Carbon-Promoted Pt-Single Atoms Anchored on RuO Nanorods to Boost Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution.

While efficient for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), Pt is limited by its cost and rarity. Traditional Pt catalysts and Pt single-atom (aPt) catalysts (Pt-SACs) face challenges in maintaining kinetically favorable HER pathways (Volmer-Tafel) at ultralow Pt loadings. Herein, carbon-promoted aPts were deposited on RuO without the addition of reductants.

capsule locus typing for serovar prediction of .

is a causative agent of pleuropneumonia in pigs of all ages. . is divided into 19 serovars based on capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) and lipopolysaccharides.

Comparison of Reference-Based Assembly and De Novo Assembly for Bacterial Plasmid Reconstruction and AMR Gene Localization in Serovar Schwarzengrund Isolates.

It is well established that plasmids carrying multiple antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes can be easily transferred among bacterial isolates by horizontal gene transfer. Previous studies have shown that a combination of short- and long-read approaches is effective in reconstructing accurate plasmids. However, high-quality Illumina short reads mapped onto the long reads in the context of an AMR hybrid monitoring strategy have not yet been explored.

Prevalence and risk factors for Salmonella spp. contamination of slaughtered chickens in Taiwan.

The present study was designed to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella contamination in Taiwanese broilers at slaughter and to identify risk factors associated with the presence of Salmonella in processed batches of broilers. Carcass rinse samples from 362 batches of broilers were collected from 45 chicken abattoirs in Taiwan between February 2013 and November 2014. Univariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify putative risk factors for contamination.

Pseudo-atomic-scale metals well-dispersed on nano-carbons as ultra-low metal loading oxygen-evolving electrocatalysts.

Solving challenges for the scaling-up, high metal loadings and low turnover frequency (TOF, defined as mol O2 per mol metal per second), of FeNi catalysts in water electrolysis, we report the first discovery of pH tunable tannic acid single molecular layer formed on nano-sized carbons (NCs), which promotes the gram-production of pseudo-atomic-scale FeNi oxyhydroxide nanoclusters well-dispersed on NCs. It results in ultra-low metal loading (0.42 μg cm) and remarkably large TOF of 14.

Detection of chicken carcasses contaminated with Salmonella enterica serovar in the abattoir environment of Taiwan.

Although a nation-wide microbiological screening program of chicken carcasses after chilling in Taiwanese chicken abattoirs has been undertaken since 2006, little is known regarding the potential sources of the Salmonella during the slaughter process. The present study provides data on the detection and serotypes of Salmonella isolated from broilers during processing and from the environment in six abattoirs in Taiwan. Overall, Salmonella were detected in 156 of 622 samples (25.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of d-amino acid-containing peptidomimetics targeting the polo-box domain of polo-like kinase 1.

A series of d-amino acid-containing peptidomimetics were designed, synthesized as novel polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) polo-box domain (PBD) inhibitors based on the reported peptide Plk1 PBD inhibitor. Their inhibitory activity to Plk1, Plk2, and Plk3 PBD were evaluated using our fluorescence polarization (FP) assay. Compound 18 bound to Plk1 PBD with IC of 0.

High performance layer-by-layer PtNi(Pt-skin)-modified Pd/C for the oxygen reduction reaction.

Bimetallic Pt-Ni with Pt on the outermost layer and an innermost layer enriched in Ni, referred to as PtNi(Pt-skin), is a promising configuration of an electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. We prepare a core (Pd)/shell (PtNi(Pt-skin)) catalyst (PtNi(Pt-skin)/Pd/C) from Zn underpotential deposition (UPD) on a Ni UPD modified Pd/C catalyst, facilitating Pt atomic layer-by-layer growth on the Ni surface through the galvanic replacement process. PtNi(Pt-skin)/Pd/C shows the best ORR performance, with a Pt specific activity of 16.

HIERARCHICAL ORTHOGONAL MATRIX GENERATION AND MATRIX-VECTOR MULTIPLICATIONS IN RIGID BODY SIMULATIONS.

