Protein Ontology (PRO): enhancing and scaling up the representation of protein entities.

The Protein Ontology (PRO; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/pr) formally defines and describes taxon-specific and taxon-neutral protein-related entities in three major areas: proteins related by evolution; proteins produced from a given gene; and protein-containing complexes. PRO thus serves as a tool for referencing protein entities at any level of specificity. To enhance this ability, and to facilitate the comparison of such entities described in different resources, we developed a standardized representation of proteoforms using UniProtKB as a sequence reference and PSI-MOD as a post-translational modification reference. We illustrate its use in facilitating an alignment between PRO and Reactome protein entities. We also address issues of scalability, describing our first steps into the use of text mining to identify protein-related entities, the large-scale import of proteoform information from expert curated resources, and our ability to dynamically generate PRO terms. Web views for individual terms are now more informative about closely-related terms, including for example an interactive multiple sequence alignment. Finally, we describe recent improvement in semantic utility, with PRO now represented in OWL and as a SPARQL endpoint. These developments will further support the anticipated growth of PRO and facilitate discoverability of and allow aggregation of data relating to protein entities.

Tracing the impact of CO2 on the electrochemical and charge-discharge behavior for Al-Mg alloy in KOH and LiOH electrolytes for battery applications.

For the first time, it has been found that the electrochemical performance of the Al-Mg alloy as an anode in alkaline batteries has been markedly enhanced in the presence of CO2 and LiOH as an electrolyte. This work compares the electrochemical performance of an Al-Mg alloy used as an anode in Al-air batteries in KOH and LiOH solutions, both with and without CO2. Potentiodynamic polarization (Tafel), charging-discharging (galvanostatic) experiments, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are used. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) outfitted with an energetic-dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX) were utilized for the investigation of the products on the corroded surface of the electrode. Findings revealed that the examined electrode's density of corrosion current (icorr.) density in pure LiOH is significantly lower than in pure KOH (1 M). Nevertheless, in the two CO2-containing solutions investigated, icorr. significantly decreased. The corrosion rate of the examined alloy in the two studied basic solutions with and without CO2 drops in the following order: KOH > LiOH > KOH + CO2 > LiOH + CO2. The obtained results from galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements showed excellent performance of the battery in both LiOH and KOH containing CO2. The electrochemical findings and the XRD, SEM, and EDX results illustrations are in good accordance.

The inhibitive action of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole on the porosity of corrosion film formed on aluminum and aluminum-titanium alloys in hydrochloric acid solution.

2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (2-MBT) in a solution of 0.5 M HCl is an effective corrosion inhibitor for aluminum and aluminum-titanium alloys. Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed to assess this heterocyclic compound's anticorrosive potential and complementary by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and calculating porosity percentage in the absence and presence of various inhibitor concentrations. Inhibition efficiency (IE%) was strongly related to concentration (10-6-10-3 M). Temperature's effect on corrosion behavior was investigated. The data exhibited that the IE% decreases as the temperature increases. An increase in activation energy (Ea) with increasing the inhibitor concentration and the decrease in the IE% value of the mentioned compound with raising the temperature indicates that the inhibitor molecules are adsorbed physically on the surface. Thermodynamic activation parameters for Al and Al-Ti alloy dissolution in both 0.5 M HCl and the inhibited solution were calculated and discussed. According to Langmuir's adsorption isotherm, the inhibitor molecules were adsorbed. The evaluated standard values of the enthalpy ([Formula: see text], entropy ([Formula: see text] and free energy changes ([Formula: see text] showed that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are negative, while [Formula: see text] was positive. The formation of a protective layer adsorbed on the surfaces of the substrates was confirmed with the surface analysis (SEM). The porosity percentage is significantly reduced in the inhibitor presence and gradually decreased with increasing concentration. Furthermore, the density functional theory (DFT) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were employed to explain the variance in protecting the Al surface from corrosion. Interestingly, the theoretical findings align with their experimental counterparts. The planarity of 2-MBT and the presence of heteroatoms are the playmakers in the adsorption process.