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In this paper, we prove that ζ cannot be a solution to any nontrivial algebraic differential equation whose coefficients are polynomials in Γ , Γ ( n ) and Γ ( l n ) over the ring of polynomials in C, where l , n ≥ 1 are positive integers.

Glyphosate has been frequently detected in water environments because of the wide use for controlling weed in farm lands and urban areas. Presently, the focus of the majority of studies is placed on the toxicity of glyphosate on humans and animals. However, the effects of glyphosate on horizontal transfer of conjugative plasmid carrying antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) are largely unknown. Here, we explored the ability and potential mechanism of glyphosate for accelerating horizontal transfer of conjugative plasmid-mediated ARG. The results showed that glyphosate can effectively boost horizontal transfer rate of conjugative plasmid carrying ARG. The possible mechanism analysis demonstrated that over-production of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species effectively regulated expression levels of bacterial outer membrane protein and conjugative transfer-related genes, thereby resulting into elevated horizontal transfer rate of plasmid-mediated ARG. In conclusion, this study casts new understanding into the biological effects of glyphosate on ARG., GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

To cope with the global food shortage and insect pest, there is an urgent need to discover new pesticides with novel modes of actions. Ryanodine receptor (RyR) insecticides showed great promise in ...

NiTi-Nb porous shape memory scaffold was in-situ sintered by eutectic reaction using NiTi powder, Nb powder and Ti wire at 1180 °C. Ti2Ni and Ni4Ti3 phases are precipitated between the eutectic region and Ti wire, while the R martensite phase and Nb-Rich phases are formed in both eutectic region and the pre-eutectic region. Moreover, the stacking faults and micro-twinning in the eutectic region are beneficial to nucleation of R-phase martensite. All results demonstrate that the eutectic reaction combined with the interaction of Ti wire, NiTi powder and Nb powder contribute to tremendous increase in compressive strength up to 350 MPa.

This article proposes a position sensorless control scheme for the induction and permanent magnetic low-voltage (LV) motor drives with an output filter and transformer for an electric submersible pump (ESP) and progressive cavity pump (PCP). The proposed sensorless strategy covers the full-speed range for ESP drives. An open velocity loop, current regulated sensorless controller is utilized to drive induction and permanent magnet motors (PMMs) during starting and at low speeds. A field-oriented controller (FOC) that utilizes an estimated rotor position based upon motor back electromotive force (EMF) is utilized to drive the motor at higher speeds. A seamless transition between controllers for the two operational modes, i.e., low-speed control and high-speed control, is proposed in this article. With velocity mode control over the full-speed range and mode control hysteresis, a smooth transition between open loop and EMF-based observer control can be achieved. The sensorless control scheme presented in this article has been implemented in a commercial drive for an ESP (deep well) application.

The analytical method is adopted to investigate the earthquake-induced hydrodynamic pressure on a circular cylinder surrounded by a two-layer fluid. Based on the radiation theory, the analytical expressions of the hydrodynamic pressure and the hydrodynamic force on a rigid circular cylinder are obtained. Then, the dispersion relation for the radiation problem in a two-layer fluid, and the added mass and the damping coefficients on the circular cylinder are analyzed. The earthquake-induced hydrodynamic forces on the circular cylinder in a two-layer fluid are furtherly investigated. It is founded that the hydrodynamic pressures on the circular cylinder include not only the surface-wave and perturbing wave modes, but also the internal-wave mode. This is quite different from the case in a single-layer fluid. However, the results indicate that the internal-wave mode has little influence on the hydrodynamic forces on the circular cylinder in a two-layer fluid. Lastly, the seismic responses of the flexible cylinder in single-layer and two-layer fluids are studied. Some examples show that the seismic responses of the cylinder in a two-layer fluid are much larger than those in a single-layer fluid.

The peptide Gly‐His‐Val‐Gly‐Ala‐Ala‐Gly‐Ser (GHVGAAGS) identified from the fish collagen protein hydrolysates exhibited potential angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity. The ACE inhibition mechanism of GHVGAAGS may be related to the release of the GH, VG, AA, and GS fragments, and the binding of peptides to ACE.

A new proof is given for the fact that centered Gaussian functions saturate the Euclidean forward–reverse Brascamp–Lieb inequalities, extending the Brascamp–Lieb and Barthe theorems. A duality principle for best constants is also developed, which generalizes the fact that the best constants in the Brascamp–Lieb and Barthe inequalities are equal. Finally, as the title hints, the main results concerning finiteness, structure, and Gaussian-extremizability for the Brascamp–Lieb inequality due to Bennett, Carbery, Christ, and Tao are generalized to the setting of the forward–reverse Brascamp–Lieb inequality.

The traditional source-site-structure model for the calculation of seismic response of underground structures at near-source sites is restricted by the grid scale and the size of the structure. As a result, an excessive number of elements in the model make the numerical solving process difficult. To solve problems such as an inefficient computation and challenging nonlinear simulation, a multiscale analysis method for the calculation of the seismic response of underground structures at near-source sites is developed. The generalized free-field seismic response of the near-source region is obtained by establishing a large-scale calculation model of the source site and is used to simulate the fracture mechanism of faults and the process of seismic wave propagation. Then, using the method of seismic wave input based on artificial boundary substructures, the free-field motion of the wave is transformed into the equivalent seismic load, which is the seismic wave input data for the small-scale region of interest. Finally, with the help of local elements with special shapes to realize the grid transition of different scales, a small-scale model with reasonable soil-underground structure interaction is established, and the seismic response of the overall model can be effectively solved. The calculation and analysis of the seismic response of underground structures in irregular terrain are carried out. Compared with the results obtained directly from the source-site-structure model, the multiscale method has satisfactory accuracy and meets the needs of engineering design. Since the number of elements is fewer and the calculation time is much shorter than those required by the traditional model, the advantages in computational efficiency of the new method are highlighted. In addition, the reflected waves are too weak to have a considerable impact on structures because of the great energy loss at the reflection interface, which further proves the feasibility of the closed artificial boundary substructure method.