In this paper, we apply the hierarchical modeling technique and study some numerical linear algebra problems arising from the Brownian dynamics simulations of biomolecular systems where molecules are modeled as ensembles of rigid bodies. Given a rigid body consisting of beads, the 6×3 transformation matrix that maps the force on each bead to 's translational and rotational forces (a 6 × 1 vector), and the row space of , we show how to explicitly construct the (3 - 6) × 3 matrix consisting of (3 - 6) orthonormal basis vectors of (orthogonal complement of ) using only operations and storage. For applications where only the matrix-vector multiplications and are needed, we introduce asymptotically optimal hierarchical algorithms without explicitly forming .

Electrochemically Identifying Degradation Pathways of Carbon-Supported Pt Catalysts Assists in Designing Highly Durable Catalysts.

Supported Pt catalysts are considered highly efficient in many applications because of their unique catalytic properties. Their poor durability hampers their use in practical applications, particularly in novel energy-conversion devices such as fuel cells. A facile electrochemical procedure that combines the evaluation of the electrochemical surface area with a breakthrough in direct electrochemical quantification of the Pt content was utilized.

Electrochemical Quantifying, Counting, and Sizing Supported Pt Nanoparticles in Real Time.

Knowledge about controlling the activity and catalyst degradation mechanisms of platinum-based catalysts has been limited by technical impediments. Here we show a facile in situ electrochemical procedure for the simultaneous assessment of the mean size and number of Pt nanoparticles (Ptnano) from an evaluation of the electrochemically surface area (ECSA) and the breakthrough in electrochemical quantification of the Pt content. The electrochemical procedure enables in situ characterization of the factors related to the catalytic activity and monitoring of the changes in Pt content during an accelerated durability test.

A facile Pt catalyst regeneration process significantly improves the catalytic activity of Pt-organic composites for the O2 reduction reaction.

Combination of the "nano-size" effect and Cl(-) complexation ability causes massive electrodissolution of Pt under acidic conditions to promote the regeneration of Pt-organic composites and to significantly improve the catalytic performance of the O2 reduction reaction.

Potential probiotic attributes of a new strain of Bacillus coagulans CGMCC 9951 isolated from healthy piglet feces.

A new strain of Bacillus coagulans CGMCC 9551, which has a broad range of antibacterial activities against six main pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli O8, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar enteritidis, Streptococcus suis, Listeria monocytogenes and Pasteurella multocida, was isolated from healthy piglet feces. In adhesion assay, the isolate exhibited a stronger adhesion to pig intestinal mucus than that of B.

EDTA assisted highly selective detection of As(3+) on Au nanoparticle modified glassy carbon electrodes: facile in situ electrochemical characterization of Au nanoparticles.

A facile electrochemical characterization technique of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) developed by Wang et al. ( Wang, Y.; Laborda, E.

Cu assisted preparation of mesoporous Pt-organic composites for highly selective and sensitive non-enzymatic glucose sensing.

A Nafion (NF) ionomer was used as a potential new template or scaffold for mesoporous metal composites because intrinsic meso-structures have been found in NF. A facile EC catalytic process, involving a Cu-mediated Pt reduction (CMPR), was successfully used as a major source of Pt nanoparticles (nPts). We found that Cu assisted nPts formation and self-assembly in the micro-framework of NF ionomers applied to prepare Pt-nanoparticle-embedded Nafion composites (NF(Pt)) exhibiting two different nanostructure characteristics including a microelectrode array with low Pt loading and mesoporous Pt with high Pt loading.

Enhancement of soluble CD28 levels in the serum of Graves' disease.

Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland mediated by T cells. CD28, a member of costimulatory molecules, plays a pivotal role in regulating T-cell responses. Plasma-soluble CD28 is one form of CD28 in peripheral blood.

Gold-nanoparticle-embedded nafion composite modified on glassy carbon electrode for highly selective detection of arsenic(III).

A Cu(I)-ion-mediating Au reduction is proposed for preparing an Au-nanoparticle-embedded nafion (NF(Aunano)) composite. The NF(Aunano) composite consisted of highly dense, well-dispersed, and protecting-agent-free Au nanocrystals with a narrow particle size (4.8±0.

