Dietary Alcohol and Fat Differentially Affect Plasma Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Activity and Triglycerides in Normo- and Hypertriglyceridemic Subjects

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increased plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol concentrations and reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. Plasma cholesteryl ester transfer activity (CETA) mediates the exchange of HDL-cholesteryl ester (CE) for the triacylglycerol (TAG) of very-low-density lipoproteins. We compared the effects of oral challenges of Alcohol, saturated fat (SAT), and (Alcohol + SAT) on plasma CETA, cholesterol, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), and TAG among normo-triglyceridemic (NTG) and mildly hypertriglyceridemic (HTG) volunteers having a range of plasma TAG concentrations. The major changes were (1) CETA increased more after ingestion of SAT and (Alcohol + SAT) in the HTG group versus the NTG group; (2) after all three challenges, elevation of plasma TAG concentration persisted longer in the HTG versus NTG group. Plasma cholesterol was not affected by the three dietary challenges, while Alcohol increased NEFA more in the HTG group than the NTG group. Plasma TAG best predicted plasma CETA, suggesting that intestinally derived lipoproteins are acceptors of HDL-CE. Unexpectedly, ingestion of (Alcohol + SAT) reduced the strength of the correlation between plasma TAG and CETA, that is the effects of (SAT and Alcohol) on plasma CETA are not synergistic nor additive but rather mutually suppressive. The alcohol-mediated inhibition of CE-transfer to chylomicrons maintains a higher plasma HDL-cholesterol concentration, which is athero-protective, although the suppressive metabolite underlying this correlation could be acetate, the terminal alcohol metabolite, other factors, including CETA inhibitors, are also likely important.     

Real‐time monitoring by proton relaxometry of radical polymerization reactions of acrylamide in aqueous solution

The potential of time‐domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD‐NMR) for the real‐time monitoring of solution radical polymerizations is demonstrated. A model system composed of a redox‐pair initiator system, acrylamide as monomer and water as solvent was investigated. A second‐generation continuous wave free precession technique was employed to measure the longitudinal relaxation time constant (T₁) of the samples throughout the polymerization reactions. This parameter was shown to be sensitive to the reactant feed free‐radical enhancement of the water molecule relaxation time, making it a good probe to monitor monomer conversion in real time in an automated, non‐destructive fashion. It was found that the T₁ value was better than the transverse relaxation time constant (T₂) for describing the evolution of the polymerization reactions, due to its greater sensitivity to paramagnetic effects. The TD‐NMR signal variation observed was linked to the formation, propagation and termination steps of the radical polymerization kinetics scheme. These first results may contribute to the application of real‐time monitoring of radical polymerization reactions employing low‐cost and robust TD‐NMR spectrometers. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Recycling of multilayer packaging using a reversible cross-linking adhesive

Plastic-based multilayer packaging has an important function on the packaging market, but is currently not recyclable as the polymer layers used are usually thermodynamically immiscible. This work therefore follows the approach to prepare separable multilayer packaging using a packaging adhesive modified with thermally unstable adducts, and proposes a corresponding recycling process. For this purpose, typical multilayer structures (polyethylene (PE)// polyethylene terephtalate (PET), PET//aluminum, and PE//aluminum) were prepared by curing furan-/maleimide-functionalized polyurethane (PU)-prepolymers with a three-functional cross-linking agent. Adhesions of up to over 3N per 15 mm test specimen were measured or substrate failures of PET films were observed. However, heating in dimethylsulfoxide, the retro-Diels–Alder reaction takes place and the cross-linked adhesive turns thermoplastic and dissolves in the solvent. Thus, the laminate separates and the pure PE, PET, and aluminum foils can be recovered without any PU residue.     

One-Pot Methods for the Protection and Assembly of Sugars

In recent years, there has been rapid expansion of glycan synthesis, fueled by the recognition that the structural complexity of sugars translates to a myriad of biological functions. Such chemical syntheses involve many challenges, mostly due to the regio- and stereochemical aspects of glycosidic bond formation. One-pot strategies were developed to assist in attaining faster and more economical access to the glycan constructs. In this front, achievements in protecting group manipulation, glycosylation, and combinations of these have been reported. Protecting group manipulations in one pot take advantage of the reaction compatibility of commonly used transformations, many of which occur in high regioselectivity. Sequential glycosylations, on the other hand, rely on leaving group orthogonalities and reactivity tuning, as well as the preactivation technique. Altogether, these approaches offer attractive means to the much needed glycan structures and, consequently, help usher in advances in glycoscience.     

Synthesis and characterization of a novel Ca-alginate-biochar composite as efficient zinc (Zn2+) adsorbent: Thermodynamics,process design,mass transfer and isotherm modeling

In this present work, Ca-alginate-biochar adsorbent has been synthesized, characterized and tested its effectiveness in the removal of aqueous phase Zn²⁺ metal. The removal efficiency was studied under various physicochemical process parameters. External mass transfer model, intraparticle diffusion model and pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were used to fit the experimental Zn²⁺ adoption kinetic results and to identify the mechanism of adsorption. The desorption studies indicate the possibilities of ion-exchange and physical–chemical adsorption of Zn^2+. The adsorption was best described by Langmuir isotherm model. Thermodynamic parameters suggested that the adsorption process becomes spontaneous, endothermic and irreversible in nature.     

