Decomposition of Insoluble and Hard-to-Degrade Animal Proteins by Enzyme E77 and Its Potential Applications

Insoluble and hard-to-degrade animal proteins are group of troublesome proteins, such as collagen, elastin, keratin, and prion proteins that are largely generated by the meat industry and ultimately converted to industrial wastes. We analyzed the ability of the abnormal prion protein-degrading enzyme E77 to degrade insoluble and hard-to-degrade animal proteins including keratin, collagen, and elastin. The results indicate that E77 has a much higher keratinolytic activity than proteinase K and subtilisin. Maximal E77 keratinolytic activity was observed at pH 12.0 and 65 °C. E77 was also adsorbed by keratin in a pH-independent manner. E77 showed lower collagenolytic and elastinolytic specificities than proteinase K and subtilisin. Moreover, E77 treatment did not damage collagens in ovine small intestines but did almost completely remove the muscles. We consider that E77 has the potential ability for application in the processing of animal feedstuffs and sausages.     

N‐Methylpiperidine—A Useful Base Catalyst in the Morita–Baylis–Hillman Reaction

N‐methylpiperidine, a commercially available mild base, has effectively been utilized as a catalyst in the Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction. Moderate to excellent yields (34–95%) and significant rate enhancement have been observed.     

Error evaluation for Zernike polynomials fitting based phase compensation of digital holographic microscopy

Combining the experimental research with the simulation calculation, the error evaluation for Zernike polynomials fitting (ZPF) based phase compensation of digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is performed. The obtained results show that the reconstructed phase with high precision can be obtained by ZPF phase compensation algorithm. Moreover, the phase error for ZPF based phase compensation algorithm increases with both the variation of object height and object transverse area, the larger variation of object height, the larger of phase error, and the larger of object transverse area, the faster increase of RMS phase error. To decrease the error of ZPF phase compensation algorithm, it is required to ensure one of the variations of object height and object transverse area to be a small value. Importantly, the proposed method supplies a useful tool for the error evaluation of phase compensation algorithm.     

Electrospinning Fabrication of SrTiO3 Nanofibers and Their Photocatalytic Activity

Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A - SrTiO3 nanofibers were fabricated by an electrospinning process. The phase, microstructure and photocatalytic activity of the obtained SrTiO3 nanofibers...     

Optical,electrical, and thermal insulation properties of antimony-doped tin oxide nanoparticles prepared by frozen gel method

Antimony doped tin dioxide (ATO) nanoparticles with different Sb doping contents were prepared by freeze-drying the precursor gel and then calcined procedure. The obtained ATO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, optical and electrical techniques. Results indicated that ATO with 10 mol% Sb doping is optimal, with which had the lowest resistivity and highest transmittance in visible region as well as narrow particle size distribution. Thermal insulation properties of ATO/waterborne polyurethane (WPU) films coating on the glass substrates with different thickness were studied on a DIY heat insulating measurement box and showed that the glass coated with ATO/WPU films possessed better heat-insulating effect than empty glass .     

Self‐assembly of metal–organic framework thin films containing metalloporphyrin and their photocatalytic activity under visible light

With [5,10,15,20‐tetra(4‐carboxyphenyl)porphyrin]Mn(III) and sterically controlled 2,2¢‐dimethyl‐4,4¢‐pyridine as the main raw materials, metal–organic framework thin films containing metalloporphyrin (MnPor‐MOF) with catalytically active sites were built up on functionalized quartz glass surfaces using a layer‐by‐layer self‐assembly method. Retaining active catalytic sites and having a porous reticular structure, the MnPor‐MOF films possessed remarkable photocatalytic activity for oxidative degradation of methylene blue in the presence of hydrogen peroxide under visible‐light irradiation. Most meaningfully, the MnPor‐MOF films were highly stable and simply and conveniently reusable, and are thus a potentially new organic material for photocatalytic wastewater treatment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.