Letter to the Editor: Use of low-cost air sensors to augment regulatory networks.

Author(s):  
Ajith Kaduwela ◽  
Anthony Wexler
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonghao Li ◽  
Jingze Yu ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Tingting Long ◽  
Yi Mo ◽  
...  

AbstractThe mixture of glucose and β-disaccharide (MGD) synthesized by transglycosylation of glucose as a low-cost soluble carbon source can efficiently induce cellulase production in Trichoderma reesei, which holds potential for the biorefining of lignocellulosic biomass. However, it is not yet fully understood how MGD induces T. reesei cellulase. In this study, transcriptomic analyses were conducted to investigate the molecular basis of MGD for lignocellulose-degrading enzyme production of T. reesei Rut C30 compared with that on lactose. Particular attention was paid to CAZymes, transcription factors, transporters and other protein processing pathways related to lignocellulose degradation. As a result, MGD can elicit transcription of GH5-, GH6- and GH7-encoding cellulases that is up to 1.4-fold higher than that induced by lactose, but GH11- and GH74-encoding xylanases are downregulated by 1.7- and 4.4-fold, respectively. Gene expression profiles suggest that the transcription activators xyr1 and vib1 are significantly upregulated and that the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway is strengthened compared to the case of lactose induction. In addition, hac1-encoding UPR-specific transcription factors are significantly upregulated by MGD, which may be enhanced due to proper folding and processing of nascent proteins. These findings provide a theoretical basis for further understanding the characterization of efficient cellulase production using MGD as an inducer in T. reesei and offer potential strategies for strain improvement.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Tanzer ◽  
Carl Malings ◽  
Aliaksei Hauryliuk ◽  
R. Subramanian ◽  
Albert A. Presto

Air quality monitoring has traditionally been conducted using sparsely distributed, expensive reference monitors. To understand variations in PM2.5 on a finely resolved spatiotemporal scale a dense network of over 40 low-cost monitors was deployed throughout and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Monitor locations covered a wide range of site types with varying traffic and restaurant density, varying influences from local sources, and varying socioeconomic (environmental justice, EJ) characteristics. Variability between and within site groupings was observed. Concentrations were higher near the source-influenced sites than the Urban or Suburban Residential sites. Gaseous pollutants (NO2 and SO2) were used to differentiate between traffic (higher NO2 concentrations) and industrial (higher SO2 concentrations) sources of PM2.5. Statistical analysis proved these differences to be significant (coefficient of divergence > 0.2). The highest mean PM2.5 concentrations were measured downwind (east) of the two industrial facilities while background level PM2.5 concentrations were measured at similar distances upwind (west) of the point sources. Socioeconomic factors, including the fraction of non-white population and fraction of population living under the poverty line, were not correlated with increases in PM2.5 or NO2 concentration. The analysis conducted here highlights differences in PM2.5 concentration within site groupings that have similar land use thus demonstrating the utility of a dense sensor network. Our network captures temporospatial pollutant patterns that sparse regulatory networks cannot.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yichen Gao ◽  
Ai-Ping Pang ◽  
Leyao Ma ◽  
Haiyan Wang ◽  
Samran Durrani ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Knowledge on regulatory networks associated with cellulase biosynthesis is prerequisite for exploitation of such regulatory systems in ehancing cellulase production with low cost. The biological functions of intron retention (IR) and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) in filamentous fungi is lack of study, let alone their roles in cellulase biosynthesis. Result We found that major cellulase genes (cel7a, cel7b, and cel3a) exhibited concomitant decrease in IR rates and increase in their gene expression in T. reesei under cellulase-producing condition (cellulose and lactose) that was accompanied with a more active NMD pathway, as compared to non cellulase-producing condition (glucose). In the presence of the NMD pathway inhibitor that successfully repressed the NMD pathway, the mRNA levels of cellulase genes were sharply down-regulated, but the rates of IR in these genes were significantly up-regulated. Consistently, the cellulase activities were severely inhibited. In addition, the NMD pathway inhibitor caused the downregulated mRNA levels of two important genes of the target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway, trfkbp12 and trTOR1. The absence of gene trfkbp12 made the cellulase production in T. reesei more sensitive to the NMD pathway inhibitor. Conclusion All these findings suggest that the IR of cellulase genes regulates their own gene expression by coupling with the NMD pathway, which might involve the TOR pathway. Our results provide better understanding on intron retention, the NMD pathway, and cellulase production mechanism in filamentous fungi.