课程群案例嵌入协同教学模式的探索

在课程群的教学中由于每门课程各自独立开展教学,缺乏知识的融合和衔接,导致学生运用综合知识解决问题的能力较弱。在课程群的教学中采用案例嵌入协同教学模式,将完整的工程案例嵌入到课程群各门课程的教学中,协同规划各门课程的教学任务,每门课程再围绕案例展开研究性教学。通过嵌入的工程案例衔接各门课程的知识点,帮助学生建构完整的知识体系,强化工程应用的概念；同时通过研究性教学,培养学生分析问题和解决问题的能力,两部分相结合,提高了学生运用综合知识解决复杂问题的能力。     

电场对竖直矩形微槽群润湿及表面温度的影响

微槽群在热流密度较大时会达到其毛细极限，可通过主动换热方式之一——电水动力学效应对其进行强化。本文为了研究电场对微槽群表面润湿特性和温度分布的影响，采用平板电极提供电场，蒸馏水作为工质，使用高速相机拍摄微槽内液体润湿长度，测量误差为2.97%～7.46%；使用红外热像仪拍摄电场作用下微槽群表面温度分布，测量误差为2.1%～2.39%。热流密度测量误差范围是9.66%～11.11%。结果表明：电场通过驱动微槽内流体向加热区域流动而提升其润湿性能，且较低热流密度下提升更好。因润湿性能的提升，微槽表面温度得以下降。随着电场增强，微槽横向温度分布的“波峰”、“波谷”差别加大，微槽纵向温度明显降低。当热流密度加大时，温降更为显著，1.4W/cm²热流密度、6kV电压下温降可达到30℃以上。温降的增加反映了电场对微槽的强化润湿进一步提升了微槽换热性能，且电场对较高热流情形下的微槽换热有着更为显著的强化效果。     

Technical and economic analysis of solvent-based lithium-ion electrode drying with water and NMP

Processing lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrode dispersions with water as the solvent during primary drying offers many advantages over N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP). An in-depth analysis of the comparative drying costs of LIB electrodes is discussed for both NMP- and water-based dispersion processing in terms of battery pack $/kWh. Electrode coating manufacturing and capital equipment cost savings are compared for water vs. conventional NMP organic solvent processing. A major finding of this work is that the total electrode manufacturing costs, whether water- or NMP-based, contribute about 8–9% of the total pack cost. However, it was found that up to a 2?×?reduction in electrode processing (drying and solvent recovery) cost can be expected along with a $3–6?M savings in associated plant capital equipment (for a plant producing 100,000 10-kWh Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) batteries) using water as the electrode solvent. This paper shows a different perspective in that the most important benefits of aqueous electrode processing actually revolve around capital equipment savings and environmental stewardship and not processing cost savings.     

Assessment of spray quality from an external mix nozzle and its impact on SQL grinding performance

Spray quality is the critical factor which decides the efficacy of Small Quantity Lubrication (SQL) technology in a high specific energy involved machining process like grinding. Yet, the understanding about spray quality, the actual process mechanics and its effect on machining performance is inadequate. The present work is an attempt to establish a correlation between the spray input variables, quality of the spray and machining performance of SQL grinding through modelling and experiments. Using computational fluid dynamic techniques, the variation of droplet size, droplet velocity, number of droplets and heat transfer coefficient have been analysed at different input parameters and the computed trends have been verified and validated. CFD modelling of spray indicates that it is possible to produce aerosol medium with high heat dissipation ability at moderately high air pressure and low flow rate. It also shows that any increase in atomising air pressure favourably leads to notable increase in wetting area and also results in substantial enhancement in heat dissipation ability. Reduction of residual stress is thus remarkably good. On the other hand, grinding fluid flow rate, if increased, offers significantly better lubricity and reduces the grinding force which also reduces tensile residual stress. Short spell grinding test results are found to be in good agreement with CFD results.     

不同润湿表面液体沸腾的分子动力学模拟

采用分子动力学方法研究纳米尺度下液氩在过热基板上的沸腾过程。通过调节固液间相互作用的方式改变壁面润湿性，模拟并分析了壁面润湿性对沸腾过程中能量传递和液体运动情况的影响。结果表明：不同润湿性表面均会发生固液分离的现象，但是固体表面附近吸附的氩原子数密度随润湿性增强而增大；润湿性较强时，液体的能量上升快，热通量高，液体内部温度梯度大，发生固液分离时间早，系统中氩的温度和能量低，上升过程中液氩密度、厚度变化小；润湿性较弱时，液体的能量上升慢，热通量小，液体内部温度梯度小，发生固液分离时间延后，系统中氩的温度、能量更高，上升过程中液氩密度、厚度变化较大。下部气体压力整体上大于上部气体压力，发生固液分离时润湿性越强的表面上液体上下压差越大，首次上升过程能达到的高度越高，所需时间越短。