Four new lignans from Schisandra sphenanthera.

Three new 7,8-secolignans, schisandlignans A-C (1, 2, and 4), one new dibenzocyclooctadiene lignan, schisandlignan D (5), together with nine known lignans 3',4'-dimethoxybenzoic acid (3″,4″-dimethoxyphenyl)-2-methyl-3-oxobutyl ester (3), gomisin J (6), rubrisandrin A(1b) (7), interiotherin B (8), schisantherin D (9), ( - )-machilusin (10), ganschisandrine (11), henricine A (12), and (+)-1-hydroxy pinoresinol (13), were isolated from the rattan of Schisandra sphenanthera. Their structures were determined by analysis of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data.

An Evaluation of Solution Algorithms and Numerical Approximation Methods for Modeling an Ion Exchange Process.

The focus of this work is on the modeling of an ion exchange process that occurs in drinking water treatment applications. The model formulation consists of a two-scale model in which a set of microscale diffusion equations representing ion exchange resin particles that vary in size and age are coupled through a boundary condition with a macroscopic ordinary differential equation (ODE), which represents the concentration of a species in a well-mixed reactor. We introduce a new age-averaged model (AAM) that averages all ion exchange particle ages for a given size particle to avoid the expensive Monte-Carlo simulation associated with previous modeling applications.

AFMPB: An Adaptive Fast Multipole Poisson-Boltzmann Solver for Calculating Electrostatics in Biomolecular Systems.

A Fortran program package is introduced for rapid evaluation of the electrostatic potentials and forces in biomolecular systems modeled by the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The numerical solver utilizes a well-conditioned boundary integral equation (BIE) formulation, a node-patch discretization scheme, a Krylov subspace iterative solver package with reverse communication protocols, and an adaptive new version of fast multipole method in which the exponential expansions are used to diagonalize the multipole to local translations. The program and its full description, as well as several closely related libraries and utility tools are available at http://lsec.

Application of a nanoporous gold electrode for the sensitive detection of copper via mercury-free anodic stripping voltammetry.

This paper describes how a new mercury-free alternative electrode material, nanoporous gold (NPG), was applied to improve the performance of detecting trace metals in stripping voltammetry. The NPG electrode was obtained by dealloying Zn from Au(x)Zn(1-x) in a 40-60 mol% zinc chloride-1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (ZnCl(2)-EMIC) ionic liquid. To prevent electrode fouling from surfactant adsorption, the short carbon-chain organothiol (3-mercaptopropyl)sulfonate (MPS) was selected to modify the NPG electrode through the formation of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM).

An Adaptive Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method for Poisson-Boltzmann Electrostatics.

The numerical solution of the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation is a useful but a computationally demanding tool for studying electrostatic solvation effects in chemical and biomolecular systems. Recently, we have described a boundary integral equation-based PB solver accelerated by a new version of the fast multipole method (FMM). The overall algorithm shows an order N complexity in both the computational cost and memory usage.

Facile preparation of an ultrathin nickel film coated nanoporous gold electrode with the unique catalytic activity to oxidation of glucose.

A facile approach to prepare a Ni coated nanoporous gold (Ni@NPG) electrode with the combination of a UPD monolayer and galvanic displacement is described, which not only conserves the 3-D nanostructure of the NPG electrode but presents unique catalytic activity to the electrode surface to significantly enhance the performance of glucose detection.

Silver UPD ultra-thin film modified nanoporous gold electrode with applications in the electrochemical detection of chloride.

Nanoporous noble metals are usually expected to exhibit much higher surface areas than smooth ones, making them of particular importance in many electrochemical applications. This paper describes a simple electrochemical method to modify a nanoporous Au (NPG) surface by using an under potentially deposited (UPD) Ag adlayer. The NPG electrode was obtained by the dealloying of Zn from Au(x)Zn(1-x) in a 40-60mol% zinc chloride-1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (ZnCl(2)-EMIC) ionic liquid.