The emergence of
Steiner minimal tree is of fundamental importance,
and designing such geometric structure and developing its application
have practical effect in material engineering and biomedicine. We
used a cutting-edge nanotechnology, electrospinning/netting, to generate
a Steiner geometrical poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofiber/nanonet
filter for removing airborne particulate matter (PM). Manipulation
of surface morphologies by precise control of charged situation enabled
the creation of two-dimensional nanonets with Steiner geometry. A
significant crystalline phase transition of PVDF from α-phase
to β-phase was triggered by the dipole orientation and the intermolecular
interactions derived from the electrostatic potential analysis. Particularly,
the synergy of electrical interaction (ion–dipole and dipole–dipole)
and hydrophobic interaction facilitated the formation of Steiner geometric
structure during the evolution process of nanonets. The resultant
PVDF nanofiber/nanonet air filter exhibited high filtration efficiency
of 99.985% and low pressure drop of 66.7 Pa under the airflow velocity
of 32 L/min for PM0.26 removal by the safest physical sieving
mechanism. Furthermore, such filter possessed robust structure integrity
for reusability, comparable optical transmittance, superior thermal
stability, and prominent purification capacity for smoke PM2.5. The successful construction of such fascinating Steiner geometrical
PVDF nanonets will provide new insights into the design and exploitation
of novel filter media for air cleaning and haze treatment.
The effects of dietary probiotics on growth performance, innate immunity and digestive enzymes of silver pomfret were investigated. Compared to the control, diets supplemented with Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum and Clostridium butyricum caused significant improvements of growth performance, including final weight, weight gain, specific growth rate and feed conversion rate. A better growth performance among probiotic treatments was obtained in fish fed B. subtilis. To reveal the effects of these three probiotics on innate immunity of silver pomfret, lysozyme activity, SOD activity and IgM concentrations were examined. Results showed that silver pomfret fed diets containing C. butyricum, L. plantarum and B. subtilis had led to an enhanced innate response, notably higher lysozyme activity, SOD activity and IgM concentrations, as recorded after 30 and 60 days of feeding. In addition, study of different digestive enzymes viz lipase, protease and amylase activities showed significant higher values in fish fed the probiotic diets in comparison to the untreated group. These findings demonstrated that administration of C. butyricum, L. plantarum and B. subtilis can improve growth performance through enhanced immune response and digestive enzyme activity in silver pomfret. Furthermore, the B. subtilis is highly recommended as dietary probiotics in silver pomfret.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.