Background Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) has been identified as one of the most significant targets for fungicide discovery. To date, 23 commercial SDH inhibitor (SDHI) fungicides have been approved for plant protection since the first launch of carboxin in 1966, and extensively applied to combat destructive plant fungi. Results In this project, 20 novel pyridine sulfide derivatives containing SDH-based heterocyclic amide fungicide were designed, synthesized, and characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1 H-NMR), carbon-13 (13 C)-NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). In vitro fungicidal activity experiment, the target compound I-1 displayed excellent inhibitory rates against the common agricultural pathogens with half maximal effective concentration (EC50 ) values of 5.2 to 39.8 μg mL-1 . The in vivo fungicidal activities demonstrated that the compound I-1 could effectively prevent Botrytis cinerea from infecting tomato and cucumber leaves with the preventative rates of 67% and 50%. The mitochondrial membrane potential detection, SDH enzyme assay and the molecular docking simulation revealed that the mechanism of action of the compound I-1 and the relevant interactions with the target enzyme may be similar to those of the control fluopyram. Conclusion The biological activity screening and validation of mechanism of action indicated that the compound I-1 could be identified as a potential SDH inhibitor for further study. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

A series of silver (Ag)-modified barium cobalt ferrous niobate (Ba1-xCo0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3-δ, BCFN) materials were fabricated using a solid-state method by doping silver cations into the A-site of this perovskite matrix (Ag-BCFN). The electrochemical analyses indicated that the Ag-BCFN cathodic catalysts performed superior to the nonmodified catalysts when applied in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). These Ag-BCFN cathodic catalysts displayed a cubic perovskite structure (PDF 75-0227, Pm3m, α = 90°) with a high degree of crystallinity, as demonstrated by X-ray powder diffraction analyses. It was also found that the in situ exsolution of the silver ion (Ag+) occurred, where 57.9% of doped Ag+ was reduced into metallic Ag particles with size ranging from 5 to 10 nm, as shown by electron microscopic analyses. The cerium gadolinium oxide (Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-δ) electrolyte-supported symmetrical half cell using different Ag-BCFN formulations of Ba1-xAgxCo0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3-δ as electrodes showed a polarization resistance as low as 0.233 Ω·cm2 and an exchange current density of 85.336 mA·cm-2 at 650 °C under ambient pressure. The improved electrochemical kinetics is anticipated to be attributed to two reasons: doping of ions (Ag+) in the A-site of perovskite and in situ exsolved silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) along the edge and on the surface of BCFNs improving the mobile charge and electrical properties of the material. The remaining Ag+ in the A-site induced the electron redistribution, whereas the Ag NPs were found to increase the electrochemically active sites and enable the formation of a triple-phase boundary. These explanations were confirmed by the density functional theory study, indicating that Ag-doping processes lead to a decrease in the formation energy of oxygen vacancies from 1.72 to 1.42 eV upon the partial substitution of Ba2+ by Ag+ cations.

In order to systematically study the structure-activity relationship of anthranilic diamides and develop insecticides with simple structure and high efficiency, a series of novel anthranilic diamides containing N-H/CH3-1H-pyrazole was designed and synthesized. Their chemical structures were characterized by 1H NMR spectra, high resolution mass spectrometry(HRMS) or 13C NMR spectra. The preliminary bioassay results indicated that all title compounds displayed moderate insecticidal activity against oriental armyworm(Mythimna separata) at 200 mg/L and fungicidal activities against six kinds of fungi at 50 mg/L, especially compound 5i showed 50% insecticidal activity at 25 mg/L. In addition, some compounds exhibited certain antitumor activities. It was demonstrated that the introduction of CH3 group into pyrazole ring was superior to H for the insecticidal activity.

The influence of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) on proliferation and differentiation of myogenic cells has been well-studied. However, the role of HMB in myofiber specification and potential mechanisms is largely unknown. Thus, the objective of this research was to explore the role of HMB supplementation in myofiber specification. Results showed that HMB treatment significantly increased the fast MyHC protein level (mice: 1.59 ± 0.08, P < 0.01; C2C12: 2.26 ± 0.11, P < 0.001), decreased the slow MyHC protein level (mice: 0.76 ± 0.05, P < 0.05; C2C12: 0.52 ± 0.02, P < 0.001), and increased the miR-199a-3p level (mice: 4.93 ± 0.37, P < 0.001; C2C12: 11.25 ± 0.57, P < 0.001). Besides, we also observed that HMB promoted the activity of glycolysis-related enzymes and reduced the activities of oxidation-related enzymes in mice and C2C12 cells. Overexpression of miR-199a-3p downregulated the slow MyHC protein level (0.71 ± 0.02, P < 0.01) and upregulated the fast MyHC protein level (2.13 ± 0.09, P < 0.001), while repression of miR-199a-3p exhibited the opposite effect. Target identification results verified that miR-199a-3p targets the 3'UTR of the TEA domain family member 1 (TEAD1) to cause its post-transcriptional inhibition (0.41 ± 0.07, P < 0.01). Knockdown of TEAD1 exhibited a similar effect with miR-199a-3p on myofiber specification. Moreover, suppression of miR-199a-3p blocked slow-to-fast myofiber type transition induced by HMB. Together, our finding revealed that miR-199-3p is induced by HMB and contributes to the action of HMB on slow-to-fast myofiber type conversion via targeting TEAD1.

The microstructure evolution in the growth of zirconium diboride (ZrB2) rods was directly observed with the help of high resolution-transmission electron microscopy. Key features of layered structure and step contours are proposed to interpret the growth mechanism of the new layer on the surface of ZrB2. Under electron beam irradiation, on the surface of the ZrB2 rod amorphous layer first nucleated and grew into two-dimensional (2D) islands. Then with the continuous migration and rearrangement of atoms, the 2D islands began to interconnect and formed a continuous new layer. The energies that govern migration and diffusion of atoms in new ZrB2 layer comes from a high density of islands, interface defects and the distortion energy caused by atomic mismatches in the initial growth stage of each layer.

