Simulation of the CO hydrate-water interfacial energy: The mold integration-guest methodology.

The growth pattern and nucleation rate of carbon dioxide hydrate critically depend on the precise value of the hydrate-water interfacial free energy. There exist in the literature only two independent experimental measurements of this thermodynamic magnitude: one obtained by Uchida et al. [J.

Alteration of eggs biochemical composition and progeny survival by maternal high carbohydrate nutrition in a teleost fish.

Reproductive performances, and the factors affecting them, are of major importance especially for farmed fish in the context of the development of a sustainable aquaculture. Dietary maternal lipids have been identified as a major factor affecting reproductive performances. Nevertheless, the consequences of carbohydrates have been little studied while plant-derived carbohydrates could be increasingly used in broodstock diets.

Biochemical methane potential and active microbial communities during anaerobic digestion of biodegradable plastics at different inoculum-substrate ratios.

The influence of the inoculum-substrate ratio (ISR) on the mesophilic and thermophilic biochemical methane potential test of two biodegradable plastics was evaluated. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) were selected for this study, the first for being recalcitrant to mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) and the second, by contrast, for being readily biodegradable. Several ISRs, calculated on the basis of volatile solids (VS), were tested: 1, 2, 2.

Characterization of biogas and biomethane trace compounds: A critical review of advances in in situ sampling and preconcentration techniques.

Worldwide, the valorization of biogas, landfill gas and biomethane is gaining momentum as circular economies and energy transitions are triggered. Nevertheless, to sustainably integrate those gases into today's energy mix, their quality must be controlled regarding their major, minor and trace constituents to preserve the integrity of infrastructures wherein they are burned, transported or stored. Field gas sampling is the first and most critical step in the analytical chain to characterize the composition of such gases.

A stochastic regularized second-order iterative scheme for optimal control and inverse problems in stochastic partial differential equations.

Numerous applied models used in the study of optimal control problems, inverse problems, shape optimization, machine learning, fractional programming, neural networks, image registration and so on lead to stochastic optimization problems in Hilbert spaces. Under a suitable convexity assumption on the objective function, a necessary and sufficient optimality condition for stochastic optimization problems is a stochastic variational inequality. This article presents a new stochastic regularized second-order iterative scheme for solving a variational inequality in a stochastic environment where the primary operator is accessed by employing sampling techniques.

Structural Characterization and Rheological and Antioxidant Properties of Novel Polysaccharide from Calcareous Red Seaweed.

A novel sulfated xylogalactan (JASX) was extracted and purified from the rhodophyceae . JASX was characterized by chromatography (GC/MS-EI and SEC/MALLS) and spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR and H/C NMR) techniques. Results showed that JASX was constituted by repeating units of (→3)-β-d-Gal-(1,4)-3,6-α-l-AnGal-(1→) and (→3)-β-d-Gal-(1,4)-α-l-Gal-(1→) substituted on -2 and -3 of the α-(1,4)-l-Gal units by methoxy and/or sulfate groups but also on -6 of the β-(1,3)-d-Gal mainly by β-xylosyl side chains and less by methoxy and/or sulfate groups.

NMR investigation on the thermogelation of partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide/polyethylenimine mixtures.

Since the introduction of polyethylenimine (PEI)/acrylamide-based polymer gel systems in the late 90's, the literature knowledge on the crosslinking mechanisms between the various polymers (PAM, PHPA, and PatBA) and the crosslinker (PEI) was only limited to observations on gelation times and gel strength variations compared to other gel systems. In this paper, classic proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance "NMR" experiments and advanced 2D DOSY and NOESY techniques were employed for studying the interactions between the amine groups of PEI and amide or carboxylate groups of partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (PHPA). Among the many possibilities, we showed that the interaction occurring during thermogelation is mainly due to covalent bonding.

Novel microbial consortia facilitate metalliferous immobilization in non-ferrous metal(loid)s contaminated smelter soil: Efficiency and mechanisms.

Exposure to toxic metals from nonferrous metal(loid) smelter soils can pose serious threats to the surrounding ecosystems, crop production, and human health. Bioremediation using microorganisms is a promising strategy for treating metal(loid)-contaminated soils. Here, a native microbial consortium with sulfate-reducing function (SRB1) enriched from smelter soils can tolerate exposures to mixtures of heavy metal(loid)s (e.

Prioritization based on risk assessment to study the bioconcentration and biotransformation of pharmaceuticals in glass eels (Anguilla anguilla) from the Adour estuary (Basque Country, France).

