Exploration of the Existence Forms and Patterns of Dissolved Oxygen Molecules in Water.

The structure of liquid water is primarily composed of three-dimensional networks of water clusters formed by hydrogen bonds, and dissolved oxygen is one of the most important indicators for assessing water quality. In this work, distilled water with different concentration of dissolved oxygen were prepared, and a clear negative correlation between the size of water clusters and dissolved oxygen concentration was observed. Besides, a phenomenon of rapid absorption and release of oxygen at the water interfaces was unveiled, suggesting that oxygen molecules predominantly exist at the interfaces of water clusters. Oxygen molecules can move rapidly through the interfaces among water clusters, allowing dissolved oxygen to quickly reach a saturation level at certain partial pressure of oxygen and temperature. Further exploration into the mechanism by molecular dynamics simulations of oxygen and water clusters found that oxygen molecules can only exist stably at the interfaces among water clusters. A semi-empirical formula relating the average number of water molecules in a cluster (n) to 17O NMR half-peak width (W) was summarized: n = 0.1 W + 0.85. These findings provide a foundation for exploring the structure and properties of water.

Differential privacy for public health data: An innovative tool to optimize information sharing while protecting data confidentiality.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the need for the timely collection and sharing of public health data. It is important that data sharing is balanced with protecting confidentiality. Here we discuss an innovative mechanism to protect health data, called differential privacy. Differential privacy is a mathematically rigorous definition of privacy that aims to protect against all possible adversaries. In layperson's terms, statistical noise is applied to the data so that overall patterns can be described, but data on individuals are unlikely to be extracted. One of the first use cases for health data in Australia is the development of the COVID-19 Real-Time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER), which provides proof of concept for the use of this technology in the health sector. If successful, this will benefit future sharing of public health data.

Development of the COVID-19 Real-Time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER), Australia.

Accurate and current information has been highlighted across the globe as a critical requirement for the COVID-19 pandemic response. To address this need, many interactive dashboards providing a range of different information about COVID-19 have been developed. A similar tool in Australia containing current information about COVID-19 could assist general practitioners and public health responders in their pandemic response efforts. The COVID-19 Real-time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER) has been developed to provide accurate and spatially explicit real-time information for COVID-19 cases, deaths, testing and contact tracing locations in Australia. Developed based on feedback from key users and stakeholders, the system comprises three main components: (1) a data engine; (2) data visualization and interactive mapping tools; and (3) an automated alert system. This system provides integrated data from multiple sources in one platform which optimizes information sharing with public health responders, primary health care practitioners and the general public.

Mechanistic insight into the relationship between triacylglycerol and crystallization of lipase-catalyzed interesterified blend of palm stearin and vegetable oil.

To give a deep insight into the relationship between triacylglycerol and crystallization of interesterified fat, the blends of palm stearin and various vegetable oil were catalyzed by two different immobilized lipases in this study. After interesterification, the blends had wider plastic range indicated by the SFC results and more ß' crystal. The improved physicochemical characteristics of interesterified blends were attributed to their changed TAG profiles. The statistical analysis showed that the interesterified blends were more likely to form ß' crystal with the increase of SU2-type TAG content and the decrease of SSS-type TAG content (p < 0.01). In addition, the decrease of ECN 42- and ECN 48-type TAGs and the increase of ECN 50-type TAGs also significantly enhanced the formation of ß' crystal (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the sn-1,3-specific Lipozyme TL IM-catalyzed interesterified blends were favorable for the formation of ß' crystal than the non-specific Novozym 435-catalyzed interesterified blends.