Self-assembled and cross-linked hybrid hydrogels for entrapment and delivery of hydrophilic and hydrophobic bioactive compounds were developed based on N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC)- or l-cysteine (CYS)-functionalized chitosan-β-lactoglobulin nanoparticles (NPs). In both the systems, amphiphilic protein β-lactoglobulin (β-lg) was self-assembled by using glutaraldehyde for affinity binding with egg white-derived peptides (EWDP) and curcumin and then coated with NAC- or CYS-functionalized chitosan (CS) by electrostatic interaction. The resulting NPs were characterized in terms of size, polydispersity, and surface charge by dynamic light scattering. Results corroborated pH-sensitive properties of NAC-CS-β-lg NPs and CYS-CS-β-lg NPs with the particle size as small as 118 and 48 nm, respectively. The two kinds of NPs also showed excellent entrapment of EWDP and curcumin with the entrapment efficiency (EE) of EWDP and curcumin ranging from 51 to 89% and 42 to 57% in NAC-CS-β-lg NPs, as well as 50-81% and 41-57% in CYS-CS-β-lg NPs under different pH values. Fourier transform infrared and molecular docking studies provided support for the interaction mechanism of NAC/CYS-CS with β-lg as well as the NPs with EWDP and curcumin. Strikingly, the in vitro release kinetics of EWDP and curcumin exhibited the controlled and sustained release properties up to 58 and 70 h from the NPs, respectively. Note that the permeability of QIGLF (pentapeptide, isolated from EWDP) and curcumin passing through Caco-2 cell monolayers were all improved after the entrapment in the NPs. This work offers promising methods for effective entrapment and oral delivery of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic bioactive compounds.

Electron beam irradiation (EBI) is a widely applied non-thermal technology for food processing. To investigate the influence of EBI on the antioxidant activities and the structure of proteins, we treated egg white protein (EWP) with EBI and tracked the changes in antioxidant activities as well as in the structure of EWP. The ABTS+ free radical scavenging rate significantly increased from 30.16 ± 1.45% to 49.48 ± 1.53% (P

Epidote spherulites are identified in a greenschist facies metavolcanic breccia enclosing a body of coesite-bearing eclogite at Ganghe in the Dabie ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic belt, east-central China. The epidote spherulites are formed by fibrous, radially arranged, and rare earth element (REE)-rich epidote crystals (ΣREE = 0.13–0.36 (or slightly higher) cations per formula unit, cpfu) and interfibrillar REE-poor epidote (ΣREE ≤ 0.10 cpfu). Some of the epidote spherulites are overgrown by radially arranged euhedral epidote crystals, which also form aggregates around preexisting quartz, plagioclase, and/or epidote. The epidote grains in such aggregates display oscillatory zoning, with REE content varying from a negligible amount to about 0.44 cpfu. Epidote also occurs as REE-poor individual euhedral crystals about the radial epidote aggregates or form loose clusters of randomly oriented crystals. Thermodynamic modeling of the mineral assemblages in the plagioclase pseudomorphs and in the matrix shows that they formed at greenschist facies metamorphic conditions (435–515 °C and 5–7 kbar). The epidote spherulites and radial euhedral epidote aggregates, however, do not belong to these assemblages and are non-equilibrium textures. They imply crystal growth under large degrees of supersaturation, with relatively low ratios of the diffusion rate (D) to the crystal growth rate (G). At low D/G ratios, spiky interfaces are favorable for diffusion-controlled growth and the resultant texture is a collection of spikes around a growth center, forming a spherulite. The change of epidote texture from spherulite to radial euhedral crystal aggregate implies a decrease of supersaturation and an increase of D/G, such that the crystal morphology was controlled by its crystallographic structure. The crystallization of the individual epidote grains corresponds to a further drop of supersaturation and a further increase of the D/G ratio, approaching to the equilibrium conditions. Transiently higher P-T conditions are inferred from the spherulite-forming reactions, relative to the P-T estimates for the equilibrium assemblages. The fibrous crystals in the spherulites having relatively large interfacial energies would inevitably adjust their shapes to equilibrium ones with low interfacial energies if the P-T-H2O conditions were maintained for a sufficiently long period of time. The non-equilibrium epidote aggregates likely formed in response to P-T and fluid pulses, possibly related to seismicity.

The entrapment of peptides can effectively improve their bioavailability and commercial application. This research sought to investigate the mechanism of entrapment of egg white derived peptides (EWDP) loaded in chitosan-tripolyphosphate (CS-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs). It was shown that CS molecular weight (MW), pH, CS-TPP mass ratio and CS concentration can all affect the size, polydispersity index and zeta potential of CS-TPP NPs. Moreover, these factors, as well as different MW and CS mass ratio of peptides also had an influence on entrapment efficiency (EE). Furthermore, peptides influenced the zeta potential after they were loaded in the CS-TPP NPs. This suggested that the peptide charged groups were in different locations relative to the CS-TPP NPs surfaces. FTIR analysis indicated that the peptides interacted with CS-TPP NPs through strong hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. These findings are important for designing delivery systems used for commercial production of entrapped peptides with enhanced attributes.

The diffraction of short-crested waves around an elliptical cylinder is solved using the elliptical coordinates, and an analytical solution is obtained in terms of Mathieu and modified Mathieu functions. Analytical expressions for the pressure, the water run-up and the total wave forces on an elliptical cylinder are also derived in this study. The wave run-up of short-crested waves on an elliptical cylinder is quite different from that of a plane incident wave. The maxima and location of the wave run-up as well as the total wave forces are affected significantly by the incident angle and wave phase. Moreover, the total wave forces induced by the short-crested wave on a circular cylinder is overall smaller than that induced by the plane wave with the same wave number, but in some cases the total wave forces induced by the short-crested waves on an elliptical cylinder may be larger than that induced by the plane wave. Thus, it is necessary to take the short-crested wave forces in to account in the design of an offshore structure with elliptical cross-section.

Phosphorus is an essential macro-mineral nutrient for poultry, needed for the body growth, development of bones, genomic function, good quality flesh, and eggs production. The imbalance of organic phosphorus sources in the diet mostly affect the phosphorus digestibility, reduces the poultry performance and health, and increases the environmental pollution burden. A study was reviewed to estimate the low phytate phosphorus digestibility of ingredients in poultry diet and their impacts on environmental ecosystem and opportunity of phytase supplementation. Plant ingredients mostly used in poultry diets are rich in phytate phosphorus. The phytate phosphorus digestibility and utilization is low in the gut of birds which leads to decrease other nutrients digestibility and increase excessive excretion of phosphorus with additional nutrients in the manure. When that manure applied to the lands containing excessive residual phosphorus and additional nutrients which pollute soil, groundwater disturbed the entire ecosystem. This issue is developed by poultry due to lack of digestive enzyme phytase which promotes the phytate phosphorus during digestion and reduces the excessive losses of phosphorus in excreta. To overcome this matter, the addition of mostly exogenous phospho-hydrolytic phytase enzymes in the diet, i.e. Escherichia coli, Peniophora lycii, Aspergillus niger, and Ficum, are the possible ways to increase the digestibility and utilization of phytate phosphorus and promote the stepwise release of phosphorus from phytate and significantly decrease phosphorus excretion. The aim of this review is to highlight the role of phytase supplementation in the poultry feeding, improvement of phytate phosphorus digestibility with performance, and reduction of phosphorus pollution from the environment.