The presence of contaminants of emerging concern in the aquatic environment directly impacts water-living organisms and can alter their living functions. These compounds are often metabolized and excreted, but they can also be accumulated and spread through the food chain. The metabolized contaminants can also lead to the formation of new compounds with unknown toxicity and bioaccumulation potential.

Effects of Different Levels of Weightlifting Training on Bone Mineral Density in a Group of Adolescents.

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of weightlifting training on bone mineral density (BMD) at different body sites (whole body (WB), lumbar spine (LS), femoral neck (FN), upper limbs (UL) and lower limbs (LL)) in a group of adolescents. Three groups of pubertal boys aged 13-15 years were recruited, including a control group (which included 13 untrained adolescents), a moderately trained group (which included 13 non-elite weightlifters, with four sessions of 2 hours per week) and a highly trained group (which included 13 elite weightlifters, with eight sessions of 2 hours per week). The three groups were paired for age and maturation index (using Tanner stages).

bark from a mercury mining district studied with high resolution XANES spectroscopy.

Tree bark near former mercury (Hg) mines and roasting plants is known to have exceptionally high (up to several mg kg) Hg concentrations. This study explores the change of Hg speciation with depth (down to 25-30 mm from the outermost surface) in black pine () bark by means of high-resolution X-ray absorption near edge structure (HR-XANES) spectroscopy at the Hg L-edge. Principal component analysis and linear combination fitting applied to the HR-XANES spectra suggested that in the outermost layer (∼0-2 mm from the surface), roughly 50% of Hg is in the form of nanoparticulate metacinnabar (nano-β-HgS).

Effect of exogenous and endogenous sulfide on the production and the export of methylmercury by sulfate-reducing bacteria.

Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant of environmental and health concern; its methylated form, methylmercury (MeHg), is a potent neurotoxin. Sulfur-containing molecules play a role in MeHg production by microorganisms. While sulfides are considered to limit Hg methylation, sulfate and cysteine were shown to favor this process.

Transcriptomic response of Pseudomonas nicosulfuronedens LAM1902 to the sulfonylurea herbicide nicosulfuron.

The overuse of the herbicide nicosulfuron has become a global environmental concern. As a potential bioremediation technology, the microbial degradation of nicosulfuron shows much promise; however, the mechanism by which microorganisms respond to nicosulfuron exposure requires further study. An isolated soil-borne bacteria Pseudomonas nicosulfuronedens LAM1902 displaying nicosulfuron, chlorimuron-ethyl, and cinosulfuron degradabilities in the presence of glucose, was used to determine the transcriptional responses to nicosulfuron exposure.

Microbial community metabolic alterations and resistance to metals and antibiotics driven by chronic exposition to multiple pollutants in a highly impacted tropical coastal bay.

Microbial communities from Sepetiba Bay (SB, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), characterized by 16S rRNA gene (V4-V5 region) sequencing analysis, were found to be correlated with the metallic contamination factor and the Quality Ratio (QR) index. Consistently, the predicted function of microbial communities, obtained with Tax4Fun2, showed that the functional patterns in SB internal sector under the highest anthropogenic pressure were different from that observed in the external sector with the lowest contamination level. Signal transduction, cellular community, membrane transport, and energy metabolism were among the KEGG pathways favored by metallic contamination in the SB internal sector, while lipid metabolism, transcription, and translation were among the pathways favored in the SB external sector.

Role of the rhizosphere of a flooding-tolerant herb in promoting mercury methylation in water-level fluctuation zones.

The water-level fluctuation zone (WLFZ) has been considered as a hotspot for mercury (Hg) methylation. Flooding-tolerant herbs are gradually acclimated to this water-land ecotone, tending to form substantial root systems for improving erosion resistance. Accompanying rhizosphere microzone plays crucial but unclear roles in methylmercury (MeHg) formation in the WLFZ.

Insight into Substrate Recognition by Urea-Based Helical Foldamer Catalysts Using a DFT Global Optimization Approach.

Peptides and foldamers have recently gained increasing attention as chiral catalysts to achieve challenging (asymmetric) transformations. We previously reported that short helically folded aliphatic oligoureas in combination with achiral Brønsted bases are effective H-bonding catalysts for C-C bond-forming reactions─i.e.

Mechanistic Insights about the Ligand-Enabled Oxy-arylation/vinylation of Alkenes via Au(I)/Au(III) Catalysis.

