Integrated Autolysis, DNA Hydrolysis and Precipitation Enables an Improved Bioprocess for Q-Griffithsin, a Broad-Spectrum Antiviral and Clinical-Stage anti-COVID-19 Candidate

Across the biomanufacturing industry, innovations are needed to improve efficiency and flexibility, especially in the face of challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we report an improved bioprocess for Q-Griffithsin, a broad-spectrum antiviral currently in clinical trials for COVID-19. Q-Griffithsin is produced at high titer in E. coli and purified to anticipated clinical grade without conventional chromatography or the need for any fixed downstream equipment. The process is thus both low-cost and highly flexible, facilitating low sales prices and agile modifications of production capacity, two key features for pandemic response. The simplicity of this process is enabled by a novel unit operation that integrates cellular autolysis, autohydrolysis of nucleic acids, and contaminant precipitation, giving essentially complete removal of host cell DNA as well as reducing host cell proteins and endotoxin by 3.6 and 2.4 log10 units, respectively. This unit operation can be performed rapidly and in the fermentation vessel, such that Q-GRFT is obtained with 100% yield and >99.9% purity immediately after fermentation and requires only a flow-through membrane chromatography step for further contaminant removal. Using this operation or variations of it may enable improved bioprocesses for a range of other high-value proteins in E. coli.

Masalah dan Optimasi Rapid Sand Filter

Rapid Sand Filter is the most popular unit operation in water treatment plant although it has some problems in its operation and maintenance. But this filter is used widely in Indonesia by PDAM, a water company, because of its capability to treat big capacity of water. The crucial problem is backwashing, about the upflow velocity in theoretical and practical aspects.

Homotopy Continuation Enhanced Branch and Bound Algorithms for Process Synthesis Using Rigorous Unit Operation Models

Process synthesis using rigorous unit operation models is highly desirable to identify the most efficient pathway for sustainable production of fuels and value-added chemicals. However, it often leads to a large-scale strongly nonlinear and nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. In this work, we propose two robust homotopy continuation enhanced branch and bound (HCBB) algorithms (denoted as HCBB-FP and HCBB-RB) where the homotopy continuation method is employed to gradually approach the optimal solution of the NLP subproblem at a node from the solution at its parent node. A variable step length is adapted to effectively balance feasibility and computational efficiency. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed HCBB algorithms can find the same optimal solution from different initial points, while the existing MINLP algorithms fail or find much worse solutions. In addition, HCBB-RB is superior to HCBB-FP due to lower computational effort required for the same locally optimal solution.

Story beats in videogames as value-driven choice-based unit operations

We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.

Elucidating the energy-utilization patterns for five methods of groundnut cake (Kulikuli) production

Food industry remains an integral part of the energy-intensive industries. In order to minimise the operating and maintenance cost in the industry, the cost of energy consumption should be monitored. Therefore, energy requirements in groundnut cake production for five alternative methods were elucidated. Groundnut cake was produced using five different methods and energy used for each unit operation was calculated using standard equations. Major energy sources for the production of groundnut cake were fuel, human labour and electrical energy. Sensory attributes of the products were determined by panellists. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and analysis of variance at p≤0.05. Total energy consumed by the traditional and semi-mechanized processes 1-4 were 31,629.12 kJ, 8079.74 kJ, 7932.94 kJ, 8730.58 kJ, and 8519.8 kJ, respectively. Energy intensity for traditional and semi-mechanized processes 1-4 were 9210.93 kJ/kg, 2107.39 kJ/kg, 2069.10 kJ/kg, 2277.15 kJ/kg and 2222.17 kJ/kg, respectively. The frying process was the most energy intensive in both traditional and semi-mechanized process 3 with the energy of 13193.28 kJ and 2232.12 kJ, respectively. Peeling and slicing consumed the least amount of energy (60.4 kJ) in all processes. In semi-mechanized processes 1, 2 and 4, the dry-milling emerged the most energy consuming, with energy of 2240 kJ, 2240 kJ and 2145.6 kJ, respectively. Although, groundnut cake that was produced by traditional method was the most acceptable by the panellist, there was no outright rejection of any sample. Energy consumption pattern and quality attributes of kulikuli produced from traditional and semi-mechanisation of production methods were influenced by the type of unit operation, the technology involved and the size of the equipment used. Semi-mechanised methods required the low energy consumption in the production of acceptable kulikuli.

Evaporation A Unit Operation in Pharmaceutical Industry

There are many processes in life that are taken on a daily basis. There are some common ones that we don’t even notice happen every day. One such process is evaporation. This paper also presents on evaporation. To study more about evaporation and other related concepts. It was focus on objective, factor affecting evaporation. The main characteristics, as well as the application of evaporation in pharmaceutical industry of each method are indicated. Evaporation is a process by which liquid water goes directly into the vapour phase due to an increase in temperature. The evaporation process is widely used to make drugs, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. We want to know that on which bases evaporation process effectively works and plays an important role in pharma industry as well as other industries.