Anthocyan-rich foods have attracted lots of attention because of their potential biological and pharmacological applications. Anthocyanins richly exist in blueberry fruits and have been proved to possess various bioactive properties. Despite the potential application of anthocyanins in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, their use is limited because of their relative instability. Recently, much attention has been given to a particular family of anthocyanin derivatives, the pyranoanthocyanins that have been indicated to have higher stability than the original anthocyanins. However, the anti-cancer activity of pyranoanthocyanins is largely unknown. The objective of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis on the stability and anti-cancer activities of anthocyanins, anthocyanidins and pyranoanthocyanidins. Pyranoanthocyanidins exhibited the highest stability in the pH range 3.0–9.0, while anthocyanidins had the strongest inhibition on HeLa cells among the three anthocyan pigments. All the anthocyan pigments could effectively induce cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase in conjunction with a marked increase in the expression of the p53 protein. Exposure of HeLa cells to three anthocyan pigments caused pronounced late apoptosis that might be involved in the activation of the p38 MAPK/p53 signaling pathway. These findings suggest that anthocyanidins and pyranoanthocyanidins might be more promising anti-cancer agents than anthocyanins and warrant further evaluation regarding the molecular mechanisms.

Highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is essential for the application of green hydrogen energy. To date, platinum-based materials are the most efficient electrocatalyst. Developing inexpensive electrocatalyst with low Pt loading and high platinum utilization efficiency is one of effective strategies to lower the cost of platinum-based electrocatalyst. In this paper, it was demonstrated that ultrafine and uniform distribution platinum nanoparticles could be synthesized on three-dimensional sulfur-doped graphene materials (Pt/3DSG) via covalent cross-linking between platinum and doped sulfur atoms. The high conductive 3DSG not only facilitates the electron transport but also serves as a template for depositing ultrafine and uniform platinum nanoparticles. The Pt/3DSG with low Pt loading (3.1 wt%) delivers extremely outstanding HER performance, which is superior to the commercial 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. The turnover frequencies (TOFs) of Pt/3DSG can reach 1.12 s(-1), which is larger than that of 20% Pt/C (0.71 s(-1)). Furthermore, the stability is also superior than that of Pt/C. This work provides a rational design strategy for highly efficient and stable electrocatalysts with low loading and high utilization of precious metal. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ti-23Nb (at.%) coatings on an NiTi alloy with metallurgical bonding were prepared by laser cladding (LC) technology using Ti-Nb mixture powders. The effects of laser processing parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the coatings were systematically investigated and the corrosion resistance of the coatings was assessed. The coatings were composed of TiNb, (Ti, Nb)2Ni, and β-Nb phases. The coatings increased the hardness of the NiTi alloy by a combined strengthening effect of the eutectics and fine microstructure. The corrosion resistance of the coated part was improved. The coatings with great corrosion resistance could keep the coated parts inert in an aggressive environment, and effectively restrain the release of toxic Ni ions, which means that the Ti-Nb alloy coatings are likely to be used as a biomaterial for medical applications.

Highlights • Potency of peptides target to Mpro and ACE2 were investigated by molecular docking. • Gly143 and Gln189 played key roles in the interactions of peptide E-M and Mpro. • The RBD of ACE2 was occupied by peptide E-M to inhibit the activity of SARS-CoV-2. • Peptide E-M may be the potent nutritional supplement for COVID-19 patients., The present study aimed to identify potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitory peptides from tuna protein by virtual screening. The molecular docking was performed to elicit the interaction mechanism between targets (Mpro and ACE2) and peptides. As a result, a potential antiviral peptide EEAGGATAAQIEM (E-M) was identified. Molecular docking analysis revealed that E-M could interact with residues Thr190, Thr25, Thr26, Ala191, Leu50, Met165, Gln189, Glu166, His164, His41, Cys145, Gly143, and Asn119 of Mpro via 11 conventional hydrogen bonds, 9 carbon hydrogen bonds, and one alkyl interaction. The formation of hydrogen bonds between peptide E-M and the residues Gly143 and Gln189 of Mpro may play important roles in inhibiting the activity of Mpro. Besides, E-M could bind with the residues His34, Phe28, Thr27, Ala36, Asp355, Glu37, Gln24, Ser19, Tyr83, and Tyr41 of ACE2. Hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions may play vital roles in blocking the receptor ACE2 binding with SARS-CoV-2.

Highlights • Foaming and emulsifying properties are linear correlated with glycation degree. • Ultrasound treatment enhanced glycation degree and surface properties of conjugates. • Ultrasound promoted the conversion of α-helices to β-sheets and unfolded structures. • Ultrasound induced the formation of amyloid-like fibrils of conjugates., This study aims to optimize the ultrasound treatment conditions for enhancing the degree of glycation (DG) of ovalbumin (OVA)-xylose conjugates through Maillard reaction and investigate the correlation between DG and functional properties affected by structural changes. The structural and functional properties of classical heating OVA, glycated OVA, ultrasonic treated OVA, and ultrasound-assisted glycated OVA were investigated to explore the interaction mechanism of ultrasound treatment on foaming and emulsifying properties improvement. Results indicated that the ultrasound assistance increased free sulfhydryl content, surface hydrophobicity and particle size of OVA-xylose conjugates, and thus enhancing the surface properties, which were strongly linear correlated with DG under different glycation parameters (pH, xylose/OVA ratio, heating time). Additionally, circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis revealed that ultrasound promoted the conversion of α-helices to β-sheets and unfolded structures, which was consistent with the formation of short amyloid-like aggregates that observed by atomic force microscopy phenomenon. Overall, our study provides new insights into the effects of ultrasound treatment on Maillard-induced protein functional properties enhancement, which may be a new strategy to tune the DG and functionality of protein-saccharide grafts during ultrasound processing.

