Inherent Ethyl Acetate Selectivity in a Trianglimine Molecular Solid

Ethyl acetate is an important chemical raw material and solvent. It is also a key volatile organic compound in the brewing industry and a marker for lung cancer. Materials that are highly selective toward ethyl acetate are needed for its separation and detection. Here, we report a trianglimine macrocycle ( TAMC ) that selectively adsorbs ethyl acetate by forming a solvate. Crystal structure prediction showed this to be the lowest energy solvate structure available. This solvate leaves a metastable, “templated” cavity after solvent removal. Adsorption and breakthrough experiments confirmed that TAMC has adequate adsorption kinetics to separate ethyl acetate from azeotropic mixtures with ethanol, which is a challenging and energy-intensive industrial separation.     

Prediction of an outcome using NETwork Clusters (NET-C)

Birth weight is a key consequence of environmental exposures and metabolic alterations and can influence lifelong health. While a number of methods have been used to examine associations of trace element (including essential nutrients and toxic metals) concentrations or metabolite concentrations with a health outcome, birth weight, studies evaluating how the coexistence of these factors impacts birth weight are extremely limited. Here, we present a novel algorithm NETwork Clusters (NET-C), to improve the prediction of outcome by considering the interactions of features in the network and then apply this method to predict birth weight by jointly modelling trace element and cord blood metabolite data. Specifically, by using trace element and/or metabolite subnetworks as groups, we apply group lasso to estimate birth weight. We conducted statistical simulation studies to examine how both sample size and correlations between grouped features and the outcome affect prediction performance. We showed that in terms of prediction error, our proposed method outperformed other methods such as (a) group lasso with groups defined by hierarchical clustering, (b) random forest regression and (c) neural networks. We applied our method to data ascertained as part of the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study on trace elements, metabolites and birth outcomes, adjusting for other covariates such as maternal body mass index (BMI) and enrollment age. Our proposed method can be applied to a variety of similarly structured high-dimensional datasets to predict health outcomes.     

Recent progress in separation prediction of counter‐current chromatography

As a liquid‐liquid partition chromatography, counter‐current chromatography has advantages in large sample loading capacity without irreversible adsorption, which has been widely applied in separation and purification fields. The main factors, including partition coefficient, two‐phase solvent systems, apparatus, and operating parameters greatly affect the separation process of counter‐current chromatography. To promote the applications of counter‐current chromatography, it is essential to develop theoretical research to master the principles of counter‐current chromatographic separations so as to achieve predictions before laborious trials. In this article, recent progress about separation prediction methods are reviewed from a point of the steady and unsteady state of the mass transfer process of counter‐current chromatography and its mass transfer characteristics, and then it is divided into three aspects: prediction of partition coefficient, modeling the thermodynamic process of counter‐current chromatography, and modeling the dynamic process of counter‐current chromatography.     

In Vitro Inhibitory Analysis of Rationally Designed siRNAs against MERS-CoV Replication in Huh7 Cells

MERS-CoV was identified for the first time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2012 in a hospitalized patient. This virus subsequently spread to 27 countries with a total of 939 deaths and 2586 confirmed cases and now has become a serious concern globally. Camels are well known for the transmission of the virus to the human population. In this report, we have discussed the prediction, designing, and evaluation of potential siRNA targeting the ORF1ab gene for the inhibition of MERS-CoV replication. The online software, siDirect 2.0 was used to predict and design the siRNAs, their secondary structure and their target accessibility. ORF1ab gene folding was performed by RNAxs and RNAfold software. A total of twenty-one siRNAs were selected from 462 siRNAs according to their scoring and specificity. siRNAs were evaluated in vitro for their cytotoxicity and antiviral efficacy in Huh7 cell line. No significant cytotoxicity was observed for all siRNAs in Huh7 cells. The in vitro study showed the inhibition of viral replication by three siRNAs. The data generated in this study provide preliminary and encouraging information to evaluate the siRNAs separately as well as in combination against MERS-CoV replication in other cell lines. The prediction of siRNAs using online software resulted in the filtration and selection of potential siRNAs with high accuracy and strength. This computational approach resulted in three effective siRNAs that can be taken further to in vivo animal studies and can be used to develop safe and effective antiviral therapies for other prevalent disease-causing viruses.     