Author(s):  
Y. L. Chen ◽  
S. Fujlshiro

Metastable beta titanium alloys have been known to have numerous advantages such as cold formability, high strength, good fracture resistance, deep hardenability, and cost effectiveness. Very high strength is obtainable by precipitation of the hexagonal alpha phase in a bcc beta matrix in these alloys. Precipitation hardening in the metastable beta alloys may also result from the formation of transition phases such as omega phase. Ti-15-3 (Ti-15V- 3Cr-3Al-3Sn) has been developed recently by TIMET and USAF for low cost sheet metal applications. The purpose of the present study was to examine the aging characteristics in this alloy.The composition of the as-received material is: 14.7 V, 3.14 Cr, 3.05 Al, 2.26 Sn, and 0.145 Fe. The beta transus temperature as determined by optical metallographic method was about 770°C. Specimen coupons were prepared from a mill-annealed 1.2 mm thick sheet, and solution treated at 827°C for 2 hr in argon, then water quenched. Aging was also done in argon at temperatures ranging from 316 to 616°C for various times.


Author(s):  
J. D. Muzzy ◽  
R. D. Hester ◽  
J. L. Hubbard

Polyethylene is one of the most important plastics produced today because of its good physical properties, ease of fabrication and low cost. Studies to improve the properties of polyethylene are leading to an understanding of its crystalline morphology. Polyethylene crystallized by evaporation from dilute solutions consists of thin crystals called lamellae. The polyethylene molecules are parallel to the thickness of the lamellae and are folded since the thickness of the lamellae is much less than the molecular length. This lamellar texture persists in less perfect form in polyethylene crystallized from the melt.Morphological studies of melt crystallized polyethylene have been limited due to the difficulty of isolating the microstructure from the bulk specimen without destroying or deforming it.


Author(s):  
J. Temple Black

In ultramicrotomy, the two basic tool materials are glass and diamond. Glass because of its low cost and ease of manufacture of the knife itself is still widely used despite the superiority of diamond knives in many applications. Both kinds of knives produce plastic deformation in the microtomed section due to the nature of the cutting process and microscopic chips in the edge of the knife. Because glass has no well defined slip planes in its structure (it's an amorphous material), it is very strong and essentially never fails in compression. However, surface flaws produce stress concentrations which reduce the strength of glass to 10,000 to 20,000 psi from its theoretical or flaw free values of 1 to 2 million psi. While the microchips in the edge of the glass or diamond knife are generally too small to be observed in the SEM, the second common type of defect can be identified. This is the striations (also termed the check marks or feathers) which are always present over the entire edge of a glass knife regardless of whether or not they are visable under optical inspection. These steps in the cutting edge can be observed in the SEM by proper preparation of carefully broken knives and orientation of the knife, with respect to the scanning beam.


Author(s):  
H. O. Colijn

Many labs today wish to transfer data between their EDS systems and their existing PCs and minicomputers. Our lab has implemented SpectraPlot, a low- cost PC-based system to allow offline examination and plotting of spectra. We adopted this system in order to make more efficient use of our microscopes and EDS consoles, to provide hardcopy output for an older EDS system, and to allow students to access their data after leaving the university.As shown in Fig. 1, we have three EDS systems (one of which is located in another building) which can store data on 8 inch RT-11 floppy disks. We transfer data from these systems to a DEC MINC computer using “SneakerNet”, which consists of putting on a pair of sneakers and running down the hall. We then use the Hermit file transfer program to download the data files with error checking from the MINC to the PC.


Author(s):  
T. P. Nolan

Thin film magnetic media are being used as low cost, high density forms of information storage. The development of this technology requires the study, at the sub-micron level, of morphological, crystallographic, and magnetic properties, throughout the depth of the deposited films. As the microstructure becomes increasingly fine, widi grain sizes approaching 100Å, the unique characterization capabilities of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have become indispensable to the analysis of such thin film magnetic media.Films were deposited at 225°C, on two NiP plated Al substrates, one polished, and one circumferentially textured with a mean roughness of 55Å. Three layers, a 750Å chromium underlayer, a 600Å layer of magnetic alloy of composition Co84Cr14Ta2, and a 300Å amorphous carbon overcoat were then sputter deposited using a dc magnetron system at a power of 1kW, in a chamber evacuated below 10-6 torr and filled to 12μm Ar pressure. The textured medium is presently used in industry owing to its high coercivity, Hc, and relatively low noise. One important feature is that the coercivity in the circumferential read/write direction is significandy higher than that in the radial direction.


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