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Methanol synthesis via carbon dioxide hydrogenation is reviewed. • Up to date review on high yield catalysts for methanol synthesis are discussed. • Catalytic performance parameters (temperature, Pressure, Support) are reviewed. • Policy framework towards renewable energy for China is extensively reviewed. • The catalytic mechanism and the role of promoters, bi-metallic catalyst is also discussed., A unified treatment of the renewable portfolio standards is given concerning direct methanol fuel. The current mechanism of electrocatalysis of methanol oxidation on platinum and non-platinum-containing alloys is summarized for the systematic improvement of the rate of electro-oxidation of methanol are discussed. Policy realignment under the five-year plan is discussed in length to demonstrate how policy, markets, and engineering designs contribute towards the development of model direct methanol fuel cells operational enhancement, and factors that affect critical performance parameters for commercial exploitation are summarized for catalytic formulations and cell design within the context of why this investment in technology, education, and finances is required within the global context of sustainable energy and energy independence as exposed by thirteenth the five-year plan. The prolog focuses on the way, whereas the section on methanol fuel cells on the how and the post log on what is expected post-COVID-19 era in science and technology as China pivots to a post-fossil fuel economy. China's industrial growth has been through internal market reforms and supplies side economics from the Chinese markets for fossil fuels except for petroleum. The latest renewable portfolio standards adopted have common elements as adopted from North American and the United Kingdom in terms of adaptation of obligation in terms of renewable portfolio standards as well as a realization that the necessity for renewables standards for the thirteen five year plan (from 2016 to 2020) need to less rigorously implemented due to performance targets that were met during the eleventh (06–10) and twelfth five-year plans (11–15) in terms of utilization of small coal-ire power plants, development of newer standards, led to an improvement of energy efficiency of 15 %, reduction of SOx/NOx by an average of 90 % and PM2.5 by 96 % over the last two five-year plans. The current phase of the plan has a focus on energy generation from coal and a slowing down of renewables or Renewable energy curtailment of approximately 400 T Wh renewables including 300 T Wh of non-hydro power, principally from Guangdong, and Jiangsu for transfer of hydropower and Zhejiang, Tianjin, Henan for non-hydro power transfer with Beijing and Shanghai playing important roles in renewables energy curtailment and realignment using an integrated approach to optimize each provinces energy portfolio. The realignment of the renewable energy portfolio indicates that the newly installed capacity in Sichuan, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, and Zhejiang will account for less than 20 % of the current renewable energy portfolio but with the NOx SOx and PM2.5 savings already accrued. The catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol (70 / 110 million metric tons from all sources in 2019 for China/world) is one technological approach to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and suggests that catalytic methanol synthesis by CO2 hydrogenation may be a plausible approach, even if it is more expensive economically than methanol synthesis by the syngas approach. This is because the CO2 emissions of the synthesis are lower than other synthesis methodologies. The Chinese government has placed a premium on cleaner air and water and may view such an approach as solving the dual issues of fuel substitution and reduction of CO2. Thus, the coupling of hydrogen generation from sustainable energies sources (Solar 175 / 509 GW) or wind (211/591.5 GW in 2019) may be an attractive approach, as this requires slightly less water than coal gasification. Due to the thermodynamic requirement of lower operating pressure and higher operating pressure, currently, there is no single operational approach, although some practice approaches (220 °C at 48 atm using copper) and zinc oxide/alumina are suggested for optimal performance.

To develop the novel ryanodine receptors (RyRs) insecticides, encouraged by our previous research work, a series of novel N-phenylpyrazole derivatives containing a polysubstituted phenyl ring scaffold were designed and synthesized. The bioassays results indicated that some title compounds exhibited excellent insecticidal activity. For oriental armyworm (Mythimna separata), compounds 7f, 7g, 7i and 7o at 0.5 mg L−1 displayed 100% larvicidal activity, and even at 0.1 mg L−1, 7o was 30% larvicidal activity, comparable to chlorantraniliprole (30%) and better than cyantraniliprole (10%). Compounds 7f and 7o had the median lethal concentrations (LC50) of 8.83 × 10−2 and 7.12 × 10−2 mg L−1, respectively, close to chlorantraniliprole (6.79 × 10−2 mg L−1). Additionally, for diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), the larvicidal activity of compounds 7f and 7i were 90% and 70% at 0.01 mg L−1, respectively, better than chlorantraniliprole (50%) and cyantraniliprole (40%). More impressively, the LC50 value of 7f was 4.2 × 10−3 mg L−1, slightly lower than that of chlorantraniliprole (5.0 × 10−3 mg L−1). The molecular docking between compound 7f and RyRs of diamondback moth validated our molecular designation. Furthermore, the calcium imaging experiment explored the influence of compound 7o on the calcium homeostasis in the central neurons of the third larvae of oriental armyworm. The results of this study indicated that 7o is a potent novel lead targeting at RyRs.

Medulloblastoma (MB), the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, has high propensity to metastasize. Currently, the standard treatment for MB patients includes radiation therapy administered to the entire brain and spine for the purpose of treating or preventing against metastasis. Due to this aggressive treatment, the majority of long-term survivors will be left with permanent and debilitating neurocognitive impairment, for the 30–40% patients that fail to respond to treatment, all will relapse with terminal metastatic disease. An understanding of the underlying biology that drives MB metastasis is lacking, and is critically needed in order to develop targeted therapeutics for its prevention. To examine the metastatic biology of sonic hedgehog (SHH) MB, the human MB subgroup with the worst clinical outcome in children, we first generated a robust SmoA1-Math-GFP mouse model that reliably reproduces human SHH MB whereby metastases can be visualized under fluorescence microscopy. Lipidome alterations associated with metastasis were then investigated by applying ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) under positive ionization mode to primary tumor samples collected from mice without (n = 18) and with (n = 7) metastasis. Thirty-four discriminant lipids associated with SHH MB metastasis were successfully annotated, including ceramides (Cers), sphingomyelins (SMs), triacylglycerols (TGs), diacylglycerols (DGs), phosphatidylcholines (PCs), and phosphatidic acids (PAs). This study provides deeper insights into dysregulations of lipid metabolism associated with SHH MB metastatic progression, and thus serves as a guide toward novel targeted therapies.

The effect of the plasma membrane on the activity of angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) plays a crucial role in the evaluation of food-derived ACE inhibitory peptides, although these peptides are commonly evaluated in the system with ACE in its free state. In this study, we constructed an in vitro membrane-bound ACE C domain system to simulate the presence of the plasma membrane. The resultant Km and Vmax suggested that the presence of the membrane reduced the affinity between ACE C domain and hippuryl-histidyl-leucine, while it increased the reaction velocity. The ACE inhibitory activity of four egg white peptides and five structurally modified peptides suggested that a moderate hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of the peptide is beneficial for the improvement of their ACE inhibitory activity in a membrane-bound system. These results also indicated that the N terminal plays a significant role in the ACE inhibitory activity of peptides in the membrane-bound system.