运用系统动力学模型预测稀土战略储备规模

基于全球稀土资源的供需形势和中国稀土资源减少的趋势,运用系统动力学的模型来预测未来17年我国稀土资源储备量。选取了2000~2013的生产和消费数据,通过定量模拟计算中国稀土供需差波动系数,设计了稀土资源供需差波动范围分别为0%,20%的两个方案,模拟计算了两个方案的年储备量、累计储备量和储备量绝对值。方案一范围是(-0%,+0%),仿真预测出稀土未来17年累积储备量为720551 t,即战略储备规模达到720551 t,该方案下不论供需差发生如何波动,国家都会进行储备或释放调节;方案二范围是(-20%,+20%),预测出未来17年战略储备规模为461331 t,国家只需在这个范围外进行收储释放调节,从而调节市场供求,降低价格波动幅度。本文从不同供需差的波动系数来模拟计算储备量,目的是为国家相关部门在进行稀土储备决策时提供参考,可以根据我国经济景气状况和供需形势,以及稀土产业发展状况,进行不同规模的稀土储备。     

非等距时间序列的GM（1，N）模型及其在地下工程中的应用

文献〔１〕给出了等距时间序列的灰色预测ＧＭ（１，Ｎ）模型，本文把它推广到非等距时间序列，得到了相应模型，并应用于地下工程的几个实例     

本征正交分解技术在屋盖风压场重建与预测中的应用

给出利用本征正交分解(POD)对屋盖风压场进行重建和预测的研究结果.对一个双坡屋盖用同步多点压力扫描系统进行了风洞试验,根据POD技术采用前若干阶本征模态重建屋盖风压场.采用两种方案预测未布置测压点位置的风压时间序列.第一种方案中利用插值技术获得没有测压点位置的本征模态值.第二种方案对参考屋盖和需预测的新屋盖分别进行试验,结合由参考屋盖试验萃取的本征模态和由新屋盖试验的风压数据计算的主坐标,预测出新屋盖未知区域的风压时间序列.文中对风压场重建和预测的效果作了分析,而且比较了根据测量的风压数据和预测的风压数据所计算的屋盖风致响应.     

An empirical model for tractive performance of rubber-tracks in agricultural soils

Mathematical models capable of describing the interaction between traction devices and soils have been effective in predicting the performance of off-road vehicles. Such a model capable of predicting the performance of bias-ply tires in agricultural soils was first developed by Brixius [Brixius WW. Traction prediction equations for bias-ply tires. ASAE Paper No. 871622. St. Joseph, MI: ASAE; 1987]. When the soil and vehicle parameters are known, this model uses an iterative procedure to predict the tractive performance of a vehicle including pull, tractive efficiency, and motion resistance. Al-Hamad et al. [Al-Hamad SA, Grisso RD, Zoz FM, Von Bargen K. Tractor performance spreadsheet for radial tires. Comput Electron Agr 1994:10(1):45–62] modified the Brixius equations to predict the performance of radial tires. Zoz and Grisso [Zoz, FM, Grisso RD. Traction and tractor performance. ASAE Distinguished Lecture Series #27. St. Joseph, MI: ASAE; 2003] have demonstrated that the use of spreadsheet templates is more efficient than the original iterative procedure used to predict the performance of 2WD and 4WD/MFWD tractors. As tractors equipped with rubber-tracks are becoming popular, it is important that we have the capability to predict the performance for off-road vehicles equipped with rubber-tracks during agricultural operations. This paper discusses the development of an empirical model to accomplish this goal and its validity by comparing the predicted results with published experimental results.     

Improved general correlation for critical heat flux during upflow in uniformly heated vertical tubes

An improved version of the author's earlier correlation for CHF in vertical tubes is presented. It is compared with data that include 23 fluids (water, refrigerants, cryogens, chemicals, and liquid metals), tube diameters 0.315 to 37.5 mm, tube length 1.3 to 940 times diameter, mass flux 4 to 29051 kg/m²s, reduced pressures 0.0014 to 0.96, inlet quality −4 to +0.85, and critical quality −2.6 to +1. These data, from 62 independent sources, are also compared with Katto's general correlation and those of Bowring for water and Subbotin for helium. The present correlation shows much better agreement with data.