intervals. It was also noted that the top position of the root was a good representative for starch prediction. In addition, this position was easy to be measured in the field before harvesting.Type-I clathrate compounds Yb x Ba8-x Ga16Ge30 have been synthesized by the high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) method rapidly. The effects of the synergy of atom filling and pressure regulation on the microstructure and thermal and electrical properties have been investigated. With the content of Yb atom increasing, the carrier concentration is improved, the electrical resistivity and the absolute Seebeck coefficient are decreased, while the thermal conductivity is reduced significantly. A series of extremely low lattice thermal conductivities are achieved, attributed to the enhancement of multiscale phonon scattering for the "rattling" of the filled guest atoms, the heterogeneous distribution of nano- and microstructures, grain boundaries, abundant lattice distortions, lattice deformations, and dislocations. As a result, a maximum ZT of about 1.07 at 873 K has achieved for the Yb0.5Ba7.5Ga16Ge30 sample.In this paper, a palm-size digital microfluidic (DMF) platform integrated with colorimetric analysis was developed for quantifying the concentration of nitrite. To realize the on-chip repeatable colorimetric analysis, a novel printed circuit board (PCB)-based DMF chip was designed with an embedded aperture on the actuator electrode, forming a vertical light path for online measurement of the droplets. The capabilities of the DMF platform enable automatic manipulation of microliter-level droplets to implement Griess assay without the use of external systems such as syringe, pump, or valve, which provides the benefits including high flexibility, portability, miniature size, and low cost. Results indicated the characteristics of good linearity (R 2 = 0.9974), the ignorable crosstalk for reusability, and the limit of detection (LOD) of nitrite as low as 5 μg/L. Furthermore, the presented platform was successfully applied to determine nitrite levels in food products with reliable results and satisfactory recoveries. This integrated DMF platform can be a promising new tool for a wide range of applications involving step-by-step solution mixing and optical detection in environmental monitoring, food safety analysis, and point-of-care testing.Taking reducing the wear of the fixed cone liner of a cone crusher as the starting point, the movement and geometry parameters of the cone crusher are studied using the discrete element method. To improve the service life and working efficiency of the whole cone crusher. The UG model and discrete element Yade model of the cone crusher are established, and the different shapes of the tin ore are represented using Yade's preprocessor through eight different ways of particle combination and superposition. The static friction coefficient between the manganese ore and the cone crusher is studied and calibrated using the slope method. The relative error between the Yade and test results is 1.58%, and the calibration result is 0.44. The repose angle of the manganese ore is studied using the collapse method. The repose angle increases with the increase of the static friction coefficient and the dynamic friction coefficient, but the change trend is different. The effect of the dynamic friction coefficient on the repose angle is obviously greater than that of the static friction coefficient.