Nanostructures can induce light multireflection, enabling strong light absorption and efficient photocarrier generation. In this work, silicon nanostructures, including nanocylinders, nanotips, and nanoholes, were proposed as all-optical broadband THz modulators. The modulation properties of these modulators were simulated and compared with finite element method calculations. It is interesting to note that the light reflectance values from all nanostructure were greatly suppressed, showing values of 26.22%, 21.04%, and 0.63% for nanocylinder, nanohole, and nanotip structures, respectively, at 2 THz. The calculated results show that under 808 nm illumination light, the best modulation performance is achieved in the nanotip modulator, which displays a modulation depth of 91.63% with a pumping power of 60 mW/mm2 at 2 THz. However, under shorter illumination wavelengths, such as 532 nm, the modulation performance for all modulators deteriorates and the best performance is found with the nanohole-based modulator rather than the nanotip-based one. To further clarify the effects of the nanostructure and wavelength on the THz modulation, a graded index layer model was established and the simulation results were explained. This work may provide a further theoretical guide for the design of optically tunable broadband THz modulators.

Detection of integrated circuit (IC) defects is vital in IC manufacturing. Traditional defect detection methods have relied on scanning electron microscopy and X-ray imaging techniques that are time consuming and destructive. Hence, in this paper we considered terahertz imaging as a label-free and nondestructive alternative. This study aimed to use a convolutional neural network model (CNN) to improve the performance of the terahertz imaging IC detection system. First, we constructed a terahertz imaging IC dataset and analyzed it. Subsequently, a new CNN structure was proposed based on the VGG16 network. Finally, it was optimized based on its structure and dropout rate. The method proposed above can improve IC defects detection accuracy of THz imaging. Most significantly, this work will promote the application of terahertz imaging in practice and provide a foundation to further research in relevant fields.

To understand and analyze crater damage of rocks under hypervelocity impact, the hypervelocity impact cratering of 15 shots of hemispherical-nosed cylindrical projectiles into granite targets was studied within the impact velocity range of 1.91&ndash, 3.99 km/s. The mass of each projectile was 40 g, and the length&ndash, diameter ratio was 2. Three types of metal material were adopted for the projectiles, including titanium alloy with a density of 4.44 g/cm3, steel alloy with a density of 7.81 g/cm3, and tungsten alloy with a density of 17.78 g/cm3. The projectile&ndash, target density ratio (&rho, p/&rho, t) ranged from 1.71 to 6.86. The depth&ndash, diameter ratios (H/D) of the craters yielded from the experiments were between 0.14 and 0.24. The effects of &rho, t and the impact velocity on the morphologies of the crater were evaluated. According to the experimental results, H/D of craters is negatively correlated with the impact velocity, whereas the correlation between H/D and &rho, t is weak positive. The crater parameters were expressed as power law relations of impact parameters by using scaling law analysis. The multiple regression analysis was utilized to obtain the coefficients and the exponents of the relation equations. The predicted values of the regression equations were close to the experimental results.

Assume E is an imaginary quadratic field and O is its ring of integers. For each positive integer m, let I m be the free Hermitian lattice of rank m over O having an orthonormal basis. For each positive integer n, let S O ( n ) be the set of all Hermitian lattices of rank n over O that can be represented by some I m . Denote by g O ( n ) the smallest positive integer g such that each Hermitian lattice in S O ( n ) can be represented by I g . In this paper, we shall provide an explicit upper bound for g O ( n ) for all imaginary quadratic fields E and all positive integers n.

BACKGROUND Anthranilic diamide insecticides control lepidopteran pests through selectively binding and activating insect ryanodine receptors. In order to search for potential insecticides targeting the ryanodine receptors, a series of anthranilic diamide analogs including trifluoromethyl, nitro, or chloro groups were designed and synthesized by the principle of bioisosterism and structural optimization. RESULTS Insecticidal data indicated that some compounds displayed good activity against oriental armyworm (Mythimna separata) and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). In particular, the larvicidal activity of 6p against P. xylostella was 95% at 0.01 mg L-1 , equivalent to chlorantraniliprole (85%, 0.01 mg L-1 ). The comparative molecular similarity index analysis model obtained indicated that hydrogen bond acceptor and electron-withdrawing groups in the R'3 group are favourable for insecticidal activity against M. separata, which is consistent with the structure-activity relationships. Moreover, the calcium imaging experiment indicated, like chlorantraniliprole, that 6h and 6p are interacting with the ryanodine receptor. CONCLUSION Introducing trifluoromethyl, nitro, or chloro groups to a specific position in the N-phenylpyrazole could improve or maintain the activity against M. separata and P. xylostella. 6h and 6p could be used as potential lead compounds for ryanodine receptor modulators. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

We discuss equivalence conditions for the non-existence of non-trivial meromorphic solutions to the Fermat Diophantine equation $$f^m(z)+g^n(z)=1$$ with integers $$m,n\ge 2$$ , from which other approaches to proving the little Picard theorem are discussed.

For each positive integer n n , let g Z ( n ) g_\mathbb {Z}(n) be the smallest integer such that if an integral quadratic form in n n variables can be written as a sum of squares of integral linear forms, then it can be written as a sum of g Z ( n ) g_\mathbb {Z}(n) squares of integral linear forms. We show that every positive definite integral quadratic form is equivalent to what we call a balanced Hermite–Korkin–Zolotarev-reduced form and use it to show that the growth of g Z ( n ) g_\mathbb {Z}(n) is at most an exponential of n \sqrt {n} . Our result improves the best known upper bound on g Z ( n ) g_\mathbb {Z}(n) which is on the order of an exponential of n n . We also define an analogous number g O ∗ ( n ) g_{\mathcal O}^*(n) for writing Hermitian forms over the ring of integers O \mathcal O of an imaginary quadratic field as sums of norms of integral linear forms, and when the class number of the imaginary quadratic field is 1 1 , we show that the growth of g O ∗ ( n ) g_{\mathcal O}^*(n) is at most an exponential of n \sqrt {n} . We also improve on results of both Conway and Sloane and Kim and Oh on s s -integrable lattices.