The mechanism of oxy-arylation/vinylation of alkenes catalyzed by the (MeDalphos)AuCl complex was comprehensively investigated by DFT. (P,N)Au(Ph) and (P,N)Au(vinyl) are key intermediates accounting for the activation of the alkenols and for their cyclization by outer-sphere nucleophilic attack of oxygen. The 5-exo and 6-endo paths have been computed and compared, reproducing the peculiar regioselectivity difference observed experimentally between 4-penten-1-ol, (E) and (Z)-4-hexen-1-ols.

Density functional theory for the prediction of interfacial properties of molecular fluids within the SAFT-γ coarse-grained approach.

Recently, we have proposed the SAFT-VR Mie MF DFT approach [Algaba , , 2019, , 11937-11948] to investigate systems that exhibit fluid-fluid interfaces. This formalism is based on the combination of the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory for attractive potentials of variable range using Mie intermolecular potential (SAFT-VR Mie) and a Density Functional Theory (DFT) treatment of the free energy. A mean-field approach is used to evaluate the attractive term, neglecting the pair correlations associated to attractions.

Realistic variations in substrate composition affect spawning preference and egg retention in river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis).

Egg drift from the nest is clearly an important cause of mortality in lithophilic species, but the effect of substrate composition on this process has been overlooked. Here, we investigated the role of substrate on the spawning preference and egg retention of river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) during a whole breeding season in a two-option experimental setting. Despite no initial preference, the lamprey eventually favoured the most efficient substrate for egg retention.

Disentangling biogeographic and underlying assembly patterns of fungal communities in metalliferous mining and smelting soils.

Elucidating community assembly and their relevance to environmental variables are fundamental for understanding microbial diversity and functioning in terrestrial ecosystems, yet the geographical diversity and assembly patterns of the fungal community in metalliferous ecospheres associated with mining and smelting activities have received penurious understandings. Here, the fungal communities collected from three groups of soils around the mining and smelting sites were profiled by Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequencing, in order to understand the geographical distributions of fungal community diversities, structures, compositions, assembly processes and the occurrence patterns. The results suggested obvious biogeographic distribution patterns of fungal compositions among the three groups of soils.

Sea trout (Salmo trutta) straying rate decreases as distance from river mouth increases.

For both conservation and management purposes, it is important to identify the natal origin of migratory individuals entering a river, particularly in genetically spatially structured species like brown trout (Salmo trutta) where the migrant ecotype (called sea trout) can originate from different populations. Nonetheless, little attention has been paid to the spatial distribution of non-local fish at the level of an entire river catchment. The objective of the study was to quantify the proportion of non-local sea trout entering a river catchment (i.

Heterogenised Molecular Catalysts for Sustainable Electrochemical CO Reduction.

There has been a rapid rise in interest regarding the advantages of support materials to protect and immobilise molecular catalysts for the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO RR) in order to overcome the weaknesses of many well-known catalysts in terms of their stability and selectivity. In this Review, the state of the art of different catalyst-support systems for the CO RR is discussed with the intention of leading towards standard benchmarking for comparison of such systems across the most relevant supports and immobilisation strategies, taking into account these multiple pertinent metrics, and also enabling clearer consideration of the necessary steps for further progress. The most promising support systems are described, along with a final note on the need for developing more advanced experimental and computational techniques to aid the rational design principles that are prerequisite to prospective industrial upscaling.

Nucleoside-Derived Low-Molecular-Weight Gelators as a Synthetic Microenvironment for 3D Cell Culture.

For the last few decades, many efforts have been made in developing cell culture methods in order to overcome the biological limitations of the conventional two-dimensional culture. This paradigm shift is driven by a large amount of new hydrogel-based systems for three-dimensional culture, among other systems, since they are known to mimic some living tissue properties. One class of hydrogel precursors has received interest in the field of biomaterials, low-molecular-weight gelators (LMWGs).

Diving into the Evolutionary History of HSC70-Linked Selective Autophagy Pathways: Endosomal Microautophagy and Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy.

Autophagy is a pleiotropic and evolutionarily conserved process in eukaryotes that encompasses different types of mechanisms by which cells deliver cytoplasmic constituents to the lysosome for degradation. Interestingly, in mammals, two different and specialized autophagic pathways, (i) the chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) and (ii) the endosomal microautophagy (eMI), both rely on the use of the same cytosolic chaperone HSPA8 (also known as HSC70) for targeting specific substrates to the lysosome. However, this is not true for all organisms, and differences exist between species with respect to the coexistence of these two autophagic routes.