Dynamic response of offshore structures can be influenced due to the water-structure interaction. The water-structure interaction can be simply represented by added mass in earthquake response analysis. The added mass for a circular cylinder can be obtained by analytical method. However, the added mass for an arbitrary shape of structure is rather difficult to be solved by analytical method. In this study, a substructure method for analysis of the seismic response of an arbitrary shape of structure is presented. The finite element technique incorporating the exact artificial boundary condition presented for simulating the far field of the infinite water is applied to the evaluation of added mass for offshore structures, where the exact added mass matrix is fully populated and symmetrical. The structure is idealized as a three-dimensional finite element model system. Firstly, the presented method is to investigate the seismic response of circular tapered cylinder vibrating in water. Secondly, a lumped added mass matrix is adopted to replace the exact added mass matrix. Thirdly, a simplified formula is presented to evaluate the added mass of the circular tapered cylinder.

Excessive concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) can give rise to high blood pressure, and is harmful to the body. ACE inhibitory peptides from food proteins are considered good sources of function food. However, the preparation of ACE inhibitory peptides by classical method faces many challenges. Three novel ACE inhibitory peptides were identified by in silico methods, and showed potent activity against ACE in vitro. The simulation hydrolysis of nebulin was performed with ExPASy PeptideCutter program. Potential activity, solubility, and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity properties of generated peptides were predicted using program online. Molecular docking displayed that EGF, HGR, and VDF were docked into the S1 and S2 pockets of ACE. Meanwhile, Phe and Arg at the C-terminal enhance ACE affinity. The IC50 values of EGF, HGR, and VDF were 474.65 ± 0.08, 106.21 ± 0.52, and 439.27 ± 0.09 μM, respectively. Three peptides EGF, HGR, and VDF from Oncorhynchus mykiss nebulin were identified, and the molecular mechanism between ACE and peptides was clarified using in silico methods. The results suggested that Oncorhynchus mykiss nebulin would be an attractive raw material of antihypertensive nutraceutical ingredients.; Practical Application: This study has shown the potential of Oncorhynchus mykiss nebulin as good sources for producing ACE inhibitory peptides. According to this finding, in silico approach is the feasible way for prediction and identification of food-derived ACE inhibitory peptides in emerging nutraceutical field.; © 2018 Institute of Food Technologists®.

The Qinling orogenic belt is a composite orogen, consisting of the north and south Qinling belts with different collision ages. The North Qinling belt is composed of several petro-tectonic units, including the Kuanping, Erlangping, Qinling and Danfeng groups with numerous granitoid plutons from Neoproterzoic to Middle Devonian. To the north of the Kuanping Group, a mylonitized granite body in the Luanchuan Group was determined to have the magmatic age of 850 Ma, which is the northernmost Neoprotozoic granite body. The volcanic rocks of the Dahongkou Formation from the Luanchuan Group had the eruptive age of ~1 600 Ma, obtained from zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS analysis. The detrital zircons in meta-sandstones from the Taowan Group have three populations of ~920–1 400, ~1 600–2 100, and >2 200 Ma ages, whereas those from the Kuanping Group shows six populations with the peaks of ~590, ~767, ~952, ~1 590, ~2 485, and ~3 200 Ma. These data suggest that the boundary between the North China Craton and the North Qinling belt cannot simply be constrained by using the events determined from zircon U-Pb ages. The granitoid plutons with the magmatic age of 430 Ma were strongly deformed, while those with the magmatic age of ~390 Ma show no or less deformation, indicating that the deformation of amalgamation between the North China Craton and the North Qinling belt ceased between 390 and 430 Ma.

In order to circumvent some challenges of the classical approach, the in silico method has been applied to the discovery of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from food proteins. In this study, some convenient and efficient in silico tools were utilized to identify novel ACE inhibitory peptides from Salmo salar.; Results: Collagen from Salmo salar was digested in silico into hundreds of peptides. Results revealed that tetrapeptides PGAR and IGPR showed potent ACE inhibitory activity, with IC50 values of 0.598 ± 0.12 and 0.43 ± 0.09 mmol L-1 , respectively. The molecular docking result showed that PGAR and IGPR interact with ACE mostly via hydrogen bonds and attractive charge. Peptide IGPR interacts with Zn+ at the ACE active site, showing high inhibitory activity.; Conclusion: Interaction with Zn+ in ACE may lead to higher inhibitory activity of peptides, and Pi interactions may promote the effect of peptides on ACE. The in silico method can be an effective method to predict potent ACE inhibitory peptides from food proteins. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

A robust triple-component electrocatalyst of sub-2 nm scale consisting of platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs), iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite (Pt/FePc@rGO) was fabricated for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) evaluation. The catalyst was prepared using a Suspension Unit for Reactive Evolution (SURE) approach. The merit of the SURE approach lies in the ease of formation of smaller Pt NPs with a size of 1.76 ± 0.26 nm and uniformity of dispersion on rGO surface by hydrogen reduction. The Pt/FePc@rGO catalysts show superior mass activities of 281.29 mA mgPt–1 at 0.86 V in an alkaline potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte system. Compared with the commercial Pt on carbon (Pt/C) catalysts, the ORR current density of the Pt/FePc@rGO catalysts shows 2.8 times greater under the same operating conditions, while the average Pt loading is only approximately one-third of the commercial catalyst (Pt/C). The result of accelerated durability test indicates the Pt/FePc@rGO catalysts ...

This study aimed to investigate the individual and synergistic antioxidant effects of dipeptides in vitro. Based on a study of amino acid antioxidant activities, 36 dipeptides were chosen. All their individual antioxidant effects were tested in in vitro antioxidant evaluation systems, including the DPPH, ABTS, ORAC, and FRAP assays. Based on the results of individual antioxidant effects of these dipeptides, some of them were chosen to study their synergistic antioxidant effects in the four antioxidant assays. The results of the DPPH assay showed that dipeptides containing Cys exhibited radical scavenging activity. The synergistic antioxidant assay indicated that LC and CH, LC and CN, LC and CE, CH and CN, CH and CE, and CN and CE have significant synergistic effects (p

The strength and deformation characteristics of rocks are the most important mechanical properties for rock engineering constructions. A new nonlinear strength criterion is developed for rocks by combining the Hoek–Brown (HB) criterion and the nonlinear unified strength criterion (NUSC). The proposed criterion takes account of the intermediate principal stress effect against HB criterion, as well as being nonlinear in the meridian plane against NUSC. Only three parameters are required to be determined by experiments, including the two HB parameters σc and m i . The failure surface of the proposed criterion is continuous, smooth and convex. The proposed criterion fits the true triaxial test data well and performs better than the other three existing criteria. Then, by introducing the Geological Strength Index, the proposed criterion is extended to rock masses and predicts the test data well. Finally, based on the proposed criterion, a triaxial elasto-plastic damage model for intact rock is developed. The plastic part is based on the effective stress, whose yield function is developed by the proposed criterion. For the damage part, the evolution function is assumed to have an exponential form. The performance of the constitutive model shows good agreement with the results of experimental tests.

Egg white peptides (EWPs) can be effectively used to alleviate and treat inflammatory diseases due to their anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and microbiota regulation capabilities. A dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis model was used to clarify the regulatory effects of EWPs on colitis. Forty-three peptide sequences were identified from EWPs using LC-MS/MS. The results demonstrated that EWPs decreased the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the extent of crypt damage in a dose-dependent manner. 16S rRNA gene sequencing results indicated that 200 mg/kg EWPs significantly increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria Lactobacillus and Candidatus_Saccharimonas, and reduced the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria Ruminiclostridium and Akkermansia. In addition, the degree of correlation between pro-inflammatory cytokines and microbiota was as follows: interleukin (IL)-1β > IL-8 > IL-6 > tumor necrosis factor-α To summarize, EWPs contributed to the alleviation of colitis symptoms and the intestinal injury through anti-inflammatory effects, repair of intestinal mucosa, and modulation of gut microbiota.

The complexation between ovalbumin (OVA) and highly charged dextran sulfate (DS) was investigated employing phase behavior, zeta potential, confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurement, and dynamic rheometer analysis. The critical boundary pH values (pHc, pHϕ1, pHmax) were strongly dependent on the biopolymer ratio and salt concentration. Results of the phase diagram and zeta potential showed that the formation of complexes was mainly driven by strong electrostatic interactions. As the increase of the OVA/DS ratio, the critical pH values shifted to higher values. However, the addition of NaCl has a diverse effect, lower salt concentration (CNaCl ≥ 100 mM) suppress the formation of coacervates due to the shielding effect. The ITC results revealed that DS does bind to native form of OVA at pH 7.0 through the electrostatic forces and it was a spontaneous exothermic process (△G

The mechanism between food gelation and its digestibility has attracted increasing attention over the past few decades. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of glycation degree on the gelation and digestibility of egg white gel (EWG) using an in vitro model and a multi-scale characterization of gel structure. Results showed that EWG glycated with increasing d -ribose by covalent bonds exhibited better gelling properties and lower in vitro digestibility according to the appearance of soluble proteins and peptides. Besides, glycation preference for ovotransferrin at lysine might be important for regulating gel structure and proteolysis accessibility via the ratio of fibrous and granular aggregates. Moreover, gel structure was predominant over amino acids modification for digestibility. Binding disorder and steric hindrance could ascribe to the lower digestibility of gels. These findings are enlightening for the formulation and production of food matrix with controlled digestibility through glycation in food and related pharmaceutical fields.

In this study, we investigated the effects of different caffeic acid (CA) concentrations on the ovalbumin structure and foaming properties. When the concentration of CA was 0.18 mg/mL, the surface hydrophobicity of ovalbumin decreased from 705.37 to 542.79, the sulfhydryl content decreased from 4.15 μmol/g to 2.26 μmol/g, and the foaming ability and stability increased by 72% and 71%, respectively. We observed that hydrophobic interactions represented the main binding force between CA and ovalbumin. Using circular dichroism spectroscopy (α-Helix increased from 7.2% to 13.9%) and endogenous fluorescence spectra (Reduction of fluorescence intensity and redshift), it showed that CA affected the secondary and tertiary ovalbumin structure, thus increasing the flexible structure. The increase in particle size Increased from 10.26 nm to 65.97 nm indicated that CA acted as a crosslinking agent between the ovalbumin molecules and increased the viscosity of the system through hydrophobic interactions. Although the increase in ovalbumin aggregation and the decrease in hydrophobicity were not conducive to the foaming properties of ovalbumin solutions, the increase in solubility, absolute potential, and flexible molecular structure contributed to the improvement of the foaming properties. All results showed that CA could improve the foaming properties of ovalbumin, a potential food-grade foaming agent.

The replacement of rutile by Fe-Ti oxides is a common phenomenon during the retrogression of eclogites. Here, we report an unusual case regarding the replacement of Fe-Ti oxides by rutile during greenschist-facies metamorphic overprinting of veins in amphibolites (retrograded eclogites) from the Dabie ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane, eastern China. The veins mainly consist of plagioclase, Fe-Ti oxides, and quartz, which crystallized from a Ti-rich amphibolite-facies fluid that formed during exhumation of the eclogites. Two types of textures involving the replacement of Fe-Ti oxides by rutile are recognized in the veins: (1) the first type is characterized by the development of rutile coronas (Rt-C) and other silicates (high-Fe epidote, muscovite, and chlorite) around the external boundaries of the Fe-Ti oxide grains, and (2) the second type is characterized by the formation of symplectitic intergrowths of rutile (Rt-S) and magnetite after exsolved hemo-ilmenite (H-Ilm) lamellae in the Fe-Ti oxides. The micro-textures, mineral assemblages, and Zr-in-rutile thermometry indicate that both replacement reactions involved mineral re-equilibration processes in the presence of an infiltrating fluid phase at ~476–515 °C, taking place by an interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation mechanism. Thermodynamic modeling reveals that both replacement reactions occurred during oxidation processes under relatively high-oxygen fugacity ( f O 2 ) conditions, approximately 2.5–4.5 log f O 2 units higher than the fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) reference buffer. In situ Sr isotopic analyses of epidote (Ep-C) coexisting with the Rt-C suggest that the infiltrating fluid involved in the greenschist-facies replacement reactions was externally derived from the surrounding granitic gneisses (the wall rocks of the amphibolites). Compared with the rutile in the UHP eclogites (Rt-E) and amphibolites (Rt-A), the Rt-C is characterized by distinctly lower contents of Nb ( 340 ppm) and V (>1580 ppm). These results provide a geochemical fingerprint for distinguishing the low-pressure (LP) rutile from relic high-grade phases in retrograded HP-UHP rocks. Our results reveal that rutile can form during LP retrograde stage in UHP rocks by high- f O 2 fluid-induced replacement reactions. The unusual replacements of Fe-Ti oxides by rutile-bearing assemblages during retrogression provide important constraints on fluid-mineral reactions and f O 2 variations in exhumed UHP slabs.